Speaker 1: I'd like to begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of
Speaker 1: country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community.
Speaker 1: We pay our respect to their elders past present, and
Speaker 1: extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Speaker 1: peoples today. Welcome to Stepping Up the podcast where we
Speaker 1: explore all things organization, mental health routines, personal development, motherhood
Speaker 1: and health. I'm your host, Steph Pace, and I'm the
Speaker 1: woman behind Just Another Mummy blog and also the founder
Speaker 1: of Steph Pace Planners. But I can assure you this
Speaker 1: is not just another podcast online. I'm known for my
Speaker 1: organization tips and tricks and the occasional banter, but it
Speaker 1: definitely wasn't always this way. I used to be a
Speaker 1: hot mess and occasionally still am. And I'm here as
Speaker 1: your honest and real friend each week to show you
Speaker 1: how I turn my life of chaos into clarity.
Speaker 2: Between the house, health, kids.
Speaker 1: Work, and wanting to be the best version of yourself,
Speaker 1: it can be overwhelming, and I'm here to give you
Speaker 1: the tools and tips to stop you feeling like a
Speaker 1: slave to your daily time, asks, home life, and especially
Speaker 1: the expectations you have on yourself.
Speaker 2: Join me as I share my.
Speaker 1: Journey and insights into the art of balancing at all
Speaker 1: and speak to guests who can help us all live
Speaker 1: a better life. Whether you're looking to streamline your daily routines,
Speaker 1: fish your wellbeing, achieve your fitness goals, diamond to personal development,
Speaker 1: or find inspiration to steff up into the best version
Speaker 1: of yourself, We've got you.
Speaker 2: So are you ready to step up your game? Let's go.
Speaker 1: Hello, Renee, thank you so much for coming on the
Speaker 1: Stepping Up Podcast.
Speaker 3: Oh hi, Steff I'm so excited to be here and
Speaker 3: to be chatting with you today.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: This isn't actually the first time Renee and I have
Speaker 1: tried to record this podcast. We tried to do it
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago, and technology hates me. I
Speaker 1: feel like, you know, Mercury's in the bloody microwave again
Speaker 1: because we had an hour of tech issue. So we're
Speaker 1: back here and we're ready to go. All the text
Speaker 1: working hopefully. But I'm really excited about today's episode because
Speaker 1: I haven't really touched on money at all on my podcast,
Speaker 1: and I've been doing it since I Troba last year
Speaker 1: and I came across Renee online and we started working
Speaker 1: together for my business planner because I really needed some
Speaker 1: help with the financial stuff. You know, your goal isn't
Speaker 1: a numbers kind of person. And what really drew me
Speaker 1: to you, Rena was, you know, when I was searching
Speaker 1: for financial advisors and planners online was for me who
Speaker 1: was not necessarily the best at maths, especially, I get
Speaker 1: quite anxious and overwhelmed when it comes to finances. And now,
Speaker 1: in saying that, you know before what I'm doing now,
Speaker 1: I had my own makeup business. I had to do
Speaker 1: the books and all that type of stuff, but I've
Speaker 1: always had kind of rhyme to help me along the way. Nonetheless,
Speaker 1: when I was online looking for you the Unicorn, there
Speaker 1: was a lot of accounts that kind of just seemed
Speaker 1: a little bit too intense and I just didn't really
Speaker 1: understand the lingo they were using. And what drew me
Speaker 1: to you and money Mode, which is your business, which
Speaker 1: is amazing, is the way you really break down the
Speaker 1: barriers of financial advice and you make it disuccessible, you
Speaker 1: make it affordable, meaningful, and you actually care about the
Speaker 1: people on any part of their journey. So yeah, it
Speaker 1: was really good. To work together, and I just think
Speaker 1: what you do is just incredible.
Speaker 4: Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3: And I think that's, you know, always been a big
Speaker 3: part of my mission is to make money easy to
Speaker 3: understand and to be able to put that money conversation
Speaker 3: on the table, because it is quite a taboo topic
Speaker 3: and it's almost like, you know, it's not something that's
Speaker 3: publicly discussed.
Speaker 4: You don't discuss it with your friends, You often don't
Speaker 4: discuss it with your family.
Speaker 3: And I think my mission's always been to try and
Speaker 3: come at money in a really kind of simple, digestible
Speaker 3: way to say I love it.
Speaker 2: So I did see. I was looking at it like.
Speaker 1: You're doing a bit of research into you, which I
Speaker 1: already knew fair a bit, but you know, I like
Speaker 1: to put my detective hat on, and I actually saw
Speaker 1: that your first business venture was at the age of
Speaker 1: twelve making craft items, yes, with your very helpful grandmothers,
Speaker 1: and you had your own stores at the weekend markets. Well,
Speaker 1: I'll have you know when I was, when I was
Speaker 1: about the same age, I actually used to have all
Speaker 1: these old sheets and I would draw Pokemon on it
Speaker 1: and then I'd cut it out and then sew it
Speaker 1: up and put more sheets into to make toys, and
Speaker 1: I would sell them on the streets.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I wasn't as such as you like
Speaker 2: little entrepreneurs.
Speaker 3: I feel like that entrepreneurial streak starts very early in
Speaker 3: most people, doesn't it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so good.
Speaker 1: And I thought that was just really beautiful that you know,
Speaker 1: you share that type of stuff too, because again, with money,
Speaker 1: it tends to be something that doesn't feel is very personal,
Speaker 1: like it's weird, it's personal because you feel like you
Speaker 1: don't want to share it. And then, as you said,
Speaker 1: there's a stigma, there's shame attached to it. And then
Speaker 1: even when you do go well, you feel like you
Speaker 1: can't tell people because then they'll talk poppy syndrome, which
Speaker 1: is really bad in Australia. Yeah, exactly, And yeah, you
Speaker 1: just really humanize the financial planning industry, don't you.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And I think that, you know, money is involved in
Speaker 3: so many decisions that we make on a daily basis,
Speaker 3: like does the.
