Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud Order
Speaker 1: Order Kerney Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before we
Speaker 1: get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would
Speaker 1: like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of
Speaker 1: which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging
Speaker 1: the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through
Speaker 1: as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and
Speaker 1: the storytelling of you to make a difference for today
Speaker 1: and lasting impact for tomorrow. Let's get into it.
Speaker 2: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Speaker 3: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money and another
Speaker 3: little bonus episode with just Me Victoria Devone. After our
Speaker 3: wonderful chat a few weeks ago with our friend Caroline
Speaker 3: Wall about identifying the signs of financial abuse, I wanted
Speaker 3: to jump on and do a quick little solo episode
Speaker 3: about how to set up healthy money behavior in your
Speaker 3: relationship when sharing finances because it is hot topic at
Speaker 3: the moment. I feel like I'm seeing so many videos
Speaker 3: on TikTok about how to share finances and what the
Speaker 3: right thing to do is and what the wrong thing
Speaker 3: to do is because navigating financial matters is a really
Speaker 3: significant aspect of literally any relationship, and establishing healthy money
Speaker 3: behaviors is crucial for long term harmony and financial stability. Now,
Speaker 3: whether you're in newlywed or your long term partners, or
Speaker 3: you're planning to merge your finances, or maybe you need
Speaker 3: to have some money chats with your housemate, Addressing money
Speaker 3: matters with transparency, mutual respect, and a little bit of
Speaker 3: strategy are vital in any sustainable relationship. So, because you
Speaker 3: guys know, I love to have a little rant, which
Speaker 3: is probably why I've jumped on on a solo episode.
Speaker 3: Wouldn't wait for a co host to be free, I've
Speaker 3: broken this up into six little segments to have a
Speaker 3: quick chat about. Now, money and relationships are incredibly fickle,
Speaker 3: But the first thing that you're probably going to expect
Speaker 3: me to talk about is communication, and that is my
Speaker 3: number one point, So open communication. So first things first,
Speaker 3: we want to start initiating conversations about money early. Open
Speaker 3: and honest communication about finances should start as early as
Speaker 3: possible in a relationship. Now, I don't mean go to
Speaker 3: your first tin to date and ask them what they earn,
Speaker 3: what they own, what they owe, and what they're spending like.
Speaker 3: That's probably a little bit invasive, but as the relationship
Speaker 3: starts to flourish, discussing financial backgrounds, including how you were
Speaker 3: raised with money, your spending habits, and existing debts or
Speaker 3: assets is really important because understanding each other's financial perspectives
Speaker 3: is going to help in building a foundation of trust.
Speaker 3: The next thing I want to talk about is regular
Speaker 3: financial check ins. This isn't sex, but we can make
Speaker 3: it sexy. And I've said time and time again on
Speaker 3: the podcast, having a regular financial check in to me
Speaker 3: is incredibly important because you're going into it in the
Speaker 3: same mind frame. No one likes being taken out the
Speaker 3: second they get home from work with oh my gosh, babe,
Speaker 3: I have been looking at the budget like they need
Speaker 3: to be mentally prepared for that conversation. So scheduling regular
Speaker 3: finance meetings to discuss your current financial situation, upcoming expenses,
Speaker 3: maybe check in on your savings goals, and any other
Speaker 3: changes to your financial plan is going to set you
Speaker 3: up for consistent success. These check ins make sure that
Speaker 3: both of you are staying informed and engaged in the
Speaker 3: financial decision making process. The third thing I wanted to
Speaker 3: talk about when it comes to communication, and I promise
Speaker 3: I'll get off communication really soon because that is definitely
Speaker 3: a topic that when we talk about finances, I'm only
Speaker 3: saying communicate, communicate, communicate, because how many people say, oh, yep,
Speaker 3: the relationship failed because of communication. The last I want
Speaker 3: to talk about is being transparent. So we need to
Speaker 3: be transparent because at the end of the day, there
Speaker 3: shouldn't be any shame around money. So if we are
Speaker 3: going to be transparent, we need to be transparent about
Speaker 3: what we're earning, what we're spending, what we own, and
Speaker 3: what we owe. And I mean, you don't have to
Speaker 3: come ride out the gates in a brand new relationship
Speaker 3: about all of these things. But hiding financial information can
Speaker 3: lead to distrust and resentment. So sharing your financial statements,
Speaker 3: your credit reports, and any other relevant documentation is going
Speaker 3: to mean that you're both on the same page and
Speaker 3: have a clear understanding of the financial landscape. But also,
Speaker 3: you only need to do this when you are ready.
