Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr
Speaker 1: the Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before
Speaker 1: we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
Speaker 1: would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
Speaker 1: of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
Speaker 1: acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
Speaker 1: through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
Speaker 1: and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
Speaker 1: today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Let's get into it. 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 with one of our incredible She's on the
Speaker 2: Money community members all about their journey. Let's jump straight
Speaker 2: into it. This week we got a message and before
Speaker 2: I read it out, I just want to give you
Speaker 2: a little bit of a content warning because today we're
Speaker 2: going to be talking about substance abuse, mental health struggles,
Speaker 2: and suicidal ideation. And if that's not an episode that
Speaker 2: you're ready to hear, or you're not in the right
Speaker 2: mind frame, pop on over to one of our other episodes.
Speaker 2: We have so many of them for you. But for
Speaker 2: those of you who are still here and still listening,
Speaker 2: the message sounded a little like this. Hi, Victoria, I
Speaker 2: have a few mental health diagnoses and have gone from
Speaker 2: living off Scentlink, being addicted to drugs and partying, to
Speaker 2: studying psychology and earning close to ninety thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 2: After a really tough period in my life, it is
Speaker 2: finally changing for the better in every way. I now
Speaker 2: work in foster care and am the proud mama to which
Speaker 2: you're and I hope my story can open up conversations
Speaker 2: and destigmatize mental health struggles for others in the community.
Speaker 2: Money Diarist, what a good story to be sharing with us.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the show, Thanks for coming.
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me. I'm super excited.
Speaker 2: To be here. I'm super excited that you're here. But
Speaker 2: I'm also super excited to talk to you about your journey.
Speaker 2: I feel like that is a literal one to eighty.
Speaker 2: You have absolutely flipped the trajectory of your life. Is
Speaker 2: that exciting for you? I know that's not the question
Speaker 2: I'm meant to be asking, but like, it just must
Speaker 2: be so exciting hearing that read out, like hearing where
Speaker 2: you've come from and where you're going.
Speaker 3: Yeah, when I look at where I was a few
Speaker 3: years ago to where I am now, it's a little
Speaker 3: bit unbelievable, to be honest. Yeah, I'm very proud of
Speaker 3: myself and it's a pretty good feeling to be able
Speaker 3: to make my family proud of me and hear them
Speaker 3: say that they're proud of me, and yeah, life's completely
Speaker 3: changed for the better. And I just hope that sharing
Speaker 3: my story can inspire other people to know that they
Speaker 3: can do it too.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I already know it is. You gave
Speaker 2: me grease bumps when you said, here's hearing my family
Speaker 2: say that they're proud of me, Like, I'm proud of
Speaker 2: you too. I want to jump on that train. That
Speaker 2: is such an epic progression. Let's get into the questions, though,
Speaker 2: because I have a million and one things that I
Speaker 2: want to ask. But first things first, let's ask if
Speaker 2: we asked you to give yourself a grade for your
Speaker 2: money habits from A through F, what would that grade be?
Speaker 3: I would say, currently about a C A few years
Speaker 3: ago probably an F.
Speaker 2: I feel like that's fair progression, and I'm going to
Speaker 2: learn a little bit why you think it a C.
Speaker 2: But let's start with my favorite question. Can you tell
Speaker 2: me a little bit more about your money story?
