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MONEY DIARIES: Making Change from Classroom to Boardroom! · She's On The Money

0:00
Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud your
0:04
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
0:22
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
0:30
Speaker 1: today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
0:33
Speaker 2: Let's get into it.
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Speaker 3: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
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Speaker 4: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money the podcast
1:00
Speaker 4: Maliles who want Financial Freedom. Welcome back to another shot
1:04
Speaker 4: back money Diary Monday, where we get to chat to
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Speaker 4: one of our community members to learn more about them
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Speaker 4: and their lives and most importantly, their finances. Victoria, Today,
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Speaker 4: I've got a good one for you.
1:15
Speaker 2: Do you want to hear?
1:16
Speaker 5: Oh?
1:16
Speaker 2: I haven't heard that line in a while. I have
1:18
Speaker 2: no doubt it's good though.
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Speaker 4: Let me tell you all about our diarists, She says.
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Speaker 4: I am a dedicated humanities and social sciences teacher with
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Speaker 4: a commitment to evoking a passion for social justice, especially
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Speaker 4: equality for women. I am a director on a board
1:32
Speaker 4: of a nonprofit NDIS service provider, challenging the status quo
1:36
Speaker 4: for recruitment in this space. Life is not without challenges,
1:39
Speaker 4: including managing a chronic health condition, endemitriosis, with the ever
1:43
Speaker 4: increasing demands of my teaching role. Dmitriosis strikes women financially
1:48
Speaker 4: in a number of ways, including in applying for personal insurance.
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Speaker 4: I am privileged to be able to work full time,
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Speaker 4: but I'm aware that so many other endometriosis warriors are
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Speaker 4: not so fortunate. Thank you for reading a small snapshot
2:00
Speaker 4: of my personal story.
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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I want to know so much more.
2:03
Speaker 2: Money dorist, welcome to the show.
2:05
Speaker 5: Thank you so much, Victoria.
2:07
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, no, thank you for coming. Oh let's
2:09
Speaker 2: dive straight in. I want to know more about your
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Speaker 2: money story. Please elaborate, my friend.
2:13
Speaker 5: I guess, yeah, my story is kind of diverse. It's
2:16
Speaker 5: a little bit different. You could say I have one
2:18
Speaker 5: of those stock standard public service kind of professions, but
2:22
Speaker 5: outside of that, I'm also heavily involved in volunteering, and
2:26
Speaker 5: I'm also facing the day to day challenges of having
2:30
Speaker 5: a chronic health condition. So yeah, I feel like I
2:32
Speaker 5: could share a few tips and a few experiences.
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Speaker 2: Of course you can. How long have you been working
2:39
Speaker 2: because obviously I don't want to elaborate too much, but
2:41
Speaker 2: how long have you been working? And I guess how
2:44
Speaker 2: long have you known about your ENDO?
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Speaker 5: Yeah? So I've been teaching, I mean my eighth year now,
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Speaker 5: which sounds crazy. It just it's gone so quickly. I
2:51
Speaker 5: had to actually look it up before I spoke to
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Speaker 5: you guys today, and my indo matrices diagnosis. I was
2:58
Speaker 5: fifteen at the time now, so almost fifteen years. It's
3:02
Speaker 5: definitely been a huge part of my life. But fortunately
3:04
Speaker 5: for me, I was diagnosed early and was given that opportunity,
3:08
Speaker 5: whereas so many other women I speak to go many
3:11
Speaker 5: many years without any diagnosis. Yeah.
3:14
Speaker 2: Wow, all right, we want to know what do you
3:16
Speaker 2: do for work? How much money do you earn?
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Speaker 5: So I'm a high school teacher and I earn one
3:20
Speaker 5: hundred and nine thousand gross per annum plus super anuay.
3:25
Speaker 2: Now how good is that?
3:26
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's a quality of room uneration, but it's definitely
3:30
Speaker 5: something that's stepped so it's a salary. So as you
3:33
Speaker 5: build experience and accreditation, then your wage grows as a teacher.
3:37
Speaker 2: Oh of course. And you said before you've done it
3:40
Speaker 2: for eight years now, which I can absolutely sympathize with
3:44
Speaker 2: In a way. I was thinking about how long I've
3:46
Speaker 2: been doing my job, and I got an email a
3:49
Speaker 2: couple of years ago for my tenth year reunion for
3:51
Speaker 2: my high school, and I was like, ah, I feel
3:54
Speaker 2: like I'm going to opt out of tracking, and I'm
3:56
Speaker 2: also going to remove my year of graduation from weekedin.
3:58
Speaker 2: So we're moving on from that. Take from that what
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Speaker 2: you will. All right, money, dirist, I want to know
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Speaker 2: what is your big money goal? What are you currently
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Speaker 2: working towards.
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Speaker 5: So I don't know if I'm allowed to have two,
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Speaker 5: but one of my big money goals at the moment
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Speaker 5: is that I'm saving to do some renovations to my house.
4:13
Speaker 5: And I also have another big goal, which is saving
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Speaker 5: to travel overseas to Europe. So sort of got two
4:20
Speaker 5: things happening at the moment.
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Speaker 2: Air pic al Right, next question, do you have any investments,
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Speaker 2: If so, what are they?
