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Speaker 1: Well, Hello, healthy ish listeners. How are you Hope you're

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Speaker 1: having an awesome day? This is the daily podcast and

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Speaker 1: Body in Soul. Of course, I am the host for

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Speaker 1: listening Halle. Are you stressed about money? Well, a lot

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Speaker 1: of us are right now, and to help us out,

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Speaker 1: I'm joined by Lacy Philipitch. She is a financial educator,

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Speaker 1: chemical engineer, ted X speaker and head of financial Wellness

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Speaker 1: at Maslow and she joins me from wa to share

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Speaker 1: her tips. If you do like what you hear from

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Speaker 1: Lacey listening to extra Healthy Issue, where she'll help you

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Speaker 1: discover whether you have a healthy relationship with money, you

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Speaker 1: can catch that one wherever you get podcasts. Lacey, nice

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Speaker 1: to should I say, have you back on after three years? Listeners?

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Speaker 1: We were working out that was about three years since

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Speaker 1: we spoke to each other.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, wonderful to be back and it feels like it's

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Speaker 2: been not that long. Incredible.

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Speaker 1: I know, I don't know why we took so long,

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Speaker 1: but thank you for joining us now. I saw this

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Speaker 1: new study pop up last week. It was in the

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Speaker 1: US and it found forty seven percent of Americans say

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Speaker 1: money is affecting their mental health. I mean, I actually thought, wow,

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Speaker 1: what's it like in Australia. I did a bit of

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Speaker 1: digging last year. Beyond Blue study found thirty seven percent

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Speaker 1: of Aussies were affected, with women most at risk.

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Speaker 2: What are you hearing? You know you are at the

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Speaker 2: coal face? What are you seeing?

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Speaker 3: That absolutely resonates with what I'm saying. People are extremely

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Speaker 3: stressed about money. And it is actually kind of like

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Speaker 3: a two stream thing. There's a group of people who

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Speaker 3: are fine and comfortable and they've got job security and

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Speaker 3: they've got housing security, and they seem okay. But there

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Speaker 3: is a really large chunk of the population and it's growing.

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Speaker 3: You know, I'm not surprised to hear it was a

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Speaker 3: third last year. It's probably more now. And they're worried

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Speaker 3: about a roof over their heads and food in their bellies,

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Speaker 3: like real basic stuff, and it permeates every moment of

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Speaker 3: their day.

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Speaker 1: I mean, when you strip all back, they are the

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Speaker 1: basics to living. I mean, this is how we have

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Speaker 1: to survive as a human. It's a roof over our head,

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Speaker 1: food to eat in some ways. You know, I was

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Speaker 1: going to ask you why does money make us so stressed?

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Speaker 1: But perhaps I've already answered that question. But can you.

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Speaker 3: Answer that, well, yes, there's this fascinating study and I

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Speaker 3: talk about it at every opportunity I get, And if

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Speaker 3: you want to google it, look up Princeton Poverty Brain

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Speaker 3: Study and it was conducted in twenty thirteen, and what

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Speaker 3: it found was when you're under financial stress, it actually

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Speaker 3: lowers your IQ by thirteen points.

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Speaker 1: Goodness, that's huge.

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Speaker 3: And the reason that happens is in the back of

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Speaker 3: your brain, You've got this script running all the time,

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Speaker 3: and it's going can I afford my rent? Is my

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Speaker 3: mortgage going to go up too much? Can I afford

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Speaker 3: to eat this week? Do I need to go without meals?

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Speaker 3: And that script is actually taking up some of your

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Speaker 3: brain space, Like if you think about your computer's CPU,

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Speaker 3: it's doing that to your brain, and it leaves less

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Speaker 3: space available to metions and not just about money, about

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Speaker 3: your health, about your relationship, about your job. And so

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Speaker 3: that IQ drop actually affects everything and it can become

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Speaker 3: this downward spiral. And that's why financial stress has such

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Speaker 3: a marked experience for people in all parts of their lives.

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Speaker 1: I mean, as you said before, it permeates in everything,

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Speaker 1: like it's just it can just stay there and it

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Speaker 1: just hums along forever, and then it affects everything you do,

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Speaker 1: Like whether you want to go out with friends for dinner,

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Speaker 1: I can't afford that. I mean you barely able to

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Speaker 1: afford dinner for yourself. It affects if you want to exercise,

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Speaker 1: go to the gym.