Speaker 3: God, this is a really good question. So growing up,
Speaker 3: I grew up with my mom, was a single parent
Speaker 3: for most of my childhood. My mom and my dad
Speaker 3: split up when I was quite young. I think I
Speaker 3: was about four years old. Mum worked for a bit,
Speaker 3: but she has always worked on and off and has
Speaker 3: been on Sundlink and has been on a stability support
Speaker 3: pension for probably over ten years now. I started work
Speaker 3: when I was about fourteen years of age. I work
Speaker 3: in part time. I'm out of school, and I mainly
Speaker 3: just spent all the money that I owned, so I
Speaker 3: didn't really save a cent, and that probably continued up
Speaker 3: until really last year. I would say. When I finished
Speaker 3: school and moved out of school, I went and studied
Speaker 3: for a bit, and that journey looks very up and
Speaker 3: down over quite a few years. Because of my own
Speaker 3: mental health, I went through a lot of change. I
Speaker 3: moved to different towns and cities, I changed careers, many times,
Speaker 3: dropped out of UNI and different things like that, and
Speaker 3: then I've come to where I am now, where I
Speaker 3: would say that I work hard for my money. I
Speaker 3: do spend a bit of money, and I try to
Speaker 3: save a little bit of money, and I also give
Speaker 3: some away when possible to charity or my family.
Speaker 2: And you think you're a c I've got so much
Speaker 2: any questions. It sounds like you are absolutely smashing it.
Speaker 2: Even just you being like, oh, I give some of
Speaker 2: it away, I'm like, okay, cool. So many people don't
Speaker 2: do that, and for me, giving is such an important
Speaker 2: part of our budget because it just makes us feel
Speaker 2: so good. I'm not surprised, though, knowing the line of
Speaker 2: work you were in that you give probably more than
Speaker 2: you should. So talk to us about work. What do
Speaker 2: you do for work and how much money do you earn?
Speaker 3: So I work in foster care currently. I have been
Speaker 3: in the throw for about six months, and I manage
Speaker 3: the incoming referrals from child protection and make placements. I'm
Speaker 3: also studying forth your psychology part time. I earn around
Speaker 3: ninety thousand dollars per year, that's before super I previously
Speaker 3: worked in mental health for about twenty months. In the
Speaker 3: past three years, I've changed jobs three times and significantly
Speaker 3: increased my income. So about three years ago i was
Speaker 3: on Santlelink and work in a pizza shop, and now
Speaker 3: I'm no longer on Settlink and earning close to ninety
Speaker 3: thousand a year.
Speaker 2: I am so excited when you say that, like, close
Speaker 2: to ninety thousand dollars a year gives you so much
Speaker 2: opportunity to build the life you deserve and create the
Speaker 2: life that you want to leave. I want to ask
Speaker 2: a little bit more about your job, though, because that's
Speaker 2: a really special area to be in. And I'm sure
Speaker 2: as somebody and we'll get onto this, but I'm sure
Speaker 2: as somebody who already struggles with mental health, that might
Speaker 2: be a little bit more of a struggle. Like I know,
Speaker 2: as somebody who does have mental health issues myself, I
Speaker 2: often find dealing in areas that are a little bit heavier,
Speaker 2: maybe a bit harder for me, because I resonate so
Speaker 2: deeply with those things. Talk to me about the journey
Speaker 2: of getting into foster care in your experience of it,
Speaker 2: because as I said, it's such a special area but
Speaker 2: can be challenging, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely presents its challenges, but it's been really rewarding
Speaker 3: so fast. So I was previously working in mental health,
Speaker 3: and yeah, needed a change of scenery. So I applied
Speaker 3: for a job with the agency I'm currently working for,
Speaker 3: and I've never heard back from them. And then I
Speaker 3: started work as a disability support worker and then they
Speaker 3: reached out to me via email and asked if I
Speaker 3: was still interested in a position, and I said yes,
Speaker 3: and they interviewed me and then offered me a job,
Speaker 3: and of course I said yes. I knew it was
Speaker 3: going to be a life changing job and I've loved
Speaker 3: every step of the journey so far. It has been
Speaker 3: really challenging. I do get quite invested in the kids
Speaker 3: that we work with, but engaging in self care is
Speaker 3: really important and that's something that I've had to learn
Speaker 3: over the past few years in my own mental health recovery.
Speaker 3: You know, I go for walks every day. I talk
Speaker 3: to my family and friends and talking to my colleagues.