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Speaker 5: Yes, So I have my super which is tugging along
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Speaker 5: nicely despite the little bit of downturn at the moment.
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Speaker 5: And I also invest in a couple of index ETFs.
4:36
Speaker 2: Oh how did you pick those?
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Speaker 5: Basically through a lot of research, like based on my
4:42
Speaker 5: study while I was at university and then reading and
4:46
Speaker 5: listening to podcasts, and yeah, just decided more of a
4:50
Speaker 5: passive approach is probably most appropriate for me.
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Speaker 2: I love that. Jess and I have just finished a
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Speaker 2: series where we talk about like passive versus active investing
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Speaker 2: and what might be right for you, And I'm loving
5:00
Speaker 2: hearing how clearly you're like, Yeah, the passive approach works
5:03
Speaker 2: for me, and this is the asset class I've chosen.
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Speaker 2: Like that makes me so happy because sometimes people will
5:08
Speaker 2: say things like, oh, well I have this index ETF
5:10
Speaker 2: because that's what my friend said she was using, and
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Speaker 2: You're just like, no, no, no, I did my research.
5:14
Speaker 2: I know who I am and what I want and
5:15
Speaker 2: what I need. I am obsessed. How good is that?
5:19
Speaker 5: Yeah? Like, I have a couple of Like I invested
5:21
Speaker 5: in two different shares and that's just like a very
5:23
Speaker 5: small amount as a bit of an experiment, and one's
5:26
Speaker 5: been quite good, and I'm like, oh, that was a
5:28
Speaker 5: good one, and then another one's performed because that particular
5:31
Speaker 5: company has just had like turmoil hit them in an
5:34
Speaker 5: unexpected way, so I don't think anyone would have picked it.
5:37
Speaker 5: So yeah, it's a bit of trial and error, isn't it.
5:40
Speaker 2: But I guess that's where you can go. And I
5:42
Speaker 2: would call what your strategy currently is. I would call
5:45
Speaker 2: your strategy a core satellite strategy where you have your
5:48
Speaker 2: core investments and then you satellite invest around it. And
5:51
Speaker 2: that's exactly what I do because it's just to me,
5:54
Speaker 2: I want to invest in direct shares, but I also
5:56
Speaker 2: know that's not where I want my majority of wealth
5:58
Speaker 2: and the wealth creation because I want the stability. But
6:01
Speaker 2: I also I have fun in the share market, Like,
6:03
Speaker 2: don't take that away from me. That's my favorite part
6:06
Speaker 2: of it all. So I completely resonate with that next
6:09
Speaker 2: question I have for you. Do you currently have any debts?
6:12
Speaker 2: If so, what are they?
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Speaker 5: So I only have my mortgage, and I say only
6:15
Speaker 5: because obviously that's quite a considerable debt.
6:17
Speaker 2: So yes, I have a mortgage, but a mortgage is
6:20
Speaker 2: a good wealth debt. So talk to us about how
6:22
Speaker 2: much is left on your mortgage and what you purchased
6:25
Speaker 2: that property for.
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Speaker 5: So I think there's about two hundred and ninety thousand
6:30
Speaker 5: dollars owing on my mortgage, and when I purchase the
6:33
Speaker 5: property before COVID, well before COVID, I think it was
6:36
Speaker 5: about three hundred and thirty five thousand.
6:39
Speaker 1: Mm hmm.
6:39
Speaker 2: That's not bad at all.
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Speaker 5: Yeah. Yeah, so I live in a regional area, so
6:44
Speaker 5: obviously I'm in that position where I'm not paying a
6:46
Speaker 5: million dollars to enter the market. And obviously before COVID
6:50
Speaker 5: and the big increase in prices house prices, I've worked
6:54
Speaker 5: in my favor.
6:55
Speaker 2: Yeah wow, ur right, Next question, my friend, do you
6:59
Speaker 2: currently use shot back when shopping online?
7:01
Speaker 5: Yeah? I do have the extension on my browser, and
7:05
Speaker 5: I feel like I go through spades where I use
7:07
Speaker 5: it all the time and then you know, won't buy
7:09
Speaker 5: anything for a while. But yeah, I definitely use it
7:11
Speaker 5: and it's yeah, it's great free money.
7:13
Speaker 2: We love free money. That is the money win all right.
7:16
Speaker 2: Next question, we want to know what is your best
7:18
Speaker 2: money habit.
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Speaker 5: My best money habit is like automating my finances. So
7:22
Speaker 5: I am just a very busy person and I hate
7:25
Speaker 5: having to manually pay a bill or you know, actually
7:28
Speaker 5: have to have things in my head and think, oh,
7:30
Speaker 5: my gosh, I've got to do this, so I automate
7:32
Speaker 5: all of my regular bills, my mortgage, you know, contributions
7:36
Speaker 5: to super, investments, savings, all of that kind of thing.
7:39
Speaker 5: So it avoids that temptation of oh, you know, I'll
7:43
Speaker 5: get to it one day, like I'll contribute to my
7:45
Speaker 5: super one day, or I might inverse one day. If
7:47
Speaker 5: it's just gone, you don't really notice it.
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Speaker 2: I feel like that's also one of my best money habits.
