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RTC1: Getting to know The Curve · The Curve

• 0:00
  Welcome to the Curve Podcast, a conversation for women who want to learn more about money.
• 0:07
  They are money for the future they want to have.
• 0:10
  We're all busy and the pursuit for financial confidence and increasing your wealth should be a simple one.
• 0:16
  That's why the curve was created.
• 0:18
  This podcast is for women to learn about investing in a non-scary or intimidating way.
• 0:23
  With short episodes, you'll have time to learn, digest and understand everything to do with the world of investing.
• 0:30
  Don't expect to be an expert on day one.
• 0:33
  No question is a silly question.
• 0:35
  If you're asking it, so is everyone else.
• 0:38
  So thank you for being here and for listening.
• 0:40
  Because together we really can raise the curve.
• 0:44
  Hi everybody, this is Victoria.
• 0:46
  And my name's Sophie.
• 0:48
  So this is a podcast, basically, to help teach me but also whoever's listening about investing.
• 0:55
  So if I can have been working on the curve, which is an investing platform for women,
• 1:00
  which is basically to try and help teach people like me who know nothing about investing,
• 1:05
  how to get a bit more confident when it comes to learning how to grow wealth and the money that you do have to learn from the ground up.
• 1:12
  And for some reason, investing is so scary and intimidating and we just really wanted to break down those barriers
• 1:19
  and provide a place where collectively we can all come and learn and create a community to do with all things investing.
• 1:26
  And that's kind of why we started the curve.
• 1:28
  Yeah, so I guess let's just start by saying so the curve is basically a platform at the moment where we've got a website, the curve.co.nz,
• 1:36
  and we've got a whole lot of resources on their videos and blog posts and we've got an Instagram where we post content.
• 1:42
  But it's not overly conversational and I think with this kind of content it can be really overwhelming and quite information dense.
• 1:49
  So by creating a podcast with short episodes where you can listen, breastfeeding or walking or whenever you have a moment to listen,
• 1:59
  it's just I think a really a much easier way to digest what can sometimes feel like really overwhelming information, right?
• 2:05
  Totally. And I guess there'll be different episodes talking about different things, all things doing the investing and finance.
• 2:12
  And obviously we've got listeners with different levels of understanding of investing.
• 2:16
  So if there's something you understand, you already you can skip past that or you can go back and listen again to kind of further help your understanding on a certain topic.
• 2:25
  Yeah, we thought a podcast was kind of a great way to provide investing knowledge to the masses.
• 2:30
  And so the way that this is going to work is so Vex obviously the investing brains, she's, she's, do you want to maybe actually start by just sort of explain your experience and sort of why we're actually here teaching people?
• 2:41
  Because I'm obviously not the good idea. So I guess my background I've been in the finance and investment industry for kind of over 10 years now.
• 2:51
  God that makes me makes me feel and I started out as a kind of an analyst and then now I'm a portfolio manager.
• 3:01
  So kind of what does that mean? I guess I every day I'm looking at finding and trying to find investment opportunities for clients.
• 3:09
  So people are basically giving you their money and you're the one that's trying to find what's the best investment for them and trying to get the best return for the best being for their buck.
• 3:17
  So I'm constantly looking at the share market and looking for investment ideas and kind of weighing up risk and return and lots of topics we're going to get into today and throughout the course of the podcast.
• 3:27
  So I've been doing that for kind of the last 10 years and you know I love it and it's every day is different and it's I find it pretty exciting.
• 3:35
  But over the course of the kind of the last 10 years you know I've had the opportunity to work for some of New Zealand's top fund managers as well as working in across Auckland, Sydney and London.
• 3:45
  But throughout that time and increasingly so more recently I've had so many friends specifically women come up to me and just say,
• 3:55
  Vic help, I don't know where to start. Literally I've been one of those friends.
• 4:01
  Exactly and it's just say like can I just catch up for five minutes for a coffee with you?
• 4:05
  I just really want to pick your brains on the few you know points that I don't understand about investing or all the way to like I don't even know where to start.