Speaker 3: And I've been lucky enough in most of my recent
Speaker 3: workplaces we've had EAP and employee assistance program that we
Speaker 3: can access. I think it's between three and six sessions
Speaker 3: three a year. So yeah, when I'm really struggling. I
Speaker 3: reach out to a psychologist through EAP and have some counseling.
Speaker 3: But yeah, self care is just really important, you know,
Speaker 3: working and having those boundaries between your own time and
Speaker 3: work time. It still does get to me a little bit,
Speaker 3: but I probably wouldn't have it any other way. I
Speaker 3: think if it doesn't this sort of work doesn't get
Speaker 3: to you, you're probably not the right person for it.
Speaker 3: You need to have a hut.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was about to say I could not agree.
Speaker 2: More Like, if it was somebody who was quite clinical
Speaker 2: about it, I don't know if I trust them to
Speaker 2: be honest, Like, if it doesn't affect you, what is
Speaker 2: going on? You mentioned self care being really important, and
Speaker 2: I guess looking at the story that you have, it's
Speaker 2: a bit of a pivot from where you were in
Speaker 2: the lifestyle that you used to lead. At what point
Speaker 2: did self care become important to you? And I mean
Speaker 2: I feel like we talk about it on the pod
Speaker 2: all the time, right, Like self care is so important
Speaker 2: for someone who maybe didn't indulge in enough self care historically.
Speaker 2: What were the things that kind of were the gateway
Speaker 2: into really caring about self care and being able to
Speaker 2: take those positive steps and put you first.
Speaker 3: I think it was had a real turning point a
Speaker 3: few years ago. I'd been chronically suicidal for probably twelve
Speaker 3: months or so, every couple of weeks thinking about ending
Speaker 3: my life and talking about it. And there was one
Speaker 3: day I always remember this moment. I was on the
Speaker 3: phone for my mum and she said, I want my
Speaker 3: daughter back before I die, and that really stuck with me.
Speaker 3: And yeah, I reached out to the local community mental
Speaker 3: health and saw a psychiatrist and went back on some antidepressants,
Speaker 3: which I've had a history of being on and off medication,
Speaker 3: and I refused to take medication for a few years.
Speaker 3: And when I went on these particular antidepressants, they were
Speaker 3: just life changing. Within you know, a few days to
Speaker 3: a week, we could see the change in myself and
Speaker 3: I was really positive. And I think that was my
Speaker 3: real first step towards taking better care of myself is, yeah,
Speaker 3: going back on medication. Being lucky enough to go straight
Speaker 3: on the right medication this time and not have to
Speaker 3: go through the joys of it being the wrong medication
Speaker 3: and changing medication, because that is so frustrating and hard
Speaker 3: to deal with. And I think that was one of
Speaker 3: My biggest probably struggles was knowing that I would probably
Speaker 3: go through a cycle of taking medication and it not working,
Speaker 3: and then yeah, getting into the mental health field. I
Speaker 3: cried when I got offered the job that I did
Speaker 3: because it was my first job in the industry and
Speaker 3: that meant I was going to come off set a
Speaker 3: link and knowing that to be able to maintain full
Speaker 3: time employment and earn good money and look after other people,
Speaker 3: I really needed to be taking good care of myself.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I think that was really crucial in my
Speaker 3: own journey to looking after myself better.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like that's so important as well. And
Speaker 2: what you touched on about going on the wrong medication,
Speaker 2: that can be terrifying because it's not a good experience
Speaker 2: at all. Anythink that that's something that stops people from
Speaker 2: actually taking the steps they need to take because they're like,
Speaker 2: surely my current state is better than being on the
Speaker 2: wrong medication, But we actually have to go through the
Speaker 2: absolute shit storm that that is sometimes to get out
Speaker 2: the other end and see the light at the end
Speaker 2: of the tunnel. And I've been through that. It is
Speaker 2: horrendous if it is the wrong medication, but with good
Speaker 2: doctors and good support like you come off it immediately
Speaker 2: the second it starts not working for you. You mentioned
Speaker 2: obviously suicidal ideation. That's a terrible position to be in
Speaker 2: and something that it just makes me want to wrap
Speaker 2: you up and be like no, like you're so special
Speaker 2: and listen to your story. Like past you would be
Speaker 2: shocked about where you are now. Where does mental health
Speaker 2: stem from for you? So obviously it's not been something
Speaker 2: that just popped up randomly. Is that something you've struggled
Speaker 2: with your whole life? Well? Where does this come from?
