Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr
Speaker 1: the Order Kerney 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. She's on the Money, She's on
Speaker 2: the Money. Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money,
Speaker 2: the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back
Speaker 2: to another one of our money diaries where we get
Speaker 2: to talk to one of our incredible She's on the
Speaker 2: Money community members all about their money story. Let's jump
Speaker 2: straight into it, because this week I got a message
Speaker 2: and it went like this, Hi, She's on the Money.
Speaker 2: Growing up in the UK, my dad got injured and
Speaker 2: couldn't work, so my mom had to work two jobs
Speaker 2: to support us. Money was the cause of most arguments.
Speaker 2: Now I own a house that has an Airbnb and
Speaker 2: I'm saving for another investment property plus a honeymoon. The
Speaker 2: past year has been a roller coaster. We got engaged
Speaker 2: and then got married three months later, found huge structural
Speaker 2: issues with our home, and I got made redundant twice.
Speaker 2: Money Diarist, Welcome to the show. When you said it's
Speaker 2: been a roller coaster, you were not lying.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been a big year to eighteen months.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. Yes, let's dive straight in. The First
Speaker 2: question I have been asking recently is about your money grade.
Speaker 2: So I want to know what grade would you give
Speaker 2: your money habits on a scale of A through to F.
Speaker 4: I'd say I'm a B A B all right, I.
Speaker 2: Want to know now though you said you grew up
Speaker 2: in the UK and your dad got injured and you
Speaker 2: couldn't work and your mom had two jobs. Can you
Speaker 2: tell us a little bit more about your money story.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So I love money. I love the freedom and the
Speaker 3: independence that it can bring. But I grew up with
Speaker 3: a scarcity mindset and it's definitely still present and it's
Speaker 3: something that I'm trying to work through and trying to
Speaker 3: focus on having more of an abundance mindset. I am
Speaker 3: definitely of the belief that money can always be replaced
Speaker 3: and it can be earned, but I also get very
Speaker 3: attached to my money and how I spend it.
Speaker 2: That's very relatable, that's very similar to me. What was
Speaker 2: it like growing up with a mum who had to
Speaker 2: work two jobs to port your family.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was tough.
Speaker 3: My dad was injured so he couldn't work and was
Speaker 3: studying but spent a lot of time just you know,
Speaker 3: unable to move in bed. So she had to look
Speaker 3: after us too, kids and him, and work jobs that
Speaker 3: worked around being able to do the school runs and
Speaker 3: all of that sort of stuff, and so it was
Speaker 3: really tough. We didn't have much money, and I was
Speaker 3: definitely I don't feel like I missed out on things,
Speaker 3: but I was aware that, you know, the stuff that
Speaker 3: I had wasn't as good as the stuff that the
Speaker 3: kids in school had. I remember, you know, being embarrassed
Speaker 3: about the brands of foods that I had in my
Speaker 3: lunch box, and you know, people not wanting to swap
Speaker 3: the packet of crisps or chips with me because you know,
Speaker 3: they were the brand that was considered less quality.
Speaker 2: Isn't it wild that even kids understand that. And nowadays,
Speaker 2: I don't know about your money, darist, but I'm like,
Speaker 2: which is the cheapest we're just getting that doesn't actually
Speaker 2: matter to me what it is. I'm like, if they're
Speaker 2: plane chips, we're just getting the plane chips. Like I
Speaker 2: could not care less. But I totally resonate with that
Speaker 2: because I remember I used to get like me and
Speaker 2: Grade two would get so frustrated if Mum didn't buy
Speaker 2: the Smith's brand of chips and she went and bought
Speaker 2: like the home brand brand of chips. She'd be like, Victoria,
Speaker 2: they're the same, and I'd be like, you don't understand this.
Speaker 2: Sad a symbol in my lunch box. It's wild, isn't it,
Speaker 2: because it's it's such a smart money saving hack, Like
Speaker 2: why wouldn't we buy that one? But it's yeah, it's
Speaker 2: one of those things that I feel like it does
Speaker 2: change the narrative around the way that you grow up.
Speaker 2: What did that look like as you got older?
Speaker 3: Things definitely changed as I got older. So by the
Speaker 3: time I was in my teens, my dad had managed
Speaker 3: to get a degree and you know, have a business
Speaker 3: and was teaching, and yeah, things changed pretty dramatically. And
Speaker 3: now he's doing so well, but he still has lots
Speaker 3: of you know, issues with its injury and has to
Speaker 3: spend a lot of time resting. But yeah, things have
Speaker 3: dramatically changed for them, but he still has the you know,
Speaker 3: the scarcity mindset and is very I guess what we
Speaker 3: would call tight with his money. That's how we would
Speaker 3: describe it where I'm from.
Speaker 2: Yeah, do you think that that is something that was
Speaker 2: ingrained in their upbringing as well? Or do you think
Speaker 2: that that was a product of your dad's injury.
Speaker 3: So back through my dad's history, his dad was a
Speaker 3: gambler and drank a lot, and so he didn't like
Speaker 3: he would often spend all of his week's earnings before
Speaker 3: the family had chance to you know, buy food and
Speaker 3: do all that kind of stuff. So I think it's
Speaker 3: definitely stemmed from not having money growing up.
Speaker 2: Where do you think your mindset is coming from then,
Speaker 2: because I don't know. You sound like a very very
Speaker 2: good She's on the money List night in that you're
Speaker 2: saying all of the right things, right, You're like, it's
Speaker 2: been a rollercoaster, but I'm doing this, I'm doing that.
