Latest / The Curve / Meet The Founder: Sophie's Full Money Story.

Transcript

Meet The Founder: Sophie's Full Money Story. · The Curve

0:00
I still think I definitely identify as being bad with money.
0:03
For me, a lot of it, I think, was always wanting to keep up with the people around me.
0:08
And I actually have a lot of memories of stealing as a kid.
0:10
I don't know where that's come from or why.
0:12
So this is a story about my daughter, Sophie, who I dearly love.
0:16
Has he scripted this?
0:17
It was like I'd opened the floodgates and I just kept going.
0:20
And I stopped saving the receipts.
0:22
And I kind of just like went into this weird black hole and was just like spending, spending.
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It was an obscene amount of money.
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I mean, I can't even explain the amount of trouble I was in.
0:30
Sophie has acquired something this year.
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This is super exciting.
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Stop it.
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What has she acquired?
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I'm so scared of where you're going.
0:38
A boyfriend.
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Oh my god.
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Where have you sort of landed now in terms of especially navigating money inside a relationship?
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You are going to die at the answer to this question.
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I actually have never said this before.
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On the podcast or actually anywhere.
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And I'm quite embarrassed to admit this.
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Can I just say that this is going to make an amazing trailer?
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keep going
1:05
safe and cool right welcome to the curve podcast thank you so much for joining us today
1:11
guys i've heard so much about your podcast yeah i'm yeah yeah i've heard so much i just love that
1:15
you talk about finance and investing in a way that makes sense to me sorry i have to break the
1:20
third ball and tell everyone what's going on so before we started this record emily quite rightly
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gave us all a now no one is allowed to talk over each other we want no ums we want no hahas you
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know there's nothing otherwise it's going to be a nightmare to edit and as I was just talking
1:35
you guys were both you have to do a video on this you're both going
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just nodding like practicing great work everyone so this podcast is going to be all about you and
1:46
we're going to do another one with Vic as well and this is going to be a kind of meet the founders
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get to know you because we've had a lot of new listeners recently who might not know
1:54
your money story, how you grew up around money.
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And I feel like actually for a lot of the listeners
1:59
who've been listening for a long time, we've kind of heard it all in dribs and drabs.
2:03
So in this
2:04
episode, we want to go through everything in granular detail, starting from the very beginning.
2:09
So for anybody that is just tuning in for the first time, can you introduce who you are,
2:14
what your role at The Curve is and how The Curve actually started?
2:16
Oh my bloody hell.
2:18
Okay, my name's Sophie Jane Hall, right?
2:22
The curve started in, gosh,
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it must have been 2020.
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It was pre-pandemic actually.
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I had just returned from Mexico,
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so I was traveling with one of my best friends.
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We were kind of doing almost mini docos as we
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traveled.
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We were filming and editing and finding interesting people to talk to, and
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I just wanted to be better at editing and shooting I found I loved it but I didn't feel like I'd ever
2:47
had the chance to do it properly because I'd always been in like quite intense producing roles
2:52
so this was I quit my my job in Sydney and I booked all my ticket to Mexico when the pandemic
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started happening I mean my parents were panicking get your ass home right now you're
3:03
gonna be locked out of New Zealand remember they're talking about closing the borders it
3:06
was this whole drama anyway went home and found myself really unsure what to do for work because
3:14
I'd purposely taken this big time off I really wanted to invest in my shooting and editing
3:19
skills but I was in in Auckland in New Zealand didn't really know what I was doing so I started
3:23
freelancing that's actually where I met Lucy full circle so I basically was doing videography and
3:30
photography for weddings I worked for an art like an art gallery art house which is where
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loose worked creating little videos whether it be for socials or whatever promotional material and
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it was fun but I was sort of bobbing around lots of different clients and then
3:44
this whole idea of the curve had been something that can I talk you know it was it came up for
3:52
like a couple of years and we would speak about it as a sort of fictional thing it wasn't called
3:56
the curve or anything it was more just the idea that probably from about the age of 27 I'd heard
4:02
about this idea of investing, I think a friend actually had mentioned the Rich Dad Poor Dad,
4:06
which was like the iconic OG investing book.
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And we had made this pact about starting an
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investing club, but then it never happened because we didn't know what we were doing.
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And yeah, and so then when I got this tax back, which I've spoken about a lot on the podcast
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before, this is when Vic and I both lived in Sydney.
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So this was pre-Mexico.
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I had this money
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come back into my account and I all of a sudden really wanted to sort my SHIT out because I just
4:30
was constantly really frivolous with like what I was spending money on I was living either like
4:35
extreme you know shouting everyone drinks living way outside of my means or the total opposite
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and we can get to kind of what happened with that later in the conversation but Vic left one of her
4:48
funds management jobs and she had three weeks between that and starting a new role where she
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would be managing money and working in the industry and she called me and I was I'd moved
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myself to Mount Maunganui which is this little quiet beach town in New Zealand I think I was
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sort of missing Mexico kind of wanting to pretend I still lived in Mexico so moved to the beach
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didn't really think through the whole like any client is going to want me to be shooting and
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you know the whole thing was a total shambles wasn't earning very much money wasn't really
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sure what I was doing actually got offered a job at my old company before I'd moved overseas to
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Sydney and stuff I worked for MediaWorks producing a breakfast show it was like my first ever job
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for anyone in New Zealand it was like JJ Mike and Dom a million years ago on the edge breakfast
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which by the way that show for like UK listeners is one of the biggest shows right yeah yeah so
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it's a massive it's a massive well at the time it was definitely like the biggest breakfast show and
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that was my first producing role um and then I moved to Australia worked on a couple of other
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really massive shows over there and then that was when I did my mix I worked actually for a record
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label then did my stint in Mexico came back to New Zealand found myself freelancing and yeah then
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the curve kind of Vic called me one day and was just like I'm gonna do it I'm just gonna get
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branding made and I actually remember where I was I was in the most uncomfortable bed like this
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awful bed they gave me like a shoulder injury and I just sat up and I went oh my god cool okay fun
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not really any idea what it would be we already really spoke about it being like an events
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business which sounds so random but like that was kind of what all we could think of at the start
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was like we'll host events and talk about investing but yeah that was like six years ago
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my role at the curve is I now do I mean we all work all three of us work together on the content
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so we plan the podcast and that kind of thing I also manage all of our partnerships all the brands
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that we work with as well as running the day-to-day business side of things so I think a combination
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of yeah commercial creative team management like a sort of I'm just being a bit of a try hard trying
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to do everything really you're literally doing everything can you describe your relationship
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with money in one sentence today like now okay oh god it's so hard because I still think I
6:58
definitely identify as being bad with money you know which is so stupid now because I know
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so much more than when I started but perhaps it would be hugely improved much more educated
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much more confident I still definitely have a scarcity mindset that comes in a lot because I
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think it's just patterned behavior it's been like my whole life that I felt like I didn't have enough
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and I didn't know what to do and I was you know living month to month with no idea how to budget
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or anything so I think there's still a bit of a hang-up around that but I would say ultimately
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I'm I'm reasonably confident with money talking about it I can put a plan together in terms of
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how to manage it I understand investments I definitely wouldn't describe myself as a beginner
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anymore definitely not she's also now doing the businesses finances as well hell yeah she is oh
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my gosh I found myself doing payroll the other day and I was like oh my this is the weirdest thing
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ever I can't believe I'm paying the girls you know like it was just the weirdest thing okay
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man I'll say thanks so much for paying me so thanks but I want to say to that as well like
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absolutely.