Speaker 3: Like communication is key, but we're not just diving in
Speaker 3: and going, hey, babe, you want to see my credit check,
Speaker 3: Like that's not something that is expected and we need
Speaker 3: to also navigate these waters with what you're comfortable with,
Speaker 3: knowing that if you're uncomfortable with anything, maybe that's a
Speaker 3: good sign to check in with your own money story
Speaker 3: around maybe why you're feeling uncomfortable. Is it uncomfortable because
Speaker 3: it might be just too soon in the relationship fair?
Speaker 3: Or are you really avoiding talking about debt because it's
Speaker 3: stung in the past. All right, moving on, I want
Speaker 3: to talk next about establishing joint goals, so setting short
Speaker 3: and long term goals. How many times have I talked
Speaker 3: about this on the podcast. I would be a millionaire
Speaker 3: if you gave me a dollar for every time. I'm like,
Speaker 3: goal setting, goals setting, goal setting, But what we want
Speaker 3: to do is discuss and then agree on your financial
Speaker 3: goals as a couple. These can include saving for a vacation,
Speaker 3: you could be buying a home, starting a family, or
Speaker 3: even planning for retirement. Setting really clear goals is going
Speaker 3: to help in aligning your financial priorities and working together
Speaker 3: towards common objectives. This is going to make you feel
Speaker 3: closer as a couple as well. So finance isn't that sexy,
Speaker 3: but there's something very sexy about being on the exact
Speaker 3: same page as your partner the next You're not going
Speaker 3: to like this because it feels monotonous, but we're going
Speaker 3: to be creating a budget, developing a joint budget that
Speaker 3: covers all household expenses. You're safe and any discretionary spending
Speaker 3: is key here. A really well structured budget is going
Speaker 3: to have absolutely everything included in it. Every single dollar
Speaker 3: that goes out of your bank account needs to be included.
Speaker 3: I've said time and time again that most of us
Speaker 3: can articulate very clearly what comes into our bank account,
Speaker 3: but we can't articulate exactly what leaves. What we want
Speaker 3: to do here is a deep dive into what we
Speaker 3: are actually spending, not an idealistic what we're spending, because
Speaker 3: in a perfect world, I'd only spend one hundred and
Speaker 3: fifty dollars a week on groceries. But I know that
Speaker 3: is not going to be true. So sitting down and
Speaker 3: you know, crafting a little bit of an idealistic budget
Speaker 3: is actually going to put you behind. So what we
Speaker 3: want to do is be really honest with ourselves around
Speaker 3: what our actual spending looks like. If you're spending seven
Speaker 3: dollars a day or lattes that's okay, but we just
Speaker 3: need to be aware of it. A well structured budget
Speaker 3: is going to help maintain your day to day expenses
Speaker 3: and make sure that both of you in this relationship
Speaker 3: are on the same page about financial commitments. There is
Speaker 3: not anything worse than thinking, all right, we've sat down,
Speaker 3: we've done our budget. We're only going to spend one
Speaker 3: hundred and fifty dollars on groceries, and X on this,
Speaker 3: and why on that, and by the end of the
Speaker 3: month we would have saved seven hundred and fifty dollars.