Speaker 2: I'm really trying to work on changing my mindset from
Speaker 2: a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset. And I feel
Speaker 2: like our parents and often when I talk to money diarists,
Speaker 2: their parents aren't often on that train. Where do you
Speaker 2: think this want for a different money lifestyle has come from?
Speaker 2: Because obviously finances can be systemic, like they can just
Speaker 2: be handed down money stories.
Speaker 3: I think there's three parts to it. I think the
Speaker 3: first part is my mum's always told us to well.
Speaker 3: First of all, it was to go to UNI and
Speaker 3: get a good job and don't sort of get the
Speaker 3: dead end jobs that she had to do. Although I
Speaker 3: went to UNI and dropped out after a few months,
Speaker 3: that didn't really for me for me, And then I
Speaker 3: guess the second part of that is I've always been
Speaker 3: fiercely independent. I've always wanted to earn my own money
Speaker 3: and work from a young age, didn't really want help
Speaker 3: from anybody. And then the third part is when I
Speaker 3: first moved to Australia, I was a backpacker and I
Speaker 3: got handed an amazing opportunity to manage a business and
Speaker 3: then actually just to have the business.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, it's strange.
Speaker 3: It was a husband and wife business and she didn't
Speaker 3: want to be part of the business anymore. So I
Speaker 3: was going to become the manager and she started teaching me,
Speaker 3: and then they went through an awful time and were
Speaker 3: having a divorce, and.
Speaker 4: So she just said, look, just take it.
Speaker 3: You and him have it fifty to fifty and I
Speaker 3: just want him to be able to, you know, continue
Speaker 3: to earn money and be around for his kids. And
Speaker 3: that opportunity was really scary. And I remember talking to
Speaker 3: my older brother and he said, we can do anything
Speaker 3: we put out mind to and think of like what
Speaker 3: this opportunity could be. And so that's yeah, I think
Speaker 3: those are the few things that have really shaped my
Speaker 3: mindset before I've then found she's on the money. I
Speaker 3: worked in the property industry and investment and so there's
Speaker 3: been some things more recently that have helped to keep
Speaker 3: me on that track, but I think those are the
Speaker 3: fundamental where there's been big shifts.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, what an opportunity comes to Australia as
Speaker 2: a backpacker gets offered an entire business, Just take it,
Speaker 2: just take it. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was crazy.
Speaker 3: I definitely got thrown in the deep end and had
Speaker 3: to like sink or swim kind of situation. It was
Speaker 3: exciting but very scary, and she was still there, like
Speaker 3: she still was there for anything really big and hard
Speaker 3: and confusing, and was sort of a mentor to me
Speaker 3: in those situations. But knowing what she was going through
Speaker 3: with the divorce, I really didn't want to be in
Speaker 3: touch or need her help unless it was really really lisiary.
Speaker 2: Yeah that's fair. Are you still involved in that business?
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 3: I ran the business for about ten years and then
Speaker 3: it was an entertainment business, so COVID had a big
Speaker 3: impact on the business.
Speaker 2: Would have wow.
Speaker 4: But I was definitely.
Speaker 3: Ready for a change for a long time before that,
Speaker 3: and COVID gave me the opportunity to be able to
Speaker 3: do that.
Speaker 4: For a number of reasons.
Speaker 3: So first of all, we had to plan so far
Speaker 3: in advance, so we planned like a year in advance
Speaker 3: of events, so there was never really a good time
Speaker 3: to step away. But obviously COVID meant lots of things
Speaker 3: were canceled, and then we had the job keeper payments,
Speaker 3: so I was able to earn the job keeper payments
Speaker 3: that then also bring someone else on to take on
Speaker 3: the manager role and pay them and teach them and
Speaker 3: eventually sell the business to my business partner, so he
Speaker 3: owns it completely now and hand it off to them.
Speaker 2: How cool. I love this. I'm so excited about this
Speaker 2: diary and I haven't even asked the official second question.
Speaker 2: This is I'm so invested. I want to know now
Speaker 2: though obviously COVID changed things and you're now in a
Speaker 2: different area. What do you now do for work? How
Speaker 2: much money are you earning?
Speaker 3: So I'm now an operations support manager for a not
Speaker 3: for profit, so I earn ninety thousand dollars plus super.
Speaker 3: But then as working for a not for profit, I
Speaker 3: get to have a portion of my income tax free. Yeah,
Speaker 3: i'd salary sacrifice part of my income, which is great.
Speaker 2: So how does that work? Like, how have you structured that?
Speaker 2: Because I think a lot of people go great, I
Speaker 2: can salary sacrifice, but then they might not set it
Speaker 2: up in the best possible way. How have you structured yours?
Speaker 3: So it works out to be about six hundred and
Speaker 3: eleven dollars a fortnight, and I put that towards my mortgage,
Speaker 3: but essentially it just gets paid into my main bank account.
Speaker 4: But yeah, it's allocated to mortgage.
Speaker 3: So you're allowed fifteen nine hundred dollars a year for
Speaker 3: something like that, and then you can also do I
Speaker 3: think it's twenty six hundred and fifty dollars onto like
Speaker 3: a meals and entertainment card which works out aboute hundred
Speaker 3: dollars a fortnight. And so then I use that for,
Speaker 3: you know, whenever we're eating out.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, how good. Yes, that's a bit of
Speaker 2: a money win and something that I feel like would
Speaker 2: work out really well with the meals and entertainment card.
Speaker 2: I am very aware that you're not allowed to use
Speaker 2: it for things like groceries. Actually has to be meals
Speaker 2: and entertainment out. Do you find that, you know, what
Speaker 2: is it like about fifty dollars a week ish? Are
Speaker 2: you actually spending that or do you think it actually
Speaker 2: forces you to go out and actually have date nights
Speaker 2: and stuff like that.