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I think, yeah, like it's very normal to have wobbles and things, but
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generally speaking, like I'm always so impressed with the way that you split your pay and how
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you're like, oh yeah, I've got actually, you know, Soph and I went down the other week to buy
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something for her.
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She bought some new shampoo and she was like, oh Lucy, quickly, quickly film
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this because actually look, I'm actually taking this from my beauty fund, which at the time was
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sitting at about 350 pounds that you had accumulated over X amount of time.
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And you just
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so easily were able to buy this shampoo without stressing or anything because you just transferred
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the money across and I think like don't forget about that because you've done yeah you're so
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it's so impressive and I feel like that yeah you've definitely come a long way and also you
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literally own a financial business and have team and everything yeah it is it is funny because like
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that example is one of the good examples and I think that you know a few weeks ago maybe a month
9:00
ago now on the curve weekly I spoke about having a massive wobble and I kind of just almost got
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into self-sabotage mode and was pulling money out of all my accounts almost on purpose because I was
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so annoyed that I was so far gone from my budget that I was kind of it was almost rebelling against
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myself it was so odd I know if I was speaking to a friend or if one of you guys had said that I
9:20
would have literally I would say so fine to have a wobble it's a month or two it's not a big deal
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just like get back on it but I think that the idea of yeah running a financial platform and how much
9:32
I know sometimes it can be frustrating to not be nailing it all the time which is is not great
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because it's literally the opposite of what we try and teach but so okay coming out of present
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day and going right back to childhood can you speak about your first memory with money or maybe
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or even your first experience?
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Oh my God, I actually had never said this before.
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Like on the podcast or actually anywhere.
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And I'm quite embarrassed to admit this.
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So I have two.
10:00
I have two and they're both stealing.
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So funny.
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So the first, I was probably six
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and I was at a birthday party at the fairy shop,
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which was this place that so many,
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you know, young five-year-olds would go.
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It was like someone dressed up as a fairy.
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I remember being picked up by my mom
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and we were sort of driving home and she was asking about the party bag that I had,
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which is obviously looking far bigger and more extravagant than it probably should have for a
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six-year-old's birthday party.
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She was like, oh, what's in your party bag?
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And I was showing her
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all these things.
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And one of them was this giant, like, I mean the size of this lamp.
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Okay.
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But
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like it was big, it wasn't small, but it was one of those snow globes that like you shake and snow
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falls down anyway.
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And I told her it had come from the party bag.
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In hindsight, I bet anything
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someone saw me taking it like sorry what kind of six-year-old is subtle enough to go and steal
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something and put it in her party bag I bet the mom was like oh Sophie just stole something
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told my mom Sophie stole something asked her about on the way home anyway she pulled over
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the side of the road because I refused to admit that I'd stolen it and I just have this memory
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of staring at the concrete bawling my eyes out and I remember thinking quite seriously I will do
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absolutely anything but take this back and apologize like and you know in your childhood
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mind you're like I will literally scrub every car in the whole world if it means I don't have to you
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know it was just so stupid anyway she made me take it back and apologize and I actually have a lot
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alarmingly a lot of memories of stealing as a kid I don't know where that's come from or why
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I have memories of this is like this is back in the day where they you know everyone had cash so
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my mum would always have in New Zealand there's these these $20 notes that are green and she would
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have $20 in my wallet.
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I would go in the car when no one was in the garage and just take a $20
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out and just steal it.
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And I do it quite a lot to the point where I then had savings.
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Wow, I had
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savings.
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How slow.
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Where did my parents think the money came from?
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Because I remember being quite
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good at saving.
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I was like so proud I had $700 in my account when I was 10 or something, which
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probably exclusively came from my mum's wallet.
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You know, like, I don't know if she knows that
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because I've actually never told her.
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But yeah, my memories of money are for sure not,
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I can earn it, I can save, I can buy what I want.
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I felt really restricted and scared
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and a lot of anxiety around money as a kid.
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Like I have so many examples of, yeah, stealing,
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of wanting something and not being able to get it.
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And yeah, not having been given the money
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or knowing any other way of getting something that I wanted
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is definitely not excusing it at all.
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But for me, a lot of it, I think my spending or my saving was always wanting to keep up with the people around me, wanting to feel like I could fit in, wanting to feel like I belonged in the situation because my parents definitely were nowhere near as well off as a lot of my friends' families.
