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MONEY DIARIES: From Debt to Semi-Retirement · She's On The Money

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Speaker 1: Hello.
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Speaker 2: My name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud Yr the
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Speaker 2: Order Kerney Whalbury and a waddery woman. And before we
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Speaker 2: get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would
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Speaker 2: like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of
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Speaker 2: which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging
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Speaker 2: the elders, the ancestors and the next.
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Speaker 1: Generation coming through.
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Speaker 2: As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and
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Speaker 2: the storytelling of you to make a difference for today
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Speaker 2: and lasting impact for tomorrow.
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Speaker 1: Let's get into it.
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Speaker 3: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
1:01
Speaker 1: for millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another
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Speaker 1: one of our money diaries where I get the absolute
1:08
Speaker 1: privilege of talking to one of our beautiful community members
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Speaker 1: all about their money story. Let's jump straight in because
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Speaker 1: this week I got a message and it went like this. Hi, Victoria.
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Speaker 1: As a twenty nine year old, I've gone from living
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Speaker 1: paycheck to paycheck in a constant cycle of debt that
1:25
Speaker 1: got up to thirty thousand dollars two, paying all debt
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Speaker 1: off and owning our home and working towards semi retirement
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Speaker 1: next year, Money Diarist, that sounds like an absolute dream
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Speaker 1: and you're only twenty nine. What the heck?
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Speaker 4: Yeah?
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Speaker 1: Oh, I cannot wait to learn more. This is wild.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think so.
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Speaker 1: I am so excited that you have written in. Let's
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Speaker 1: jump straight in the first question, as always is Money Diarist,
1:51
Speaker 1: what grade would you give your money habits If I
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Speaker 1: asked you to give them a grade from A through
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Speaker 1: to F.
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Speaker 4: That's gonna sound not that great. But I think like
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Speaker 4: a C plus to a B minus.
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Speaker 1: I don't know about that. Sometimes I argue with people
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Speaker 1: about their ratings, so I'm not gonna argue with you
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Speaker 1: this close. But like, there's no way someone with a
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Speaker 1: money story that goes from paying off that much debt
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Speaker 1: to working towards semi retirement is only a C plus
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Speaker 1: in my head. But you know what, you can tell
2:18
Speaker 1: us a little bit more about you and we can
2:20
Speaker 1: have that conversation at the end. How does that sound
2:23
Speaker 1: sounds good? All right? My favorite question, money dires. Can
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Speaker 1: you tell us a little bit more about your money story?
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Speaker 4: Yeah? So, basically, my partner and I got married when
2:35
Speaker 4: we were like twenty two cute and I we've been
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Speaker 4: together since we're fifteen.
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Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, No you haven't. So you're like high
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Speaker 1: school sweethearts.
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Speaker 4: Yes, well my whole heart.
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Speaker 1: That's so fun. I'm just assuming you met at high
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Speaker 1: school together.
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Speaker 4: No, we didn't. We went to youth group together.
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Speaker 1: Oh cute, So you didn't even have to do the
2:53
Speaker 1: whole awkward school thing. That's a win. That is a win,
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Speaker 1: No wonder it worked.
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Speaker 4: Out Basically when we got married, we were children and
3:03
Speaker 4: didn't really know how to manage money. It was also
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Speaker 4: the first time both of us lived independently from home,
3:10
Speaker 4: so it was the first time both of us moved out,
3:12
Speaker 4: and so we had to furnish your house. And we
3:15
Speaker 4: both had quite low paying jobs at the same time,
3:20
Speaker 4: so we were both pretty much on minimum wage.
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Speaker 1: I mean, you were twenty two, so that makes a
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Speaker 1: lot of sense.
3:25
Speaker 4: Yeah, my partner isn't really a spender, but he's also,
3:29
Speaker 4: like I would say, maybe a little bit of an enabler,
3:32
Speaker 4: because like every time I would ask like, oh can
3:35
Speaker 4: I get this thing, he'd be like, yeah, I don't care.
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Speaker 2: Now.
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Speaker 1: I love that. I mean, I'm glad that that has stopped,
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Speaker 1: But I mean I like a man who just lets
3:42
Speaker 1: you have whatever you want ten out of ten.
3:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, And so because of that, we just kind of
3:46
Speaker 4: ended up with a lot of unnecessary spending. And what
3:50
Speaker 4: kind of took us over the edge is we got
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Speaker 4: a puppy.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, what kind of puppy you were allowed to tell us?
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Speaker 1: It's a Japanese Oh my gosh, they're gorgeous.
4:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, little white fluffy cloud ah, cloud baby. We were
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Speaker 4: on a wait list for like two and a half
4:08
Speaker 4: years with this breeder because I wanted an ethical breeder
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Speaker 4: and all that sort of stuff, and she basically said like, oh,
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Speaker 4: someone can't get their puppy, so like, do you want it?
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Speaker 4: Like it's available, You're next on the list. And so
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Speaker 4: I very stupidly drew out money on a credit card.
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Speaker 4: So it was quite a lot of interest on that,
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Speaker 4: and then on top of just constantly living in overdraft
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Speaker 4: and all of these types of things, we just ended
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Speaker 4: up in a lot of debt.
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Speaker 1: Basically, I'm not surprised. I mean, I feel like, regardless
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Speaker 1: of my financial situation, I would have done the same
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Speaker 1: thing as you. I don't know how many of the
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Speaker 1: podcasts you've listened to, but I have spoken publicly before
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Speaker 1: about how I got my cat Bailey when he was
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Speaker 1: one and he was a rescue, but it cost me
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Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty dollars and at that point I
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Speaker 1: only had three hundred dollars in my account and I
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Speaker 1: didn't have enough money to buy him like a crate
5:05
Speaker 1: or food or anything. But I was like, this is
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Speaker 1: an investment, like I need this pet, like they're the rules,
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Speaker 1: Like I feel like pets circumvent money rules, so like,
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Speaker 1: I don't know, I feel like your baby was a
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Speaker 1: good decision.
