Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yor
Speaker 1: the Order KERNI Whoaltbury 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 2: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money Podcast Millennials
Speaker 2: who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another one of
Speaker 2: our Money Diaries episodes where we get to talk to
Speaker 2: one of our incredible She's on the Money community members
Speaker 2: all about their money story. Let's jump straight into it
Speaker 2: because this week I got an email and it sounded
Speaker 2: exactly like this. Hi, Victoria, love the pod and that
Speaker 2: She's on the Money team. Our story is very different
Speaker 2: and represents how we have overcome obstacles. We are a
Speaker 2: family of six who have primarily lived off one income
Speaker 2: for twelve years. We've lived and worked in rural and
Speaker 2: remote communities as teachers and principles. Our plan was to
Speaker 2: save and get back to the city. By the time
Speaker 2: our kids were in high school. We were getting ahead
Speaker 2: while our expenses were low until our baby girl got
Speaker 2: cancer at the age of three. This meant we had
Speaker 2: to shift to a major city center at a second's
Speaker 2: notice and never return to our then home. Now, after
Speaker 2: not one but two cancer diagnoses, our daughter is cancer free,
Speaker 2: smiling and thriving. Not only that, but we have just
Speaker 2: bought our second house. I'm working, and we are teaching
Speaker 2: our kids the value of investing and goal setting. Our
Speaker 2: story is a complex one, but we believe that there
Speaker 2: is a valuable message in never giving up and being
Speaker 2: able to pivot the goalposts. We can't wait to share
Speaker 2: it with the Shees on the Money Community Money Doris,
Speaker 2: that is a roller coaster.
Speaker 3: How are you? Oh goodness, I'm a big teary now
Speaker 3: and that doesn't happen very often.
Speaker 2: Oh we got you?
Speaker 3: Good. Yeah, I'm not an emotional person. You are? You
Speaker 3: are deep down? I got you. I got you.
Speaker 2: But isn't it strange hearing back your money story and
Speaker 2: being like, holy moly, like we are actually so impressive,
Speaker 2: Like that's crazy.
Speaker 3: Honestly, I said to my husband, I don't even remember
Speaker 3: what I wrote in because there's so much to talk about. So, yeah,
Speaker 3: that was really surreal.
Speaker 2: Oh well, I'm glad it gives you a little bit
Speaker 2: of a point of reflection. I cannot wait to hear
Speaker 2: about your daughter. But before we get there, I want
Speaker 2: to know what grade would you give your money how, Betsy,
Speaker 2: If I asked you to give them a grade from
Speaker 2: A through to.
Speaker 3: F, my first instinct was a C plus.
Speaker 2: You know me better than that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel like we're going to have to rejuggle
Speaker 3: that a little bit.
Speaker 2: That's okay, let's go with a C plus and we're
Speaker 2: going to learn a bit about you and we can
Speaker 2: talk about it at the end. Money, darrist, I need
Speaker 2: to know a bit more. Can you tell me in
Speaker 2: a bit more detail about your money story?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Okay, So childhood, I don't have a whole lot
Speaker 3: to say. We didn't talk a lot about money in
Speaker 3: my household, and I knew little bit so I knew
Speaker 3: my dad earned more, I knew we weren't well off.
Speaker 3: I was constantly comparing myself to other families and what
Speaker 3: they were doing. But we got by. We did all
Speaker 3: the things. We had family holidays, so local beaches and things,
Speaker 3: and then kind of in my teenage years, my parents
Speaker 3: had breaking up on and off, so that was really tough,
Speaker 3: and I guess things were juggled around a little bit more.
Speaker 3: Things were never super dier either. They could put food
Speaker 3: on the table. We were educated, so there's nothing drastic
Speaker 3: there other than the couple of you know, family breakdowns.
Speaker 3: But then when we got into our teenage years, I
Speaker 3: started to realize that I needed to have a job
Speaker 3: to kind of do the things that I wanted to do.
Speaker 3: So by fourteen and nine months, I got my first
Speaker 3: job and that's where I met my husband. Oh really
Speaker 3: that young? Yes, very so special. Yeah. So I had
Speaker 3: been working at Coals. He worked at Coals as well,
Speaker 3: and then I was also working as an assistant at
Speaker 3: my local dance studio which I danced at and got
Speaker 3: all my lessons for free. So that was a burden.
Speaker 2: Oh that's a money win.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So that happened actually earlier, from about twelve, and
Speaker 3: my parents didn't have to pay for my lessons anymore.
Speaker 3: So that was a huge help because dancing is expensive.
Speaker 2: Ah. Yes, as a dance child, it was a lot
Speaker 2: and there were three of us. Oh my gosh, yes,
Speaker 2: it was a lot. Mum and dad were probably like,
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, thank you money diarist for taking one
Speaker 2: for the team.
Speaker 3: Exactly. So I did that and that actually got me
Speaker 3: a job as well from eighteen. So I did start
Speaker 3: teaching my own studios from that point. But even before
Speaker 3: that happened, I actually got proposed to when I was seventeen,
Speaker 3: so I was still in high school.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, you just a baby.
Speaker 3: Yes, so we were babies. My husband was three years older,
Speaker 3: so he was nine. Oh he was twenty at the time. Actually,
Speaker 3: oh big dog.
Speaker 2: At that time. I feel like the age difference, it
Speaker 2: feels a lot more different. Now you've probably two peas
Speaker 2: in a pod. But at the time you were like, ooh,
Speaker 2: this older boy is proposing to me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's pretty wild that that happened.
Speaker 2: Now, No, but seriously, I need to know what possesses
Speaker 2: a twenty year old man to propose to someone in
Speaker 2: high school.
Speaker 3: What's he doing? In hindsight, I have no idea.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I mean, he wasn't wrong like it
Speaker 2: worked out, like when you know, you know, like, sir,
Speaker 2: where's your brain at?
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that was exactly where my dad's brain at.
Speaker 3: Was that when he got sat down with this young
Speaker 3: twenty year old for a coffee and was being asked
Speaker 3: if he could marry his daughter.
Speaker 2: I mean he did it properly. That's kind of cute.
Speaker 2: My dad said, No, your dad's a smart man. I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm not against it, but like, I just think, at seventeen,
Speaker 2: you're still a baby, Like, there's so much life to
Speaker 2: be had.
Speaker 3: So what happened?
Speaker 2: You didn't get married at seventeen.
Speaker 3: We got engaged before graduation and we got married. I
Speaker 3: was nineteen oh, so you had.
Speaker 2: A bit of time between getting engaged and then getting married.
Speaker 3: A little bit but still a baby. So yeah. Then
Speaker 3: after I finished Grade twelve, my parents and my sisters
Speaker 3: moved to Sydney. So at that point I was not
Speaker 3: going with them because I was engaged and you know,
Speaker 3: had my whole life planned out supposedly.
Speaker 2: What did that look?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 2: I have to ask, I really have to ask. So
Speaker 2: when you're like I remember me at nineteen, I don't
Speaker 2: trust nineteen year old Victoria like I do not like
Speaker 2: I look at it and I just go other people
Speaker 2: maybe much better than me. Me though, can't be trusted.
Speaker 2: So you look back when you were planning things, was
Speaker 2: it very I guess tunnel visioned, were you're like, no,
Speaker 2: this is the life I want, this is how it's
Speaker 2: going to be, and is that how has become or
Speaker 2: has it completely shifted?