Speaker 3: Yeah? So when I was a teenager, I'm pretty sure
Speaker 3: I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression. When I look
Speaker 3: back now, I can sort of see underlying traits of
Speaker 3: borderline personality disorder from when I was a teenager. My
Speaker 3: mom has struggled with mental health problems throughout her life
Speaker 3: as well, and my dad did as well, so it
Speaker 3: sort of runs in the family. But I do think
Speaker 3: there's a fair bit of trauma that I probably went
Speaker 3: through in my teenage years and early life that resulted
Speaker 3: in my mental health becoming the way it did as
Speaker 3: I grew older and during my years of substance abuse
Speaker 3: and partying, the roles for traumas that added to that
Speaker 3: trauma that already existed. So I think a lot of it.
Speaker 3: You know, there's genetic components to it, and then the
Speaker 3: trauma that I've experienced in life as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, So now you've pivoted. You've gone from being addicted
Speaker 2: to rugs and partying, you're now studying psych and earning
Speaker 2: ninety grand, which is wild. So I want to know
Speaker 2: what is your big money goal. What are we working
Speaker 2: towards at the moment.
Speaker 3: Apparrently, I'm working towards building up a decent emergency fund
Speaker 3: and savings account, a bit of both in the one account,
Speaker 3: so I currently have a few thousand dollars and I've
Speaker 3: been able to maintain that for a little while now,
Speaker 3: which is quite nice. But yeah, I do need it
Speaker 3: to be bigger than what it is. I probably need
Speaker 3: it to be that six month emergency fund that often
Speaker 3: hear people talk about. And I also want to pay
Speaker 3: off my car loan and possibly work towards buying a home.
Speaker 3: I'm still really undecided on that, so that's something that's
Speaker 3: in the back of my mind.
Speaker 2: That's not something you have to decide on right here
Speaker 2: and now. In fact, just saving puts you ahead to
Speaker 2: achieving a goal once you decide the goal is there.
Speaker 2: Have there been any I guess, pivotal moments when you
Speaker 2: know you said before I have a few thousand dollars
Speaker 2: in a savings account and stayed there. Obviously I want
Speaker 2: to get up to that six month mark. Have you
Speaker 2: ever just looked at it and been like, Wow, this
Speaker 2: is not where I thought I would be, even though
Speaker 2: its few thousand dollars, even though they're quote to you
Speaker 2: not enough Like, have you ever been like, Wow, this
Speaker 2: is not a position I thought I would be in.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I certainly have many times. I'm back in December
Speaker 3: of last year. I think I had close to four
Speaker 3: or five thousand in savings and I decided to buy
Speaker 3: myself at Chiuahua. And she's been an absolute bundle of joy.
Speaker 2: That's a good investment, That is an amazing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, she's beautiful and she gives me lots of joy
Speaker 3: and love. But that's a position I never thought I
Speaker 3: would be in. And I never thought I would be
Speaker 3: in the position where I could even consider buying a house.
Speaker 3: A few years ago, I always said to my family,
Speaker 3: I'm never going to buy a property. And now I
Speaker 3: talk about it on and off, and I listened to
Speaker 3: the podcast all the time, and I think, oh, you know,
Speaker 3: maybe I should see a financial advisor or a mortgage
Speaker 3: broker one day. And yeah, Whereas a few years ago,
Speaker 3: that's something I couldn't see for myself living on settling
Speaker 3: and I was realistically considering the disability pension at one
Speaker 3: point in my life. So to go from that, yeah,
Speaker 3: not being on settlink and sustaining full time employment and
Speaker 3: having money in my savings account, it's absolutely wild.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, it makes me so happy for you.