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Speaker 2: It just it.

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Speaker 1: Impacts every single thread of life, doesn't it when you're

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Speaker 1: stressed about money.

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Speaker 2: It really does. And I think that's the thing. You

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Speaker 2: can't escape it when you're in it.

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Speaker 3: It's there all the time, and it actually costs us

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Speaker 3: in our health in terms of mental stress, but also

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Speaker 3: in preventative health care things like that. It's enormous, the

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Speaker 3: spiraling impact we see.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good that's actually a really important point

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Speaker 1: because you know, people of this podcast want to stay healthy.

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Speaker 1: You want to I mean not just go to the gym,

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Speaker 1: but even just you know, whether you're paying for private

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Speaker 1: health insurance, so going to the doctor. I mean sometimes

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Speaker 1: you can go well I can't afford to go to

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Speaker 1: the doctor because going to the doctor is actually not

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Speaker 1: that cheap in some parts of Australia these days, when

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Speaker 1: there's not much rebate involved. So it can affect not

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Speaker 1: just every aira of your life, but your health as.

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Speaker 3: Well, exactly, And I often think about like dental is

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Speaker 3: a really good example of this. You know, you've got

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Speaker 3: a slightly saw tooth and you go, oh, I don't

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Speaker 3: have enough money for that, you know, visit to the dentist.

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Speaker 3: And I don't want to know how bad it is

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Speaker 3: really because I don't want to be up for several

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Speaker 3: thousand dollars if it needs a replacement. I'll just ignore

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Speaker 3: it until it gets really bad. And then you have

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Speaker 3: no choice but to spend all that money, and you

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Speaker 3: didn't do the preventative thing that might have been, you know,

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Speaker 3: a small filling or you know, something to do with

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Speaker 3: wearing a plate at night. Like I cracked my back

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Speaker 3: molars because I could afford crowns, and then I got

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Speaker 3: to keep my teeth. If you leave it for too long,

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Speaker 3: I would have had to pay for a root canal,

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Speaker 3: which probably three times as much. And that kind of

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Speaker 3: thing happens. We ignore these early signs because we can't

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Speaker 3: afford the maintenance cost or the preventative cost, and then

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Speaker 3: it ends up really costing.

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Speaker 2: It's a big time later on.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, So how can we stop stressing about money? I mean,

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Speaker 1: how can we do the little bits if we feel

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Speaker 1: like we can't afford it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a really tough one, I think for people

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Speaker 3: who are in it. If you are feeling financially stressed,

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Speaker 3: if you're listening to this and going, oh my gosh,

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Speaker 3: you're deep in it at the moment. What I would

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Speaker 3: love you to do is try and make an appointment

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Speaker 3: with a financial counselor. And you find financial counselors via

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Speaker 3: National Debt Helpline and financial counselors are incredible.

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Speaker 2: Resources in Australia.

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Speaker 3: They are the unsung heroes I think of Australia's finance scene.

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Speaker 3: There's not enough of them to go around yet, but

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Speaker 3: they've just been funded, which is good news. A financial

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Speaker 3: counselor can't sell you anything, there just to help you.

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Speaker 3: They can help you negotiate with people who are your

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Speaker 3: service providers, so you know your power company, your mortgages,

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Speaker 3: that kind of thing. If you're struggling to make ends meet,

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Speaker 3: they can help you with planning your spending.

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Speaker 2: They can help you.

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Speaker 3: Access resources things that you might not have been aware of.

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Speaker 3: So I'd strongly encourage you to talk to a financial

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Speaker 3: accounts so if you can, and also to have a

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Speaker 3: look at center Links financial information service if you are

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Speaker 3: a senti Link customer, because they do a similar thing

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Speaker 3: where you can chat to them on the phone. So

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Speaker 3: that's if you're deep in it at the moment, please

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Speaker 3: reach out take advantage of as many of those supports

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Speaker 3: as you can. And even if that means that you're

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Speaker 3: going to feel a little bit embarrassed, please go and

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Speaker 3: sign up for food bank, Go sign up for whatever

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Speaker 3: service you can get, because you're the only one who

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Speaker 3: loses if you don't take advantage of those services when

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Speaker 3: you need it. So that's for the people who really stressing.

