Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud Order
Speaker 1: Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before we
Speaker 1: get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would
Speaker 1: like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of
Speaker 1: which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging
Speaker 1: the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through
Speaker 1: as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and
Speaker 1: the storytelling of you to make a difference for today
Speaker 1: and lasting impactful 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. The podcast
Speaker 2: were millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another
Speaker 2: one of our money daries where I get the absolute
Speaker 2: pleasure of sitting down with one of our She's on
Speaker 2: the Money community members and talking to them all about
Speaker 2: their money story. Let's jump straight into it, because this
Speaker 2: week I got a message and it sounded exactly like this,
Speaker 2: Dear She's on the Money. I've always had a strong
Speaker 2: work ethic, but my poor spending habits keep me living
Speaker 2: paycheck to paycheck. Things worsened when I got an interest
Speaker 2: free finance card for some furniture while I was seeing
Speaker 2: someone with a secret gambling habit. The debt piled up
Speaker 2: until I met my now partner, who helped me develop
Speaker 2: a plan to get back on track. Despite being told
Speaker 2: we couldn't get a mortgage, we persisted and built our
Speaker 2: first house on a tight budget. We then went on
Speaker 2: to make three hundred thousand dollars profit on its sale,
Speaker 2: significantly improving our financial situation. Today, we own a beautiful
Speaker 2: property on two point seven acres and a planning our wedding.
Speaker 2: We can now put an additional two thousand dollars a
Speaker 2: fortnight towards our mortgage, and my goal is to be
Speaker 2: debt free by the time I turn thirty three, Money Diarist,
Speaker 2: Are you for real?
Speaker 4: I'm very how exciting.
Speaker 2: That's beyond exciting, going from being like, oh, I've got
Speaker 2: really pausmanning habits. My douchebag of a partner has a
Speaker 2: secret gambling habit to being like, oh, by the way,
Speaker 2: I live on acreage like me for real? That is
Speaker 2: so cool. Are you proud of yourself?
Speaker 4: I'm so proud of myself.
Speaker 2: I think that is the coolest can we dive in?
Speaker 2: Because I've got so many questions before we dive into
Speaker 2: the juicy be its. I want to know if I
Speaker 2: asked you to give your money habits a grade from
Speaker 2: A through to F, what would you grade them?
Speaker 4: I think I'd give myself a B plus. I definitely
Speaker 4: have come a long way, but I also still have
Speaker 4: a very long way to go.
Speaker 2: Okay, all right, I don't know what a very long
Speaker 2: way looks like to you. Given your plan is to
Speaker 2: be debt free by by thirty three, I'm thirty three
Speaker 2: and mortgaged to my eyeballs. I could be for real.
Speaker 2: That is a pipe dream. So let's dive further in
Speaker 2: money does Can you tell me a little bit more
Speaker 2: about your money story?
Speaker 4: Yeah, so, my family have always had money, but it's
Speaker 4: definitely not been something that we talk about. So growing up,
Speaker 4: when I got my first job, I sort of didn't
Speaker 4: have any guidance. They always told me to save money,
Speaker 4: but I didn't have any guidance in unsaving. So once
Speaker 4: I could work, I think I got three jobs by
Speaker 4: the end of that year. When I turned fifteen.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I had three jobs at fifteen.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I've basically always had three jobs and like
Speaker 4: I've always had a really good income, but I've just
Speaker 4: never I just don't know where my money goes. I
Speaker 4: didn't know where my money went. And then I moved
Speaker 4: overseas for a little bit. When I had to come
Speaker 4: home because I had no money and I didn't want
Speaker 4: to ask my parents.
Speaker 2: For money, it ran out of cash. Annoying. You're like
Speaker 2: living your best life and then you're like, oh, but
Speaker 2: also that's kind of a big decision if you were
Speaker 2: in the situation where maybe you could have asked your
Speaker 2: parents for cash and then didn't. Like why if you
Speaker 2: were in that situation, did you go No, I don't
Speaker 2: want to do that, because like I'm not saying that
Speaker 2: you should, but I think a lot of people, if
Speaker 2: they were already overseas, they would have been like, oh,
Speaker 2: I'm just going to call up the bank of Mum
Speaker 2: and dad.
Speaker 4: Yeah. So I think my problem is is like my
Speaker 4: family have money, but like I just feel a bit
Speaker 4: guilty asking them. And I also don't like owing people.
Speaker 2: I get that I hate owing people money and they.
Speaker 4: Would be fine and they would have wanted me, like
Speaker 4: if I had a asked for it, they would have
Speaker 4: given it to me, but I think as well, I
Speaker 4: was just a bit overwhelmed with how I was spending
Speaker 4: the money, and then I just thought it was also
Speaker 4: time to come home because I had started studying nursing,
Speaker 4: and then I took a gap year and came back
Speaker 4: to finish it as well.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, so it's like, not the worst thing that
Speaker 2: you moved home, but a bit disheartening if you're over
Speaker 2: there link Oh I hate this. But also I get
Speaker 2: to go home and I get to study, and I've
Speaker 2: got a whole heap waiting for me. So you studied
Speaker 2: and then what next?
