Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr
Speaker 1: the Order Kernye Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before
Speaker 1: we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
Speaker 1: would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
Speaker 1: of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
Speaker 1: acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
Speaker 1: through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
Speaker 1: and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
Speaker 1: today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Let's get into it.
Speaker 3: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
Speaker 2: for millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another
Speaker 2: one of our money daries where I get to talk
Speaker 2: to one of our incredible She's on the Money community
Speaker 2: members all about their financial and life journey. Let's jump
Speaker 2: straight into it, because this week I got a message
Speaker 2: that went like this, Hi, Victoria. My brothers and I
Speaker 2: were raised by our single mum and watched her experience
Speaker 2: bankruptcy after leaving a domestic violence relationship with my dad,
Speaker 2: who is also a gambling addict after my own mental
Speaker 2: health and health struggles. I'm now working in child protection
Speaker 2: after nine years at university, and I'm earning a full
Speaker 2: time salary for the first time ever at age twenty seven.
Speaker 2: Before we jump even further into this episode and welcome
Speaker 2: our beautiful moneydarist to the show, I do want to
Speaker 2: just give a bit of a content warning here. This
Speaker 2: week's episode we're going to discuss things like eating disorders,
Speaker 2: domestic violence, abuse, and depression. So if that is not
Speaker 2: an episode do you want to listen to or you're
Speaker 2: not in the right mindset for it, that is so fine.
Speaker 2: We literally have hundreds of other episodes you can go
Speaker 2: and listen to right now, So go and do that.
Speaker 2: But if you're sticking with us to listen to this
Speaker 2: money Diary, welcome and Money Diarist. Let's jump straight in,
Speaker 2: my friend.
Speaker 3: Sounds good? All right.
Speaker 2: Let's start with the very first question, which as always
Speaker 2: is my friend, what grade would you give your money
Speaker 2: habits if I asked you to give them a grade
Speaker 2: from A through F.
Speaker 3: I think probably a C plus a C plus.
Speaker 2: All right, well, I think that frames the conversation. Now
Speaker 2: my favorite question, let's dive in money diarists. I want
Speaker 2: to know, can you tell us a little bit more
Speaker 2: about your money story.
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course. So I grew up with two brothers
Speaker 3: and my dad was unfortunately an alcoholic. It also had
Speaker 3: a gambling addiction, so we didn't grow up with a
Speaker 3: lot of money because he unfortunately, we'd spend most of
Speaker 3: it after he got his paychecks. But my mum did
Speaker 3: her best to keep the family running. And then when
Speaker 3: I was about eight, mum left because of the domestic violence,
Speaker 3: and yeah, things got a little bit worse from there
Speaker 3: for a little bit. Obviously, having my mum care for
Speaker 3: us most of the time on a single parents wage
Speaker 3: was really difficult, and there was also a long court
Speaker 3: process the divorce and splitting up the assets of the house,
Speaker 3: which was a bit messy.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, it would have been so stressful and
Speaker 2: it ate you kind of only know a little bit
Speaker 2: about what's going on. That's it, not the whole story,
Speaker 2: so it feels a little bit ambiguous, and absolutely was
Speaker 2: it stressful as an eight year old to go through that.
Speaker 3: It was very stressful. I think also seeing your parents
Speaker 3: so stressed is hard. But at the time my dad
Speaker 3: also was very keen on having my brothers and I
Speaker 3: know everything that was going on, So there was a
Speaker 3: bit of emotional you know, reading the court affidavits to
Speaker 3: us saying how bad our mum was, all that kind
Speaker 3: of stuff. So obviously, now from a bit more of
Speaker 3: a tuma lens, I can see that's not appropriate. But
Speaker 3: when you're young, you just want.
Speaker 2: You just don't know what you don't know. When you're young,
Speaker 2: that's it. You just think, oh, Dad's trying to share
Speaker 2: with us what's going on. Like to me, that would
Speaker 2: you know as an eight year old makes sense exactly,
Speaker 2: But there are some things that you're not emotionally ready for,
Speaker 2: and that happens to be one of them, exactly.
Speaker 3: And then when I was eleven years old, my dad
Speaker 3: moved into state and left us in my mum's care
Speaker 3: full time. And that was a bit of a surprise
Speaker 3: because we didn't know it was coming. He sort of
Speaker 3: just dropped us off one day and then we were
Speaker 3: living with mum. And then from there, when I was
Speaker 3: a teenager, I developed some disordered eating mental health struggles.
Speaker 3: My mum has been so supportive the whole time, but yeah,
Speaker 3: definitely a bit of a roller coaster and got my
Speaker 3: first job at McDonald's when I was fifteen, working for
Speaker 3: eight dollars an hour, so.
Speaker 2: Eight dollars that you were probably like, this is the
Speaker 2: best money I've ever earned in my whole life.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, And I think that was the first time because
Speaker 3: we did struggle with money so much when I was younger,
Speaker 3: I really felt like I have some control here, you know,
Speaker 3: I'm making my own money, and that was a great feeling.
Speaker 3: And then when I was in high school at seventeen,
Speaker 3: my mom did go bankrupt because she had taken on
Speaker 3: a lot of debt to look after my brothers and
Speaker 3: I by herself. That had been really hard on her.
Speaker 3: And she also had another partner at that time who
Speaker 3: was unfortunately abusive as well and very dependent on her.