7:52
Speaker 2: I kind of feel like it's out of sight, out
7:54
Speaker 2: of mind. If it's set up, I feel secure. I
7:56
Speaker 2: know a lot of people don't feel that way though,
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Speaker 2: They're like, no, I really want to manually, and I'm
8:00
Speaker 2: just like, no, sir, that's not for me, not for
8:03
Speaker 2: me at all.
8:04
Speaker 5: No.
8:05
Speaker 2: All right, let's flip that narrative on its head. I
8:07
Speaker 2: want to know what is your worst money have it?
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Speaker 5: Ah, it's almost hard. And it actually came to me
8:13
Speaker 5: as I was putting the garbage bins out the other
8:15
Speaker 5: day and I was like, oh my gosh, you need
8:16
Speaker 5: to stop buying like excess food. I think I have
8:20
Speaker 5: best intentions. What am I going to half for the week.
8:23
Speaker 5: Let's put a meal plan in place and then it
8:24
Speaker 5: gets to Thursday and I do not want to have that,
8:28
Speaker 5: and so you go to something else and then yeah,
8:30
Speaker 5: so I think food wastage and have falling into that
8:33
Speaker 5: trap towards the end of the week. Well, I might
8:35
Speaker 5: just get something for dinner. Is probably one of my
8:38
Speaker 5: worst money habits.
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Speaker 2: Yes, last week's money darist had literally the same Habit
8:43
Speaker 2: is so funny because I'm exactly the same like past me,
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Speaker 2: who food preps on a Sunday. She's so healthy, she
8:51
Speaker 2: has the best intentions for the week. She believes so
8:54
Speaker 2: much in future Victoria. But future Victoria she just wants
8:58
Speaker 2: to eat pizza. She wants the pizza man, the food
9:00
Speaker 2: to the couch in a perfect world, so she doesn't
9:03
Speaker 2: have to cook that really healthy meal. Because it's also
9:06
Speaker 2: not about just being lazy. I just don't feel like
9:08
Speaker 2: that anymore, and I find that really hard to navigate.
9:12
Speaker 2: Is that something you're like, oh, I really want to
9:14
Speaker 2: work on it, or are you like, all right, this
9:15
Speaker 2: is a habit that I'm just going to agree to
9:17
Speaker 2: disagree with.
9:18
Speaker 5: I think I definitely like, particularly for health wise, it's
9:20
Speaker 5: so much better to prepare food at home, and you know,
9:24
Speaker 5: usually you can get a couple of nights out of
9:25
Speaker 5: it and that kind of thing. But yeah, it's definitely
9:27
Speaker 5: something I need to prioritize. And I think if you
9:30
Speaker 5: come home and you prepare dinner, since you walk through
9:33
Speaker 5: the door, it's easy. As soon as you hit the
9:34
Speaker 5: couch or whatever, it's gone, it's.
9:37
Speaker 2: Done, totally, all right. I want to know this last
9:40
Speaker 2: question before we go to a quick break, well deep
9:42
Speaker 2: dive further into your money story, but what grade would
9:46
Speaker 2: you give your money habits if you're forced to give
9:48
Speaker 2: yourself a grade?
9:49
Speaker 5: Oh well, this is my specialty. And every time I
9:52
Speaker 5: hear people like, oh my gosh, you're so under undercutting yourself,
9:56
Speaker 5: like you should give yourself higher. I think for knowledge,
9:59
Speaker 5: I would give myself an A just based on you know,
10:02
Speaker 5: every day, my education background and that kind of thing.
10:04
Speaker 5: But in reality, I think a B because there's a
10:07
Speaker 5: lot of things I could be doing better and there's
10:10
Speaker 5: always room for improvement. So I don't think I'm like
10:12
Speaker 5: a solid A. I would say a B plus to
10:15
Speaker 5: an A.
10:15
Speaker 4: I like that you just faltered to like a Rubricu're
10:17
Speaker 4: like in this category.
10:19
Speaker 2: I guess this category and the feedback on that, and
10:25
Speaker 2: we'll talk about it at Parent Teacher Info nite. So
10:29
Speaker 2: tell us Money Direst what would mean that you, as
10:31
Speaker 2: a student could go from your current mark up to
10:34
Speaker 2: an A plus. What would it take less talking in class?
10:38
Speaker 5: Yeah? Maybe, Like I was definitely a talker in class,
10:41
Speaker 5: so yeah, definitely one of those people. But yeah, probably,
10:45
Speaker 5: I think, like, particularly if interest rates increasing, I think
10:47
Speaker 5: I need to move around a few savings accounts. I
10:50
Speaker 5: definitely need to go back to my mortgage broker and
10:53
Speaker 5: get them to check my interest rate.
10:56
Speaker 2: Oh I can do that for you. I've got a
10:57
Speaker 2: good mortgage broker.
10:59
Speaker 5: Yeah, I know, I've seen that. Yeah. So it's just
11:02
Speaker 5: like little things that I've sort of set every six
11:04
Speaker 5: months that I'll revisit. So I think there's a few
11:07
Speaker 5: things that I need to reevaluate, and particularly in the
11:11
Speaker 5: new year, of revisit everything again and make sure it's
11:14
Speaker 5: all all chugging along nicely.
11:17
Speaker 2: I love that. All Right, with that, let's go to
11:19
Speaker 2: a really quick break because I have lots of questions
11:21
Speaker 2: and we'll get through them in a very hot minute.