Speaker 4: Yeah. So while I was studying, so one of the
Speaker 4: things that set me back a bit was I had
Speaker 4: a friend and she actually asked me to go garanteur
Speaker 4: for her, and at the time, I didn't know what
Speaker 4: garanteur really meant. She made it sound like it was
Speaker 4: going to be fine. She took her ten thousand dollars
Speaker 4: alone at forty something percent interest and what just to
Speaker 4: get out of debt, and she was really stressed and everything.
Speaker 4: So I went guaranteur for her, which was fine for
Speaker 4: a few months, and then things went a bit bad
Speaker 4: for her and I ended up paying it, which was
Speaker 4: really true. Yeah, she blocked me off everything so I
Speaker 4: couldn't contact her, which was really awful. No, absolutely not,
Speaker 4: but I didn't tell anyone about it because I was
Speaker 4: really embarrassed. I felt like, oh money, dirist, No, if
Speaker 4: I knew you, then I'd be like all right, sit down. Yeah.
Speaker 4: And then yeah, So with the I got a furniture alone.
Speaker 4: It wasn't much. It was only about seven hundred dollars,
Speaker 4: but I think I was able to spend fifteen hundred.
Speaker 4: And then I was seeing a guy at the time
Speaker 4: and he just used to make me feel not make
Speaker 4: me feel guilty. He made me feel sad for him
Speaker 4: because he always said he didn't have any money. And
Speaker 4: then I started offering him money, and then I think
Speaker 4: he really used that.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah he did. He absolutely did, just like your
Speaker 2: friend abused that. Oh my gosh, you have been through
Speaker 2: The money.
Speaker 4: Was yeah, so he got about two thousand and five
Speaker 4: hundred and their friend got about three thousand. So yeah,
Speaker 4: it was just really hard. And then I started using
Speaker 4: it was sort of like a credit card, I guess,
Speaker 4: but not really well, I don't know. And I started
Speaker 4: using that to get.
Speaker 2: By absolutely not like not from you. I just I
Speaker 2: cannot believe that other people put you in this financial position.
Speaker 2: It wasn't I mean when you wrote it in, You're like,
Speaker 2: I've got a strong work ethic, but my poor spending
Speaker 2: habits kept me living paycheck to paycheck. No, no, no,
Speaker 2: your poor friends. Yeah, your friends who abused this situation
Speaker 2: kept you living paycheck to paycheck. Oh my god, I'm
Speaker 2: so sorry.
Speaker 4: It's fine. I was so embarrassed to talk about it
Speaker 4: to people as well, so like it was sort of
Speaker 4: my burden. And then I met my partner now, and yeah,
Speaker 4: when we were talking about buying a house, I sort
Speaker 4: of opened up about like the debt that I had
Speaker 4: with the guaranteur, the guy that's just a loss for me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, unfortunately the.
Speaker 4: Guaranteur thing was just like that was still there, and
Speaker 4: then the card as well. So he helped me come
Speaker 4: up with a plan to pay off the card, and
Speaker 4: then we tried her hardest to get in contact with
Speaker 4: the girl. A few years later, so it was three
Speaker 4: thousand and she did contact me. She had a partner
Speaker 4: and he helped her pay off that and then they
Speaker 4: eventually did pay me back.
Speaker 2: Then, why did she ultimately block you and ghost you
Speaker 2: instead of communicating, like what was going on there?
Speaker 4: I think she was just going through a really bad time,
Speaker 4: like she was going out and I could see she
Speaker 4: was going out.
Speaker 2: That's so annoying.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it embarrassed her that she should have
Speaker 4: been paying her word that I was paying that.
Speaker 2: So that is insane to me that somebody would abuse
Speaker 2: your trust like that. Obviously you were trying to do
Speaker 2: the right thing, and yeah, you probably didn't know what
Speaker 2: guaranteuring alone meant. And I feel like that's something that
Speaker 2: we can all learn from because that is something that
Speaker 2: you know, what we call shark loans do They make
Speaker 2: friends garan tor for them so that they've got somebody
Speaker 2: else to chase up when your friend, who arguably has
Speaker 2: really bad credit, is not able to pay their loan.
Speaker 2: But you wouldn't have known that at that point in time.
Speaker 2: You thought, oh, oh, of course i'll sign for you,
Speaker 2: like I'll make sure that you're okay, Like yeah, ah,
Speaker 2: for someone to take advantage of you like that, it
Speaker 2: makes me so angry.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And in hindsight, like I am really lucky in
Speaker 4: that it wasn't a significant amount. It could have been
Speaker 4: a lot worse, but it just it does suck that
Speaker 4: people take advantage of her.
Speaker 2: Oh one, did you ever think of getting police involved
Speaker 2: or was that not an option? Like what ultimately made
Speaker 2: her get back in contact with you, My.
Speaker 4: Partner contacted her because she had blocked me on everything.
Speaker 4: She was angry at me that he had contacted her.
Speaker 2: Sorry, sorry, I'm blocked, so I'm not able to contact you.
Speaker 2: That it's actually on you, babe.
Speaker 4: But then she obviously unblocked me to contact me to
Speaker 4: tell me that he contacted her. And then she explained
Speaker 4: that like she just had a baby as well, so yeah,
Speaker 4: oh my gosh, like her lifestyle decisions and everything was
Speaker 4: baffling to me because I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 4: it wasn't a significant pain each month, but like it
Speaker 4: added up to me. But it's something that she could
Speaker 4: have paid, she just chose not to.
