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MONEY DIARIES: A Savings Wizard With Wanderlust · 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.
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Speaker 3: She's on the Money.
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Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
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Speaker 2: for millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another
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Speaker 2: one of our episodes of Money Diaries, where I get
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Speaker 2: the absolute privilege of sitting down with one of our
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Speaker 2: beautiful She's on the Money community members and talk to
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Speaker 2: them all about their journey. Let's jump straight into it,
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Speaker 2: because this week I got a message and it sounded
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Speaker 2: like this, Hi Ve. I grew up in a very
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Speaker 2: low socioeconomic single parent home and always had to be
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Speaker 2: very independent in life and finances. Now at twenty nine.
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Speaker 2: I have a degree, work as a singer, songwriter and
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Speaker 2: freelancer in social media, PR journalism, marketing, and have backpacked
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Speaker 2: to forty four plus countries, usually for four months every year.
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Speaker 2: What a dream. In twenty twenty four, I'm planning more
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Speaker 2: travel and to buy a house with my partner. We've
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Speaker 2: been long distance for five years. I'm not perfect or rich,
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Speaker 2: but my number one priority is flexibility in independence, and
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Speaker 2: I would love to share my story. What that's so cool?
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Speaker 4: Thank you.
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Speaker 2: Let's start the show as I always do. What grade
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Speaker 2: would you give your money habits if I asked you
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Speaker 2: to give them a grade from A through to F.
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Speaker 5: I thought long and hard about this. I'm very proud
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Speaker 5: of like how far I've come, but I still think
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Speaker 5: I've got a long way to go, especially some of
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Speaker 5: the goals that I've set myself in the future. So
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Speaker 5: I'm sitting on a C plus at the moment.
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Speaker 2: Oh is C plus? Let's learn more about that. But first,
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Speaker 2: I feel like you have a super interesting money story,
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Speaker 2: so let's dive in. Can you tell me more about it?
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Speaker 4: Sure?
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Speaker 5: Yeah, I said of my intro, I grew up in
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Speaker 5: a really low socioeconomic country, upbringing in a little, tiny
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Speaker 5: two bedroom house with a single mom, and you know,
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Speaker 5: it was a very basic like no TV, no broadband,
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Speaker 5: no phone reception, like really just basic living.
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Speaker 2: Were we And how old are you now?
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Speaker 4: I've just ten thirty, right, perfect?
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Speaker 5: And yeah, my mum was like an amazing mother, but
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Speaker 5: she just didn't have a lot of the skills herself
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Speaker 5: when it came to like mindset or finances and things
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Speaker 5: like that to instill some of the in us that
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Speaker 5: I've had to learn along the way. So I think
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Speaker 5: a lot of my childhood was in like that real
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Speaker 5: survival mode financially, and then I guess that really pushed
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Speaker 5: me to become very independent from an early age. So
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Speaker 5: I started working my first job at eleven.
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Speaker 4: Eleven, Yeah, I was just a baby. I was assembling
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Speaker 4: hundreds of these little window washers. Yeah.
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Speaker 5: And then got my first like normal job at fourteen
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Speaker 5: when I was legally able to, and then worked my
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Speaker 5: way up until I finished school.
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Speaker 4: Moved out really quickly at seventeen as soon as I.
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Speaker 5: Finished school and moved to the city, and then all
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Speaker 5: through that that time, I'd started building on becoming a
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Speaker 5: musician because that was what I wanted to do. So
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Speaker 5: I started gigging professionally at around fifteen, and as I
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Speaker 5: started to bring in a bit of income from that
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Speaker 5: and also work my other job, I was able to
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Speaker 5: pay for my own school fees and all of my
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Speaker 5: extracurricular stuff. Everything that I needed to pay for was
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Speaker 5: from my bank account basically, except for food and rent
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Speaker 5: and stuff from my mum.
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Speaker 4: I actually was very lucky kind of through my life.
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Speaker 5: After I finished school and even towards the end of
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Speaker 5: high school, I had like these really close family friends
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Speaker 5: of mine who were our neighbors growing up, and they
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Speaker 5: really instilled a lot of really different mindsets into me.
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Speaker 5: And they were actually the first people who took me
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Speaker 5: traveling at sixteen with their family, and that helped me
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Speaker 5: fall in love with traveling.
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Speaker 2: Oh wow, how cool is that?
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Speaker 5: Yeah, really big step in my journey. And then yeah,
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Speaker 5: so seventeen, moved out to home, started working. Thought I
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Speaker 5: was going to like hit it big, you know, working
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Speaker 5: a real big, grown up job, and then was on
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Speaker 5: like nine dollars thirty an hour in retail.
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Speaker 4: It was so depressing.
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Speaker 5: You do feel like it's big at that point, right,
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Speaker 5: you do, But like looking back, you know, forty hours
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Speaker 5: a week for four hundred dollars.
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Speaker 2: You just go, wow, where are those people now who
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Speaker 2: are willing to accept that? Because like, we would have
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Speaker 2: a bigger business if that was the case.
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Speaker 4: I think everyone would hit no, yeah, we all we'll
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Speaker 4: be working hard.
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Speaker 5: And then I basically had a big shake up at nineteen.
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Speaker 5: A lot of stuff happened in my life and that
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Speaker 5: really made me like reconsider what I was doing with myself.
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Speaker 5: And that's when I really started going into music a
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Speaker 5: lot more fully and started gigging solo, which made it
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Speaker 5: a lot easier for me to pick up a lot
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Speaker 5: of gigs. And I also started studying as well, so
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Speaker 5: I did bachelor's in communications, majoring in journalism and public relations,
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Speaker 5: and I did that all online as well, through open universities,
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Speaker 5: So that was really easy to fit around all my
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Speaker 5: other jobs that I was doing and traveling and stuff
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Speaker 5: as well.
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Speaker 2: How good is that? How did you find open universities?
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Speaker 2: While I was studying, there a few people doing like
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Speaker 2: the OUA stuff through the same course that I was doing,
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Speaker 2: and I'd never heard of it before, and now I'm
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Speaker 2: like the biggest fan.
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Speaker 5: It's hard to say because I've never done a degree
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Speaker 5: in person. So I don't know what the difference in,
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Speaker 5: you know, the education.
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Speaker 2: Part of it is not much as someone who went
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Speaker 2: to r MIT and had people in the same class
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Speaker 2: doing OUA and I was like, wait, it's the same.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, I guess. The only thing for me was like
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Speaker 5: that it is quite isolating. So you know, everyone has
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Speaker 5: these really good relationships that they formed through UNI and
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Speaker 5: like experiences that they had and long holidays and stuff,
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Speaker 5: whereas the OUA was, you know, less subjects at a time,
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Speaker 5: but you never had any holidays.
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Speaker 4: So I did two subjects at a.
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Speaker 5: Time, but for semester zy, so it was just back
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Speaker 5: to back to back study.
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Speaker 2: But you got it done, got it done in the
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Speaker 2: three years.
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Speaker 3: Yeah.
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Speaker 5: And then I also, like all of my UNI memories
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Speaker 5: are like working until, you know, three in the morning
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Speaker 5: to finish my assignment and then getting up at five
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Speaker 5: to start a job at an animal shelter that I
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Speaker 5: was working at at the time.
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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, an animal shelter.
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Speaker 4: I thought you might like, yeah.
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Speaker 2: If nothing, I am predictable, So tell me about that.