• 4:12
  Like I've got kind of you know a couple of thousand dollars all the way up you know it's definitely me.
• 4:16
  I remember calling you from Sydney when you'd moved home and I was like, Vic I'm finally safe.
• 4:20
  I can't go and what I do.
• 4:22
  And if I can't like I would gladly sit down with my friends and have that chat and you know for me for something that comes so naturally to me because I do it every day,
• 4:32
  being able to just you know help educate friends you know on a couple of things and make their you know investment goals you know a lot easier and help them build their wealth for me.
• 4:42
  Absolutely but I kind of got my brain thinking gosh if there's this many women within my you know my close community and my close group of friends.
• 4:51
  Then gosh there must be so many other women out there that are feeling exactly the same and maybe they don't have someone like myself or someone they know that they can go to to have that conversation.
• 5:00
  So me and so I mean we've been friends for God too long.
• 5:06
  And we came together last year and well it's actually been a few years now.
• 5:10
  Because I remember when you first said to me you came up with the idea and I was like I'm so happy to help like I can help you with content and blah blah blah.
• 5:17
  And I think it's one of those things where you know you're you are putting yourself out there and as much as you don't want it to be you know an influencer platform it's very much educational.
• 5:26
  Of course there has to be a face of it and people need to know who they're trusting with this like really important information.
• 5:31
  So it did take a while didn't it for a confidence perspective to be like okay yeah I'm ready.
• 5:36
  I want to help people.
• 5:37
  Yeah and just kind of pulling the trigger I guess of yeah putting yourself out there you know there's all these kind of excuses.
• 5:44
  The classic self death.
• 5:45
  Yeah totally.
• 5:46
  And yeah so far we've kind of been blown away by the by the response and I think that just goes to show which is it's also quite unfortunate that there's so many women out there that just don't know
• 5:57
  don't know where to go to start the investment journey and you know being able to provide that place for women to go is just you know it's pretty pretty cool.
• 6:04
  I think what they can I we're both really want to create as a community for women and any kind of socio economic background age.
• 6:11
  Any demographic where they can come and learn at whatever stage they're at and I guess that's going to be a constant communication
• 6:18
  with you listening and you know interacting with some of the stuff that we're putting up online with things you want to know more about and and you know kind of just like it being a two way conversation
• 6:28
  rather than us just talking at you so especially with this podcast we would love to hear from you you know if there's anything you want to learn about
• 6:35
  or share it with your friends people that you think are going to benefit from it so that we can create the community of the curve to be really broad and not just our friends or people that we know.
• 6:44
  And we kind of we want to learn from you guys as well what do you want to know more about what what are you not interested in and you know so we can provide the best and most efficient kind of learning experience for you.
• 6:57
  So the way that this podcast is going to work is I know very little about investing which is ironic because we've been talking about this content now for about six months and I still feel like a total beginner.
• 7:09
  Why don't well what about your background so why don't we talk on that yeah I hate talking about myself but yeah so I have worked in a lot of different producing roles whether it's like radio shows I mean my first job card I was like 20 when I produced the edge breakfast
• 7:24
  it feels like a million years ago but you know when overseas and produced Carl and Jackie which is a big radio show over there survivor you know like some sort of quite large and commercial TV radio online kind of content so I know nothing about so yeah.
• 7:41
  Yeah so like I've kind of always been in the content creating world and I think where this this sort of partnership works really well as I know nothing about investing but I know a lot about communicating content that's going to be digestible and hopefully interesting and engaging so.
• 7:56
  So basically that sort of word formats her knowledge and I'll put it together and to whether it be you know image or an article or a video or a podcast to hopefully communicate that knowledge so that everyone can learn from it.
• 8:09
  So yeah it's a pretty good combo of us I think with this podcast what we wanted to do was basically start from the ground up so I guess we need to start with the like serious basics.
• 8:20
  What is it that you wanted to kind of cover in today's episode?
• 8:24
  Pretty much like a finance 101 what I was taught at uni when I first got introduced to finance and I actually had no idea what finance was even at uni which is terrible.