Speaker 2: Oh and then your boyfriend calls and she's like, that's
Speaker 2: so unfair. I can't believe it. And you're like, well, well,
Speaker 2: well if it isn't the consequences of your own actions.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I think sometimes people get really defensive because
Speaker 4: they know that they're wrong.
Speaker 2: Oh, one hundred percent. I say this all the time
Speaker 2: in my personal life. I'm like, if you have blocked me,
Speaker 2: that's a reflection of you knowing that you've done the
Speaker 2: wrong thing. Like, I'm an adult, I don't need to
Speaker 2: block anybody. I do block people, I don't know if
Speaker 2: they're abusing me on the internet, I think that's a
Speaker 2: different story. But if I know you and you've chosen
Speaker 2: to block me, that's because you know that you're doing
Speaker 2: the wrong thing and you don't want me to see. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's so salty. I'm so sorry you went through that.
Speaker 4: I completely forgot about that, and it wasn't until my
Speaker 4: fiance was telling me when I said I was going
Speaker 4: to do this into and I was like, oh yeah,
Speaker 4: I completely forgot it.
Speaker 2: And he's like, victorious love this money direst. You better
Speaker 2: remind her. Oh my gosh. All right, well let's talk
Speaker 2: about more exciting things. Your partner that you are with
Speaker 2: right now sounds like a legend. I love this. He's
Speaker 2: helped you get out of debt and then he's also
Speaker 2: developed a plan for you to get back on track.
Speaker 2: So did that look like budgeting and cash flow or
Speaker 2: like what was that? Was that him, you know, showing
Speaker 2: you through your bank accounts or like doing a spreadsheet
Speaker 2: or were you doing you know, some stuff on the
Speaker 2: back of an envelope? Like where did it start? How
Speaker 2: did it work?
Speaker 4: Yeah, so we looked at what I was spending, and
Speaker 4: then obviously as well because we now had like a
Speaker 4: duel income, he helped me a lot too, like shared
Speaker 4: my expenses and helped pay off the rest of the
Speaker 4: card loan, which was I think it was about five
Speaker 4: hundred dollars. So we just paid that off and didn't
Speaker 4: have to worry about it. And then I think a
Speaker 4: lot of it I was just online shopping. So now
Speaker 4: I'm I do not online shop a lot, even though
Speaker 4: my algorithm terms me so much, which I'm quite smart
Speaker 4: with that.
Speaker 2: Girl, I'm a victim of the algorithm consistently. I don't
Speaker 2: know how I have the level of self control that
Speaker 2: I do have, which is dismal at this point, like
Speaker 2: I'm still impressed that I'm not buying more.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I know, it's so funny, Like how did you
Speaker 4: know that I wanted that?
Speaker 2: Oh, it's creepy. But at the same time, I'm like,
Speaker 2: you got me, you got me.
Speaker 4: Yeah. At that time as well was when so it
Speaker 4: was the start of COVID when they were offering the
Speaker 4: grants for building a home. So we just went straight
Speaker 4: to a broker and they did everything, so we sort
Speaker 4: of knew where the money was going. I hadn't after
Speaker 4: pay and a zip pay account, which I had to pay.
Speaker 2: You doubled down, you did both. I love that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, pay and close them. They said, even if it's open,
Speaker 4: it looks.
Speaker 2: Like you still have yeah, which is wild, not actually wild,
Speaker 2: it makes a lot of sense. But the way that
Speaker 2: a mortgage broke it, because as you guys probably already know,
Speaker 2: I own a more motgage broking business. So the way
Speaker 2: that brokers and the banks look at it is if
Speaker 2: you say, have a ten thousand dollars credit card, they
Speaker 2: don't go, oh my gosh, money diarist, how much have
Speaker 2: you spent on your credit card and you go zero dollars.
Speaker 2: They go, you've got access to ten thousand dollars, So
Speaker 2: therefore we're going to max out what your ten thousand
Speaker 2: dollars is because tomorrow you could go and spend ten
Speaker 2: thousand dollars and that would be maxed out. So they
Speaker 2: always operate on the basis that your credit lines, so
Speaker 2: your credit card, you're after pay, your zip pay is
Speaker 2: maxed out, and that's how they calculate your borrowing capacity.
Speaker 2: So they will look at it that way, which is
Speaker 2: why your broker would have been like close those because
Speaker 2: you probably had some nice, nice levels of credit sitting there.
Speaker 2: But even if you had literally zero dollars on it,
Speaker 2: the bank looks at it in a way that just goes, well, actually,
Speaker 2: we will lend you less money because you've got that
Speaker 2: line of credit over there.
Speaker 4: Yeah. It was good though, because I sort of haven't
Speaker 4: used them and it's now buy things if I have
Speaker 4: the money.
Speaker 2: Good.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So we got our pre approval and then we
Speaker 4: put an offer on a block of land and then
Speaker 4: got a quote for the build as well. But the
Speaker 4: first broken that we went to said that we weren't
Speaker 4: actually able to get the mortgage for that build, just
Speaker 4: the land. And I was like, no, I don't believe that.
Speaker 2: You're a potato of a broker. Any good broker would
Speaker 2: be able to find a way.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And she was very new to her job as well.