Speaker 3: So it's called a fringe benefit's TAXI that's just begun
Speaker 3: this month April, so previous to that, because I was
Speaker 3: only in the job for about four months of the
Speaker 3: last fringe benefits tax you, yep, I claimed that whole
Speaker 3: amount over that four months.
Speaker 2: Oh money.
Speaker 3: It was getting about three hundred dollars a fortnight towards
Speaker 3: food towards you know, the meals, and about seventeen hundred
Speaker 3: dollars I think a fortnight towards my mortgage. It was great.
Speaker 3: Last year was great. I was worried about the change
Speaker 3: and what it would mean.
Speaker 2: Going back to normal.
Speaker 3: Ass Yes, and I think it's about two hundred dollars
Speaker 3: a week less off now.
Speaker 4: But it's still great.
Speaker 3: But yeah, we were getting about three hundred dollars a
Speaker 3: week and we actually were able to save that up
Speaker 3: and pay for the catering or part of the catering
Speaker 3: for our wedding.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, so smart. So you are using it intelligently.
Speaker 2: I love to see this, I am.
Speaker 3: But then the wedding finished and there was quite a
Speaker 3: lot of money building up, so we had some really
Speaker 3: fancy date nights, which oh cute, not mad about. We
Speaker 3: like to have a good date night.
Speaker 2: I appreciate that as well. When it counter planning for
Speaker 2: your wedding, obviously that's a good money saving hack and tip.
Speaker 2: What did your wedding end up costing? Because in your
Speaker 2: letter into us you said we got engaged and we
Speaker 2: got married three months later. That's not a lot of
Speaker 2: planning time. I planned my wedding in twelve months, and
Speaker 2: I thought that wasn't enough time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we didn't realize I think when we took on that.
Speaker 3: I think we spent the first month just trying to
Speaker 3: figure out what we wanted to do, when we wanted
Speaker 3: to get married, where we wanted to get married, with
Speaker 3: both from the UK, so our family is largely based there.
Speaker 4: And then my.
Speaker 3: Husband's parents were visiting and his auntie and uncle were
Speaker 3: visiting in January February, and we didn't want to make
Speaker 3: them come out again, and we just thought, let's just
Speaker 3: do it while they're here.
Speaker 4: So my parents flew out as well.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, how lucky.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and we kept it really small. We had thirty
Speaker 3: four guests there, which definitely helped keep the cost down.
Speaker 3: So we lived in Queensland and about eighteen months ago
Speaker 3: we relocated to say South Australia. So we went back
Speaker 3: to Queensland to get married where most of our friends
Speaker 3: still are and my brother lives there. And so the
Speaker 3: wedding cost about eighteen thousand dollars, but that doesn't include
Speaker 3: any of the travel costs.
Speaker 2: Do you know what? That is such a reasonable price
Speaker 2: for a wedding these days.
Speaker 3: I wanted to do it for ten thousand dollars, and
Speaker 3: I realized very quickly that that wasn't possible. But we had,
Speaker 3: you know, all the main things that we really wanted,
Speaker 3: and yeah, it went really well.
Speaker 2: What blew out the most? What took it from your
Speaker 2: expectation of hoping it would be ten thousand dollars to
Speaker 2: being eighteen. What was the biggest surprise?
Speaker 3: It was the venue. So we were going to just
Speaker 3: get married on the beach and then go to a
Speaker 3: restaurant and hire out the restaurant and have dinner and
Speaker 3: drinks there. But we while reassoching, we came across a
Speaker 3: venue that was right on the beach that you could
Speaker 3: have the wedding there and then just walk inside.
Speaker 2: And oh, of perfect.
Speaker 4: It was a lot more.
Speaker 3: Expensive, but I just fell in love like the right
Speaker 3: thing to do, So that's what we went with love.
Speaker 2: I'll have to ask for some photos later. I am
Speaker 2: so wedding obsessed, it's not funny. So the wedding's over.
Speaker 2: You've obviously got some structural issues with your home at
Speaker 2: the moment, which I'm going to ask about in a minute,
Speaker 2: But I want to know what is currently your big
Speaker 2: money goal. What are you working towards We.
Speaker 3: Have an airbnb at the house that we live in now,
Speaker 3: so it's a separate dwelling and we would like to
Speaker 3: have another airbnb, so that's been the goal for a while,
Speaker 3: and we want to buy one in Queensland because we
Speaker 3: eventually will move back there. So we're trying to figure
Speaker 3: out how much the work and the house is going
Speaker 3: to cost to you know, how much we've got available,
Speaker 3: and how long it's going to take.
Speaker 4: Us to be able to do that.
Speaker 3: But the second one is that I am starting a business.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, of course you are. Yes, of course
Speaker 2: you are lucky. You didn't have enough on.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I tried to start a business, said the
Speaker 3: mid last year, and got made redundant and so decided
Speaker 3: to find another job and you know, get myself on
Speaker 3: my feet, and then we got engaged in marriage and
Speaker 3: all that stuff happened. So I'm back to having time
Speaker 3: to think about the business now. The business just registered
Speaker 3: about an hour ago. Email Sistered.
Speaker 2: Isn't that the best feeling ever? It's like the ball
Speaker 2: has started rolling, my friend.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's awesome. So we're just working on finalizing the
Speaker 3: website and all of that. Sort of stuff. So I
Speaker 3: guess the plan is to eventually replace my income with
Speaker 3: my new business, or at least be able to work
Speaker 3: on that three days a week and be able to
Speaker 3: you know, continue with my current employer a couple of
Speaker 3: days a week. Two.
Speaker 2: How exciting. So obviously starting business is a really big undertaking.