Speaker 3: So she left him but was left with a lot
Speaker 3: of debt and so went bankrupt after that, and then
Speaker 3: things were rough for a while. But yeah, they're looking
Speaker 3: up now.
Speaker 2: Wow, I feel like that is a rollercoaster. I really
Speaker 2: want to go and just like grab your mum and
Speaker 2: hug her. Yeah, she's super supportive, but from the sounds
Speaker 2: of it, she backs you to the end of the earth,
Speaker 2: but maybe doesn't look after herself in the same way
Speaker 2: that you get looked after and you just want to
Speaker 2: go mum, like, look after yourself too.
Speaker 3: Come on, absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 2: Oh can I jump back to the disordered eating, Yes,
Speaker 2: of course I want to talk about that. That's something
Speaker 2: that I have experienced before, and I guess that's why,
Speaker 2: you know, opening the conversation up around this is really
Speaker 2: really important to me. I want to know a bit
Speaker 2: more about I guess where that came from, because often
Speaker 2: it's not about being thin, it's not about you know,
Speaker 2: becoming a model like a lot of people think, where
Speaker 2: do you think that stemmed from? Was that maybe a
Speaker 2: control issue? I say that only because you said earlier
Speaker 2: I got my first job at McDonald's and I felt
Speaker 2: more in control. Yeah, talk to me about that situation.
Speaker 3: Sure. So I think I was conscious of my way
Speaker 3: from very early on, and it was actually something that
Speaker 3: my dad criticized a lot.
Speaker 2: He was very canceled. One out of ten that is
Speaker 2: not appropriate dad behavior.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know, but yeah, he was very fixated on
Speaker 3: my appearance, you know, my mum's parents, my brother's appearance,
Speaker 3: and it was always a reflection of him in his eyes.
Speaker 3: So I think probably from early on I was quite
Speaker 3: self conscious of myself and wanted to change a lot
Speaker 3: about my body. I think probably the earliest age I
Speaker 3: remember feeling unhappy about this something about my body was
Speaker 3: probably about four.
Speaker 2: Oh, my heart, you shouldn't care about your body. At four,
Speaker 2: you'd be caring about sand castles and chasing people and
Speaker 2: whether you can have ice cream up to dinner or not.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, And I can see all that now, but yes,
Speaker 3: I think that's probably where it first came from. Is
Speaker 3: that wanting to be what he thought was enough. And
Speaker 3: that started with, you know, lots of calory, restriction over exercising,
Speaker 3: and I think probably the fact that my parents were
Speaker 3: going through a divorce and then Dad moved into state.
Speaker 3: There was that more sense of trying to please everybody,
Speaker 3: and that was the thing I could control, Especially before
Speaker 3: I got the job, I didn't really have any other
Speaker 3: control or other than I did really well at school
Speaker 3: because I think that was how I could prove that
Speaker 3: I was trying really hard. And I'm a bit of
Speaker 3: a perfectionist.
Speaker 2: Same girlfriend, cut paste. I mean, I didn't go through
Speaker 2: the same traumatic circumstances as you. But it's funny because
Speaker 2: having gone through disordered eating, I feel like when I
Speaker 2: speak to other people who have had similar experiences, I'm like, oh,
Speaker 2: my gosh, what about this? What about that? And you
Speaker 2: kind of go, yeah, the job probably really helped because
Speaker 2: it gave that sense of control that you didn't feel
Speaker 2: like you had earlier. Do you feel like that helped
Speaker 2: you on your recovery journey?
Speaker 3: Yes or no? I think for a while there I
Speaker 3: did feel like I had more control, and like as
Speaker 3: a teenager in high school, when I felt like I
Speaker 3: had more of an identity as someone who did well
Speaker 3: at school, had a good group of friends, had a
Speaker 3: nice boyfriend at the time, and things were going well.
Speaker 3: And then in year twelve, I think might sorted eating
Speaker 3: really hit its peak. I'd broken up with my boyfriend,
Speaker 3: and I also put a lot of pressure on myself
Speaker 3: to get like the most perfect score so I could
Speaker 3: get into the best courses at UNI. I wanted to
Speaker 3: study law originally, so the ATel was quite high.
Speaker 2: So much unnecessary pressure, Like the idea that at sixteen
Speaker 2: seventeen you're meant to decide what you want to do
Speaker 2: for the rest of your life when your brain is
Speaker 2: not even fully developed. You aren't even making good decisions
Speaker 2: at that point. Why do you think i'd make a
Speaker 2: good decision about my career, Like, why are you putting
Speaker 2: this pressure on me? I can't even be trusted to
Speaker 2: go out on my own at this point.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly exactly, And looking back now, I'm like, oh, obviously,
Speaker 3: as I said, well you said at the beginning, took
Speaker 3: nine years for me to get through UNI anyway, So
Speaker 3: now I could just laugh and be like, oh, I
Speaker 3: had no idea of but yeah, I was putting a
Speaker 3: lot of pressure on myself to be perfect in every
Speaker 3: way that I thought I needed to be, and I think, yeah,
Speaker 3: eating and trying to control my image was definitely one
Speaker 3: part of that.