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So I think, yeah, I just remember begging a lot for things and like really annoying my parents for it, but never really having the concept or initiative or maybe even time because I did gymnastics to work for it.
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So I was kind of in this constant state of like not really having control over money or what I wanted.
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What I want to preface actually before I go into this, because I feel like a lot of the time I throw my parents under the bus as if it's their fault that I am the way I am.
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they absolutely tried to teach me the value of money to understand it it just it went and went
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one ear and out the other it wasn't from a lack of trying I guess is my point and I also think
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now being an adult and seeing my friends have young kids you realize as well how much they
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pick up without meaning to it's not it's not directly taught to them so I think for me
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it felt always like there was like this low level of stress and silence and anxiety and kind of like
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angst around finances and money and buying things and wanting things.
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I remember my dad saying
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stuff like money doesn't grow on trees, you know, stuff like that.
14:00
Where do you think we're going to
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get that from?
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For my parents, I think probably similarly to how I felt at the school I was at,
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where I was surrounded by a lot of quite opulent wealth.
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They were also around families that had
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more.
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And maybe that was also my parents' experience was being around people that also
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had more and could do more and I think we were quite extended compared to perhaps how we could
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have lived and had less anxiety you know like we had a nice house we I went to a private school
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from like the age of 11 or something and that wasn't my parents plan you know like apparently
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I couldn't use a ruler at the age of 11 like I was like using a ruler and like drawing all over
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the page and they were like oh my god this child needs extra help so it wasn't like they were in a
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position where they had all this money and they really wanted to send me to a private school early
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I needed it from a development standpoint so maybe yeah those things all contributed to it but
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I'd say just in general it was a not fighting in terms of street screaming and yelling at each
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other but I just remember angst is kind of the only word I can really think of it wasn't it wasn't
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even hidden behind closed doors in the sense that it was not spoken about or talked about and
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therefore I didn't have to worry I feel like I did always worry and my dad's always been quite
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careful with how he spends and he's also can get quite hung up on small spends it's also a
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generational thing you know not having waste you know his parents were in wartime so they couldn't
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ever throw out food or so my the way my dad approaches things is use it well like don't go and
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tip five things of laundry powder and when you only need one and but his kind of go-to is also
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to think about the finances of it.
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Well, before we go any further.
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Oh, jeez.
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So, like, I will be honest, guys,
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because you were sending people messages
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from the Curb account.
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I know.
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I saw things come through and I ignored them.
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I will tell you I ignored them.
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I have, and my dad even sent me a message going,
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hi, darling, here's a voice note.
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And I was like, oh, this is so not for me.
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And I forwarded it straight to Emily.
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And I was like, I'm just not going to listen to that.
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So I haven't spoiled the surprise.
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Okay, good.
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Damn, I emailed them directly.
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I know.
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Mike and Kathy, I'm annoyed at you.
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Okay, so you are right.
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We did contact your family
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because we wanted to get an idea
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of what you were really like
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growing up around money.
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Because obviously what we've had so far
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is very one-sided.
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Imagine if people were just like,
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she was amazing with money.
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In fact, she was a young genius with money.
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She was such a good saver.
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There was always so much cash.
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Yeah, yeah.
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And I was just this big fraud
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that pretended to be shit.
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Okay, this is number one.
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So this is a story about my daughter, Sophie,
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who I dearly love,
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who has always had a fairly turbulent relationship with money.
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Pause.
16:39
Back then...
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Has he scripted this?
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Yes.
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Hi, my daughter Sophie.
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Is everyone going to forget my name?
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Oh, okay.
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Okay, sorry, back to it.
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Back then, she operated with confidence,
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enormous optimism,
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and a very loose understanding of financial boundaries.
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For years, whenever we went anywhere together,
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she'd somehow forget her wallet.
17:01
Coffee?
17:01
Oops, forgot my card.
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lunch dad tiny problem anyway during the christchurch earthquake so he is
17:09
what i will say i genuinely did forget my wallet like i wouldn't say that that's me being like oh
17:17
saving hack leave the car at home like i'm quite forgetful just just in my but i also like can i
17:22
just also say the tiny problem like iconic that he's remembered those lines like oh tiny problem
17:28
Oh, sorry, Dad.
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I can so hear you saying that in those moments.
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Tiny problem.
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I'm going to start saying that to you, Soph,
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when I've mucked up at work.
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Tiny problem.
17:38
Oh, tiny problem.
17:39
Forgot to include the sponsor.
17:40
No, I'm kidding.
17:45
OK, sorry, sorry.
17:46
I'll stop doing this.
17:47
Continue back to it.
17:48
Her flat got demoed and she lost everything.
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We managed to get her safely home to Auckland
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and a couple of days later she announced,
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Dad, I think I need a little hour now.
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I'd really like to go and see my friend Liv in Melbourne
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and just recalibrate.
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Trying to be supportive, I organized the flights for her.
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I gave her an auxiliary card of mine
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with explicit instructions.
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Essentials only, you can spend up to $3,000.
18:14
I'm not entirely sure what word Sophie heard,
18:18
but I suspect it was congratulations.
18:21
You are now the CEO of Sophie Wellness and Retail Holdings.
18:25
A couple of weeks later, the credit card statement arrives, page after page, thinking there are too many zeros.
18:30
Apparently, Sophie's definition of essentials included long lunches, cocktail sessions, infrared sauna sessions,
18:37
plus what looked suspiciously like a major stimulus package for the Melbourne fashion industry.
18:42
So when she got home, I said, Soph, I said $3,000 for essentials.
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And without blinking, she replied, yes, Dad, they were essentials.
18:51
And honestly, that's when I realised something for years.
18:54
I thought Sophie's forgetting her card was disorganisation.
18:57
And now I'm not entirely convinced it wasn't strategy.
19:03
He looks like he did that on purpose.
19:07
Michael Hallwright.
19:09
Oh my God.
19:11
Oh, so good.
19:12
God.