Speaker 2: Ah see that's hard.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I know, I just didn't believe it. I was like, no,
Speaker 4: I've completely changed my spending habits. I know that there's
Speaker 4: money that we can afford and at the time, the
Speaker 4: loan for airhouse was only sixteen hundred dollars a month.
Speaker 2: Now it's oh my god.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was definitely affordable, Like rent was more expensive
Speaker 4: than a mortgage at the time. So we went to
Speaker 4: another broker and she was amazing. She was like, I
Speaker 4: didn't understand what that person means. It looks like you'd
Speaker 4: have like six hundred dollars a month left over after
Speaker 4: all your spending.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's where I get really frustrated. And I adore
Speaker 2: the industry, right like mortgage broking. I've put my heart
Speaker 2: and soul into this, right, Like I got rid of
Speaker 2: financial advice so I could focus on this. So if
Speaker 2: that's not passion, I don't know what it is. And
Speaker 2: I adore that there are so many new people entering
Speaker 2: the industry, but I'm also often confused about how they're like,
Speaker 2: I'm the best at this, come and see me, and
Speaker 2: you're like, you've only been working in this for a year.
Speaker 2: And I totally understand that you're probably really good at
Speaker 2: basic things, but when it comes to homeland packages, when
Speaker 2: it comes to, you know, something even slightly complex, they
Speaker 2: just don't have the experience and they don't have the knowledge,
Speaker 2: and a lot of it is around actually knowing where
Speaker 2: to go. So like I might go and look, you
Speaker 2: know on the NAB website and go they don't do this,
Speaker 2: but you, in the back of your mind go, hold on.
Speaker 2: I know that at some point NAB did XYZ for
Speaker 2: this other client, and I know that BDM does this.
Speaker 2: I'm just going to call them and see what they
Speaker 2: can do. And you need those relationships in mortgage broking
Speaker 2: because they're the ones that actually get you across the line,
Speaker 2: especially right now where everything is so much harder. So
Speaker 2: tell me, Once your new broker said, look, you can't
Speaker 2: actually get house of land, I'll work it out for you.
Speaker 2: What was that like? Was that exciting?
Speaker 4: Yeah? It was amazing because the price of it wasn't
Speaker 4: that expensive. I think it was four hundred and forty thousand,
Speaker 4: and we got forty five thousand from the government and
Speaker 4: we also built like a big, beautiful house.
Speaker 2: How exciting.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I miss it. It was a beautiful home. But
Speaker 4: I love really living now. And then yeah, so we
Speaker 4: lived in that for two years and this house out
Speaker 4: of town became available, and so my grandfather and my
Speaker 4: uncle are both the estate agents. And I just asked
Speaker 4: for some advice. And because it was such a rundown
Speaker 4: house and it obviously needed a lot of renovations. If
Speaker 4: they hadn't cleaned it up, they could have made one
Speaker 4: hundred thousand dollars more than what we paid. But because
Speaker 4: it was so rundown, we got it a lot cheaper.
Speaker 4: And also because the housing market just went crazy, we
Speaker 4: made a three hundred and something dollar profit. Oh my god.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's one of the reasons I got my first
Speaker 2: house cheaper. Actually was because they didn't want to come
Speaker 2: back and like tidy it up and get rid of everything,
Speaker 2: and they weren't in the country at the time, and
Speaker 2: they like even had like furniture and stuff that we
Speaker 2: had to get rid of, like and it was I
Speaker 2: was like, that's fine, that's fine, I'll take your not
Speaker 2: so good house. I'll clean it up. It will be
Speaker 2: perfect for us. But you can save some good money
Speaker 2: that way.
Speaker 4: And also a lot of people that looked at the
Speaker 4: house because we were like, there were a few it's
Speaker 4: a lot of work, so like that's de terrent for
Speaker 4: people to that.
Speaker 2: I was like, I want it, yeah, how good? And
Speaker 2: so then you made three hundred thousand dollars on that property,
Speaker 2: and then what happened.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so when we saw our house, we both had carloons.
Speaker 4: I had just taken out a thirty one thousand or
Speaker 4: the carlon which I paid off straight away basically, and
Speaker 4: then he paid off his. He had about ten thousand left.
Speaker 4: We put two hundred and sixty thousand towards the house
Speaker 4: so we didn't have to pay the LMI, and then
Speaker 4: we had thirty thousand leftover for renovations as well. So
Speaker 4: we've done. I painted the house myself and my partner
Speaker 4: took down walls and did all that sort of stuff,
Speaker 4: and then we paid for a new kitchen, and then
Speaker 4: we're just slowly renovating the rest as we go.
Speaker 2: How exciting. I just did my kitchen. Did you see
Speaker 2: did you see?
Speaker 4: Yeah? The computer one?
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, yes? Did you do your own kitchen
Speaker 2: or did you have one installed?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: How did that work? Because I'm obsessed. I basically am
Speaker 2: a kitchen renovator. Now, I like, you let me know,
Speaker 2: I'll design your kitchen. You let me know, I'll show
Speaker 2: you how to do it. It's harder than I thought
Speaker 2: it would be, as in like just time wise but
Speaker 2: so gratifying, like people come over and I'm like made that.
Speaker 4: So we actually did want to try the Cabudle kitchen,
Speaker 4: but I wanted like a big farmhouse sink.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah.