Speaker 4: Little decisions or the big decisions?
Speaker 3: And because it's not something that's talked about, I kind
Speaker 3: of really want to bring the voice to making the
Speaker 3: money conversations easy to have and you know, to take
Speaker 3: that stigma away from money, because money, the way I
Speaker 3: see it is it's just a tool at the end
Speaker 3: of the day, Like money is just a tool that
Speaker 3: enables us to live our lives in a certain way.
Speaker 3: And that's really how we've got to view it. There's
Speaker 3: so much stigma, emotion, and all of that embroiled in
Speaker 3: how we think and feel about money that I just
Speaker 3: kind of want to make people realize that it is
Speaker 3: really just a tool that, where we like it or not,
Speaker 3: we all.
Speaker 4: Have to deal in it because we need a roof
Speaker 4: over our.
Speaker 3: Heads, we need to put food on the table, and
Speaker 3: then you know, anything else we do over and above
Speaker 3: that money does give us choices and allows us to
Speaker 3: live our life in a certain way. So the more
Speaker 3: that we can embrace it, understand it, feel good.
Speaker 4: About it, then the better outcomes we're all going to have.
Speaker 1: I love that, and I love how you said it's
Speaker 1: a tool because I feel like, ultimately it impacts our money.
Speaker 4: Let's be honest.
Speaker 1: And obviously you can be you can be born into
Speaker 1: such great circumstances or demographics and things like that that
Speaker 1: affects chances of getting jobs, all those types of things
Speaker 1: you education, But I think the fact that you've just said,
Speaker 1: like it is a tool and you kind of need
Speaker 1: to remove the personal aspect to it and not let
Speaker 1: it define you exactly. You can't be like where you
Speaker 1: want to be financially, but it doesn't mean you're any
Speaker 1: less worthy than the person next to you that makes
Speaker 1: six seven figures, Like you're still just as worthy as
Speaker 1: the next person. And I'm really excited to dive into
Speaker 1: this top bit because again, it's just so foreign to me,
Speaker 1: and I even feel funny talking about money all the top,
Speaker 1: even at work for you know, staff pace planners when
Speaker 1: we have our financial meetings. I hate it, like I
Speaker 1: literally want to run, I might let me out and
Speaker 1: I panic. I definitely get into that, which I think
Speaker 1: people listening would probably find this odd. But as a
Speaker 1: business owner, you have a shit ton of overheads, and
Speaker 1: I go straight into scarcity mindset because you know, the
Speaker 1: overheads are just crazy, they're growing and you know you're
Speaker 1: trying to keep up. So I really don't like being
Speaker 1: in that scarcity mindset. And another thing that actually surprises
Speaker 1: people is you know when you do your top values,
Speaker 1: Like as a person, I do my top values, and
Speaker 1: my top ones were not money at all. So when
Speaker 1: I started my business and everything, I literally because I
Speaker 1: loved it. I was passionate about it. But I'm not
Speaker 1: driven by money and I never have been.
Speaker 2: So I really struggle with this topic because of that
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 3: It's so common and you know, part of my business,
Speaker 3: I run an education program called the Money Mode School,
Speaker 3: and one of the big things that I talk about
Speaker 3: in there is working on your values because we tie
Speaker 3: so much of our status and ego and self worth
Speaker 3: into our financial position.
Speaker 4: But yet then when.
Speaker 3: We dive into our values and our belief system, money
Speaker 3: isn't one of those. And that's sort of where coming
Speaker 3: back to what I said before about money being the tool.
Speaker 3: Money is just the tool that can support you to
Speaker 3: live life on your terms, but your values always have
Speaker 3: to guide the decisions that you make, and money's kind
Speaker 3: of just that resource there that allows you to do it.
Speaker 3: And yeah, I don't mean to sound wishy washy with that,
Speaker 3: but the more we can kind of break the practical
Speaker 3: side and the emotional side of money apart see it
Speaker 3: as a tool, and then it's like life admin.
Speaker 4: You know, like we have to deal with emails.
Speaker 3: Yeah, take good dog to the vat exactly, and so
Speaker 3: trating your money a bit like you know, a life
Speaker 3: admin piece as well, is really how you need to
Speaker 3: do it. But it's also your understanding those emotions that
Speaker 3: come into play in terms of you know, tying in
Speaker 3: our self worth and whatever with money, that and not
Speaker 3: being afraid of it either back to that scarcity mindset,
Speaker 3: the messages that we get, Like I talk a lot
Speaker 3: about money stories. Our money story is our I call
Speaker 3: it our deep seated value and belief system around money.
Speaker 4: But it's actually not really about the money at all.
Speaker 3: So if you think back to your childhood, and everyone's
Speaker 3: got a different money story, like and different variations of
Speaker 3: the men because it's based on your life experience and
Speaker 3: what you've heard, the conscious and unconscious kind of beliefs
Speaker 3: that have been instilled in you. So I think back
Speaker 3: to my childhood, I don't remember my parents ever talking
Speaker 3: about money, So money wasn't a conversation on the table.
Speaker 4: But oh wow, but we were the opposite, were you. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4: I definitely.
Speaker 3: Observed things and I knew I would say my parents
Speaker 3: were very resourceful, frugal. You know, we didn't have a
Speaker 3: lot of money, but I was fully aware of our
Speaker 3: financial situation, but I don't remember it being actually spoken
Speaker 3: about to me. That makes sense, Yeah, so tell me
Speaker 3: about yours.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So for me, and I won't go into it too
Speaker 2: much because I'll be here forever.
