Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr
Speaker 1: the Order Kerni Whaltbury and a waddery woman. And before
Speaker 1: we get started on She's On the Money podcast, I
Speaker 1: would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
Speaker 1: of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
Speaker 1: acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
Speaker 1: through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
Speaker 1: and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
Speaker 1: today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Let's get into it.
Speaker 3: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Speaker 4: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money the pod.
Speaker 4: But let's you get delightfully pervy on other people's finance
Speaker 4: stories for educational purposes, of course. I am Victoria Devine,
Speaker 4: a retired financial advisor breaking down money to boost one
Speaker 4: juicy money diary at a time. Today is a very
Speaker 4: special episode because we're doing something I absolutely adore. We're
Speaker 4: going to be looking back at the lessons we have
Speaker 4: learned from this year's money diaries. If you know me,
Speaker 4: you know I am a massive believer in the power
Speaker 4: of storytelling. Hearing everyone else's wins, their challenges, and even
Speaker 4: their mistakes can inspire us. It can teach us, and
Speaker 4: sometimes it can even give us that a heart moment
Speaker 4: that we've been waiting for. In this episode, together, you
Speaker 4: and I are going to spotlight some of our biggest
Speaker 4: learnings from twenty twenty four. They're those moments that remind
Speaker 4: us that we're not alone in our struggles and that
Speaker 4: transformation is always possible. Whether it's turning debt into financial freedom,
Speaker 4: or negotiating like a pro, or simply mastering the art
Speaker 4: of patience with your money. These stories are packed with
Speaker 4: insights that help you level up your finances, and I
Speaker 4: wanted to start with this very relatable lesson. In twenty
Speaker 4: twenty four, we are living in the age of instant gratification,
Speaker 4: whether it's binge watching an entire season of your favorite
Speaker 4: show the day it drops, having dinner delivered to your
Speaker 4: door in under thirty minutes, or getting same day shipping
Speaker 4: on that impulse by We're getting used to getting what
Speaker 4: we want exactly when we want it. But when it
Speaker 4: comes to our finances, that mindset can be well a
Speaker 4: bit dangerous. Those spur of the movement purchases and those
Speaker 4: treat yourself moments can really add up, and before you
Speaker 4: know it, you're surrounded by unopened packages, empty oat lattes,
Speaker 4: and an empty bank account. Our first diarist realized this firsthand.
Speaker 4: She took a hard look at her spending habits. She
Speaker 4: saw the impact of instant gratification, and she decided to
Speaker 4: flip the script by mastering the art of delayed gratification.
Speaker 4: She saved herself thousands and made her money work for
Speaker 4: her instead of the other way around. Hear her story
Speaker 4: and her strategy for making patience her finance superpower.
Speaker 5: And I think the most important thing as well too
Speaker 5: that I realized and I learned as well, is that
Speaker 5: once you get out of debt, it doesn't mean that
Speaker 5: you're fully fully out of debt, because if your mindset
Speaker 5: is still the same as before when you were in debt,
Speaker 5: you'll continue to go back to that cycle and it'll
Speaker 5: be like a rotating door of getting out of debt,
Speaker 5: going back into debt, getting out of debt, and going
Speaker 5: back into debt. And I think the most important thing
Speaker 5: to also, you know, keep yourself motivated to get out
Speaker 5: of debt is to really think about your goal and
Speaker 5: your why as to why you want to be out
Speaker 5: of debt and why you're working so hard to you know,
Speaker 5: be out of debt is because I finally paid off
Speaker 5: my zip pay. There was a time where I was
Speaker 5: sitting down on the couch and I.
Speaker 4: Was so bored, just so easy, right, Yeah, I.
Speaker 5: Was so bored, and I you know, I'm like, oh,
Speaker 5: I want to I want to.
Speaker 2: Buy this pair of shoes.
Speaker 5: But I only had like what twenty dollars in my
Speaker 5: account after paying off all of my bills, And I
Speaker 5: was like, do you know what, I'll just apply on zipay.
Speaker 5: I'll just spend one hundred dollars on zip pay and
Speaker 5: then pay it off and then close it again. And
Speaker 5: you know, I had to catch myself really quickly, like no, because.
Speaker 4: That's not where we are able.
Speaker 5: To Yeah, that's not who we are we are anymore.
