Speaker 1: Hello.
Speaker 2: My name's Satasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud Order Order
Speaker 2: Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before we get
Speaker 2: started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like
Speaker 2: to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which
Speaker 2: this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging the elders,
Speaker 2: the ancestors and the next generation coming through as this
Speaker 2: podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling
Speaker 2: of you to make a difference for today and lasting
Speaker 2: impact for tomorrow. Let's get into it.
Speaker 3: She's on the Money.
Speaker 4: She's on the Money.
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money podcast for
Speaker 1: millennials who want financial freedom. Guys, welcome back to another
Speaker 1: episode of Money Daries, where I get the absolute privilege
Speaker 1: of sitting down with one of our She's on the
Speaker 1: Money community members and talking to them all about their journey. Now,
Speaker 1: this week, we got a message and I would like
Speaker 1: to read it out to you. Hi, She's on the Money.
Speaker 1: I am twenty eight working over one hundred hours per
Speaker 1: week in a niche safety role in the minds and
Speaker 1: I'm earning over one hundred and eighty seven thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: I'm the first out of seven to graduate with a
Speaker 1: degree and earning more than anyone in my family. It's
Speaker 1: safe to say I'm pretty hard on myself, and while
Speaker 1: I know I can't keep this pace up forever, I'm
Speaker 1: really passionate about my team and the change I'm making
Speaker 1: in my workplace for the better. I'm such a fan
Speaker 1: of the show, and you've definitely helped me along my
Speaker 1: journey to get where I am. Money Virus, welcome to
Speaker 1: the show.
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me, so lovely to meet you.
Speaker 1: No, thanks for writing in. I'm so excited about this
Speaker 1: because it's just such a fancy role, but also, like girl,
Speaker 1: one hundred hours a week, I would simply pass away.
Speaker 3: Yes, well it works out to be about ninety six hours.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, Well in that case, what are you complaining about?
Speaker 3: But I also work eight days on and then six
Speaker 3: days off, so I do get a break in the month.
Speaker 3: But yes, you do come home pretty tired.
Speaker 1: So how many hours each day are you working?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 1: What time are you getting up and going to bed?
Speaker 3: So I get up at four.
Speaker 1: Thirty ew, David da.
Speaker 3: There are people on my site they get up at
Speaker 3: three thirty and go to the gym morning and night.
Speaker 1: Absolutely not.
Speaker 3: I feel like I'm privileged, have a sleep in, and
Speaker 3: then I get home at either five p thirty five
Speaker 3: forty five, or sometimes six thirty. So yeah, long days.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, those are long days. Let's dive into
Speaker 1: the questions, though, because I just have so many things
Speaker 1: I want to ask you, but I want to keep
Speaker 1: the ball rolling. So money Diarist, first question, what grade
Speaker 1: would you give your money habits if I asked you
Speaker 1: to give them a grade from eight through to F.
Speaker 3: So I've thought about this question long and hard, but
Speaker 3: I think it's fair to say I would give myself
Speaker 3: a C plus.
Speaker 1: A C plus.
Speaker 3: Yes, I do have some good habits, but I really
Speaker 3: started off with basically nothing, and I am halfway there.
Speaker 3: I feel like I've still got some room to go.
Speaker 1: All right, let's learn more about that money Diarist. Can
Speaker 1: you tell me a bit more about your money story.
Speaker 3: Originally, I grew up on a farm. I was one
Speaker 3: of seven kids. Things were pretty good. Like with our
Speaker 3: home life. We got to buy whatever we wanted. We
Speaker 3: went to the nearest city, which was five hundred commoners away,
Speaker 3: and could pick out whatever we wanted. There was no budget,
Speaker 3: and there was not really many no's at that time.
Speaker 3: My parents owned two businesses and a farm and two houses.
Speaker 1: And seven kids. Yeah, my gosh, they were busy bee yeah.
Speaker 3: And then there was no really any issues. We were
Speaker 3: never taught about money. I just knew we had quite
Speaker 3: a bit. We were doing not too bad. And then
Speaker 3: it was time to move to the nearest city to
Speaker 3: go to high school. And then I noticed Mum and dad.
Speaker 3: There was a bit of a shift in dynamic, as
Speaker 3: in I didn't really see my dad as much. They
Speaker 3: were still together, but he stayed on the farm and
Speaker 3: me and the girls moved to the nearest city. Were
Speaker 3: actually going through a massive drought and the business wasn't
Speaker 3: doing too well at all, so we ended up having
Speaker 3: to sell our farm and move from the farmhouse and
Speaker 3: sell one of the houses we owned. And then I
Speaker 3: noticed more of a shift and my parents actually split up.
Speaker 3: Myself and my two other younger sisters, and the older
Speaker 3: sister moved into a rental with my mum. Things were
Speaker 3: quite tough. I did notice a massive shift in our
Speaker 3: spending and Mum was always saying, we can't afford this,
Speaker 3: so you have to ride your bike, and it was
Speaker 3: quite different to what we knew. I went to university
Speaker 3: by myself. I drove up in my car by myself.
Speaker 3: I knew I wanted to better myself. Then I was
Speaker 3: living off sometimes twenty dollars a week. I would spend
Speaker 3: all my money on going out. I think it was
Speaker 3: more like a self sabotage type ideal. I had no money,
Speaker 3: so whatever, I'd just spend it if I did have it.
Speaker 1: But isn't it wild now that you're earning so much?
Speaker 1: So we know you earn one hundred and eighty seven thousand,
Speaker 1: like the amount of money that it takes nowadays to
Speaker 1: have a good time. But how on earth did we
Speaker 1: exist on twenty bucks a week and still have a
Speaker 1: great time and go out and somehow return very inebriated?
Speaker 3: Like how I would sneak a lot of alcohol into clubs.
Speaker 3: There would be a lot of house parties through Uni. Yeah,
Speaker 3: we kind of just made it work. My friends weren't
Speaker 3: the type to spend big or anything, so if we
Speaker 3: wanted a good time, would just kind of try and
Speaker 3: do free things or yeah, have more house parties instead
Speaker 3: of spending it on going out.