19:13
So I've heard that story before, but I've only ever heard it from him
19:16
because there was a podcast that you did a while ago
19:18
with both yours and Vic's dance,
19:20
which was iconic by the way i'll actually link that in the show notes it's such a good one yeah
19:24
that was fun we've had mike's version of that story can you talk us through what went on there
19:28
so the christchurch earthquake for anyone that's not from new zealand was a massive natural disaster
19:35
it was off the rector in terms of it was so tragic so many people died you know so in terms of me
19:42
losing all my stuff it was definitely in the context of people have lost their whole livelihood
19:48
families etc so it was traumatizing but I don't think I realized how much so at the time you know
19:56
like you're thrown across the room like four meters you just trust the ground you're on you
20:00
never expect that to happen it was like quite traumatizing so but also it was like thank god
20:05
I was in my or yeah broadcasting school because my flat got completely demoed so basically like
20:09
where was your flat it was like opposite ctv building which is like where a lot of people
20:13
died it was like in the epicenter of like the biggest devastation so two of the walls fell
20:18
down if I'd been there like it could have been quite dangerous like it was a brick house anyway
20:22
so all my stuff was in there we just moved in a week before like you know bought a new microwave
20:26
had all my clothes all my jewelry all the things you know I just moved in big big you know big girl
20:32
in a flat and then I had to leave Christchurch literally in the outfit I was wearing we all like
20:38
spent the night huddling like 20 of us in a house with all these aftershocks happening you know it's
20:42
like actually quite dramatic and then yeah flew out I didn't have any stuff you know I didn't
20:46
have any stuff so in my head I thought I'm gonna need a new wardrobe because like we don't know
20:51
how long it's gonna take till we get our stuff out so I actually forgot that it was an extension
20:56
of his card if I'm being completely honest I thought I'd applied for a credit card obviously
21:00
not which is why there was such a big limit I mean honestly in hindsight I look at that and I think
21:06
how generous of my parents outrageously trusting when I have no concept of money and I think
21:13
because I knew what the limit was I thought of that as the target oh so I think I was like I can
21:18
spend up to I mean I bet my dad's listening will be like that's a lie but in my head I thought I
21:23
had you know so you know I just spent and spent and I remember at the time thinking this is meant
21:26
to be for essentials and like this mini skirt like leather mini skirt is not essentials or like these
21:31
heels are not essentials but I was just like getting quite carried away with the whole situation
21:36
and at first it was fine fine fine and then I tipped over of feeling guilty and like icky and
21:41
oh god I've spent too much and this isn't an essential but I would liken it to how I talk
21:45
about spending now if you restrict yourself and then all of a sudden spend you go a bit like over
21:51
the top it was like I'd open the floodgates and I just kept going and I stopped saving the receipts
21:56
and I kind of just like went into this weird black hole and was just like spending spending
22:00
I mean now that I know how my brain works and the fact that I have ADHD as well like a lot of people
22:05
who are neurodiverse go into debt especially if you don't understand the concept of it but yeah
22:10
It was an obscene amount of money.
22:13
I remember coming back home.
22:15
I mean, I can't even explain the amount of trouble I was in.
22:17
But also, it's so hard, right?
22:19
Because, like, I'd done it.
22:21
Like, there was nothing they could do to reverse it.
22:23
I was now in all of this debt.
22:25
And I really, at that stage, just did not understand the concept.
22:29
Like, if I went into that much debt now, I mean, I don't know why I would be so beside myself.
22:37
Because I would know how long it's going to take me to get out of it.
22:38
whereas at the time I just did not understand the consequences.
22:42
How old were you at this time?
22:43
I was
22:44
like 19.
22:45
Oh wow yeah.
22:46
I was young.
22:47
It was like the first year first start of the second year uni
22:50
so I was like a baby.
22:51
I feel like actually that's quite a good lesson to have at a young age like
22:54
if you screw up you are then liable.
22:56
Yes although I didn't get taught how to get out of debt or what
23:00
are the different ways to get out of debt.
23:02
I think there's also a massive part missed for me when it
23:04
comes to earning money to be able to then pay off the debt like I didn't really have a job at school
23:12
when I was younger because I did competitive gymnastics I didn't really earn money from a
23:16
young age and I feel like a lot of people who did that who had jobs young whether it was in summer
23:21
holidays after school on the weekends had a different concept of money and I think because
23:25
I missed that not only did I not understand the idea of debt or like I mean investing was just
23:30
like not like I don't think I'd even heard the word before but even making money was kind of
23:36
foreign to me because I never did it young I was doing competitive gymnastics so I was
23:42
competing in a New Zealand team I definitely did not have the capacity to do school and train like
23:47
I was training before school and the weekends and it was my life as a kid so I just had a different
23:53
focus I think whereas I look at someone like Vic or a lot of my friends who did work they've got a
23:58
different relationship with money do you feel like that has made you as hard-working as you
24:03
are today because I feel like you are one of the most hard-working people I have ever met you are
24:08
so determined and maybe not you know not healthy
24:12
but like the whole stealing thing and then the credit card situation they're not actually having
24:24
the time to earn because you're doing gymnastics you were never really given the opportunity to
24:29
deal with money and I wonder whether in your first jobs were you just on overdrive as soon as you
24:36
you start earning money you're like okay this is me I'm going at 100% I think as soon as I
24:43
realized that my earning capacity was within my control in a way definitely competitive gymnastics
24:49
or to be honest probably competitive sport I think that the self-discipline and determination
24:55
is second to none you're training conditioning your body in kind of an abnormal way and to be
25:01
the best and to win you have to go over and above so I did learn that work ethic and determination
25:07
quite early and I definitely think it wasn't till like later in life that I could channel that into
25:11
career money I actually never have thought about it like what you just described Emily but if I
25:15
think of my first job my first proper proper job when I was producing I was offered maybe three
25:23
other jobs in that time while I was there and I kept going to my boss and saying I've been offered
25:27
another job give me a pay rise nice I knew I was good at my job and I knew that I deserved to be
25:33
paid more and I think producers at the time when I first started working were paid awfully like I
25:38
think I was on less than 15,000 pounds a year you know it was nothing maybe 25,000 New Zealand
25:44
dollars a year like it was nothing and you know the hosts are on a lot more and they knew that
25:48
and they were so generous with me and I've spoken about this on the podcast JJ Feeney and Dom who
25:53
they would like slip me envelopes of cash to say we love what you're doing thank you we know you're
25:58
not paid well kind of thing but I sort of took it on as my own mission to go and then get pay rises
26:03
and I did manage to get a few and I think I managed to almost double my pay while I was there
26:06
I got up to about 50 which was like 25,000 pounds I mean over the over the course of maybe three
26:11
years or something.