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Speaker 3: For everybody else, the best recipe for reducing stress is

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Speaker 3: a buffer fund, some savings set aside that you know

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Speaker 3: that you can tap into when you need them when

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Speaker 3: an emergency arises, so that you can get through any

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Speaker 3: stressful period. So I think of that as sleep well money.

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Speaker 3: That's the money that lets I sleep well at night.

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Speaker 2: I can relax knowing that I've got it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, what I mean, it's hard at the moment. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I'm probably speaking a bit personal experience because we're trying

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Speaker 1: to build up our buffer fund at the moment. But

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Speaker 1: I'll tell you what it's very hard to find that

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Speaker 1: money each month when you're feeding three maut like three

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Speaker 1: kids mouths and you go to the do the groceries

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Speaker 1: and suddenly what used to cost me, you know, a

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Speaker 1: basket load used to cost me like one hundred bucks.

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Speaker 1: It's now like a tiny little bit of the basket

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Speaker 1: is one hundred dollars. How you taught us about this

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Speaker 1: sleep well fund? Like how much? What should it look like?

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Speaker 1: How much should you have in there? And how do

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Speaker 1: you go about putting money in there when you feel

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Speaker 1: like you actually just can't afford day to day living.

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Speaker 3: So of preface this with there will be times in

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Speaker 3: your life where you just can't save and you can't

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Speaker 3: build that buffer fund. So please, if that's you, don't

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Speaker 3: beat yourself up, okay, because there are times when you

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Speaker 3: can't do it. But I think what's really important for

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Speaker 3: everyone to understand is that buffer fund is really up

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Speaker 3: to you and what makes you feel comfortable. And often

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Speaker 3: people will think about their obligations. So if you're the

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Speaker 3: person who's the main income earner in the family and

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Speaker 3: you've got dependence and a mortgage, you might want to

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Speaker 3: have several months worth of living costs to feel really

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Speaker 3: comfortable and that it can be a big goal for

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Speaker 3: some people. Now, when I say living costs, I'm talking

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Speaker 3: about the bare minimum roof over your head, food in

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Speaker 3: your belly, transport, that kind of thing, Not holidays, not

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Speaker 3: maybe your normal monthly spending with all the other stuff

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Speaker 3: in enough to basically survive if you live at home

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Speaker 3: with your parents, if you're not supporting anyone else, it

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Speaker 3: might only be like a month or two of living costs.

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Speaker 3: So you've got to decide what works for you. And look,

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Speaker 3: I think the best way to build up a buffer

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Speaker 3: fund is always to pay yourself first. So set up

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Speaker 3: that direct transfer or get your payroll to send money

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Speaker 3: straight into a savings account, and then learn to live.

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Speaker 2: On what's left.

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Speaker 3: If you find you need more, so you're all eating

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Speaker 3: baked beans for a week, then you can go and

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Speaker 3: get some money out of savings.

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Speaker 2: You've tried too hard, but.

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Speaker 3: Once you've spent it, it's gone, So try ambitiously to

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Speaker 3: start with. And then if you decide you're trying to

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Speaker 3: save too much and it's causing too much stress, then

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Speaker 3: you can ramp it back.

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Speaker 2: But you'll never know what you can achieve till you try.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, and hey, baked beans once a week is

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Speaker 1: actually quite tasty. I used to do that. I actually

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Speaker 1: do that actually a lot back in yearly days. But

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Speaker 1: I'm not sure. If I serve baked up to the

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Speaker 1: kids now, they'd be like, mom, what the hell is

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Speaker 1: going on? Lazy?

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Speaker 2: Thank you for coming on healthy Ish. Thanks so much

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Speaker 2: for having me.

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Speaker 1: I hope this chat with Lazy gave you a few

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Speaker 1: tips and tricks on well how to help yourself if

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Speaker 1: you are stressed about money. If you did enjoy it,

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Speaker 1: jump on rate and review it, or you can subscribe

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Speaker 1: to this podcast. Share this it with a friend or

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Speaker 1: your partner, someone who is with you on your money.

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Speaker 1: Dare I say journey anything else? Head to Body and

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Speaker 1: Soul dot com dot you follow us on socials, Grab

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Speaker 1: our print edition which is out in your local Sunday paper,

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Speaker 1: and until tomorrow, stay healthy Ish