• 8:36
  I love it just what was you like why we like yes finance.
• 8:39
  I loved business studies at school and kind of accounting and economics and I remember thinking I don't know a lot about this finance which seemed to fit in with all the other kind of business topics that I understood and then I said I don't know too much about this finance area and so I literally took finance 101 at university.
• 9:02
  I actually called finance 101 oh my god can you take that as just like a part-time course.
• 9:07
  I actually agree.
• 9:08
  Yeah yeah but this podcast would be way more benefit.
• 9:11
  True don't go do a degree let's do more.
• 9:16
  Yeah no and it was like such an eye opener of oh my gosh this is like why was I not taught this at school.
• 9:23
  This is kind of what you should be taught from such a young age about saving and putting money away for for your retirement and all those kind of things is
• 9:31
  and I'm like I'm at university I mean my I mean my Twinnies and I'm learning about this like and I don't know why like I said friends come up to me and they're like oh my dad always used to talk to my brothers about investing
• 9:41
  and stuff but he never talks to me and like I think there's just this weird.
• 9:44
  Massive gender gap when I totally money and finance and like talking about it.
• 9:48
  A scary conversation that everyone talks about property.
• 9:51
  You know you talk about property with with people that you know your neighbors at the local barbeque or like your hairdresser or whatever or your friends but
• 9:58
  you know and particularly in New Zealand they've got this fascination with investing property but investing in shares and just investing in general.
• 10:05
  There is very little conversation about and I kind of want to break down those barriers like talk about the stocks you own talk about the money you've lost or you've made or like you know we should be kind of.
• 10:15
  Harping each other and being congratulating people on the risks or you know the lessons that they're learning from investing rather than kind of.
• 10:23
  Yeah it's really weird isn't it because even you know when people talk about salaries or any of that stuff it's definitely.
• 10:29
  An uncomfortable conversation that we're all tend to avoid you know it's like money in general is just this like everyone sort of troubles are all especially woman I think yeah and don't talk about it so.
• 10:39
  And historically like women haven't really had the money to play around with or to invest so it hasn't been so much of a conversation whereas now I think we are becoming we are like there's still a gender.
• 10:52
  Gender pay gap and all that but there we're definitely contributing a lot more to the household in terms of income you know being a greater presence in the workforce and.
• 11:03
  Women we on average live longer than men yes we get paid less on average than men and we also take time out to have children from the workforce so if you think about your retirement savings your there's three reasons you're going to be behind.
• 11:21
  In terms of your amount of dollars that you have saved versus men in general. So you are you're going to have a lower pay you're taking time out of the workforce and you live longer so your time and money actually need more you need more and yet we're the ones that.
• 11:39
  That don't talk about investing or don't talk about you know growing our wealth whereas we are the ones that need to talk about the most it's crazy yeah it's kind of we should be the ones that are talking about yeah there should be guys setting up the curve you know you think guys are we listening to this you are you're not allowed.
• 11:57
  Women only. What was the like proportion of men to women in your degree it was kind of 50 50 like I don't remember being as a minority as I am now that I'm in the industry it was literally yeah probably 50 50 males and females.
• 12:13
  But when we got out of uni and going to the workforce a lot of females went the accounting route and not the finance route so you go for work for accounting firms and rather than investment banks or fund managers and because there is this connotation still that it's a bit of a boys club you're dealing with lots of egos you know it can be quite intimidating.
• 12:37
  How many people would you say on average like in the jobs that you've had what's the ratio of guys to girls I've been the only girl in every single job yeah so whenever when I started I was the only female maintain for most of my jobs and then there was kind of one other that would come but I'm talking of teams of like 10 people it's and then we're going to be like 40 men around a board table and I'd be the only female.
• 13:03
  Would everyone try to flirt with you I feel like that's just like so attractive feel like this woman knows about finance and she's beautiful and she's the only one here.
• 13:11
  I'm not sure about the flirting part but there definitely is I would use it to my advantage like if I'm meeting a company that we might invest in or we already have invested in and you're meeting management team.