Speaker 5: So it takes a lot of discipline to not go
Speaker 5: back to that after just coming out of that situation
Speaker 5: one hundred percent.
Speaker 4: And because we are humans, humans inherently do not like change.
Speaker 4: So going back to a cycle that you know, even
Speaker 4: though you don't love it, you know it. You go,
Speaker 4: that's predictable, I know, exactly what will happen? I can
Speaker 4: you know, work with that outcome. It's hard to go
Speaker 4: from there to a completely different mindset of going, well,
Speaker 4: what do you mean? And this layer of instant gratification
Speaker 4: versus delayed gratification comes to it. You've been an instant
Speaker 4: gratification gally for your whole life. You're always used to
Speaker 4: just getting it, and now you've got to wait, like
Speaker 4: what do you mean? Like I'm not used to that,
Speaker 4: Like that doesn't feel I don't know why we're here.
Speaker 4: So it can be so hard to slip back into
Speaker 4: the cycle. I know that you've changed your money story
Speaker 4: over the last few years, gotten out of debt, but
Speaker 4: what do you reckon your best money habit is?
Speaker 5: I would say that my best money habit is I've
Speaker 5: mastered the art of delayed gratification.
Speaker 4: Unless I absolutely need somethow can you please teach me
Speaker 4: because I have not? Did you just see me? For
Speaker 4: those of you playing along, I had to have a
Speaker 4: brief intermission because someone offered me a donut. That's different
Speaker 4: because that's free. So yeah, it's true.
Speaker 6: It's true.
Speaker 4: It was a money wan. I'm not buying money.
Speaker 2: We there you go?
Speaker 4: Yeah, thank you for reframing that for me, But tell
Speaker 4: me more about how to work into this delayed gratification.
Speaker 4: I actually learned that from my partner.
Speaker 5: Unless I absolutely need something, then I give you myself
Speaker 5: a few days, if not a week to really think
Speaker 5: about if I want something or not, and more often than.
Speaker 4: Not, I actually forget about it.
Speaker 5: So I like to think that, you know, I'm saving
Speaker 5: myself so much money from not going crazy berserk on
Speaker 5: shopping spree if I don't really need it.
Speaker 4: I love that, But what was the first step in
Speaker 4: I guess actually practicing delayed gratification because I think that
Speaker 4: so many of us would be like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 4: this money dirist is so right. I need to, you know,
Speaker 4: think about what I'm spending. I'm going to put twenty
Speaker 4: four hours between me and my spending. I'm going to
Speaker 4: listen to V like V is very do as I say,
Speaker 4: not as I do, just for the record, But I
Speaker 4: think we need to know what was the first time
Speaker 4: that that was really pressed. Because I feel like we
Speaker 4: can make all the biggest plans in the entire world,
Speaker 4: and I think we all do, but then you have
Speaker 4: to actually implement them.
Speaker 5: I think for me, I guess when I realized that
Speaker 5: I didn't really need a lot of things was when
Speaker 5: I was decluttering my bedroom and my bathroom. I had
Speaker 5: so many unopened skincare products. I had so many clothes
Speaker 5: that still had tags on them, and I thought, I
Speaker 5: actually don't need any of these. Why did I even
Speaker 5: buy them? And so I think that made me realize that, like,
Speaker 5: I better start practicing delayed gratification, otherwise I'm going to
Speaker 5: be stuck with all these you know products close everything
Speaker 5: that I actually never needed in the first place.
Speaker 4: And it could have had some cash in my bank.
Speaker 5: Exactly, could have had cash in my bank. And now
Speaker 5: I can't even sell them because they're had a trend,
Speaker 5: but I'm still keeping them. Never know, because trends always
Speaker 5: come back around.
Speaker 4: That's true. That's true. Give it ten years that it
Speaker 4: is an investment, give it ten years. This was an
Speaker 4: amazing story of growth and discipline. I think what I
Speaker 4: love the most about this is how real it feels,
Speaker 4: because honestly, which one of us hasn't been tempted by
Speaker 4: the ease of buy now, pay later or the thrill
Speaker 4: of an impulse purchase. Definitely me. But the truth is
Speaker 4: falling into those habits over and over can keep us
Speaker 4: stuck in a cycle that is so hard to break.