Speaker 3: You get to the end of the month and the
Speaker 3: money's just not in the account. That leads to animosity,
Speaker 3: that leads to blame, that leads to you having conversations
Speaker 3: that are not that nice. That could be completely avoided
Speaker 3: if we were just honest about what actually goes in
Speaker 3: and out of our bank account each and every single month.
Speaker 3: The next thing that I'm let's be honest, I need
Speaker 3: it to be one of your goals. This is an
Speaker 3: emergency fund. And I think absolutely everybody in the entire
Speaker 3: universe should have an emergency fund, whether they are in
Speaker 3: debt or not. Lots of finance experts will say, smash
Speaker 3: down your debt. But I think there is something really
Speaker 3: motivating about having an emergency fund while you're in debt
Speaker 3: because it means when it's unex expected cost comes up,
Speaker 3: we are not repeating the same process. We are breaking
Speaker 3: the cycle. We are able to pay for that additional
Speaker 3: expense out of the money that you have saved from
Speaker 3: your emergency savings, and you're not continuing to perpetuate a
Speaker 3: cycle that isn't working for you. So establishing an emergency
Speaker 3: fund to cover unexpected expenses like your medical emergencies, or
Speaker 3: car repairs or even a job loss is important. I'd
Speaker 3: be aiming to save between three and six months worth
Speaker 3: of your living expenses. Key, there is living expenses. We're
Speaker 3: not talking you know, everything that you're spending. When we
Speaker 3: are talking about an emergency fund. It doesn't take into
Speaker 3: consideration how much you're investing, how much you're saving, you know,
Speaker 3: any of your financial goals. It's just what is it
Speaker 3: going to cost to put a roof over your head,
Speaker 3: keep your bills paid, and put food on the table.
Speaker 3: An emergency fund is going to provide you with the
Speaker 3: financial security that you deserve, and it's going to reduce
Speaker 3: your stress, even if you're in mountains of debt. Knowing
Speaker 3: that there's an extra couple of one hundred dollars to
Speaker 3: the side, I promise is going to help you sleep
Speaker 3: better at night. Now, I'm really sorry for the randy
Speaker 3: nature of this. I hope you're on board with it though,
Speaker 3: because I feel like we're getting stuff done. The next
Speaker 3: thing we're going to do is define roles and responsibilities.
Speaker 3: We're going to treat this like a job. So the
Speaker 3: first thing when it comes to roles and responsibilities that
Speaker 3: we're going to do is determine contribution proportions, which is
Speaker 3: again something a little bit spicy. You might not agree
Speaker 3: with this, I actually don't care. I believe in equity
Speaker 3: and equality working together. So what you're going to do
Speaker 3: is decide on how you're going to be contributing to
Speaker 3: shared expenses. This can obviously be done equally split down
Speaker 3: the middle. You both pay fifty to fifty. It could
Speaker 3: be proportional based on your income. Say you are the
Speaker 3: main breadwinner in your relationship and your partnerns half of
Speaker 3: what you do. From my perspective, it's not necessarily fair
Speaker 3: that your bills are fifty to fifty For me, I
Speaker 3: would say that you maybe need to be paying a
Speaker 3: little bit more because by going fifty to fifty, you're
Speaker 3: putting unnecessary financial stress on your partner. And at the
Speaker 3: end of the day, are we not working towards shared
Speaker 3: financial goals and a shared outcome. Any other method that's
Speaker 3: going to work for you is going to work, but
Speaker 3: we need to have this conversation. The key is to
Speaker 3: make sure that both of you feel that the arrangement
Speaker 3: is not just fair, but it's equitable. The next thing
Speaker 3: we're going to do is assign some financial roles. So
Speaker 3: we're going to assign specific financial roles to each of you.