Speaker 2: Do you think that that's part of your narrative today,
Speaker 2: Like is that something that you still struggle with or
Speaker 2: is it something that you have moved beyond, Like what
Speaker 2: does that look like today?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I've had a lot of therapy from
Speaker 3: about age twenty two until now, so five good years,
Speaker 3: and I think my relationship with food has improved a lot,
Speaker 3: and also with my body. I think when I was
Speaker 3: like in the thick of it, it was something that
Speaker 3: I worried about all the time constantly, Whereas I've gotten
Speaker 3: to a place now where it might be like a
Speaker 3: little thought that pops up every once in a while,
Speaker 3: but it's not something that I feel like controls me.
Speaker 3: Which now I'm looking back, iack and see I didn't
Speaker 3: have control. It was actually controlling me. The thoughts were
Speaker 3: controlling me. And now when they come up, I can
Speaker 3: be like, nope, we're not doing that. Push it aside.
Speaker 2: Ah. I love that you're able to say no, it's
Speaker 2: not controlling me. I think when you go through circumstances
Speaker 2: like this, especially disordered eating, it's something that you learn.
Speaker 2: And I'm so glad you've had therapy because it's not
Speaker 2: something you can teach yourself, like you actually just need
Speaker 2: someone to come in and be like, Okay, here are
Speaker 2: the strategies that you need to implement. This is what
Speaker 2: we need to do to put you in the best
Speaker 2: possible position. But it never leaves fully. I don't believe
Speaker 2: as somebody who goes through that, but you actually get
Speaker 2: all these strategies. So when it pops up, you can
Speaker 2: go no, no, no, we're going to quosh that, like,
Speaker 2: that's not how we think, Victoria, that's not what we're
Speaker 2: doing today. And I think that that can be really helpful.
Speaker 2: But I also think talking about that side of it
Speaker 2: is really important because I would hate for people to
Speaker 2: think that, like quote, therapy cures you and you'll be
Speaker 2: completely over it. No, it's something that mentally is always
Speaker 2: going to be there, but we can kind of use
Speaker 2: to our advantage with the right tools and the right resources.
Speaker 2: And I think that that's.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I'm so glad you're in that position. And you look
Speaker 2: happy and healthy right now. You look glowy and smiley,
Speaker 2: and it just I think that you are absolutely thriving.
Speaker 2: So that is my favorite thing ever. Before I move
Speaker 2: on to the next question, I just wanted to plug
Speaker 2: the Butterfly Foundation here. If this is something that you
Speaker 2: are struggling with. The Butterfly Foundation is one of my
Speaker 2: favorite resources for disordered eating. You can check them out online.
Speaker 2: They're on Instagram, They're basically everywhere. They've also got a
Speaker 2: really beautiful hotline if you want to call them. I'll
Speaker 2: put all of the links in the show notes if
Speaker 2: you need them, but please reach out to them. I
Speaker 2: did when I was younger, and they are the kindest, honestly,
Speaker 2: the nicest people in the entire world. And I feel
Speaker 2: like when reaching out for help and money direst I'm
Speaker 2: not sure if you felt the same way. You just
Speaker 2: like put it off, put it off, put it off,
Speaker 2: and then when you do, you're like, why didn't I
Speaker 2: do this soon? Nice? As scary as you think it's going.
Speaker 3: To be, Yeah, I think definitely waiting til that crisis point.
Speaker 2: Don't do that. Yeah, don't do that idea.
Speaker 3: Yeah, get help as as soon as you think you're right,
Speaker 3: need it. Definitely reach out. It's worth it, You're worth it.
Speaker 2: So absolutely all right, money, Dirice, I want to know
Speaker 2: more about you today. Tell me you said in your
Speaker 2: letter into me that you're finally earning a full time salary.
Speaker 2: What do you do for work? How much money do
Speaker 2: you earn?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: So I'm a social worker in a child protection state
Speaker 3: based child protection agency and I earned seventy two tho
Speaker 3: and ninety one dollars a year.
Speaker 2: You earn seventy two that's good for like first year
Speaker 2: out of UNI.
Speaker 3: It is and much more than I've ever dreamed of making,
Speaker 3: or ever dreamed of making when I was younger. So yeah,
Speaker 3: I feel a bit strange about it, to be honest.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, So tell me about these nine years
Speaker 2: at UNI. So what degree is did you do like
Speaker 2: did you do them part time? Full time? And kind
Speaker 2: of what led you to child protection?
Speaker 3: So I started off at UNI when I was seventeen.
Speaker 2: So a little baby, that's a little baby.
Speaker 3: My mum had to sign the permission slips so I
Speaker 3: could use computers at the university, which is quite funny
Speaker 3: because I was taking on a lot of debt that
Speaker 3: was old enough to sign those poms.
Speaker 2: But like, so you'll let me go into debt, but
Speaker 2: you won't let me google it?
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. And I started off doing a double degree
Speaker 3: in international relations and arts, and I had kind of
Speaker 3: dreams of being, you know, some kind of diplomat or
Speaker 3: maybe going to law later, but I wasn't too sure.
Speaker 3: But at the time I was also struggling with my
Speaker 3: mental health and had quite a lot of anxiety and
Speaker 3: would later be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and depression,
Speaker 3: but at that time I didn't know. I just thought,
Speaker 3: why am I coping? So I ended up dropping the
Speaker 3: international degree and going just for arts, but unfortunately I
Speaker 3: did fail quite a lot of topics. Because I felt
Speaker 3: too anxious to go to class, I used to try
Speaker 3: and go to the tute and then I would just
Speaker 3: walk straight past the door and go sit in the
Speaker 3: toilet and hide in the toilet stall for quite a while,
Speaker 3: just because I was so anxious. And I think this
Speaker 3: probably went on for quite a while before I reached
Speaker 3: out for help with my GP. So after that there
Speaker 3: was a bit of a learning curve, trying new SSRIs
Speaker 3: or antidepressant medications and new approaches with you know, trying
Speaker 3: to work with my anxiety. I could attend UNI, but
Speaker 3: it was kind of an uphill at all. It was
Speaker 3: about three years where I was doing okay and then
Speaker 3: not doing okay at UNI. So I didn't end up
Speaker 3: finishing my arts degree until twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: Actually, congratul how exciting you did it.