Speaker 1: It's smart. I need to learn from that, because I
Speaker 1: feel like I just trip out my front door and
Speaker 1: accidentally spend fifty dollars nowadays, like I can't even go
Speaker 1: to the supermarket without it being a three figure amount,
Speaker 1: Like I can't win at the moment. I feel like
Speaker 1: that's common for everybody though. So back to your story,
Speaker 1: you went to UNI and then.
Speaker 3: And then I actually studied a degree in natural medicine.
Speaker 3: It took five years to study. I was doing six
Speaker 3: units at one point, and I really did not have
Speaker 3: a life, so I didn't really spend, I guess too
Speaker 3: much money during that time. But things were tough. My
Speaker 3: mental health was really bad, and I didn't really put
Speaker 3: pressure on myself to save. But then when I graduated UNI,
Speaker 3: the only way to make money as a natchpath is
Speaker 3: to base either consult of an existing wellness practice in
Speaker 3: a room, or you start your own business up. So
Speaker 3: I decided to go into a holistic doctors clinic, and
Speaker 3: it really was not working for me. I had a
Speaker 3: bit of a life meltdown. I was like, I'm earning
Speaker 3: less than two hundred dollars a week. I've just graduated UNI.
Speaker 3: I can't get any clients. I'm trying my hardest to
Speaker 3: make money, and my mental health was really bad at
Speaker 3: that point. So I went home to Mum and I said,
Speaker 3: what do I do. I've just spent five years on
Speaker 3: a career that I can't get anywhere. And this was
Speaker 3: after eight months of trying. And then she said, well,
Speaker 3: just go work on the mines for a year. Just
Speaker 3: give it a year, and then you have enough money
Speaker 3: behind you to restart your neutropathy business. So I gave
Speaker 3: it a go, and I absolutely hated it.
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like going and working in the
Speaker 1: minds is very, very different from neutropathies, So like, I'm
Speaker 1: not surprised that the career you spent five years building
Speaker 1: and thought you would like was maybe a bit different
Speaker 1: to working in the.
Speaker 3: Mind Yeah, it was honestly horrible. I was working within
Speaker 3: the geology team because I didn't have a degree in geology.
Speaker 3: I just felt like I wasn't respected and I would
Speaker 3: never be a goo. I would always be in the
Speaker 3: entry level kind of role. It didn't sit well for me.
Speaker 3: I worked way too hard at UNI, so I did
Speaker 3: so much research over the next six months while I
Speaker 3: did that role, and I found the role that I'm
Speaker 3: in now. It's very niche. I can't say exactly what
Speaker 3: I do because there's only a few hundred of us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I would be able to pinpoint you or
Speaker 1: find you on LinkedIn and point two seconds.
Speaker 3: Yeah exactly. But now I am earning, as you know,
Speaker 3: a great figure. It doesn't come easy though. People think
Speaker 3: you go out on the mines and you earn this
Speaker 3: great salary and you get looked after, cooked and washing
Speaker 3: done and rooms made for you. But honestly, in my role,
Speaker 3: you have to work for what you make. So I
Speaker 3: don't consider myself lucky. I consider myself just a really
Speaker 3: hard worker and really driven.
Speaker 1: I don't think I've ever thought that the Minds would
Speaker 1: be easy. Maybe that's because I have had, you know,
Speaker 1: friends work in the mines. I also have a team
Speaker 1: member who works for me at the moment, who worked
Speaker 1: in the Minds before I brought her on too. She's
Speaker 1: on the money, and like, even just hearing the stories
Speaker 1: of like, let's be honest, how hard it can be
Speaker 1: for a woman to get ahead in such an environment.
Speaker 1: I'm just like that would be so challenging for me.
Speaker 1: Like I think I exist in a permanent state of
Speaker 1: mental breakdown. Apart from the fact that you have to
Speaker 1: get up at a ridiculous hour and do basically manual
Speaker 1: labor all day to come home and have probably the
Speaker 1: same dinner every night. It's nice that it's made, but like,
Speaker 1: let's be honest, it's mine's food. I feel like that's
Speaker 1: just not for me. And that's okay, but it's not
Speaker 1: for me.
Speaker 3: Like, basically everything you just said is exactly how it is,
Speaker 3: especially being a young in quite a unique position. Trying
Speaker 3: to make really big changes and convinced managers to care
Speaker 3: about the stuff that I'm trying to implement is quite daunting.
Speaker 3: I cried a lot when I started this position because
Speaker 3: I still had to work my way up to where
Speaker 3: I am now. I constantly have to remind myself that
Speaker 3: I can do this. What you're doing is good, and
Speaker 3: having a bit of reassurance is always good. But yeah,
Speaker 3: you definitely doubt yourself.
Speaker 1: Oh, that would be so stressful. How did you get
Speaker 1: through that period of, you know, not feeling like you
Speaker 1: were a good fit Because I know I went through
Speaker 1: this in finance, and I was so lucky that, you know,
Speaker 1: I was surrounded by all my friends and family When
Speaker 1: I'm doing this right. So like I'd have a really
Speaker 1: terrible day at work and then I'd go home and
Speaker 1: call my mum, or I'd go home and my housemates
Speaker 1: would be like what happened, and I'd be like, I
Speaker 1: need a wine and I can tell you. But when
Speaker 1: you're out on the mines, you're going back to arguably
Speaker 1: a relatively cold single room and you're all on your own,
Speaker 1: and I just feel like that would be a lot.
Speaker 1: How did you get through that? Because for me, the
Speaker 1: thing that got me through it, you know, completely different
Speaker 1: situation was having that sense of connection. And I feel
Speaker 1: like being out in the minds and being so regional,
Speaker 1: you just wouldn't have that. So I feel like you've
Speaker 1: potentially got a lot more grit than I do.
Speaker 3: It's funny to say this, but the team I work
Speaker 3: with I actually like my family. I call them when
Speaker 3: I'm not even at work and they're at work just
Speaker 3: to see how they're going. We're a really close team.