Speaker 2: Like literally, I can see that you're glowy and heavy
Speaker 2: and smiley, and when you talk about it, I can
Speaker 2: tell that you're so proud of yourself, and that is
Speaker 2: the part that makes me so excited. I have a
Speaker 2: million questions. Let's go to a really quick break and
Speaker 2: on the other side, I'm going to deep dive straight
Speaker 2: into them. All Right, money diarist, we are back, and
Speaker 2: I am so excited to talk to you. My next question,
Speaker 2: I want to know you've got some savings. Do you
Speaker 2: have an emergency fund? Do you have any investments though?
Speaker 2: If so, what are they?
Speaker 1: So?
Speaker 3: I only have my superannuation, which is currently around sixteen
Speaker 3: and a half thousand dollars. I did access my super
Speaker 3: when I was younger through financial hardship, so I'm sort
Speaker 3: of just working on building that up and I'm making
Speaker 3: the occasional voluntary contribution of an extra fifty dollars here
Speaker 3: or twenty five dollars there. I would like to probably
Speaker 3: end up investing in shares or something like that, but
Speaker 3: I feel like being that I have a car debt
Speaker 3: at the moment, and yeah, focusing on building my super backup.
Speaker 3: It's not a high priority.
Speaker 2: I feel like that's a good position to be in,
Speaker 2: and I think it's actually really well balanced. Like sometimes
Speaker 2: we talk to people and they're like, no, but it's
Speaker 2: like my biggest priority, and I'm like, no, it's not.
Speaker 2: If you have a car debt, let's, you know, sort
Speaker 2: out your financial house first. You mentioned that you claimed
Speaker 2: historically on a financial hardship payment through superannuation, and I
Speaker 2: think a lot of us have heard of that only
Speaker 2: recently when it came to people claiming money out of
Speaker 2: their super during COVID. How did that come about? Was
Speaker 2: that something that was suggested to you or you decided
Speaker 2: to go through. What was the process there.
Speaker 3: Like, Yeah, so that's something I decided to go through,
Speaker 3: and I sort of knew about it because my mum
Speaker 3: has done it.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 3: Looking back, you know, it probably wasn't the best decision
Speaker 3: to make. I probably did spend a bit of that
Speaker 3: money in an unwise manner. I honestly don't remember how
Speaker 3: I spent it all because all the trauma has sort
Speaker 3: of distorted my memory, but I know that I printed
Speaker 3: out the forms from my supercompany, and I went to
Speaker 3: my doctor and got supporting documentation from my doctor saying,
Speaker 3: you know that I've been struggling with my mental health,
Speaker 3: and they sort of did a bit of a spiel
Speaker 3: and I had to prove that I was on Senlink
Speaker 3: for so long, which I had been, and I was
Speaker 3: just on Senlink at that point in time and not working.
Speaker 3: So I submitted that documentation and showed that I had
Speaker 3: no savings. And yeah, it was a pretty straightforward process.
Speaker 3: It was probably, yeah, five or six years ago that
Speaker 3: I applied for my super So the memory is a
Speaker 3: bit hazy, but yeah, so that eight off a fair
Speaker 3: chunk of my super I think I withdrew about would
Speaker 3: have been up to maybe ten thousand, and I think
Speaker 3: they taxed me two and a half, so I think
Speaker 3: I got about seven thousand out when I did withdraw it.
Speaker 3: But now that I'm working again, I've been able to
Speaker 3: contribute and build that back up, so hopefully I can
Speaker 3: get it up to where it should be in the
Speaker 3: next few years.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent. And as much as you're saying, oh
Speaker 2: my gosh, I probably fretted away some of that, I
Speaker 2: do think it's really important that we have access to that.