Speaker 3: I think it then it was very tunnel vision. I
Speaker 3: don't remember even considering going to Sydney. It was just
Speaker 3: always I'm going to stay here, I'm going to go
Speaker 3: to UNI, I'm going to keep working my jobs, and
Speaker 3: I'm going to stay with my partner. And I don't
Speaker 3: remember there being a lot of pushback on that, so
Speaker 3: I guess my parents just went, yeah, Okay, that's the
Speaker 3: way it's going to be. You can come visit. So yeah,
Speaker 3: that's the way we went. I moved in with my
Speaker 3: husband's parents and his family for a little while before
Speaker 3: we got our own rental. He pretty much managed the
Speaker 3: money from there. He's always had an Excel spreadsheet, and
Speaker 3: from that point on our finances were joined, which I
Speaker 3: feel then wasn't uncommon as partnerships. We just combined our
Speaker 3: money and that was the normal as now we look
Speaker 3: back and go, oh, I don't know if that was
Speaker 3: kind of the best thing to do for our own
Speaker 3: financial freedom. Separately, but in saying that we're still making
Speaker 3: it work.
Speaker 2: I was gonna say it's worked out. I mean in hinds,
Speaker 2: hindsight's a beautiful thing, right, Like, I look back, I
Speaker 2: wouldn't have gotten into forty thousand dollars worth of personal
Speaker 2: debt by twenty two. That's nice. But at the same time,
Speaker 2: I think we're just doing the best that we can
Speaker 2: with the tools and resources that we have, and it
Speaker 2: wasn't the worst decision. But at the same time, you're
Speaker 2: kind of like, well, actually, if I was to give
Speaker 2: someone else advice, I'd say, maybe have your own emergency fund,
Speaker 2: maybe have your own debit cards. But like, I don't know,
Speaker 2: you're young and in love. I totally get it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And that's what we did. We went for it,
Speaker 3: and it has worked out, so that's good. My husband
Speaker 3: finished UNI and he worked as a teacher, and we
Speaker 3: made it. When things work, we got a rental, we
Speaker 3: moved out, We spent a lot of savings on you know,
Speaker 3: furniture and all of those things, and just lived paycheck
Speaker 3: to paycheck working out life as a young couple. That
Speaker 3: was until we got married and we were pregnant with
Speaker 3: our first child. So I was nineteen, he was twenty two.
Speaker 3: We weren't quite ready for that adventure, but that's the
Speaker 3: adventure that we were put on.
Speaker 2: Did you say you got pregnant and then married or
Speaker 2: you got married and then pregnant straight away.
Speaker 3: I was eleven weeks pregnant when I got married, so
Speaker 3: we had found out just before the wedding.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, but that's kind of cute. I mean, in hindsight,
Speaker 2: terrifying because you were so young, but at the same time, like,
Speaker 2: I'm such a baby person, so I would have just
Speaker 2: been like whoo.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Then because of money difficulties and just you know,
Speaker 3: preparing for a child and not really knowing what we
Speaker 3: were doing, my mom and my sisters had actually moved
Speaker 3: back to our town at that point, and we decided
Speaker 3: to move back into them because they had a downstairs
Speaker 3: space that we could utilize.
Speaker 2: And that is so good, especially because like babies are
Speaker 2: so expensive, especially if you're not planning one, and then
Speaker 2: suddenly you're like, okay, You're you're going to be a
Speaker 2: family of three, Like that would have taken so much
Speaker 2: pressure off, even just having extra sets of hands around.
Speaker 3: And that was it. The night we brought our first
Speaker 3: child home, he was crying, he wasn't feeding well, and
Speaker 3: kind of Mum was just there to be like, he's fine,
Speaker 3: he's had some milk, it's okay. So yeah, it was
Speaker 3: good to have the reassurance in all of those things
Speaker 3: as a first time mum too, because.
Speaker 2: You just don't know what.
Speaker 3: You don't know, no, and whether you're nineteen or forty
Speaker 3: two having your first child, you just don't know.
Speaker 2: Or thirty three and me, I had literally no clue.
Speaker 2: And like, don't get me wrong, I adore babies. I've
Speaker 2: always been somebody that looks at babies and go, that's
Speaker 2: so nice, like one day, but the second you bring
Speaker 2: them home and they're yours, I'm like, how did you
Speaker 2: let me out of the hospital without a license?
Speaker 3: Exactly? Yeah, what do you mean?
Speaker 2: I'm just expected to care for this child and know
Speaker 2: what it needs?
Speaker 3: Like, oh, I know, definitely need a license. You need
Speaker 3: a license for a lot of things in this world,
Speaker 3: but being a parent is not one of them.
Speaker 2: Exactly. So moved in with my and then what happened.
Speaker 2: You've got a newborn.
Speaker 3: We have a newborn. I keep working as a dance teacher.
Speaker 3: So within two weeks I was back teaching.
Speaker 2: Sorry what you were teaching dance? Two weeks Postpardem.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we didn't have a lot of choice in that regard.
Speaker 3: We just got back to it and I was very
Speaker 3: calm and collected and took the baby with me and
Speaker 3: my husband would pick him up from class and that worked.
Speaker 3: And I've actually done that with two of my four children.
Speaker 2: But you also loved it, So like two weeks postpardem,
Speaker 2: as long as you're not doing anything too strenuous, like
Speaker 2: I'm sure I won't say it's okay, it's okay for you,
Speaker 2: and I mean, don't get me wrong, pot calling the
Speaker 2: kettle black. I went back to work so quickly, but
Speaker 2: it's yeah, individual.
Speaker 3: That's right. So yeah, we did that for a while.
Speaker 3: Life was pretty good. My husband was working as a teacher,
Speaker 3: finances were stable. Then he gets offered a permanent position,
Speaker 3: but not in our local town. We had to move
Speaker 3: to a regional town in quinn Land for that opportunity,
Speaker 3: and we had to enter the rental market again and
Speaker 3: just you know, there were extra expenses with doing all
Speaker 3: of that. I was jobless because I had to leave
Speaker 3: my jobs. So we knew we were going to do
Speaker 3: it. It was just how we were going to make it work.
Speaker 2: And what drove that? So like, obviously that sounds like
Speaker 2: a really good opportunity for him, but going from having
Speaker 2: him working and you working and all of that support
Speaker 2: was the driver furthering his career or was it, you know,
Speaker 2: an income that was much higher than both of your
Speaker 2: incomes were combined, Like what made you go, this is
Speaker 2: actually the best thing for our family.
Speaker 3: It was the permanency with the department that was the
Speaker 3: driving factor in teaching. And I feel like it's changed
Speaker 3: a little bit now, But back then it was always
Speaker 3: that you should do your country service as a teacher,
Speaker 3: and he hadn't had permanency in our city yet, so
Speaker 3: he was going from con to contract, doing a year here,
Speaker 3: six months there. So it was the permanency. He knew
Speaker 3: he would do his three years country service and then
Speaker 3: get back to our main city. However, when we got there,
Speaker 3: his school that he was placed at was very challenging.
Speaker 2: No, and you've just taken all of these risks and
Speaker 2: then it's not good.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and he could handle the classroom. It was more
Speaker 3: that there was no support from the admin staff or
Speaker 3: the community as such either, so he was in a
Speaker 3: hard place, not enjoying his job. I had two children
Speaker 3: by that point, so I was at home, but also
Speaker 3: starting off in a new dance studio that opened up
Speaker 3: up there, So I didn't really feel like I noticed
Speaker 3: how his mental health was because I was so busy
Speaker 3: with the household stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent, and you're just trying to keep
Speaker 2: it all together. But then also you've probably got in general,
Speaker 2: a stressed husband, coming home, working late, doing all of that.