Speaker 3: When I started and I had a few meltdowns because
Speaker 3: of different attitudes, I guess my manager was absolutely amazing
Speaker 3: in coaching me through that and not taking things so personal.
Speaker 3: I'm trying to make the company spend money on things
Speaker 3: they need to care about because the government says so
Speaker 3: so not everyone's gonna like me. It is my job.
Speaker 3: I just have to take the personal factor out of
Speaker 3: it and just know that I'm here to do my job.
Speaker 3: Since then, I have just built thicker skin. I just
Speaker 3: keep being very transparent with my team with how I'm feeling,
Speaker 3: and luckily no one has rubbed me up the wrong way,
Speaker 3: and I stand up for myself as well. Now people
Speaker 3: thought they could treat me however they wanted, but now
Speaker 3: they know I buy it back. They haven't done it
Speaker 3: in a while.
Speaker 1: Yeah good. I love to hear it. I feel like
Speaker 1: it can be so hard, and I like that you've
Speaker 1: said I've got a thicker skin, But at the same
Speaker 1: time you're like, it's my role, it's not me. I
Speaker 1: think so many times at the start of careers we
Speaker 1: go into roles and forget that irrespective of whether we
Speaker 1: like it or not, there are going to be politics
Speaker 1: at play and people aren't going to like that role,
Speaker 1: whether it makes sense or not. And it's often not you.
Speaker 1: It's just the job that you have, and you're immediately
Speaker 1: going to be on the back foot because of that
Speaker 1: money diarist. Let's get into what you actually earn. You
Speaker 1: said before that you earn one hundred and eighty seven
Speaker 1: thousand dollars a year. Is that including or excluding super?
Speaker 3: That's including super?
Speaker 1: And how often do you get paid? Like, tell us
Speaker 1: a little bit more about like what hits your bank account?
Speaker 1: And every week, every month, every fortnight. What does that
Speaker 1: look like?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I get paid monthly. It is a long
Speaker 3: month waiting for that to hit my bank account because
Speaker 3: I do have a really big HEX debt after studying
Speaker 3: on top of my undergrad as well. I earn about
Speaker 3: fourteen grand a month.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, that's so many dollars. That's like five
Speaker 1: figures hitting your bank account.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is, but that's before tax, so I actually
Speaker 3: only see it's about eight and a half nine because
Speaker 3: so much of my money goes to my HEX as well.
Speaker 3: But then we also get bonuses, which is great.
Speaker 1: Oh, okay, tell me more. How many bonuses are we getting?
Speaker 3: So you can earn up to five percent per quarter
Speaker 3: of your salary?
Speaker 1: Oh? How cool? And what do you have to do
Speaker 1: to meet that?
Speaker 3: So the whole site has to meet their safety target
Speaker 3: and production target.
Speaker 1: Hey, that's kind of cool. I like that safety is
Speaker 1: included in that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we have a great safety culture, and we have
Speaker 3: a scorecard we need to comply with and it's all
Speaker 3: about safety interactions and speaking up.
Speaker 1: So you have a good safety culture.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, So that all goes towards a balanced scorecard.
Speaker 3: And at the end of the quarter, if we meet
Speaker 3: a production and safety then we get up to five
Speaker 3: percent of our salary, which can be quite a lot.
Speaker 3: But of course if you make a lot, you get
Speaker 3: taxed a lot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so how often would you make that five percent.
Speaker 3: I have been at my position for a year and
Speaker 3: we've hit four point two percent for one quarter. Oh nice,
Speaker 3: so we do get up there. And I've only received
Speaker 3: three bonuses, so I should say only we've received three.
Speaker 1: No, No, that makes sense, And like I think that
Speaker 1: a lot of the time when we're talking about money,
Speaker 1: we often go, oh, my gosh, that sounds so privileged,
Speaker 1: but we're actually just looking at your role in general,
Speaker 1: and you've been in your role a while now, and
Speaker 1: so going oh, I've only received three bonuses out of
Speaker 1: you know, the ten opportunities or something. You might go, well,
Speaker 1: it's not actually about how much it is, And it
Speaker 1: can sound entitled, but it's not meant to be like
Speaker 1: I knew exactly where you're going with that, because it's
Speaker 1: often like, yeah, I only hit my goal like three
Speaker 1: times already, Like that's kind of what you were saying, right.
Speaker 3: Yes, exactly, And because there's so many different things that
Speaker 3: come into play, it is actually really hard to get
Speaker 3: a bonus. When we do receive it, it's a huge, I
Speaker 3: guess bonus, but everyone's really excited about it because we
Speaker 3: have headquarters where we haven't met it and I've been
Speaker 3: here for that, and it's hard because you know, everyone
Speaker 3: wants that little extra money in their bank account.
Speaker 1: One hundred percent and that would help so much. And
Speaker 1: I know that you know you're not in this situation,
Speaker 1: but you know there are a lot of family men
Speaker 1: and family women out there that are going to work
Speaker 1: in the Minds and they're leaving their children, and they're
Speaker 1: leaving their partners, and they're coming up to the Minds
Speaker 1: to work, and they are currently under a heap of
Speaker 1: financial stress because their mortgages are absolutely cooked. So this
Speaker 1: idea of a few thousand dollars in addition, they just go, oh,
Speaker 1: that would take so much pressure off. And then to
Speaker 1: not get it would be really stressful. It would just
Speaker 1: be a little bit disenchanting, a little bit disheartening.
Speaker 3: Yes, there's people at this site that literally say or
Speaker 3: hope we get our bonus because I need to pay
Speaker 3: my mortgage off and things like that.
Speaker 1: That's so stressful. So do you bank on this bonus
Speaker 1: or are you someone that's like, no, I only budget
Speaker 1: with what I have, and if I get a bonus,
Speaker 1: I get a bonus, or like, what's that look like
Speaker 1: for you?
Speaker 3: I absolutely don't count my bonus at all. If I
Speaker 3: get it, I will only believe it when it hits
Speaker 3: my bank account. I pretend it's not even there. If
Speaker 3: I do, we may splurge a bit more on our holidays,
Speaker 3: or I'll never count on that to pay my bills.