Speaker 3: Thank you. Yeah, I wish i'd been a bit kinder
Speaker 3: to myself at the time and just done part time
Speaker 3: UNI and maybe gotten the help I needed a bit earlier.
Speaker 3: So that's okay. You know, reflection is much easier and
Speaker 3: we learn exactly.
Speaker 2: Hopefully somebody else is listening to this thing gets to
Speaker 2: learn from your story so that we don't repeat it exactly.
Speaker 3: So that was seven years for that undergrad which is
Speaker 3: usually three.
Speaker 2: That's okay.
Speaker 3: It is okay, and I did take off a couple
Speaker 3: of two six month breaks in there as well, and
Speaker 3: I was really struggling. And then in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 3: after the whole COVID.
Speaker 2: Thing, Yeah, that thing happened, Yeah, that little thing that ways,
Speaker 2: get this, the first lockdown happened three years.
Speaker 3: I know, it's crazy to think about.
Speaker 2: It triggers me. It triggers me so bad. It reminds
Speaker 2: me of how I carried my computer screen home and
Speaker 2: thought it was just going to be two weeks. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and then like a month later, it's like two pm
Speaker 2: in the afternoon and I'd ask my partner, do you
Speaker 2: want a wine? And that was normal.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it feels like a long time ago,
Speaker 3: but also yesterday, And so I was thinking about what
Speaker 3: I wanted to do next. I didn't know if I
Speaker 3: wanted to do, honest, because I was quite interested in
Speaker 3: looking at like women's portrayals or portrayals of women's madness
Speaker 3: in literature and how that plays into society's views of women.
Speaker 2: That would have been so cool. Did you do that?
Speaker 3: I didn't. I studied social work in Stace.
Speaker 2: That's okay, that's okay. It's an interesting topic none the less.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think given my experiences growing up and
Speaker 3: witnessing my dad be very cruel to my mother, and
Speaker 3: he used to say, you're mad. You know. There wasn't
Speaker 3: really a lot of awareness of mental health from his part.
Speaker 3: It was just you're crazy if you're struggling. So I
Speaker 3: think that's definitely fueled my interests in that and also
Speaker 3: maybe my reluctance to get help until I was a
Speaker 3: little bit older. Yeah, So instead, I had that time
Speaker 3: after I finished my degree to consider what I wanted
Speaker 3: to do, and I thought, I kind of want to
Speaker 3: do something that can help. There was a lot of
Speaker 3: articles flying around at the time about you know, increased
Speaker 3: domestic violence and you know, homelessness, and I think COVID
Speaker 3: really just highlighted all the problems or the systems that
Speaker 3: were failing already. And so I thought, what can I do?
Speaker 3: And social work was the solution I came up with.
Speaker 3: So I did a two masters and then yeah, I
Speaker 3: went into child protection because I thought that was an
Speaker 3: area that I could maybe make a difference in.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, my whole heart. Knowing your background and
Speaker 2: where you've come from, and that arguably you were a
Speaker 2: child at some point that needed protecting. Ah, Like, do
Speaker 2: you feel like this is your way of kind of
Speaker 2: like protecting kids that might have been in similar so
Speaker 2: ccumstances to you? Like, this is heavy, I think So.
Speaker 3: I think I don't know if I would have even
Speaker 3: considered this work as an option if I hadn't maybe
Speaker 3: done some reflecting on my own experiences as a child
Speaker 3: and noticed or recognized with help that there was abuse there,
Speaker 3: and yeah, wanting to help other kids obviously it's quite
Speaker 3: different in child protection, but knowing that maybe I could
Speaker 3: help protect them and ensure that they're safe, and also
Speaker 3: work with families to make sure they have the right
Speaker 3: resources to keep their children safe as well. Sometimes I
Speaker 3: feel like would be really rewarding, or is really rewarding.
Speaker 2: So tell me more about this role, because I feel
Speaker 2: like we often gloss over rolls when we say children's
Speaker 2: protective services. That could be a lot of things, right,
Speaker 2: There are lots of different categories of how people in
Speaker 2: these roles work. But can you tell me a little
Speaker 2: bit about what your day to day job looks like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I've only been in it for about four
Speaker 3: months now, and I've actually had two different roles in
Speaker 3: that time. So the one I'm in at the moment
Speaker 3: is an assessment based role, So that involves when notifications
Speaker 3: are screened in and theirconcerns raised about maybe the safety
Speaker 3: of a child, we will go out and speak with
Speaker 3: the parents or whoever maybe involve speak with the children,
Speaker 3: and then may or may not open an investigation from there,
Speaker 3: and yeah, then the whole investigation process will start and
Speaker 3: supports and support partners endos may become involved. Or if
Speaker 3: at the end of the investigation it's deemed that the
Speaker 3: child is not safe where they are and whoever their
Speaker 3: caregivers are cannot provide that safety for them, there may
Speaker 3: be a removal.