Speaker 2: What are your main motivations for this? You said, you know,
Speaker 2: replacing your income?
Speaker 4: Is it?
Speaker 2: Like more flexibility? Is it so you can travel? Is
Speaker 2: so you can start a family? Like what does that
Speaker 2: look like for you?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's all of the above. Before COVID, we wanted
Speaker 3: to go and live in Asia for a few months
Speaker 3: and that then obviously COVID prevented that. But we had
Speaker 3: the perfect setup. So my partner has a business as well,
Speaker 3: and I was working, you know, I had my entertainment business,
Speaker 3: so we could have just done that overseas.
Speaker 2: How cool you guys sound so fun?
Speaker 3: Yeah, we we're definitely adventurers. I think I'd love to
Speaker 3: do that, Like I still have that part of me
Speaker 3: hasn't been fulfilled. We did build a camper van and
Speaker 3: travel Australia for a little bit. As like the we
Speaker 3: can't go to Asia, so let's do this instead. But
Speaker 3: it was a complete disaster. Why, oh, just it was
Speaker 3: so hard building a camper van. Like my husband's amazing,
Speaker 3: but he doesn't have any you know, background or skills
Speaker 3: in that area.
Speaker 4: He just youtubes and figures.
Speaker 2: Stuff out exactly how I would do it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I did say, you know, from the beginning
Speaker 3: that it would be something he would do when I'll
Speaker 3: just watch and I'll you know, be the cheerleader. But
Speaker 3: our expectations are very different. So he was found it
Speaker 3: really difficult that I wasn't as invested or like, had
Speaker 3: as much energy or for the build as he did
Speaker 3: in the beginning I did. And then it took way
Speaker 3: longer than I wanted it to, so it became really
Speaker 3: really hard.
Speaker 4: And then we set off.
Speaker 3: Much later than expected, so it was much hotter than expected.
Speaker 3: And the dog hated it.
Speaker 2: Oh no, why, it.
Speaker 3: Just wasn't enough room in there for him to maneuver,
Speaker 3: so he kept hitting himself, and he just didn't want
Speaker 3: to be inside, so just wanted to be outside all
Speaker 3: the time, and it was too hot for him to
Speaker 3: be outside. So it was just it just wasn't what
Speaker 3: we envisioned it to be, so it didn't satisfy that
Speaker 3: itch of you know, being away from home and you know,
Speaker 3: having citing new things every day. That's still something that
Speaker 3: I want to do. So I guess this is starting
Speaker 3: this business is one way to get that. But also
Speaker 3: we are wanting to start a family. And I thought, well,
Speaker 3: I'll just wait until you know, I'm on maternity leave
Speaker 3: to start this business. But I think I just had
Speaker 3: to reframe it in my mind that maybe I don't
Speaker 3: need to have the maternity leave pay from my work.
Speaker 4: Maybe I do.
Speaker 3: You can create and start it, maybe I can build it.
Speaker 3: Maybe I can do it slowly. You know, there's there's
Speaker 3: there's lots of options. And my husband's happy to step
Speaker 3: in and help manage the business, you know, if I am.
Speaker 4: On maternity leave.
Speaker 3: So yeah, we just thought we'll give it, give it
Speaker 3: a try, and see what happened.
Speaker 2: Oh how cool? I love this. You are so much
Speaker 2: more adventurous than I will ever be, and I'm so envious,
Speaker 2: Like it just sounds so cool to go, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: we're going to go live in Asia. I'm like, I
Speaker 2: could not convince my husband even if I tried, Even
Speaker 2: if I tried, like that is so awesome. Though I'm
Speaker 2: obsessed with it all Right, I've got a lot of questions.
Speaker 2: I want to talk more about your campervan, how much
Speaker 2: that cost, what that journey looked like. And I also
Speaker 2: want to discuss investments and debts and best and worse
Speaker 2: money habits, so guys do not go anywhere money diarist.
Speaker 2: Let's dive straight back into this with a nonstructured question.
Speaker 2: You mentioned before you built a camper van. Right, obviously
Speaker 2: that was not the best decision you've ever ever made
Speaker 2: in your life, as it turns out. But I feel
Speaker 2: like in the age of TikTok and Instagram and after covid,
Speaker 2: I have romanticized fan living so much like you've just
Speaker 2: broken it for me. I'm really sorry. Like in my
Speaker 2: head I was like, I can grab the dog, maybe
Speaker 2: the cats could come. We can have a van, we
Speaker 2: can travel around Australia. We can be no bads. It's
Speaker 2: going to be amazing. Tell me about how much this
Speaker 2: actually cost to do, because I know it's still cost effective,
Speaker 2: but I don't think it's as cheap as people think
Speaker 2: it is.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we bought the van I think for about
Speaker 3: twenty thousand dollars and we spent probably about fifteen to
Speaker 3: eighteen thousand dollars actually.
Speaker 4: Fitting it out.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So we were still working on it even when
Speaker 3: we were on the road because our rental place had
Speaker 3: like come to an end and we had to move
Speaker 3: out and we were very close, so we were still adding
Speaker 3: shelves and you know, trying to have all these little
Speaker 3: nooks and crannies where we can actually store the things
Speaker 3: that we need. So yeah, we were still messing around
Speaker 3: with it when we set off. But yeah, the plan
Speaker 3: was we tried to make it stealthy so that we could,
Speaker 3: you know, be wherever we wanted to be and not
Speaker 3: have to pay to stay somewhere every night.
Speaker 2: Yes, smart, smart, I've seen on TikTok. I know exactly
Speaker 2: what you're talking about. I'm on this.