Speaker 2: It's very hard to keep everything in check.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and coming home and wanting to spend time with
Speaker 3: the boys and his family and you know, trying to
Speaker 3: fit as much in as possible. So he decided that
Speaker 3: he was going to try to become a principal instead
Speaker 3: of a teacher. So he did a couple of courses
Speaker 3: to make that happen and ended up getting posted very
Speaker 3: quickly out to very remote Queensland. So we were kind
Speaker 3: of between long Reach and the Northern Territory border, so
Speaker 3: it was two hours to get to long Reach, and
Speaker 3: I did that weekly just to go to playgroup.
Speaker 2: Two hours for playgroup.
Speaker 3: For a playgroup. Yes. However, expenses were low, so we
Speaker 3: paid thirty six dollars a fortnight for a small two
Speaker 3: bedroom Donna type accommodation.
Speaker 2: Thirty six dollars a fortnight. All right, I'm sorry, Sorry,
Speaker 2: it's sounding much better now.
Speaker 3: Yes. It was a town of twenty people when we
Speaker 3: moved in, so it was very very tiny. The school
Speaker 3: had five children total from prep to grade six.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Wow, that's not even one kid per class.
Speaker 3: No, so it was very small, but it was eye opening.
Speaker 3: It was something that not a lot of people in
Speaker 3: Australia get to do, so we're very grateful to have
Speaker 3: had that opportunity when we did, so it was amazing.
Speaker 3: And then from there we moved to a small town
Speaker 3: between Rocky and Mackay. So we spent three years there
Speaker 3: and our rent was still very cheap, which was lovely.
Speaker 3: We had a nice house, but it was still an
Speaker 3: hour and a half drive to get my son to
Speaker 3: KINDI that year, so we did that five days a
Speaker 3: fortnite and people go, oh, my goodness, you were crazy.
Speaker 3: Why would you do that drive. But at the time
Speaker 3: my son had speech delays and we felt that it
Speaker 3: was important to get him socialized.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent. And also, like your values are overlaying
Speaker 2: with everything else. Like I feel like for some people
Speaker 2: they say, oh, an hour and a half, that's unhinged.
Speaker 3: But then on the.
Speaker 2: Flip side, there are people that I know that drive
Speaker 2: an hour and a half every morning to go to
Speaker 2: their nine to five job. And they do that every
Speaker 2: morning and every night, so they're in the car at
Speaker 2: least three out like because not because they have to,
Speaker 2: because they want to live in a certain location and
Speaker 2: then drive to work. Like, we all just make a
Speaker 2: decision that's right for us, Like, it doesn't mean it's wrong.
Speaker 2: It just means that some people might not want to
Speaker 2: do that, And that's cool if it's not for you,
Speaker 2: But I'm glad it worked out for you guys.
Speaker 3: So yeah, they were financial benefits of doing that as well.
Speaker 3: So there was a race payment for living in a
Speaker 3: remote area, and that meant that twice a year we
Speaker 3: got like a couple of thousand dollars kind of like
Speaker 3: a bonus, I guess, and it was per person, so
Speaker 3: my husband and I would get let's say a thousand dollars,
Speaker 3: and then for each child you might get five hundred
Speaker 3: and yeah. It was just a really nice community as well,
Speaker 3: so we really enjoyed our time there. But coming up
Speaker 3: to three years, my husband felt like he was ready
Speaker 3: for a chain, so we did move to a larger
Speaker 3: school where he was a teaching principal as well, and
Speaker 3: then eventually got to it open up a new high school,
Speaker 3: which was very cool. He got on really well with
Speaker 3: the staff at that school and they opened up. They
Speaker 3: had two grades to start with, and really felt like
Speaker 3: we were going to stay there for a long time
Speaker 3: until our kids started high school, which was really lovely.
Speaker 3: Our kids. We had three children by that point, fourth
Speaker 3: on the way.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. Four babies.
Speaker 3: Four babies, yes, yeah, so it's a pretty crazy life.
Speaker 2: No, I love it. I love it.
Speaker 3: We love it.
Speaker 2: I've only got one, but I'm already like, so can
Speaker 2: we have more?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, more babies. We love babies.
Speaker 2: I think it's so crazy because so many people are like,
Speaker 2: are you.
Speaker 3: One and done?
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh no, I'm one and more. Like this
Speaker 2: has just told me that I need more of these
Speaker 2: so bad.
Speaker 3: So special.
Speaker 2: So you had three babies and you're pregnant.
Speaker 3: Yes, my last one came in a bit of a hurry.
Speaker 3: We did go into the hospital. I went by myself
Speaker 3: with my two children who weren't yet at school. Then
Speaker 3: they said, no, you're not going anywhere.
Speaker 2: You have to stay, but I have two toddlers following
Speaker 2: me around.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think after school, my husband came to
Speaker 3: pick up the two toddlers and then we had a
Speaker 3: baby like the next day, which was wild. We had
Speaker 3: to get people who I didn't know very well to
Speaker 3: look after the other children at our house.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that would have been a bit stressful, you
Speaker 2: would have been. I just want to go home. I
Speaker 2: just want all my babies under one roof, and I
Speaker 2: want to look after them, thank you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And we were just trying to figure out our
Speaker 3: finances and how that was all going to look. I
Speaker 3: actually got back to work that year, and I came
Speaker 3: back as a relief teacher.
Speaker 2: Sorry, four babies and she's back at work.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So I put my littlest one in daycare and
Speaker 3: my third child was in like a pre Kindy class
Speaker 3: at that point, so she was going to do two
Speaker 3: years at Kindy. So life was getting back on track,
Speaker 3: was becoming more normal. I was getting some adult time
Speaker 3: at my job.
Speaker 2: I need you've gotten to the point where you're like,
Speaker 2: four kids, I think we're done. So we're through that
Speaker 2: like baby phase or was this like you're just not sure?
Speaker 2: Like I feel like there's a mental shift with people
Speaker 2: when they're like, no, we're now done having babies, so
Speaker 2: you kind of like can go a little bit mentally,
Speaker 2: you get a bit more space.
Speaker 3: That's right. Yeah, and we were definitely at that point.
Speaker 3: My husband was definitely done. And yeah, we knew we
Speaker 3: wanted four from the very beginning, so we're like, nope, four,
Speaker 3: that's it. And we didn't have an easy journey either.
Speaker 3: We did have a few miscarriages amongst the four, so
Speaker 3: it was in no way, you know, an easy journey,
Speaker 3: and people you know, often said why, like you've got
Speaker 3: two beautiful babies or three beautiful babies.
Speaker 2: Literally get in the bin. Like I hate when people
Speaker 2: just don't justify it. It's a it's a really shitty
Speaker 2: thing that happens. I don't want to hear be grateful
Speaker 2: for what you've already got. Like, I totally get that,
Speaker 2: and I totally understand the flip side that there are
Speaker 2: people out there who have it worse. I get that,
Speaker 2: but that does not take away from the fact that
Speaker 2: the thing I'm experiencing is challenging for me.
Speaker 3: Like, oh yeah, and it's more talked about now, which
Speaker 3: is amazing. So yeah, I'm really grateful that people are
Speaker 3: able to talk about I'm grateful that I'm able to
Speaker 3: open up to other people and say, oh, that actually
Speaker 3: happened to me. But I just didn't talk about it
Speaker 3: at that stage because it wasn't as spoken about even
Speaker 3: five years ago.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent. And it's like this shitty club that
Speaker 2: no one wants to be a part of. But then
Speaker 2: when it happens to you, you say, oh my gosh, Like,
Speaker 2: maybe you didn't talk about it personally, but you've probably
Speaker 2: noticed that if somebody else mentions it to you, you go, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: that happened to me. They go, wait, what, Like you
Speaker 2: just don't realize how many people in your community are
Speaker 2: going through the same things. It's why we have to
Speaker 2: talk about it more often, because when I was going
Speaker 2: through that, I felt so alone, had no idea that
Speaker 2: it was so common. But when I started talking about it,
Speaker 2: people are like, yeah, me too. I was like, sorry,
Speaker 2: what people in my literal family that I had no
Speaker 2: idea had been through exactly the same thing.
