Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr
Speaker 1: the Order Kerni 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 4: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money Podcast Millennials who.
Speaker 2: Want financial freedom.
Speaker 4: Welcome back to another one of our money diaries where
Speaker 4: I get the absolute pleasure of sitting down with one
Speaker 4: of our She's on the Money community members and talking
Speaker 4: to them all about their money story. Let's jump straight
Speaker 4: into it, because this week I got an email and
Speaker 4: it sounded exactly like this, Dear She's on the Money.
Speaker 4: Seven years ago, I was surprise fired from a sixty
Speaker 4: thousand dollars a year job after my employer used a
Speaker 4: loophole in employment law to let me go just one
Speaker 4: week before i'd hit twelve months. This was just months
Speaker 4: after they'd given me a bonus for doing a good job.
Speaker 4: It shattered my confidence and I still struggle with imposter
Speaker 4: syndrome from it. Fast forward to today, I'm earning six figures,
Speaker 4: have a six figure investment portfolio, and my super is
Speaker 4: also sitting at six figures. But despite all that progress,
Speaker 4: I'm still too scared to buy a property. It just
Speaker 4: feels like such a huge step money Diarist, I can't
Speaker 4: wait to get to know more about you. Off air,
Speaker 4: we were talking about the c and how good that
Speaker 4: is as a game.
Speaker 2: So I just feel like we're going to get on really,
Speaker 2: really well.
Speaker 4: Before we dive further in, I need to know if
Speaker 4: you were to give your money habits a grade, what
Speaker 4: would you grade them from A through to F.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna go with an A minus, and I hope
Speaker 5: I don't regret it. I don't want to be the
Speaker 5: first person you fight with the other way.
Speaker 4: Can you imagine if I was like, by the way,
Speaker 4: you're not actually that good?
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, do you even know me? Oh? Do Audacit? Anyway?
Speaker 2: All right? Let's go.
Speaker 4: I am excited to learn a bit more because your
Speaker 4: story is something that I feel like so many of
Speaker 4: us have had happened to us or like not had
Speaker 4: a job work out. But before we get into the
Speaker 4: job stuff, can you tell me a bit more about
Speaker 4: your money story.
Speaker 5: Yeah. So from an early age, I think like the
Speaker 5: earliest money thing I can remember talking to my parents
Speaker 5: about was like the end of primary school. My sister's
Speaker 5: two years older than me, and they're looking for high
Speaker 5: school for us to go to. And I remember them saying, like, look,
Speaker 5: where can s ding private schools as an option? But
Speaker 5: the reality is if we did that, you couldn't afford
Speaker 5: to do any sports, go on any camps, do anything
Speaker 5: like that, because like Justice school kind of would be
Speaker 5: the most we could do. So what we're going to
Speaker 5: do is we're going to look for like good public
Speaker 5: schools kind of thing. And that's like my first money
Speaker 5: memory proper.
Speaker 4: I think, Yeah, that's interesting because I feel like that
Speaker 4: must be a conversation that so many of us have had,
Speaker 4: because I even remember having that conversation in like grade
Speaker 4: six with my parents talking about you know, what school
Speaker 4: are we going to go to? And you know, the
Speaker 4: area I grew up in, there was a lot of
Speaker 4: like really fancy, like private schools, and then there was
Speaker 4: public schools, and then there was like the middle ground,
Speaker 4: which was like the Catholic school, which is where I went.
Speaker 4: But I remember having a conversation about how astronomically expensive
Speaker 4: the private schools were, and it just wasn't an option.
Speaker 5: Yeah, because we grew up very firmly middle class. My
Speaker 5: parents both worked in retail at video stores. It's funny
Speaker 5: because it's like different video stores as well. They weren't
Speaker 5: always at the same one. There were competing video stores.
Speaker 2: Oh someone's a Blockbuster and the others a Video Easy.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I kind of a go home and share trade secret.
Speaker 5: And yeah, my dad actually ended up buying into the
Speaker 5: franchise of the one he was working at, so.
Speaker 2: It's like, oh, very cool.
Speaker 5: Cool. It was good because, yeah, my mum actually got
Speaker 5: sick with cancer while I was in high school. But
Speaker 5: because I think at that point he was a part owner,
Speaker 5: so he had quite a lot of flexibility, which was
Speaker 5: super useful because you know, going to a lot of
Speaker 5: appointments and things like that. The flexibility was super important.
Speaker 5: But at the end of the day. I don't know.
Speaker 5: I don't know a lot about like owning your own
Speaker 5: business and franchising and things like that, but it doesn't
Speaker 5: seem to have been particularly good financial decision. Like he's
Speaker 5: not in like the best place right now from like
Speaker 5: a money standpoint, which, yeah, it's just really interesting to
Speaker 5: see that because like seeing him as like a business
Speaker 5: owner or a franchise owner has really, I think definitely
Speaker 5: impacted my money story because I I firmly I'm like,
Speaker 5: I never want to do that. Like I listened to
Speaker 5: occasionally some of the Business Bible episodes and I'm just like,
Speaker 5: I could never, Like I know that there are so
Speaker 5: many benefits to it, but I'm like, please, someone just
Speaker 5: be my boss and pay me, give me some money.
Speaker 4: I love that you're listening to the Business Bible episodes
Speaker 4: even though you're like, I don't want to be a
Speaker 4: business owner, but I want to know the pervydats. I
Speaker 4: love this for us, but also, I mean, franchising is
Speaker 4: something that I'm actually going to note this down and
Speaker 4: pop it on the list to do an episode on
Speaker 4: because there's lots of people especially after I don't know
Speaker 4: if you've follow me on social media, but I have
Speaker 4: been going ham on multi level marketing and a lot
Speaker 4: of people have been like, oh, is franchising the same
Speaker 4: And short answer is no, it's definitely not the same.
Speaker 4: But there are good franchises and bad franchises, and like
Speaker 4: some people can make absolute bank like I had when
Speaker 4: I was a financial advisor. Complete side note, just interesting conversation, right,
Speaker 4: I had a client who owned four different McDonald's locations
Speaker 4: and that was franchised, and she was making like six
Speaker 4: and a half million dollars a year. WHOA, right, Like
Speaker 4: that's good money. And she had these beautiful locations, like
Speaker 4: really popular places.
Speaker 2: And she was making bank.
Speaker 4: But on the flip side, I have had people come
Speaker 4: to me and be like, oh, I really want to,
Speaker 4: you know, go into this Polates franchise and they kind
Speaker 4: of take all your profit. You don't make anything, and
Speaker 4: you are absolutely like hamstrung. You also aren't able to
Speaker 4: leave them without a massive like non compete period. It
Speaker 4: was just like a really bad.
Speaker 2: Decision for them.
Speaker 4: But that doesn't mean that all Polarates franchises are bad,
Speaker 4: do you know what I mean? And so it's an
Speaker 4: interesting conversation to have because I think one it's a
Speaker 4: little bit pervy because you want to know how people
Speaker 4: own their businesses. But also, I mean, your parents did
Speaker 4: purchase into video stats, which don't exist now, so I
Speaker 4: feel like that might play into it as well.
Speaker 5: Yeah, there was also I don't know if you remember
Speaker 5: in twenty and eleven, that was a really big flood
Speaker 5: that happened in Brisbane.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, their business was.
Speaker 5: Literally underwater, like completely more.
Speaker 2: Oh my god. And it's a physical product. You can't
Speaker 2: rent out dvbs if they are wet. No.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so obviously that had a lot to do with
Speaker 5: how things kind of shook out. But you you write
Speaker 5: like it was at that inflection point too, of like
Speaker 5: they were starting to think about getting out and then
Speaker 5: the big flood happened and they had to sort of
Speaker 5: decide like do we just keep going? And they did
Speaker 5: and that was maybe.
Speaker 4: But yeah, so it's actually insane to think like that.
Speaker 4: So many people could have been on that, and I'm
Speaker 4: sure that there are people who you know, purchased into
Speaker 4: video stores who have really really healthy bank accounts now
Speaker 4: because they made that decision and maybe got out at
Speaker 4: the right time.
Speaker 2: It's such an interesting piece and that's.
Speaker 5: All business, right, Like that can happen in any industry, literally, So.
Speaker 4: Tell me a bit more. You mentioned before that your
Speaker 4: mum got sick with cancer while you were in high school.