Speaker 4: It was yes, specific things that I wanted that Kabuda
Speaker 4: couldn't do. And the price that they gave us was
Speaker 4: fourteen thousand.
Speaker 2: Oh that's pretty good.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the person who actually did ours was only seventeen thousand,
Speaker 4: and we got exactly what we wanted.
Speaker 2: So how good? And you got that big farmhouse vibe? Yeah,
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, I love it. Are you talking like
Speaker 2: the big I don't know if anyone else is going
Speaker 2: to care, but like the big white farmhouse like one
Speaker 2: that kind of sticks out a little bit. Yeah, oh
Speaker 2: my god, I love it. I have those saved on Pinterest.
Speaker 2: I do not have a house that that could fit in.
Speaker 2: But one day, one day, all right, we're on the
Speaker 2: same page. I love this. So you put in your kitchen,
Speaker 2: You've now moved in, you're on two point seven acres
Speaker 2: and you got engaged. Yes, when did you get engaged?
Speaker 4: I got engaged in April, so my part and I
Speaker 4: had been to go, Oh it's fresh's so very freshly engaged.
Speaker 2: How exciting? And now you're planning a wedding? What's that process?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 4: Well, we sort of had already talked about it heats anyway,
Speaker 4: so and a few of my friends had just got married,
Speaker 4: so I had a lot of information about it. A
Speaker 4: lot of people aren't taking bookings though, because it is
Speaker 4: so far away.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, when are you planning on getting married?
Speaker 4: So March twenty six?
Speaker 2: I love that. That's going to give you so much
Speaker 2: good lead up. Yeah, like how good? And have you
Speaker 2: got like a little calendar reminder in your calendar for
Speaker 2: the day that the venue you want is going to
Speaker 2: start taking bookings.
Speaker 4: No, so we're just having it at a house.
Speaker 2: Oh perfect?
Speaker 4: How cool?
Speaker 2: So what's the plan?
Speaker 4: So it's actually perfect because it means that my part,
Speaker 4: my part is a landscaper, so we want to do
Speaker 4: the landscaping at our house. But it just hasn't been
Speaker 4: an urgency, whereas now we want the house looking beautiful.
Speaker 2: Oh you're going to have to plant now so that
Speaker 2: they're beautifully established. Yeah, I'm going to put my wedding
Speaker 2: budget into that instead, and then you get to keep it.
Speaker 2: Yeah you guys, genius.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And obviously because we have the land. I got
Speaker 4: to black found it how much flowers with and I
Speaker 4: was like, wait, I'm just going to grow them myself.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, You're going to grow your own flowers?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Oh, how Like what's the plan? What kind of flowers
Speaker 2: are we growing?
Speaker 4: So it'll just be like just heaps of different ones,
Speaker 4: like nothing specific, but I'll grow in September and just
Speaker 4: see what blooms by March.
Speaker 2: That's actually so beautiful. Are you going to go out
Speaker 2: on your wedding morning and pick your bouquet? Oh my god,
Speaker 2: that is so wholesome. And talk me through the rest
Speaker 2: of the budget, like are you going to beat You're
Speaker 2: growing your own flowers, You're building your own venue. Are
Speaker 2: we making our own dress?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 2: Where does the line? Where does the line exist on this?
Speaker 4: I wish my mum made her own dress, but I
Speaker 4: don't think we'd be to do it now.
Speaker 2: I feel like the fabric would be equally as expensive
Speaker 2: as the dress.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's no real set budget for the rest. We're
Speaker 4: just sort of like we're being reasonable, but also like
Speaker 4: if we want something, we'll get it.
Speaker 2: I love it. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. I'm
Speaker 2: going to have to get your socials after this because
Speaker 2: I'm going to need to follow all Right. That is
Speaker 2: genuinely so exciting. So let's jump into the next question
Speaker 2: I have for you. I know you came home from
Speaker 2: overseas to study, but what do you now do for work?
Speaker 2: And how much money do you earn?
Speaker 4: Yeah? So I'm a registered nurse in an emergency department
Speaker 4: and I'm also I have my own little business through
Speaker 4: the NDIS as a registered nurse and support.
Speaker 2: Oh that's exciting. Tell me about how much money you earn?
Speaker 4: So this year I should make between one hundred and
Speaker 4: thirty two one hundred and fifty thousand.
Speaker 2: I'm okay, nurse.
Speaker 4: Yeah, what I know, which is amazing because I cut
Speaker 4: down my hours at the hospital and doing more of
Speaker 4: my own business. But I'm home more, working less and
Speaker 4: earning more, which is really exciting.
Speaker 2: Okay, is that you just living the dream?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I love this for you. Can I be really what
Speaker 2: does your partner do? How much money does he earn?
Speaker 4: He's a landscaper and earns about seventy.
Speaker 2: Five Oh, okay, bread winner. I love this for you.
Speaker 2: That is so exciting. Do you sometimes reflect on where
Speaker 2: you are today and you know you're going, oh between
Speaker 2: one thirty and one fifty, which is crazy cool. And
Speaker 2: then when I'm you were like, I am living paycheck
Speaker 2: to paycheck. I have a finance card because I needed
Speaker 2: some furniture. My dodgy friend has lumped a group like
Speaker 2: a guaranteur bill on me, and I now have three
Speaker 2: thousand dollars owing like, and I don't know whether money
Speaker 2: is going to come. Do you sometimes just go life
Speaker 2: is a little bit different now.