Speaker 4: This diarist is proof that getting out of debt isn't
Speaker 4: just about paying it all off. It's about staying out
Speaker 4: of it, and that takes real mindset shifts. She didn't
Speaker 4: just stop spending, She's rewired how she thought about money
Speaker 4: and her decisions. If you take one thing away from
Speaker 4: this episode, let it be this. Your future self will
Speaker 4: thank you for every thoughtful, intentional decision that you make today.
Speaker 4: Whether it's resisting the urge to apply for another buy now,
Speaker 4: pay later account or letting that cut sit unpurchased for
Speaker 4: a few days, these little habits build up to create
Speaker 4: a much bigger picture of financial freedom for yourself. This
Speaker 4: next lesson comes from one of our most downloaded episodes
Speaker 4: of the year, and honestly, it's not hard to see why.
Speaker 4: I mean, who wouldn't click on an episode titled forty
Speaker 4: K Salary to four hundred thousand dollars Side Hustle. It's
Speaker 4: the kind of story that's not just wildly appealing, but
Speaker 4: also packed with practical insights and a big dose of inspiration.
Speaker 4: In this episode, our Dira shared how a necessary purchase
Speaker 4: something they initially needed just to get their home sorted,
Speaker 4: ended up becoming the foundation for a booming side hustle.
Speaker 4: Let's dive into how she turned something they needed for
Speaker 4: themselves into a booming business opportunity. So tell me more
Speaker 4: about this business, because you mentioned we have a machine
Speaker 4: and it has some debt on it. Obviously, when you
Speaker 4: were building your home you realized that the machinery was necessary.
Speaker 4: Why not purchase it? Why not then lease it out after?
Speaker 4: Is this like, you know, a twenty dollar wheelbarrow from
Speaker 4: Buddings Or is this like, you know, a whole digger?
Speaker 4: Is this a crane? I don't know. You've got to
Speaker 4: tell me more about how this works and then how
Speaker 4: you worked out that you could lease it out.
Speaker 7: Yep. So when we first started designing the house and
Speaker 7: obviously a big block, we were like, well, there's a
Speaker 7: lot of landscaping that's going to need to be done,
Speaker 7: and we were.
Speaker 4: Like, well, we'll do that ourselves.
Speaker 7: At the time, his brother and his wife were also
Speaker 7: building on a large block, and his parents were all
Speaker 7: so building on a large block.
Speaker 4: O God, so much construction you wouldn't be short for
Speaker 4: conversation at family dinner, would you. Oh, yeah, we will
Speaker 4: be shortly.
Speaker 7: We actually joke about what we're all going to talk
Speaker 7: about in six months time when everyone's done.
Speaker 4: Building, you guys will find another project. I can almost
Speaker 4: guarantee it, Yes, definitely.
Speaker 7: So yeah, we looked at it and we thought, you know,
Speaker 7: were between just the three of us building and you know,
Speaker 7: needing to hire a digger to do some earthworks or
Speaker 7: a skid steer to do something else. We were like,
Speaker 7: hang on, this is really really expensive in town, and
Speaker 7: if we do that and say we need it. We
Speaker 7: worked it out over a certain number of weekends and
Speaker 7: what it would come to, and we were like, why
Speaker 7: don't we just buy one? So again, there was some
Speaker 7: money from the sale of my partner's house, so we
Speaker 7: actually paid cash for our first machine.
Speaker 4: How much does a machine cost?
Speaker 7: So that was a mini excavator, so a brand new
Speaker 7: Caterpillar excavator and that at the time I believe was
Speaker 7: forty thousand, and then it was about eleven thousand. Then
Speaker 7: for the.
Speaker 4: Trailer, yeah, okay, and so you need the trailer of
Speaker 4: the UC to move the excavator, yes, so.
Speaker 7: To move it around. We did buy a more expensive
Speaker 7: trailer because you could just buy a plant trailer where
Speaker 7: you can just drive your machine on and that's.
Speaker 4: All its purpose is.
Speaker 7: However, we went for a different trailer that was, say,
Speaker 7: a tiper trailer, so that people can also use it
Speaker 7: for soil, which you offer.
Speaker 4: She's a smart cookie, so you can move the stuff
Speaker 4: that you excavated.