Speaker 4: I feel like that's a very big piece of your
Speaker 4: money store.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's actually watching her sort of handle like working
Speaker 5: after because she had so I think I was on
Speaker 5: about grade nine when she got sick, and I think
Speaker 5: there was like maybe a year or two of treatments
Speaker 5: and things, and then she was in remission for like
Speaker 5: twelve years. So she had a really good, a good
Speaker 5: run after that. And it was interesting seeing her, like
Speaker 5: she didn't want to work because you know, you go
Speaker 5: through something like that, it's like you don't want to
Speaker 5: just do something you don't like, Like you don't want
Speaker 5: to spend your time doing that. She was actually a
Speaker 5: bit of a gamer as well.
Speaker 2: The apple does not fall that far from the tree.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so yeah, just seeing her like want to just
Speaker 5: kind of be the sort of, you know, homemaker kind
Speaker 5: of vibe. And eventually she did kind of go back
Speaker 5: to work in like a retail sort of setting again.
Speaker 5: But yeah, it was it was interesting to see that.
Speaker 2: But is she okay now? Like now that now.
Speaker 5: She passed away.
Speaker 4: My heart no, but that doesn't mean I don't want
Speaker 4: to talk about your mum, and I hope you're comfortable
Speaker 4: with that. So did she end up passing away from
Speaker 4: cancer and the same.
Speaker 5: Yeah, my heart after yeah, the twelve years, she actually
Speaker 5: did still have like another like quite a while after that,
Speaker 5: but yeah, it got to a point where the cancer
Speaker 5: unfortunately won. When my parents did eventually get out of
Speaker 5: the video store, they were able to move up to
Speaker 5: the Sunshine Coast and be closer to family, and it
Speaker 5: was really nice that she got to be a beach
Speaker 5: for her last couple of years and it was good,
Speaker 5: it was nice.
Speaker 2: Oh so beautiful up there too.
Speaker 4: Yeah, obviously horrible, yeah no, no, absolutely horrible outcome, but
Speaker 4: like I'm glad that she got to live her life nicely,
Speaker 4: like being able to move to the Sunshine Coast and
Speaker 4: like probably spend more time with you, Like that's exactly
Speaker 4: what we want, right, Yeah, So tell me once you
Speaker 4: became an adult, you got a sixty thousand dollars a
Speaker 4: year job.
Speaker 2: What was that job? And tell me a bit more
Speaker 2: about how that ended.
Speaker 5: So I actually grew up in Brisbane and I'm now
Speaker 5: in Sydney, So I had like my first big girl
Speaker 5: job in Brisbane and then after like maybe three years
Speaker 5: of being there, my partner actually got an opportunity and
Speaker 5: they were like, hey, we'll movie Sydney if you want.
Speaker 5: And I was like, that's fantastic. My career in Brisbane
Speaker 5: might not grow that far, but Sydney's got a lot
Speaker 5: of opportunity, so let's do it. So I got my
Speaker 5: first big girl Sydney job, which was the sixty k
Speaker 5: Yu Want.
Speaker 4: That feels big as well, like going from Brisbane to Sydney, like,
Speaker 4: oh I have moved on up.
Speaker 5: I'm like, oh man in a big city. Yeah. So
Speaker 5: it was a really really small studio so at the
Speaker 5: time I was like a graphic designer and that's similar
Speaker 5: to what I was doing before, but I was coming
Speaker 5: from more of like a digital space and going to
Speaker 5: more of a like a creative agency.
Speaker 2: Very cool.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was really fun. It was a really good
Speaker 5: way to like get to know Sydney. I liked it.
Speaker 5: I thought I was doing good because a couple months in,
Speaker 5: as you mentioned at the start, I got a bonus
Speaker 5: and it was like thanks for doing such a great job,
Speaker 5: and I was like, oh, amazing.
Speaker 2: You were welcome.
Speaker 5: Yeah, anytime I'll keep going. Yeah, but we didn't because
Speaker 5: it was such a small business. There weren't really it
Speaker 5: wasn't really frameworks for like Tovell and things like that,
Speaker 5: Like we weren't ever really having check ins to be
Speaker 5: like I mean, I thought the bonus was a good
Speaker 5: check in to be like, yeah, good job, but no
Speaker 5: sit down sort of conversations or anything like that. So
Speaker 5: then one day I came in and one of the
Speaker 5: guys sag me down. He's like, so you won't be
Speaker 5: continuing with the company.
Speaker 2: And I was like, huh, sorry, what where did this
Speaker 2: come from?
Speaker 4: And that would have taken you by surprise because you
Speaker 4: didn't see it coming either.
Speaker 2: What did that feel like?
Speaker 5: It felt horrible? I was like so emotional, I burst
Speaker 5: into tears, and I was just like so confused because yeah,
Speaker 5: it was such a shock. I said to them, I
Speaker 5: was like.
Speaker 2: Where did this come from?
Speaker 5: Where did this come from? And they're like, oh, you
Speaker 5: just seem really unhappy.
Speaker 2: Like sorry, what well, Also, my mum had.
Speaker 5: Just been rediagnosed with cats. Also, I'm like, yeah, I
Speaker 5: probably was sad, Like.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I was sad, but that doesn't mean I was
Speaker 4: doing a bad job.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, so they said that they thought I was
Speaker 5: doing a bad job as well, like in terms of
Speaker 5: they thought I'd be able to do more, and to
Speaker 5: be fair, the type of design that they were doing
Speaker 5: is not what I do now. I definitely have stronger
Speaker 5: skill sets. But I was also like, you can't do this,
Speaker 5: can you? Like you had to tell me that I
Speaker 5: was doing a bad job, and they said, we are
Speaker 5: well within our right and that is when I was like,
Speaker 5: oh no, something that I don't know yet.
Speaker 4: See that stuff gives me the it can Like, I
Speaker 4: manage a lot of people, and I'm very grateful too,
Speaker 4: But I often tell my team like, if your role
Speaker 4: is ever at risk, I will be using that conversation
Speaker 4: like those terms with you, Like I will sit you
Speaker 4: down and be like, hey, you know, if this behavior continues,
Speaker 4: your role is at risk. And I've always been so
Speaker 4: clear about, you know, articulating that if something is coming,
Speaker 4: you'll know about it, because I just think that it
Speaker 4: is poor leadership if any of my team members are
Speaker 4: caught by surprise. For you to have been caught by surprise,
Speaker 4: that was on them, not on you, Like you were
Speaker 4: arguably at sixty thousand a year in a relatively entry
Speaker 4: level role, like it wouldn't have been and like that's
Speaker 4: it's not me being mean, it's just it would have
Speaker 4: been a relatively entry level role. It was their job
Speaker 4: to provide consistent feedback, and if they weren't doing that
Speaker 4: and you were surprised by the outcome, that actually is
Speaker 4: a reflection of them being pretty terrible leaders, like one
Speaker 4: out of ten for them, Like it's got nothing to
Speaker 4: do with you, and you know what, maybe like maybe
Speaker 4: you were doing bad job.
Speaker 2: That's fine, that's absolutely fine, but you.
Speaker 4: Deserved their feedback to be like, hey, money Dires, like,
Speaker 4: you know, we actually need to see you performing here,
Speaker 4: but you're right here right now, and you go, yeah,
Speaker 4: no worries, I'm working towards it. Like you should have
Speaker 4: had so many check in points that by the time
Speaker 4: they sat you down and said, hey, money Dires, like
Speaker 4: this role isn't going to work out, you'd be like, yeah,
Speaker 4: I know, like you've been telling me, it just makes sense,
Speaker 4: Like I've actually already in the background been looking for
Speaker 4: a new job, like this should have been an ongoing conversation.
Speaker 4: And it makes me so mad because so many people
Speaker 4: in the She's on the Money community message me and
Speaker 4: be like, oh, I you know, same situation as you.
Speaker 4: I got surprised fired and you're just like, that is
Speaker 4: not on you.
Speaker 2: That is on them for honestly most of the time,
Speaker 2: not having the balls to have hard conversations with their team.
Speaker 5: Yeah. I definitely think it was that. Like some of
Speaker 5: the things I was saying in the conversation as well
Speaker 5: were just like the math wasn't mathing. They were like, oh,
Speaker 5: you should have been teaching yourself how to use this
Speaker 5: application on the weekends and I'm like.
Speaker 4: What, sorry, No, I were you buying me on the weekends.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And it's like, also, did you tell me that
Speaker 5: you wanted to be to learn that and you didn't. Oh.
Speaker 4: And also I love when they start saying things like
Speaker 4: oh yeah, and I mean cultural fit. You're like, sorry,
Speaker 4: why is that being added to the mix?
Speaker 2: Like, oh yeah it was.