Speaker 4: Yeah. So I actually never reflected on it until I
Speaker 4: started listening to the Money Diaries episodes, and I literally
Speaker 4: just always get so inspired. I'm like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 4: that's sort of me. Oh, I love that it is you,
Speaker 4: and now you're on the podcast, so it's legitimately you.
Speaker 2: I love this Money Diarist. You've got a wedding coming up,
Speaker 2: you already have a big, beautiful property. What are your
Speaker 2: other big money goals? What are you currently working towards?
Speaker 4: Yeah, so obviously our main thing is we just really
Speaker 4: want to pay off our home. That's our big goal,
Speaker 4: and then we would love to get into property investment,
Speaker 4: but it's not something that's urgent at the moment, and
Speaker 4: we do have equity sitting there in the house that
Speaker 4: we could start doing it, but it's just not a
Speaker 4: priority at the moment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, very cool. So when you say you want to
Speaker 2: fully pay off your home by the age of thirty three,
Speaker 2: how old are you now? What does that kind of
Speaker 2: plan look like?
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I'm twenty six At the moment, I'm putting
Speaker 4: an extra two thousand dollars a fortnight into.
Speaker 2: A a fortnight. Yeah, Okay, someone doesn't understand that we're
Speaker 2: in the middle of a cost of living crisis. It
Speaker 2: must be nice. Yeah, that is no shade, by the way,
Speaker 2: that is just so impressive. I just love that, you know,
Speaker 2: especially right now when so many people are struggling, there
Speaker 2: are beautiful stories of people doing really well, like and
Speaker 2: at the moment, especially post COVID, I think everyone agree
Speaker 2: that who do we want to do really well? Frontline
Speaker 2: workers are nurses, Like, that's exactly who I want to
Speaker 2: see shine.
Speaker 4: Yeah. My partner and I have sat down that other
Speaker 4: like we like to just evaluate like everything, like every
Speaker 4: month or two. I think it makes both of us
Speaker 4: feel better when we can see where our money's going.
Speaker 4: As well. We were able to cut down a lot
Speaker 4: of unnecessarily spending and all of our dispose of income,
Speaker 4: Like we can see where everything's going, and I know
Speaker 4: we don't really have silly spending or anything like that either,
Speaker 4: So oh good, Yeah, we know too that, Like I
Speaker 4: when spoke to an account about everything. Initially, we did
Speaker 4: have different savings accounts that we were putting the money into.
Speaker 4: That our accountants sort of said, like, if you want
Speaker 4: to pay off your house, you're literally better just putting
Speaker 4: all your money into your mortgage and if you need it,
Speaker 4: you can take it back up.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 2: I have a question about that. Do you have a
Speaker 2: redraw facility or an offset facility on your mortgage?
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I have a redraw because we had such
Speaker 4: a good inter right when we got our move to
Speaker 4: it's only five point nine nine percent.
Speaker 2: Okay, she's just flexing left flowret and center today. That
Speaker 2: must be nice. Mine is a little bit higher than that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but we did talk to a broker about an
Speaker 4: offset account and she said that they offered six point one.
Speaker 2: Four that's not worth it at this point for you. Yeah,
Speaker 2: like we.
Speaker 4: Would never take any small amount out, but it was
Speaker 4: only twenty five dollars fee to take something out, So
Speaker 4: it was just easier to keep the redrawl.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that makes sense. I ask because there's always
Speaker 2: like a pro and a con for both. And I
Speaker 2: kind of was expecting you to say, oh, well, we
Speaker 2: have a redrawer because the offset was more expensive. And
Speaker 2: that depends on when you get your mortgage and how
Speaker 2: it works, because my mortgage is cheaper with the offset.
Speaker 2: But it's very different for very different people. It's just
Speaker 2: good to be educated, and it sounds like you are
Speaker 2: very savvy, Like it sounds like you're on top of
Speaker 2: this now, like I think past you is going to
Speaker 2: be shocked at who future you has become. Let's go
Speaker 2: to a really quick break on the flip side. I
Speaker 2: have a lot of questions for you. I want to
Speaker 2: know more about getting out of debt by thirty three.
Speaker 2: I want to know about your investments, and I want
Speaker 2: to know about your best and worst money habits. So guys,
Speaker 2: don't go anywhere. Money Diarist. We are back, and I
Speaker 2: am so excited about this money Diary because I feel
Speaker 2: like you have flipped your narrative entirely, and I just
Speaker 2: love this idea that you've just done it yourself, like
Speaker 2: you and your partner have worked so hard, and I
Speaker 2: know that. At the start of the episode, you said,
Speaker 2: you know, my parents do have money, and you mentioned
Speaker 2: before that some of your family members are in real estate,
Speaker 2: so they obviously know what they're talking about. But you're like,
Speaker 2: I don't want to rely on them. I want to
Speaker 2: do this myself, and I just I have so much
Speaker 2: respect for that, Like that is just so cool. So
Speaker 2: I want to know, apart from the house that you
Speaker 2: live in, do you have any investments. If so, what
Speaker 2: are they.