26:13
Yeah.
26:13
I think that I've always felt good at making more money or maybe using
26:19
that determination to try and bring in more, but not in a way that was overly tactful.
26:26
And then
26:26
also when I would have more, I wouldn't really know what to do with it.
26:30
Like I definitely did
26:30
a bit of feast famine kind of like, you know, I would earn more and I would adjust my lifestyle.
26:35
I wouldn't, yeah, I definitely didn't have the tools to make the most of being determined with
26:41
money if that makes sense got you okay going back to your production days and working with JJ we
26:46
actually have a story from your mum from my mum from your mum oh not about is it about JJ it's
26:52
about you on the show oh god are you helping with the show do you want to read this oh okay
26:56
it's pressing okay Sophie was an amazing producer for the JJ Mike and Dom breakfast show at the edge
27:03
always on time before AM starts always up for a laugh great content just a bit gullible they used
27:10
to send her to local businesses with Dom in an earpiece telling her what to say.
27:14
One time she
27:15
visited a travel agent and asked for flight details to Fiji and then following Dom's instructions
27:22
asked for the bus timetable as an alternative.
27:25
Whether she realised the stupidity of the question
27:28
or was just following orders I'm still not sure.
27:31
God I forgot about that.
27:34
On money the kids earned
27:35
pocket money by doing chores a dollar for every year of their age quite like that actually Sophie
27:42
was motivated because there was always something she wanted that we didn't feel was necessary to
27:47
provide I do recall her saying quite confidently that by the time she was a hundred she'd have
27:52
plenty of money to buy whatever she wanted in her mind a hundred years old meant a hundred dollars
27:58
a week the optimism the optimism was very Sophie that is really cute another story that we have
28:05
kind of heard in dribs and drabs over the years is the Essidy story sorry to make you go there again
28:11
bloody hell Emily I actually don't know if I've heard this in full so I'm yeah the bus ticket
28:18
oh god I'm looking for it do we really need to tell this one again I'm like it's so everyone
28:23
must be so bored anyone that's heard this feel free to skip this section we'll put the time codes
28:28
at the bottom we'll put a chapter in don't you worry okay so basically this was when we first
28:32
moved to London at this point in time I'd started investing so I was putting money into investments
28:38
I was getting quite excited by the whole situation I thought I knew everything I think I put about at
28:42
this point around about 20 24 000 into an investing like trading account crazy it's quite impressive
28:49
actually sorry what age were you at this point this was like four years ago mad and I don't even
28:53
it was a very short space of time anyway I managed to invest a lot but this is kind of back to your
28:58
point Emily around being a bit of a crazy you know like I was like I need to learn investing I'm gonna
29:02
to do it and then here I go you know like over investing so I was overextending myself enormously
29:09
but also side note the fact that you had 24,000 to invest is like amazing but what I wasn't doing
29:15
was planning my finances properly in the sense that I wasn't I wasn't splitting my pay I didn't
29:20
know how much I needed to pay for the things I needed or wanted I was just doing lump sums that
29:25
felt exciting and transferring it into that account at the time I mean this is kind of cute as well
29:31
I guess because when Vic says something I've taken as absolute bible that when it came to investing
29:37
because Vic would say we're investing for the long term we're investing for our 65 year old
29:41
self so I honestly in my head thought that I couldn't pull that money out you know I put such
29:46
a strict rule on myself that that money invested is not I can't touch it for 40 years so when it
29:53
came to this holiday I all of a sudden realized I had no money in my account how I realized that
30:00
the day before I left even maybe the day I left I have absolutely no idea but I genuinely went to
30:07
go book the ticket which was maybe 30 pounds to get from my family's house in the country to the
30:12
airport to fly to Italy and I didn't have enough money to buy the ticket so I had to message my
30:17
friend Ella one of my best friends and be like I'm so embarrassed but like I need to borrow money
30:21
but anyway she transferred my money paid for the bus whatever anyway told Vic about what had
30:26
happened was at the airport having a total meltdown we were about to go on this holiday with
30:30
17 friends in Italy and I had no money to pay for it and I was just I was in tears and Vic was like
30:38
talk to me what you've got like where is your money how much do you have and I was like I've
30:42
just been investing too much I've gotten so much in shares you know and I was I was telling her
30:46
about it and she was like sorry you have 20,000 like what are you panicking about I was like yeah
30:53
but it's for future me you know like and I was like really I really honestly thought I couldn't
30:59
pull it out do you know what I mean so I can't actually remember how I got from there to the
31:03
end of the trip I think a lot of people were paying for different things then the bill was
31:07
kind of racking up and then at the end it was going to be done on splitwise or whatever so
31:10
I didn't really have to pay for too much immediately because the accommodation had
31:13
been paid for and the flights had been paid for but it put a real damner on the trip as you can
31:17
imagine because I was sitting there at group dinners and people would be ordering shots or
31:21
drinks and I was just like oh my god I'm gonna have to share this bill you know and anyway the
31:25
whole thing was a disaster and and really that was like the pivot moment for us as a business and
31:29
like content and as a podcast where we were like there's a massive gap that we've missed in terms
31:34
of like personal finance it's not just we shouldn't just be talking about investing we need to actually
31:39
also talk about personal finance because I didn't know how to budget this was four years ago I had
31:43
no idea how to do it oh also the cost of living crisis was happening at the time and it was almost
31:48
bad taste to just talk about investing people couldn't afford groceries so we started doing
31:53
more personal finance content and that's really I think from that point when I started my whole
31:58
kind of financial approach started to click into place do you have any kind of anecdote or a moment
32:04
where things did really change for you I oh god there's there's a few I would say the first time
32:09
that I invested and had an actual like win and I don't want to call it like a win in a gambling way
32:14
But the first time that I saw that I could invest and that I could see an opportunity and make a decision and make money was amazing.