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Speaker 4: He definitely was. So he's poor now and so definitely
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Speaker 4: well worth the money, and very fortunately because part of
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Speaker 4: it is we wanted a healthy breed. He hasn't cost
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Speaker 4: us any additional money yet.
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Speaker 1: I love that you waited for an ethical breeder too.
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Speaker 1: That sounds like exactly how I ended up with our
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Speaker 1: dog Lucy. Like we were on this really big wait
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Speaker 1: list and then someone didn't want her because she was
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Speaker 1: the wrong color, and they called us like three days
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Speaker 1: before we got her and said do you want her?
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Speaker 1: And I was like absolutely, I do. Like it happened
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Speaker 1: all so quickly, but like ethical breeders have such long lists.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, that's pretty much what happened with us, and then
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Speaker 4: like it was us so Christmas time, we were moving
5:51
Speaker 4: into a new rental at the time, and so like
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Speaker 4: we had to pay bond and then it was a lot.
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Speaker 1: Aah so much. So tell me what happened after that.
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Speaker 1: So we've had a puppy join the family and we've
6:01
Speaker 1: started to get into debt.
6:03
Speaker 4: After that, we still weren't like great, We were still
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Speaker 4: just kind of coasting along really, but then also puppy
6:10
Speaker 4: Instagram influence sort of took over, and so I was
6:14
Speaker 4: spending a lot of money on him and that sort
6:16
Speaker 4: of stuff when I didn't really have anything to do.
6:20
Speaker 4: And then we were just sort of talking about it
6:22
Speaker 4: and then just decided one day to go to the
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Speaker 4: bank just to see like if we could get a mortgage,
6:28
Speaker 4: like what we would have to do to one day
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Speaker 4: buy a house. And we didn't think anything would happen
6:32
Speaker 4: because we had not had any savings whatsoever. But we
6:36
Speaker 4: did have a Kili saver where you put like three
6:39
Speaker 4: percent away of your income. Yeah, because we were low earners,
6:43
Speaker 4: we were in the threshold for the first home buyers,
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Speaker 4: and so we got one of the homes that were
6:50
Speaker 4: affordably priced by the government and that sort of stuff.
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Speaker 4: It's not a forever home or anything like that, but
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Speaker 4: it's a great start at home and we got all
6:57
Speaker 4: of the grants that we were able to do, so
7:00
Speaker 4: we ended up being able to purchase a house. Yeah.
7:03
Speaker 1: No, that makes absolute sense. To just explain it a
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Speaker 1: little bit more. Because a lot of our audience are Australian,
7:08
Speaker 1: our money most today is from New Zealand, which is
7:11
Speaker 1: why she said that she had a Kiwi Saver. But
7:14
Speaker 1: one of the cool things about Kiwi Saver is that
7:17
Speaker 1: you can use it to purchase your first property, which
7:19
Speaker 1: is kind of helpful and not something that's available to
7:22
Speaker 1: us but fun to learn from.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, So we basically just had that and then at
7:28
Speaker 4: the time, the government had grants to go towards your
7:32
Speaker 4: deposit as well if you were a low income earner
7:35
Speaker 4: as well.
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Speaker 1: Mm hmm.
7:36
Speaker 4: And so we were able to get our house for
7:40
Speaker 4: well under what it would be commercially priced for. I
7:42
Speaker 4: suppose money win, definite money win. I think I actually
7:45
Speaker 4: posted about it. Oh did you actually? Yeah?
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Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, that would have been a few years
7:50
Speaker 1: ago too.
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Speaker 4: Huh yeah, just three years ago.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm going to go find it. I love it.
7:56
Speaker 4: Then we literally lived in an empty house with a
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Speaker 4: bed for a year almost yep, because we didn't have
8:03
Speaker 4: anything else. And after about a year, we just decided
8:08
Speaker 4: we didn't want to be living paycheck to paycheck or
8:12
Speaker 4: putting everything on a credit card or overdraft anymore. Yeah,
8:15
Speaker 4: And so we just got a consolidation loan, got all
8:20
Speaker 4: of our credit card debt, overdraft debt and all that
8:23
Speaker 4: sort of stuff into one loan, and they try to
8:26
Speaker 4: put us on for like ten years to pay it off,
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Speaker 4: and I was like, no, no, We're paying it off.
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Speaker 1: In three years, Queen, I love this.
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Speaker 4: Yeah. So the time pressure really helped get that down,
8:37
Speaker 4: and we pretty much did like a one to eighty
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Speaker 4: on how we were living our life and spending our
8:42
Speaker 4: money after that, because we went from barely having any
8:48
Speaker 4: money and then like lookdown as like why is this
8:52
Speaker 4: because it was no reason for us because we had
8:54
Speaker 4: gotten like a few promotions over the time and that
8:58
Speaker 4: sort of stuff, so we were earning more money, but
9:00
Speaker 4: we were still very skinned and so mostly we just
9:05
Speaker 4: like focus on cutting down on like unnecessary spending and
9:10
Speaker 4: stuff like that. So like a big thing we found
9:12
Speaker 4: after going through our accounts is like we spent a
9:15
Speaker 4: lot on groceries but then spent a lot of money
9:18
Speaker 4: on takeaways.
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Speaker 1: That feels very familiar to me. I don't know if
9:22
Speaker 1: I want to expand on that or talk about it.
9:24
Speaker 1: I'm not ready to make any change, but I like
9:26
Speaker 1: that you did.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, so that was one thing we did. We cut
9:31
Speaker 4: down on like our takeaway and grocery bills from I
9:34
Speaker 4: think we were spending like two hundred and fifty bucks
9:36
Speaker 4: for like two people and a small dog, which was
9:40
Speaker 4: a little bit overboard for us because we were also
9:43
Speaker 4: buying the takeaways and stuff. So now our grocery bills
9:47
Speaker 4: like one hundred dollars and we spend like thirty dollars
9:50
Speaker 4: on takeaway a week.