Speaker 3: So one of you is going to be in charge
Speaker 3: of paying the bills, one of you is going to
Speaker 3: be in charge of managing investments or tracking expenses. Having
Speaker 3: really clear division of your roles is going to help
Speaker 3: in efficient financial management, and it's going to stop tasks
Speaker 3: from being overlooked. What I do, because I'm really good
Speaker 3: at overlooking things, is I actually just put calendar notifications
Speaker 3: into my diary, so I know that come November there
Speaker 3: is going to be a notification that pops up that
Speaker 3: says review car insurance, and I know that that's not exciting,
Speaker 3: and you could just press di smeth. But I always
Speaker 3: make an effort to review my insurance details because I
Speaker 3: did that last year and saved a couple of hundred dollars.
Speaker 3: And that's a couple of one hundred dollars that can
Speaker 3: now go to a goal instead of just going down
Speaker 3: the drain. Now, the next thing that I want you
Speaker 3: to organize is joint and individual bank accounts. Now, obviously,
Speaker 3: finance is really fickle, and it is actually really personal.
Speaker 3: I have worked when I was a financial advisor with
Speaker 3: clients who had completely separate bank accounts and they were retired.
Speaker 3: They had done their entire lives this way and it
Speaker 3: worked for them. I've also worked with people who've never
Speaker 3: had personal accounts because they've been together since they were
Speaker 3: fourteen years old and they've always had shared finances. When
Speaker 3: it comes to your accounts, there is no right and
Speaker 3: there is no wrong. But a joint account could be
Speaker 3: really useful for things like shared expenses, while individual accounts
Speaker 3: are something that I would push you to have. Irrespective
Speaker 3: of whether you completely share your accounts or not, I
Speaker 3: want you to always have personal financial freedom. This approach
Speaker 3: is going to allow for autonomy while ensuring that shared
Speaker 3: financial responsibilities are met. Also, there is a very big
Speaker 3: piece here about having access to funds to leave any situation.
Speaker 3: When we talk about emergency funds, I also want to
Speaker 3: make sure that you have your own emergency fund. If
Speaker 3: you're in a situation that you don't want to be in,
Speaker 3: you can get yourself out of it. To me, that
Speaker 3: is the ultimate financial freedom. Now let's go to a
Speaker 3: quick break on the flip side. We're going to dive
Speaker 3: a little bit deeper into exactly how you can set
Speaker 3: yourself up for healthy money behaviors in your relationship and
Speaker 3: what to do when it comes to sharing finances. Don't
Speaker 3: go anywhere, all right, guys, we are back and we
Speaker 3: are talking about how to set up healthy money behaviors
Speaker 3: in your relationship when you are sharing finances. I wanted
Speaker 3: to start this side of the episode off on it,
Speaker 3: I guess a little bit more of a spicy topic,
Speaker 3: and that's about building trust and accountability, which a lot
Speaker 3: of people just assume is given in a relationship. Building
Speaker 3: trust and accountability is so important in a relationship, especially
Speaker 3: when it comes to finances. So the first thing we're
Speaker 3: going to do is making sure that we are respecting
Speaker 3: each other's financial preferences. And this might feel like a
Speaker 3: no brainer. You might go, well, of course they do
Speaker 3: v but the reality is sometimes we forget to sit
Speaker 3: down and actually ask our partner how they feel about
Speaker 3: specific goals. I want to know is this also your
Speaker 3: goal or are you working towards this because you know
Speaker 3: this is what I really want. Making sure that if
Speaker 3: we are going down the route of investing, does my
Speaker 3: partner feel overwhelmed? Do they feel excited? Are they on
Speaker 3: the same page? Are we, you know, having these conversations
Speaker 3: and respecting each other's preferences because it is so important
Speaker 3: to make sure that we're not only respecting their preferences
Speaker 3: but also avoid being critical of their spending and money habits.