Speaker 3: Because it's so common too, and yeah, it's just not
Speaker 3: spoken about enough. But we're starting to shift, which is
Speaker 3: very good. So yeah, things were getting back on track
Speaker 3: and we felt like we were able to well, we
Speaker 3: had been saving. I'm not going to say we weren't saving.
Speaker 3: We were always The plan was always to save while
Speaker 3: we were living more cheaply in rural Queensland, and then
Speaker 3: by twenty twenty four we were planning to move back
Speaker 3: to our major city to put our kids through high
Speaker 3: school and give them the most opportunities with sport and
Speaker 3: recreation activities and friendship groups and being back home to
Speaker 3: where our family were as well was really important. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and kids once they get to teenage years, like
Speaker 2: being rural would be so challenging.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, and we really wanted to be back where
Speaker 3: we knew, maybe even send our kids to the same
Speaker 3: school that we went to because we did have good experiences.
Speaker 3: They were so cute. Yeah, So that was always the plan.
Speaker 3: So we could see our savings increase and we could
Speaker 3: see what was going on. Until my daughter was diagnosed
Speaker 3: with cancer and it was a soft tissued cancer that
Speaker 3: grew behind her right eye. It was very aggressive and
Speaker 3: fast growing, so they had to get on top of
Speaker 3: it really quickly, and she started chemo by the Saturday
Speaker 3: that week, oh my god. Yeah, and had a couple
Speaker 3: of other general anesthetics between the Wednesday and the Saturday,
Speaker 3: so that was really stressful. We lived in a hospital
Speaker 3: for that week. I actually thought we were going to
Speaker 3: stay in the hospital for the full kind of nine
Speaker 3: to twelve months that they told us we would be
Speaker 3: stuck there because I didn't know. I didn't know what,
Speaker 3: you know, a cancer diagnosis looked like. So that's when
Speaker 3: our world really turned upside down. My husband immediately went
Speaker 3: into logistics because he was still in Regional Queensland working
Speaker 3: sending our older boys to school. So it was a
Speaker 3: really really terrifying time health wise, but so logistically yeah,
Speaker 3: of course we ended up having to stay in Brisbane
Speaker 3: for the duration of that cancer treatment. She was given
Speaker 3: six months of chemo and radiation and in that time
Speaker 3: our savings took a big hit.
Speaker 2: Of course they did. Even just like all the small
Speaker 2: things like parking and buying food at the hospital that's
Speaker 2: overpriced because hospital food is trash and few and far between,
Speaker 2: Like all of those things just add up so quickly
Speaker 2: that you would feel buried almost.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So it was very much felt like that, and
Speaker 3: we were very lucky in the way that people would
Speaker 3: help out. They would help out by having my youngest child,
Speaker 3: which was huge help, and they would send uber eats
Speaker 3: vouchers or you know, things like that, and we actually
Speaker 3: did stay in a charity house.
Speaker 2: That's actually such a good present on the side, like
Speaker 2: if anyone's going through that, they're in the hospital, like
Speaker 2: you send them er eats vouchers, Like, don't bring them food,
Speaker 2: give them an umer eats voucher so they can order
Speaker 2: what they want, when they want, and how they want
Speaker 2: to do it. Iconic recommendation.
Speaker 3: That's till we tell people now, Yeah, one.
Speaker 2: Hundred percent, So tell me you stayed in a charity house.
Speaker 3: We did, Yes, So we lived in a charity called
Speaker 3: Childhood Cancer Support and they offered housing free of charge
Speaker 3: to any family who have a child going through a
Speaker 3: cancer diagnosis. So we were very very lucky that we
Speaker 3: were in a small apartment, but got moved to a
Speaker 3: house very very quickly in our stay because we are
Speaker 3: a larger family.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent. Even just finding accommodation that's appropriate
Speaker 2: would have been challenging.
Speaker 3: And there was the option of us splitting up so
Speaker 3: that my husband would stay in our home up north
Speaker 3: and my daughter and I would stayed Dowt in Brisbane,
Speaker 3: but it just wasn't an option. We were told by
Speaker 3: medical staff that you want to all be together because
Speaker 3: it is going to be a challenging road. So we
Speaker 3: did decide to do that. We stayed in the charity house.
Speaker 3: We live very cheaply on the side of the hospital life,
Speaker 3: even though things were very expensive, but it did mean
Speaker 3: that my husband could continue working and hopefully be able
Speaker 3: to save a little bit on the side as well,
Speaker 3: just to keep our goals kind of ticking along, even
Speaker 3: just a little bit, so that will happen. That was
Speaker 3: six months. My daughter did really well through treatment. I
Speaker 3: say that and I'm like, oh, did she do well?
Speaker 3: But she did. She was as healthy as what a
Speaker 3: cancer patient could be.
Speaker 2: But did you do well?
Speaker 3: How were you?
Speaker 2: Because like, she's going through this and like not to
Speaker 2: minimize it at all, but kids don't know what's going on.
Speaker 2: They just look to their parent and go if you're
Speaker 2: okay with this, I guess I'm okay with this, Like
Speaker 2: what's going on? And so you're trying to be like
Speaker 2: the rock of this family for this child and three
Speaker 2: other children and your husband. How did you deal with that?
Speaker 3: I think she was the rock really. I think because
Speaker 3: she was so smiley, she was so happy. She just
Speaker 3: did not really stop. It really made it hard for
Speaker 3: us to kind of be completely broken.
Speaker 2: She's just like, what's up, guys, It's all good, Like
Speaker 2: it's all good. Are we just going to do this?
Speaker 2: And then do you think that we could play?
Speaker 3: Yeah? And for a three year old, she didn't know
Speaker 3: any different. Like even now, she still thinks that her
Speaker 3: hospital life is normal. That everybody does that. Everybody does that.
Speaker 3: That's three. They just spend six months of their life
Speaker 3: in the hospital getting all my honey chemo pumped into
Speaker 3: you and vomiting and you know, doing all the awful things.
Speaker 3: That's a whole other podcast. There's lots of things. But overall,
Speaker 3: she did okay, and she finished up six months later
Speaker 3: and we had a beautiful Christmas together. We were able
Speaker 3: to leave the bubble. So the bubble you have to
Speaker 3: stay within half an hour of the hospital that you're
Speaker 3: at while you're on cancer treatment because if things go wrong,
Speaker 3: they need to be able to get antibiotics into you
Speaker 3: very very quickly. So we actually did do a trip
Speaker 3: up to where we moved from.
Speaker 2: That would have been so nice.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So it was really really nice to see everybody
Speaker 3: and for her to see her Kindey friend and things
Speaker 3: like that. And she started KINDI in the new year
Speaker 3: and made some new friends and everything was going really
Speaker 3: well until again about May, things started changing again and
Speaker 3: everyone told me, you're seeing things I don't. I'm not
Speaker 3: seeing what you're seeing. I think it's okay? Was this
Speaker 3: medical professionals? I did go she got hands, foot in mouth,
Speaker 3: and I presented to the ed with her and I said,
Speaker 3: look at her. I right eye doesn't always match up
Speaker 3: to her left. It kind of looks off to another
Speaker 3: direction a little bit. It was a major I understand that.
Speaker 3: And he said, nope, it's aalk good. I've checked her eyes.