Speaker 3: But we got very nervous, so we were like, we
Speaker 3: don't want to just park outside somebody's house and sleep here,
Speaker 3: and this is strange and we can't find, you know,
Speaker 3: a really flat area and we'd get it really frustrated
Speaker 3: with it, so we just ended up staying in campsites. Yeah,
Speaker 3: like ninety nine percent of the time, and we were
Speaker 3: heading north Queensland, so I think we left maybe in
Speaker 3: October or November. So by the time we got to
Speaker 3: like the early beach kind of area, it was way
Speaker 3: too hot on humid to stay in a van.
Speaker 2: I was about to say, it would be so stinking hot.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and the dog just really wasn't happy. He just
Speaker 3: wanted to be outside all the time, but there was
Speaker 3: no shade for him. He wouldn't go in the tenth
Speaker 3: that we bought. You know. We tried all these different
Speaker 3: things to make it more comfortable for him, but he
Speaker 3: wasn't happy. So we ended up staying in cabins at
Speaker 3: campsites that were pet friendly. So they were like the
Speaker 3: really old, daggy, horrible places.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but they also would have been expensive because the
Speaker 2: second do you say pet friendly, you put like an
Speaker 2: extra zero on things. It's like the wedding tax, but
Speaker 2: it's the pit tax.
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 3: I was so excited about the money wins that I
Speaker 3: would get from, you know, not having to pay rents
Speaker 3: and how much can we save and all of this stuff,
Speaker 3: and then yeah, it didn't quite work out like that.
Speaker 2: And then you had your van and you were paying
Speaker 2: for cabins. It would have been a money loss, But
Speaker 2: did you have fun at least some of the time.
Speaker 3: Oh, we did have some fun. We did have some fun.
Speaker 3: But yeah, it's very hard to travel with pets, I think,
Speaker 3: because you can't really leave them, so you constantly have
Speaker 3: to have somebody with them, so it really limits what
Speaker 3: you can do. Yeah, but I don't regret it. I
Speaker 3: think we learned a lot and we went through a
Speaker 3: really hard time that we got through it and we
Speaker 3: got married after all that.
Speaker 4: It was lots of arguments.
Speaker 2: If you can live in a van with somebody with
Speaker 2: a dog who doesn't even want to be there, and
Speaker 2: still want to marry the person after like, to me,
Speaker 2: that's the right person. You're marrying the right person. Yes, oh,
Speaker 2: how good?
Speaker 4: All right?
Speaker 2: I want to know, let's change tune of this conversation
Speaker 2: because I feel like maybe the van wasn't the best investment. Actually,
Speaker 2: did you sell it? Have you still got it?
Speaker 3: So we sold it and it was the best investment.
Speaker 2: Actually, I was wondering.
Speaker 3: We took out I think we had credit cards to
Speaker 3: be able to pay for it, so we managed to
Speaker 3: pay them all off. So we had an asset that
Speaker 3: was worth forty thousand dollars. So we sold it for
Speaker 3: about forty or forty two thousand dollars something like that.
Speaker 3: By the time we'd taken all the costs into consideration,
Speaker 3: we didn't really make anything and we spent a lot
Speaker 3: of our time building it. But yeah, we didn't lose anything.
Speaker 3: But so then that gave us a good chunk of money.
Speaker 3: Plus I'd sold my house around the same time, and
Speaker 3: it helped us to be able to buy the house
Speaker 3: we now live in.
Speaker 2: Oh hell cool. Yeah, that's the next question I have
Speaker 2: for you. I wo don't know do you have any investments.
Speaker 2: Obviously you have your Airbnb one. I want to know
Speaker 2: more about that, But do you have any other investments
Speaker 2: apart from that?
Speaker 3: Yes, so I partly own a house back in the
Speaker 3: UK with my dad or with my parents. So, like
Speaker 3: I said, dad is now doing much better. His business
Speaker 3: is going really really well, and so he has bought
Speaker 3: the house that like our house backs onto so he
Speaker 3: can look out the window and see the house that
Speaker 3: he's bought.
Speaker 2: How cool is that? Yes, that is very cool.
Speaker 3: So I have a part ownership in that. It's about
Speaker 3: a fourth or a fifth of the house. So the
Speaker 3: money that I get from that, which isn't a lot
Speaker 3: about in pounds about one hundred pounds a month, but
Speaker 3: that money just sits in the account and builds up,
Speaker 3: and that's us spending money whenever we go back to
Speaker 3: the UK to thiss.
Speaker 2: Oh, how good. That's so smart because like the transfer
Speaker 2: fees would be quite pricey, and to be honest, you
Speaker 2: don't get a whole lot when transferring out of pounds
Speaker 2: and into aud at this point in time. It's not
Speaker 2: that sexy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's you know, it works really well for us.
Speaker 4: It means that we.
Speaker 3: Have to pay for our flights, but then when we're there,
Speaker 3: we pretty much have all of our spending money when
Speaker 3: we visit, which happens probably every two years.
Speaker 2: How good. Tell me about your airbnb. I feel like
Speaker 2: this is such a smart way to invest. It's a
Speaker 2: bit of a topical way to invest at the moment.
Speaker 2: But you said you have a separate dwelling on the
Speaker 2: property that you own and live in. How does that work?
Speaker 3: So we bought this property that had a converted two
Speaker 3: story garage, so it was already converted into a house.
Speaker 3: So it has a bedroom, a bathroom, a living area,
Speaker 3: a kitchen, a separate driveway with parking, so it has
Speaker 3: everything that you could need. It's actually really really nice.
Speaker 3: It's really cute and very bright, and we live in
Speaker 3: the Hills area, so there's lots of trees and greenery around,
Speaker 3: so it does really well. We have guests for the
Speaker 3: majority of the time, might be you know, four or
Speaker 3: five nights a month.