Speaker 7: Correct, And you can also hire that trailer out as
Speaker 7: its own asset, whereas no one really needs to just
Speaker 7: borrow a plant trailer on its own, but someone wanting
Speaker 7: to do some gardening can hire a trailer.
Speaker 4: I see the vision.
Speaker 2: I get it.
Speaker 4: So you've essentially invested fifty one thousand dollars in this
Speaker 4: trailer and this excavator, and I'm assuming you've used it
Speaker 4: partner's parents, have you that other family members have used it,
Speaker 4: and now you're hiring it out. What does that look like?
Speaker 4: Do you advertise it online or is this a word
Speaker 4: of mouthing or like? How does that work? How does
Speaker 4: it go from we bought this fancy thing to other
Speaker 4: people are paying you for it?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 7: So I did you start out with social media advertising?
Speaker 2: Locally?
Speaker 7: We've put some signage on the trailer and on the machine,
Speaker 7: and it just kind of went from there. We've actually
Speaker 7: stopped advertising for it at the moment because the second
Speaker 7: part of the business is labor higher, which we've got
Speaker 7: my partner employed through, so he's out of town a
Speaker 7: lot with that. So we've actually stopped advertising the equipment
Speaker 7: higher because we're getting enough with it to cover the
Speaker 7: repayments on our second machine.
Speaker 4: Okay, I love this. How incredible was that? This story
Speaker 4: is such a powerful reminder that sometimes the biggest opportunities
Speaker 4: come from the most practical decisions. What I love most
Speaker 4: about this episode was how intentional they were, not just
Speaker 4: about solving their immediate problem, but about thinking bigger. They
Speaker 4: didn't just buy a piece of machinery for personal use.
Speaker 4: They looked at how they could create value beyond their
Speaker 4: own household. By investing strategically and tapping into local demand,
Speaker 4: they turned what could have been just another expense into
Speaker 4: a thriving income stream. The takeaway here is this, ask
Speaker 4: yourself if your next big purchase could be more than
Speaker 4: just something you need. Could it be an asset that
Speaker 4: starts working for you. Whether it's renting out equipment, leveraging
Speaker 4: a skill, or spotting a gap in the market, there's
Speaker 4: always an opportunity to turn every decision into a financial win.
Speaker 4: This diarist didn't just build their home, They've built a legacy.
Speaker 4: How good is that? Now, don't go anywhere, because after
Speaker 4: the break we're going to be diving into one of
Speaker 4: the most important lessons for women everywhere. Welcome back, my friends.
Speaker 4: If you're going through a breakup or you know someone
Speaker 4: who is, this is the episode to send them. It
Speaker 4: can feel like such an overwhelming and intimidating process, especially
Speaker 4: when emotions are high, but the stakes are even higher.
Speaker 4: But this direst story is a powerful example of how preparation,
Speaker 4: confidence and advocating for yourself can lead to outcomes that
Speaker 4: protect you and your family's future. This was a master
Speaker 4: class in standing up for yourself and walking away with
Speaker 4: a fair settlement. Let's hear how she did it.
Speaker 2: I got a lawyer, which not cheap obviously, and got
Speaker 2: myself with as much info as I could. I actually
Speaker 2: spoke to a really amazing lawyer and she was like, look,
Speaker 2: there's all these different ways to do this. The best
Speaker 2: way to do it, if you guys are amicable enough,
Speaker 2: is to do it through mediation. So you're not having
Speaker 2: lawyers represent in so you're not like waste that money.
Speaker 4: And I was so nice of you to say that, Yeah,
Speaker 4: thank you, also an iconic queen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and she was just like, I'm the one who
Speaker 2: does these invoices of these clients, and I invoice them
Speaker 2: for like thirty grand and I just think to myself,
Speaker 2: that's money that could have gone towards the pozard or
Speaker 2: the kids. And I'm like, you know, So we did that.
Speaker 2: A couple of weeks ago, we did the mediation, which
Speaker 2: is like a one day thing to deal with property
Speaker 2: and family. I'd also in the meantime had quite a
Speaker 2: few meetings with my financial advisor. He has been amazing
Speaker 2: helping me with negotiations and stuff, and so I came
Speaker 2: out of that pretty well. I went in probably over prepared,
Speaker 2: but I think that's a better way to be. And
Speaker 2: he went in completely underprepared.
Speaker 4: And so that's a very media and com middle aged
Speaker 4: white man behavior exactly.