Speaker 2: Oh my whole heart. That is so heavy to do
Speaker 2: on a day to day basis. How are you looking
Speaker 2: after you through these things?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's something that's evolved my self care routine.
Speaker 3: At first, I had this whole list of you know,
Speaker 3: like I will come home and do meditation, or I
Speaker 3: will make sure that I'm doing yoga three times a week,
Speaker 3: and those things are all really good. But I think
Speaker 3: the best thing I've done for myself is form really
Speaker 3: great relationships with my colleagues, making sure I'm still attending
Speaker 3: therapy for myself.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 3: And when I get home sometimes I just need to
Speaker 3: go into the back lawn and just lie on it
Speaker 3: and just look at.
Speaker 2: The sky for a little bit bit grounded.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's why my big things, kick off my shoes
Speaker 3: and just go lie on the grass and be like
Speaker 3: it's okay. I'm still a person. I'm here like the
Speaker 3: world's bad, but not everything's bad, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Oh my gosh. I don't know if I could
Speaker 2: do a role like that, I feel like it would
Speaker 2: break me. I feel like it takes such a special
Speaker 2: person to be able to do it. And we need you,
Speaker 2: like we need people like you who are looking after kids,
Speaker 2: and I wish I was as special as that. Like
Speaker 2: I just feel like the emotional energy that you give
Speaker 2: to your job, I often feel so grateful that I
Speaker 2: can go home, Like I'm not a brain surgeon. I'm
Speaker 2: not you know, doing things that are you know, ultimately
Speaker 2: impacting people in ways that are kind of life or death,
Speaker 2: but your circumstances are right. Like if you make an assessment,
Speaker 2: and I don't mean to be too dramatic or make
Speaker 2: it sound awful for you, but like if you make
Speaker 2: it the wrong assessment that could be catastrophic for a kid, right,
Speaker 2: or if you leave a circumstance that you have been
Speaker 2: evaluating and you just like, I want to scoop them
Speaker 2: up and take them home because I don't feel like
Speaker 2: they're safe and we are going to open an investigation,
Speaker 2: but you know, in that moment you have to leave
Speaker 2: them there, right. I just feel like that's heavy, and
Speaker 2: I feel like, I'm just so grateful that people like
Speaker 2: you exist. You are so special and I'm so just
Speaker 2: I was so happy to know you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's not something I entered into lightly,
Speaker 3: and it's that I'm actually quite new at their investigation
Speaker 3: and assessments role. For a couple of months previously, and
Speaker 3: where I actually did my social work placement was working
Speaker 3: with children who were already in long term care, so
Speaker 3: we children in posticcare and that's quite different on the
Speaker 3: day to day. And I wasn't sure about child protection
Speaker 3: at first anyway, because obviously in Australia we have the
Speaker 3: stolen generations and I didn't want to be part of
Speaker 3: a system that. You know, Abridge and Torreshare Island children
Speaker 3: are still removed at a much higher rate than non
Speaker 3: Indigenous children, and you know, with the stolen generations. I
Speaker 3: just wasn't sure that that was a system I wanted
Speaker 3: to be a part of. But I did get my
Speaker 3: final year placement at the department, and it was through
Speaker 3: working there and seeing all the good work they do
Speaker 3: and working with Aboriginal colleagues and non Aboriginal colleagues, I thought, Okay,
Speaker 3: this is something I think I can do. I feel
Speaker 3: okay about.
Speaker 2: I feel like we need people like you in those
Speaker 2: roles because things like that happened. We need people like
Speaker 2: you are so aware of those things. I think it's
Speaker 2: so close minded and shallow when people don't do things.
Speaker 2: Or I heard someone the other day they're like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I just don't see color. I'm just like, I can't
Speaker 2: conceptualize how you think that's helping anybody like I cannot
Speaker 2: understand because, to be honest, by seeing it, by going
Speaker 2: your indigenous, you actually need and deserve more support in
Speaker 2: this system than somebody who is white going through it, right,
Speaker 2: because there are more barriers to entry, there are more
Speaker 2: barriers to going through these things. There is unfortunately not
Speaker 2: as much education. I feel like being able to say yes,
Speaker 2: I understand it, and I can acknowledge that, and I
Speaker 2: know that this was wrong, but I can go above
Speaker 2: and beyond in those circumstances to make sure that the
Speaker 2: people who need the most protection get it. That's what
Speaker 2: we need to be doing, not going, oh my gosh,
Speaker 2: let's just treat absolutely everybody equally. It's identical the process,
Speaker 2: it's exactly the same. I genuinely believe that the process
Speaker 2: needs to be stepped up because you're right, Aboriginal and
Speaker 2: torrost right Islander kids are being taken at higher rates
Speaker 2: because they aren't as safe. How do we fix that.
Speaker 2: We can't just sweep it under the rug and be
Speaker 2: like everybody needs to be treated the same, right. It
Speaker 2: blows my mind.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think there is, you know, colonization. I
Speaker 3: think we're taught in school, if we're taught at all,
Speaker 3: as something that happened in the past, but it's really
Speaker 3: the effects are still ongoing. The stolen generations are not
Speaker 3: that long ago at all, so it can't be blind
Speaker 3: to it as non Indigenous people. And you know, I
Speaker 3: think that's really irresponsible and harmful.