Speaker 3: It's talk good. Then the next week she had a
Speaker 3: doctor's appointment with her ophthalmologist, her normal ophthomologist, who we love,
Speaker 3: and she said, oh, no, we can fix that. We'll
Speaker 3: fix that with surgery later. All good. The scams came back, okay.
Speaker 2: Okay, but I still feel like something's off.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I rang out oncologist and she was already
Speaker 3: due for her three monthly scams, so he said, let's
Speaker 3: bring the scans forward. It ended up being about a
Speaker 3: week early, and he gave me every reason under the
Speaker 3: sun why it would not be the cancer. It was
Speaker 3: fluid sitting behind the eye. It had been caused by
Speaker 3: the radiation that she'd received, because she had received twenty
Speaker 3: eight rounds of radiation, which is quite a lot for
Speaker 3: a little body. She could have a virus, she could
Speaker 3: have any number of things, not cancer though, But no,
Speaker 3: it was again a Monday night and it was back.
Speaker 3: It was the same size that it was no a
Speaker 3: year before, and yeah, we were thrown back into it,
Speaker 3: and I could tell people were panicked. The oncologist is
Speaker 3: usually very calm, very.
Speaker 2: Collected, so ye, it's their job, right, like as much
Speaker 2: as it's stressful, Like they know how to deal with this.
Speaker 3: And he was a bit more scattered. He was throwing
Speaker 3: words out there. He was like chemo, radiation, surgery, he
Speaker 3: was throwing out all the options, and I was like,
Speaker 3: I don't know what you're talking about. So she ended
Speaker 3: up having more scans done that week. We saw the
Speaker 3: surgical team later on and they told us that we
Speaker 3: would have to remove her right eye to remove the cancer.
Speaker 3: So we were thrown very quickly back into the whirlwind
Speaker 3: of me not being able to work, not having somewhere
Speaker 3: to live because now the charity wasn't an option because
Speaker 3: we decided to stay in Brisbane, so we had to
Speaker 3: try to come up with the rent while only being
Speaker 3: on one income again. And we could just see that,
Speaker 3: you know, again, our goals were going backwards and backwards
Speaker 3: and backwards, which was really hard. We kept doing what
Speaker 3: we were doing. I tried to work in between cycles
Speaker 3: of chemotherapy, which did work. I was very very grateful.
Speaker 3: We have a beautiful family who will have my youngest
Speaker 3: son regularly so that I could go to work. They
Speaker 3: were so helpful, not just because they're beautiful people, just financially.
Speaker 3: It has put us ahead.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent because child care, you wouldn't have been
Speaker 2: able to go to work, like, especially if you were
Speaker 2: working casually in between chemo, like, the amount of money
Speaker 2: it would have cost you to put him into daycare
Speaker 2: to then go to it, it would have just set you
Speaker 2: back even further. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3: So, yeah, it was really really hard, and my daughter
Speaker 3: we're going to get back onto finances.
Speaker 2: I know. No, it's okay, like it's such an important story.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So she had nine months of chemo again. So
Speaker 3: the first time she had six months. This time it
Speaker 3: was nine months on a high risk protocol, so things
Speaker 3: were a lot worse this time. Her side effects were awful, awful.
Speaker 3: She wouldn't wake up for days, she wouldn't eat, she
Speaker 3: wouldn't drink, and every single cycle was delayed because she
Speaker 3: was too unwell to start the next cycle. So things
Speaker 3: just got super duper delayed in all of her treatment,
Speaker 3: and she was really unwell, which was really challenging. It
Speaker 3: wasn't until she had a break from chemo that she
Speaker 3: was able to kind of come back to life reset.
Speaker 3: They pumped some blood into her to kind of keep
Speaker 3: her going all the time. But then they had to
Speaker 3: do surgery, so we had to remove her right eye
Speaker 3: to get to the tumor. So she's now a little
Speaker 3: girl who wears an eye patch because underneath that eye
Speaker 3: patch is a hole.
Speaker 2: Basically is that going to heal over time and we can,
Speaker 2: you know, get a process or something organized.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So she does have a prosthetic at the moment,
Speaker 3: and she's getting a second one made. It's not as simple.
Speaker 2: No, you can't just whack one in and call it
Speaker 2: a day.
Speaker 3: No. So if you lose your eyeball, for example, they
Speaker 3: making you an eyeball and you can slot that into
Speaker 3: the eye socket with the eyelid keeping it in and whatnot.
Speaker 3: But for my daughter, she doesn't have an eyelid, so
Speaker 3: it's her whole eye socket that has been removed, so
Speaker 3: it's kind of like a ping pong ball size hole
Speaker 3: where her eye should be. And they did take a
Speaker 3: flap of skin from her leg as a skin graft,
Speaker 3: so it's all the skin in there. It's kept clean.
Speaker 3: We have to clean it. But yeah, prosthetic is just
Speaker 3: a bit harder because the eye will never move. Yeah
Speaker 3: wow Yeah, And she's just not convinced. She's now seven.
Speaker 3: People know her to wear an eyepatch and she's used
Speaker 3: to that routine. So I'm not sure that having a
Speaker 3: prosthetic is going to be something that she regularly utilizes
Speaker 3: at this point of course, But we want to give
Speaker 3: her the.
Speaker 2: Options I was going to say, and like times will
Speaker 2: change and things that she's going through will change, and
Speaker 2: I mean, it would be challenging being a seven year
Speaker 2: old going through that, but even you know, knowing the
Speaker 2: challenges that face her as she grows up, like just
Speaker 2: knowing their options is so nice.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right. So that's where we're at now. She
Speaker 3: has been eighteen months out of cancer treatment. She has
Speaker 3: just actually done her last step in the process. She
Speaker 3: had her port removed, so all the chemo was pumped
Speaker 3: through a port in her chest and that has now
Speaker 3: been removed as of last week. So that is very exciting.
Speaker 3: We feel like we can move on at this time
Speaker 3: because now everyone is back at school, I'm working pretty
Speaker 3: consistently as a relief teacher, and we're back on track.
Speaker 3: We've just bought a new house. We had to save
Speaker 3: like crazy and make some sacrifices in that regard, but
Speaker 3: we also have some pretty solidified goals that we're working
Speaker 3: towards and just trying to encourage our kids to just
Speaker 3: be financially aware of what's going on in the world,
Speaker 3: but also what's going on under our roof and what
Speaker 3: we're saving for and why we can't buy this, but
Speaker 3: maybe we can do that. So yeah, we feel like
Speaker 3: the next couple of years, hopefully going forward, will be
Speaker 3: our time to kind of get on top of what
Speaker 3: we want to do.
Speaker 2: And it sounds like you guys are really clear about
Speaker 2: that too. All I hate to cut you off there,
Speaker 2: but let's go to a really quick break and on
Speaker 2: the flip side, I want to talk about your best
Speaker 2: and worst money habits. I want to talk all about investing,
Speaker 2: so guys, don't go anywhere. All right, we're back. So
Speaker 2: moving to finance for a bit more. I want to
Speaker 2: know about your goals. But first, what's your current income
Speaker 2: as a family, What is your husband earning, what are
Speaker 2: you earning, what's coming in the door.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I am primarily a relief teacher who takes
Speaker 3: on short contracts as well at two schools. Last year,
Speaker 3: I earned sixty thousand dollars excluding super and my husband
Speaker 3: for the last financial year earned one hundred and fifty
Speaker 3: thousand dollars as a deputy principal.
Speaker 2: That's pretty cool that you, like, not your husband's income,
Speaker 2: but your income though going through all of that, is
Speaker 2: still bringing in sixty grand like that's queen behave.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, so that was actually the most This is
Speaker 3: the first financial year that I've paid some hex off.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, how good is that?