11:29
Speaker 4: Alrighty, welcome back, everybody, Money Dorus. I want to kick
11:32
Speaker 4: things off by talking through your endometriosis. Diagnosis and the
11:36
Speaker 4: impact that that's had on you. Because we've touched on
11:40
Speaker 4: on the pod before, endometriosis is one of those things
11:43
Speaker 4: that is extremely commonly misdiagnosed.
11:46
Speaker 2: It's often ignored.
11:48
Speaker 4: There's like a really significant problem that I've seen, even
11:51
Speaker 4: just within my personal circle of friends, of people having
11:54
Speaker 4: the symptoms, and they're pretty severe symptoms and more often
11:57
Speaker 4: than not being chalked up to just really bad period cramps.
12:00
Speaker 4: Have you taken a panetole like not necessarily being treated
12:04
Speaker 4: with the severity that it needed to be. And then
12:06
Speaker 4: over the last few years, we've seen, I think when
12:09
Speaker 4: we spoke about the budget earlier in the year, more
12:11
Speaker 4: and more money being committed specifically to research and assist
12:16
Speaker 4: in learning more about ENDO. What was the process of
12:19
Speaker 4: getting diagnosed like for you, because you said that it
12:22
Speaker 4: was nearly fifteen years ago, so it probably wasn't as
12:25
Speaker 4: commonly spoken about as it is now. How did that go?
12:30
Speaker 4: Did you find it hard? Did people kind of take
12:32
Speaker 4: you at your word right away?
12:34
Speaker 5: So it was really challenging because at the time that
12:36
Speaker 5: my family and myself started seeking some answers, I was
12:40
Speaker 5: really only fourteen and in the in society and dometriosis
12:44
Speaker 5: like it was known about, but it really wasn't talked about,
12:47
Speaker 5: and there was among the medical profession a sort of
12:51
Speaker 5: unfounded assumption that a young person as young as fifteen
12:55
Speaker 5: wouldn't have endometriosis. So a lot of the presentations to
12:59
Speaker 5: the general practitioners were, look, it's just bad period pain.
13:03
Speaker 5: A lot of young women experience this. Have you tried this,
13:07
Speaker 5: that and the other? Have you tried contraception? Everything known
13:11
Speaker 5: to men they try first, and then you know, in
13:14
Speaker 5: a six month period, I went from being a really healthy,
13:17
Speaker 5: happy person to becoming just completely debilitated. And I was
13:21
Speaker 5: struggling to play sport, I was struggling to go to work,
13:25
Speaker 5: which I had a part time job at the time,
13:27
Speaker 5: I was struggling to go to school, and I just, yeah,
13:30
Speaker 5: became a really broken person. Unfortunately, I went to a
13:35
Speaker 5: GP and my mum was such a huge advocate, and
13:38
Speaker 5: she said, look, I'm a medical professional myself. My daughter
13:40
Speaker 5: is not well and you need to actually listen to her,
13:44
Speaker 5: and I want a referral to a gynocologist. And it
13:48
Speaker 5: sort of went from there. And once I saw this
13:50
Speaker 5: gynocologist who was like, oh my gosh, you're ticking all
13:53
Speaker 5: of the boxers. I want to book you in next
13:56
Speaker 5: week for a diagnostic laparoscopy. Once that was undertaken, I
14:01
Speaker 5: woke up and I think I'd reached the point where
14:03
Speaker 5: I thought I was crazy. Like I remember saying to
14:06
Speaker 5: the nurse, you know, like, did they find anything? I
14:09
Speaker 5: think my fear was they'd say there was nothing there,
14:12
Speaker 5: and I'm thinking like, like I'm going crazy, there's something wrong.
14:15
Speaker 2: No, but you're not, You're not crazy.
14:17
Speaker 5: I remember her saying, no, we definitely found quite a
14:20
Speaker 5: considerable amount. So they removed the end of metrisis during
14:24
Speaker 5: the surgery. So that obviously made a world of difference
14:28
Speaker 5: to my pain levels.
14:29
Speaker 2: Wow, that's crazy that it took your mum stepping in
14:33
Speaker 2: and really advocating for you. And you know, that's amazing
14:37
Speaker 2: for you. But so many people just either don't advocate
14:40
Speaker 2: for themselves or have somebody who really talks up. Because
14:43
Speaker 2: I feel like too many times people get told it's
14:46
Speaker 2: just period pain. You just need to, you know, maybe
14:49
Speaker 2: lay in bed for a little longer. Have you tried
14:50
Speaker 2: a weep pack, like a weet pack might really help you.
14:53
Speaker 2: You could take one to work. Like that to me
14:56
Speaker 2: is crazy talk because our bodies aren't actually meant to
14:59
Speaker 2: be in that much pain when we have our periods,
15:02
Speaker 2: Like it's just not actually normal. And I think we
15:05
Speaker 2: need to talk about this more often because I have
15:07
Speaker 2: a few friends who have ENDO, very very significantly. It
15:10
Speaker 2: impacts their fertility, it impacts their quality of life, It
15:14
Speaker 2: has involved lots of different surgeries over a long period
15:17
Speaker 2: of time, and I just don't think people understand that
15:20
Speaker 2: ENDO isn't just bad period pain, Like it's actually really
15:23
Speaker 2: really significant.