6:22
Speaker 2: Because I also saw behind you, which obviously this is
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Speaker 2: an audio podcast, I saw some little ears before and
6:28
Speaker 2: I wanted to interrupt to be like, who's that, But
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Speaker 2: that's not appropriate.
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Speaker 4: Sometimes I'll tell you her name at the end. She's
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Speaker 4: very cute.
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Speaker 5: She's my little tried enjoy dog and she's amazing. But
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Speaker 5: she's from the shelter and I worked there. I volunteered
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Speaker 5: for a year, and then I worked there for three
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Speaker 5: years as an animal attendant with mostly the dogs, which
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Speaker 5: was a really big part. This is around twenty you know,
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Speaker 5: when I was reshuffling, I was studying, I was gigging
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Speaker 5: on the weekends, and I was doing this job at
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Speaker 5: the animal shelter. And it was like an amazing transformative
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Speaker 5: part of my life working there and getting to kind
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Speaker 5: of know all about animal welfare and everything.
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Speaker 4: And so yeah, she was six when I got her.
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Speaker 2: How did you know? Take them all home?
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Speaker 5: I fostered a lot again audio, but you can see
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Speaker 5: the pictures behind me.
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Speaker 4: They're my foster babies, my favorites.
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Speaker 2: I wondered who they were. She's got a beautiful, like
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Speaker 2: gallery wall of pets behind her, and I was like,
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Speaker 2: surely then all hers they were at soboy, how sweet.
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Speaker 5: I urge anyone who loves animals to, you know, go
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Speaker 5: and volunteer at an animal shelter if they have time,
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Speaker 5: because it's such a rewarding part of life to go
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Speaker 5: and like health animals.
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Speaker 2: I adore it. So that was you at twenty, that
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Speaker 2: was me.
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Speaker 4: At twenty did that for a few years.
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Speaker 5: You know, a lot of the time working in that industry,
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Speaker 5: it's common to get kind of a bit of burnout. Yeah,
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Speaker 5: they sometimes they call it compassion fatigue. And it's also
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Speaker 5: very physical. It's all those things. So I was definitely
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Speaker 5: ready to have a bit of a trip. And I'd
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Speaker 5: been at that point, like solo backpacking about a month
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Speaker 5: at a time whenever I could, mostly to Asian countries,
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Speaker 5: and I felt like I was ready when I was
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Speaker 5: about twenty three to go on with as big trips.
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Speaker 4: So I went to Europe for four months.
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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, and yeah.
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Speaker 5: It was so amazing and like definitely the cheapest budget
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Speaker 5: trip ever.
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Speaker 2: I was about to say, how much should that cost you?
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Speaker 5: I mean, this is why I so wanted to talk
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Speaker 5: to you, because I had such trouble costing up trips
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Speaker 5: when I was talking to people, and I found it
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Speaker 5: like really hard because some people would spend twenty thousand
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Speaker 5: dollars in six weeks and some people would spend five
8:11
Speaker 5: thousand dollars and six weeks, and you're.
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Speaker 4: Like, well, how am I meant to know?
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Speaker 5: So I kept a really detailed list of literally every
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Speaker 5: dollar I spent, and on that trip, I spent eleven
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Speaker 5: and a half thousand dollars for four months, including my flights,
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Speaker 5: my travel insurance, Like every dollar I spent on the
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Speaker 5: trip before or after I left.
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Speaker 2: Tell me, was that like a really frugal trip? Like,
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Speaker 2: obviously it's so hard to cost up. I get it,
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Speaker 2: like any holiday I've ever been on, I'm like trying
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Speaker 2: to benchmarket, but you go against what, like against other
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Speaker 2: people's decisions, Like you were backpacking, Obviously that's a budget
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Speaker 2: friendly option, but like what were you eating? What were
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Speaker 2: you doing during the day? Like how did that work?
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Speaker 5: The first trip to Europe, I used a company called
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Speaker 5: bus About, which will come into the story a bit
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Speaker 5: later actually, and that company is basically like a year
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Speaker 5: hour pass almost all around Europe. I don't think it
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Speaker 5: exists anymore after COVID, but you you basically hop on
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Speaker 5: and off the buses all around Europe and you could
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Speaker 5: just hop on and off every second day.
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Speaker 4: To wherever you wanted.
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Speaker 5: So that pass was like, I don't know, twelve hundred
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Speaker 5: dollars or whatever, but that covered the whole season.
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Speaker 4: Of travel through Europe.
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Speaker 2: Oh wow.
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Speaker 5: And then once you're like dropped off inner city, you
9:14
Speaker 5: just do whatever you want to do. But it's a
9:15
Speaker 5: good way to meet people too, like, because you're on
9:17
Speaker 5: the bus often with other travelers and stuff, and it's
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Speaker 5: pretty social.
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Speaker 4: So I use that half the trip I was actually CouchSurfing.
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Speaker 2: Oh very cool.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, so that was a bit of a different way
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Speaker 5: to do it, staying with strangers on their couches, sometimes
9:29
Speaker 5: in their spare rooms, sometimes on a mattress on the
9:31
Speaker 5: floor whatever.
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Speaker 4: And to me, that's like Airbnb but free.
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Speaker 5: So they would kind of offer up whatever they had
9:36
Speaker 5: and they would tell you, you know, roughly what you'd be
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Speaker 5: sleeping on and where it would be and all that
9:40
Speaker 5: kind of stuff. And you could read all their reviews
9:42
Speaker 5: to make sure they felt safe and reliable and stuff.
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Speaker 2: I was about to say, as a young female, how
9:49
Speaker 2: did you feel comfortable CouchSurfing through a foreign country, because
9:54
Speaker 2: that gives me insane amounts of anxiety.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, I felt very comfortable as long as I could
9:59
Speaker 5: just read the reviews were all very positive. And stuff, like,
10:01
Speaker 5: you know, if they had hundreds of reviews saying that
10:03
Speaker 5: they were the nicest person ever whatever. I felt like
10:05
Speaker 5: very comfortable. But there was a couple that I didn't
10:07
Speaker 5: actually ever stay with, but they looked super dodgy, So
10:10
Speaker 5: you just kind of dodge those. And I think the
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Speaker 5: biggest tip I have for any like solo female backpacker
10:15
Speaker 5: especially is just always have enough money that you never desperate.
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Speaker 4: To stay in a situation.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, so smart.
10:20
Speaker 4: You know.
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Speaker 5: I did have one where I was about to arrive
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Speaker 5: and the guy went like, oh, hey, by the way,
10:24
Speaker 5: I can't find my spam mattress. All good if you
10:26
Speaker 5: sleep in my bed, And I was like, nope, absolutely not.
10:29
Speaker 5: Like I'm booking the first hotel room. I see, that's fine.
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Speaker 2: So worries you're a creep. That's weird, so weird you're
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Speaker 2: giving me the ixer.
10:38
Speaker 4: But everyone else was so nice.
10:39
Speaker 5: I had people that had like Center of Barcelona, whole
10:42
Speaker 5: guest room, my own key to come and go, Like
10:44
Speaker 5: it was amazing, and it was free.
10:47
Speaker 2: That's so wild.
10:49
Speaker 5: Yeah, this beautiful cultural exchange too, because they're doing something lovely.
10:52
Speaker 5: The way that they explained it as hosts was that
10:53
Speaker 5: you were helping them travel when they can't travel themselves.
10:57
Speaker 2: Oh that's so sweet.
10:58
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's like bringing the travelers to them and also
11:01
Speaker 5: getting this excitement about their own city that they don't
11:03
Speaker 5: often have unless someone is coming.