Speaker 4: I only have a raised account so that I put
Speaker 4: fifteen dollars a week into.
Speaker 2: Not only I have a raised account and I am
Speaker 2: investing currently in the share market, Victoria is what I heard.
Speaker 4: Yes, my partner and I do, like we love the
Speaker 4: idea of investing. But you could talk to so many
Speaker 4: people and so many people tell you different things, and
Speaker 4: it's like you can be really overwhelming.
Speaker 2: It's almost that's why I exist. It's crazy, isn't it.
Speaker 2: You get analysis paralysis.
Speaker 4: So last year was really busy for us. I was
Speaker 4: studying my POSTCRAT and my part was studying business as well.
Speaker 4: So it was something that we sort of put on
Speaker 4: the back thender, I guess, and it is something that
Speaker 4: we want to look into. It's just yeah, there's just
Speaker 4: so much information out there and we just need to
Speaker 4: find what works for us as well.
Speaker 2: I love that. How much have you got in raise?
Speaker 4: I've got one hundred?
Speaker 2: Okay, so she's sitting at four figures and she's like, oh,
Speaker 2: I only have rays. Like sorry, you know how many
Speaker 2: people aren't investing. And I mean all of your cash
Speaker 2: right now is going to the property that you're living
Speaker 2: in because you've got this goal of paying it off,
Speaker 2: and like that makes so much sense. I actually expected
Speaker 2: you to be like, no, we're not focusing on that, Like,
Speaker 2: our focus is somewhere else. The other thing you didn't
Speaker 2: mention is your superannuation. My friend, that is a tax ficle,
Speaker 2: but inside that tax picle you are invested. So what's
Speaker 2: your super looking like?
Speaker 4: So my supers for about fifty zerousand at the moment.
Speaker 2: Are okay at twenty six Yeah, that's definitely worthy of
Speaker 2: mention here.
Speaker 4: So with nursing, they pay I think it's fifteen percent
Speaker 4: at the moment, and with my business, I should be
Speaker 4: putting super away. However, I did speak to my accountant
Speaker 4: and he said, as long as you're paying super with
Speaker 4: nursing and you want to pay off your house, just
Speaker 4: put all that money into the house, and then once
Speaker 4: you pay off the house, you can start putting the
Speaker 4: money into SUPER.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I am obviously wildly passionate about small business and
Speaker 2: I'm always talking to people about making sure that they're
Speaker 2: looking after their SUPER. And that's something that when I
Speaker 2: started my business, I was really bad at I didn't
Speaker 2: pay myself SUPER because let's be honest, I didn't have
Speaker 2: the cash to like, if I wanted my business to
Speaker 2: grow and my SUPER to grow, like something was going
Speaker 2: to have to give. So I don't want people thinking, oh,
Speaker 2: Victoria is a bit delulu, like she thinks that we
Speaker 2: have all this money in our small business. We don't.
Speaker 2: But often when you see people who have really good
Speaker 2: incomes and then a small business on the side, they
Speaker 2: don't pay additional SUPER because it goes somewhere else, It
Speaker 2: goes in line with their values. It might go to
Speaker 2: a separate investment account, it might go to their mortgage,
Speaker 2: it might go to the bills and groceries, or it
Speaker 2: might even just go into paying down something so that
Speaker 2: they can become debt free. So I think it's just
Speaker 2: important to look at it, analyze what's going to work
Speaker 2: for you, and then make a decision instead of I
Speaker 2: think too many of us bury our heads in the sand,
Speaker 2: especially when it comes to super money. Diarist, Sorry about
Speaker 2: that rant. I'm just very passionate about investing. Talk me
Speaker 2: through debt. Before you mentioned that your mortgage was sitting
Speaker 2: at historically sixteen hundred bucks a month, which was really palatable,
Speaker 2: and now it's what twenty eight hundred dollars a month.
Speaker 2: How much of a mortgage and how much debt do
Speaker 2: you have and what do those repayments look like?
Speaker 4: Yeah, so our mortgage is actually our only debt, so
Speaker 4: we pay fortnightly for that, which is thirteen hundred dollars
Speaker 4: a fortnight I think. Which My partner and I don't
Speaker 4: share an account, so we do have that account together.
Speaker 4: We do have some savings accounts together, but we do
Speaker 4: have our own money together as well. His income, he
Speaker 4: pays for the mortgage, and then my income will pay
Speaker 4: for everything else and the saving.
Speaker 2: Oh how cool. I like that you've split it that way.
Speaker 2: Tell me a bit more about was that a conscious
Speaker 2: decision or was that something that just kind of fell
Speaker 2: into place? You're like, oh, you play the mortgage. That's
Speaker 2: one payment. I'll deal with the rest of it because
Speaker 2: I'm the one that always goes to the shops. Or like,
Speaker 2: was this something that you sat down and spoke about
Speaker 2: or just something that happened, Like I'm so pervy on
Speaker 2: finances in relationships, so let me know.
Speaker 4: I'm pretty sure it was a conversation about whether we
Speaker 4: should just put all our money into one account, and
Speaker 4: then we sort of decided not to because it is
Speaker 4: a lot easier having our own money as well. And
Speaker 4: then when we worked out how much money we were
Speaker 4: actually getting between us, we sort of just worked out
Speaker 4: like what to do, and it was just easier if
Speaker 4: he paid the mortgage and then I would pay for
Speaker 4: everything else because like all that stuff was already coming
Speaker 4: out of my accounts anyway.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, that makes sense. So how much is left
Speaker 2: on your mortgage?