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Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, that's a massive change.
9:54
Speaker 4: We've got like a reduced to clear. I don't know
9:56
Speaker 4: what they are in Australia, but they're like.
9:58
Speaker 1: It's kind of like a not quite right INQR. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
10:02
Speaker 1: we've got them over here as well. I think it's
10:03
Speaker 1: the same chain, to be honest.
10:05
Speaker 4: And so like we get like our coffee pods and
10:09
Speaker 4: like all those sorts of things that don't really matter,
10:11
Speaker 4: but like I get them for a lot cheaper and
10:13
Speaker 4: stuff like that.
10:14
Speaker 1: I feel like that's very smart. Though. We have a
10:16
Speaker 1: shop over here called the Reject Shop. Oh I don't
10:19
Speaker 1: know if you've got that there, but at the Reject
10:21
Speaker 1: Shop they have like lots of I guess, pantry staples
10:25
Speaker 1: and cleaning products and stuff. And I went in there
10:28
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago looking for one thing, and
10:31
Speaker 1: I came out with so much stuff because I was like,
10:33
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, these like dish washing tablets are so
10:35
Speaker 1: cheap and look at this dish washing Like I got
10:38
Speaker 1: so many cleaning supplies and I think I spent like
10:40
Speaker 1: thirty dollars or something, and it was like so good.
10:43
Speaker 1: And I said to my husband when I got home,
10:45
Speaker 1: I was like, you're not buying dish washing tablets ever
10:48
Speaker 1: again from WOOLI. It's like it's not happening, No deal,
10:50
Speaker 1: no deal.
10:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, So that's like pretty much what we go Therefore,
10:54
Speaker 4: we go for like all the household sort of stuff
10:56
Speaker 4: and just all those like random things that it doesn't
11:00
Speaker 4: really matter.
11:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, no smart, I love it. I think that regardless
11:04
Speaker 1: of what you earn, that's a really easy way to
11:06
Speaker 1: get basically the same thing, but for cheaper. Why not.
11:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, and then like another thing we did is like
11:12
Speaker 4: we implemented personal spending separate from our joint spending. Yeah.
11:17
Speaker 4: So originally we just had like a joint account and
11:19
Speaker 4: all of our money went in there and all of
11:21
Speaker 4: our money went out from the same account. But when
11:24
Speaker 4: we decided to sort out our financials, we both got
11:30
Speaker 4: a personal account that the other doesn't have access to,
11:34
Speaker 4: which we get like pocket money yeap.
11:36
Speaker 1: Cool, and so we can spend it on whatever you like.
11:40
Speaker 4: Yeah, we both earn very similar amounts and so it's
11:44
Speaker 4: not really a one person earns more than the other
11:47
Speaker 4: sort of thing, so it's not.
11:48
Speaker 1: Really too much of an issue for us. Yeah cool,
11:51
Speaker 1: but it all works out.
11:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, and then the dog gets his pocket money too.
11:55
Speaker 1: Does he actually is that for like his food or
11:58
Speaker 1: is that for like additional like baby chinos or do
12:01
Speaker 1: they call them puppy chinos? And then like outfits and stuff,
12:05
Speaker 1: because I feel like having a Japanese spits like those
12:07
Speaker 1: are fashionable boys, Like those aren't like normal dogs that
12:11
Speaker 1: just you know, get a dry as a bone coat,
12:13
Speaker 1: Like he's probably got fancy wardrobe, right.
12:16
Speaker 4: He doesn't like wearing clothes fortunately, because he's a fluffy boy.
12:18
Speaker 4: But he's got a lot of bandannas and bows.
12:21
Speaker 1: Yeah. See, he's got outfits. He's a fancy boy.
12:25
Speaker 4: Yeah. So also we've got like his account is accumulating,
12:29
Speaker 4: so because we don't have pit insurance because his breed
12:32
Speaker 4: is known for being a little bit more healthy and
12:34
Speaker 4: that sort of stuff. So instead of having pit insurance,
12:37
Speaker 4: we just put money in there just in case.
12:41
Speaker 1: Oh I love that. I think that that's really I
12:43
Speaker 1: guess smart from your perspective, but like what a little
12:45
Speaker 1: responsible dog boy. Yeah's got his own saving account. He's
12:49
Speaker 1: getting it, yes he does. Can't wait for you guys
12:51
Speaker 1: to potentially have kids one day, like they are gonna
12:54
Speaker 1: be so financially savvy look at the dog.
12:56
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely. And so at the same time, with all
13:02
Speaker 4: of the financial side, we were so just working towards
13:05
Speaker 4: earning more and so we did a lot of overtime.
13:09
Speaker 4: For about a year and a half, we were working
13:11
Speaker 4: for like six days a week. I think we at
13:14
Speaker 4: some points we're going up to like seventy hours a week.
13:16
Speaker 1: No, that's so many hours. Did you sleep?
13:20
Speaker 4: Yeah, we slept, but all we did was wake up,
13:23
Speaker 4: go to work, come sleep.
13:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, the dogs sleep amazing.
13:27
Speaker 4: Yeah, and then at the time I started my own business.
13:32
Speaker 1: Of course you do it. These story is just getting better.
13:35
Speaker 1: I told you I'm going to have a bone to
13:36
Speaker 1: pick with their C plus. You're not prepping yourself for
13:39
Speaker 1: a C plus at the end, my friend, I.
13:42
Speaker 4: Have a reason for what right, right?
13:44
Speaker 1: Alright, alright, I'll let you get to it. Tell me
13:46
Speaker 1: about your small business.