Speaker 2: So I couldn't agree more. All right, let's move back
Speaker 2: onto money topics, because I could have actually rant about
Speaker 2: this all day, and I'm sure you could as well,
Speaker 2: but I want to know. Let's go back to you personally.
Speaker 2: What are your big money goals? What are we working towards?
Speaker 2: My friend set the moment.
Speaker 3: My biggest goal is just building up my emergency fund.
Speaker 3: So it got depleted while I was on placements. So
Speaker 3: you have two four month placements where you're basically at
Speaker 3: the placement site full time but not earning any money,
Speaker 3: So just wanting to build that up again. That's my
Speaker 3: biggest money goal. And also I'm planning a trip to
Speaker 3: Japan and South Korea next year.
Speaker 2: So oh so fun. Can you tell me more about
Speaker 2: this emergency fund? Yes, how have you calculated how much
Speaker 2: you want in it?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: Is it a month's worth of expenses? Three months worth
Speaker 2: of expense? Like, what's going to make you feel most comfortable?
Speaker 3: It is three months worth of expenses, and then I
Speaker 3: put two thousand dollars on top because that just made
Speaker 3: me feel better.
Speaker 2: Hey, I like, yeah, I really like that. All Right,
Speaker 2: I'm going to go to a really quick break because
Speaker 2: this has become very quickly a very long episode. We
Speaker 2: need a hot break, and after the break, we're going
Speaker 2: to talk about debt, investment, best and worst money habits.
Speaker 2: Guys don't go anywhere money Diarist. We are back, and
Speaker 2: I feel like you are such a special human and
Speaker 2: I am feeling so beyond grateful to be able to
Speaker 2: share you with our community. I want to know, though,
Speaker 2: let's dive straight in. Do you invest? If so, what
Speaker 2: do you invest in? If not? Is there a plan?
Speaker 3: I do invest just a little so I have about
Speaker 3: one thousand dollars in spaceship.
Speaker 2: What do you mean a little? A thousand dollars is
Speaker 2: a lot of money, my friend, And.
Speaker 3: A lot of that was from when I was a student.
Speaker 3: I was actually only putting in about five dollars a month,
Speaker 3: and it was more like an investment in my financial education.
Speaker 3: But it's grown over time.
Speaker 2: I love that. That's such as sheeesel on the money phrase,
Speaker 2: you're obviously an og.
Speaker 3: Yeah, og, yeah definitely. And then I have super as well.
Speaker 2: How good. I feel like that's actually the perfect example
Speaker 2: of why investing small amounts just makes sense. Like you're
Speaker 2: now able to say, yeah, I've got a grand invested.
Speaker 2: Most of us who are working our very first job
Speaker 2: out of university don't have a thousand dollars in an
Speaker 2: investment portfolio. But you do, and it's from all of
Speaker 2: those tiny amounts that you were saving during university. Yeah, Like,
Speaker 2: is that not? That's elite? Like that is such a
Speaker 2: stepping stone that you probably didn't even realize you needed,
Speaker 2: like to already be an investor, that is, outside of superannuation.
Speaker 2: I'm obsessed with that. We did an entire episode recently
Speaker 2: actually on investing small amounts and whether it's worth it,
Speaker 2: ruining the episode here. Yes, of course it is worth it.
Speaker 2: I will always recommend investing, even if it is small amounts,
Speaker 2: because now you've got a grand that you didn't have before.
Speaker 2: That's worth it, right, Yeah?
Speaker 3: And I think also, you know, the market has been
Speaker 3: quite brutal the last couple of years. You gave me
Speaker 3: that confidence of seeing the market go up and down
Speaker 3: and knowing it's okay. I can ride this like and
Speaker 3: have more confidence not to be can withdraw any money
Speaker 3: in the future, I think?
Speaker 2: Yes, Love, All right, talk to me about debt. Do
Speaker 2: you have any If so, what is it?
Speaker 3: I have a lot of hextep Yes.
Speaker 2: Nine years at university will do that. I'm so sorry
Speaker 2: to spoil that.
Speaker 3: That will so I have seventy four thousand, three hundred
Speaker 3: and fifty dollars in HEX add ten one hundred and
Speaker 3: seventy one dollars and fifty five cents in startup loans,
Speaker 3: which if you're getting any kind of centering payment while
Speaker 3: you're at university, you can also opt in for a
Speaker 3: startup loan of one thousand dollars at the start of
Speaker 3: a semester and that can go towards costs for you know,
Speaker 3: university items or education.
Speaker 2: Items, textbooks, everything. I feel like that's a really helpful
Speaker 2: loan scheme as well, because obviously there's no interest on it,
Speaker 2: so that makes it very attractive. But also university is
Speaker 2: so expensive beyond hex, like the textbooks, Like I did psychology,
Speaker 2: and a lot of the coursework in psychology overlaps with
Speaker 2: social work. I could not believe that my social work
Speaker 2: subject course books were like one hundred fifty to two
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty dollars to help other people like what what?
Speaker 2: That's crazy? And you always need the most up to
Speaker 2: date edition. You can't just go and buy you know,
Speaker 2: oh there's a secondhand when a well it's not the
Speaker 2: right edition, is it?
Speaker 3: That's it? Yeah, I did use some of that money
Speaker 3: to kind of boost up my income. So when I
Speaker 3: was really struggling with anxiety and not able to work,
Speaker 3: that did go towards having making sure I could pay
Speaker 3: like my phone bill and for petrol for my count
Speaker 3: five percent.