Speaker 1: But my parents are very scarcity mindset, very much so
Speaker 1: my mother. You know, I remember when favor got some
Speaker 1: coins and stuff, She's this like book and I'd have
Speaker 1: to like sign it and pay it back from like
Speaker 1: a really young age. And she was very much like
Speaker 1: even when we were comfortable with my dad, you know,
Speaker 1: he worked full time of the tax office. You know,
Speaker 1: we definitely weren't well off, but like we were pretty decent.
Speaker 1: You know, we still managed, we got to go on holidays,
Speaker 1: like so that is well off considering. But like I
Speaker 1: guess you could say we couldn't just splurge, you know,
Speaker 1: because for them in their generation, you know, my mother
Speaker 1: grew up, they didn't have any money. Even when we
Speaker 1: had it, she wouldn't spend it. So even our cupboard
Speaker 1: were pretty bare, like there was never really any food,
Speaker 1: and it was just really what all she thought about
Speaker 1: was money, and that's all she really kind of cared about,
Speaker 1: to be honest as well. So for me, I think
Speaker 1: I maybe repel that because I want to be different
Speaker 1: and I want to put people and experiences above the money,
Speaker 1: and I do. I can definitely sympathize with that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I think that's probably why I am the way
Speaker 1: I am, because I'm like, I'd rather, you know, have
Speaker 1: people over for dinner and buy five pizzas instead of
Speaker 1: just the one and everyone gets one slice.
Speaker 2: Because that's the stuff.
Speaker 1: That's what we had, Like it was very very minimal
Speaker 1: food and stuff. Yeah, I would love to know why
Speaker 1: and how you got into the finance space, you know,
Speaker 1: And I really loved that, As I said, I love
Speaker 1: your messaging and even before how you said you don't
Speaker 1: want to come across as woo woo or like the
Speaker 1: emotional side. But I think that's what we need and
Speaker 1: I think that that's why this conversation is so important.
Speaker 1: So what inspired you to, you know, get into finance
Speaker 1: and break the mold and do things differently.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So for me, I was really good at maths at school,
Speaker 3: Like that was kind of my strong subject. I have
Speaker 3: this really like kind of logical brain and I needed answers.
Speaker 3: So I went and did a business degree and I
Speaker 3: started out doing accounting and finance, and I was just like,
Speaker 3: I felt like my personality just really didn't kind of
Speaker 3: fit the mold. And then when the UNI I was at,
Speaker 3: they introduced financial planning as a as a stream or
Speaker 3: as a major, and I did the first unit. I thought,
Speaker 3: I'll give that a try and see what I think
Speaker 3: about that. I think I was in my second year
Speaker 3: and I was just like, oh my god, this is it.
Speaker 3: Like the penny just dropped straight away, and I was
Speaker 3: learning all of these things about which sounds so uninspiring now,
Speaker 3: but about superannuation and tax and all of that.
Speaker 4: But it was at a person so sexy, really sexy stuff,
Speaker 4: but it was at an individual level. And everything else I'd.
Speaker 3: Been studying was at big corporation levels and all the
Speaker 3: rest of it. And so I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 3: if my parents knew this information, all my aunties and
Speaker 3: uncles and my family members knew this, so that would
Speaker 3: make such a big difference to, you know, the way
Speaker 3: they're living their lives or their outcomes. And so I
Speaker 3: was just like, oh my god, this is just like
Speaker 3: I can't believe people don't.
Speaker 4: Know this stuff.
Speaker 3: So I was just so excited about being able to
Speaker 3: make an impact on individual people like my parents. From
Speaker 3: the first moment I started studying it, and then when
Speaker 3: I got out into work, it was a.
Speaker 4: Really hard industry to get into.
Speaker 3: So I eventually got there and yeah, sort of worked
Speaker 3: for different, you know, a few different firms over the years,
Speaker 3: and then when I was pregnant, I was Yeah, for
Speaker 3: a little while, i'd been a bit frustrated with the industry.
Speaker 3: So I've been in the industry for just over twenty
Speaker 3: years and I was getting to the point where I
Speaker 3: was really frustrated with the industry. It was male dominated.
Speaker 3: At the time, I was working for ye an all
Speaker 3: male firm. There were seven male partners, all male advisors, and.
Speaker 4: It was just this is just so out of skew.
Speaker 3: Nothing wrong though, you know, they were great at what
Speaker 3: they did, but it was like, where's the kind of
Speaker 3: feminine voice to this. And also I felt like the
Speaker 3: industry was full of egos and full of people talking
Speaker 3: jargon and making it more complicated than it needed be.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I was just peoplelized on Instagram.
Speaker 3: Exactly, and I was like, this is just we need
Speaker 3: to be helping people. And coming at this from a
Speaker 3: completely different angle around that time as well, I reckon
Speaker 3: the Barefoot Investor book was just like the top selling
Speaker 3: book for a couple of years in a row, and
Speaker 3: it was going crazy. And I watched that with real fascination,
Speaker 3: thinking all these basics about like the fundamentals about money,
Speaker 3: that's actually what everyday people want to learn about and
Speaker 3: want to know about. And it's like the financial planning
Speaker 3: industry was just at this really complicated level, and so
Speaker 3: that was a big passion of mine to go, then
Speaker 3: we need to fill a gap here and help people
Speaker 3: because money is not something that's taught at school, and.
Speaker 4: Where are people supposed to find this information?
Speaker 3: So that's really where starting my business five years ago,
Speaker 3: where that real kind of driving passion came from. It
Speaker 3: was kind of born out of this frustration that the
Speaker 3: know how wasn't easily available for people to access.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's amazing. I think, Yeah, you're so right that
Speaker 1: it is very much so well. I don't know what
Speaker 1: it's like now, but I could imagine it's a male
Speaker 1: dominated industry. And I think it's really interesting how you
Speaker 1: said when you finally started learning about super for the
Speaker 1: individuals and like stuffed individuals, because that's relatable.
Speaker 2: That's what lead you up. And I think that's what
Speaker 2: it's all about.