Speaker 3: But we also need to make sure that we are
Speaker 3: avoiding being critical of our partner's spending habits, which can
Speaker 3: often happen without us even realizing it. Instead, what we
Speaker 3: want to do is work together to find a balance
Speaker 3: that kind of accommodates both of our needs and both
Speaker 3: of our desires. Next should not come as a surprise,
Speaker 3: but it needs to be said. We need to avoid
Speaker 3: finance secrets financial infidelity, such as hiding purchases or secret
Speaker 3: bank accounts can actually damage trust in a relationship, and
Speaker 3: that stuff can last a long time. So commit to
Speaker 3: being honest about all financial matters, no matter how small,
Speaker 3: even if it's just like maybe telling your partner that
Speaker 3: it was on sale and maybe it wasn't. This is
Speaker 3: where it needs to be stamped out. Okay, the next
Speaker 3: thing we're going to do is always support each other's
Speaker 3: financial goals. So what we want to do is encourage
Speaker 3: and support each other's individual financial goals, whether it's you
Speaker 3: paying off your hex early, or you want to start
Speaker 3: a business, or you want to invest in some further education.
Speaker 3: Showing your support for your partner's aspirations Foster's are really
Speaker 3: healthy financial relationship and it shouldn't have to be said,
Speaker 3: but often we forget to ask our partner what do
Speaker 3: they want to achieve? Where are they going, especially when
Speaker 3: we're only focusing on things that are joint or only
Speaker 3: focusing on ourselves. Now, moving forward, this is where things
Speaker 3: get really serious, and we're going to talk about estate
Speaker 3: planning and future planning. But that is planning for the future.
Speaker 3: So let's start with estate planning. I want you to
Speaker 3: discuss and plan for the future by creating updated wills,
Speaker 3: I want you to set up powers of attorney, and
Speaker 3: I want you to establish beneficiaries for insurance policies and
Speaker 3: retirement accounts. It's not sexy, I know, but life is
Speaker 3: fragile and these things are going to put you in
Speaker 3: the best possible position should the worst happen. Estate planning
Speaker 3: makes sure that your wishes and your partner's wishes are honored,
Speaker 3: and it also provides a lot of peace of mind
Speaker 3: the next retirement planning. It's not sexy, so let's call
Speaker 3: it working towards financial freedom for the day that we
Speaker 3: don't have to work. So what we want to do
Speaker 3: is work together to plan for retirement. Have you actually
Speaker 3: ever sat down with your partner and said when do
Speaker 3: you want to retire? Because I know that before becoming
Speaker 3: a financial advisor, in previous relationships, there's no way at
Speaker 3: the age that I was at, I would have had
Speaker 3: that conversation. And I can almost guarantee that when you
Speaker 3: sit down with your partner, if it's the first conversation
Speaker 3: you're having, you're going to have very different ideas of
Speaker 3: what retirement looks like. Not everybody goes, oh yeah, I'll
Speaker 3: get to sixty five and I will retire. Often people go,
Speaker 3: oh retirement, Oh yeah, like I would love to retire earlier.
Speaker 3: I'd love to retire in my fifties. That requires a
Speaker 3: lot of planning and needs to become part of your
Speaker 3: goal setting conversation. Are we contributing enough to our superranuation?
Speaker 3: Are we actually taking that seriously? Does your employer have
Speaker 3: any advantages? Are there any benefits like the government scheme
Speaker 3: of matching your super contributions? Do you know about that?
Speaker 3: What does that look like? How do we put ourselves
Speaker 3: in the best possible situation to reach a point in
Speaker 3: time where we can become completely financially free and don't
Speaker 3: have to go to work every single day to earn
Speaker 3: an income. How do we do that? We do that
Speaker 3: through financial education. Obviously you're listening to this podcast, so
Speaker 3: like gold stuff you my love, But continually educating yourself
Speaker 3: about personal finance is incredibly important. It's not something where
Speaker 3: you can listen to a podcast one time, set up
Speaker 3: your super in the way that works for you, and
Speaker 3: then never look at it again. We need to be
Speaker 3: consistently learning and looking at it and reviewing it. Might
Speaker 3: look like attending some finance workshops, it might be reading
Speaker 3: some books, it might be actually going and seeing a
Speaker 3: financial advisor. Making sure we are informed is going to
Speaker 3: help make better finance decisions, and it means that we
Speaker 3: can adapt changes right now in our financial situation to
Speaker 3: actually reach the life that we want and the life
Speaker 3: that we deserve. The next thing I want to talk
Speaker 3: about is conflict resolution, because at the end of the day,
Speaker 3: we're actually talking about a relationship here. We're not talking about,
Speaker 3: you know, sitting down and just financial educating yourself. We're
Speaker 3: talking about doing finance with a partner. And ultimately, there
Speaker 3: are going to be times where you go head to head.