Speaker 2: I love that you had access to that. That makes
Speaker 2: me so happy to know you were supported. Question though,
Speaker 2: what are you doing about that debt?
Speaker 1: So?
Speaker 2: Are you just letting a tick along? Are you planning
Speaker 2: on making additional repayments?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: Have you even thought about this?
Speaker 3: Yeah? So at the moment, I'm just letting it tick along.
Speaker 3: I did just want to quickly say, if anyone is
Speaker 3: struggling at UNI and is you know, failing topics because
Speaker 3: of mental health or first circumstances at home, you can
Speaker 3: actually reply for remission of some of your topics if
Speaker 3: you meet the criteria.
Speaker 2: Yes you can. That's such a oh, thank you for
Speaker 2: bringing that up so smart.
Speaker 3: So I wish I knew about that a bit sooner.
Speaker 3: But that basically means that if you meet the criteria
Speaker 3: and your apply and it's approved, the debt will actually
Speaker 3: be removed for you.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Do they just delete it? They say, all money, direst
Speaker 2: no worries. We totally get it. And the government go,
Speaker 2: we're going to remove that unit or that course. Like,
Speaker 2: I don't think I've ever seen it happen for an
Speaker 2: entire degree, no, but if you're on it. I do
Speaker 2: know someone who had literally four subjects in one semester
Speaker 2: credited because they were like, look, I went past the
Speaker 2: census state. And if anyone's at university, you know, the
Speaker 2: census state's like that cut off date where you can
Speaker 2: back out without it costing you anything if you go
Speaker 2: past that though, and you know, let's just say the
Speaker 2: proverbial hits the fan. It's so nice to know that
Speaker 2: that's an option.
Speaker 3: Definitely.
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm glad we're talking about that. That's so helpful.
Speaker 2: I feel like that's a really good money tip. Though
Speaker 2: I wouldn't know what is your best money habit.
Speaker 3: I think I'm quite resourceful when I don't have a
Speaker 3: lot of money. Obviously, I'm in a really good position now,
Speaker 3: but I haven't always been, so I'm quite happy to
Speaker 3: sell things online. When I was little, my brothers and
Speaker 3: I used to ride around on our bikes and collect
Speaker 3: cans because of the state I live, and you can
Speaker 3: recycle them for money. Yes, yeah, and sometimes that would
Speaker 3: help us get dinner for the night, especially at Dad's
Speaker 3: house when there was a lot of money, but very resourceful.
Speaker 3: So I think that's my best habit.
Speaker 2: Talk to me quickly about your money habits in general.
Speaker 2: I'm going to dive into your worst one in a
Speaker 2: hot second. But given you were so good at being
Speaker 2: resourceful and arguably very frugal, I love this. How have
Speaker 2: you gone from that style of lifestyle to having a
Speaker 2: seventy two thousand dollars income, because obviously that's good money.
Speaker 2: Are you a wizard of budgeting now?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: What's that look like?
Speaker 3: I think I'm quite a bit better at budgeting than
Speaker 3: I used to be.
Speaker 2: More money does help, doesn't it?
Speaker 3: It does?
Speaker 2: Yeah, like a little bit. Like we can all be
Speaker 2: good at money, no matter what income, but it feels
Speaker 2: easier when you have a little bit more to play with.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Less stress, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, a lot less stress. I think that's probably the
Speaker 3: main thing. I think probably though I was very aware
Speaker 3: of lifestyle, but at the same time I knew that I,
Speaker 3: you know, lived quite a restricted like a privileged but
Speaker 3: restricted life previously because there was a lot of money
Speaker 3: coming in, so I wanted to make sure I gave
Speaker 3: myself enough money to do some nice things, but at
Speaker 3: the same time not spend all of my money. So yeah,
Speaker 3: I do have quite an elaborate budget coming in. I've
Speaker 3: actually done love Cheese on the money Master costs.
Speaker 2: Have you actually have?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, really did it help?
Speaker 3: It did a lot. Yeah. So I have a very
Speaker 3: fancy spreadsheet, which I'm very pleased with.
Speaker 2: It's really sexy, isn't it is? Yeah, definitely very sexy.
Speaker 2: I don't mean to be biased. I am completely biased,
Speaker 2: but this spreadsheet is my favorite thing in the entire world. Yeah,
Speaker 2: like it does it for you, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3: It's amazing and that's good because I'm not great at
Speaker 3: maths in general. So yeah, I think probably my best
Speaker 3: thing with budgeting is just making sure that I'm on
Speaker 3: top of it.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I love it. Ah, so good. I
Speaker 2: hate to bring down the mood. What's your worst money it?
Speaker 3: My friend stress spending definitely guilty of avaiable. I think
Speaker 3: there's actually in one of your early episodes not to
Speaker 3: be a creeper.
Speaker 2: No, I love this.
Speaker 3: You talk about how sometimes when you haven't had a
Speaker 3: lot of money growing up, there can be that tendency
Speaker 3: to spend it when you have it, And I've definitely
Speaker 3: felt myself kind of default that if I'm not on
Speaker 3: top of my budget, or if I'm not kind of
Speaker 3: looking after my mental health and being aware of my
Speaker 3: self care needs, I can just stress spend.