Speaker 5: It was, Yeah, so devastating, so devastating.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry that that happened. And I think the shittiest
Speaker 4: part about that is their poor leadership has now meant
Speaker 4: that you are still struggling with imposter syndrome.
Speaker 2: So tell me a bit.
Speaker 4: More about that, because that that's a bullshit syndrome. I
Speaker 4: have it, you have it, but we all know we
Speaker 4: shouldn't have it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, honestly, I think I had it before this happened,
Speaker 5: but that obviously has acerbated it a lot. The worst
Speaker 5: part was like once it happened, I was like, how
Speaker 5: do I get another job? Like what do you tell
Speaker 5: people when that happens? And luckily I had when I
Speaker 5: was in university, I was in like an academic program
Speaker 5: because classic high achiever. So I sent the email to
Speaker 5: the manager of the group, and I was like, Hey,
Speaker 5: this thing happened, help me, Like what do I do?
Speaker 5: So I was very lucky I had someone I could
Speaker 5: reach out to and have a conversation about, like what
Speaker 5: should we do? Like what does this look like? I
Speaker 5: can't even really remember what I did. I think they
Speaker 5: were basically like, just don't bring it up, and I
Speaker 5: think that's what I ended up doing. And luckily, no
Speaker 5: one when I was interviewing was like what happened. I
Speaker 5: think I kind of was just phrasing it like my
Speaker 5: year ended, like is it like it was a contract,
Speaker 5: It's fine, it's done.
Speaker 2: You do what you've got to do to get by.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Like I definitely would talk about it now because
Speaker 5: enough time is past and like I'm confident enough in
Speaker 5: myself that i could look back at that and be like, yeah,
Speaker 5: well it wasn't a right fit, and like they ended
Speaker 5: it and it was a surprise. I'm glad I'm not
Speaker 5: there anymore, because I do think it was not a
Speaker 5: great company one.
Speaker 2: Hundred percent, because they're terrible leaders, one out of ten.
Speaker 4: Like I feel like in moments like that, it really
Speaker 4: shows the type of team they are, like, and they're
Speaker 4: probably the same type of team that's like, yeah, we're
Speaker 4: a great, close knit family, Rara, but also we blindside
Speaker 4: our staff like one out of ten. So talk to me.
Speaker 4: I know that you've got a better job. Now, fast
Speaker 4: forward to today. What do you do for work and
Speaker 4: how much money do you warn?
Speaker 5: Yes? So, I am currently a senior product designer at
Speaker 5: a tech company on one hundred and forty five thousand
Speaker 5: and six hundred dollars a year, not including super.
Speaker 4: Oh okay, okay, and then super is plus. Yeah, Oh
Speaker 4: my god, can you please tell me what a senior
Speaker 4: product designer does at a tech coming?
Speaker 2: I have no idea what that means.
Speaker 5: Yeah. So it's like a mix of user interface design
Speaker 5: and user experience design. So it's both how.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, totally yeah, Okay, it's.
Speaker 5: Like how something looks is like the user interface part,
Speaker 5: like literally like the buttons and stuff, and then the
Speaker 5: experience part is like how someone actually uses it. So
Speaker 5: it's like full end to end, like what is the
Speaker 5: problem we are trying to solve? And then it's like
Speaker 5: how would someone use it? And then sometimes there's like
Speaker 5: testing and things that you do with people.
Speaker 4: That's actually really cool, so you like make it look
Speaker 4: pretty but also make it really functional at the same time.
Speaker 5: Yeah, make it work.
Speaker 2: Oh I love that.
Speaker 4: And so obviously you went from like more of a
Speaker 4: graphic design role and now you're earning like one hundred
Speaker 4: and forty five grand as a thirty three year old.
Speaker 2: That is so epic.
Speaker 4: Tell me how long did it take you to get
Speaker 4: to a role where you were literally earning more than
Speaker 4: double what you were in the job that you got
Speaker 4: fired from, because that's actually a bit of a sleigh, right.
Speaker 5: Yeah. So that role was super like we do posters like.
Speaker 5: It was very like classic graphic design. And so my
Speaker 5: next role was another small agency but a bit bigger,
Speaker 5: and it was more sort of digital focus, so like
Speaker 5: more opportunity to be doing more like websites and applications
Speaker 5: and things like that again, which is what I actually
Speaker 5: had done previously. Yeah, so got a bit more stuck
Speaker 5: into that. And luckily while I was there, the company
Speaker 5: had quite a bit of growth and I had the
Speaker 5: opportunity to kind of growth at the company, and we
Speaker 5: started getting some customers that were like, oh, we want
Speaker 5: more use to interface stuff. So I was able to
Speaker 5: get into that. And then this next company was really good.
Speaker 5: They were very into like development and cared a lot
Speaker 5: about making sure that their employees were like getting further
Speaker 5: educations and feeling challenge and things like that. So I
Speaker 5: actually did a bit of additional T was like a
Speaker 5: six week short course in user experience design, which is
Speaker 5: what I now do. So I was kind of doing
Speaker 5: it as a job, but also I had never done
Speaker 5: any training in it, so I did something official training
Speaker 5: to like really film up those skills.
Speaker 4: How did you realize that this was a career path
Speaker 4: you were interested in, because one when you said I'm
Speaker 4: a senior product designer, like, I had no idea what
Speaker 4: that is. It now makes a lot of sense, But
Speaker 4: how do you go, oh, I really want to do
Speaker 4: this as a role from going oh, you know, and
Speaker 4: I'm very very much simplifying it, but going from you know,
Speaker 4: creating pretty posters to something which I would deem to
Speaker 4: be a lot more technical and involved.
Speaker 2: Is this something that you went to UNI with?
Speaker 4: Like is this something where you know you were just
Speaker 4: really good at coding your MySpace back in the day
Speaker 4: and realized, actually, I'm pretty good at this and I
Speaker 4: want to make this my job. Like how does this
Speaker 4: come to fruition?
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's an interesting journey because if you had told
Speaker 5: graphic design me at the time that that kind of
Speaker 5: salary was possible, I would have been like, you are kidding,
Speaker 5: Because I remember one of my friends talking to me.
Speaker 5: She was a freelance illustrator and she was on like
Speaker 5: eighty K and I was like, whoa, that's like the
Speaker 5: most I could imagine.
Speaker 2: That's so much money. Yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I don't even remember when I found out that this,
Speaker 5: Like I can't quite pinpoint it exactly. But when I
Speaker 5: was going into my degree, I actually started with interior
Speaker 5: design because of the sims. I was like, I can
Speaker 5: decorate a room. I'm great at this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I am fantastic.
Speaker 4: What wall paneling would you laugh exactly, We'll start there flooring, Yeah,
Speaker 4: one hundred percent. Where are we putting the windows? Is
Speaker 4: there a pitched roof? Like ah, yeah, you and I oh, And.
Speaker 5: I did a year of that and it was horrible.
Speaker 5: So I changed the major so it was the same degree,
Speaker 5: but I just changed the major to like visual communication design,
Speaker 5: which wasn't fully like posters. It was like a little
Speaker 5: bit posters, but there was a little bit of that
Speaker 5: like digital kind of element. But yeah, when I graduated,
Speaker 5: I was kind of like, I am not a creative person,
Speaker 5: like in the way that some of these other designers are. Like,
Speaker 5: I just don't see myself at those skill sets. So
Speaker 5: as soon as I had the opportunity in a role
Speaker 5: to do more of that less creative stuff, like the
Speaker 5: thinking not physical pretty picture's part, I noticed that I
Speaker 5: was really good at it. And then from there I
Speaker 5: think I was probably just like going to meet ups
Speaker 5: and things like that, and then like conferences occasionally and
Speaker 5: you'd hear people talk and they'd be like, Oh, I'm
Speaker 5: this kind of designer, and then I'd be like, come on,
Speaker 5: maybe that's the kind of thing I could do. And
Speaker 5: then like I had friends obviously who I graduated with,
Speaker 5: and some of them were kind of going in the
Speaker 5: same direction, so it was kind of like conversations with
Speaker 5: friends and just yeah, seeing what's out there.
Speaker 2: That's really good. I love it.
Speaker 4: Sorry, I'm asking so many like career questions, but often
Speaker 4: we get people on the show and I'm like, but
Speaker 4: how did you get there? Like, you know, I feel
Speaker 4: like there's so much pressure when you're in grade eleven
Speaker 4: and twelve to know what you want to do with
Speaker 4: the rest of your life. And I went into psychology
Speaker 4: and I don't regret it because I feel like it
Speaker 4: obviously helps me in what I do today. But like,
Speaker 4: had I had more opportunity to understand people's career trajectory
Speaker 4: and opportunities, I wouldn't have done psychology. Like you have
Speaker 4: to do so much work and additional degrees to get
Speaker 4: a job in that space, Like what was I doing?