Speaker 1: When they're using all this jug and that not the
Speaker 1: everyday person understands like I wouldn't have a bloody clue.
Speaker 1: It's always felt really unattainable to completely understand my financial situation.
Speaker 1: And that's why I just think I'm so excited for
Speaker 1: people to get so many nuggets of gold in this episode.
Speaker 1: And one thing I do want to ask is where
Speaker 1: do you see most women, people, anyone, the everyday person,
Speaker 1: go wrong when it comes to money.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I think a little bit about what you
Speaker 3: were saying about yourself before, it's around confidence. So a
Speaker 3: lot of women typically think they're not good at money,
Speaker 3: and there's probably good reasons for it that you know,
Speaker 3: it's not something that's taught this to move topic, and
Speaker 3: it's not a conversation that we would have with, you know,
Speaker 3: with our friends or whatever. So I think there's a
Speaker 3: real lack of confidence there. And then I think also
Speaker 3: I think as we go on in life a bit,
Speaker 3: particularly mothers typically take time out of the workforce for caregiving.
Speaker 3: Life gets busy, and I guess societal norms are that
Speaker 3: the breadwinner, which is often not always but it's often
Speaker 3: the male partner that they'll make the financial decisions, and
Speaker 3: you know, you got a lot on your plate with
Speaker 3: the motherhood load and all that. When I like to
Speaker 3: call it that, it's kind of just something that a
Speaker 3: lot of women go like, oh, that's just something I'll.
Speaker 4: Leave to my partner.
Speaker 3: And so I think that it just kind of a
Speaker 3: bit of a snowball effective losing confidence and then thinking, well,
Speaker 3: it's probably not something that I need to worry about.
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely that narrative, Like you said, like that confidence.
Speaker 1: For example, a few weeks ago, I went to the
Speaker 1: snow and when I had people who were better than
Speaker 1: me at skiing, I wouldn't actually just be shit and
Speaker 1: I'd fall on my bom every two seconds. But then
Speaker 1: when I'd have beginners under me, that would make me
Speaker 1: feel confident, and the next minute, I'm skiing better than
Speaker 1: I've ever skied before. And it's the saying when I think,
Speaker 1: when it comes to things like money or even most
Speaker 1: of my life, I thought I wasn't a fit person,
Speaker 1: so therefore I had already made the decision up, so
Speaker 1: I'm not going to even try. We are all sitting
Speaker 1: there thinking I'm not good at money. I don't understand it. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's too much. Then you're never going to be able
Speaker 1: to change your financial situation really exactly.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So what are some really helpful tips that are
Speaker 1: just easy to implement or semi easy, yes, that can
Speaker 1: help make your finances easier and less overwhelming.
Speaker 3: Yeah, like a couple of really key things right that
Speaker 3: everyone will have heard. But you need to spend within
Speaker 3: your means, Like you have to spend less money than
Speaker 3: you are earning. And it's become really hard in this
Speaker 3: modern day society when everything's tap and go like, so
Speaker 3: we don't really deal with cash much anymore, and it
Speaker 3: can be really hard to lose track of your money.
Speaker 3: So I'm going to say the dirty bee word, but
Speaker 3: you need to do a budget. And I think looking
Speaker 3: at a budget lot most people when they hear that word,
Speaker 3: think deprivation. I'm going to have to deprive myself of something.
Speaker 3: But I think you think restriction. You just think, oh no,
Speaker 3: do that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's like diet.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm going to have to take something away,
Speaker 3: and you know, I like to call it a spending plan, but.
Speaker 2: To really like that, you've got the word plan.
Speaker 4: We're not like that yes, So.
Speaker 3: You got to do a spending plan. You kind of
Speaker 3: got to go what does it cost to run my life?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 3: What do I need to spend on the essential things
Speaker 3: to put a roof over my head, to put food
Speaker 3: on the table, to you know, put petrol in the
Speaker 3: car with There's necessities that we all have to pay
Speaker 3: that kind of take first priority.
Speaker 4: So it's kind of like doing a bit of spending plan.
Speaker 4: What is that? And then it's like.
Speaker 3: What can I afford then to spend on my lifestyle?
Speaker 3: I always call lifestyle spending giving yourself an allowance so
Speaker 3: that it feels good you know that it fits within
Speaker 3: your spending plan. You can feel good about the purchases
Speaker 3: that you make because you know you're not taking away
Speaker 3: from those essential things that you need to spend money on.
Speaker 3: So if you don't do that plan and don't kind
Speaker 3: of put your numbers down and work out where they
Speaker 3: need to go and how they need to be divided up,
Speaker 3: you don't have any control over where your money is going.
Speaker 3: So doing that plan is the best opportunity you have
Speaker 3: to tell your.
Speaker 4: Money where to go.
Speaker 3: But building into that like spending less than your own
Speaker 3: and creating a spending plan so that you can manage
Speaker 3: your money, making sure that you have an emergency fund,
Speaker 3: because our best laid plans, like any little things can
Speaker 3: come as roadblocks in our way. So it might be
Speaker 3: you know, your washing machine breaking down, or you can't
Speaker 3: costing more for the service than you'd thought it would.
Speaker 3: Could be you know a sick family member where you
Speaker 3: need to take time off work or flying to state,
Speaker 3: or there's like so many different curve balls that.
Speaker 2: Life throws at us, car breaks down, just everything.
Speaker 3: And so it's just making sure that you have some
Speaker 3: money aside for those emergencies, for the worst kind of
Speaker 3: case scenarios, and that way, your day to day running
Speaker 3: of your money is going to still go to plan
Speaker 3: because you've got a backup plan for when things don't
Speaker 3: go to plan. You need to then have some financial
Speaker 3: goals that you're working towards. So firstly, if you've got
Speaker 3: any consumer debt like credit card debt or have to
Speaker 3: pay or anything like that, you need to get rid
Speaker 3: of that because that's not serving you.