• 13:24
  They're way more likely to remember you're the only female versus one of 40 men and it's it's great because the next time you meet them they're like hey Vic how are you going and you're like cool I've just built this relationship can also work to just advantage when you're like.
• 13:39
  Or if you do something wrong or badly and they're like I can kind of work.
• 13:46
  I don't know I'd like to kind of pave the way for other women.
• 13:51
  I'd love to get other women in the industry and I mean it's not as scary intimidating as it seems but you do need a thick skin because you're dealing with money and you're dealing with.
• 14:00
  You know markets that go up and down kind of 30% you know for example coded and you're dealing with you know some some guys who don't have the best personalities.
• 14:09
  I think it's a really good background to kind of understand where the industry is a whole is at because you know being someone that's very removed from it.
• 14:24
  It's I think you can sort of distance yourself and be like oh I'm the only one that knows nothing or I'm the only one that's uneducated or I'm the only one that doesn't feel you know confident here or.
• 14:34
  But actually I think the reality is it's not just amongst your friends or how I feel it's it's a global problem it's completely so much wider and like I'd love to get the curve to go into schools eventually and kind of talk to talk to young girls and you know give them the option because I
• 14:51
  don't even know about I didn't know what investment banking was what a broker was what a fund manager was like all the stuff was just we'll get to it then.
• 14:58
  I'm like help slow down all the stuff was just like what and but I knew what a doctor was I knew what a lawyer was I knew what an accountant was.
• 15:05
  You know what investors you know it was just never really considered as an option and.
• 15:13
  I think there's probably stigma around finance equals mathematics and algebra you know and obviously you need to be reasonably good with numbers but it's not necessarily like going to do a math degree.
• 15:23
  It's also a relationship thing as well and like a gut thing like go when I go to meet companies it's kind of 90% gut 10% numbers.
• 15:32
  And you know what I think females in general their intuition and being able to follow that is so much stronger than men and on average women are better investors than men because they
• 15:42
  don't have that irrationality of I've got to buy I've got to sell I've got to do something women are much more calm kind of I guess a bit more calculated in their decisions they don't get emotional which can be
• 15:56
  surprising. And I've noticed that like guys I work with that they're trading all day every day and it's whereas I'm kind of like it's alright I would prefer to buy a company and and hold it for the long term by quality company that's growing good management
• 16:12
  team and we'll get into kind of how to pick a winning investment later but yeah and just I'd rather buy and hold and I think that is a much better strategy.
• 16:20
  In my opinion then trying to time the market and get in and out and you know be a bit hot headed and if you're trying to make long term positive returns and kind of build your wealth I think
• 16:32
  definitely the female way of investing is is is a lot more beneficial that's so cool to hear yeah I mean I must say I don't think I'm ever going to be making this
• 16:41
  a full-time finance role but I feel like even just hearing that makes me feel quite empowered that okay this is something that you know given
• 16:49
  time and knowledge and kind of like trusting myself and and not being judgmental around feeling kind of a bit sometimes down.
• 16:56
  It's really exciting I think for us to be here after talking about it for so long and actually share stuff with people and start to kind of raise the curve.
• 17:05
  Yeah exactly. At the next episode we're actually going to get we're actually going to teach you something about investing.
• 17:11
  We're going to get back to the basics kind of like a finance 101 we're going to talk about risk return why why this is so important to kind of look at together compound interest
• 17:23
  which Albert Einstein says is the sixth wonder of the world we're going to talk about different asset classes and to get a bit into diversification if we have time.
• 17:31
  Okay sounds overwhelming but I'm excited get excited so thank you so much for joining us on today's episode of Raising the Curve.
• 17:40
  We hope you learnt something just a quick reminder that you're not expected to be an expert on day one.
• 17:46
  Confidence will grow the more time you spend on building your knowledge and don't be afraid to make mistakes.
• 17:52
  Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a review on whatever platform you're listening on.
• 17:57
  And if you have any questions on the content we've covered please get in touch we love hearing from you.
• 18:03
  For more information about the curve the work we do and how you can learn more head to the curve.co.nz or find us on socials at the underscore curve nz.