Speaker 1: No, of course, and I think that that's the smart way.
Speaker 1: But in a cost of living crisis, when all of
Speaker 1: our mortgages are completely increased, I was going to say
Speaker 1: something a little bit rude of there, but decided to
Speaker 1: catch myself in the moment, I feel like we start
Speaker 1: having to bank on our bonuses because we go well,
Speaker 1: that's actually the only way that I'm not going to
Speaker 1: go further into debt, So I don't have a lot
Speaker 1: of choice right now. So if that's you, don't feel bad.
Speaker 1: It's not an ideal situation, but it's definitely something that
Speaker 1: I know a lot of people are doing. Money diarist,
Speaker 1: you mentioned holidays before, and that leads well into this
Speaker 1: conversation or this question i'd like to ask is what
Speaker 1: are your big money goals. You've got some big incomes,
Speaker 1: so what are the big money goals you're currently working towards.
Speaker 3: So I'm currently trying to buy a house. I have
Speaker 3: my deposit ready in my account. It has been extremely
Speaker 3: hard where I live to buy a house.
Speaker 1: You can't say I have a deposit in my account.
Speaker 1: This says she's on the money. How much money if
Speaker 1: you got?
Speaker 3: Babe, I have fifty three thousand.
Speaker 1: Oh that's so good.
Speaker 3: My deposit for my home only has to be five
Speaker 3: percent because I did actually qualify for first Home Buyers
Speaker 3: Guarantee from not last year's notice of assessment the year before.
Speaker 3: So I just got my approval before the new year
Speaker 3: ticked over. So I have three months to use my
Speaker 3: first Home Buyers Guarantee.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was about to say, has that expired yet?
Speaker 1: Because for those of you playing along at home. They
Speaker 1: do expire.
Speaker 3: No, so I've got two about middle of August to
Speaker 3: find somewhere.
Speaker 1: How good.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's extremely hard. I did put an offer in yesterday, so.
Speaker 1: That's so exciting. And what do we train to buy?
Speaker 3: It's a little townhouse in a city. I will obviously
Speaker 3: have to live in it for six months, that's what
Speaker 3: the guarantee requires you to. It doesn't really need renovating.
Speaker 3: The house is pretty much perfect to move in.
Speaker 1: How exciting. They haven't yesterday?
Speaker 3: When do you hear today?
Speaker 1: What are the probabilities? Do you think fifty to fifty?
Speaker 3: My partner actually knew the real estate agent.
Speaker 1: So all fingers crossed.
Speaker 3: I'm still quite nervous. I have been in the top
Speaker 3: two offers before, and this person won it by five grand,
Speaker 3: and I was like.
Speaker 1: Why didn't you call me? I would have given you
Speaker 1: five and a half grand.
Speaker 3: So I don't get my hopes up too much. But
Speaker 3: we'll see how we go. But yeah, and then it
Speaker 3: would ultimately turn into an investment property.
Speaker 1: Yeah that's fair. Are you buying with your partner or
Speaker 1: is this a you purchase?
Speaker 3: This is just a me purchase. He has been there
Speaker 3: for the ride. He's come to every home open, but
Speaker 3: he is not ready to buy his first home. But
Speaker 3: that's fine. We've been together for six years. We know
Speaker 3: each other really well.
Speaker 1: And I also just love an independent woman like I
Speaker 1: love that you're like, oh you're not ready, Okay, well
Speaker 1: I'm still going. So if you're not getting on the train,
Speaker 1: just move over.
Speaker 3: Thanks. Yeah. I wait for no one. If I want something,
Speaker 3: I'll get it no matter what.
Speaker 1: I love this attitude. Is there any other big money
Speaker 1: goals you're currently working towards.
Speaker 3: I want to pay off my car. I brought a
Speaker 3: car for work when I was a consultant, and I
Speaker 3: was getting a lot of tax back through my car
Speaker 3: because I was using the mileage every week and the
Speaker 3: depreciation was tax deductible. However, because I do work away,
Speaker 3: I can't claim my car anymore and it's just sitting
Speaker 3: there looking really sad, and I'm paying a lot of
Speaker 3: interest on my loan, so it is up for sale.
Speaker 3: But I want to get rid of it or pay
Speaker 3: it off. That's actually it for my money goals. I
Speaker 3: have already traveled to about twenty plus countries, so I
Speaker 3: don't really have many holidays that I want to go
Speaker 3: on anymore.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, you can't just throw that in at
Speaker 1: the end and be like, oh, I've traveled to twenty
Speaker 1: plus country what money, diarist? What are you talking about?
Speaker 1: How have you managed to travel to twenty plus countries?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: Can you tell me a little bit more about how
Speaker 1: you budgeted and paid for that, because I'm assuming that
Speaker 1: was before you worked in the mines, is that right?
Speaker 3: Yes, it was through UNI, and before UNI I traveled
Speaker 3: to Europe. I think my budget was honestly like four
Speaker 3: or five grand for four months. Oh my gosh, it
Speaker 3: was crazy. Yeah. I've done lots of Asia and then
Speaker 3: I lived overseas in China for a little bit.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's just normal. That just comes up later,
Speaker 1: like when we're talking about our money story, Like, of
Speaker 1: course that didn't come up.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like I said, if I want to do something
Speaker 3: or if I want to go somewhere, I just make
Speaker 3: it work. I know, I wasn't earning much money before
Speaker 3: I did get into a seven K personal loan debt
Speaker 3: that would have probably contributed to my own traveling. I
Speaker 3: did pay that off through my stupor when we could
Speaker 3: access it through COVID unfortunately, but I just wanted to
Speaker 3: prior tize getting that down. It was killing me at
Speaker 3: the time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I feel like that gives you a little
Speaker 1: bit more financial freedom and also paying interest, like it
Speaker 1: kind of levels out. And I mean, don't get me wrong,
Speaker 1: like we don't want to do it for the wrong reasons,
Speaker 1: but a lot of people made the decision to use
Speaker 1: their super money to pay off debt, and I don't
Speaker 1: think it's the worst thing. Like, did you then feel
Speaker 1: a lot lighter and a lot freer.