Speaker 3: There are going to be times where you're not on
Speaker 3: the same page. But what we want to do is
Speaker 3: make sure that we get back on to the same
Speaker 3: page as soon and as calmly as possible. Right, So
Speaker 3: the first thing we're going to do is address conflicts calmly.
Speaker 3: I'm not the best at doing this, so this is
Speaker 3: more of a do as I say, not as I
Speaker 3: do kind of situation. I wish I was my partner.
Speaker 3: He often says, you know what, we just need a minute,
Speaker 3: let's go wind down, and I'm just like, I'm ready
Speaker 3: to fight. I don't want to wind down. I want
Speaker 3: to discuss what's going on. But ultimately he's the smart
Speaker 3: one here and we actually need to diffuse the situation
Speaker 3: before we continue a conversation, because it wasn't going to
Speaker 3: be productive, right, But financial disagreements are inevitable. They're going
Speaker 3: to happen, but how you handle them is what matters.
Speaker 3: Addressing conflicts really calmly and avoiding blame and criticism is
Speaker 3: really important. Trying not to say, oh my gosh, you
Speaker 3: always or you do this. Trying to say things like, oh,
Speaker 3: I really feel like this isn't working for us, instead
Speaker 3: of you always mess it up means you're going to
Speaker 3: end up in a better situation and you'll be able
Speaker 3: to focus on finding solutions that work for both of
Speaker 3: you the next I don't adore this, but it's compromise.
Speaker 3: Every single relationship is going to have some level of compromise.
Speaker 3: Every successful relationship that I know of involves some level
Speaker 3: of compromise. You need to be willing to compromise on
Speaker 3: your finance decisions as well. So understanding that both parties
Speaker 3: might actually have different priorities is really important because we
Speaker 3: need to find a middle ground, because that's what's going
Speaker 3: to maintain harmony. You might really, really really want to
Speaker 3: save for an overseas holiday, but your partner is saving
Speaker 3: for a different goal. Maybe we compromise and put the
Speaker 3: holiday off a little bit, achieve our partner's financial goal,
Speaker 3: and then throw absolutely everything we have into yours. Things
Speaker 3: go in ebbs and five flows. And I think one
Speaker 3: of the best things I've ever learned about relationships is
Speaker 3: they are always going to involve some level of compromise
Speaker 3: from one party or another. And if you're sitting there
Speaker 3: going but I don't compromise on anything, I hate to
Speaker 3: break it to you, it's because your partner's compromising on
Speaker 3: more than you are. The next thing I want to
Speaker 3: say here is that if this is something you are
Speaker 3: struggling with, seek professional help. Like that's not me being
Speaker 3: dramatic and saying seek professional help. But at the end
Speaker 3: of the day, if you can't get on the same
Speaker 3: page and this relationship is really important to you, maybe
Speaker 3: consider having a chat to a financial advisor or more importantly,
Speaker 3: maybe a couples therapist will help you get on the
Speaker 3: same page. Professional guidance can provide you with an objective
Speaker 3: perspective and help in resolving complex financial issues. Don't ask
Speaker 3: your friends. Don't ask somebody who has a vested interest
Speaker 3: in your relationship. Talk to somebody who's completely outside of it,
Speaker 3: because while it might be really confronting and not what
Speaker 3: you want to hear, it's going to put you in
Speaker 3: a better position. Let's move off conflict resolution because I'm
Speaker 3: sick of talking about it and it's like, not the
Speaker 3: most exciting topic to talk about. We're going to talk
Speaker 3: about actual tips for managing your money every single day
Speaker 3: inside a relationship. These are things that work really well