Speaker 2: So why should I prepare for this? You know the
Speaker 2: world will work for me, So I.
Speaker 4: Want to know, let's get into some nitty gritty questions.
Speaker 4: So I'm sure it will come back up. But now
Speaker 4: that you are getting back into your career, what do
Speaker 4: you do for it? How much money do you earn?
Speaker 2: So I'm a communications manager, I am on one hundred
Speaker 2: and three per year plus super.
Speaker 4: Oh how good is that? I mean, at the moment,
Speaker 4: you're probably like, oh, everything's so expensive, but like that
Speaker 4: is a great career trajectory. Yeah, I feel like there's
Speaker 4: a lot of room for growth, which is awesome. Where Like,
Speaker 4: and this is probably not a question that's like a
Speaker 4: kind question to us, but like, where do you think
Speaker 4: you would have been had you not, you know, put
Speaker 4: the brakes on your career back when you were making
Speaker 4: sacrifices so that he could earn three times more than you.
Speaker 2: Well, I know exactly where I would be because this
Speaker 2: is part of the research I did with going into
Speaker 2: my mediation. So my best friend and I graduated from
Speaker 2: the same degree at the same time. She's just recently
Speaker 2: had her first child, which, by the way, having kids
Speaker 2: in your thirties is a way better idea for so
Speaker 2: many reasons.
Speaker 4: But anyway, when I'm still not getting sleep and I'm tired,
Speaker 4: and you get to climb into your bed and no
Speaker 4: toddler is going to be in the middle, you'll be saying.
Speaker 2: Ha, try having an eight year old and a five
Speaker 2: year old in bed every night.
Speaker 4: It's that's right, you know what. I feel like you're
Speaker 4: living my dream.
Speaker 2: So she had an amazing stuff with her career. Not
Speaker 2: to take anything away from her, like she's brilliant what
Speaker 2: she does, but we had very similar you know, I
Speaker 2: would say work ethics and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: She is currently on two hundred and ten. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 2: you know, so that's the sacrifice I made in terms
Speaker 2: of being the one at home raising the children. And
Speaker 2: when I said that to him, he said, well, I
Speaker 2: didn't ask you to do that.
Speaker 4: I'm going to literally bunch you in the face. So weird.
Speaker 4: My hand just slipped and fell into your nose.
Speaker 2: Oh the milk coming out of your boobies wasn't that good?
Speaker 2: And your two days of paternity leave would not have
Speaker 2: gotten us very far.
Speaker 4: Oh, that's so weird that we had kids when it
Speaker 4: suited you and I was twenty seven and didn't think
Speaker 4: it was going to work, but we did. Yeah, so
Speaker 4: obviously that is actually a fantastic benchmark to have. And
Speaker 4: having these money conversations with your friend really empowered you
Speaker 4: to have a successful mediation, right, So, like, what were
Speaker 4: those conversations, Like, did you sit down with your friend
Speaker 4: and go hey, cool, like you are basically like we
Speaker 4: split off. It's like the superannuation ad where they're going
Speaker 4: up the escalators and that's really powerful. But like, what
Speaker 4: was that conversation like with your friend? Were you like,
Speaker 4: can you just tell me what you earn? WI wash
Speaker 4: you open to that? What did that looklag?
Speaker 2: Yeah? So she's obviously been there for me during this
Speaker 2: whole massive life change, and she knew that I was
Speaker 2: going to mediation and I literally just ragged her and
Speaker 2: I was like, hey, can you, like we all as
Speaker 2: women need to get better at talking about money and
Speaker 2: talking about this stuff. Can you tell me what you've
Speaker 2: earned in your last like three or four jobs? And
Speaker 2: she's like, Yep, when I was at this job, I
Speaker 2: earned this. When I was at this, I only at this.
Speaker 2: When I was at this, I owned this and I
Speaker 2: love that. And she's very similarly minded to me in
Speaker 2: terms of like we need to change this narrative for women,
Speaker 2: especially like let's not be like weird about money or
Speaker 2: weird about sex whatever, like let's just normalize everything. And
Speaker 2: so she was fully just like, Yep, anything else you
Speaker 2: need to know, you let me know.