Speaker 2: Like at the time, I'm like, this is my career.
Speaker 4: Like it wasn't though, because I didn't even know what
Speaker 4: the proper outcomes could be.
Speaker 2: Oh, it drives me insane. So I know, since since.
Speaker 4: You getting fired, you've achieved a lot. Tell me, what
Speaker 4: are your big money goals? What are you currently working towards.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so it's so boring because my main goal is
Speaker 5: just maintenance, Like just keep doing what.
Speaker 2: That's not boring.
Speaker 4: That means that you've like achieved it, Like you're like, oh,
Speaker 4: I don't need to work on my cash flow.
Speaker 2: I'm great at that. That's like your goals. What are
Speaker 2: your goals? Ah, you are the goals?
Speaker 5: No, gross, No, But I am going to Europe next year.
Speaker 5: I've heard about flights.
Speaker 2: Oh exciting.
Speaker 5: Yeah, my best friend and my partner and I are
Speaker 5: going because my best friend is French, so I'm going
Speaker 5: to go meet a family, which is really exciting.
Speaker 2: Oh good.
Speaker 5: Yeah. We're also seeing DJ Snake his last concert.
Speaker 2: I love this for you.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so I guess like technically that's probably like the
Speaker 5: big one, but I am kind of always saving for
Speaker 5: a holiday. So but yeah, keep investing, keep contributing to super,
Speaker 5: and keep up with getting my nails done.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 4: It's all about a little bit of balance that's got
Speaker 4: to a really quick break. And on the flip side,
Speaker 4: I actually I want to dive a bit more into
Speaker 4: that money goal of yours, which is investing, because I
Speaker 4: know that you've got a six figure investment portfolio, and
Speaker 4: I feel like that's a lot at thirty three years old.
Speaker 4: So a guys, don't go anywhere, all right, money dirist.
Speaker 4: We are back and we're talking about investments. So tell
Speaker 4: me you said before, like, oh, I don't really have
Speaker 4: any big money goals, like I'm always saving for a holiday.
Speaker 4: But I know you have a big money goal and
Speaker 4: that must be like financial freedom because you have a
Speaker 4: six figure investment portfolio. And if it's not financial freedom,
Speaker 4: what's that for?
Speaker 2: Tell me more?
Speaker 5: No, you're right, it is financial freedom, I guess, but
Speaker 5: it just feels weird to say, like that's the goal,
Speaker 5: but I guess it is. There's the goal, financial freedom.
Speaker 4: I don't want to work, like if you don't have
Speaker 4: to work, like I want you to work if you
Speaker 4: love it. But like imagine waking up one day and
Speaker 4: going I don't have to go to work and I
Speaker 4: can still pay all of my bills and live my
Speaker 4: best life and I can afford a coffee and my nails,
Speaker 4: Like is that not living?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 5: It's funny you say that though, because like when I
Speaker 5: do the math for like looking at what i'd have
Speaker 5: for retirement, I actually have to keep doing exactly what
Speaker 5: I'm doing for the next like thirty years. So it's
Speaker 5: like it's not.
Speaker 2: Sexy like once.
Speaker 4: Like, I feel like I've been trying to stop stop
Speaker 4: ruining the dream for everybody else. So money direst because
Speaker 4: I have been working my butt off to sell investment
Speaker 4: to everybody. I'm like, investment is the best idea ever
Speaker 4: because you can create financial freedom. But then they realize
Speaker 4: it takes like thirty years. I'm like, Noah, don't worry
Speaker 4: about that part. Don't worry about that part. Let's just
Speaker 4: gloss over that you get rich. But tell me, you
Speaker 4: obviously are very aware that you have this investment portfolio
Speaker 4: that looks pretty good now and you need to continue
Speaker 4: to do the same thing for the next thirty years.
Speaker 4: What is that same thing? What are you doing for
Speaker 4: thirty years and what's the outcome going to be?
Speaker 5: Yes, so I will stop Super. So I have about
Speaker 5: one hundred and fifty thousand in SUPER at the moment.
Speaker 5: It is across two almost three accounts, and that is
Speaker 5: for insurance reasons.
Speaker 2: I like that.
Speaker 5: Yes, when the third one was opened, I didn't actually
Speaker 5: realize it was going to happen, and I got so
Speaker 5: shook and I was like two I could handle, but
Speaker 5: three I'm not sure about. But we'll see. Yeah. So
Speaker 5: for that, I am contributing two thousand, five hundred and
Speaker 5: ninety five a month. What and one thousand, three hundred
Speaker 5: and ninety five That is the guarantee, and then I
Speaker 5: do an additional one thousand, two hundred as a salary sacrifice.
Speaker 4: Okay, So that's in to your super which is I guess,
Speaker 4: very very attractive. This external investment though, talk to me
Speaker 4: about that. What does that look like?
Speaker 5: Yes, so I just checked it right before this call,
Speaker 5: and it's gone up a little bit thanks to the
Speaker 5: chaos in America. I'm assuming.
Speaker 4: Oh I love the case, like I don't love what's happening,
Speaker 4: but like I do love watching what it's been doing
Speaker 4: to the share market, like me too.
Speaker 2: Oh, it's very attractive, it is.
Speaker 5: Yeah. So currently my parlor account is sitting at one
Speaker 5: hundred and ten thousand dollars.
Speaker 4: Okay, that is iconic. How did you get one hundred
Speaker 4: and ten thousand dollars in a parlor account? Though?
Speaker 5: Yeah? So I at the moment am contributing two two
Speaker 5: hundred dollars a month.
Speaker 4: I was post tax, so that's like your tax money
Speaker 4: that comes into your bank account because we just talked
Speaker 4: about super so I'm just trying to make sure that
Speaker 4: we can be super clear. So you have found a
Speaker 4: way to get two thousand, two hundred bucks a month
Speaker 4: to invest.
Speaker 2: Yes, you're going to be so rich.
Speaker 5: I love this fingers crossed. It's funny because I was
Speaker 5: looking to see because I knew would talk about like
Speaker 5: how did I get started? And I did start with raise,
Speaker 5: but I was only just doing raise. I was doing
Speaker 5: fifty dollars a week on Rais initially, and that lasted
Speaker 5: six months before I opened my Pearlar account because I
Speaker 5: knew that I wanted to.
Speaker 4: Invest for like, but it's a gateway, like I have
Speaker 4: referred to these micro investing platforms before as like gateway drugs,
Speaker 4: and they are. They're like gateway drugs to getting you investing.
Speaker 4: And then it's a slippery slope. And then you get
Speaker 4: a pearl re account or you get a share z
Speaker 4: these account, and you start investing bigger amounts and then
Speaker 4: you see what's happening, like have you done the maths
Speaker 4: on what your compounding is actually going to look like?
Speaker 5: In that I've gone to the Lovely Government website with
Speaker 5: the Compound.
Speaker 2: Calculator, Yeah, my favorite website.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's actually how I was doing it, to be
Speaker 5: like I would have to keep doing the same contributions
Speaker 5: to hit a certain point in the future kind of thing.
Speaker 4: So when you say hit a certain point, have you
Speaker 4: picked a point and you've said, oh, this is what
Speaker 4: my goal is, like, talk to me about what that
Speaker 4: looks like.
Speaker 5: Ish, So, like, I haven't like written a specific number down,
Speaker 5: but I think it was. I was listening to one
Speaker 5: of the podcast episodes about like retirement planning or something,
Speaker 5: and they're talking about the actual numbers, and I think
Speaker 5: I'm aiming for like one mill so one point four mil.
Speaker 5: I think it was for me to actually be comfortable,
Speaker 5: which is I'm over budgeting for everything. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I was about to say, Babe, I don't know if
Speaker 4: you've done the actual maths, because you said you did
Speaker 4: the maths.
Speaker 2: But that's not the maths.
Speaker 5: That's not the math Okay.
Speaker 2: I mean that's good, Like that's fantastic.
Speaker 4: Like when you said I've overbudgeted, yes, my friend, you
Speaker 4: have Yes, so you told me I've done it.
Speaker 2: I've done it. In the background twhile.
Speaker 4: We've been talking, because it's just I'm so pervy, Like
Speaker 4: my favorite thing about money. Don't you can't just go
Speaker 4: up to some random at a cafe and be like, hey,
Speaker 4: I like your jump up.