Speaker 4: They're kind of like the real basic fundamentals.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love one thing that's really helped me because
Speaker 1: I again i'm very forgetful why I make planners. Yeah,
Speaker 1: got like the budget and the bill truck and all
Speaker 1: that stuff, but we did like your automatic payments, so
Speaker 1: we like have automatic funds going to our emergency and
Speaker 1: things like that. What you'd say the allowance, I call
Speaker 1: it me money, So it's money that's just for me.
Speaker 1: And now I know that it's not taking away from
Speaker 1: the business or the house or the kids.
Speaker 2: That type of thing.
Speaker 1: But yeah, do you have any like hacks that are
Speaker 1: for people who just feel like it's too hard to
Speaker 1: even figure out how to save more money?
Speaker 4: What's some packs that they could do.
Speaker 3: So really in line with exactly what you're just saying,
Speaker 3: is to automate as much as possible.
Speaker 4: So if you can kind of go and do that spending.
Speaker 3: Plan workout, and I like to do it on initially
Speaker 3: on an annual basis, So like go through plugging all
Speaker 3: your numbers, work out what your costs are over a year,
Speaker 3: what it costs to run your life, and then allocate
Speaker 3: out some different spending accounts. So you might have do
Speaker 3: you have all your bills and essentials and everything like
Speaker 3: that in one separate account, and then each paycheck you're
Speaker 3: putting some money towards those, So the bill trackers are
Speaker 3: awesome to keep track of when they're due, but also
Speaker 3: make sure that each paycheck that you've got, you're putting
Speaker 3: some money towards paying those lumpier bills.
Speaker 4: So the ones that come in monthly, that's fine.
Speaker 3: But then when you've got like a car rego or
Speaker 3: a you know, an insurance or something like that that's
Speaker 3: an annual bill or rates that might be quarterly, so
Speaker 3: you don't get caught out in that pay cycle, that
Speaker 3: you're putting extra money in that account automatically to pay
Speaker 3: for those bills and then to divide out you're spending
Speaker 3: into separate accounts as well, so that way you know
Speaker 3: you're not going to overspend on your groceries or your
Speaker 3: lifestyle spending because you would have separate accounts for those
Speaker 3: with an automatic that's smart amount into them that fits
Speaker 3: within your budget. And you know, also a lot of
Speaker 3: provider like utility providers and things like that will allow
Speaker 3: you to smooth out your bills, so you can often
Speaker 3: contact them so to say they might bill you every
Speaker 3: two months or every three months or whatever it might be.
Speaker 3: You can say, I want you to give me in
Speaker 3: and like a monthly estimate if that's your pay cycle
Speaker 3: and you can pay into that monthly as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, especially because as soon as you kind of have
Speaker 1: to feel like you to sit down and go through
Speaker 1: all your bloody bank statements and all that shit, it's
Speaker 1: too smart. So I would love to know you always.
Speaker 1: I know you said, you know you're good at maths,
Speaker 1: but we're always good at money. And like, what is
Speaker 1: some things you wish that you learned sooner about money?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Yeah, good, that's a really good question.
Speaker 3: So I, like a lot of twenty year olds, got
Speaker 3: myself into some consumer debt as a UNI student, much
Speaker 3: to my dad's disappointment because he was someone that never
Speaker 3: had alone talking about Yeah. I remember, gosh, when we
Speaker 3: were growing up, we were building a house and he
Speaker 3: would wait for installments of the house until he'd saved
Speaker 3: enough money to buy the material. So we lived in
Speaker 3: a shared in the caravan for a long time. But yeah,
Speaker 3: like getting into consumer debt. So when I say consumer
Speaker 3: debt in case you know, people aren't sure what I mean,
Speaker 3: I'm really meeting like credit cards or after pay or
Speaker 3: anything like that.
Speaker 1: So one thing that my mother really instilled in me,
Speaker 1: she's like, you never ever get a credit card and
Speaker 1: I didn't until my business.
Speaker 4: Yeah, like this business, but I just I think it's
Speaker 4: a trap.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think in this day and age now, like
Speaker 3: I didn't have social media when I was growing up,
Speaker 3: but I feel, you know, for people, particularly young people now,
Speaker 3: is social media. I don't know advertising at us all
Speaker 3: the time, and it's like we don't practice what I
Speaker 3: call the delayed gratification muscle. It's like, you know, yeah,
Speaker 3: because you can have everything now, you can go to
Speaker 3: the shop and it's like, oh, if you don't have
Speaker 3: the money, that's okay, put it on buy now, pay later,
Speaker 3: and walk away with it. But it's like you've really
Speaker 3: got to practice that delayed gratification muscle of saving up
Speaker 3: for something and then buying.
Speaker 4: It or spending the money when you've saved for it.
Speaker 2: And also just like sleeping on it for a while,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: Like as this pair of pajamas that everyone would laugh
Speaker 1: if when I say this, because they've seen me on Instagram.
Speaker 2: I literally live in these pajamas. They're really expensive, but
Speaker 2: oh and.
Speaker 1: I was wanting them for like a couple of years
Speaker 1: and I finally you know, because we do our budgeting
Speaker 1: and stuff, but I was finally like, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm doing at but I knew because I wanted them
Speaker 1: for like years. But it's just one of those things,
Speaker 1: like you did you need to sleep on it, because
Speaker 1: there's been times where, like I remember this time, I
Speaker 1: think it was ing lockdown, and I know everyone's spending
Speaker 1: habits a really bad thing because everyone stuck at home.
Speaker 2: They're all online shopping because there's nothing else to do.
Speaker 1: And I remember I paid for a handwriting course because
Speaker 1: I can't write for shit, and I own a stationary business,
Speaker 1: which is probably not the best mix, but you know,
Speaker 1: I got bored I bought that, and the amount of
Speaker 1: courses and things that I've bought and I've never used
Speaker 1: it's because I didn't sleep on.