32:23
And that was when I invested in Netflix.
32:26
And that was my first big investment.
32:27
It was the first time I invested quite a lot of money.
32:29
I just done like little tickets here and there.
32:32
And the share price at the time, we're just out of the curve weekly.
32:35
So this was like three years ago.
32:37
And we were speaking about Netflix and the share price had just fallen off a cliff.
32:41
And I was using all the knowledge I'd learned, which was invest in things you know and understand and you think have like a future.
32:47
And also the idea of pricing in the fact that the market is quite irrational.
32:52
So it goes up and down based on news headlines.
32:54
And those news headlines can just be so surface level and actually not mean anything.
32:58
So the share price had gone down.
33:00
I was like, oh, I love Netflix.
33:02
I use Netflix.
33:03
I understand it.
33:04
The share price has dropped so much.
33:06
So I put like $3,000 in.
33:08
And in a 12-month period, that doubled.
33:11
so but that's an example that's you know how you're like how on earth did you have that much
33:14
money it's because I was making decisions like that and so when it came to having to pull money
33:20
out for that Italy trip from my trading account it wasn't so disastrous because those shares had
33:27
gone up double so I wasn't taking money out when it had fallen and I think there was so many missing
33:33
pieces for me in terms of the turning points with what I understood but at that point in time I
33:38
I really, really knew.
33:40
Firstly, I felt so helpless and so embarrassed
33:42
and just like really gutted about the whole situation
33:44
when I was in Italy.
33:45
But I knew how much more it would be magnified
33:47
in a really negative way if I had to pull shares out
33:51
and they weren't doing well.
33:52
So I was so lucky and I was like, oh my God, thank God.
33:55
I can pull this money out and not feel gutted about it.
33:58
But that was like a huge learning for me.
34:01
Don't overinvest and extend yourself.
34:03
But also think about the market.
34:06
If you are investing for a long time,
34:08
you can't invest so much that if you need it for anything short term or immediately
34:13
you don't want to have to pull that money out because I was so lucky that that happened and
34:18
I nearly had a total eff up when I was wanting to buy my house last year because it was in February
34:23
around the time that the tariffs were introduced and the markets that are totally crashing and I
34:27
was about to buy my first investment property and I pulled it out and it had gone down a little bit
34:31
but nowhere near as much but it's just more the idea of like when you need to pull your money out
34:37
it can it's really risky to have an investment so you want to be investing money in a way where it's
34:43
can stay and if it's down it doesn't matter because you're not pulling it out anyway so
34:47
I think those are some big turning points and then building my emergency fund for the first
34:51
time was another because I never really understood how it would feel to have money as a backstop
34:56
should I need it I just always had this like intense fear around like what would I do if
35:01
xyz happened but I never really thought to try and build up an emergency fund so I think all
35:06
those things were like those were two quite big moments for me yeah you've now bought two
35:10
investment prophecies you've obviously documented this over on the property podcast yes but for
35:16
those who don't know can you give us a quick overview of how that journey planned out oh my
35:21
god I'm gonna give the quickest journey ever okay so I always wanted to buy a property could never
35:25
buy a property for many reasons I was self-employed I didn't realize what I needed to do to get myself
35:31
into a position to be able to, I decided to buy with a friend.
35:35
I bought with a friend the first
35:36
one and then we renovated and made an instant uplift of I think it was about $124,000 and then
35:43
we basically used that equity to then put it against the second property so we didn't have
35:48
to put any money in for a deposit.
35:51
We could then almost extend our mortgage by a second
35:56
and then we renovated that and then we made I think 130 in that one in equity uplift so now
36:02
we have two for anyone that does want to know more about that because I realize I've just breezed
36:05
over it and maybe sound really casual and people be like what are you talking about the property
36:09
podcast if you search it literally search it in our show and it'll come up with our episodes but
36:14
yeah we've definitely gone into detail on that I think most people think of building equity or
36:19
wealth and property as like buying a house a really nice house and living it for a long period
36:23
of time but there's so many ways so i think yeah definitely listen to that if you're interested in
36:28
property so if anyone doesn't listen to the podcast or lives under a rock sophie has acquired
36:34
something this year which is super exciting stop it i'm so scared of where you're going
36:41
a boyfriend
36:42
oh my god
36:44
don't
36:45
don't
36:46
embarrass me
36:48
oh my god
36:50
no
36:50
oh my god
36:51
he's like
36:52
so private
36:52
and I keep
36:53
just being like
36:53
my boyfriend
36:54
can you shut up
36:55
because we always say
36:56
your boyfriend
36:57
your boyfriend
36:57
should we name him
36:58
well that's what
36:58
we're going to say
36:59
because you know
37:00
we've got flower man
37:01
for Vic
37:01
which is so iconic
37:02
we need something
37:03
and I'm thinking
37:04
of a few
37:05
but I'm not sure
37:06
this is perfect
37:06
okay
37:07
I thought we sort of
37:08
thought Vespa boy
37:09
yeah
37:09
so this is the
37:11
thing i have thought moped man because i hate it cycle thighs he's got quite big thighs
37:18
i mean it does know it's not the same as wow man yeah and he's been daring oh okay well like we're
37:24
just about to go to italy we're doing a big hiking trip but i've always wanted to the dolomites and
37:28
he knew that and he just booked it nature boy nature boy there's got to be something around
37:33
Action Man, he is quite...
37:34
Action Man.
37:35
Oh!
37:36
Action Man.
37:37
No.
37:38
Can we just break on this?
37:40
Action Man and Barbie.