Speaker 2: Also, what do you earn? Like, that's not how this works.
Speaker 4: But I get to ask you literally all of the
Speaker 4: money questions because you decided to sit in front of
Speaker 4: me and say, have at it.
Speaker 5: Vay.
Speaker 4: So you said that you have currently one hundred and
Speaker 4: ten thousand dollars in your Parler account right and you're
Speaker 4: investing two two hundred dollars each in every single month.
Speaker 4: You also said earlier to me that you have in
Speaker 4: your mind another thirty years of doing this. So I've
Speaker 4: taken that number and gone, all right, well, that will
Speaker 4: make you sixty three by that point in time, which
Speaker 4: is a good retirement time. Don't worry with these numbers.
Speaker 4: You've gone retire early. With that, it means over your
Speaker 4: lifetime you are going to You've got you one hundred
Speaker 4: and ten thousand dollars to start with your twenty two
Speaker 4: hundred dollars a month being contributed. For the next thirty years,
Speaker 4: you're going to contribute a total of seven hundred and
Speaker 4: ninety two dollars to that investment, which is very exciting.
Speaker 4: So that's just the cash that you're tipping in. But
Speaker 4: we know that money compounds, and we also know that
Speaker 4: over the last thirty years, the average rate of return
Speaker 4: of the Australian share market has been nine point three percent.
Speaker 4: So I'm just going to use nine percent in this
Speaker 4: situation because it seems kind of reflective, which means you
Speaker 4: will make on average total amount of interest of four million,
Speaker 4: seven hundred thousand dollars. I definitely didn't mas your investment
Speaker 4: portfolio at this point has a trajectory of five point
Speaker 4: six four million dollars, which means at retirement we're not
Speaker 4: even taking your superannuation into consideration. At retirement. That means
Speaker 4: if we just base it off a five percent draw down. So,
Speaker 4: as I said before, nine percent is what the Australian
Speaker 4: share market returns at. But when you retire, we don't
Speaker 4: want to just take all of the profit off the table.
Speaker 4: We want to take five percent and then still have
Speaker 4: some compounding to do, because like we want money to
Speaker 4: make money and like you know, sustainability. So we're going
Speaker 4: to take five percent, and five percent of five point
Speaker 4: six million dollars is an income of two hundred and
Speaker 4: seventy five thousand dollars a year, and that's not what
Speaker 4: your super is going to pay.
Speaker 2: Do you think you could live comfortably?
Speaker 5: I think I could.
Speaker 2: Well. The thing is, though you think you could, We're.
Speaker 5: Going to get into that where am I living situation though,
Speaker 5: because like that's including rent, that's including red.
Speaker 4: Oh okay, So if you're going to pay rent two
Speaker 4: hundred and seventy five thousand dollars, I don't know.
Speaker 2: Could you rent in Sydney?
Speaker 5: Probably, we'll see.
Speaker 2: So that doesn't include your super.
Speaker 4: But I think it's really exciting because life ebbs and flows, right,
Speaker 4: So now we're going to talk about your living situation,
Speaker 4: and that might mean that you contribute less to your
Speaker 4: investments for a period of time, but knowing that you're
Speaker 4: still contributing. You said, two thousand, five hundred and ninety
Speaker 4: five dollars to your super, that's going to work itself
Speaker 4: out over there too, so like your money is going
Speaker 4: to be making money. Tell me about your living situation.
Speaker 5: Yeah, No, I'm just trying to think how I did
Speaker 5: the maths so wrong. I think I was being extremely
Speaker 5: conservative with the like percentage that I was using. I
Speaker 5: was probably using like five percent or something, because I'm
Speaker 5: just like.
Speaker 2: I would much prefer you to underpromise and overdeliver.
Speaker 5: Yes, me too.
Speaker 4: That sounds like a good plan because even if we
Speaker 4: try and underpromise and over deliver for ourselves now and
Speaker 4: change that annual interest rate from nine percent down to
Speaker 4: seven and a half percent, which I like to use often,
Speaker 4: your total investment portfolio by the time your sixty three
Speaker 4: would be four million dollars.
Speaker 2: So I don't know if you could live off that,
Speaker 2: but you let me know.
Speaker 5: Okay, Yeah, I definitely did bad. I blame the compound
Speaker 5: calculator that on the money.
Speaker 2: Oh no, that bad bab Look at my screen right now,
Speaker 2: that's what I'm using.
Speaker 5: Okay, I blame error. It's my.
Speaker 4: Maybe you should call the government up and be like,
Speaker 4: do you guys actually need a senior product designer?
Speaker 5: Oh my god, they don't need me. They need someone better, No.
Speaker 2: They do. They do.
Speaker 4: Like this calculator is ugly, Like it does the job,
Speaker 4: but she's not cute.
Speaker 2: She's not cute.
Speaker 5: I don't mind it because I find it very functional
Speaker 5: and that's my vibes.
Speaker 4: So yeah, okay, all right, well I would like it
Speaker 4: functional and aesthetic. Anyway, back on topic, tell me, are
Speaker 4: you planning on purchasing property? I know in your money
Speaker 4: though you wrote in and said you know, I made
Speaker 4: a lot of progress. I have six figures in my
Speaker 4: super six figures in my investment portfolio, making six figures
Speaker 4: a year. But property feels like a step that's too
Speaker 4: big for me to take. What's that about.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm not sold on it because for me, the
Speaker 5: math isn't mathing for property. I really like investing because
Speaker 5: even though I've never had to decrease the amount of
Speaker 5: money so far, I know that I could if I
Speaker 5: wanted to, if I need it to, Like if something happened,
Speaker 5: if I had to take a break, if I had
Speaker 5: a lot paying job, I could just contribute less and
Speaker 5: that would be fine, Like no big deal. But looking
Speaker 5: at a mortgage, like, firstly, there's the deposit, which I
Speaker 5: could definitely save up. I could definitely get there, But
Speaker 5: the idea of locking yourself into a thirty year contract
Speaker 5: that like I would try and do it in less
Speaker 5: but like the reality is, like anything could happen, Like
Speaker 5: I just don't believe that I could be I can't
Speaker 5: see it happening. It's too scary.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but that's also okay because you're not burying your
Speaker 4: head in the sand about your financial situation. You're not going, oh,
Speaker 4: world's you know too overwhelming, like properties too much. I'm
Speaker 4: just going to focus on living my best life like
Speaker 4: you are, investing and creating financial freedom. And at the
Speaker 4: end of the day, property isn't for everybody, Like I'm
Speaker 4: a property person because I want to own the asset,
Speaker 4: like it's something that I'm passionate about.
Speaker 2: I get excited about it. You know, between my husband and.
Speaker 4: I, we are both not like you're going to be
Speaker 4: surprised by this, but we're not incredible at money, Like
Speaker 4: if we have it, we're always like how do we
Speaker 4: spend it? So for us, having a mortgage is actually
Speaker 4: a really good kind of and this is not good maths,
Speaker 4: but it's like forced savings, like we know we have
Speaker 4: to pay it. So therefore having this financial commitment is
Speaker 4: good for us, whereas for other people you like Vie,
Speaker 4: I would not want that at all. And do you
Speaker 4: know what is that going to put you in a
Speaker 4: worse off financial position?
Speaker 5: No?
Speaker 4: Does that mean that you could rent until the day
Speaker 4: you die? Absolutely, because you're going to be in the
Speaker 4: position where you're always going to be able to pay rent,
Speaker 4: and we live in Australia where rental law mean that
Speaker 4: you're never going to be completely screwed over, like and
Speaker 4: having an emergency fund. Having access to cash means you're
Speaker 4: always going to be able to put a roof over
Speaker 4: your head. Might be expensive at one point because it's
Speaker 4: you know, not what you want at that point in time,
Speaker 4: but at the end of the day, you are financially
Speaker 4: secure and I actually don't mind how you do that
Speaker 4: as long as you're making decisions that are in line
Speaker 4: with your values. Your partner that you mentioned before, did
Speaker 4: they want property? Is that something that's causing a little
Speaker 4: bit of conversation in your relationship.
Speaker 5: We're definitely on the same page. I think he was
Speaker 5: probably more pro property initially than I was, because I've
Speaker 5: always been too afraid and he's been more like, oh no,
Speaker 5: that's something we could do. But now I think we're
Speaker 5: just so like because we've been following prices and stuff,
Speaker 5: and we always were kind of like, maybe we'll move
Speaker 5: back to Brisbane because at the time it was a
Speaker 5: lot cheaper in Brisbane, but now it's the same price,
Speaker 5: so we're like that's not looking so hot for us.