Speaker 4: I can send you a pay slip for an example,
Speaker 4: I love her. Certainly tell me how that played into mediation, Like,
Speaker 4: what was that conversation? Like, I obviously thankfully haven't been
Speaker 4: through this process, but I know that it can be
Speaker 4: quite fick. Or is that something that you've said, well,
Speaker 4: actually i'd be here yep.
Speaker 2: So I said I would be there, and I said,
Speaker 2: to make up for that, I believe I deserve x amount. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: because we are both bad with money, we didn't really
Speaker 2: have much of a property pool to split. So I
Speaker 2: negotiated really hard for a good monthly payment because in Australia, unfortunately,
Speaker 2: this is another thing they don't teach you. They don't
Speaker 2: give you alimony, so you have to do it as
Speaker 2: child support. So that's what I negotiated for. So I
Speaker 2: negotiated for four thousand dollars a month from him, which
Speaker 2: I think for me puts me in a much better
Speaker 2: position in terms of lending capabilities and things like that.
Speaker 2: So I went in really armed with all that information.
Speaker 2: I also went in armed with what he is. Don't
Speaker 2: over that time, what you know when they'd break down
Speaker 2: those calculations of how much a woman like it's not
Speaker 2: just the amount of time that you spent out of
Speaker 2: the workforce. It's also the slower career progression because in
Speaker 2: the time that I was home with the kids. He
Speaker 2: progressed really rapidly in his career because he had the
Speaker 2: time and space to do that.
Speaker 4: When you're in mediation, did you talk about superannuation? Did
Speaker 4: you go she ate for any what did that look like?
Speaker 2: Yes? We did. This was again where he came in
Speaker 2: very unprepared.
Speaker 4: Get it, queen, I love this so much. I'm like
Speaker 4: deserved deserved.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean yeah, if you understood how like
Speaker 2: Beta I had been in my relationship, you would be like,
Speaker 2: who is this person? Like, I'm just like, let's take
Speaker 2: control of our life now.
Speaker 4: Oh no, he was shocked too, Yeah, exactly, that's what
Speaker 4: we want. We want to blindside him.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So when the subject of super was brought up,
Speaker 2: he was kind of like, what why do you get
Speaker 2: my super? Ah?
Speaker 4: I love this so much, and you're like, well, actually,
Speaker 4: here is the research, here.
Speaker 2: Is the reason why. Well and I didn't even have
Speaker 2: to say it. The mediator said it, which was even better,
Speaker 2: And I was like, you know, I took nine years
Speaker 2: out of full time work. My earning capacity, my earning potential,
Speaker 2: blah blah blah. And then he's like, yeah, but I'm
Speaker 2: eight years older, so I'm closer to retirement than you.
Speaker 2: And it was like, irrelevant.
Speaker 4: We had eight years more to think about this terrible decision,
Speaker 4: didn't you also, And.
Speaker 2: As the mediator pointed out, but you also still earn
Speaker 2: triple what she earns.
Speaker 4: I love this mediator, this mediator we know in the background.
Speaker 4: This mediator was like money darist, I'm on your team or.
Speaker 2: He was recommended by my lawyer for that reason.
Speaker 4: Iconic.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And so in the end, part of my negotiating
Speaker 2: was I negotiated for a higher figure for the monthly
Speaker 2: payment and said I want fifty percent of your super
Speaker 2: and he was like absolutely not to both. And I
Speaker 2: was like, okay, fine, what about an equalization of super.
Speaker 2: He was like, what does that even mean. I was like,
Speaker 2: silly boy, it means we join them together and then
Speaker 2: we split them in half. And he was like, okay, fine,
Speaker 2: we'll do that. But then the mediator said, well, actually,
Speaker 2: I don't think the call will sign off on that
Speaker 2: because that's not a fair division. So in the end,
Speaker 2: I've gotten sixty percent of you super.
Speaker 4: That's not a fair division. You asked for half and
Speaker 4: now you've got sixty percent of you super. I'm so sorry.
Speaker 4: I shouldn't laugh at this because obviously, like you know,
Speaker 4: there's two sides, or there's actually three sides to every story.
Speaker 4: But like you know, he deserves to be financially secure
Speaker 4: as well, of course, but like not going in prepared
Speaker 4: saying that fifty percent is not okay, continuing the conversation,
Speaker 4: ending up with forty percent. Oh, I love this. So
Speaker 4: you got sixty percent of your super.