Speaker 2: It, and it's just insane.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think that it's so important because that
Speaker 3: you know, when you look at like retail therapy, if
Speaker 3: that's a vice that you know anyone's got, we do
Speaker 3: it because it's like a feel good inendorphin, like when
Speaker 3: you've spent money, you're like, oh, feel good. And sometimes
Speaker 3: I like I get understressed. I'm like, oh, I just
Speaker 3: need to go and have some retail therapy and that's
Speaker 3: that is fine to do from time to time, but
Speaker 3: if you have to do that on someone else's money,
Speaker 3: that's not okay because that will feel ten times worse
Speaker 3: after the fact. Then you know, if you've kind of
Speaker 3: saved up and made it feel good purchase. So it's
Speaker 3: like really kind of practicing that muscle of the sleeping
Speaker 3: on it, saving up for it, asking yourself, does it
Speaker 3: align to my values and what I'm wanting to achieve
Speaker 3: long term, because I think it's also really hard with
Speaker 3: finances when you've got big goals that you want to
Speaker 3: achieve and it's going to take a long time to
Speaker 3: get there.
Speaker 4: It's like, how do you celebrate the little.
Speaker 3: Milestones along the way and still feel like keep yourself
Speaker 3: on track and keep motivated. So trying to find little
Speaker 3: ways to celebrate those little wins.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you weren't like the teenager that was really
Speaker 1: good at saving. Like Ryan, He's always been a good saver.
Speaker 1: When he was little, his mum would buy him like
Speaker 1: a five dollar book and if he didn't read it,
Speaker 1: he would like cry and be like so apologetic. He
Speaker 1: was such an angel. My kids are not like that.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's just he was really naturally good at that,
Speaker 1: So I'm glad to hear that you or with that
Speaker 1: was Dolgien.
Speaker 3: I was good as a kid, and then it was
Speaker 3: like I got into the big bad world and started
Speaker 3: earning money for the first time, and I just wanted
Speaker 3: more in that moment. The other big one stuff that
Speaker 3: I talk about you know quite a bit too and
Speaker 3: drives a bit of passion is money in relationships.
Speaker 4: So I had a long term.
Speaker 3: Relationship, like from twenty one and money was a huge
Speaker 3: problem turned out to be a huge problem in that
Speaker 3: and it really kind of back to what we were
Speaker 3: talking about the start around our money mindset or our
Speaker 3: money belief system and that sort of thing. What ended
Speaker 3: up at the end of the day was we had
Speaker 3: quite different values around money, and we never.
Speaker 4: Had the conversations.
Speaker 3: So I think for me, like that's a really lived
Speaker 3: experience that I want to passionately help other people with
Speaker 3: is to be able to have the money conversations in relationships,
Speaker 3: Like you can have some different views and some different beliefs,
Speaker 3: that's fine, but it's having an understanding of what each
Speaker 3: others are and how you can support each other with
Speaker 3: those and then creating kind of a united plan feer
Speaker 3: money together, so having shared goals, but also feeling like
Speaker 3: you've got some financial independence in a relationship as well.
Speaker 3: I think it's really important feeling that you have got
Speaker 3: a voice and that you feel empowered around money, despite
Speaker 3: what level of income you might earn or whatever, because
Speaker 3: often power is connected to money, and I think it's
Speaker 3: trying to go let's take the power away from the money,
Speaker 3: because it shouldn't be a status thing.
Speaker 1: No, And I love that you touched on that, because,
Speaker 1: to be honest, I didn't even think of that, and
Speaker 1: I am just very grateful. Ryan and I very much
Speaker 1: on the same page. It's kind of like parenting, you know,
Speaker 1: if you're with someone exactly like their take on parenting
Speaker 1: is very different to yours. That is a lot of
Speaker 1: stress and tension. Really also the fact that, like you mentioned,
Speaker 1: if you don't feel confident and even just feeling like
Speaker 1: you know what you're talking about, you're not going to
Speaker 1: even have those conversations with your partner because you're like,
Speaker 1: I don't even know what I'm talking about, so I'm
Speaker 1: not going to bring it up. And do you feel
Speaker 1: like back then, if you knew even the basics of
Speaker 1: money that you would know.
Speaker 2: Now, do you feel like you would have had that conversation.
Speaker 3: I think a lot of it was self confidence and
Speaker 3: I wouldn't feel good about the way certain decisions were
Speaker 3: made or things were happening with our money together and
Speaker 3: all of that, and I knew that, you know, there
Speaker 3: was a misalignment there, but I didn't speak up enough
Speaker 3: or set strong enough boundaries. So I think that's just
Speaker 3: having that confidence to go, this is something that is
Speaker 3: really important and your you know, your feelings around these
Speaker 3: are really valid, and you have every right to set
Speaker 3: those boundaries and also to feel really strong in sharing
Speaker 3: your thoughts and beliefs and new goals around what you
Speaker 3: want to do because it's really really important thing.
Speaker 1: Just I want to put an example out there, just
Speaker 1: so someone who's listening at home right now, driving in
Speaker 1: the car, whatever, If they're in a relationship right now
Speaker 1: where they're like, you know, their partner, they're the breadwinner
Speaker 1: and they're the more confident one with the money. As
Speaker 1: in the personal listening, they're like what I used to
Speaker 1: be like, didn't have a clue. Where should they start
Speaker 1: to look or do or what can they do to
Speaker 1: overcome that? To be able to bring up that conversation
Speaker 1: and what things should they be talking about in that conversation.
Speaker 1: Should they be talking about spending savings? Like is there
Speaker 1: certain touch points they should be covering.