Speaker 2: To've gone through all of that and you're like, okay, well,
Speaker 2: finance is good. Have been stupidly stressful, but at least
Speaker 2: we're coasting.
Speaker 3: Like, oh, we're doing okay, I think.
Speaker 2: So tell me more about these goals he said before, Like,
Speaker 2: we've got some pretty clear and big money goals. What
Speaker 2: are they? What are we working towards.
Speaker 3: At the moment, It is to build up an emergency fund,
Speaker 3: because that got eaten up by with the house process,
Speaker 3: and it wasn't really a priority, to be honest, to
Speaker 3: have an emergency fund at this point. But it is
Speaker 3: a priority now because my husband is taking a step
Speaker 3: back next year and going back to the classroom as
Speaker 3: a teacher.
Speaker 2: Oh is he excited about that?
Speaker 3: He is very excited. He needed to break He worked
Speaker 3: all through COVID, all through my daughter's diagnosis and treatment
Speaker 3: and all of that, and he needs to get back
Speaker 3: to what he really really loves, and that is education
Speaker 3: and being with the children and teaching.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it would be hard, because it sounds like I'm
Speaker 2: just making some guesses here, educated guesses. But given he
Speaker 2: was so happy to move regionally to teach, like it
Speaker 2: sounds like he is very much a teacher. Not a
Speaker 2: principal like he's I'm sure he's a fantastic principle, but
Speaker 2: principle is a lot more hands off, whereas it sounds
Speaker 2: like he's like a hands on kind of guy wants
Speaker 2: to get in there and help the kids as opposed
Speaker 2: to sit in an office and tell all the other
Speaker 2: teachers what to do.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And it got to the point where he was
Speaker 3: kind of the events planner but also the complaints manager
Speaker 3: as well. That was kind of what his role involved.
Speaker 3: He's like, this is not why I became a teacher,
Speaker 3: This is not why I got into the position that
Speaker 3: I'm in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this isn't working the way I thought it would.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I want to go back to what I'm passionate about.
Speaker 3: So that's exciting. So we'd like to have ten thousand
Speaker 3: dollars saved by the end of the year, so that
Speaker 3: next year, if things become a bit tight with him
Speaker 3: taking a decrease in pay, we have some money there
Speaker 3: just in case.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that you don't have to stress.
Speaker 3: Yeah, just be nice. In twenty twenty nine, we would
Speaker 3: like to go overseas for the first time with all
Speaker 3: four of our children. Yes, So the goal is to
Speaker 3: have eighty thousand dollars there, but with a family of six,
Speaker 3: we think it will probably be closer to one hundred
Speaker 3: thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: Where are you going though, Like, what's this holiday look like?
Speaker 2: Have we got any idea or are you just like,
Speaker 2: let's just get the money and work it out later.
Speaker 3: Like for this one, we would like to go to
Speaker 3: the UK and do bitter UK, bitter Europe. And then
Speaker 3: the plan was to do it three years later when
Speaker 3: my second child graduates high school. However, financially we're not
Speaker 3: sure what that looks like. At this point we were
Speaker 3: saving for both. But at the moment, yeah, the twenty
Speaker 3: thirty two to one has no money in.
Speaker 2: It totally, and they'll all be old enough to appreciate
Speaker 2: it too, So that's so nice.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so that is another one. And then building up
Speaker 3: the investment portfolio again.
Speaker 2: I was about to say, do you have any investments?
Speaker 3: Oh, yes, investments. So we have our super yes, and
Speaker 3: mine is a lot less because I didn't work as
Speaker 3: much while I was having the children. My husband does
Speaker 3: have a good balance though, so he makes contributions to
Speaker 3: my super now.
Speaker 2: Oh thank you sir.
Speaker 3: Yes, So that's every fortnight and my SUPER sitting at
Speaker 3: twenty seven thousand, and his super is three hundred and
Speaker 3: thirty five thousand.
Speaker 2: Oh sorry, what that is not where I thought that
Speaker 2: would come from. Like, that is a nice amount of super.
Speaker 3: He is very chuffed with that amount of SUPER.
Speaker 2: I would be too, thank you for my financial freedom
Speaker 2: in the future.
Speaker 3: Yes, I just listened to your episode about Super this morning.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Good. Yeah, just hearing that amount of you know, just
Speaker 3: under six hundred thousand dollars by the time you retire,
Speaker 3: I was like, okay, we are sitting okay.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent and like on average, money doubles every
Speaker 2: ten years, so that's going to be like six hundred
Speaker 2: and sixty eighth thousand dollars in another ten years as
Speaker 2: it compounds. But he's also going to be contributing to it.
Speaker 2: So like we need to get yours up and that
Speaker 2: is okay. I feel like you're already across that. I
Speaker 2: don't need to tell you. But at the end of
Speaker 2: the day, like that would help me breathe a sigh
Speaker 2: of relief to be like we're going through all of this,
Speaker 2: like you know, even when talking about emergency funds, knowing
Speaker 2: that that's emergency funds for now and that the future
Speaker 2: me is looked after.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, it is pretty cool. Super is amazing. And
Speaker 3: to be honest, my super was at about ten thousand
Speaker 3: dollars I'm going to say eighteen months ago.
Speaker 2: Would that make sense if you weren't working and things were,
Speaker 2: you know, plodding along like I really like that. That
Speaker 2: makes me feel very secure for you.
Speaker 3: Yes, And then other investments. We do have shares through Superhero,
Speaker 3: so that for us is about thirteen thousand dollars. Oh,
Speaker 3: how good's that. Yeah, we did have to make a
Speaker 3: sacrifice when we bought the house and we sold about
Speaker 3: thirty three thousand dollars worth of shares. We did hold
Speaker 3: them for seven years and they had increased quite a lot,
Speaker 3: So it was a sacrifice and one that I wasn't
Speaker 3: one hundred percent on. But in saying that, we got
Speaker 3: into the property market. So we're very happy.
Speaker 2: I know you're saying it's a sacrifice, but a lot
Speaker 2: of us do invest to then be able to take
Speaker 2: it out as a home deposit and be a little
Speaker 2: bit ahead. It's not the worst thing in the entire world.
Speaker 3: I think in our heads, you know, in an ideal world,
Speaker 3: we would have had enough of the deposit to make
Speaker 3: it work.
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course.
Speaker 3: So it was just getting across like the mindset of
Speaker 3: that's okay, we need to change the goalposts and make
Speaker 3: that sacrifice to make things work for our family one
Speaker 3: hundred percent.
Speaker 2: So yeah, that was okay.
Speaker 3: And we do invest for our children. Do you actually
Speaker 3: how good's that? How do you do that? Yes, well,
Speaker 3: we do not do it in the most accurate way. However,
Speaker 3: at the age of seven, we put away ten thousand
Speaker 3: dollars for each of our children.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3: So my daughter has just turned seven. So we have
Speaker 3: three children now who we have separate investments for. So
Speaker 3: for my husband, he invests for my oldest and he
Speaker 3: puts them in one share. For example, he's twelve and
Speaker 3: he has twenty four thousand dollars invested.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, in I managed portfolio, and also a bit
Speaker 3: in a couple of other indidividual shares as well, and
Speaker 3: he gets six monthly dividends. Our second child has fifteen
Speaker 3: thousand dollars and he's nine.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, these kids have more investments than most
Speaker 2: people in our community. What is going on?
Speaker 3: Well, I don't know how this is going to work
Speaker 3: as they become of age to utilize them.
Speaker 2: You know what, that is a problem that we can
Speaker 2: look into in the future because if the cash is there,
Speaker 2: I promise the answers will come.