Speaker 5: He's on SECRECD. We just can't see how it would
Speaker 5: work because I think, like everything you're saying one hundred
Speaker 5: percent true, but like where we want to live is
Speaker 5: like that's where the mats really doesn't match because we're
Speaker 5: like in inner suit Sydney and like looking at how
Speaker 5: much mortgagure payments are are just so much more than
Speaker 5: like we paid I think six hundred and twenty dollars
Speaker 5: a week in rent for our place, and it's like
Speaker 5: it's pretty good. And I just like, yeah.
Speaker 2: For six hundred and twenty dollars a week, it better.
Speaker 5: Be Oh that's good for No, that's really good.
Speaker 4: I know, I know it's good for Like rent in
Speaker 4: Sydney is astronomical, like it actually it pains me to
Speaker 4: think about it. But if you guys are happy with that,
Speaker 4: like why change it? I Mean the only thing I
Speaker 4: would say in this situation is like explore the option,
Speaker 4: like you don't have to do it, but I would
Speaker 4: be looking at like what would it cost, Like purchasing
Speaker 4: a property in Sydney is to me a very different ballgame,
Speaker 4: Like you could talk about rent vesting and what that
Speaker 4: means to purchase in Brisbane. You could have a look
Speaker 4: at the maths on that and do you know what,
Speaker 4: it might not work out because we know on average,
Speaker 4: the rate of return on property in Australia is lower
Speaker 4: than the rate of return on the share market. And
Speaker 4: if you are more comfortable in the share market, technically
Speaker 4: it's the quote better option in saying that there is
Speaker 4: still for a lot of people a lot of money
Speaker 4: to be made in property because you know they might
Speaker 4: pick the right one in the right location. But with
Speaker 4: any type of investment comes risk. So you've got a
Speaker 4: way up what you're comfortable with.
Speaker 2: And if you're telling me the uncomfortable where we are,
Speaker 2: do that. I'm so proud that you're going to retire
Speaker 2: in a very comfortable position. I haven't even asked what
Speaker 2: your partner does and what type of financial contributions they're making,
Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, you are going
Speaker 2: to be fine.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he's actually in a really similar spot. He does
Speaker 5: earn a little bit more than me. He's also in tech,
Speaker 5: but in more like an engineering role.
Speaker 4: Okay, so we just fancy rich pants is over here,
Speaker 4: No way love it. I mean, we're not going to
Speaker 4: say that at brunch to all of our friends. But like,
Speaker 4: isn't it nice to be in a position where you're like,
Speaker 4: I've actually worked my butt off and I'm going to
Speaker 4: be financially secure and that's really cool.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it is, it really is. But yeah, so with
Speaker 5: the renvesting thing, like it is something we've considered, but
Speaker 5: like both of us are just like max levels of
Speaker 5: stress right now because we're both working too much as
Speaker 5: we just know that we just couldn't possibly mentally right now.
Speaker 5: But maybe we're not saying never though, so I will say,
Speaker 5: like we are both contributing a lot into our super
Speaker 5: within the back of our minds, if we wanted to,
Speaker 5: we could take advantage of the first time super Savor
Speaker 5: scheme like that is lightly in the plan. But at
Speaker 5: the same time where like if we don't take it out,
Speaker 5: we're happy with it to be there. If we wanted to,
Speaker 5: we could and we could kind of make that happen.
Speaker 4: Well, you did tell me before that you're contributing was
Speaker 4: it twelve hundred dollars a month to your superannuation as
Speaker 4: a salary sacrifice. Yeah, so you're doing that and when
Speaker 4: you're doing that, obviously it's for investment purposes in your
Speaker 4: mind at this point. But if you did decide that
Speaker 4: it was for the First Home Super Saviors scheme, all
Speaker 4: you have to do is call your super fund and say,
Speaker 4: I've been making voluntary contributions and I'd like to withdraw them.
Speaker 4: Like it didn't ever have to be labeled for the
Speaker 4: First Home Super Savior Scheme to go in and you
Speaker 4: probably know that, but I just wanted to make it
Speaker 4: clear for anyone listening who's like, oh, like, I don't
Speaker 4: know if it was for this First Home Super Saviors
Speaker 4: scheme or if it was, you know, just a voluntary contribution,
Speaker 4: Like any voluntary contribution can be withdrawn under that scheme,
Speaker 4: which I think is really sexy because one, you're boosting
Speaker 4: your super that's going to be really attractive for when
Speaker 4: you retire. But then also if your values change and
Speaker 4: you're like, actually we do really want to purchase a property,
Speaker 4: you're going to have structured yourself in a way where
Speaker 4: it's going to be even more effective. Like over this
Speaker 4: period of time, let's say if you save, because you
Speaker 4: can save up to fifty thousand dollars into the First
Speaker 4: Home Super Savior scheme. Now, which if we look at
Speaker 4: the time frames will take you about five years because
Speaker 4: of the contribution amounts. But if you in five years
Speaker 4: decided via I want to buy property, you'd be I
Speaker 4: think it's nine and a half thousand dollars better off
Speaker 4: because you use that.
Speaker 2: That is sexy.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's a really cool scheme.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like I love free money. Like free money is
Speaker 2: my favorite kind of money.
Speaker 4: Yeah, money I didn't have to work for because I
Speaker 4: made smart decisions. Money win. So tell me a bit more.
Speaker 4: I'm assuming the answer is no. But do you have
Speaker 4: any debts? How do you feel about taking on debt?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 5: Okay, I don't have any debt currently. So I finished
Speaker 5: paying off my HEX last year.
Speaker 2: Oh that is very sexy.
Speaker 5: Oh my god, I was so happy. I had a
Speaker 5: full like celebration. But as soon as I did, the
Speaker 5: amount that was going to my hex is what is
Speaker 5: my salary sacrifice? That's going to Supernow?
Speaker 2: Oh that is so smart. So you kind of switch
Speaker 2: a rude and now you don't even feel it ever.
Speaker 5: Yes, yeah, very tactical. And yeah we have a car,
Speaker 5: but we bought it out right a couple of years
Speaker 5: ago because it's small, cheap, So yeah.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 4: I love it, So tell me more about your car.
Speaker 4: You bought it small, you bought it outright? How much
Speaker 4: did it cost? What type of car are you driving?
Speaker 5: It's a Jazz. Honda Jazz best car in the world.
Speaker 2: Is it yellow?
Speaker 5: No, it's not growing.
Speaker 4: Oh that's really disappointing because I love a yellow Honda
Speaker 4: Jazz but very smart car. But next time you're driving
Speaker 4: past the Honda Jazz, the person driving it could have
Speaker 4: hundreds of thousands of dollars invested, Like, isn't that kind
Speaker 4: of fun?
Speaker 5: Yeah? Well, because, yeah, the car itself I think was
Speaker 5: fifteen thousand, because it was we bought it in COVID
Speaker 5: times when the used car market was crazy. I don't
Speaker 5: think that car would have actually been worth that much,
Speaker 5: but because of that it but yes, so we just
Speaker 5: want half seas on.
Speaker 2: It and love adore.
Speaker 4: So tell me I feel like you've got some good
Speaker 4: money habits because you did say at the start me,
Speaker 4: I think I'm an A minus, and so far I'm
Speaker 4: not gonna argue with you like I do think you're
Speaker 4: an A minus.
Speaker 2: In fact, i'd.
Speaker 4: Probably be like you sure you're not a plus because
Speaker 4: I can't see any room for improvement at this point, like,
Speaker 4: no feedback, no notes, tell me, what do you think
Speaker 4: your best money have?
Speaker 5: Planning? Definitely planning. My partner and I joke that we
Speaker 5: put twenty four weeks between us and a purchase.
Speaker 2: Twenty four weeks.
Speaker 5: Yeah. Again, it's kind of tactical. So I have a
Speaker 5: birthday really close to yours.
Speaker 2: When's your birthday?
Speaker 5: Early July?
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, so close to mine? Yeah, love close to.
Speaker 5: Yours, but six months away from Christmas. So I will
Speaker 5: always have like a list of kind of bigger items
Speaker 5: that I want to purchase, or even smaller items like
Speaker 5: just like shoes or whatever, and I kind of plan
Speaker 5: them out through the year. So I'll like ask people
Speaker 5: for money to go towards these specific things so that
Speaker 5: when I am like buying these things, you know, it's
Speaker 5: very planned out. I'm not just like always spending money
Speaker 5: on stuff like that. Yeah, So planning in that regard,
Speaker 5: but also even just things like I am really into cooking,
Speaker 5: like cooking big batches of stuff because I find it
Speaker 5: very cost effective. I am one of those people happy
Speaker 5: to eat the same thing for three days in a row.