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Speaker 2: Oh that's so sweet. I was literally just thinking in
11:07
Speaker 2: the back of my head, like I wonder what the
11:09
Speaker 2: value exchanged there is, because like, I don't know how
11:12
Speaker 2: comfortable I would be having just random people sleeping in
11:15
Speaker 2: my spare room, but each to their own. And it
11:18
Speaker 2: makes a lot more sense when you're like, oh, they
11:20
Speaker 2: get a lot out of it too. I was like, okay, yeah,
11:22
Speaker 2: that seems legit.
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Speaker 4: Yeah.
11:24
Speaker 5: I think couch theffing maybe isn't the community it used
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Speaker 5: to be. I think it's switched to another platform now
11:28
Speaker 5: that's more what couch theffing used to be, because I
11:30
Speaker 5: think couchsurfing's turned a bit more into Tinder now.
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Speaker 2: No, not ideal.
11:34
Speaker 4: So I did that. I stayed in the hostels.
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Speaker 5: I just traveled super cheaply, you know, walked everywhere, you know,
11:39
Speaker 5: ate out a little bit, but mostly kind of just
11:40
Speaker 5: like cooked at the hostel or whatever. But it allowed
11:42
Speaker 5: me to go for four months through twenty two countries.
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Speaker 5: And have the best time.
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Speaker 2: That is so cool. I can't believe it was only
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Speaker 2: eleven and a half thousand dollars, Like, are you very kidding?
11:53
Speaker 2: So what happened after that? You get back after a
11:55
Speaker 2: four month massive trip?
11:57
Speaker 4: This is wild?
11:58
Speaker 5: So then I got back from that tree. But as
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Speaker 5: I said, it was that travel company bus About. I
12:02
Speaker 5: was back for a few months. Then I went to
12:04
Speaker 5: Hawaii with my partner at the time, and then literally
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Speaker 5: fun out with like four weeks. Notice that bus About
12:10
Speaker 5: had actually chosen me for this like worldwide competition that
12:13
Speaker 5: they put forward.
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Speaker 2: No, they hadn't.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, it was a search for four different content creators
12:18
Speaker 5: to make what they called the ultimate travel Squad.
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Speaker 2: So they like, and you made the squad.
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Speaker 4: I made the squad. So I was put on as
12:24
Speaker 4: the blogger.
12:24
Speaker 5: And then I was sent over with this company to
12:27
Speaker 5: travel for another three and a half months with three
12:30
Speaker 5: strangers a girl from America, two guys from New Zealand.
12:33
Speaker 5: And they sent me on this like all expenses paid
12:36
Speaker 5: them to create content.
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Speaker 2: Ye what how much was that worth? You have to
12:40
Speaker 2: tell me?
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Speaker 4: Well, I guess it would be worth probably about twenty
12:43
Speaker 4: grand or so.
12:44
Speaker 2: It was nicer than CouchSurfing.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, it was a bit of an upgrade for me,
12:48
Speaker 5: and we got paid about fifteen hundred US, and obviously
12:51
Speaker 5: we got like a per dem of about fifty euros
12:53
Speaker 5: a day.
12:53
Speaker 4: I think, or thirty euros a day to fifty dollars.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, but like I would take that to be able
12:57
Speaker 2: to travel. Ye're like yep, norries, oh and I'm getting paid.
13:01
Speaker 4: Yeah, So that allowed me to travel again.
13:02
Speaker 5: So you can imagine after I got back from that,
13:04
Speaker 5: I was like so addicted to traveling and so experienced
13:08
Speaker 5: at that point of like having gone to a lot
13:10
Speaker 5: of Asian countries and a lot of Europe at that point.
13:12
Speaker 5: But then I thought I might as well come back
13:13
Speaker 5: and like finally finish my degree and get into my
13:16
Speaker 5: industry that I've been studying. So I did a little
13:18
Speaker 5: bit of work, and I worked in PR and marketing
13:22
Speaker 5: and social media in like the music and entertainment industries
13:25
Speaker 5: because that's obviously my background. So I started working for free,
13:28
Speaker 5: and then I got my foot in the door with
13:30
Speaker 5: this really great boutique agency and basically worked my way
13:33
Speaker 5: up for a few years, and then COVID came, and.
13:37
Speaker 2: That really doesn't help in that industry, nor does it
13:40
Speaker 2: help you thrive traveling or is the singer no, no, no, no,
13:44
Speaker 2: you're out for the count.
13:45
Speaker 1: Yeah.
13:45
Speaker 5: When they were saying that you felt really like disposable
13:48
Speaker 5: in multiple industries, I was like, yeah, all the industries,
13:50
Speaker 5: I feel very disposable.
13:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, every single one of them.
13:54
Speaker 5: Yes, So COVID came. It was obviously really tough to
13:57
Speaker 5: be any of those industries. I stayed on job keeper
14:00
Speaker 5: with my employer so I could at least continue working.
14:02
Speaker 5: We didn't have the same type of work obviously, there
14:05
Speaker 5: weren't any festivals or events or artists touring or anything,
14:08
Speaker 5: but we did some like online coaching and different things
14:10
Speaker 5: to keep busy. Yeah, long story short, that kind of
14:13
Speaker 5: finished up naturally, and I started my own business. And
14:16
Speaker 5: I also got a bunch of like grant funding around
14:18
Speaker 5: that time too, which is something I want to talk
14:20
Speaker 5: to a lot of the musicians about as well, because
14:22
Speaker 5: that is definitely something that we can harness as artists
14:25
Speaker 5: and as gigs started to pick up and stuff that
14:27
Speaker 5: obviously really helped as well. And there was a lot
14:29
Speaker 5: of like online gigs and things like that as well
14:33
Speaker 5: that sustained musicians through COVID, which was really helpful. But
14:37
Speaker 5: then yeah, started my own business, worked my butt off
14:39
Speaker 5: for quite a while, and I also got this really
14:41
Speaker 5: amazing job on a feature film, working really hardcore for
14:44
Speaker 5: about a year on a big Hollywood blockbuster that was
14:47
Speaker 5: in my area, doing all the social media.
14:50
Speaker 2: Oh how fancy.
14:52
Speaker 5: Yeah that was amazing. Another amazing like bucket list thing
14:55
Speaker 5: that I didn't see.
14:55
Speaker 4: Pop up, so cool.
14:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeap.
14:58
Speaker 5: After that, I was very burnt out, and I went
15:00
Speaker 5: again to Europe for four months, and that was a
15:03
Speaker 5: fifteen thousand dollar trip.
15:04
Speaker 4: I did all the costs of that too for you go,
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Speaker 4: and that was.
15:09
Speaker 5: Again just like hostels and yeah, just like doing overnight
15:12
Speaker 5: buses and staying with a friend of mine who's over there,
15:15
Speaker 5: who like I nanned for her child in France for
15:18
Speaker 5: a little while while I was there for a few weeks,
15:20
Speaker 5: and that obviously cut out accommodation and everything.
15:22
Speaker 2: Your life is so much more fun than mine.
15:24
Speaker 5: I'm sorry this is a bit long, but like I
15:25
Speaker 5: feel like they're all kind of stepping stones to the
15:28
Speaker 5: bits and pieces.
15:29
Speaker 2: No, this is the best.
15:31
Speaker 4: So then that happened. That was an amazing four months trip.