Speaker 3: for me and my husband. They might not work for you,
Speaker 3: but that's because everyone's finance situation is completely different. How
Speaker 3: I manage things might not be how you want to
Speaker 3: manage things. But the cool thing is we can learn
Speaker 3: about it and pick and choose the parts that might
Speaker 3: work for us to actually test out. You don't have
Speaker 3: to do everything that I do. So the first thing
Speaker 3: that works really well for us is automating our savings
Speaker 3: and our bills. Lots of you might go biffy. I
Speaker 3: like being in charge of it. I love logging in,
Speaker 3: and you know, paying the bill manually you do you
Speaker 3: doesn't work for me. Automating our savings contributions and bill
Speaker 3: payments means that we are consistent and we don't have
Speaker 3: any late payments. It means that our savings money gets
Speaker 3: taken out of our account before we have even the
Speaker 3: opportunity to have a look at it. We have on
Speaker 3: the day that my pay goes in and my husband's
Speaker 3: pay go in and automatic transfer that goes into our savings.
Speaker 3: Automation is going to help in building a really disciplined
Speaker 3: savings habit when maybe you are a little bit spendy
Speaker 3: like me. And it also means that when it comes
Speaker 3: to bills, you're reducing the risk of actually running into
Speaker 3: late fees, which, if you're like me, if it's manual,
Speaker 3: I'm definitely paying a late fee. The next is use
Speaker 3: some kind of budgeting app or spreadsheet to track your spending.
Speaker 3: Obviously I preach consistently reviewing your expenses to help identify
Speaker 3: areas where you can cut back and stay within budget,
Speaker 3: but tracking your spending means that we can just be
Speaker 3: completely on top of it. I think there's so much
Speaker 3: power in understanding not only what comes into your account,
Speaker 3: but how every dollar leaves. Because you worked hard for
Speaker 3: that money. I want to make sure that it is
Speaker 3: working as hard for you as you did for it.
Speaker 3: So let's just keep a little bit of an eye
Speaker 3: on all of these little finance employees that we've got
Speaker 3: in our best year yet course that we did at
Speaker 3: the start of the year, and don't worry, we will
Speaker 3: release it next year. I talked about making every single
Speaker 3: dollar that you earn a tiny employee and they have
Speaker 3: to have a job. Like their job might be getting
Speaker 3: the groceries for you, or their job might be actually
Speaker 3: sitting in a savings account. But like, if they're sitting
Speaker 3: in a savings account and they're not earning you any money,
Speaker 3: are they working that hard? No, we need to performance
Speaker 3: manage them. How do we do that? What does that
Speaker 3: look like? So tracking your spending isn't necessarily about going
Speaker 3: I know I spend seven dollars on coffee. It's going
Speaker 3: further than that and saying, is that seven dollars that
Speaker 3: I'm spending on that coffee working for me? And if
Speaker 3: you ask me, absolutely, I would spend a lot more
Speaker 3: than seven dollars on a good coffee. And that is
Speaker 3: not me being privileged, but more a part of my
Speaker 3: everyday functioning, but you might go absolutely not, that's not
Speaker 3: in line with my values. I'd prefer my little money
Speaker 3: employee to be over in my savings account, earning me
Speaker 3: more money, and that is where tracking your spending gets
Speaker 3: its power. The next is celebrating financial milestones. I was
Speaker 3: having a conversation the other day with a friend about
Speaker 3: not celebrating milestones and how when you look back, you go, wow,
Speaker 3: that was actually really significant, but in the moment you
Speaker 3: kind of just go moving on, what's the next thing.