15:25
Speaker 5: Yeah, definitely, And when you say to people like I
15:27
Speaker 5: remember when I was diagnosed and I'd returned to school,
15:30
Speaker 5: and you know, everyone is trying their best to be supportive,
15:34
Speaker 5: but because young fifteen year old girls, sixteen year old girls,
15:37
Speaker 5: they don't really understand what it was at the time,
15:39
Speaker 5: and they're like, oh, okay, fantastic, you've had your surgery,
15:42
Speaker 5: you're fixed. And it was so hard to explain that
15:45
Speaker 5: this is an ongoing condition and a huge percentage of
15:48
Speaker 5: women actually have a recurrence, which I have and have
15:51
Speaker 5: had to have five surgeries since then. So yeah, it's
15:56
Speaker 5: such a struggle and a lot of women do fall
15:58
Speaker 5: into that. I want to emphasiz with you, so they'll
16:01
Speaker 5: say things like no, oh, I have that period pain too,
16:05
Speaker 5: Like oh, I do yoga and like I eat you know, clean,
16:09
Speaker 5: and I do this and that. Have you tried it?
16:10
Speaker 5: And I have got to the point now where I've
16:12
Speaker 5: just not and smile like yes, like you know, I
16:15
Speaker 5: have tried everything.
16:17
Speaker 2: And it's so undermining when people like have you tried
16:20
Speaker 2: eating clean? You're like, this is a chronic illness, Like
16:23
Speaker 2: you're clearly not seeing how chronic this is. Like eating
16:27
Speaker 2: clean might make me feel better for a week, but
16:30
Speaker 2: it is not going to fix the problem. And I
16:32
Speaker 2: think it can be, you know, obviously from you, it
16:35
Speaker 2: would just be emotionally exhausting having to deal with questions
16:38
Speaker 2: like that or comments like that so consistently because it
16:41
Speaker 2: makes you feel like your situation isn't as valid but
16:45
Speaker 2: it absolutely is. And to me that just sounds crazy.
16:48
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean it is getting better, like I have
16:50
Speaker 5: noticed progressively as time has gone on and I've become
16:52
Speaker 5: an adult and in adult spaces, there's less of a
16:56
Speaker 5: tendency for the people I engage with now to say
16:59
Speaker 5: those things. But definitely, as a young woman, a very
17:02
Speaker 5: young woman, I was just, yeah, I felt like there
17:04
Speaker 5: was nobody who really understood.
17:07
Speaker 2: I'm so sorry you had that experience. It's not one
17:10
Speaker 2: that I wish on anybody. Talking about chronic illness, how
17:14
Speaker 2: does that still impact your day to day life? Like,
17:17
Speaker 2: endo's obviously something that's just not going to go away,
17:19
Speaker 2: So does that impact your teaching ability or your ability
17:23
Speaker 2: to work? Like, how does it impact you day to day?
17:25
Speaker 5: I suppose, yeah, So I since I've been diagnosed, I
17:28
Speaker 5: find I have, you know, eighteen months to two years
17:31
Speaker 5: of what I call it I refer to as a
17:33
Speaker 5: honeymoon period where I feel quite well, and then in
17:37
Speaker 5: that sort of third year, I start to get the
17:39
Speaker 5: pain recurring quite badly, and that's when it starts to
17:43
Speaker 5: impact work. So, you know, over the years, I have
17:46
Speaker 5: had to take a fervative sick leave, and sometimes the
17:50
Speaker 5: urgency to have surgery means that I might just have
17:52
Speaker 5: to take a week or so off all of a sudden,
17:56
Speaker 5: and then day to day, you know, I'm pretty much
17:58
Speaker 5: one of those people that just get on with it,
18:00
Speaker 5: and I sometimes find that it's better to be busy
18:03
Speaker 5: than to be at home thinking about how much pain
18:06
Speaker 5: I mean, or how you know, awful I feel. So,
18:09
Speaker 5: you know, work is still quite hard. I'm not a
18:11
Speaker 5: laborer obviously, but as a teacher, you're on all day.
18:16
Speaker 5: You're putting on a performance. It's like you're a performer.
18:19
Speaker 5: You know, I'm really happy to be here, so excited.
18:23
Speaker 5: You know, we're talking about global warming today and you're
18:25
Speaker 5: just trying to put on this show to engage these
18:28
Speaker 5: fifteen year olds. And it's super tough. Like it gets
18:31
Speaker 5: to the end of the day and you're like, wow,
18:32
Speaker 5: Like I haven't sat down and I feel so exhausted.
18:37
Speaker 5: So it is really tiring. It's a really an illness
18:41
Speaker 5: that really wanes on you, and you get to the
18:42
Speaker 5: point where you're just like, is there ever an end
18:45
Speaker 5: point for this? Yeah?
18:46
Speaker 2: Wow?
18:47
Speaker 4: And one of the financial impacts you mentioned earlier obviously
18:51
Speaker 4: taking time off work, using your slick leave, maybe taking
18:53
Speaker 4: unpaid leaves. But you kind of hinted at it in
18:56
Speaker 4: your earlier letter that any chronic illness, the ENDO as
19:01
Speaker 4: well specifically, does have a big financial impact on your life.