15:34
Speaker 5: And then I got home and I've been yeah, focusing
15:36
Speaker 5: on you know, music and doing a bunch of like
15:38
Speaker 5: social media freelancing work, which is now what I mostly do.
15:42
Speaker 5: And I've also just picked up another thing which is
15:43
Speaker 5: great as well for artists. I've started doing a bit
15:46
Speaker 5: of like ndis support work.
15:48
Speaker 2: Oh, very cool because it is like.
15:49
Speaker 5: The most flexible job out there for people who need
15:54
Speaker 5: like to work during the day because obviously a lot
15:56
Speaker 5: of musicians used to work in hospitality, but that is
15:59
Speaker 5: a lot of the time on nights and weekends, so
16:01
Speaker 5: it's never really worked for me to work in and
16:03
Speaker 5: so I found this this is like a really great
16:04
Speaker 5: means to an End's cool.
16:06
Speaker 2: And you get to like enjoy the time. And I
16:09
Speaker 2: am making a grand assumption having spoken to you for
16:12
Speaker 2: what the last twenty minutes, that would nourish you a lot,
16:15
Speaker 2: having come from like an animal shelter and been this
16:18
Speaker 2: really empathetic human being, I just feel like you would
16:20
Speaker 2: love that role.
16:21
Speaker 4: It was great.
16:22
Speaker 5: I really really enjoy it and it was such a
16:24
Speaker 5: good Yeah, I thing to find that also gets me
16:26
Speaker 5: off a computer because again that like burnout through a
16:29
Speaker 5: lot of like my own freelance work alongside this FETA
16:32
Speaker 5: film job was just screens. Literally from the moment I
16:34
Speaker 5: work up to the moment I went to sleep door
16:36
Speaker 5: and that was so draining. So having this where you're
16:39
Speaker 5: like out and about in the community and it's very
16:41
Speaker 5: human focused and it's very enriching.
16:43
Speaker 4: I really enjoy it.
16:44
Speaker 5: It's not like my forever career, but I really love
16:47
Speaker 5: it as a supplement to all the other things that I.
16:48
Speaker 2: Do one hundred percent. So now you've started during business,
16:53
Speaker 2: you're doing six million things. You have the most colorful life.
16:56
Speaker 2: I love it. I want to ask you about your income,
16:59
Speaker 2: but I'm real pervy too. You said in your letter
17:02
Speaker 2: in that you've been long distance with your partner, which
17:04
Speaker 2: is very, very exciting. You want to buy a house
17:06
Speaker 2: together and clearly settled down. How did you meet your
17:10
Speaker 2: partner and how did you get away with all of
17:12
Speaker 2: these massive trips without them?
17:15
Speaker 4: We actually met, really cute story. We met on that
17:19
Speaker 4: trip over in Europe.
17:20
Speaker 2: I was hoping you would say something like that.
17:23
Speaker 5: Yes, he was friends with some of the people I
17:24
Speaker 5: got paired with. So we met in Holland, and yeah,
17:27
Speaker 5: our story started over there. But he's wonderful and he
17:31
Speaker 5: because he's in healthcare, he actually prefers to go and
17:33
Speaker 5: work regionally, so he's like the kind of only one
17:36
Speaker 5: in town rather than one of many in a city,
17:38
Speaker 5: even though he's not from Australia. Originally we've been long distance,
17:41
Speaker 5: mostly within Australia, but he's been in these regional areas
17:43
Speaker 5: and obviously COVID then did not help because we just
17:45
Speaker 5: couldn't see each other for like six months at a
17:47
Speaker 5: time with border closures and stuff. But yeah, so it's
17:49
Speaker 5: actually allowed me to travel a lot of Australia to
17:51
Speaker 5: be with him. Often being so regional, it was cheaper
17:53
Speaker 5: to go somewhere else, like maybe meet in Cambodia or
17:57
Speaker 5: somewhere else than go to his place. So we've done
17:59
Speaker 5: a lot of traveling to get and he's very accepting
18:01
Speaker 5: of my independence and life.
18:03
Speaker 4: Yeah.
18:04
Speaker 2: How good. I was like, how did this work? Because,
18:07
Speaker 2: like you said, you had a partner. She's pointing at
18:09
Speaker 2: her engagement ring, which I obviously noticed because low key
18:13
Speaker 2: it's massive, and so now you're getting married and buying
18:16
Speaker 2: a house together.
18:18
Speaker 4: Yeah that's the plan.
18:19
Speaker 2: How cute? So tell me. Obviously we know you do
18:22
Speaker 2: some NDIS support worker stuff. You're obviously a singer songwriter
18:26
Speaker 2: and a freelancer in social media. How much money are
18:29
Speaker 2: you earning for all of this?
18:30
Speaker 5: Okay, so it's quite variable obviously because of COVID and
18:34
Speaker 5: traveling and all that kind of stuff.
18:35
Speaker 4: So I broke it down as a singer songwriter.
18:37
Speaker 5: I kind of have my day job version of that,
18:39
Speaker 5: which is like the typical cover gigs where I do
18:41
Speaker 5: play my original music, but it's like at bars, restaurants,
18:44
Speaker 5: music venus and stuff. Corporate stuff is quite a big
18:46
Speaker 5: money earner in that. And then there's the original side,
18:48
Speaker 5: which is like you know, the artist side of releasing
18:51
Speaker 5: and grants and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, the
18:53
Speaker 5: PR marketing social media side is mostly freelance and occasionally
18:57
Speaker 5: contracts work like within a business, and then they're just
19:00
Speaker 5: ability is like thirty two dollars an.
19:01
Speaker 4: Hour roughly casual. So I usually earn between sixty to
19:05
Speaker 4: one hundred thousand dollars a year.
19:07
Speaker 2: Oh that's variable, hey.
19:09
Speaker 4: Very variable. And that's like twenty twenty one.
19:11
Speaker 5: Obviously, with COVID it was like fifty five thousand, roughly
19:14
Speaker 5: half half music and half of my other freelance work.
19:17
Speaker 5: Twenty one twenty two was one hundred and fifteen thousand.
19:21
Speaker 5: That was sixty thousand music and then again roughly half half.
19:25
Speaker 2: I love that as a singer songwriter, you're earning a
19:28
Speaker 2: good wage too, like sixty grand to do what you
19:31
Speaker 2: love like. Ah, that makes me so happy because so
19:33
Speaker 2: many times people who you know are in that space,
19:37
Speaker 2: they earn nothing, and they don't get the I guess
19:40
Speaker 2: credit that they deserve and all the work that they deserve.
19:43
Speaker 2: And there's this expectation in that industry that you'll work
19:46
Speaker 2: for free, right, and it's ridiculous.
19:50
Speaker 4: Yeah, don't get me wrong.
19:51
Speaker 5: I have definitely done my gigs for either free or
19:53
Speaker 5: like literally silver start somewhere.
19:55
Speaker 4: Yeah.
19:55
Speaker 5: I think that now, diversifying through like the kind of
19:59
Speaker 5: day job side and and the original artist side is
20:01
Speaker 5: really important to me.
20:02
Speaker 4: And a lot of artists have their own opinions on that.
20:04
Speaker 5: But for me, if I'm going to work a day
20:05
Speaker 5: job anyway, why wouldn't it be playing a gig anyway?
20:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, and getting some exposure, getting some more experience doing
20:11
Speaker 2: something you love, Like.
20:12
Speaker 5: I honestly see that as paid practice, And why wouldn't
20:14
Speaker 5: I just do that?
20:15
Speaker 4: You know?