Speaker 3: So I think there's a few things, Like I see
Speaker 3: the two different sides, like the emotional and the practical
Speaker 3: side of money. So one is really like, if you've
Speaker 3: never had it, even if you've been in a relationship
Speaker 3: for ten years, have a money story chat with your partner, like,
Speaker 3: you know, what did money mean growing up? What lessons
Speaker 3: did they pick up from, you know, their parents, What
Speaker 3: were the experiences good, bad, and otherwise.
Speaker 4: That they had.
Speaker 3: Because sometimes for people, there can be a lot of
Speaker 3: trauma in those stories that make them quite guarded or
Speaker 3: make them feel scarce or fearful. So I think it's
Speaker 3: having like have that little date night chat about that.
Speaker 3: But then on the practical side, it's like, let's sit down,
Speaker 3: let's go through a family budget together.
Speaker 4: And goals.
Speaker 3: I think goals are the biggest thing that can get
Speaker 3: you on the same page. So talking about where do
Speaker 3: we want to get to in five years, in ten years,
Speaker 3: what does life look like then, and what are the
Speaker 3: things that we need to do now to support each
Speaker 3: other to get to that vision that we've got for
Speaker 3: like the shared goal, but also talk about what your
Speaker 3: individual goals might be as well and making sure they're
Speaker 3: catered for, because you've got to have some shared goals
Speaker 3: as a couple, I believe, and then you may have
Speaker 3: other individual goals which might be, you know, you might
Speaker 3: want to go back to study, or you might want
Speaker 3: to start a business, or you might want to be
Speaker 3: cutting down your work hours or increasing your work hours,
Speaker 3: and just like having those conversations about how all that
Speaker 3: fits into your finances and then going through the budget
Speaker 3: together and working on it. So it's kind of like
Speaker 3: then in the practical side, it's that day to day
Speaker 3: spending plan, but then also the longer term, big picture
Speaker 3: vision of where you're kind of both headed and try
Speaker 3: and get aligned on the same page. I think a
Speaker 3: great one for people that have got children is talking
Speaker 3: about the money story that you want to is instilling
Speaker 3: your kids and being really kind of love about that.
Speaker 4: Did you want to give your children about money? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that, especially because Ryan and I got
Speaker 1: a new home, and you know, because we've worked really
Speaker 1: really hard over the years, and you know, my business
Speaker 1: has gone well and things like that, but we've I've
Speaker 1: never been someone just because the kids asked for something,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to just give it to them, like
Speaker 1: we have a budget where everyone has a.
Speaker 2: Budget, you know.
Speaker 1: You know, businesses are expensive. It's just the money you
Speaker 1: make from a plan. It doesn't all come to me.
Speaker 1: It's like probably five percent of that to be honest,
Speaker 1: not even. And it's one of those things where with
Speaker 1: the kids, you know, they do ask me, especially lately
Speaker 1: because I've having having to work a lot, like you
Speaker 1: know why you know, And I said, you know, well,
Speaker 1: because I need to be able to pay for the
Speaker 1: house this blah blah. Then I also said, it is
Speaker 1: important that my mummy doesn't want to be you know,
Speaker 1: this isn't what it should be, Like I said, Mommy
Speaker 1: is working on that. So I do have that balance
Speaker 1: because I also don't want them to tie their self
Speaker 1: worth to how much they're working and how much money
Speaker 1: they're making, because then they turn into a machine. So
Speaker 1: it's really important that and I very much vocalize it,
Speaker 1: you know, when I am stuck maybe on a Monday
Speaker 1: night working that I'd rather be with them because that
Speaker 1: was something I didn't get myself and just like putting
Speaker 1: the people above the money. So I think that was
Speaker 1: a really good point you said.
Speaker 3: I think, you know, I think that's where you have
Speaker 3: your discussion around like his pocket money a good thing
Speaker 3: or a bad thing? Does it have to sort of
Speaker 3: teach them to like manage money from an early age too,
Speaker 3: So I think that can be a good thing. It's
Speaker 3: like the purpose behind the money, like because that at
Speaker 3: the end of the day, you know, I love there's
Speaker 3: a Simon Sinic quote about money is important, but money
Speaker 3: is fuel, not a purpose. We don't own cars so
Speaker 3: we can have fuel. We own cars to get places.
Speaker 3: So it's kind of like the goals not necessarily more
Speaker 3: money makes you more financially free or savvy. It's like,
Speaker 3: what is it that you want the money to be
Speaker 3: able to provide you in how you want to be
Speaker 3: living your life?
Speaker 1: As you said, money is not everything. It's merely a
Speaker 1: tool so you can live your life. And the biggest
Speaker 1: teacher for me in that was my dad. He worked
Speaker 1: tirelessly at the tax office for like over thirty years,
Speaker 1: and he always waited to retire to enjoys life forget.
Speaker 1: You know, we had my brother who's got disabilities and
Speaker 1: dad was his sole care and then he didn't get
Speaker 1: to retire, you know, he retired because of the cancer.
Speaker 1: And he was the biggest wake up call to me
Speaker 1: and even my nan who passed ten months later, who
Speaker 1: like she raised me. She was my mother essentially, but
Speaker 1: she always put people before money and she had a
Speaker 1: really hard upbringing. But she didn't have a scarcity mindset,
Speaker 1: which was really beautiful to see. She had a really
Speaker 1: positive onset. It was always the glasses overflowing and full
Speaker 1: and and if you can't change it, you don't worry
Speaker 1: about it. So it's just like these lessons in life,
Speaker 1: they really do teach you that you can't let money
Speaker 1: dictate your life and also dictate the worst that you
Speaker 1: have on yourself.
Speaker 4: Exactly. It's so so so important.