Speaker 2: That's really booked that much. Yeah, oh my gosh, that
Speaker 2: is not what I expected you to say.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's great.
Speaker 3: And we live in an area that it's nice to
Speaker 3: visit in winter, so even through winter we get like
Speaker 3: really good stays. We earn about four thousand dollars a
Speaker 3: month from it, sometimes four and a half, and then
Speaker 3: over like the Christmas period, it can be up to
Speaker 3: six or seven thousand dollars a month.
Speaker 2: Can I be pervy? What are your mortgage repayments?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 4: Good question.
Speaker 3: So we have a split lawn, so we have a
Speaker 3: loan of We've got about six hundred thousand or one
Speaker 3: part of our lan that's fixed and that is I
Speaker 3: think seven hundred and twenty five dollars a week, and
Speaker 3: then we have a separate portion which was one hundred thousand,
Speaker 3: but we had to remortgage so we can fix the
Speaker 3: structural issues. So it's now nearly two hundred thousand, so
Speaker 3: we pay about two hundred dollars a week back on that,
Speaker 3: so it's about nine hundred around about nine hundred dollars
Speaker 3: I think that we pay.
Speaker 2: So, just doing some pretty basic maths, you're making more
Speaker 2: on your airbnb than you are paying your mortgage down.
Speaker 2: Did you think when you purchased the property that you'd
Speaker 2: purchase that that's exactly what would happen or was it
Speaker 2: a bit of a riscore? Was this a calculated risk?
Speaker 3: Now, we were quite confident I think that we would
Speaker 3: be able to cover our mortgage costs. So there's still
Speaker 3: expenses with that. That's not money that's going into our pocket.
Speaker 3: We still have to pay tax on that. Of course,
Speaker 3: we started cleaning it all ourselves, but with being made
Speaker 3: redundant and having to you know, work in an office
Speaker 3: and not be at home.
Speaker 4: We've got a cleaner.
Speaker 3: That comes and does all the cleans for us, and
Speaker 3: we put you know, we we buy breakfast supplies and
Speaker 3: put nice things in there so it feels really welcome
Speaker 3: in and hormly. So there's on top of that. But yeah,
Speaker 3: essentially we have friends who had done a similar thing.
Speaker 3: So they had bought a property near where we live
Speaker 3: and they had a very very tiny, like tiny airbnb
Speaker 3: and it was going quite well for them, and we
Speaker 3: looked at how well they were doing. They were maybe
Speaker 3: getting three or four nights booked a week, so we
Speaker 3: were confident that we could at least earn what our
Speaker 3: mortgage would have been, and it was a lot less
Speaker 3: when we first you know, when we first moved here
Speaker 3: with interest rates and before we'd remortgage.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I'm so excited to hear about this.
Speaker 2: It's just like so pervy to be like, well, how
Speaker 2: does that work out? Because I feel like so many
Speaker 2: times you go is therebnb worth it? Is it not?
Speaker 2: And I mean, you've got to be quite strategic about it.
Speaker 2: And it sounds like you've got a smart property. As
Speaker 2: you said before, you live in an area where it's
Speaker 2: nice to visit in the winter as well, and that
Speaker 2: would be quite important for consistent bookings. But oh my gosh,
Speaker 2: it makes me so ex you guys. It sounds like
Speaker 2: you're setting yourselves up for massive success, like you're starting
Speaker 2: a business. You've got your airbnb's stuff, like you've got
Speaker 2: a portion of the property in the UK. Like I'm
Speaker 2: just so excited for your financial future, especially because our
Speaker 2: conversation started with home brand packets of chips, like, yeah,
Speaker 2: how good. I want to know now, obviously you just
Speaker 2: told us a little bit about your two mortgages. So
Speaker 2: you've got the six hundred thousand dollar loan and about
Speaker 2: the two hundred thousand dollar loan as a split loan facility.
Speaker 2: Do you have any other debts?
Speaker 3: No other debts, but a few other investments.
Speaker 2: Oh, tell me more about those. Sorry, I just assumed
Speaker 2: that that's where we tapped out because it was true. Good.
Speaker 3: So I have a raised account, which I've had for
Speaker 3: a few years now, I think from curing it when
Speaker 3: I first started.
Speaker 4: She's on the money. Yay, yay.
Speaker 3: So we've got about three thousand, six hundred dollars in there,
Speaker 3: and a month ago I started a shaesy account.
Speaker 2: Fantastic stick decision.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I've got about seven hundred dollars in there
Speaker 3: at the moment, And I started off putting put five
Speaker 3: hundred dollars in and then I was doing one hundred
Speaker 3: dollars a fortnight.
Speaker 4: But I'm feeling more confidence. I'm going to increase that.
Speaker 2: Oh all right, now you have to tell us because
Speaker 2: cha Z's is not like raise right. Like Raise is
Speaker 2: just you kind of go on the app, you pick
Speaker 2: your risk profile, and it's when bam, thank you, ma'am.
Speaker 2: It's all auto invested micro investing, right, But Chazy's you
Speaker 2: download the app and then you have to pick your investments.
Speaker 2: How did you pick your investments and what was your
Speaker 2: selection criteria when going into that?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I tried not to worry too much about what
Speaker 3: I was choosing. I just wanted to get in and
Speaker 3: start learning, and so I felt that supermarkets and banks
Speaker 3: were really solid investments. So I chose a supermarket, a bank,
Speaker 3: a farming sort of company that I recognized to others
Speaker 3: that I can't think of now, but I looked at
Speaker 3: the five year history and ensured that they were increasing
Speaker 3: over that five year period.