20:15
Speaker 2: I love it?
20:16
Speaker 5: Okay, So twenty two twenty three, I earned just like
20:19
Speaker 5: around sixty thousand. Almost all that was music, but I
20:21
Speaker 5: did travel for five months.
20:23
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that does get in the way of earning
20:25
Speaker 2: an income, I've heard.
20:26
Speaker 4: Yeah.
20:27
Speaker 5: And then this year though, I've made about thirty five
20:29
Speaker 5: thousand in the first four months, which is when I
20:31
Speaker 5: calculated this, So I'm on track for about ninety.
20:33
Speaker 4: Thousand this year.
20:34
Speaker 2: Oh very nice.
20:35
Speaker 4: Yeah, so that's a bit of a mix of everything. Really.
20:38
Speaker 5: That was twenty thousand music, five and a half thousand
20:41
Speaker 5: of the NDAs work, and then four thousand freelance.
20:43
Speaker 2: How good. Such a perfey breakdown as well. Thank you.
20:47
Speaker 2: I really appreciate it.
20:48
Speaker 4: I thought you'd enjoy it.
20:49
Speaker 2: I don't love it, you said in your letter in
20:52
Speaker 2: obviously you're planning to buy a house. You didn't tell
20:54
Speaker 2: me that you were engaged, though, So tell me a
20:58
Speaker 2: bit more about these big money goals are we currently
21:00
Speaker 2: working towards.
21:02
Speaker 5: So I've got a fair bit of savings. I've got
21:04
Speaker 5: about I don't know if you want me to go
21:06
Speaker 5: into this already, but.
21:07
Speaker 2: If you're willing to share what's in your savings account,
21:09
Speaker 2: we are all listening.
21:11
Speaker 5: So I've got about like forty six thousand in savings.
21:14
Speaker 2: How are you doing this you money with it, like
21:17
Speaker 2: you're doing all these troops, you're earning epic income like
21:20
Speaker 2: twenty two to twenty three. Oh no, Biggie made sixty
21:22
Speaker 2: grand traveled for five months, like you are living the dream.
21:27
Speaker 5: Well, I was gonna say in my Best Money Habits section,
21:29
Speaker 5: but like I honestly just think it's about like working
21:31
Speaker 5: really really hard when you're home and living really cheaply,
21:34
Speaker 5: and then traveling really cheaply, And that's how I do it. Yeah,
21:37
Speaker 5: I mean I am obviously lucky when it comes to
21:39
Speaker 5: loans and things. My partner is a healthcare professional working regionally,
21:42
Speaker 5: so he and I would be eligible for a higher
21:45
Speaker 5: ability to get a mortgage.
21:47
Speaker 4: I think through his opportunity.
21:48
Speaker 2: You're probably gonna not have to pay l amine. You
21:51
Speaker 2: would probably get a mortgage for a ten percent deposit,
21:54
Speaker 2: which is very sexy.
21:55
Speaker 4: Yes, that's what we've listening to. Obviously.
21:57
Speaker 5: That's an advantage from just being with him, although caveat
22:00
Speaker 5: he was totally broken and we got together so.
22:03
Speaker 2: Well, you've got a thing or two to teach it.
22:04
Speaker 5: We built that up together, like we've built this up
22:07
Speaker 5: from the ground up for the last six years, adore.
22:09
Speaker 5: So there's forty six thousand dollars of savings. I've got
22:13
Speaker 5: about three thousand dollars kind of in my various other accounts,
22:16
Speaker 5: and I've got a tax account where I just put
22:18
Speaker 5: like thirty percent of any invoice that I haven't already
22:20
Speaker 5: paid tax on.
22:21
Speaker 2: It's so smart.
22:22
Speaker 5: Through the NDAES, I go through an agency, so they
22:24
Speaker 5: take tax out already, but everything else I just put
22:26
Speaker 5: thirty percent away.
22:27
Speaker 2: Especially in a gig economy, having that account is so
22:30
Speaker 2: smart because so many of us just forget it or
22:33
Speaker 2: say we'll do it later. And then tax time comes
22:35
Speaker 2: and you're like so overwhelmed, so anxious and crippled because
22:38
Speaker 2: you're like, well, where am I going to get this money?
22:40
Speaker 4: Well, and that's the thing.
22:41
Speaker 5: I never used to think about it, and so I'd
22:43
Speaker 5: kind of look at my savings and be like, wow,
22:45
Speaker 5: I've got all this money. Who And then I'd get
22:46
Speaker 5: my tax bill and I'd be like, oh, crap, there's
22:49
Speaker 5: ten thousand dollars taken out already or whatever.
22:50
Speaker 2: It is, So well lucky you had it in savings.
22:53
Speaker 2: So many people don't have it in savings. They just
22:56
Speaker 2: spend it and then go, oh, oh, now I've got
22:58
Speaker 2: a tax debt I can't pay, and that just gives
23:01
Speaker 2: me mad anxiety.
23:02
Speaker 5: I think that comes from my upbringing though, like I'm
23:05
Speaker 5: terrified of living week to week. I live very below
23:07
Speaker 5: my means, and you know, even all the travel and
23:10
Speaker 5: stuff is very cheap and thought out. Also, while I
23:13
Speaker 5: go away, I sustain my whole life at home. So
23:15
Speaker 5: I have a dog, I have my rent that I'm
23:16
Speaker 5: still paying, my car, my phone bill, everything still gets
23:19
Speaker 5: paid for at home, as well as me traveling, so
23:21
Speaker 5: I'm not like packing up and going and having nothing
23:23
Speaker 5: at home.
23:24
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. So you've got some savings, you're planning
23:27
Speaker 2: on purchasing a home? Any other big money goals?
23:29
Speaker 4: Yes? Just a trip overseas again this year.
23:32
Speaker 2: I didn't see that coming from me. Travele. Wow.
23:35
Speaker 4: Yeah, because it was my thirtieth.
23:36
Speaker 5: My partner has actually gifted me the flights, so that's our.
23:40
Speaker 2: Oh thank you, sir, What a good present.
23:43
Speaker 4: He knows how to win me over for sure. I
23:46
Speaker 4: like it.
23:46
Speaker 2: Maybe you should consider marrying him.
23:48
Speaker 4: I think, I say, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.
23:50
Speaker 2: Great, let's go to a really quick break. On the
23:52
Speaker 2: flip side. I want to know more about your investments,
23:55
Speaker 2: your thoughts, on debt and your best and worst money habits.
23:57
Speaker 2: So don't go anywhere, all right, money diris. So we
24:04
Speaker 2: are back and I want to know your thoughts on investing.
24:07
Speaker 2: I feel like you've got so much going on at
24:09
Speaker 2: the moment. So if you said, oh, I haven't thought
24:12
Speaker 2: about it, I'd be like, yeah, cause you've got six
24:14
Speaker 2: million things on. But what are your thoughts on investments?
24:17
Speaker 2: If you're investing already, what in? And if you're not investing,
24:20
Speaker 2: do you have a plan?
24:21
Speaker 4: Yeah?
24:22
Speaker 5: So that's something that I definitely marked myself down on
24:25
Speaker 5: because I think even my mindset around investing is very
24:28
Speaker 5: scaredy cat.
24:29
Speaker 2: So that's okay, we all start there, I promise.
24:33
Speaker 5: Like it really does kind of terrify me to put
24:34
Speaker 5: my money into something that I could lose. Even buying
24:36
Speaker 5: a property, it's taken a lot of convincing on my
24:39
Speaker 5: partner's behalf to be like, let's just do it, you know.