13:48
Speaker 4: So I'm a virtual assistant, So I helped small businesses
13:52
Speaker 4: and that sort of stuff who were literally a single
13:54
Speaker 4: person just doing their small business and they can't quite
13:58
Speaker 4: employ a full i'm staff member or anything like that,
14:02
Speaker 4: So I do their admin work in like a couple
14:03
Speaker 4: of hours here and there for a couple of different people.
14:06
Speaker 1: Oh, how cool. That's so helpful. When I was starting up,
14:09
Speaker 1: I definitely needed that.
14:10
Speaker 4: I've got one consistent client that I do quite a
14:13
Speaker 4: lot of work for. It's quite a lot of fun.
14:16
Speaker 1: All right. I want to know, now you've obviously got
14:19
Speaker 1: a lot under your belt. What do you do for work?
14:21
Speaker 1: How much money do you win? And if you feel
14:23
Speaker 1: like it, can you tell me what your partner does
14:25
Speaker 1: and what he owns.
14:27
Speaker 4: Yeah, so we actually work together at his family's business.
14:33
Speaker 1: Very cool.
14:33
Speaker 4: His family owns a craft retail store, and quite a
14:37
Speaker 4: few years ago now, he moved over there to go
14:39
Speaker 4: work with them because they were expanding a little bit,
14:42
Speaker 4: and then when COVID hit and that sort of stuff,
14:45
Speaker 4: they needed a few people to help out because online
14:49
Speaker 4: sales went a little bit nutsy. That's cool though, yeah,
14:54
Speaker 4: And so I moved over there and I work in
14:56
Speaker 4: the warehouse with my husband, doing like all the post
15:00
Speaker 4: and stuff like that, getting everyone's orders out and making
15:02
Speaker 4: sure everyone's happy.
15:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, very cool.
15:05
Speaker 4: So I earn seventy two a year my salary, and
15:10
Speaker 4: then my partner earns I think it's about seventy eight.
15:15
Speaker 1: Is there a reason why it's different.
15:17
Speaker 4: He's been working me longer and he is also a technician.
15:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, that makes sense. I was like, hold up,
15:22
Speaker 1: you're telling me that you do the same job for
15:24
Speaker 1: different pays. I'm not having that, though.
15:27
Speaker 4: He has additional responsibilities and stuff like that because he's
15:30
Speaker 4: also a technician for some of their.
15:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, that makes absolute sense for those of
15:34
Speaker 1: you playing along in the Australian market, seventy two thousand
15:38
Speaker 1: dollars in New Zealand money is sixty six eight hundred
15:42
Speaker 1: in Australian, which is just interesting to know. And has
15:46
Speaker 1: that always been your income? You said before, Oh, we
15:49
Speaker 1: were super low income earners, and like, that's not super
15:51
Speaker 1: low income to me. So is that recent?
15:55
Speaker 4: There is recent? Yeah, within the last year. When we
15:58
Speaker 4: first got married, I was working at a law.
15:59
Speaker 1: For were your fancy pants?
16:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I was just like the admin stuff And
16:05
Speaker 4: I was earning barely minimum wage for quite a long time.
16:11
Speaker 4: And he was an apprentice electrician, so he was an
16:14
Speaker 4: apprentice for wages, so we had very minimal income.
16:19
Speaker 1: It would have been a snug budget.
16:21
Speaker 4: Yeah.
16:22
Speaker 1: I love that all right. I want to know now,
16:24
Speaker 1: because you already own your first home, what is your
16:27
Speaker 1: big money goal? What are you currently working towards?
16:30
Speaker 4: So our current money goal is hopefully next year, as
16:34
Speaker 4: long as everything goes well, we'll be able to sell
16:38
Speaker 4: this one and move to a lifestyle block and be
16:41
Speaker 4: semi retired hopefully.
16:43
Speaker 1: What does semi retired mean.
16:46
Speaker 4: My partner, Hopefully he won't be working like a traditional
16:50
Speaker 4: job anymore. We're hoping that he'll be able to because
16:52
Speaker 4: we want to get a few goats and sheep and chickens. Yeah,
16:58
Speaker 4: so like he'll be looking after the land and doing
17:01
Speaker 4: that sort of stuff and hopefully go into markets and
17:04
Speaker 4: you know, just a little bit of extra pocket money.
17:06
Speaker 4: Not really the main source of income, yeah, but still
17:12
Speaker 4: like we want to be as self sustainable as possible.
17:16
Speaker 4: And then for me, hopefully I'll be able to get
17:18
Speaker 4: my business running. So I'll be working about thirty eight
17:22
Speaker 4: hours yep, because we both work forty five hours and
17:26
Speaker 4: we've got about two and a half hours of travel
17:28
Speaker 4: time a day.
17:29
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, No, you don't. That's crazy, No, wonder
17:32
Speaker 1: you're looking forward to going. All right, we've got this
17:35
Speaker 1: big goal we're working towards. We're going to get a
17:37
Speaker 1: lifestyle block. We're going to semi retire because you would
17:39
Speaker 1: be exhausted right now. Yes, Oh my gosh, that's crazy.
17:43
Speaker 1: Tell me more about these business of yours. Obviously going
17:46
Speaker 1: to thirty eight hours a week would be super exciting,
17:48
Speaker 1: also much nicer doing that seventy hours that you were
17:52
Speaker 1: doing historically. But what type of income do you think
17:55
Speaker 1: that will bring in? Really?
17:57
Speaker 4: I just want enough to survive, so I don't really
18:03
Speaker 4: want to be a big earner or anything like that,
18:05
Speaker 4: Like just enough to cover what little mortgage we have,
18:08
Speaker 4: because hopefully we'll be able to sell and that will
18:11
Speaker 4: cover our new property because we want to go somewhere
18:15
Speaker 4: really rural, so it's not going to be too expensive exciting. Yeah,
18:19
Speaker 4: so like just enough to sort of cover going to
18:24
Speaker 4: the cafe once a week kind of thing.