Speaker 3: Yeah. At the time, I think I was working in
Speaker 3: a factory because of COVID, Like all my hospitality jobs
Speaker 3: just went out the door. But I worked in that
Speaker 3: factory for like five or six days a week. It
Speaker 3: was honestly probably the best decision that I made, because
Speaker 3: I paid off my loan and then I got a
Speaker 3: head start, and then that momentum kept growing. So I
Speaker 3: don't regret getting my super out. And there's obviously more
Speaker 3: time now that I'm earning more money to get that
Speaker 3: up a little bit. I love that.
Speaker 1: All right, let's go to a really quick break on
Speaker 1: the flip side. I want to know about your best
Speaker 1: and your worst money habits. I need to ask so
Speaker 1: many more questions like you can't just spring on us.
Speaker 3: I've been to.
Speaker 1: Twenty plus countries. Sorry, you're going to want to give
Speaker 1: us some travel tips as well, so guys don't go anywhere.
Speaker 1: All right, Money direst We are back and we have
Speaker 1: been going through your money story, which has been incredible
Speaker 1: thus far. You're working more than one hundred hours a
Speaker 1: week or as you corrected, ninety six hours a week
Speaker 1: in a niche Safeties role up in the minds, and
Speaker 1: you're earning one hundred and eighty seven thousand dollars. You
Speaker 1: were talking before about how at UNI, you know, you
Speaker 1: had to kind of cut it yourself. You were only
Speaker 1: on twenty a week at some points. But then at
Speaker 1: the end of the last segment you just said, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: and I've traveled to light more than twenty countries. When
Speaker 1: you were planning to travel, did you put together a
Speaker 1: budget or you're a bit yollow, like what was the plan?
Speaker 1: How did that work?
Speaker 3: It was absolutely yollow. I think at the time I
Speaker 3: had it was an ex partner. We moved to a
Speaker 3: different city and then I was unhappy there. But I
Speaker 3: had I think it was four to six K and savings.
Speaker 3: It was barely anything, and I said, I want to
Speaker 3: go overseas. Maybe I want to work overseas. So we
Speaker 3: literally just left Catcher. I know.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a lot to have in savings in general,
Speaker 1: but not a lot to then quit your job and
Speaker 1: leave the country.
Speaker 3: We didn't think about it, and honestly, every time that
Speaker 3: I've been traveling it's been a similar story up until
Speaker 3: this year, such a plan and now it's been more
Speaker 3: of spare of the moment kind of thinking. And I
Speaker 3: don't regret it at all, because sometimes if you do
Speaker 3: build up, like your holiday too much in your head,
Speaker 3: are you planning it? I don't think you'd get as
Speaker 3: much out of it if you were just like living
Speaker 3: it day by day. Some of my best memories is
Speaker 3: meeting people randomly, and I'm still in contact with some
Speaker 3: of those people now.
Speaker 1: I agree on the spontaneity as well, like whenever my
Speaker 1: husband and I have you know, planned holidays and gone
Speaker 1: on them, like, yeah, we plan where we're going, but
Speaker 1: a lot of the time we don't plan what we're doing.
Speaker 1: Because the one time that we did do that, I
Speaker 1: didn't enjoy it at all because I was like, okay, cool.
Speaker 1: So like our Monday to Sunday has been planned out,
Speaker 1: or Monday we're doing this, Tuesday, we're doing this, and
Speaker 1: like we'd get to the location and realize there were
Speaker 1: like other things that we were interested in that we would
Speaker 1: have preferred to do, but we're like pre planned and
Speaker 1: paid for all of these other tours or whatnot, and
Speaker 1: I just feel like the spontaneity is the most fun.
Speaker 1: In our most recent trip, we booked where we were staying,
Speaker 1: but we didn't book in any activities. We kind of
Speaker 1: just flew by the seat of our pants and we're like, oh,
Speaker 1: that looks good, let's see if we can do that tomorrow.
Speaker 1: And if we weren't able to, will like whatever, Like
Speaker 1: that's fine. We were trying to book last minute anyway,
Speaker 1: so we had such a better time. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: it's for everyone, because I've got a few friends who
Speaker 1: are like, if this isn't planned to a tea and
Speaker 1: we don't have all of our dinner bookings as well,
Speaker 1: I'm out And I'm like, oh, that's not for me.
Speaker 1: Love a spreadsheet, but that part's not for me.
Speaker 3: I completely agree. And sometimes the people you meet when
Speaker 3: you are traveling have like way better recommendations and you
Speaker 3: would see online or TikTok or anything like that. Like
Speaker 3: if you're just meeting someone in a bar, I guarantee
Speaker 3: you'd probably get some better tips from that way.
Speaker 1: I love it all right, Tell me about investments. Do
Speaker 1: you invest if so in?
Speaker 2: What?
Speaker 1: If not?
Speaker 3: Why not? So? I was investing hardcore into one ETF,
Speaker 3: which was better shares, and I was putting half my
Speaker 3: pay every month into that investment account.
Speaker 1: Okay, I love this. Where's this goal though?
Speaker 3: Yeah? So it was compounding. I only had in there
Speaker 3: for two years, but the dividends were paying around two
Speaker 3: hundred and fifty dollars a month, which was okay. But
Speaker 3: then I took all of it out for my house deposit.
Speaker 1: Okay, but that's fine because was that part of the goal, Like,
Speaker 1: were you investing with the idea that you'd pull it
Speaker 1: out for a house to posit?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was always the plan. But now I feel
Speaker 3: a bit lost.
Speaker 1: A bit naked. Yeah, once you've got the house, I
Speaker 1: think that you will get back into you know, paying
Speaker 1: off a mortgage and that's working towards an asset, and
Speaker 1: you'll also have you know, the ability to investigating in
Speaker 1: the future. But it does feel a bit ick when
Speaker 1: you pull it out because you're like, wait, I was
Speaker 1: getting dividends paid out and that was really sexy. Tell
Speaker 1: me about how you picked that ETF.