Speaker 3: And that's you know, I talk about financial freedom to
Speaker 3: people and it's like, you know, you'll see influences out
Speaker 3: there talking about financial freedom and how much money you
Speaker 3: can make. It's not You've got to tie the purpose
Speaker 3: back to you know, how you want to be living
Speaker 3: your life, and that is it might be having balanced
Speaker 3: throughout your life, which hopefully it is, but then you know,
Speaker 3: getting to a point where yeah, you don't have to
Speaker 3: work anymore because you are you know, you've built up
Speaker 3: some investments and some assets that can then pay you,
Speaker 3: but you don't want to spend thirty years clogging yourself.
Speaker 4: Sorry, that's not the best word to use, but absolutely. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I know.
Speaker 3: I put something on my social media the other day about,
Speaker 3: you know, finding a new word to redefine retirement, because
Speaker 3: we shouldn't wait for the end of our working career
Speaker 3: to stop and enjoy. So it's like really trying to
Speaker 3: find that balance along the way and really thinking deeply
Speaker 3: about how you want to be living your life, what
Speaker 3: your values are, what are the most important things to you,
Speaker 3: you know, and money is that tool, Like how can
Speaker 3: you divide it up to be able to enjoy a
Speaker 3: bit today but also put some aside for the future.
Speaker 4: And that's really the nuts and bolts of it. At
Speaker 4: the end of the day.
Speaker 3: It's like, you know, you've got that resource, use some
Speaker 3: for you know, having a good lifestyle now, but also
Speaker 3: know that you're putting some away for the future so
Speaker 3: that you have ultimate choice on not having to work.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: And it's also the fact that if you're waiting for
Speaker 1: retirement that whole time, you know, the years that your
Speaker 1: body is the most able physically, you are literally wasting
Speaker 1: it away working for money that you were going to
Speaker 1: spend when you probably using a bloody walker, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. So like it's about that balance. But
Speaker 1: you know you mentioned resources, and speaking of resources, I
Speaker 1: know you've got amazing resources for your own community and
Speaker 1: also the steffing up community. And I would also just
Speaker 1: love to know, you know, what can our listeners he
Speaker 1: use of yours that can help them continue this journey
Speaker 1: after this podcast.
Speaker 4: Yeah, thanks, Steph.
Speaker 3: So, as part of my business, so money Mode, I
Speaker 3: offer one on one financial planning, but I also created
Speaker 3: the money Mode School, which was the big kind of
Speaker 3: passion of mine to be able to make money know
Speaker 3: how more accessible and affordable. And so I have two
Speaker 3: programs on there currently that I'd love to offer your
Speaker 3: community a discount to. So I'm sure we'll put the
Speaker 3: code in the notes, but SVP twenty and that will
Speaker 3: give them twenty percent off my Cashlow course, So that
Speaker 3: will be the Cashlow Course is a great starting place
Speaker 3: to get your spending plan in order and be able
Speaker 3: to you know, go through know your numbers. How to
Speaker 3: set up your banking system automate everything in a really
Speaker 3: simple way. And then my other pro my kind of
Speaker 3: signature program is the money Mode School, which kind of
Speaker 3: takes you through the practical side of like setting up
Speaker 3: your cash flow, the money mindset stuff, and really kind
Speaker 3: of identifying your you know, your goals, your money story
Speaker 3: and money in relationships, and then how to kind of
Speaker 3: create your own financial plan, so going through investing, superannuation,
Speaker 3: home ownership, all of that sort of thing. So it's
Speaker 3: kind of like, you know, the pathway to building up
Speaker 3: your own financial plan.
Speaker 1: Amazing. Thank you so much. I am genuinely just really excited.
Speaker 1: I really want to look at the cash flow one
Speaker 1: to be completely honest. So I'm really excited to do
Speaker 1: that one. But where can my listeners find you on
Speaker 1: your socials? Yeah, drop your handle?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so my Instagram handle is at money Mode underscore
Speaker 3: and my websites moneymode dot com dot au.
Speaker 4: So yeah, I'd love you to come and say hi.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Forde. It was so beautiful to
Speaker 1: have you on the show today. We finally got there
Speaker 1: at the end. Yeah, you've it's been incredible and you've
Speaker 1: shed so many you know, nug bits of golden wisdom
Speaker 1: and also just rephrasing things for people to realize that
Speaker 1: money is at all and it's not defining you as
Speaker 1: a person.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think I could talk about this all days,
Speaker 3: you know, like I'm like even my mind's sticking over
Speaker 3: now and all these other little nuggets I'd like to
Speaker 3: share with you and Steph. I've also got a free
Speaker 3: spending plan template that we can link in the show
Speaker 3: notes for your listeners as well.
Speaker 1: Amazing, you were the best all the freebies over here.
Speaker 1: Love it look already saving money. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for coming on the show today, Renee. I it was
Speaker 1: such a bloody amazing conversation and we finally got to
Speaker 1: have it.
Speaker 4: I know, we finally got there.
Speaker 3: And Yeah, I love chatting to your step and I
Speaker 3: love sharing as much as I can, And yeah, really
Speaker 3: gets my juices going being able to talk about money
Speaker 3: and share some of the insights and hopefully some hacks
Speaker 3: that people can take away.
Speaker 4: So thank you for having me.
Speaker 2: Amazing, Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Thank you guys so much for tuning today's episode of
Speaker 1: Stepping Up. I don't want this to be just another
Speaker 1: podcast that you listen to. You get inspiration and then
Speaker 1: you don't take action. If there's been something in this
Speaker 1: episode that will help you step up into the best
Speaker 1: version of yourself, open up.
Speaker 2: Your trusted planner and make a plan.
Speaker 1: And if you've loved listening to today's episode, take a
Speaker 1: screenshot and show me where you've been listening from.
Speaker 2: I love seeing it.
Speaker 1: Make sure you tag us at Stepping Up and steph
Speaker 1: Pace Underscore on Instagram so we can see it. And
Speaker 1: make sure you subscribe because you won't want to miss
Speaker 1: what's coming up next week.