19:04
Speaker 4: Can you talk us through that a little bit.
19:06
Speaker 5: Yeah, So, endometrisis, it has so many direct and indirect costs.
19:12
Speaker 5: For example, I could not be without private health insurance
19:15
Speaker 5: with enometrosis because if I didn't have private health insurance,
19:19
Speaker 5: I would be on public weight lists that are in
19:22
Speaker 5: my region eighteen months, two years long. Because surgery for
19:25
Speaker 5: endometrosis is not considered a priority. It's an elective surgery.
19:30
Speaker 5: So with COVID, for example, I wouldn't have had my
19:33
Speaker 5: surgery last year. I would have still be on a
19:35
Speaker 5: weight list. So the cost with private health insurance, then
19:39
Speaker 5: the cost we seeing as specialists, the out of pockets there,
19:43
Speaker 5: the out of pockets for your anethetist, you know, the
19:45
Speaker 5: hospital gap scans, ultrasounds, experimenting with different contraceptions that aren't
19:53
Speaker 5: on the PBS, dietitians trying different diets, exercise regimes, pain specialists, buzos,
20:04
Speaker 5: you name it. I've done it, and it all comes
20:07
Speaker 5: at a huge cost.
20:09
Speaker 2: That's insane. It's insane to me that that's elective surgery,
20:13
Speaker 2: Like that is not elective surgery. That is Oh, that
20:17
Speaker 2: frustrates me. And I guess that opens a whole other
20:19
Speaker 2: can of worms of discussion that I could have with
20:21
Speaker 2: you today, which is not what this is about. But
20:25
Speaker 2: it just it blows my mind that things like that
20:27
Speaker 2: aren't prioritized, and you know, to dig a bit deeper
20:30
Speaker 2: into that for a hot second, if it was happening
20:32
Speaker 2: to men, it would already be top of the list, right.
20:35
Speaker 5: Oh absolutely autely. I think if a male with complaining
20:38
Speaker 5: to their GP, like I'm in this amount of paid
20:41
Speaker 5: like a cart work, I can't go and play goal.
20:43
Speaker 2: For whatever it is, Oh yeah, straight to the top
20:45
Speaker 2: of the list, like that's.
20:46
Speaker 5: Correct, and they'd be like, oh my gosh, like we
20:48
Speaker 5: must do something for you. But if it's a woman,
20:50
Speaker 5: it's like, oh my gosh.
20:52
Speaker 2: We complain, Just get back in our boxes, I suppose
20:55
Speaker 2: is the summary of that, which is honestly really gross.
20:59
Speaker 2: And I just think that that's you know, putting us
21:01
Speaker 2: even further behind, because that impacts your ability to progress
21:04
Speaker 2: your career at the end of the day and generate
21:07
Speaker 2: more income. Like you're already burnt out at the end
21:10
Speaker 2: of a working day, like God forbid you wanted to
21:12
Speaker 2: have a life outside of that, Like I'm sure that
21:14
Speaker 2: there are days where you just go home and you
21:16
Speaker 2: absolutely crash and burn and there's just no option for
21:18
Speaker 2: side hustles or you know, taking on tutoring jobs and
21:21
Speaker 2: doing all of that other stuff because it's just not
21:23
Speaker 2: compatible to the life that you have. And that's just
21:26
Speaker 2: not fair.
21:27
Speaker 5: I used to tutor. In twenty twenty peak of COVID,
21:30
Speaker 5: I was tutoring as well, and I just burnt myself
21:33
Speaker 5: out and ended up leaving it. But I definitely, you know,
21:37
Speaker 5: a side hustle with the workload and with the chronic illness.
21:41
Speaker 5: It's just not something that I would contemplate at this
21:43
Speaker 5: point in time. Yeah.
21:44
Speaker 4: Wow, was your experience with chronic illness? What kind of
21:48
Speaker 4: pushed you to become a director on the NDA sport
21:52
Speaker 4: that you're a director for?
21:53
Speaker 5: Not directly, no, Like it wasn't something that they even
21:57
Speaker 5: knew about, And I would say they actually don't know
21:59
Speaker 5: about that diagnosis. I was approached JUDA some involvement that
22:04
Speaker 5: I had with some fundraising locally and the board had
22:07
Speaker 5: a couple of vacancies and so they were looking to
22:11
Speaker 5: diversify the board, particularly women and young women. So that's
22:15
Speaker 5: why I was approached, and also my educational background, so
22:19
Speaker 5: they were looking for someone who could bring that knowledge
22:23
Speaker 5: knowledge as an educator as well. Did you find that
22:26
Speaker 5: it was a really male dominated space like that you
22:29
Speaker 5: said they were looking to diversify When you moved into
22:32
Speaker 5: that space, did you feel that lack of diversity. Yeah,
22:36
Speaker 5: so it is diverse in other ways, but not with gender.
22:39
Speaker 5: So when I commenced, there were three female directors including myself,
22:43
Speaker 5: and nine men, and I was the youngest person on
22:48
Speaker 5: the board by probably about fifteen years. Oh my gosh.