Speaker 3: We will figure it out. Yeah, it's not the best way,
Speaker 3: but at the time we didn't have the resources to
Speaker 3: know what was the best way. So this was the
Speaker 3: least confusing way for us to do things.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I love it.
Speaker 3: And then our third she has just turned seven, so
Speaker 3: hers is sticking away nicely and she gets monthly dividends.
Speaker 3: How good. And then my husband also adds one thousand
Speaker 3: dollars each birthday as well. Yeah, that will tick away
Speaker 3: nicely for them to have a little cash fund when
Speaker 3: they want to do something amazing with it. And they're
Speaker 3: so privileged, these children, so lucky.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, Like, I am actually in shock because this is
Speaker 2: not how I thought that you were going to answer
Speaker 2: the investing question, because obviously you guys have had a
Speaker 2: rollercoaster of a journey having gone through so much, had
Speaker 2: so many financial burdens to deal with. To then hear
Speaker 2: that you're also still prioritizing investing for your kids, I'm
Speaker 2: just like, how are you managing this? Like especially because
Speaker 2: you were on one income, Like you guys must be
Speaker 2: budgeting wizards to go, all right, well, this is how
Speaker 2: this is going to work. And at the start you said, yeah,
Speaker 2: my husband manages it through a spreadsheet.
Speaker 3: What is it?
Speaker 2: A spaceship spreadsheet? Like you get on there and it's
Speaker 2: a full dashboard where he's taking over the world. Like,
Speaker 2: I am impressed, because I genuinely like people in similar
Speaker 2: situations that I have spoken to before are like no savings,
Speaker 2: no investments, maybe another ten years before we're able to
Speaker 2: purchase property. And that is just impressive.
Speaker 3: I give a lot of credit to my husband in
Speaker 3: that because I would be lost without him. I am
Speaker 3: up to date on all of your podcasts, I listen
Speaker 3: to other things, and I'm very educated myself. I just
Speaker 3: don't have the time and the energy to physically put
Speaker 3: it into action.
Speaker 2: That is so fine, because all I care about is
Speaker 2: that you know. Doesn't mean you have to do it.
Speaker 2: I just need you to know so that if anything
Speaker 2: ever happens, you're like, no, I know where our money is,
Speaker 2: I know what's going on, I know where our mortgage is,
Speaker 2: I know how to pay off things. Like I just
Speaker 2: don't want people to be without the help that they deserve.
Speaker 3: That's right, Yeah, amazing. We also have an investment property.
Speaker 2: Oh my god.
Speaker 3: What So we have an investment property where my husband
Speaker 3: got his first permanent job, which we bought while we
Speaker 3: lived there for nine months, and that is rented for
Speaker 3: four hundred and fifty dollars a week and it is
Speaker 3: negatively geared at the moment, and he uses the tax
Speaker 3: benefits to offset his taxable income. So at the moment,
Speaker 3: that works for us. If finances get super tough with
Speaker 3: this new property and just our financial process throughout next year,
Speaker 3: we might have to rethink the investment property. But that's
Speaker 3: a later problem. We don't have to do that right now.
Speaker 2: But that's okay, because like it's sticking along and isn't
Speaker 2: it cool to have options?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2: I am so proud of you. Like this is actually insane.
Speaker 2: I know I haven't finished all of my questions, but
Speaker 2: I can already foresee a little argument between you and
Speaker 2: I at the end about that C plus that you
Speaker 2: gave yourself at the state House.
Speaker 3: We'll get there, though. There are some negatives, I promise.
Speaker 2: Okay, So tell me about debt. So you've got an
Speaker 2: investment property, you've just purchased a family home. What type
Speaker 2: of debt are we carrying?
Speaker 3: So our investment property has two hundred and forty five
Speaker 3: thousand dollars owing, and we bought this house in twenty
Speaker 3: fifteen for three hundred and twenty two thousand under only
Speaker 3: my husband's name, so I wasn't on any of that
Speaker 3: for us. And it's now worth five hundred and fifteen
Speaker 3: thousand dollars. Okay, So that's okay.
Speaker 2: What do you mean that's okay? That's great.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well it's amazing because the house actually went down
Speaker 3: almost one hundred grand just after we bought it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, regional is scary when you buy. It can be
Speaker 2: a great investment, it can be a good investment, but
Speaker 2: like it's really dependent on the market that's quite low coal.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think you know, COVID did not help
Speaker 3: a lot of things, but maybe it did help a
Speaker 3: bit in the regional property market. So we're very grateful
Speaker 3: for that. And we used equity from this house to
Speaker 3: purchase the new house. So we have one hundred and
Speaker 3: seven thousand dollars owing on a trunch loan and we
Speaker 3: bought this house just recently for nine hundred and thirty
Speaker 3: thousand dollars and it has seven hundred and eighty two
Speaker 3: thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: Owing, hey, that's pretty good.
Speaker 3: So I think the combined is over one point one meal,
Speaker 3: but that's okay. We're paying it off thirty year loans.
Speaker 2: I feel like in this day and age, like in Melbourne,
Speaker 2: the average property price is a million dollars, so like
Speaker 2: you're not doing too badly. But it does get kind
Speaker 2: of scary, doesn't it, Like when you look at it
Speaker 2: and you're like, that's a seven figure number that I
Speaker 2: owe somebody like that can be really scary. But in
Speaker 2: the grand scheme of things, it sound like you have
Speaker 2: a really good budget system. It sounds like you understand
Speaker 2: cash flow and what that looks like and how it
Speaker 2: all works. Like I think you're going to be just fine, my.
Speaker 3: Friend, hopefully, hopefully. And then our only other debt is
Speaker 3: my hex stet. So as I said, I hadn't paid
Speaker 3: a lot off of it because I haven't earned much
Speaker 3: over the last a long time.
Speaker 2: But that's my favorite thing about HEX, Right, you only
Speaker 2: paid off your your owning enough.
Speaker 3: Yes, that's right, So that is a beautiful thing. So
Speaker 3: my hex state is thirty thousand dollars, So that's okay,
Speaker 3: that'll stick along. That will, you know, come down slowly,
Speaker 3: and we're okay with that. I guess we did have
Speaker 3: the option to pay that off before the indexation hit
Speaker 3: last year and before we bought our property.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I can also see from your financials because as
Speaker 2: you probably know, I own a mortgage breaking company. Looking
Speaker 2: at it, I don't think paying off that thirty thousand
Speaker 2: dollars worth of hex stet would have impacted your borrowing
Speaker 2: capacity enough to make it worth it.
Speaker 3: That's right, and that's what we went through. So yeah,
Speaker 3: that is all our debt. You haven't had a credit
Speaker 3: card in a very long time. We did to go
Speaker 3: on to overseas holiday in twenty sixteen, and it was
Speaker 3: not a good idea.
Speaker 2: No, because you come back from this beautiful holiday, now
Speaker 2: you've got to pay for it and you've got nothing
Speaker 2: to show.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, we thought it was a great idea at
Speaker 3: the time, and then no, it did just backfire. And
Speaker 3: you know, we were smart about it and we got
Speaker 3: out of it pretty quickly. But it was a bit
Speaker 3: scary too. Like I can see how people get into
Speaker 3: a bad spot with credit card debt.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent. No one gets a credit card
Speaker 2: with the intention of going into debt they can't handle, right,
Speaker 2: And that would have been your experience. You got the
Speaker 2: credit card, sounded sunshine and roses, and then all of
Speaker 2: a sudden it wasn't working as well, and you're like, oh,
Speaker 2: what have we done?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Exactly exactly.