18:26
Speaker 1: I love this. It's so lifestyle focused. All right. I
18:29
Speaker 1: want to ask you a lot more about your mortgage
18:32
Speaker 1: and what you're currently paying and what's left on it,
18:34
Speaker 1: and what a lifestyle block is going to cost. But
18:36
Speaker 1: let's do that right after this break. All right, we
18:44
Speaker 1: are back money diarist. I'm so invested in understanding a
18:49
Speaker 1: bit more about your buying a lifestyle block and like
18:52
Speaker 1: semi retired life, Like you're buying goats, Like how does
18:55
Speaker 1: it feel to live my actual dream? My husband said,
18:58
Speaker 1: I can't have a goat because they have you had
19:00
Speaker 1: shaped eyes, like their eyes are square.
19:03
Speaker 4: No, so we want to get They're called pygmy goats.
19:06
Speaker 1: Oh no, they don't. They're the cutest kind.
19:08
Speaker 4: Yeah, the little minutia goats.
19:10
Speaker 1: I follow pigmy goats on TikTok and like have you
19:13
Speaker 1: seen them? They like have their hay baiales and they
19:15
Speaker 1: like jump up and down their hay bales like they're
19:17
Speaker 1: so cute, they're mini.
19:19
Speaker 4: Yeah. So we're in contact with a breeder at the moment,
19:21
Speaker 4: So can.
19:22
Speaker 1: I please come visit? Like you are going to actually
19:25
Speaker 1: live my dream, like I asked for a goat at
19:28
Speaker 1: least once a week, like I wish I was joking.
19:31
Speaker 1: The next question I want to ask you is do
19:32
Speaker 1: you have any investments. If so, what are they so
19:36
Speaker 1: talk to me about that and how that plays into
19:39
Speaker 1: potentially being able to semi retire.
19:42
Speaker 4: Yeah, so about four months ago, we both had a
19:45
Speaker 4: bunch of savings and we decided to just put ten
19:48
Speaker 4: thousand dollars into a managed fund.
19:51
Speaker 1: Oh, very cool.
19:53
Speaker 4: Someone else can make some decisions for me. I don't
19:56
Speaker 4: want to think about it.
19:57
Speaker 1: Tell me how you picked the managed fund. How did
20:00
Speaker 1: you make that decision? Because a lot of people they'll
20:03
Speaker 1: go straight into maybe like an ETF because it's the easiest,
20:06
Speaker 1: Like you could just download the chasas app and buy that.
20:09
Speaker 1: And obviously you can get managed funds, but they seem
20:11
Speaker 1: a little bit more complex, especially to first time investors.
20:15
Speaker 1: Where did you get your info from? Where did you
20:17
Speaker 1: get your confidence to go? You know what, I'm going
20:18
Speaker 1: to put ten grand in this.
20:20
Speaker 4: Asset, So I spoke to a few different people. We
20:25
Speaker 4: ended up just going through a company that my cousin
20:28
Speaker 4: works for, so that sort of helps. Yeah.
20:30
Speaker 1: I was going to say that would make me a
20:31
Speaker 1: bit more comfortable too.
20:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, and it might not be the highest owner, but
20:35
Speaker 4: we wanted to do an ethical fund, so it's for
20:38
Speaker 4: businesses who are doing more sustainable work and that sort
20:41
Speaker 4: of stuff, because it just aligned with our values.
20:44
Speaker 1: Love love love. So it was just something that you
20:46
Speaker 1: were like, all right, We've done a bit of research.
20:48
Speaker 1: I've got a family friend or a family member that
20:50
Speaker 1: works there. It all just makes sense for us at
20:52
Speaker 1: this point. I love that I always ask because it's
20:55
Speaker 1: often such a big decision to start your investing journey
20:59
Speaker 1: and it can be so overwhelming. And the more I
21:01
Speaker 1: know about it and ask you about it, the more
21:03
Speaker 1: our community knows and the more comfortable they are starting
21:05
Speaker 1: their investment journeys. Was that always what you were thinking?
21:09
Speaker 1: You were like, Oh, we're going to get this lump
21:11
Speaker 1: sum and invest or. Was it something that you really
21:13
Speaker 1: hadn't thought much about when it came to saving, or like,
21:16
Speaker 1: how did that work?
21:18
Speaker 4: So originally we were actually saving because our original plan
21:22
Speaker 4: was to buy a van and travel around New Zealand
21:27
Speaker 4: for a year. Mm hm. But we just decided we
21:31
Speaker 4: didn't really want to do that anymore. So we had
21:33
Speaker 4: this money and I just didn't want it sitting around
21:35
Speaker 4: in a bank account. Really, and I spoke to my partner.
21:39
Speaker 4: I don't remember, but I think I listened to an
21:41
Speaker 4: episode about investment and stuff like that, and I was like, Hey,
21:44
Speaker 4: can we do that? And he's very nonchalant about money,
21:47
Speaker 4: so he's like, yes, you'll go for it.
21:48
Speaker 1: I love this, all right, talk to me about debt.
21:52
Speaker 1: You said before you have a mortgage, do you have
21:54
Speaker 1: any personal debt left? If so, what is it? And
21:56
Speaker 1: then tell me all about your mortgage.
21:59
Speaker 4: So we have a credit card, but like, I have
22:04
Speaker 4: the money an account to pay off my credit card,
22:07
Speaker 4: so we always have the money for the credit card,
22:09
Speaker 4: and that's all that we have outside of the mortgage.
22:12
Speaker 4: I paid off my student loan and we paid off
22:15
Speaker 4: that personal loan, and we sort of made the decision
22:18
Speaker 4: not to have any debt besides the mortgage.
22:21
Speaker 1: Ever, again, Love, do you use the credit card just
22:24
Speaker 1: for I guess security purposes or are we you know,
22:27
Speaker 1: using it to get points or like what role does
22:30
Speaker 1: that play in your I guess money story.