Speaker 2: And I know that it's not something that you would
Speaker 2: lean on immediately, but if you're going through a financial hardship,
Speaker 2: I do think it's important that you understand that that's
Speaker 2: an option, because as much as it is taking away
Speaker 2: from your retirement savings and like that's not the best
Speaker 2: thing in the world, it's actually better than you're going
Speaker 2: into personal debt. It's actually better to be able to
Speaker 2: do that and set yourself up. And I know that
Speaker 2: money direst You're like, oh, I don't even know what
Speaker 2: was going on. It was a traumatic period of my life.
Speaker 2: I totally get that, but I don't think we should
Speaker 2: look back on it and go, oh my gosh, that
Speaker 2: was you know, a really bad decision. I think in
Speaker 2: the moment, we do what's best for current self, and
Speaker 2: you know today obviously you've mentioned historically that you listen
Speaker 2: to the pod and that's really great, and I'm assuming
Speaker 2: that that just means you're far more educated than you
Speaker 2: were historically, and past you wouldn't make the same decisions
Speaker 2: the current you does. But we shouldn't crucify past you
Speaker 2: for the decisions that you made, because I think she
Speaker 2: was just doing the best thing that she could for
Speaker 2: you at that time, right, she was just getting by
Speaker 2: and getting stuff done.
Speaker 3: Yeah, doing what I needed to do to survive at
Speaker 3: that point in time exactly.
Speaker 2: And I think that we really need to acknowledge that
Speaker 2: a bit more too, because I think that sometimes when
Speaker 2: we say, oh, I access my super, there seems to
Speaker 2: be this like idea of shame that surrounds it, or
Speaker 2: this idea that that's really naughty or that's really bad,
Speaker 2: or that's not the best decision. But sometimes you just
Speaker 2: do what you've got to do and we've got to
Speaker 2: get by. And I love that you've got a plan
Speaker 2: in place at the moment you're like, I'm trying to
Speaker 2: work out my super and you build it back up,
Speaker 2: like what goes around comes around. You mentioned before you
Speaker 2: have car debt, so talk to me about debts. What
Speaker 2: debts do you have and how much have you got
Speaker 2: left on them?
Speaker 3: So that's a good question. So I currently have a
Speaker 3: car loan. I currently owe about thirty two and a
Speaker 3: half thousand. I financed that for just sun to forty
Speaker 3: five thousand. About two years ago. I sort of decided
Speaker 3: I needed to treat myself to a brand new car,
Speaker 3: and I wanted the best looking car, the top model
Speaker 3: one that I could get. So I did that. Probably
Speaker 3: not the smartest decision, but I've been able to maintain
Speaker 3: my repayments on that, so I'm happy with that. I
Speaker 3: do have a quite a hefty heck set which is
Speaker 3: sitting around eighty to ninety thousand dollars at the moment.
Speaker 2: Oh she's big.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that'll happen. When you study psychology, you drop out
Speaker 3: of UNI a few times.
Speaker 2: I can absolutely resonate with that. My psych degree is
Speaker 2: added up. And then I was dumb enough to think
Speaker 2: a master's degree would be a really good idea without
Speaker 2: considering how expensive they are, And they're like three or
Speaker 2: four times the cost of a normal bachelor's degree, so
Speaker 2: that was really good for me financially. So when you
Speaker 2: say eighteen and eighty k, I'm like, cool, she hasn't
Speaker 2: even cracked the one hundred grand yet. I'm way past that.
Speaker 3: That's probably going to happen in the next twelve months.
Speaker 3: So I'm a little scared. But at least it's a debt,
Speaker 3: you know, you don't really ever have to pay back.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, it's one of those debts that isn't going
Speaker 2: to laud over you.