Speaker 2: Yep, and now I need to work with my financial
Speaker 2: advisor about where we put that and how we put
Speaker 2: that in some super aggressive accounts to make sure that
Speaker 2: that's doing the most it can do.
Speaker 4: Yeah, oh my gosh, Like that is probably my favorite
Speaker 4: thing I've heard all day. So where does that put
Speaker 4: you in relation to the average superannuation balance.
Speaker 2: For your age? What is the average balance? I don't know.
Speaker 2: I think it will end me with about one hundred
Speaker 2: and eighty five thousand in super.
Speaker 4: Yah, So that puts you way above and beyond for
Speaker 4: your age because you're thirty five, So that means that
Speaker 4: you are doing really well. Ten out of ten this
Speaker 4: was an incredible story of resilience, preparation, and self advocacy.
Speaker 4: This diarist didn't just walk into mediation. She walked in
Speaker 4: ready to fight for what she deserved, and she didn't
Speaker 4: settle for less. The big takeaway here preparation is power.
Speaker 4: By taking the time to understand her worth financially and personally,
Speaker 4: and backing it up with facts, she turned what could
Speaker 4: have been a stressful, one sided process into a win
Speaker 4: for herself and her kids. It's also a really good
Speaker 4: reminder of the importance of surrounding yourself with a solid
Speaker 4: support system, whether that's a financial advisor or a trusted friend,
Speaker 4: or even both. Having people in your corner can help
Speaker 4: you build your case and boost your confidence, which makes
Speaker 4: all the difference. So if you're going through something similar,
Speaker 4: take a page from this Diarist's book. Know your worth,
Speaker 4: do your homework, and don't be afraid to advocate for
Speaker 4: yourself even when it is hard. You've got this and
Speaker 4: your future self is going to thank you for it.
Speaker 4: This next story is one that many of us need
Speaker 4: to hear, because, let's be honest, when it comes to
Speaker 4: financial planning, we don't always prepare for the unexpected. Our
Speaker 4: dire shares the tough reality of losing her mum and
Speaker 4: the challenges that followed despite her parents having a will
Speaker 4: in place. So if you've ever said, oh, my partner
Speaker 4: handles all the money stuff, or if you've avoided conversations
Speaker 4: about what happens when things might go wrong, this is
Speaker 4: the moment to lean in and listen.
Speaker 6: Mum kind of ran like all of our household finances,
Speaker 6: and my dad pretty much like wasn't really across any
Speaker 6: of it. He was just really focused.
Speaker 4: On making the money bringing it home. Mum will manage it.
Speaker 6: Yeah, exactly, Mum will look after it, and so he
Speaker 6: trusted her completely. And I feel like it's often the
Speaker 6: way around, Like I talk to friends who's like Dad's
Speaker 6: handled all the finances, but in my family, it was
Speaker 6: like my mum, which was kind of great that she
Speaker 6: was across it all. But when she passed away suddenly
Speaker 6: last year, it meant that Dad had a bit of
Speaker 6: a rude awakening. He had access to some of their accounts,
Speaker 6: or Mum thought she'd see everything up in a joint
Speaker 6: account structure, but after she died we realized that Dad
Speaker 6: had access to about three of the like ten accounts.
Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, and then that's a really big process of
Speaker 4: like applying for it to be released and like that's
Speaker 4: not what you need when you're buried in grief.
Speaker 6: No, it was quite a lot. And I think like
Speaker 6: because the amount of money and those accounts was substantially
Speaker 6: less than the other accounts. I mean, like we were
Speaker 6: fine because Dad was still earning, but it just put
Speaker 6: like unnecessary pressure on him, particularly around funeral expenses and
Speaker 6: everything else.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, and especially being really unexpected. You don't get
Speaker 4: that grace period of going, let's get our ducks in
Speaker 4: a row. We know this, you know awful thing is coming.
Speaker 4: We can you know, line everything up, Like when it's
Speaker 4: really sudden. You go from being absolutely fine one day
Speaker 4: to being not around and you can't even ask questions like,
Speaker 4: oh hey, Mum, is there anything like that we need
Speaker 4: to know, Like, you just don't get that grace.