22:33
Speaker 4: I also have after pay, but again I have an
22:35
Speaker 4: account where we put the money for the full purchase
22:38
Speaker 4: and then the after pay comes out because I feel
22:41
Speaker 4: very nervous having zero dollars.
22:45
Speaker 1: Yeah I get it, I totally get it.
22:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, so we have our savings and stuff, but we
22:50
Speaker 4: don't touch our savings and then I feel very nervous
22:52
Speaker 4: that something is going to happen, like our tires burst
22:57
Speaker 4: or something like that. And I know that's what the
22:58
Speaker 4: savings because we have an emergency fund. I always want
23:02
Speaker 4: to have money, especially not from before when we were
23:05
Speaker 4: literally negative money all the time, and so we use
23:09
Speaker 4: the credit card and after pay just to have those
23:13
Speaker 4: things coming out slowly rather than putting down all of
23:17
Speaker 4: the money for something.
23:18
Speaker 1: See, you're one of the people that uses it responsibly.
23:21
Speaker 1: I can't be trusted with that. So I always like asking,
23:24
Speaker 1: because I'm like, oh, well, if you've got a credit
23:25
Speaker 1: card and you've got after pay, like, what does that
23:27
Speaker 1: look like? And obviously you're using it or plays easily
23:30
Speaker 1: into your cash flow. And I'm going to make a
23:32
Speaker 1: grand assumption that you like something like after pay because
23:36
Speaker 1: you get your own pocket money and therefore you can
23:38
Speaker 1: cash flow those bigger purchases. Is that right?
23:41
Speaker 4: Yeah? Yeah, yeah, So like I bought a cricket recently,
23:46
Speaker 4: and like I wanted to buy a cricket. Like, we
23:49
Speaker 4: also put time between purchases and stuff like that, and
23:51
Speaker 4: so I've been thinking about it for a really long
23:52
Speaker 4: that's a big purchase. Huh yeah, yeah, for big purchases,
23:56
Speaker 4: and so like putting it on after pay just gives
23:59
Speaker 4: me the peace of mind because I have the money there.
24:01
Speaker 1: But you just want to see it come out slowly.
24:03
Speaker 1: I get it. I get it, like I understand it
24:05
Speaker 1: in principle, but I could never be trusted with it
24:07
Speaker 1: in real life. Let's be honest. No, I love it.
24:10
Speaker 1: So now tell me. I'd be about your mortgage. How
24:12
Speaker 1: much is it? How much did you purchase your house for?
24:15
Speaker 1: And what's the plan with getting rid of it?
24:17
Speaker 4: Our current mortgage is five hundred and forty thousand. We
24:21
Speaker 4: bought the property for six hundred and forty.
24:25
Speaker 1: Oh look at you guys going, You've only had it
24:28
Speaker 1: for three years, is that right?
24:30
Speaker 4: Yeah? So after we paid off our personal loan and
24:33
Speaker 4: stuff like that, we just basically said the three hundred
24:36
Speaker 4: dollars or four hundred dollars that was going towards it
24:38
Speaker 4: is going to our mortgage now, so we updo our
24:40
Speaker 4: mortgage as soon as we paid off our debt.
24:42
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, how exciting is this? You have? What
24:45
Speaker 1: is it You're planning on getting rid of a mortgage
24:47
Speaker 1: at this rate in the less than ten years?
24:50
Speaker 4: Yeah. So the recent evaluation for the house was seven
24:55
Speaker 4: hundred and fifty oh money when Yeah, So theoretically between
25:01
Speaker 4: now and when we go to sell, the house will
25:03
Speaker 4: have paid off a little bit more and we're hoping
25:06
Speaker 4: the housing market will go up a little bit. But
25:09
Speaker 4: also we're not depending on it.
25:11
Speaker 1: It's looking very healthy right now though.
25:13
Speaker 4: Yeah.
25:14
Speaker 1: So let's pretend that the house sells for seven fifty
25:18
Speaker 1: at market price at this point in time. Is that
25:21
Speaker 1: enough to buy your lifestyle block and you know, pop
25:23
Speaker 1: a little house on it or what does that purchase
25:26
Speaker 1: look like in the future.
25:27
Speaker 4: So we actually have like a property that we really
25:32
Speaker 4: really love and it's been on the market for a
25:34
Speaker 4: while because it's a really awkward property because no one
25:37
Speaker 4: wants to live out in the middle of nowhere.
25:39
Speaker 1: Except for you, You and your goats and your dog.
25:42
Speaker 1: Do yes, that tells me it's negotiable. We like that.
25:45
Speaker 4: Yes, And so it was on the market for the
25:47
Speaker 4: three hundred and twenty, but now it's gone to negotiation,
25:51
Speaker 4: so we're hoping it will be still on the market
25:57
Speaker 4: or at least something comparable.
25:58
Speaker 1: Hey, that's exciting. Is that what plays into you potentially
26:02
Speaker 1: being able to I guess semi retire.
26:05
Speaker 4: Yeah, So hopefully what we're planning is even no mortgage
26:11
Speaker 4: and then having no money and then having to build
26:14
Speaker 4: up everything like the things that we need for the
26:17
Speaker 4: animals and gardens and stuff like that, or selling the
26:21
Speaker 4: house and having a small mortgage of about one hundred
26:24
Speaker 4: thousand so that we have some money still in our
26:29
Speaker 4: pockets to be able to do the things straight away.
26:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, one hundred percent. Because if we're looking at your
26:32
Speaker 1: mortgage right now five point forty in the valuation of
26:35
Speaker 1: seven point fifty, and we'll pretend that it just goes clean,
26:38
Speaker 1: that means that you're sitting on about two hundred and
26:41
Speaker 1: ten thousand of equity. And then if you purchase a
26:43
Speaker 1: three twenty property you've got a mortgage of one hundred
26:46
Speaker 1: and ten. You've obviously done your numbers. I've just done
26:48
Speaker 1: your numbers so that I could confirm it and it
26:50
Speaker 1: made sense to me. But is that something that you go,
26:54
Speaker 1: all right, now we can kind of like go back
26:56
Speaker 1: to having one income and have more of a lifestyle
26:59
Speaker 1: as opposed to just working our lives away. Is that
27:01
Speaker 1: the plan?
27:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, both my partner and I sort of see money
27:07
Speaker 4: and that sort of stuff in just like a means
27:10
Speaker 4: to an end sort of way. We don't need a
27:13
Speaker 4: lot of it, and we don't need an excess lifestyle
27:17
Speaker 4: and stuff like that. So like having a couple of
27:19
Speaker 4: goats and chickens and stuff is more than what we
27:22
Speaker 4: need in our lives.
27:23
Speaker 1: Not literally living the dream. I love it. And you
27:25
Speaker 1: get to live in New Zealand, which is like one
27:27
Speaker 1: of the most beautiful places on earth. Like I am obsessed.
27:31
Speaker 1: This is honestly so dreamy. I want to know now, though,
27:35
Speaker 1: you have, from my understanding, pretty good at money, Like
27:40
Speaker 1: you've got some pretty good habits, Like you've shown me
27:43
Speaker 1: that you can get out of dead and like, yeah,
27:45
Speaker 1: you're fully across it. So I feel like you might
27:47
Speaker 1: have some good tips and tricks for us. What is
27:49
Speaker 1: your best money habit?
27:52
Speaker 4: My best money habit I think is as soon as
27:55
Speaker 4: we get paid, we move our money into savings bills.
28:01
Speaker 4: So we've got like our personal money, we got savings account,
28:04
Speaker 4: we've got a bill's account, and then we've got a
28:06
Speaker 4: short term savings and then Marshmallow's account as well.
28:10
Speaker 1: I love it. I love that your dog's name is Marshmallow.
28:12
Speaker 1: Like that makes my entire heart so happy. Like, ah,
28:16
Speaker 1: the best cash flow planning, that's a great money habit
28:19
Speaker 1: to have. I think it's one that we all wish
28:21
Speaker 1: we were better at. But what is your worst money habit?
28:25
Speaker 4: Like my worst money habit actually is very similar, which
28:29
Speaker 4: sounds really strange, but we don't actually budget. I just
28:34
Speaker 4: kind of look at it and like, this is what
28:36
Speaker 4: we need in this account now, and this is what
28:39
Speaker 4: we need in this account. And so like, if you
28:42
Speaker 4: ask me how much I actually plan to spend on
28:44
Speaker 4: groceries or plan to spend on this, like I don't
28:47
Speaker 4: really have a number.
28:49
Speaker 1: That's okay though, because it looks like you're pretty across
28:52
Speaker 1: on average what you're spending. Because earlier in this episode,
28:55
Speaker 1: you explained to me that you used to spend two
28:58
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty dollars on groceries and and you would
29:00
Speaker 1: also do takeaways and stuff. But now that's like one
29:02
Speaker 1: hundred dollars on groceries and thirty dollars on takeaway. So
29:05
Speaker 1: I feel like, even though you're saying you're not good
29:07
Speaker 1: at like calculating it, I can tell that you're across it. Still,
29:12
Speaker 1: would you say that's accurate?
29:14
Speaker 4: It's just kind of guesstimating, and I feel like I
29:16
Speaker 4: could do better, Like I never look at my statements.
29:21
Speaker 4: I know it's really bad, but no it's not.
29:23
Speaker 1: I feel like so many of us have our head
29:25
Speaker 1: in the sand about it. And let's be honest, money
29:27
Speaker 1: can be really boring, Like it's not that exciting. That's
29:29
Speaker 1: why I try so hard with this content to make
29:32
Speaker 1: it exciting. But it's still not that sexy. Let's be honest.
29:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's just that I actually look at things. I
29:39
Speaker 4: probably spend a bit more than I need to on
29:42
Speaker 4: certain things because I'm not really focused.
29:45
Speaker 1: I totally resonate with it. Actually, I'm really excited about
29:47
Speaker 1: this because I think this is something I can fix
29:49
Speaker 1: for you. I'm actually going to gift you our budget
29:52
Speaker 1: and cashually master class after this, so i'd like, once
29:54
Speaker 1: we've done our money, Darry, I'm going to set you
29:55
Speaker 1: up on all of that because I feel like if
29:57
Speaker 1: you don't have a lot of clarity, I feel like
29:59
Speaker 1: my buddy and cash flow like system will actually really
30:02
Speaker 1: help because it sounds like you're good at cash flow planning,
30:04
Speaker 1: but like this is about cash flow planning and projecting,
30:08
Speaker 1: so you're kind of like, this is what we're actually
30:09
Speaker 1: spending in This are the accounts that needs to go into,
30:11
Speaker 1: and I feel like it might be a little bit cleaner,
30:13
Speaker 1: but you and I will talk about that after. That's
30:15
Speaker 1: a side note because I want to know now that
30:18
Speaker 1: we've had this big conversation, and I mean, I did
30:21
Speaker 1: say that i'd start a fight with you, and I'm
30:22
Speaker 1: not going to start a fight with you. That's not
30:24
Speaker 1: who I am. But you said I think I'm a
30:26
Speaker 1: C plus or like a B minus. Hearing all of
30:29
Speaker 1: this back, do you think that's accurate. If you do
30:32
Speaker 1: think it's accurate, why and tell me what it would
30:35
Speaker 1: take to get to like an A or an A plus.
30:38
Speaker 4: Maybe like after talking about it, it's like more in
30:40
Speaker 4: the B range.
30:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would agree.