Speaker 2: You're so tired, aren't they. Yeah, it's crazy. I cannot
Speaker 2: believe that. I mean, obviously we've been talking about it
Speaker 2: at She's on the money for the past four or
Speaker 2: five years, but I just really don't understand why historically
Speaker 2: we haven't spoken more about the relationship between mental health
Speaker 2: and spending and just self care and spending and what
Speaker 2: that looks like and how your mentality and how you're
Speaker 2: feeling actually impacts the way that you allocate money and
Speaker 2: spend it. Stress spending is real, Like, it's crazy. I
Speaker 2: go through it maybe once a month when you're like,
Speaker 2: it's always a check in for me. It's never a
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, I used to stress spend and now
Speaker 2: I'm over it. No, No, I default straight back to that.
Speaker 2: I'm really good at it. That's why I had to
Speaker 2: create that budget and cash Loow masterclass, because it was
Speaker 2: for me, like to make sure that I'm on top
Speaker 2: of my spending so that I can see everything in
Speaker 2: a really simple, easy way, so that when I do
Speaker 2: do that, I'm back on the bandwagon really quickly instead
Speaker 2: of falling off completely.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and I'm the same way that is my default
Speaker 3: when I'm really stressed. I've used that as an opportunity to,
Speaker 3: as I said, check in with myself and have a
Speaker 3: bit of self compassion, which is a hard thing to learn.
Speaker 3: I think if you're naturally quite hard on yourself. Yeah
Speaker 3: it's crazy, but yeah, being like, okay, what's going on
Speaker 3: for me here? And then you know, taking that as
Speaker 3: an opportunity to self reflect, to go a bit deeper
Speaker 3: instead of beating up on yourself because you know you're
Speaker 3: spending a bit of extra money when you're really stressed. Yeah.
Speaker 2: No, couldn't agree more. All right, last question, now that
Speaker 2: we've had a chat, I don't know. I'm not going
Speaker 2: to tell you how I feel about this. You're going
Speaker 2: to tell me how you feel about this. You told
Speaker 2: us at the start of the episode that you think
Speaker 2: your money habits or c plus, but you're working on
Speaker 2: your emergency fund goal, You've got an investment, you're really
Speaker 2: on top of your hex. You just told me all
Speaker 2: about how you're already using my budgeting cash flow master class,
Speaker 2: you talked about what you've been through and how you've
Speaker 2: come out the other side to be a killer human being?
Speaker 2: My friend, is C plus representative of your situation? Do
Speaker 2: you think? And if it isn't, what are you? But
Speaker 2: if it is, what would it take to get a
Speaker 2: higher grade?
Speaker 3: I think I'm the C plus this week? This week,
Speaker 3: this week because I did some stress spending, so I
Speaker 3: think it varies.
Speaker 2: Sweet, we don't change out grade based on that, no, no, no, no, okay,
Speaker 2: no that's too high school.
Speaker 3: No okay, okay, Probably in general, maybe a B.
Speaker 2: Then all right, what would it take to get to
Speaker 2: an A? My friend?
Speaker 3: I think maybe more consistent investing. I would like to
Speaker 3: do that once I've got in my emergency fund to
Speaker 3: a level I'm happy with, and then I think I'd
Speaker 3: be pretty happy.
Speaker 2: I don't even think you have to change anything to
Speaker 2: get to Honestly, obviously, your goals are really important, and
Speaker 2: when you achieve that, you're going to feel more like
Speaker 2: an A. But you have everything in place to be
Speaker 2: in that position, it's just going to take time. Like
Speaker 2: how cool is that to think the fact that you
Speaker 2: are already in that position to be in a The
Speaker 2: only difference is, Okay, it's just going to take some
Speaker 2: time because to build up your emergency fund, that's going
Speaker 2: to take a few months. That'll be fine. Once that's there,
Speaker 2: What are you gonna do, You're gonna start investing? Like,
Speaker 2: I'm so excited for you because I feel like there's
Speaker 2: nothing to change, there's nothing to update. You just have
Speaker 2: to keep on keeping on. How good.
Speaker 3: And I do have to say thank you to you.
Speaker 3: My financial literacy is all thanks to Sheet's on the Money. Honestly,
Speaker 3: my journey. My friend sent me an episode back during
Speaker 3: the first season. It was the one about Hex and yeah,
Speaker 3: from there, I feel like I've just the world has
Speaker 3: opened up and I just yeah, so it's really all
Speaker 3: thanks to you.
Speaker 2: Ah, that makes me so happy. We need to stop
Speaker 2: talking about it, though, because I end up crying.
Speaker 3: Hey sorry, and that's.
Speaker 2: Not that sexy on a podcast. But I'm so grateful.
Speaker 2: It makes my heart so full to know that not
Speaker 2: only have we created content that impacts people, but they
Speaker 2: like love it too, Like it's just it's so nice. Anyway,
Speaker 2: thank you so much. It has been a beautiful experience
Speaker 2: having a chat with you. I feel like I've learned
Speaker 2: so much about what you do and how you do it,
Speaker 2: and I feel like we are richer having met you.
Speaker 2: So thank you so much. I'm so grateful, thank you
Speaker 2: for having me. The advice shared on She's on the
Speaker 2: Money is general in nature and does not consider your
Speaker 2: individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists purely for educational
Speaker 2: purposes and should not be relied upon to make an
Speaker 2: investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy
Speaker 2: a financial product, read the PDS TMD and obtain appropriate
Speaker 2: financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Divine and She's
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