Speaker 3: Yeah. And I also have a trade support loan just
Speaker 3: under two thy three hundred. That's from when I was
Speaker 3: trying to be an apprentic chef at one point in
Speaker 3: my life. So those debts will sit under I think
Speaker 3: the ATO, so they're not something that I have to
Speaker 3: pay back right now.
Speaker 2: And they're taken out of tax and planned. I actually
Speaker 2: kind of like that structure in a way because it's forced,
Speaker 2: like it's not a payment that you make every single
Speaker 2: week and gets dressed over. It actually comes out pre tax,
Speaker 2: which I don't know. That's kind of kind of smash.
Speaker 2: And I don't think that the decisions that you've made
Speaker 2: have been the worst ones. I do want to know, though, like,
Speaker 2: if you're telling me you got the top of range car,
Speaker 2: like what kind of car do you drive? Because at
Speaker 2: the moment, I'm looking for a new car, and I
Speaker 2: didn't realize how expensive they were.
Speaker 3: So I have a Forward Puma, the top model, so
Speaker 3: it's got leather seats and a sunroof and a good
Speaker 3: sound system. And I bought that. I think it was
Speaker 3: at the start of COVID it was really hard to
Speaker 3: get cars, and yeah, I was looking around at a
Speaker 3: few different cars and my old car was pretty much
Speaker 3: ready to break down, and I was like, no, I
Speaker 3: need a car now, and I didn't want to wait
Speaker 3: six or twelve months for it. So I test drove
Speaker 3: the Ford Puma and fell in love with it, and yeah,
Speaker 3: it's been my baby ever since.
Speaker 2: And it's got a cute name. Ten out of ten,
Speaker 2: all right, I want to know, when it comes to
Speaker 2: money habits, what do you think your best money habit is?
Speaker 3: So my best money habit is having a savings account
Speaker 3: that I don't have online banking for, I have no
Speaker 3: debit card for, and that I can only access if
Speaker 3: I physically go into the banks. So I transfer money
Speaker 3: into that account, but I can never check the balance
Speaker 3: or withdrawal from it unless I go physically into the bank.
Speaker 3: And that's the only way I've been able to save money,
Speaker 3: and it's been life changing.
Speaker 2: All Right, You're going to have to share that with us,
Speaker 2: because I feel like I've been asked that question before,
Speaker 2: and every single bank these days is online. Which bank
Speaker 2: is that with? And how did you set that up?
Speaker 3: So it's with the Bendigo Bank. I set it up,
Speaker 3: oh god, maybe six or seven years ago with my mom,
Speaker 3: and I actually got her to co sign the account
Speaker 3: so that I couldn't withdraw without her signature because we
Speaker 3: both knew that I was terrible with money. But then
Speaker 3: me and my mom had a disagreement, so I went
Speaker 3: into the bank and asked to take a signature of it.
Speaker 3: So it's just my signature on it now. But that
Speaker 3: was pretty easy to do, so that was really pointless.
Speaker 3: But yeah, it was. It was really straightforward. Just went
Speaker 3: into the bank, opened up an account. I think I
Speaker 3: have the option to do online banking. I just never
Speaker 3: set it up, and I said I didn't want a
Speaker 3: bank card, so they just gave me, you know, a
Speaker 3: little fold over thing that's got my account number on it,
Speaker 3: and that just sits in my purse and it's great.
Speaker 2: Oh how good. I feel like it's interesting learning how
Speaker 2: other people manage money because we all have different things
Speaker 2: that work for us. And that's why I asked what
Speaker 2: bank is that, because someone's going to hear that and think, wow,
Speaker 2: that is exactly what I need. How do I do it?
Speaker 2: So thank you for sharing. On the flip side, though,
Speaker 2: I need to know what is your worst money habit?
Speaker 2: Please don't say chiu hours.