Speaker 5: I don't mind.
Speaker 4: See, I can't do it. I can't do it. Like, no, no,
Speaker 4: I wish. I wish because I know that it's so
Speaker 4: practical and I love the idea that there would just
Speaker 4: be something in the fridge that I could eat. And Zara,
Speaker 4: who works for the Shees on the Money team, she
Speaker 4: like full meal preps and I'll be like, Oh, what
Speaker 4: did you have for dinner last night? Did you have
Speaker 4: that thing that we were talking about that you wanted?
Speaker 4: And She's like, oh, no, I actually had something prepped
Speaker 4: in the fridge. And I ate that, And I'm like
Speaker 4: the level of self control you have to be able
Speaker 4: to do that. I would have just gone and got
Speaker 4: the thing I wanted and be like, oh bye to
Speaker 4: the stuff that's in my fridge. Like you guys are icons.
Speaker 4: Could never be me.
Speaker 5: It's a lad gratification though, because like when I have
Speaker 5: that thing that I want, I'm like, oh, I'll have
Speaker 5: that thing on Friday because that's when it's free mill
Speaker 5: Day or something.
Speaker 2: I love that. So you're just good at planning.
Speaker 5: Yeah. But the other part of that, though we've already
Speaker 5: kind of talked about it a little bit. I call
Speaker 5: it conscious lifestyle creep.
Speaker 2: Conscious lifestyle creep. I like that explain the theory.
Speaker 5: So whenever like the money situation changes. Say, like when
Speaker 5: I finished pining off my hex, I very much intentionally
Speaker 5: was like, what is going to happen with this my
Speaker 5: so like most of it went into super but I
Speaker 5: did like keep a little bit of it out and
Speaker 5: I was like, now I can go to the BT
Speaker 5: once a week instead of whatsa before that. So I
Speaker 5: definitely like my lifestyle has crept, but I've tried to
Speaker 5: do it in a way where it's like, you know,
Speaker 5: I'm still making prioritizing the saving and the building of
Speaker 5: the future wealth, but still like trying to you know,
Speaker 5: be comfortable and like what's the word for it, like
Speaker 5: chill out, treat myself a little bit.
Speaker 2: I have a little bit of leniency.
Speaker 5: Leniency. Yeah, So when the tax cuts happened this year,
Speaker 5: my partner and I were like, let's get a cleaner
Speaker 5: once somewhat. Oh I love that, Yeah, because we've just
Speaker 5: been really stressed at the moment and like especially about
Speaker 5: like trying to keep on top of domestic stuff. So
Speaker 5: we're like, let's just do that. And because of the
Speaker 5: lovely thank you government tax cuts, we were able to
Speaker 5: do that.
Speaker 4: So I love that, and I think it's really important
Speaker 4: to even talk about those types of things because I
Speaker 4: I know that it like some people be like, oh
Speaker 4: my god, the entitlement in having a cleaner, Like I
Speaker 4: have a cleaner, and when I realized how much pressure
Speaker 4: it takes off me coming home to a clean house,
Speaker 4: clean house, clean mind, Like I'm more productive at work,
Speaker 4: my husband and I are less snappy at each other.
Speaker 4: To us, I would actually prefer to have cheaper holidays
Speaker 4: and do less things on the weekend, and go out
Speaker 4: for less brunches and make those compromises and keep our
Speaker 4: cleaner than have all of those other lifestylely things. And
Speaker 4: I think it needs to be about And I know
Speaker 4: that can sound entitled, especially in the middle of a
Speaker 4: cost of living crisis, but like, I think it's important
Speaker 4: to be transparent and real and honest.
Speaker 2: Like for me, that works for our budget. Does it
Speaker 2: mean that everyone should do it? Absolutely not.
Speaker 4: You need to get to a point in your finances
Speaker 4: where you're like, oh, this would make a valid contribution
Speaker 4: to our mental health and our physical health, and we
Speaker 4: see the value in it, and it doesn't stop us
Speaker 4: from saving or investing, Like it puts us in a
Speaker 4: good place position. And I think that that's where you
Speaker 4: get to you know, conscious lifestyle creep.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean it's the same thing. Like the podcast
Speaker 5: has actually helped me a lot with like guilt because
Speaker 5: things like I get my nails done once a month,
Speaker 5: and like again, like if you say that to someone
Speaker 5: and they see like my neils, I'll be like, that
Speaker 5: is insane. I cannot believe you're spending like one hundred
Speaker 5: dollars a month on that. And I'm like, I know
Speaker 5: it's crazy, but when I look at my overall cash
Speaker 5: flow system, like compared to the amount of money I'm investing,
Speaker 5: it's nothing Like I would feel bad about it if
Speaker 5: it was like that was the majority of what I
Speaker 5: was spending.
Speaker 4: Also, their judgment is a reflection of their thoughts and
Speaker 4: values and beliefs and behaviors are not yours. And like
Speaker 4: I have never met anybody doing more than someone who
Speaker 4: says less about somebody. Like if somebody is questioning your
Speaker 4: financial decisions, I can promise you they know not that
Speaker 4: much about finance because the people that are doing well,
Speaker 4: they're making decisions that are in line with their values
Speaker 4: and it's not your place to question that. Yeah, And
Speaker 4: the second people are like, oh my god, here's a
Speaker 4: piece of judgment.
Speaker 2: You're like, oh, okay, that says a lot about you,
Speaker 2: not a lot about me.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so anyway, I love that. Tell me a little
Speaker 4: bit about what you're not so good at, Like do
Speaker 4: you have a worse money habit that you'd be able
Speaker 4: to identify? Or are you a true a minus but
Speaker 4: should be a plus? No, I have to you have too, Okay,
Speaker 4: tell me one of them.
Speaker 5: Is actually so closely related to what we're just talking about.
Speaker 5: I am so bad with comparison.
Speaker 2: I'm picking that up. I'm picking that up, and I'm
Speaker 2: trying to like push it out.
Speaker 5: I know, I know, and I was actually reading your
Speaker 5: investment book at the moment, and I just was last
Speaker 5: night reading it. But that's like, stop comparing yourself. And
Speaker 5: I'm like, okay.
Speaker 4: But seriously, do you know how often we compare ourselves
Speaker 4: to people who we see and we go, oh my god,
Speaker 4: they're doing so well and then like you can't see
Speaker 4: their debt, and then you're like, oh, I wish I
Speaker 4: you know, had a better car or a better house,
Speaker 4: or oh my god, they own a property, or they
Speaker 4: do this, or they do that. But like they're in
Speaker 4: mountains of day and they're stressed and they have a
Speaker 4: terrible relationship because all they do is fight because money
Speaker 4: is really tight. And then that's not what you want,
Speaker 4: my friend.
Speaker 5: I know, but it's the like even just with my partner,
Speaker 5: so I know exactly the position he's in, and like
Speaker 5: I look at his super and his investments and I'm like,
Speaker 5: oh my god, I could be doing so much better,
Speaker 5: Like I could be contributed so much more. But then
Speaker 5: I'm like, no, he doesn't have the same values, Like
Speaker 5: he doesn't want to go to branch as much as
Speaker 5: I do and that kind of thing. And that's fine,
Speaker 5: but it's so hard to like not look at that
Speaker 5: and be like I could be doing better.
Speaker 4: Especially when it's in your house. But then also like,
Speaker 4: obviously I'm picking up that you guys have separate finances,
Speaker 4: which is very exciting, Like everyone manages things differently in relationships.
Speaker 4: But at the end of the day, like your team
Speaker 4: and him doing well, ultimately is you doing well and
Speaker 4: you doing your things is positively contributing to his life
Speaker 4: because he has.
Speaker 2: A happy partner. Yes, that's true, Like, so you are welcome.
Speaker 2: Not only do I have a happy partner. I've got
Speaker 2: a well manned would want.
Speaker 5: Oh yes, shining else.
Speaker 2: Exactly, and that makes us happy.
Speaker 4: And I think that that needs to be taken into
Speaker 4: consideration as well, because it's like it's so easy to
Speaker 4: look at his bank balance and be like, it's higher.