30:42
Speaker 3: I'm like, you are so good at this, but like
30:45
Speaker 3: I think it's also because I feel like, in particular
30:50
Speaker 3: because I know a lot of people struggle with getting
30:53
Speaker 3: a home and that sort of stuff, and we sort
30:54
Speaker 3: of lucked.
30:56
Speaker 4: Into it into a sort of way, like we didn't
30:58
Speaker 4: really actively try or anything like that. And so I
31:02
Speaker 4: feel like a big financial achievements not really like due
31:07
Speaker 4: to my own effort and that sort of stuff.
31:10
Speaker 1: But slow and steady wins the race. No, yeah, yeah,
31:13
Speaker 1: And I feel like you've got to be in the
31:15
Speaker 1: race to be able to win the race. And you're
31:17
Speaker 1: absolutely in the race. You're just taking a step by
31:19
Speaker 1: step and that's great.
31:21
Speaker 4: Yeah. And so like I think on my active if
31:26
Speaker 4: in my financial journey and stuff like that, like the
31:29
Speaker 4: things that I'm doing for it and stuff like that, Yeah,
31:32
Speaker 4: I'm not doing as much as I want to be
31:35
Speaker 4: doing or like could be doing kind of thing.
31:38
Speaker 1: I totally get it. I feel like we all put
31:40
Speaker 1: so much pressure on ourselves as well, because I know
31:42
Speaker 1: that there are going to be so many people listening
31:44
Speaker 1: to this yelling and being like Marshmallow's mom is so
31:47
Speaker 1: good at money, Like I don't understand what is she doing.
31:51
Speaker 1: But at the same time, there might be people listening
31:53
Speaker 1: to this and going, oh, I totally resonate, like I
31:55
Speaker 1: can do more too, Like I totally you know, feel
31:57
Speaker 1: like that's me and I'm not gonna argue with you.
32:00
Speaker 1: Feel like the B range is absolutely fair if you
32:03
Speaker 1: feel like you've got further to grow. And that's why
32:05
Speaker 1: I always ask it, because I just go, well, you know,
32:08
Speaker 1: what would it take to get from there to an A?
32:10
Speaker 1: And everyone usually has a very good like, oh, well,
32:14
Speaker 1: here are actually a few more goals and a few
32:16
Speaker 1: more things that I would like to achieve so that
32:19
Speaker 1: I feel like an A. And it's not necessarily whether
32:22
Speaker 1: you're operating in an A aspect because like, there's actually
32:25
Speaker 1: no criteria. I don't want to ruin it for you.
32:28
Speaker 1: It's more how you feel about money and do you
32:31
Speaker 1: think you could be doing better or do you think
32:32
Speaker 1: you could you know, be a little bit more relaxed
32:34
Speaker 1: on yourself. And I think you're on the right track.
32:36
Speaker 1: I'm actually so excited for you to, I don't know,
32:39
Speaker 1: live this life. It's just so about lifestyle and happiness
32:43
Speaker 1: and having goats and having chickens and having your dog
32:45
Speaker 1: have all of this space, like you're living the dream.
32:48
Speaker 1: And I think that you've done such an epic job,
32:50
Speaker 1: like going from being in debt you know, getting married
32:53
Speaker 1: so early, being in a great position, getting out of
32:56
Speaker 1: all that debt, and now owning your own home and
32:58
Speaker 1: working towards semi RETI like, what a story money, diarrist Like.
33:03
Speaker 4: I'm definitely proud of our journey, as you should be,
33:07
Speaker 4: because like when we were younger and stuff like, all
33:10
Speaker 4: that sort of stuff definitely put a strain on our relationship,
33:12
Speaker 4: Like it was a big problem for us, and so
33:16
Speaker 4: like dealing with it also, just like dealt with a
33:20
Speaker 4: lot of issues in our relationship and stuff like that.
33:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I love that. And is that something that
33:26
Speaker 1: you feel a little bit more comfortable within your relationship
33:28
Speaker 1: now You're like, no, no, now we're across it, Like we're
33:31
Speaker 1: very comfortable. Now we have a better relationship. Like what
33:34
Speaker 1: could we do if we're in that circumstance back when,
33:37
Speaker 1: I guess money was a lot more of a pressure
33:39
Speaker 1: for you.
33:40
Speaker 4: Well, considering the fact we literally spend all of our
33:44
Speaker 4: time together. Now I would say we've got like a
33:47
Speaker 4: pretty good relationship. We don't really fight anymore. But because
33:51
Speaker 4: we've got all this sort of stuff, it's just it's
33:54
Speaker 4: a lot easier. Like recently, my partner needed an upgrade
33:58
Speaker 4: for his computer because it crashed and stuff like that,
34:01
Speaker 4: and so it was really easy for us to just go, oh, well,
34:04
Speaker 4: we'll just go and buy you some new things. It
34:06
Speaker 4: wasn't really a stress. We didn't have to think about
34:08
Speaker 4: it or anything like that. We didn't have to move
34:10
Speaker 4: money around from this overdraft to that overdraft, and we
34:12
Speaker 4: didn't have to argue about it or anything. So it's
34:16
Speaker 4: definitely put us in a bitter position.
34:18
Speaker 1: I love that so much money Diarist. Unfortunately that is
34:23
Speaker 1: all we have time for today, So thank you so
34:25
Speaker 1: much for being generous with your time and sharing your journey,
34:28
Speaker 1: and I guess being so open. I feel like I've
34:30
Speaker 1: learned a lot. But also I feel like I've made
34:32
Speaker 1: a friend who I can visit in New Zealand, who's
34:34
Speaker 1: going to have goats for me to play with. So
34:36
Speaker 1: I love it. Thank you definitely. The advice shared on
34:46
Speaker 1: She's on the Money is general in nature and does
34:49
Speaker 1: not consider your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists
34:53
Speaker 1: purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon
34:56
Speaker 1: to make an investment or financial decision. If you do
34:59
Speaker 1: too to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD
35:02
Speaker 1: and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria
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