22:52
Speaker 5: So it was a little bit daunting. Particularly with the
22:56
Speaker 5: men on the board. A lot of them had an
22:58
Speaker 5: accounting finance back out, so you know, they were very
23:03
Speaker 5: up to date with budgets and cash flow and just
23:07
Speaker 5: all of the lingo basically. So I remember my first meeting.
23:11
Speaker 5: I came in and I'm like, oh my gosh, like
23:12
Speaker 5: they gave they'd email me all these spreadsheets and all
23:15
Speaker 5: these documents, and I remember just staring at it. I'm like,
23:17
Speaker 5: I have nothing to add, thankfully, Like I learned very quickly,
23:21
Speaker 5: and I think that urgency of like I just don't
23:24
Speaker 5: want to look like I don't know what's going on,
23:26
Speaker 5: like I need to I need to immerse myself in this.
23:29
Speaker 5: And once I got up to speed, you know, I
23:31
Speaker 5: was able to contribute with in relation to the finances.
23:35
Speaker 2: I find that really interesting because I guess too, I
23:39
Speaker 2: want to say sympathized, but I guess back you up
23:42
Speaker 2: on that. I sit on a board as well. I'm
23:45
Speaker 2: the treasurer for TLC for Kids, which is a children's
23:47
Speaker 2: charity that is very close to my heart. I've been
23:49
Speaker 2: doing that for what now over three years, which is crazy.
23:52
Speaker 2: But when I first started, I would pour over every
23:56
Speaker 2: single document that was sent through to the board and
23:59
Speaker 2: make sure I know you went back to front, like yeah,
24:01
Speaker 2: the financial side of things, that's where I really understood it.
24:04
Speaker 2: But like everything else I was pouring over and I
24:07
Speaker 2: would go to these meetings and you know, hope that
24:10
Speaker 2: I looked intelligent, didn't look silly, and realized that all
24:13
Speaker 2: of the men on the board they weren't doing that.
24:15
Speaker 2: They were just turning up and they're like, oh, what
24:17
Speaker 2: was this? When was it sent through? And I'd be like,
24:19
Speaker 2: what the hell? Like what the hell? Like why aren't
24:21
Speaker 2: you guys on top of these.
24:23
Speaker 5: They sounds so familiar, Like I think I went in
24:25
Speaker 5: over prepared and I knew that they always read the
24:29
Speaker 5: budget and all of that kind of thing and all
24:31
Speaker 5: the financials for the month. But as soon as it
24:33
Speaker 5: came to oh, has anyone reviewed those risk management plans
24:36
Speaker 5: for this client? Or has anyone reviewed that grant application
24:39
Speaker 5: or that letter they're like no, I'm sorry, like I
24:41
Speaker 5: didn't get it, and I'm like, mate, I can see it. Friends,
24:45
Speaker 5: So you sin learn, yeah, that this unfounded sort of
24:50
Speaker 5: feeling of inadequacy, and you think, well, actually.
24:53
Speaker 2: And it's not true, like you are so adequate, you've
24:56
Speaker 2: just never done it before, so it makes sense that
24:58
Speaker 2: it wouldn't make sense to you. But I think that
25:00
Speaker 2: that's the difference between you know, men and women, and
25:03
Speaker 2: we talk about it on the podcast all the time,
25:05
Speaker 2: like women will only apply for a job if they
25:07
Speaker 2: think they meet one hundred percent of the criteria, and
25:09
Speaker 2: men are just kind of like floating along. They're like
25:11
Speaker 2: sixty percent. That sounds good, that peace, get degrees, no worries,
25:14
Speaker 2: And I feel like every aspect of our lives kind
25:17
Speaker 2: of that filters into it because you know, I'm not
25:19
Speaker 2: going to make assumptions, but I'm assuming you already would
25:22
Speaker 2: have been overwhelmed with this idea of a board because
25:25
Speaker 2: I was. I was like, oh my gosh, like I
25:27
Speaker 2: cannot believe, Like it was like this massive piece of
25:29
Speaker 2: imposter syndrome where I was like, I can't believe they're
25:32
Speaker 2: not only letting me in, but they want me to
25:33
Speaker 2: be the treasurer, Like, what on earth They're going to
25:36
Speaker 2: find out that I'm terrible at least at some point
25:39
Speaker 2: They're going to fire me, and I'm going to be
25:40
Speaker 2: so embarrassed, And you know that's not the case at all.
25:44
Speaker 2: But I just don't think men have that same thought
25:46
Speaker 2: bat no, because they've never been put in a circumstance
25:49
Speaker 2: like that where their gender like is reflective of their
25:53
Speaker 2: ability to do a job. And you know, people just
25:55
Speaker 2: assume we wouldn't know, right, we were silly little women.
25:58
Speaker 2: And now I'm sure you kill it because you spent
26:01
Speaker 2: so long pouring over the details and really understanding what
26:04
Speaker 2: makes that board up of But essentially, like boards aren't
26:07
Speaker 2: as overwhelming and frustrating. And if other women are listening,
26:10
Speaker 2: join one do it, would you say the same thing?