Speaker 2: I could be doing more, I could be doing better,
Speaker 2: but at what cost?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 5: No, But I think my other worst money habit is
Speaker 5: fear or maybe like pessimism. But I'm just like, so, yeah,
Speaker 5: like everything we've talked about. Whenever I hear someone talking
Speaker 5: about purchasing a house and they're like, oh, you know,
Speaker 5: just buy whatever house. You can always buy another one
Speaker 5: when you earn more money. And I'm like, I think
Speaker 5: I'm operating at my max level capacity. I don't know
Speaker 5: that there's a world in which I will want to
Speaker 5: be earning more money. Like I don't know if I
Speaker 5: can handle more stress than once in my life at
Speaker 5: the moment. And it's just like I think about a lot.
Speaker 5: It's just like I think this is maybe it, but
Speaker 5: I know I need to work on being less afraid
Speaker 5: because I have set myself up pretty well, but it's
Speaker 5: still there.
Speaker 4: It's still I feel like this might go back to
Speaker 4: your money story of connecting the dots here watching your
Speaker 4: parents work so hard and your dad get his own
Speaker 4: job and then it may be not working out as well,
Speaker 4: and that being a really big, scary financial decision, and
Speaker 4: you're going, I still feel like things are fragile. You
Speaker 4: could do absolutely everything right and then maybe not end
Speaker 4: up in.
Speaker 2: A secure financial position. Do you feel like that's playing
Speaker 2: into it?
Speaker 5: Yeah, one hundred percent. Yeah. I was reflecting on mat
Speaker 5: a bit this morning, and I was like, my parents
Speaker 5: did such a good job of like setting my sister
Speaker 5: and ie up, like making sure win to a nice
Speaker 5: school if those public school was still really good public school,
Speaker 5: and like they did so much, but I don't know
Speaker 5: that they were doing enough for their future. And yeah,
Speaker 5: it's definitely looking at that being like I want to
Speaker 5: do more for me.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think that that's really important. But that
Speaker 4: goes back to the comparison, because I think your comparison
Speaker 4: is coming from fear. You're like looking at other people's
Speaker 4: money goals and going, oh.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm scared of buying a house.
Speaker 4: Like you told me earlier that that's just not a
Speaker 4: value to you, So stop winting in the direction of property.
Speaker 4: And being like I'm really scared to buy property. You
Speaker 4: already decided you don't want to, nor do you have to.
Speaker 4: No one's going to force a property down your throat
Speaker 4: and be like, hey, money, DRIs, can you cough up
Speaker 4: that deposit tomorrow? Like we didn't consent to this, Like
Speaker 4: that's not what we're doing. I think it's so hard, though,
Speaker 4: But the.
Speaker 5: Flip side of that is like, well, then I'm retiring
Speaker 5: and I have to pay rent forever, and like what.
Speaker 4: Oh, no, you have to pay rent with the money
Speaker 4: that you have in abundance when you retire and won't
Speaker 4: ever have an issue paying rent.
Speaker 2: That must be so hard.
Speaker 5: Fear of the unknown. You know, you don't know what
Speaker 5: you don't know.
Speaker 4: I suppose, and at the end of the day it
Speaker 4: is not. I feel like the great Australian dream has
Speaker 4: been shoved down our throats for so long that we
Speaker 4: just assume the only way to be financially secure is
Speaker 4: to own the roof that's over our head. And I
Speaker 4: can tell you now, when I was a financial advisor,
Speaker 4: I had some very wealthy clients that didn't want to
Speaker 4: own property, were earning millions and still rent it.
Speaker 2: Like one of them.
Speaker 4: Rented one of the most beautiful apartments in the Melbourne CBD,
Speaker 4: like Level fifty like looked incredible, And the reason they
Speaker 4: did was because they did all of the maths and
Speaker 4: realized the body corporate fees, the overheads. Like they were like,
Speaker 4: I don't want to pay a mortgage, Like I'm just
Speaker 4: going to pay rent and this is going to be
Speaker 4: my lifestyle, Like I'm just going to see it as
Speaker 4: a lifestyle cost.
Speaker 2: They could afford it.
Speaker 4: They even negotiated a minimum of a five year lease.
Speaker 4: And you know what, if I owned a very expensive
Speaker 4: apartment and somebody really rich came and said can I
Speaker 4: you know, I just I really don't want to own,
Speaker 4: you can own? Can I have a longer lease with you?
Speaker 4: I'd let them sign that in point two seconds. So
Speaker 4: there are so many options moving forward. But the key
Speaker 4: to having options is money, and that's the key that
Speaker 4: you actually hold so over time, I think it's about
Speaker 4: finding ways for you to feel more secure. And if
Speaker 4: that means going, oh, we actually really like this apartment
Speaker 4: that we live in in you know, the city. We're
Speaker 4: not too afraid if rent went up a little bit
Speaker 4: over time, but like we'd like to feel more secure.
Speaker 4: Maybe think about negotiating a longer lease term if you
Speaker 4: see yourself there for the long term, because then you
Speaker 4: can feel more secure. Like what are those things that
Speaker 4: are going to help you have that level of security
Speaker 4: without taking on another commitment that you clearly don't.
Speaker 2: Want to take on.
Speaker 4: So true, All right, money darist, We've talked why aren't
Speaker 4: you an A plus?
Speaker 2: Like what do you have to do to get there?
Speaker 2: Those two things?
Speaker 4: Those two things, Yeah, all right, look, I'll agree with you,
Speaker 4: but I feel like those are the things that we
Speaker 4: as women struggle the most with as well, Like that
Speaker 4: is not easy comparison culture, feeling like you've got imposter syndrome,
Speaker 4: Like it's almost ingrained in us, Like it's something that
Speaker 4: like if you don't have it, like what are you doing?
Speaker 4: So welcome to the club. It's a terrible club, but
Speaker 4: at least we're all here together.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think as well, Like there are just a
Speaker 5: few little things here and there, like I, oh my gosh,
Speaker 5: it took me a whole entire year to get my
Speaker 5: personal insurances sorted out, and I finally got them, but
Speaker 5: I'm accident only on two of them, and I don't
Speaker 5: love that. I did get a second opinion, and they
Speaker 5: were kind of like, yeah, that's probably right. I don't
Speaker 5: love that, and I don't love that I don't fully understand,
Speaker 5: Like I've signed the stuff for a couple of months ago,
Speaker 5: and I only yesterday did I look to see if
Speaker 5: it was stepped or not like that kind of thing,
Speaker 5: and I'm like, I'm not one hundred percent across it,
Speaker 5: and it's a bit and there's a couple of things
Speaker 5: like that where I'm like, I don't really understand this.
Speaker 2: Oh, we should have.
Speaker 4: Come to me and got a referral to sky Wealth
Speaker 4: so that we could have set it all up and
Speaker 4: then it would have made absolute sense.
Speaker 5: But well, they were my second opinion, so oh good.
Speaker 4: They will explain to you exactly what you need, when,
Speaker 4: where and how so I have no doubt you'll get it.
Speaker 5: A couple of years. I think I'll review it again.
Speaker 4: And I love that all right, Money dires Sadly we
Speaker 4: have run out of time. This has been a beautiful conversation.
Speaker 4: I feel like you are so inspirational, but just I
Speaker 4: feel like it's the small steps that all add up
Speaker 4: into creating financial freedom. And I mean, I'm pretty sure
Speaker 4: that if I took it back to sixty thousand dollars
Speaker 4: a year job you who had just lost her role
Speaker 4: and was like what is going on and going, hey,
Speaker 4: did you know that, Like, don't worry about this because
Speaker 4: like one day you'll be on a trajectory to having
Speaker 4: like a five million dollar investment portfolio.
Speaker 2: You'd feel a little bit better about the situation.
Speaker 4: And I think that that's what we all need to
Speaker 4: take from this, that like those blips in the road,
Speaker 4: they feel like they are the be all end all
Speaker 4: and they are life ruining, but they're not. Like once
Speaker 4: you start to zoom out, you're like, oh, that's just
Speaker 4: a thing that happened one time. But at the time
Speaker 4: I can almost guarantee that you felt like your world
Speaker 4: was ending.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, a big time, so hysterical, but.
Speaker 4: It's not hysterical, like that was life changing at that
Speaker 4: point in time. But now you're like, hold it and like,
Speaker 4: I'm actually doing pretty well and that worked out nicely
Speaker 4: for me. So it's a good learning for all of us. Yeah,
Speaker 4: money drist I have adored this. Thank you so much
Speaker 4: for spending a bit of time with me, having like
Speaker 4: doing a little money diary. I know our community is
Speaker 4: going to adore this because I absolutely have, so I
Speaker 4: really appreciate it.
Speaker 5: Awesome, Thank you so much.
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