37:42
I'm trying to think what else to say about him.
37:45
Action Man and Barbie is quite iconic.
37:47
What is it?
37:48
I'm going to AI a picture of you guys as Action Man and Barbie.
37:51
Anyway, the point of the whole spiel is,
37:54
obviously it was not all sunshine and roses for you.
37:56
I know this is the first time actually living with a partner.
37:59
Where have you sort of landed now in terms of
38:01
especially navigating money inside a relationship you know living together your day-to-day spending
38:08
with each other like how how does that look in your relationship you are gonna die at the answer
38:13
to this question oh my god i know is this like we haven't heard this before yeah you haven't
38:18
and it's because i heard it here first no i haven't admitted it because it's actually
38:22
really bad and really off brand can i just say that this is going to make an amazing trailer
38:28
so basically he is definitely in a more stable financial position than me firstly i would say
38:37
it's not split 50 50 at all i pay rent he he has a mortgage um but i pay definitely
38:45
proportionately less than he does i'm not in a position to be able to pay 50 50 i just don't
38:50
Unless we massively changed our lifestyle, the things that we do.
38:54
So he's really generous and I definitely don't pay 50-50.
38:59
Are we talking with everything, with day-to-day spending, the rent, everything?
39:04
So his mortgage is definitely more than $2,000.
39:08
So I pay $1,000.
39:09
Rent and bills, definitely more than that.
39:12
He probably pays maybe two-thirds of the mortgage and I pay a third.
39:16
But sorry, before you moved in, he was living with his sister, right?
39:20
I'm guessing he wasn't doing 50-50 with her as well?
39:22
No, he wasn't.
39:23
Well, so I wouldn't feel too bad.
39:25
You're just slipping into that.
39:26
I know, but he's generous.
39:27
He's generous.
39:28
We love him.
39:29
Yeah, we love him.
39:30
We love Action Man.
39:31
We love Action Man.
39:32
He's my Action Man.
39:33
It's so weird.
39:34
I kind of like, I have honestly thought about this so much,
39:38
and I just don't know what to do with it.
39:40
Moped Man is the only thing that works.
39:42
Moped Man, because that's the first memory I have of you with him.
39:44
Yeah.
39:44
You jumping on the back of that moped.
39:46
Yeah, might have to be.
39:47
He's always got his helmet.
39:48
Yeah, yeah.
39:49
and he and he and he go and so gets a call and she goes yeah i'll be down in five and he's
39:55
mopedding her home oh yeah okay fine into the sunset yeah we'll get there one day one day
40:02
but yeah so he sent me a monzo this is actually so bad he sent me a split to like split things
40:07
i haven't accepted it and then the link trans you know expired not because i didn't want to
40:11
split i genuinely forgot but basically so context i would say we don't we're not tracking things
40:18
super granularly as in I'll pay for groceries he'll pay for groceries he'll pay for dinner
40:25
do I pay for the whole dinner don't know if I've done them before like maybe once or twice I'm
40:29
definitely not spending as much as he is but I do also try I'm not like sitting there expecting him
40:35
to pay for everything I think that it will shift as well because he's starting a business and won't
40:39
be earning soon so you know maybe it's like I pick up and I'm paying more for a period of time
40:46
we've just we haven't been dating that long so I think we haven't got super granular on who's
40:51
paying for what but we we definitely still have like very separate accounts I would say where the
40:56
massive discrepancy is is like more fun money I don't have as much fun money but yeah at the
41:01
moment the main thing that's like clear is how much I pay for rington bills the rest of it is
41:06
like quite fluid and yeah god I don't know maybe I'm being incredibly naive and I'm sure people
41:10
listening to this be like well you're not practicing what you preach I mean we've been
41:13
together not very long right now so I think it's like the stakes are low in terms of we don't own
41:17
a house together we don't have a mortgage we're not investing together you know like we're living
41:21
our lives together and I've moved in but it's also all of the laws in the UK are quite different
41:26
like in New Zealand if you're living with someone all of your property can become shared ownership
41:31
quite quickly it's different yeah I'm feeling yeah I'm feeling like probably in the next few
41:37
months things will change when his situation changes yeah yeah I say don't feel too too
41:41
guilty about it because also we both know that you are incredibly generous and when you have
41:45
the money to shout people things and buy people things you do and it's um very telling that you
41:50
feel guilty about it but it's not an expectation you're not sat there going perfect this is how
41:56
it should be yeah also by nature he's just like very generous and like also I'm painting him out
42:01
like he's some billionaire as well as though he's you know but he he he's got a very relaxed attitude
42:06
to money I would say which means that it feels relaxed within our relationship which is really
42:10
nice what would you say to young Sophie who is just starting to earn money for the first time
42:17
like what advice would you give her she's about to get her first paycheck god I just I just it
42:21
was so easy I would just say split it in three so easy what do you need to pay for what do you
42:29
want to pay for put money away for the future like don't even think about it at least 10% if
42:34
not to be honest 20 or 30 I am devastated when I think about how many pay rounds I've had come in
42:41
that I didn't do anything with I'm just like what on earth if I'd started when I first had money I
42:46
would be in a completely different situation and what is the version of Sophie that you are
42:52
currently working towards what does that Sophie look like you know it's so weird this is such a
42:56
weird question no it's not this is not a weird question but this is a relevant question because
43:01
for the first time in my adult life am I taking seriously the idea of making decisions with
43:06
somebody and I haven't actually ever had to be considering anyone in the version of myself I
43:13
want to be, where I want to live, what I want to do for work, what I want to spend my time, money,
43:17
etc on and it's a really weird change for me that I'm just like not really used to.