Speaker 3: But celebrate your financial achievements together. If you hit a
Speaker 3: savings goal, or you pay off debt, or you're making
Speaker 3: a significant purchase, celebrate that. Like it doesn't mean going
Speaker 3: and buying a really expensive bottle of champagne. It could
Speaker 3: be taking the afternoon and going for a walk. It
Speaker 3: could be literally anything. But celebrating milestones is going to
Speaker 3: reinforce that positive behavior, strengthen your bond, and mean that
Speaker 3: we're going to be better at it next time because
Speaker 3: we know how good it feels. And then the last
Speaker 3: thing I wanted to touch on was practicing financial independence.
Speaker 3: I know that we're talking about setting up healthy money
Speaker 3: behaviors in your relationship when you're sharing finances. But I
Speaker 3: think that every single person should be financially independent in
Speaker 3: their own right. So while having shared finances can be
Speaker 3: really important, again, you don't necessarily have to do it
Speaker 3: if you're not comfortable with it. Maintaining a level of
Speaker 3: financial independence is not just beneficial, it is essential. Make
Speaker 3: sure that you have access to your own savings and
Speaker 3: discretionary funds. I do not care if you work or not.
Speaker 3: Making sure that you have access to cash that your
Speaker 3: partner can't get access to. While it might feel a
Speaker 3: little bit morbid and you go, but v my partner
Speaker 3: is my biggest advocate and my biggest fan and the
Speaker 3: best person in the entire universe. I can almost guarantee
Speaker 3: that someone in a situation that they wanted to get
Speaker 3: out of would have said the same. So practicing financial
Speaker 3: independence is something that I am wildly, wildly passionate about.
Speaker 3: Now I'll wrap it up here because I know that
Speaker 3: I have ranted and I have raved and probably bitten
Speaker 3: your ear off. But there is a lot that we
Speaker 3: need to go over and a lot to get on
Speaker 3: the same page when it comes to relationships and finance.
Speaker 3: And this isn't the only episode that I think you
Speaker 3: should listen to. We obviously have a lot, but I
Speaker 3: was just feeling it in my bones that I wanted
Speaker 3: to jump on here and have a chat with you
Speaker 3: about some tips and tricks that you could implement today.
Speaker 3: But we all know at the end of the day
Speaker 3: that establishing healthy money behaviors in a relationship when sharing finance,
Speaker 3: actually requires open communication, mutual respect, and a little bit
Speaker 3: of strategic planning. And by setting joint financial goals and
Speaker 3: really defining roles and responsibilities, we build trust and we
Speaker 3: can plan for the future, and then we are a
Speaker 3: stronger and more confident couple. Let's have regular check ins,
Speaker 3: let's be super transparent, and let's come to the table
Speaker 3: with a willingness to compromise, because that's what's actually going
Speaker 3: to be essential for maintaining a really healthy finance relationship.
Speaker 3: With all of these practices in place, couples, they're able
Speaker 3: to achieve financial stability and enjoy a really good future together.
Speaker 3: And at the end of the day, no one wants
Speaker 3: sticky money conversations. They're awkward, they're icky, and they don't
Speaker 3: have to be. Finance doesn't have to be something that
Speaker 3: is overwhelming. It can be something that we are all
Speaker 3: excited about. So with that, I will see you guys
Speaker 3: next week. Thank you for joining me for a little
Speaker 3: bonus episode. If you like them, slide into our DMS
Speaker 3: and let us know, because I welcome any opportunity to
Speaker 3: get behind the mic, all on my own and go rogue.
Speaker 3: Have the best weekend, guys. The advice shared on She's
Speaker 3: on the Money is general in nature and does not
Speaker 3: consider your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists purely
Speaker 3: for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to
Speaker 3: make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose
Speaker 3: to buy a financial product, read the PDS TMD and
Speaker 3: obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Divine
Speaker 3: and She's on the Money are authorized representatives of Money
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