Speaker 3: Honestly, it was from reading your book. I wanted to
Speaker 3: go with a safe stock and I didn't want to
Speaker 3: go for individual companies themselves. Yeah. Oh, honestly, it's gonna
Speaker 3: sound bad, but I just picked like the safest one
Speaker 3: and one that kind of appealed to me. It did
Speaker 3: have a few mining companies within the ETF. Some people
Speaker 3: won't agree with that.
Speaker 1: Some people won't, and that's so fine. But like, also
Speaker 1: they've tried true, steady stocks, So like, when you're looking
Speaker 1: for a really solid ETF, often it will be made
Speaker 1: up of you know, mining, you'll see BEHP, You'll see Rio, Tinto,
Speaker 1: You'll see all of those because they're tried and true
Speaker 1: and have consistent returns. So like, it's a hard conversation
Speaker 1: to have.
Speaker 3: Hey, it is quite hard, especially because a lot of
Speaker 3: my groups from studying natural medicine did not align with
Speaker 3: the mining lifestyle either. It has been a little bit
Speaker 3: difficult to discuss this sort of stuff with some groups.
Speaker 1: But you can call me I'd love to talk about it.
Speaker 3: But every decision I've made, I've backed myself and it's
Speaker 3: definitely paying off. But one thing I would say is
Speaker 3: trying to convince the bank that I consistently save this
Speaker 3: certain amount every month was a little bit tricky because
Speaker 3: it was going into a stock, it wasn't going into
Speaker 3: a savings account. So I literally had to get this
Speaker 3: statement from shares Is to prove that I was actually
Speaker 3: saving for a house deposit through this stock. So that
Speaker 3: was something that I was a bit blindsided for and
Speaker 3: it took a bit longer to get pre approval for
Speaker 3: my house.
Speaker 1: I'm not surprised. And if you're in that situation and
Speaker 1: you're investing with the idea of purchasing, the best thing
Speaker 1: you can do is clearly label your transactions in your
Speaker 1: banking statement. So I wish that you'd known this beforehand.
Speaker 1: But if you are transferring money out to your share
Speaker 1: trading platform, instead of you know, labeling it share transfer,
Speaker 1: you're labeling at house deposit savings or house deposit investment,
Speaker 1: so that there is purpose to it even if you
Speaker 1: don't use it for our house deposit later down the
Speaker 1: line and you decide to keep your investment, having that
Speaker 1: label and having the ability to you know, search in
Speaker 1: your banking statement and highlight all of them and print
Speaker 1: it out. For some reason, the banks love that it
Speaker 1: is possible. As you said, money diarists like you can
Speaker 1: prove it, and a good broker will give you like
Speaker 1: a spreadsheet to fill in or something that will help
Speaker 1: you along that way. But was it fine after that point?
Speaker 3: There was something else that they had to check as well.
Speaker 3: But basically, I've got pre approval and I'm ready to go.
Speaker 3: Just finding the right place will be hard. There's almost
Speaker 3: two hundred people at every home open. What two hundred? Yeah, Literally,
Speaker 3: it's like a carnival. Here's cars lined up the road.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. Have you thought about using a bias agent?
Speaker 3: That would have been my next step. However, if I
Speaker 3: don't find a house within the timeframe I have, I'm
Speaker 3: just going to save up for another six months and
Speaker 3: then I'll have the twenty percent deposit. Yeah, I won't
Speaker 3: have to do my first home buyers guarantee. There's no rush,
Speaker 3: I don't think.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're like, I really want this, Yeah, all right.
Speaker 1: I want to know you mentioned before you have a
Speaker 1: hextet and a car loan. Tell me about the debts
Speaker 1: that you have.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so my HEX debt was at ninety eight thousand
Speaker 3: dollars as of yesterday. However, I've just done my tax
Speaker 3: and it's now sitting at eighty one thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: So, oh, that's a nice drop down, Yes, it is.
Speaker 3: However, we still get the HEX refund. I think it's
Speaker 3: around three percent.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because of the indexation that they applied, and now
Speaker 1: they're going back and reimbursing you for that, which is
Speaker 1: kind of sexy. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean, I can't believe how much I care about
Speaker 3: this now. If someone told me this before I started UNI,
Speaker 3: I would have definitely have thought about the course I
Speaker 3: was doing. I think a lot of people get stuck
Speaker 3: at high school choosing a core and they never get
Speaker 3: told about the indexation or the debt and how this
Speaker 3: affects your mortgage foreign capacity as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's wild something that I look back on my
Speaker 1: you know, career at high school, and I just remember
Speaker 1: the pressure of people going, well, what are you going
Speaker 1: to do when you get to UNI? What subjects are
Speaker 1: you going to pick? Because you have to do this, this, this,
Speaker 1: and this to get into this particular unicorse. So like
Speaker 1: I'm sixteen and thinking about what I'm picking in my
Speaker 1: you know, year eleven and twelve classes to get a
Speaker 1: good career. But I'm sixteen. I don't even have a
Speaker 1: fully developed brain yet, and you expect me to know
Speaker 1: what I want to do for the rest of my life. Like,
Speaker 1: what I want to do for the rest of my
Speaker 1: life is convince my mom to buy a four pack
Speaker 1: of vodka Cruisers. Like that's all I cared about at
Speaker 1: the time, and my mom wouldn't do it. I was
Speaker 1: really hard done by. So I just feel like it's
Speaker 1: wild to think the amount of pressure that is being
Speaker 1: put on kids without fully explaining to them, like, oh, hey,
Speaker 1: the financial impacts of this or this and this. Like
Speaker 1: one of the things I wish I did was take
Speaker 1: a gap year, and like my little sister did it,
Speaker 1: and I've always been a little bit envious of the
Speaker 1: freedom that she got from being able to take a
Speaker 1: year travel, you know, have a little bit of fun.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying I could have afforded it, but I
Speaker 1: just know that if I had had that grace, I
Speaker 1: probably would have gone into what I'm doing now a
Speaker 1: lot quicker. I did two psychology degrees and then I
Speaker 1: went into business. And don't get me wrong, I think
Speaker 1: I use psychology every day and I adore it. But
Speaker 1: I probably would have gone a very different path and
Speaker 1: I ended up in the same situation as you, where
Speaker 1: I basically had a six figure hex stet and I
Speaker 1: don't know how I.