Speaker 2: Yeah, epic, how good? I feel like I love knowing
Speaker 2: people's kind of like process because it can feel a
Speaker 2: little bit overwhelming. Do you feel like you got a
Speaker 2: little bit of analysis paralysis when you knew went to
Speaker 2: start picking or do you feel like no, I downloaded
Speaker 2: it at the time that I knew what I was picking.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've wanted to do it for a long time,
Speaker 3: and I'd decided that weekend that I was going to
Speaker 3: spend time setting up investments, and I just went to
Speaker 3: a cafe and just sat and it was overwhelming because
Speaker 3: there was lots But I think that just listening to
Speaker 3: the show and reading the Chaisey's blog and that kind
Speaker 3: of stuff, it's taking me a really long time to
Speaker 3: feel confident to do it. But yeah, I think I
Speaker 3: knew bank and supermarket. That's what I wanted to do,
Speaker 3: so I just thought, right, I'll just find one.
Speaker 4: Of those that I feel comfortable with.
Speaker 3: And then saw a few more and thought, oh, yeah,
Speaker 3: I recognized that one.
Speaker 2: Oh how at that?
Speaker 4: I just chose that one and just got started.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Oh my gosh. That makes me so excited that
Speaker 2: you're like finally in and you're finally picking things. It
Speaker 2: makes my heart so full to know that I got
Speaker 2: to be a little little part of that journey. And
Speaker 2: you mentioned actually the Chersias blog like that is such
Speaker 2: a good resource. I feel like they don't promote it enough.
Speaker 2: I probably need to have a chat with them about that,
Speaker 2: because there's so many good things on that blog related
Speaker 2: to like stop picking and what's performing well and even
Speaker 2: on there, I don't know if you followed them on Instagram,
Speaker 2: but they've got their market updates, and I feel like
Speaker 2: they're just so easy to consume, Like I'm obsessed obviously
Speaker 2: Moving on though? Is that all our investments? Have we
Speaker 2: wrapped it all up?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 2: Awesome?
Speaker 4: Oh actually, oh no, of course not.
Speaker 2: What else have we got a point?
Speaker 3: I took a risk and got some crypto.
Speaker 2: Yeah, how did that go?
Speaker 3: I can't even tell you how it went. Because somebody
Speaker 3: encouraged us to do it and said, you've got to
Speaker 3: get in. It's about to take off. You've really got
Speaker 3: to do it right now. And so my friend and
Speaker 3: I thought, oh, well, why not.
Speaker 4: We'll put a bit of money in.
Speaker 3: There's something that we don't mind losing. And I think
Speaker 3: the maximum we could do is three hundred and sixty
Speaker 3: ish dollars, and we've sort of both decided, okay, five
Speaker 3: hundred dollars we can.
Speaker 4: We feel okay with five hundred dollars, let's give it
Speaker 4: a try.
Speaker 3: But we managed to do three sixty and then immediately
Speaker 3: after that it just started plumbting. Oh no, And so
Speaker 3: then I haven't looked at that since, and that.
Speaker 4: Was probably two years ago.
Speaker 3: So I have no idea where it's at, whether it
Speaker 3: actually recovered or not.
Speaker 4: I need to check it. I keep meaning too.
Speaker 2: I would check it. I don't know if you're going
Speaker 2: to be a secret millionaire or not, but it's good
Speaker 2: to know where things are at. I feel like a
Speaker 2: lot of people did that. Actually, it's crazy how many
Speaker 2: people did that and then they don't even remember their logins.
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh my gosh, this gives me way too
Speaker 2: much anxiety.
Speaker 3: I know it'll be in my email somewhere, but I'm like,
Speaker 3: I don't even know where to.
Speaker 2: Where to start looking.
Speaker 4: It'll be there.
Speaker 3: I'll have the information, but I don't know it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh my head, right, Yeah, that's yeah, that's very fair.
Speaker 2: All right, let's move back to the conversation about debt.
Speaker 2: Did you have any other debts apart from the eight
Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars in loads?
Speaker 4: Nothing?
Speaker 2: Now, of course you don't. I expected nothing less.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: I want to know, though, what do you think is
Speaker 2: your best money habit? I feel like you might have
Speaker 2: a few of these, given how well you have done
Speaker 2: to set things up.
Speaker 3: I think at the moment, my best money habit has
Speaker 3: been avoiding buying new items where possible. So, yeah, since
Speaker 3: we've moved you. We have some amazing pre loved shops
Speaker 3: in this area, so people sell their clothes that they
Speaker 3: don't want anymore, and they're usually brand clothes that are
Speaker 3: in great condition. And so I can't remember the last
Speaker 3: time I bought something new. Well, sometimes I get things
Speaker 3: new from there because they still have tags on them,
Speaker 3: but you know, I'm buying somebody else's clothes, essentially money
Speaker 3: with yes, and also things like furniture. When we moved you,
Speaker 3: we got a lot of things off Marketplace and there's
Speaker 3: some amazing.
Speaker 4: Facebook groups where people give.
Speaker 3: Things away for free, and so yeah, I'm really enjoying
Speaker 3: the sort of community feel of I don't need this anymore,
Speaker 3: or I got extra of these and I don't necessarily
Speaker 3: need them, could anybody else use them? So I've got
Speaker 3: some really cool stuff from there and given away some
Speaker 3: cool stuff as well, which feels It feels so nice
Speaker 3: to give away something that somebody else can benefit from.