43:22
So I think in
43:23
terms of who I'm working towards, if I actually look around at what's happening right now, I
43:27
honestly think other than getting a dog which I would I'm desperate for a dog and I would love to
43:36
have kids one day and I'd love to get married one day I think those are the things that I want that
43:40
I haven't done yet at the moment I don't feel really clear on what those next things are that
43:47
I want or that I'm working towards like I I honestly had a bit of a wobble about it in the
43:51
weekend because I was like I don't know what those big next things are I think I need to think about
43:58
it I need to journal on it and I don't want to just fall into the next five years without having
44:03
been conscious because if I look at my my inspo board that I made a year and a half ago a lot of
44:10
those things have happened that's so cool yeah like on my on my I don't know if you've seen the
44:17
back of my um computer screen and it's like there's a dog on it there's vegetables I mean
44:21
there was a time I was not eating any vegetables journaling probably could be doing more of that
44:25
I wanted to be in a really happy relationship there were so many things I wanted for like the
44:29
podcast and for work and yeah I don't really know and it's the first time in my whole life that I
44:34
haven't been really clear on like right I'm gonna do this and I'm not gonna do this so maybe I just
44:40
need to give it a minute enjoy where I'm at 100% and then think about it and maybe that's it because
44:44
you are at such a happy place you don't need to think so far into the future because you're
44:50
actually just really enjoying where you've got yourself to because you work so hard to get to
44:54
where you are and being happy in like your relationship your work everything that actually
45:00
your brain's probably like well you've got to think of the next thing but you actually don't
45:03
because you actually just need to enjoy where you're at I think so I think that I my my biggest
45:10
not my biggest fear but I definitely don't like the idea of just sleepwalking through life and I
45:14
think that it's really important to enjoy where we're at but also have clear ideas of the things
45:19
that you want in the same way that the things that you don't want otherwise you kind of just
45:23
end up in a situation without you know I think there's definitely no coincidence that a lot of
45:28
the things that I put on that screensaver have happened and I think that there's there's a really
45:35
fine middle ground between being super happy and present and grateful for the things that you have
45:40
while also being clear on,
45:42
which I just think is the hardest thing to balance.
45:44
It's the same thing as like,
45:45
how do you enjoy now as well as,
45:47
how do you spend your money on the things you want now
45:49
as well as invest for future?
45:50
It's such a hard balance.
45:52
But yeah, I definitely, I will come back to you.
45:55
Watch this space.
45:56
We'll circle back.
45:57
I would love a dog.
45:58
And I know that's an expensive thing.
46:00
It's expensive.
46:01
Please get a dog.
46:02
I'm, I...
46:03
We'll look after, actually Lucy just not found it.
46:04
I was, but...
46:05
I'll look after it.
46:08
But for the meantime,
46:09
you should actually just do the dog sitting all my friends do it they get paid like 30 pounds a
46:13
day I just want my own I want I want a little dog that like loves seeing comes and like I just I just
46:18
dream yeah I think I'm I think I want that we just wanted to end this episode by recognizing
46:23
how far you've come as I don't think you stop that often to realize it you don't stop to sort
46:28
of appreciate the things that you have achieved so just wanted to point that out and so we're
46:33
very proud of you we love working with you and yeah just to note some of the key things that
46:37
you've talked about just to really relay this back to you we really need to get in your mind
46:41
how far you've come you've co-founded a business from scratch you've built a podcast that literally
46:46
today has got to two million downloads how crazy actually yeah that's a big clap
46:55
you've employed a team you've got some amazing employees
46:59
amazing amazing you bought two investment properties you've moved countries multiple
47:05
times you've got your personal finances now completely sorted and you've now taken on the
47:10
business finances too not quite completely so i don't know your emergency fund is sounding pretty
47:15
hefty yeah yeah i mean i'm the poster child for the curve right it's like if if anyone has is new
47:22
to the the podcast or what we do or even not i think that yeah if literally anyone can learn
47:30
this stuff i i spoke at an event and i was practicing i don't even know if i've said this
47:34
on the podcast before but I was I was practicing what I was going to say and I was talking about
47:38
being you know 50,000 debt and blah blah and then and then where I was now and I was practicing at
47:44
home by myself and I kind of started crying I was just like I was so proud of myself I don't think
47:49
you do stop to see where you've gone and even if all you've done which is not nothing is stopped
47:57
spending on one thing you wanted to stop spending on like I I do think that when it comes to
48:02
improving your finances particularly you actually have to celebrate yeah the small things because
48:08
it can feel it's a long time like it's taken five six years you know to get from where I was where
48:14
I am now and it's been up down up down sideways but um over a longer period of time it's like wow
48:20
cool if I can go from being in that sort of completely head in the sand like not a clue
48:27
what's going on to where I am now.
48:29
Like, it's actually kind of crazy.
48:31
Yeah.
48:32
But yeah, I'm going to think about my next goals.
48:34
Maybe mine will be to do with investing in the stock market
48:36
because I pulled a lot out to buy the property.
48:38
So maybe I set myself like 100K or something crazy.
48:42
Wow, okay.
48:43
That's a bit much.
48:45
Overachieving gymnast, aren't you?
48:49
The end of year episode.
48:50
Yes, okay.
48:51
That's a good one.
48:52
No, but this is really fun.
48:53
We should definitely do it with Vic.
48:54
I feel like it would be really fun to do it.
48:56
Yeah.
48:57
I don't think Vick's ever really done her full story kind of stuff.
48:59
No, again, we've kind of had it in bits and pieces.
49:01
And we have had quite a few DMs recently saying that they wanted it.
49:05
So we give the people what they want.
49:07
A hundred percent.
49:08
Thank you so much, Soph.
49:09
This is so good.
49:10
Thanks for coming on the Curve podcast.
49:12
Thank you so much for listening to Raising the Curve.
49:14
These conversations are designed to teach you everything you need to know
49:17
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49:19
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49:22
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49:25
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49:27
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49:29
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49:30
and it would really make our week, our month, our year.
49:33
Yeah, yeah.
49:34
So please do it.
49:35
Okay, love you.
49:36
Bye.
49:39
Okay, quickly, the curve was created to empower
49:41
and educate you about investing,
49:43
but we are not financial advisors.
49:45
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49:47
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49:50
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49:51
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49:52
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49:54
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49:59
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50:03
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