Speaker 6: Probably not a good practice to She was quite good
Speaker 6: in the sense that she had this little read book
Speaker 6: of passwords.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, geniuses don't recommend that. I feel like
Speaker 4: that's the generation though I can almost guarantee my mum
Speaker 4: has one.
Speaker 6: Yes, Thank God for Mum's right with little passo books.
Speaker 4: You're like safety first, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 6: So that was definitely quite helpful because it meant temporarily
Speaker 6: we could kind of see what was going on, but
Speaker 6: then we went into probate, so all those extra accounts
Speaker 6: that Dad doesn't have, it's.
Speaker 2: All been locked up.
Speaker 6: It's been a bit of a rollercoaster of like Dad
Speaker 6: having to learn how to Internet bank and understanding how
Speaker 6: directivets work, and just like he kind of knew roughly
Speaker 6: what was coming in and going out, but he just
Speaker 6: felt like in a few months after mum died, he
Speaker 6: had been really like slammed with payments that he wasn't anticipating,
Speaker 6: so like, yeah, funeral costs and everything else, and then
Speaker 6: other big regular payments he didn't kind of know they
Speaker 6: were coming. So yeah, I think that's been like a
Speaker 6: massive learning curve for him, but also like a big
Speaker 6: eye opener for me.
Speaker 4: As like, yeah, his daughter just I don't know.
Speaker 6: I think it's so important that, I don't know, if
Speaker 6: you have a parent who doesn't know have it Internet bank,
Speaker 6: like make sure that they know what they're doing. It's
Speaker 6: so important not to have all the control with one
Speaker 6: party because you just don't know what life's going.
Speaker 1: To throw at you.
Speaker 4: That was such an eye opener. This story is a
Speaker 4: powerful reminder that financial preparedness isn't just about having a
Speaker 4: will or trusting one partner to handle the money. It's
Speaker 4: about making sure everyone involved knows how things work and
Speaker 4: where everything is. What's the big takeaway here. Preparation is
Speaker 4: about setting up your finances so that if the unexpected happens,
Speaker 4: your loved ones aren't left dealing with unnecessary stress or confusion.
Speaker 4: That means making sure your accounts are set out correctly,
Speaker 4: passwords are shared securely, and both partners are across the household,
Speaker 4: budget and finance systems. It's not an easy conversation to have,
Speaker 4: I promise, but it is worth it because when you're
Speaker 4: grieving or navigating a major life change, the last thing
Speaker 4: you want to do is figure out internet banking or
Speaker 4: dealing with probate red tape. So take this as a
Speaker 4: sign to sit down with your partner or your family
Speaker 4: and have those conversations. Make a plan. It's not about
Speaker 4: being morbid, It's about creating freedom and security for the
Speaker 4: people you love. My friends. That wraps us up to
Speaker 4: the end of our episode. What I love most about
Speaker 4: money diaries is how they show us that no matter
Speaker 4: where you're starting from, there is always, always, always a
Speaker 4: way forward, whether it's overcoming a financial struggle, building some resilience,
Speaker 4: or simply learning to take the next step. These stories
Speaker 4: remind us that financial empowerment is never a one size
Speaker 4: fits all journey. It's yours to define. And if you
Speaker 4: are hungry for more money stories and looking for a
Speaker 4: holiday read I heard that Money Diaries with Shees on
Speaker 4: the Money is the perfect book for you. It's packed
Speaker 4: with even more inspiring, jaw dropping and relatable stories from
Speaker 4: people just like you. Whether you're lounging by the beach
Speaker 4: or you're curled up at home, it'll keep you entertained, inspired,
Speaker 4: and maybe even just a little bit nosy and my
Speaker 4: friends With that. That is our last episode for twenty
Speaker 4: twenty four. Thank you so much for tuning in, for
Speaker 4: sharing the love and being part of this incredible community.
Speaker 4: I'm going to be back in the new year with
Speaker 4: even more stories, more tips, and more ways to help
Speaker 4: you take control of your money and live your best life.
Speaker 4: I'll see you then, my loves. The advice shared on
Speaker 4: She's on the Money is general in nature and does
Speaker 4: not consider your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists
Speaker 4: purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon
Speaker 4: to make an investment or financial decision. If you do
Speaker 4: choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS TMD
Speaker 4: and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria
Speaker 4: Divine and She's on the Money are all authorized representatives
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