26:13
Speaker 5: Yeah? Definitely. Before I was approached, I would never have seen,
26:16
Speaker 5: you know, an advertisement and thought, oh my gosh, like
26:19
Speaker 5: I should apply for this board. I would have thought
26:21
Speaker 5: that is for a male who is super experienced in
26:24
Speaker 5: their field. You know, obviously has a finance background, and
26:28
Speaker 5: you know, it's been one of the best experiences because
26:31
Speaker 5: you are an advocate for vulnerable groups in our community
26:35
Speaker 5: and you bring such a wealth of knowledge being from
26:38
Speaker 5: an educational background, like you can look at things and say, well,
26:41
Speaker 5: what is the value in this particular service that we're
26:45
Speaker 5: providing it? And I'm a big advocate for in disability
26:48
Speaker 5: service provision that we're not just providing something for people
26:53
Speaker 5: to do, Like it's not just to fill your date
26:55
Speaker 5: like it should be meaningful. What life skills does this
26:58
Speaker 5: activity give this person? How does it prepare them to
27:01
Speaker 5: become more independent and transition into independent living if that's
27:05
Speaker 5: their goal. So I think it's a you know, if
27:08
Speaker 5: it opens up so many opportunities. You get to meet
27:11
Speaker 5: clients and you know, they're very open, they will tell
27:14
Speaker 5: you if something's not right, and you know, it really
27:16
Speaker 5: drives that incentive to think, well, okay, well we need
27:19
Speaker 5: to fix that. And I think a lot of times
27:21
Speaker 5: I've said during a meeting, oh well that's a minor issue.
27:25
Speaker 5: I said, okay, well, in the scheme of things, it's
27:27
Speaker 5: a minor issue for you, But for this client every
27:29
Speaker 5: day it annoys them. So let's just get in and
27:31
Speaker 5: get it done.
27:32
Speaker 2: Yes, And do you know what baffles me even more
27:34
Speaker 2: earlier you told me you didn't tell me the statistics
27:37
Speaker 2: but you told me the numbers. You said it was yourself,
27:40
Speaker 2: another woman and nine men on the board, right, And
27:43
Speaker 2: I was like, sorry, So while you were just talking,
27:46
Speaker 2: I did a little bit of googling. My friend. In Australia,
27:49
Speaker 2: male teachers make up twenty two percent of all teachers
27:52
Speaker 2: in all classrooms in Australia. And to think that then
27:57
Speaker 2: the saturation in your board is majority made all to me.
28:00
Speaker 2: That doesn't make sense, Like we need more women in
28:03
Speaker 2: this space, not just because women in leadership roles is important,
28:08
Speaker 2: because it is, but I'm sorry, let's make it reflective
28:11
Speaker 2: of the industry as well, Like, that makes no sense
28:13
Speaker 2: that a majority of men when a lot of the
28:16
Speaker 2: issues pertaining to this space issues that impact women directly.
28:21
Speaker 2: So I just baffles me. I'm so glad you're there,
28:24
Speaker 2: But I also think if you know people in our
28:26
Speaker 2: community are thinking about it, put your hat in the ring,
28:28
Speaker 2: like you know lots, you're a strong, smart person and
28:32
Speaker 2: you will be welcomed into a board, I promise. Often
28:35
Speaker 2: people aren't getting onto boards because we're not applying, like
28:38
Speaker 2: and I see it when I talk to other boards
28:41
Speaker 2: and you know, talk to my friends, like even when
28:43
Speaker 2: the slots are available. Women just don't throw their hat
28:45
Speaker 2: in the ring because we just don't think that we've
28:47
Speaker 2: got enough to add. And you absolutely do.
28:49
Speaker 5: Yeah, definitely, And I've said it to a lot of
28:52
Speaker 5: my friends and some of them are younger and a
28:55
Speaker 5: couple of them are on boards as well, and it's
28:57
Speaker 5: just so great to see that. You know, they are applying,
29:00
Speaker 5: but we're trying to encourage other women as well. And
29:03
Speaker 5: you can start small. It might be with your local
29:06
Speaker 5: football club, network club, you know, a really small provider
29:09
Speaker 5: of a particular service, and you can branch out from there.
29:13
Speaker 5: I think, you know, look for those opportunities, but also
29:16
Speaker 5: ask you know, if you see advertisements for annual general
29:20
Speaker 5: meetings being held, you can go along to them. You
29:23
Speaker 5: can express an interest beforehand, particularly if they do say, look,
29:27
Speaker 5: we are calling for nominations. So yeah, there's definitely opportunities out.
29:31
Speaker 2: There, and it's cool to have an impact in a
29:34
Speaker 2: space that you're passionate about as well. And it sounds
29:36
Speaker 2: like you're doing that and I'm just I'm proud to
29:38
Speaker 2: say that you're part of our shes On the mining community.
29:40
Speaker 2: You sound like a stellar human being. Thank you Money Dorest,
29:44
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for joining us today. It has
29:46
Speaker 2: been an absolute pleasure learning more about you and your
29:50
Speaker 2: journey and everything that you've been through. I feel like
29:52
Speaker 2: you are so impactful and so young and have so
29:55
Speaker 2: far to go yet. Thank you for being part of
29:58
Speaker 2: our community and thank you for joining us for Money
30:00
Speaker 2: Diary today.
30:01
Speaker 5: Thank you so much for having me.
30:02
Speaker 2: No, of course, all right, Jess. That is all. We
30:05
Speaker 2: will see you guys for another episode of Money Diaries
30:08
Speaker 2: next week.
30:09
Speaker 4: Bye.
30:16
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