Speaker 2: It's very wholesome as well, like it must make you
Speaker 2: feel a lot more what would you say, like connected
Speaker 2: with your community.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's all local stuff, so it's all people
Speaker 3: within the few suburbs that you live in, and you'll
Speaker 3: you know, You'll have someone come to pick up something
Speaker 3: and they'll say, oh, you're just around the corner. I
Speaker 3: just live, you know, on the next street down there.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 3: It's really nice to meet, you know, meet the neighbors
Speaker 3: and feel like moving to a different state, you know,
Speaker 3: you sort of feel like, oh, no, I don't know anything,
Speaker 3: I don't know anybody. But then when you start doing
Speaker 3: that kind of stuff, it makes you feel, you know,
Speaker 3: a bit more at home.
Speaker 2: I like that. I think that's also a good tip
Speaker 2: if you have moved to a new location to kind
Speaker 2: of start embracing the community in that way. What a
Speaker 2: genius idea. A love Yeah, let's flip it, though less wholesome.
Speaker 2: What's your worst money habit?
Speaker 3: My friend, I have a tendency to want to earn
Speaker 3: money off anything possible.
Speaker 2: That's not a bad money habit, but.
Speaker 3: Like sacrificing my comfort for that too.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Okay, when we've bought this house, we had separate a
Speaker 3: B and b, but we have a whole downstairs area
Speaker 3: that we don't tend to use.
Speaker 4: It just me and my husband.
Speaker 3: So we've got quite a big house for two of us,
Speaker 3: and so I really wanted to turn downstairs into an
Speaker 3: ab and b as well.
Speaker 2: You know what, it makes sense the story checks out.
Speaker 3: Or into I don't know, like a beauty salon or
Speaker 3: something that I can make money from.
Speaker 2: Were you going to run this beauty salon? Like where
Speaker 2: was this going?
Speaker 3: No, I don't have anything to do, Like it could
Speaker 3: be a beauty salon.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure who's going to run this, but it
Speaker 2: could definitely exist.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, you know, we've got all that space. What
Speaker 3: can I do with it? Or you know, before I
Speaker 3: got married or before I met my my husband, I
Speaker 3: was always renting houses and always had spare rooms and
Speaker 3: would ab and b them even then spare rooms.
Speaker 4: You know, I'd give.
Speaker 3: Up my room with the en suite and like move
Speaker 3: all my stuff out to be able to house somebody
Speaker 3: in there so they could have a you know, a
Speaker 3: better experience, and I could earn like twenty dollars more
Speaker 3: a night. That it just didn't really make sense, but yeah,
Speaker 3: I've definitely still look at those kinds of opportunities and
Speaker 3: have my husband go, I don't want anyone living downstairs.
Speaker 3: I don't want to share my house with anybody, so like, okay.
Speaker 2: All right, that's fine. How about if they're upstairs. I
Speaker 2: feel like that makes a little bit of sense. I
Speaker 2: feel like I have learned so much about you in
Speaker 2: the last forty minutes. I am very grateful for your time.
Speaker 2: But oh my gosh, going from your money story being
Speaker 2: that you grew up in the UK and your dad
Speaker 2: got injured and couldn't work, and you know, we talked
Speaker 2: all about it, I feel like your mum has probably
Speaker 2: taught you a lot about work ethic, which I can
Speaker 2: see coming out in your personality, which is beautiful. But
Speaker 2: holy moly, you have done so much. An eighteen thousand
Speaker 2: dollar wedding, You're running an airbnb, you're looking to get
Speaker 2: another one, you already own part of a poppy in
Speaker 2: the UK, you're investing, you have raised Like I just
Speaker 2: I'm so impressed the fact that you run a business
Speaker 2: and now you're not running a business and you're starting
Speaker 2: a new business like while working full time like this
Speaker 2: is just crazy to me to think that you think
Speaker 2: you're still a B. But I want to know do
Speaker 2: you think that your what would we call it, like
Speaker 2: your money grade of B is applicable? But I also
Speaker 2: want to know what's it take for someone like you
Speaker 2: to gedu an A.
Speaker 3: I definitely still agree that I'm a bee.
Speaker 2: That's fair.
Speaker 3: There's still a lot that I want to achieve, and
Speaker 3: I think, I guess my biggest money goal is to
Speaker 3: not have to work, and so I'd love to have
Speaker 3: enough properties and investments to not have to work, and
Speaker 3: to choose to work because I, you know, because I
Speaker 3: want to contribute to society.
Speaker 4: Or because I love what I do.
Speaker 3: But it would take lots more investments and lots more properties,
Speaker 3: I think to get myself to that a. And yeah,
Speaker 3: to be able to have the freedom to go and
Speaker 3: live in Asia if I want to, or you know,
Speaker 3: just move countries or do whatever we want.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I feel like you are well on
Speaker 2: the way, my friend, Like you're doing baby step and
Speaker 2: you have definitely taken a lot of them and absolutely
Speaker 2: gone so far. I'm so excited to share this story
Speaker 2: with our community. Thank you so much, genuinely, like this
Speaker 2: has been a dream to record. But I also know
Speaker 2: that people are going to listen to this and be
Speaker 2: like wow and what next, Like it's just it's such
Speaker 2: a good story. So thank you so much.
Speaker 3: Thank you. It's been a pleasure to be on the show.
Speaker 2: The advice shared on She's on the Money is general
Speaker 2: in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's
Speaker 2: on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should
Speaker 2: not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision.
Speaker 2: If you do choose to buy a financial product, read
Speaker 2: the PDS TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards
Speaker 2: your needs. Victoria Divine and She's on the Money are
Speaker 2: authorized representatives of Money showper pty Ltd ABN three two
Speaker 2: one IS six four nine two seven SEVENS zero eight
Speaker 2: a f s L four five one two eight nine