Speaker 3: Did that and how much it affects your borrowing capacity
Speaker 3: is absolutely out of this world. So I did a comparison,
Speaker 3: and I think I could borrow up to nine hundred thousand,
Speaker 3: and then now my boring capacity is at five hundred
Speaker 3: and three thousand.
Speaker 1: That is wild. I don't think I've seen it impact
Speaker 1: it that much. I feel like there might be some
Speaker 1: like interest rate changes in there as well. But that
Speaker 1: that's why we want to talk to a broker about
Speaker 1: what we can do and what that looks like. Because
Speaker 1: a story like that might make you go, oh, well,
Speaker 1: in that case, I'm going to pay off my hext asap.
Speaker 1: But if you've chosen to do that, you're going to
Speaker 1: put yourself further behind in the property game. So we
Speaker 1: need to be having these conversations with mortgage brokers to go, well,
Speaker 1: is it worth me paying that off? And they might go, yeah,
Speaker 1: actually because X, Y and Z, or they might say,
Speaker 1: don't do that at all, because it makes sense. So
Speaker 1: we need to have these conversations with somebody who can
Speaker 1: actually put you in the best possible position. So if
Speaker 1: that's you, obviously I'm passionate about this because I own
Speaker 1: a mortgage broken company and we can chat. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, I think, don't make a decision before
Speaker 1: having an educated conversation. I think so many times we
Speaker 1: can make decisions based on how scared we are, and
Speaker 1: that definitely would have been me if historically I didn't
Speaker 1: sit down and do the actual numbers. I agree money diarist,
Speaker 1: I feel like with your history of being one of
Speaker 1: seven and going through arguably a pretty tumultuous period of
Speaker 1: time between your parents splitting up and the drought, you
Speaker 1: probably have some good money tips, especially being a poor
Speaker 1: UNI student and one that traveled to twenty plus countries.
Speaker 1: So do you have any good money tips or tricks
Speaker 1: for us? What is your best money habit?
Speaker 3: My best money habit is definitely when I get paid.
Speaker 3: I have an up banking account and I put half
Speaker 3: of my pay Like I said, it used to be
Speaker 3: in my investment fund. Now it's just in my savings
Speaker 3: account going on that house deposit, and I have honestly
Speaker 3: probably about fifteen different little savings accounts on UP.
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 3: From eyelashers to hair, two shoes, to whatever I need
Speaker 3: obviously bills and everything included that goes in there straight away,
Speaker 3: and any leftover money that's not on bills. And I
Speaker 3: give myself eight hundred dollars a week when I'm home
Speaker 3: to spend on food, going out and leisure things gets
Speaker 3: put away to an emergency account, and gradually that the
Speaker 3: count builds up. And yeah, that's how I save. I
Speaker 3: also like to bolt food prep as well when I'm home,
Speaker 3: if I can be bothered prepping food. That is one
Speaker 3: thing I've noticed is Marley Spoon is very good for
Speaker 3: prepping your meals on a bit of a lower cost budget.
Speaker 1: I feel like people think that that's insane, but it
Speaker 1: is much cheaper.
Speaker 3: Hey, it actually is cheaper. So my partner loves going
Speaker 3: to the shops. I don't know why he will go
Speaker 3: to calls two to three times a day, sometimes on
Speaker 3: the weekend.
Speaker 1: So get a life. I can't think of anything worse.
Speaker 3: I won't get out of the car.
Speaker 1: No if I have to go to calls, we're going
Speaker 1: to do click and collect, Like no, Who'll be.
Speaker 3: Like, oh I forgot something, Oh I've got this. Oh
Speaker 3: just go to Colls later.
Speaker 1: I'm like, no, but mate, it's going on my list.
Speaker 1: I'm going to get it later in the week. Like
Speaker 1: we're not going every day, Like oh, he must spend
Speaker 1: so much at the grocery shop.
Speaker 3: My partner seems to have no debt and spend very little,
Speaker 3: so he's happy with me going and tuna for dinner.
Speaker 1: I'm not okay with that. No, that was good at
Speaker 1: university and it was novel. I think that if you
Speaker 1: asked me to eat a packet of me going noodles today,
Speaker 1: I kind of would have flashbacks, and I'm not okay
Speaker 1: with that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but then he'll asked eat half of my leftover food.
Speaker 1: So yeah, because it's good because it's Marley Spoon.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I found Marley Spoon to be a big
Speaker 3: help in my budget for food costs and honestly cutting
Speaker 3: down my drinking when I'm home. There's a bit of
Speaker 3: a build up for when you're on site. When you
Speaker 3: get home, all these exciting things you can do get
Speaker 3: fomo when you're on site, so you start creating a
Speaker 3: list on what you want to do in your home,
Speaker 3: and I think, yeah, cutting down drinking and maybe planning
Speaker 3: one to two activities on your R and R is
Speaker 3: more reasonable than doing something every single day and trying
Speaker 3: to make up for the fact that you're away.
Speaker 1: That's fair and I feel like that probably happens a
Speaker 1: lot at the start of your mining career, and as
Speaker 1: you get further in, you're like, I can't be bothered
Speaker 1: with this.
Speaker 3: No, And it's meant to be an R and R
Speaker 3: for a reason. You're meant to rest and recover and
Speaker 3: not go out drinking partying every week.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, well tell that to someone else. Yeah, tell
Speaker 1: me abbit about your worst money out of it? What
Speaker 1: do you think that is?