Speaker 2: So it sounds like you've got probably some very good
Speaker 2: money habits. What do you reckon is your best money habit?
Speaker 3: I think my best money habit is having a husband
Speaker 3: who is very hands on with things. But for both
Speaker 3: of us, for our family, we are very good at
Speaker 3: paying ourselves first. So we always pay into our twenty
Speaker 3: twenty nine holiday account, and we always put two hundred
Speaker 3: and twenty five dollars into our investment portfolio every fortnight,
Speaker 3: and one hundred and fifty dollars into my super.
Speaker 2: I love that because otherwise it just disappears.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I know myself, I would prioritize other things
Speaker 3: because I'm a bit more impulsive and I have maybe
Speaker 3: different material priorities, especially now that we've put a house
Speaker 3: and we want to make it out home.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, Yeah, furnishing all of that stuff totally
Speaker 2: get it.
Speaker 3: So yeah, we always do that, which is really really
Speaker 3: important to us and our financial future with the kids.
Speaker 3: And we also have a camper trailer, so we go
Speaker 3: on lots of camping holidays throughout the year, and whenever
Speaker 3: we are on one camping holiday, we always book for
Speaker 3: the next one. Oh, I love that.
Speaker 2: So you've always got something to look forward to.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, And we kind of know that this family
Speaker 3: time is really really precious on a we don't know
Speaker 3: what the health future looks for our daughter, so we're
Speaker 3: trying to cram as much family tim in as possible
Speaker 3: while also paying the bills and making a life for ourselves.
Speaker 2: So I feel like you're killing it. I feel like
Speaker 2: you are doing such a good job. But I need
Speaker 2: to know worst money habit? Have you even got one
Speaker 2: at this stage?
Speaker 3: Our worst money habit is definitely the It's not the
Speaker 3: budgeting side of things. We are good at budgeting. It's
Speaker 3: the leaking money. Even though the budget is there, we
Speaker 3: are always overspending. It's mostly like incidental things like we
Speaker 3: go to swim club on a Friday night, we have
Speaker 3: to purchase dinner, and while that's not super expensive, it
Speaker 3: might be thirty dollars.
Speaker 2: But it wasn't in the plan. You had a meal
Speaker 2: plan organized.
Speaker 3: Yeah, or school supplies at the end of the year
Speaker 3: for the next year. We have to buy four of
Speaker 3: them as of next year, and that adds up so much.
Speaker 3: So it's that stuff that's not in the budget, and
Speaker 3: it's not in the budget because our income doesn't cover it.
Speaker 3: So we try to make up for it. So we'll
Speaker 3: pull when those expenses come up. We will pull money
Speaker 3: from our bills to pay for those things, but then
Speaker 3: we'll have to pay ourselves back somewhere along the lines,
Speaker 3: and we're not necessarily sure where that's coming from and
Speaker 3: when it's coming So that is definitely our worst leaking
Speaker 3: money for the incidentals and just not knowing where that
Speaker 3: extra money is coming from. So I definitely think we
Speaker 3: can improve on our cash flow and knowing exactly what
Speaker 3: we spend, when we spend it, and how much those
Speaker 3: things are going to be.
Speaker 2: And that's hard, right because you're like, well, I don't
Speaker 2: know what school books are going to be, but I
Speaker 2: don't know what this looks like. And that's I guess
Speaker 2: why budgeting can be so fickle and you have to
Speaker 2: revisit it a number of times.
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, and just things creep up, like even gifts
Speaker 3: and Christmas. We know Christmas is expensive, but somehow we
Speaker 3: just don't budget for it. So yeah, that is definitely
Speaker 3: a money flaw for us, even though things look pretty peachy.
Speaker 2: But it is still stress And I think that that's
Speaker 2: a really good lesson for everybody, Like, if you just
Speaker 2: don't budget for something, it can be stressful, irrespective of
Speaker 2: how good you are at investing or saving or buying property. Like,
Speaker 2: money has to come from somewhere, and it is stressful
Speaker 2: shuffling it around. Oh, money, direst I have a bone
Speaker 2: to pick with you. I do apologize, but you did say, oh,
Speaker 2: I think we're a c plus you have been through
Speaker 2: the ringer like you have had. I mean, I'm so
Speaker 2: grateful that you have a beautiful family and that your
Speaker 2: daughter is happy and healthy and cancer free and smiling
Speaker 2: and thriving, but you have been through a shit storm
Speaker 2: that would have financially ruined so many people. But then
Speaker 2: when we started to learn more about you, you're like, yeah,
Speaker 2: we actually have an investment property. Yet we've purchased our
Speaker 2: own property. My husband's super always prioritized it. We're actually
Speaker 2: paying off you know, some more to my super Yeah,
Speaker 2: we actually do invest, yeah, consistently. We actually invest for
Speaker 2: our kids too, Like we're across this like the I
Speaker 2: have my stuff together and you think you're a C plus,
Speaker 2: please straight in the bin like money direst.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think our budget and cash flow is where
Speaker 3: we really sink down, and we want to be able
Speaker 3: to contribute more to investing in things. The other problem
Speaker 3: with us is that we don't have the potential to
Speaker 3: increase our income as such doing the things that we're
Speaker 3: doing because they are government jobs. So we're trying to
Speaker 3: figure out how we can get there. So, yes, I
Speaker 3: agree that we will probably be a bit more than
Speaker 3: a C plus, but I wouldn't be willing to go
Speaker 3: any further than a B.
Speaker 2: And I think that's fine because we all feel like
Speaker 2: we've got stuff to improve on, and you can absolutely
Speaker 2: improve what you think is fair. But I think we're
Speaker 2: also harsh on ourselves, especially as women. We're like, no,
Speaker 2: we're not doing enough, we're not doing well. You are
Speaker 2: killing it, Like you're a good mum, you're a good
Speaker 2: money maker. Like the fact that you earned sixty grand
Speaker 2: last year be for real?
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you. Thank you. It really does mean a
Speaker 3: lot to hear other people say that, because we're not
Speaker 3: huge talkers about money outside of our family network. We
Speaker 3: talk about it a lot here, but yeah, it is
Speaker 3: really really humbling, I guess to hear somebody else say that,
Speaker 3: so thank you.
Speaker 2: Oh, I love it. I'm so proud that you're part
Speaker 2: of our community. I'm just I'm so glad, irrespective of
Speaker 2: all the financial things, to hear that your daughter is
Speaker 2: happy at the moment and that things are going well.
Speaker 2: And I know it's shitty, but even that new found
Speaker 2: appreciation of family time and you guys embracing that, Like
Speaker 2: I think that's just so special, Like it's crap, but
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, like I'm just glad
Speaker 2: that they have a mum and dad who are absolutely
Speaker 2: obsessed with them and that is literally all any kid
Speaker 2: can ask for. So moneyed arrest, it has been an
Speaker 2: absolute pleasure. I am very sad that we don't have
Speaker 2: any more time, but I have loved this story and
Speaker 2: I know our community is going to be obsessed with
Speaker 2: this story as much as I am. So thank you
Speaker 2: so much for being so open and generous with it,
Speaker 2: because I'm sure it wasn't easy to share.
Speaker 3: No, thank you. Yeah, it was really tough in the
Speaker 3: beginning here and you hear read back the money story
Speaker 3: that I sent in. Oh, but now talking through it, yeah,
Speaker 3: I think we will be okay. And your words mean
Speaker 3: a lot.
Speaker 2: You're doing so well. I'm just I'm so in awe, like,
Speaker 2: I'm just so impressed. And I hope that at some
Speaker 2: point we get to cross paths in person. That'll be
Speaker 2: really special.
Speaker 3: That would be amazing.
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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
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