24:41
Speaker 5: So that's something that I don't have a lot of
24:43
Speaker 5: money in, Like I have my super I don't have
24:45
Speaker 5: a lot of super And that's another thing I marked
24:47
Speaker 5: myself down on.
24:48
Speaker 4: I've only got like eleven thousand.
24:49
Speaker 2: Sorry, you're in the gig economy.
24:51
Speaker 5: Yeah, but I don't pay myself super. That's something that
24:53
Speaker 5: I need to get into.
24:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was about to say, we probably need to
24:57
Speaker 2: talk about being self employed and paying ourselves super. But
25:00
Speaker 2: also you're not that far behind. Lots of people are
25:03
Speaker 2: in that circumstance.
25:04
Speaker 4: Well.
25:04
Speaker 5: I also, and don't judge me for this. I got
25:07
Speaker 5: some bad advice during COVID and I actually did pull
25:09
Speaker 5: out twelve thousand. Probably didn't need to at the time,
25:11
Speaker 5: like it would have probably gone a lot further had
25:13
Speaker 5: I left it in, but I didn't know any better,
25:15
Speaker 5: so I pulled it out at the time.
25:16
Speaker 2: So that's so fine. I feel like so many of
25:19
Speaker 2: us did that. And also when you're like no judgment,
25:21
Speaker 2: I'm like, when have I ever judged people and their
25:23
Speaker 2: money behaviors? Like if I laid all mine out, you'd
25:26
Speaker 2: be like, oh, pot calling kettle black, No worries. I
25:30
Speaker 2: didn't do that, But I've done some money things that
25:33
Speaker 2: I'm not so proud of. In hindsight, I.
25:35
Speaker 4: Hadn't started listening to you very much at that point,
25:37
Speaker 4: I guess. Yeah, so I got that.
25:40
Speaker 5: And then I've just got small assets like my car,
25:42
Speaker 5: my music equipment, which is worth like several thousand dollars
25:44
Speaker 5: but no heats. And then I've got like little tiny
25:47
Speaker 5: bits of money. I think I put five hundred dollars
25:48
Speaker 5: into again crypto when someone told me to, and I
25:51
Speaker 5: think I've got like one hundred dollars in the chaisias,
25:54
Speaker 5: and so I don't really put much thought into those things.
25:56
Speaker 2: Oh see, you are investing, like.
25:59
Speaker 4: Oh, but literally enough yet so not consistently okay.
26:02
Speaker 2: But like one hundred dollars in charesis is so much
26:04
Speaker 2: more than most people who say they're a scaredy cat
26:07
Speaker 2: about investing. I like that you've taken the first step,
26:10
Speaker 2: You're on a platform, You're slowly starting to educate yourself.
26:13
Speaker 2: Those little steps they end up being the big steps,
26:15
Speaker 2: because even just like getting on a platform, putting your
26:18
Speaker 2: first dollar in, like it's massive, but like you're on
26:21
Speaker 2: the way, you'll get there when you're more comfortable.
26:24
Speaker 4: It's something than's on my mind for sure.
26:25
Speaker 5: And again, listening to all the resources and things that
26:28
Speaker 5: you put out every week, I definitely feel like I'm
26:30
Speaker 5: getting more educated and comfortable with it.
26:32
Speaker 2: So a doore now question? Do you have any debt?
26:37
Speaker 4: No?
26:37
Speaker 5: None, I've never had a credit card, I've never had
26:39
Speaker 5: a loan or a personal family loan or anything like that.
26:42
Speaker 5: So that's something I've just again been very afraid of.
26:45
Speaker 5: I've never wanted to put myself in that position.
26:47
Speaker 2: And what is your best money habit? I feel like
26:51
Speaker 2: I know where we're going with this, but I need
26:53
Speaker 2: to know.
26:54
Speaker 5: Okay, I hope you don't mind, but I just like
26:55
Speaker 5: would love to share a few when it comes to
26:56
Speaker 5: travel and music as well. Just a really specific so
26:59
Speaker 5: I think in general, my best at like op shopping
27:02
Speaker 5: and secondhand first always. So yeah, I would say ninety
27:05
Speaker 5: five percent of my closet and things I own a secondhand.
27:09
Speaker 4: And I love that, like I love secondhand shopping. I
27:11
Speaker 4: live in a sharehouse.
27:12
Speaker 5: My rent is really really cheap, which means I can
27:14
Speaker 5: sustain it while I'm away because I don't have the
27:16
Speaker 5: option of moving home and putting stuff at home or
27:19
Speaker 5: anything that's not like a liberty of mine. So and
27:21
Speaker 5: then I also meal prep. I like never eat out
27:23
Speaker 5: or get takeaway or anything. And I'm just like hustling
27:26
Speaker 5: all the time, like I'm always just like networking and
27:28
Speaker 5: keeping an ear out for opportunities and deals and things
27:31
Speaker 5: like that. I've got quite a few for travel, So
27:33
Speaker 5: one is like traveling to more affordable countries Eastern Europe, Asia,
27:37
Speaker 5: like places that are you're going to put your dollars
27:39
Speaker 5: a lot further. Recently, I really loved signing up for
27:43
Speaker 5: the newsletters for different companies because that's where you always
27:45
Speaker 5: find out the best deals.
27:47
Speaker 4: So just to like blow your mind a little bit,
27:49
Speaker 4: like I went to.
27:50
Speaker 5: Bali last year for a whole week flights, accommodation and
27:54
Speaker 5: breakfast included, and it was five hundred and fifty dollars.
27:58
Speaker 2: No, it wasn't. It was No, you're making up what
28:01
Speaker 2: newsletter is date Jetstar Okay. I was about to say
28:04
Speaker 2: you cannot gatekeep and be like, oh, just sign up
28:06
Speaker 2: for newsletters. Hopefully you'll get the deal of a.
28:08
Speaker 4: Light starle no gatekeeping, all right.
28:10
Speaker 2: All right, onwards and upwards? What was your next tip?
28:13
Speaker 5: And yeah, saying with that, I went on a cruise
28:14
Speaker 5: as well for seven hundred and fifty dollars each for
28:16
Speaker 5: ten days, everything included what.
28:18
Speaker 2: Like it would have been like full food, drink everything.
28:21
Speaker 5: Yeah, three course sit down meals like all the four islands, everything,
28:25
Speaker 5: seven to fifty each.
28:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, Oh my gosh, I've never been on a cruise
28:29
Speaker 2: as somebody who you've done lots of like traveling, which
28:33
Speaker 2: I feel like is really independent travel, like you pick
28:36
Speaker 2: your schedule. What was it like to be on a
28:38
Speaker 2: cruise ship for ten days? Was it fun?
28:40
Speaker 4: I didn't think I would like it.
28:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, See, I feel like i'd feel trapped.
28:44
Speaker 4: Yeah. I didn't think i'd like it.
28:45
Speaker 5: And I thought also I maybe wouldn't be the clientele
28:47
Speaker 5: on the boat, if you know what I'm saying. I
28:48
Speaker 5: thought I might be the younger demographic. But I did
28:52
Speaker 5: actually really enjoy it with my partner, and the people
28:54
Speaker 5: in the islands were incredible, Like we made very close
28:56
Speaker 5: connections with some beautiful locals.
28:58
Speaker 4: That was really special.