Speaker 3: I love food, and I do like fancy drinks and cocktails,
Speaker 3: and I do love splurging out if I'm not in
Speaker 3: the best mental headspace, so I will go to the
Speaker 3: shops and just buy a pair of shoes or a
Speaker 3: pair of jeans or something just to make myself feel better,
Speaker 3: and then I feel really guilty about it. So I
Speaker 3: think instead of splurging, maybe putting some time between my
Speaker 3: purchases or actually dealing with how feeling in the first
Speaker 3: place would probably be a good idea, maybe some breath
Speaker 3: work or meditation.
Speaker 1: That sounds like me. That's why I'm always telling people like,
Speaker 1: put twenty four hours between you and you're spending, And
Speaker 1: it's mainly me trying to convince myself that I should
Speaker 1: do that. If I'm having a bad day, I get
Speaker 1: a little bit spendy. It's good to be able to
Speaker 1: recognize it. But I think it's interesting because so many
Speaker 1: of us will say, oh, I'm feeling a bit spendy,
Speaker 1: but we know that that's not going to make us
Speaker 1: feel better, but somehow we still want to do it,
Speaker 1: like we want to do it just to feel something,
Speaker 1: or we want to do it for that dopamine rush,
Speaker 1: and then the dopamine come down sucks because you're like, oh, well,
Speaker 1: now I still feel trash about that situation. And I'm
Speaker 1: also two hundred dollars short, Like I think that there
Speaker 1: needs to be more thought in it, but it's so
Speaker 1: hard to do that, especially in the moment. So I
Speaker 1: get it. It's not the worst money have it, and
Speaker 1: thankfully you earn more than enough for that not to
Speaker 1: be the worst thing. In the world Money Diarist, We've
Speaker 1: had a good chat. I've learned a lot about you.
Speaker 1: I feel like you're the type of person I just
Speaker 1: want to be friends with you, So we'll just keep
Speaker 1: in contact for a really long time as good. But
Speaker 1: you're earning one hundred and eighty seven thousand dollars, You're
Speaker 1: only twenty eight, You're putting in so many hours at work.
Speaker 1: You're clearly about to get a new home, which is
Speaker 1: so exciting, And I have all my fingers and toes
Speaker 1: crossed for you. You're saving literally half of your paycheck.
Speaker 1: You're thinking about meal prepping. You know you're not investing
Speaker 1: right now, but you were, and you used it to
Speaker 1: your advantage and you're a better position because of it.
Speaker 1: And you've just got all of these plans and I'm
Speaker 1: so excited about it. But at the start of the episode,
Speaker 1: you rated yourself a C plus, Like, be for real,
Speaker 1: tell me a bit more about this C plus, Like
Speaker 1: we've had this great chat, Like you're planning to sell
Speaker 1: your car and you know you want to get rid
Speaker 1: of that debt, and you're really thoughtful about this. You
Speaker 1: knew off the top of your head what your hextet
Speaker 1: was like and you somehow think you're a C plus.
Speaker 1: Please riddle me how that makes sense.
Speaker 3: Because my salary is so good, it looks like that
Speaker 3: my money habits are better than what they are. But
Speaker 3: I honestly feel like I have way too much learning
Speaker 3: to go to rate myself higher. I have read all
Speaker 3: your books and listen to pretty much every podcast.
Speaker 1: I love this. How unlucky for you?
Speaker 3: No, I would ideally want to retire quite young. My
Speaker 3: parents will never get to retire, and if I want
Speaker 3: to do that, I really need to put in some
Speaker 3: more effort in my spending, hopefully by another property after
Speaker 3: this one in the next year or so. So yeah,
Speaker 3: I have a long long way to go. So I
Speaker 3: won't rate myself higher just yet, but maybe in a year.
Speaker 1: I feel like that is a really good reflection, and
Speaker 1: it's quite clear you know what you want to achieve
Speaker 1: at that salary level. That's when I start to go.
Speaker 1: Have you spoken to a financial advisor? Is that something
Speaker 1: that you have done or you would consider doing?
Speaker 3: So? I did get a financial advisor contact, and then
Speaker 3: I lost it.
Speaker 1: I can give you a new one. I have somebody
Speaker 1: who's actually in your city. I won't mention them here
Speaker 1: on the podcast because we haven't given that away thus far.
Speaker 1: But I'm going to set you up with that later
Speaker 1: because I think that that's probably one of the best
Speaker 1: things you can do at twenty eight on that salary.
Speaker 1: It might be a little bit expensive, but I think
Speaker 1: that it would be money very very well invested to
Speaker 1: make sure that you're in the best possible position moving forward.
Speaker 1: It's one of those things where a lot of people say,
Speaker 1: is it worth getting financial advice, and like, I can't
Speaker 1: say yes to that because sometimes it's not worth it.
Speaker 1: Like sometimes people have such clean, clear budget and cash
Speaker 1: flow systems and they've got their own investing plan and
Speaker 1: they have their property plan, and they go, well, even
Speaker 1: if I saw an advisor like this is what I
Speaker 1: want to do, I've got absolutely no interest in changing,
Speaker 1: and I've already done all my personal insurance as Victoria
Speaker 1: and I go, well, don't bother, Like it literally would
Speaker 1: be a waste of both of your time. But where
Speaker 1: you're at knowing that you have so much to achieve
Speaker 1: and you need a plan to do that, I feel
Speaker 1: like get to one of those situations where it's not
Speaker 1: because you earn heaps, it's because they could actually have
Speaker 1: a really big impact on what you want to do.
Speaker 1: So for me, I think that is a good place
Speaker 1: and probably a good place to leave it because I've
Speaker 1: run out of time. I've spoken to you for ages
Speaker 1: and I've adored this, but unfortunately that's all we have
Speaker 1: time for today. So Money Darist, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1: I have adored this. I feel like I've made a
Speaker 1: new best friend, and I know that our community are
Speaker 1: going to feel exactly the same way. So thank you
Speaker 1: so much for joining us today.
Speaker 3: Thanks Victoria, so lovely to meet you, and thanks to
Speaker 3: the chat.
Speaker 1: Of course, the advice shared on She's on the Money
Speaker 1: is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances.
Speaker 1: She's on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and
Speaker 1: should not be relied upon to make an investment or
Speaker 1: financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial.
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