Speaker 3: Well, she's been a bit of a bad money habit,
Speaker 3: but she's certainly not my worst one. My worst money
Speaker 3: habit is actually also bad for my health, and that's
Speaker 3: probably smoking cigarettes, something I'm not ready to quit right now,
Speaker 3: but I'll work towards it in the future. And then
Speaker 3: impulsive spending and fixating on something and then deciding I'm
Speaker 3: going to get it like a chiuaha.
Speaker 2: That's fair. That's fair. As I said, I think a
Speaker 2: chiuaha is a good investment, like to be honest, for
Speaker 2: me and my mental health. My pets do the most,
Speaker 2: like they are the best things in the entire world.
Speaker 2: But you mentioned smoking cigarettes, and I actually want to
Speaker 2: ask because I I am not a smoker and never
Speaker 2: have been a smoker, so I don't understand how much
Speaker 2: they cost today. What are you spending on smoking? How
Speaker 2: much does that actually cost you?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I smoke rollies because Taylors are super expensive.
Speaker 3: I bought a packet of Taylor's the other week. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I don't know why I did, but anyway, and I
Speaker 3: was gobsmacked by the price. I bought a pack of
Speaker 3: twenties and it was about thirty five dollars. So I
Speaker 3: spend probably about two hundred and twenty dollars a fortnight
Speaker 3: on tobacco. If I was smoking Tailor's that would be
Speaker 3: a lot more than that.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, even that makes me feel a little
Speaker 2: bit ill thinking about how much that is. In saying that,
Speaker 2: I also think it's worth recognizing that sometimes we've just
Speaker 2: got habits that, as much as they're not quote really
Speaker 2: good for us. Like obviously it's terrible, and you would
Speaker 2: already know that. I'm not here to change your mind.
Speaker 2: I think, going through what you've gone through, sometimes we
Speaker 2: need to just keep something stable and we need to
Speaker 2: actually just go you know, what it is, what it is.
Speaker 2: At some point we'll deal with that, but until then,
Speaker 2: this is exactly how I'm going to live my life,
Speaker 2: and I think that that's where we should all, I
Speaker 2: guess step back a little bit and go there is
Speaker 2: no judgment here, because I think so many times we
Speaker 2: walk past you, know as you are a stunning female smoking,
Speaker 2: and you go, what is she doing? And it's like, ah,
Speaker 2: sit down, sir, sit down. You don't know half of it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you don't want to make too many changes
Speaker 3: at once either, when you're trying to turn your life around.
Speaker 3: That can yeah, be pretty pointless and lead to your
Speaker 3: going back for square one.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Now, I feel like your story is honestly so beautiful.
Speaker 2: It makes me so proud to know that you're in
Speaker 2: our community. And not only are you in our community,
Speaker 2: you're sharing this story with us so that we can
Speaker 2: learn and grow and you know, take on other people's
Speaker 2: mindsets to you know, just be better with money ourselves.
Speaker 2: But you've come so far. I can't believe you have
Speaker 2: a savings account, you're working in foster care, you have
Speaker 2: a beautiful chihuahua. I mean, you've got a car loan,
Speaker 2: but you're on top of it and the payments are
Speaker 2: manageable and everything is going there. I just I feel
Speaker 2: like you are so on track. Do you really think
Speaker 2: that you're still a C.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm definitely still a CE. I've got a lot
Speaker 3: of work to do, but I'm better than where I was.
Speaker 3: And yeah, if I look at the fact that I
Speaker 3: was probably in air for a few years ago, I
Speaker 3: think the seat's pretty good right now.
Speaker 2: I think I'm going to like upgrade it to like
Speaker 2: a B B minus. Let's call it a B minus
Speaker 2: because I feel like you have all of the structures
Speaker 2: existing to support you. Like, I just feel like you
Speaker 2: are on the right track and doing the right thing.
Speaker 2: Money Diarist, it has been an absolute pleasure sharing your
Speaker 2: story today. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3: Thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure.
Speaker 2: The advice shared on She's on the Money is generally
Speaker 2: nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on
Speaker 2: the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not
Speaker 2: 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
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