28:59
Speaker 5: But my partner and I were actually like even more
29:01
Speaker 5: excited by at the end of that trip because I
29:03
Speaker 5: then got to go back on that same cruise again
29:05
Speaker 5: like four weeks later, because I got asked to sing
29:07
Speaker 5: with the blues band. No you didn't, Yeah, So we
29:10
Speaker 5: were like frothing these blues players that were amazing on
29:12
Speaker 5: the ship and then yeah, I got up and did
29:14
Speaker 5: a few songs with them, and then they're like, come
29:15
Speaker 5: back to this cruise in four weeks.
29:17
Speaker 2: So, oh, my gosh. So when money diarists, you say,
29:22
Speaker 2: I'm always hustling always, like even on holidays.
29:25
Speaker 4: She hustling, Yeah, she hustling. Okay.
29:28
Speaker 5: And then another one is like if you have flexibility,
29:30
Speaker 5: which obviously I do and I know a lot of
29:32
Speaker 5: people in like full time don't. But skyscanner, you can
29:35
Speaker 5: just search flights to anywhere, like it's called like flight
29:38
Speaker 5: roulette if you want to look up specifically how to
29:39
Speaker 5: do it.
29:40
Speaker 2: I do want to look up to that, so thank you.
29:43
Speaker 5: So you just basically look in like where you want
29:45
Speaker 5: to go from and then do anywhere, and it will
29:47
Speaker 5: show like the cheapest places and which times of year
29:49
Speaker 5: and all that kind of stuff to go to. That's
29:51
Speaker 5: always helpful if you literally have no idea, like in
29:53
Speaker 5: Europe when I had no plan, I would be looking
29:56
Speaker 5: up like just where's the cheapest place to get to
29:57
Speaker 5: and I go from there?
29:58
Speaker 2: Oh how cool? Also really fun.
30:01
Speaker 4: Yeah, it is pretty fun. You never know where you're
30:03
Speaker 4: gonna end up. I ended up in.
30:04
Speaker 2: Morocco, so oh my god.
30:06
Speaker 4: That well, okay.
30:07
Speaker 5: And then overnight buses when you're traveling are great for
30:09
Speaker 5: saving on accommodation and travel and also like baggage because
30:13
Speaker 5: you don't have to pay for extra baggage free walking tours.
30:15
Speaker 4: I could not advocate for them enough.
30:17
Speaker 2: When you're traveling, I always talk about walking tours, like,
30:21
Speaker 2: whenever I get to somewhere new, first thing I do
30:23
Speaker 2: is a walking tour to find my feet and find
30:25
Speaker 2: what's around, and like, they're always such passionate locals running them.
30:29
Speaker 5: And it's a great way to meet people as a
30:31
Speaker 5: solo traveler too. But also get all the best tips
30:33
Speaker 5: and tricks for saving money. I always carry a water
30:35
Speaker 5: bottle when I'm traveling. Saves a heap of money. Staying
30:38
Speaker 5: in hostels or like couch surfing or whatever was great. Also,
30:41
Speaker 5: if you're gonna eat out and do a fancy meal,
30:43
Speaker 5: try and do it at lunch because often you can
30:44
Speaker 5: get three courses for like twenty dollars or fifteen dollars
30:48
Speaker 5: or whatever is this in Europe?
30:49
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, they have their like lunchtime specials.
30:51
Speaker 5: Hey yeah, and at night it would be sixty eight dollars.
30:54
Speaker 5: So it's so good. You save so much money doing
30:56
Speaker 5: it then, and then I use shop back on bookings
30:59
Speaker 5: dot com.
30:59
Speaker 4: I've gotten quite bit of money back. Who is shot back?
31:02
Speaker 5: I was just going to say again, like, always have
31:04
Speaker 5: enough money to get out of a pickle, because safety
31:06
Speaker 5: is the most important thing when you're traveling.
31:08
Speaker 2: I really like that you've put that in. Look, it's
31:10
Speaker 2: really really smart. It's you know, something that a lot
31:13
Speaker 2: of people say when they're traveling is like, oh, I'm
31:15
Speaker 2: on a really strict budget, like I don't have an
31:17
Speaker 2: emergency fund. If you can't afford travel insurance and you
31:20
Speaker 2: don't have an emergency fund to travel, I genuinely don't
31:23
Speaker 2: think you're in the position to financially be able to travel.
31:26
Speaker 2: People don't want to hear that, but I think that
31:28
Speaker 2: ultimately those are the two things that you need to
31:31
Speaker 2: kind of have as your hygiene factors, like, yes, I
31:34
Speaker 2: have access to money to get out of any place
31:36
Speaker 2: that I don't want to be in because you never
31:38
Speaker 2: know where you'll end up. And also travel insurance. If
31:41
Speaker 2: you don't have that and you're not looking after yourself,
31:43
Speaker 2: you cannot afford to travel. From my perspective, I agree.
31:46
Speaker 5: Actually, another thing that I didn't add in but is
31:49
Speaker 5: also have a few different cards with a few different
31:51
Speaker 5: banks as well, because you just have to have them
31:53
Speaker 5: on you and keep them in different places, maybe one
31:55
Speaker 5: in the wall that you carry and one in your
31:57
Speaker 5: bag you know that's locked away, because sometimes you'll get
32:00
Speaker 5: to places in your combank or whatever just will not
32:02
Speaker 5: work and you definitely need access.
32:03
Speaker 4: And actually recently I've been using Wise.
32:05
Speaker 5: It's a really good bank account for traveling, So I'd
32:08
Speaker 5: recommend that for anyone wanting to travel between currencies as well.
32:12
Speaker 2: How cool do you want a job at? She's on
32:13
Speaker 2: the money, you're always hustling.
32:15
Speaker 4: I'll take it. I'll take it because feel like you're.
32:16
Speaker 2: Full of tips and tricks, Like how good is this?
32:20
Speaker 5: That would be fun leaving a podcast interview and then
32:22
Speaker 5: getting a job yep, sligh okay?
32:24
Speaker 4: And just quickly with music, I play solo.
32:26
Speaker 5: It's obviously expensive to have a band, so playing solo
32:29
Speaker 5: is a great way to start if you're wanting to
32:30
Speaker 5: like start as an artist. Yeah, Now, grants and funding
32:33
Speaker 5: are a massive thing. I don't know if you want
32:35
Speaker 5: me to go into detail later, but like definitely would
32:37
Speaker 5: recommend looking into that as an artist.
32:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally. I feel like sometimes we forget that these
32:42
Speaker 2: things are available. What's your favorite website for learning about
32:45
Speaker 2: grants and funding? If you are a musician, there's a.
32:47
Speaker 4: Few different tiers of them.
32:49
Speaker 5: So first of all, look at your local city council
32:51
Speaker 5: arts sector and then look at the state organizations. In
32:54
Speaker 5: Queensland it's Key Music or Arts Queensland Music. New South
32:57
Speaker 5: Wales is in New South Wales Music Victoria. I don't
32:59
Speaker 5: know what the other states, but there'll be one as
33:01
Speaker 5: well as there's national ones as well, so like Creative
33:03
Speaker 5: Australia or Australian Arts Council. I think they're the same
33:06
Speaker 5: thing now. So there's HEAPS and APRA, AMCOSS, Support Act, ABC,
33:11
Speaker 5: Triple J. They offer things too, so all of those
33:13
Speaker 5: are different, like funding bodies that you can find different
33:16
Speaker 5: like yeah, grants, competitions, all sorts of things.
33:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, how cool. Oh my gosh, all right, do you
33:22
Speaker 2: even have a bad money habit to share heaps? Oh no,
33:26
Speaker 2: all right, let's go.
33:27
Speaker 5: So I would say shopping when I'm overseas and baggage
33:30
Speaker 5: fees are bad. Not being organized with tax every year
33:33
Speaker 5: is my biggest gripe for sure. And I would say
33:35
Speaker 5: that something that's really changed for me is like a
33:38
Speaker 5: working with a tax accountant that specializes in entertainment and
33:40
Speaker 5: gig economy, because that actually saved me about twenty thousand
33:43
Speaker 5: dollars in tax last financial year because they did a
33:46
Speaker 5: tax averaging scheme with me, yes, which is really great
33:50
Speaker 5: for people in the gig economy, and that means that
33:51
Speaker 5: you can, like you know, not work for a year
33:53
Speaker 5: and earn a million dollars the next year and they
33:55
Speaker 5: average out over the two years, rather than you being
33:58
Speaker 5: charged all that tax in one year one hundred and
34:00
Speaker 5: then putting your thirty percent of every invoice into my
34:02
Speaker 5: tax account.
34:03
Speaker 4: I never used to do that, and it was just
34:04
Speaker 4: like a shock.
34:05
Speaker 2: But now you are. That's not a bad habit, it's
34:07
Speaker 2: a bad habit that you solved.
34:09
Speaker 4: So yeah, tax is still my thing that annoys me.
34:11
Speaker 5: Also, probably the biggest thing is being scared to invest
34:15
Speaker 5: and also just like not paying myself souper and not
34:17
Speaker 5: putting into things that are going to set me up
34:19
Speaker 5: for success in the future. And that's where my partner
34:20
Speaker 5: has been very good for like being like, let's just
34:22
Speaker 5: buy the house, like it's not going to go downhill
34:24
Speaker 5: from there, like, let's do it.
34:25
Speaker 2: I like his mindset. I think it's really good.
34:27
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's good.
34:28
Speaker 5: He balances me well in saying that being in a
34:30
Speaker 5: long distance relationship is also probably a bad money habit
34:33
Speaker 5: because that was an expensive venture too.
34:34
Speaker 2: You're about to change that though, You're about to buy
34:36
Speaker 2: a house together. Will work out how that works. Yeah,
34:39
Speaker 2: you're finally settling down. I can see the ring on
34:42
Speaker 2: your finger, Like life is maybe about to get a
34:45
Speaker 2: little less hectic.
34:46
Speaker 4: Little less.
34:47
Speaker 3: Yeah.
34:47
Speaker 2: At the start of the show, you said to me,
34:49
Speaker 2: I'm a C plus and I was like, oh, okay,
34:51
Speaker 2: no worries. But then you told this beautiful story of like, oh,
34:55
Speaker 2: I grew up in a really low socioeconomic household, Like
34:58
Speaker 2: I've always been really independent, like you are basically the
35:01
Speaker 2: Queen of travel. Like I cannot believe how cheaply you
35:05
Speaker 2: are doing it and really enjoying it still, because I
35:07
Speaker 2: feel like sometimes when people say, yeah, it was really cheap,
35:10
Speaker 2: but I wish i'd spend a bit more, like it
35:11
Speaker 2: didn't have the best time, Like that's not you at all.
35:15
Speaker 2: You've got all these tips and tricks, Like I've never
35:17
Speaker 2: met anyone on a money diary who's like, all right,
35:19
Speaker 2: sit down, like his rollercoaster of really good tips and
35:23
Speaker 2: tricks that I want to implement all of them. You
35:25
Speaker 2: still have like forty six thousand dollars in savings. You
35:29
Speaker 2: guys are going to buy a house this year, Like
35:31
Speaker 2: you've lived on a variable income. Like, I know you
35:34
Speaker 2: said that tax was your downfall, but it sounds like
35:36
Speaker 2: it's actually not anymore because you have a really good
35:38
Speaker 2: tax accountant and you have a whole account to deal
35:42
Speaker 2: with tax. Now moving forward, do you really think that
35:45
Speaker 2: you're a C plus?
35:48
Speaker 5: Like, again, I'm proud of where I came from and
35:50
Speaker 5: how like hard it was growing up with money and
35:52
Speaker 5: the mindset shifts I've made, But I still feel like
35:54
Speaker 5: there's yeah, a lot of like future building I want
35:56
Speaker 5: to do, and I think probably the biggest thing is
35:58
Speaker 5: like setting up more in come streams that I can
36:00
Speaker 5: use when I'm away as well as when I'm home hustling,
36:04
Speaker 5: because that's something that kind of lets me down every year,
36:07
Speaker 5: is if I want to travel, I'm not working for
36:08
Speaker 5: like four months and that's yeah, that obviously really affecting
36:11
Speaker 5: my income. So I think that still needs to be done,
36:13
Speaker 5: and setting myself up with those investments would definitely help
36:16
Speaker 5: me feel like I'm more confident as like a maybe
36:18
Speaker 5: a B minus.
36:19
Speaker 4: I don't know, Yeah, Okay, I.
36:20
Speaker 2: Was like maybe be a little bit kinder. The C
36:22
Speaker 2: plus doesn't feel that reflective. You're like, I've never had
36:25
Speaker 2: any debt, Like I don't have any, like this mortgage
36:28
Speaker 2: will be the first thing, but that's like good debt.
36:30
Speaker 2: I don't know. I feel like you need to go
36:32
Speaker 2: home and have a good hard think, my friend, because
36:35
Speaker 2: you're being quite harsher on yourself. But that is okay.
36:38
Speaker 2: I feel like it's good to have it pointed out sometimes.
36:41
Speaker 4: Thank you.
36:42
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, ah, sadly, this is all we have time for today.
36:46
Speaker 2: But oh my gosh, this has been so fun chatting
36:49
Speaker 2: to you. I feel like, obviously I'm not going to
36:51
Speaker 2: be able to go on a big overseas euro trip
36:53
Speaker 2: anytime soon, but you've motivated me to want to, and
36:56
Speaker 2: I think that that's either a good or a bad thing.
36:59
Speaker 2: Not sure.
37:00
Speaker 4: Looking for the deals now that's the way to do it,
37:02
Speaker 4: that's all right.
37:03
Speaker 2: My husband and I have every intention of taking our
37:05
Speaker 2: baby overseas at like four months and making that work.
37:08
Speaker 2: Everyone thinks that we're insane, but I'm like, Yollo, this
37:11
Speaker 2: will be fine. We will get there. But oh my gosh,
37:14
Speaker 2: this has been such a fun money. I really appreciate
37:16
Speaker 2: you sharing so much with the community, and I know
37:19
Speaker 2: that they're going to love you and your story just
37:21
Speaker 2: as much as I have.
37:22
Speaker 4: Oh, thank you.
37:23
Speaker 5: I hope it motivates people who are in a different
37:25
Speaker 5: way of living, you know, really based on flexibility and
37:27
Speaker 5: the arts and travel and things like that, to not
37:30
Speaker 5: feel hopeless and to know that there's things that you
37:32
Speaker 5: can implement to still keep up with everybody else and
37:35
Speaker 5: do what you love because there are ways of keeping
37:37
Speaker 5: your values intact and also doing doing kind of what
37:40
Speaker 5: you need to do to stay independent and flourishing.
37:42
Speaker 4: So yeah, thank you so much for having me.
37:44
Speaker 2: I'm obsessed. Of course. The advice shared on She's on
37:54
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37:57
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