Speaker 4: We have four hundred and thirty four thousand, and the
Speaker 4: house was six hundred and eighty five plus stamp duties
Speaker 4: about seven hundred and twenty thousand.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, doesn't stamp duty make you feel sick?
Speaker 2: Like when you realize how much you're like, that is
Speaker 2: so much money?
Speaker 4: Yeah, and like We're in Victoria, so it was forty thousand,
Speaker 4: but if you're in New South Wales it were in
Speaker 4: like fifty.
Speaker 2: Don't talk to me about it. I bought in Melbourne
Speaker 2: and yes, I do not want to talk about it.
Speaker 2: I'm still triggering. Do you know what stamp duty is though,
Speaker 2: because I find it wild. So way back in the
Speaker 2: day they used to transfer land titles, you would have
Speaker 2: to go to the council. You'd have to go, you know,
Speaker 2: to a government body and you would have to go
Speaker 2: in with all your papers and the other person to
Speaker 2: like do the swap and they would put a stamp
Speaker 2: on it from that council and say, hey, all right,
Speaker 2: this has gone from money Darist to Victoria, or from
Speaker 2: Victoria to money Darist. And it was there like admin
Speaker 2: processing fee, so it used to be small. That is
Speaker 2: now the admin processing fee for us to transfer properties
Speaker 2: before real that's like a government fee or a state
Speaker 2: fee sorry, that they charge for us to just transfer it.
Speaker 2: There's actually not a lot of work involved. In fact,
Speaker 2: I would argue there is less work today than the
Speaker 2: days where you used to go in and get a
Speaker 2: legitimate stamp on a property deed be for real Yeah.
Speaker 4: It's so crazy too, because like when you look at
Speaker 4: buying a house, if it's not your first home, you
Speaker 4: sort of at first you don't really think about that.
Speaker 4: And ours had a price range, so the highest one
Speaker 4: was seven hundred and twenty, So if it had it
Speaker 4: been about only paid seven hundred and twenty, we would
Speaker 4: have paid seven hundred and sixty thousand.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's wild, isn't it.
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. All right, Well, I'm excited that you're
Speaker 2: in a good financial position, and it sounds like because
Speaker 2: you only have four hundred and thirty four thousand dollars
Speaker 2: left on a property that arguably cost you nearly seven
Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars, you've got some nice equity which is
Speaker 2: very attractive, which is probably going to get you a
Speaker 2: lot closer to that goal of getting into property investing
Speaker 2: with your partner. Tell me, now, what do you think
Speaker 2: your best money habit is. I feel like you've learned
Speaker 2: a few over the last few years.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I'm very conscious with our lack of
Speaker 4: budgeting and everything just we don't really even budget. It's
Speaker 4: just that we're always looking at where our spending are
Speaker 4: and what we can cut it down. And I'm also
Speaker 4: not impulsive, like if we were to ever make a
Speaker 4: big purchase, we actually talk about it a lot and
Speaker 4: think if it's worth it. And especially with renovating a house,
Speaker 4: it can be like it can be a bit exciting
Speaker 4: and you want to do things all at once, but
Speaker 4: even though we have the money there, it's like sometimes
Speaker 4: it's not the best time to do it. So I
Speaker 4: think that's a good money habit that we're quite smart
Speaker 4: with uspen.
Speaker 2: I feel like you guys sound like you've got good
Speaker 2: delayed gratification, like you're able to go no, no, no,
Speaker 2: like we don't need that today because we're going to
Speaker 2: get a bigger, better something down the road. I'm really
Speaker 2: bad at that, so I'm very envious. Tell me what's
Speaker 2: your worst habit, Sure you've got one. You can't be
Speaker 2: this good at money.
Speaker 4: I do think that because I have been in positions
Speaker 4: where I don't have money, and now that I do
Speaker 4: have money, I can be a little bit scared to
Speaker 4: spend it. Like we have holiday accounts and everything, and
Speaker 4: the money's there to be spent on holiday accounts, but
Speaker 4: I don't like spending, like I will spend money that
Speaker 4: I have elsewhere like, I don't like seeing the money
Speaker 4: get too low, which is I think because I'm so
Speaker 4: scared of not having the money.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I get that. I feel like that's part
Speaker 2: of your money story, Like that's part of you having
Speaker 2: gone through situations where you were probably so stressed, and honestly,
Speaker 2: at the start of this episode, you were saying, I
Speaker 2: didn't even tell people that my friend had blocked me
Speaker 2: and goes to me because I was embarrassed that I
Speaker 2: owed this money on her. Behalf Like, I feel like
Speaker 2: current you would not do that. But also if you've
Speaker 2: been through circumstances like that, they've created a bit of
Speaker 2: trauma and now that still exists when it comes to
Speaker 2: money pressure. Is that something that you're like, oh, I
Speaker 2: totally get that, or is that something that you're like, oh,
Speaker 2: I'm getting through it, like it's not as bad as
Speaker 2: it used to be, or like where are you sitting
Speaker 2: on that fence?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't really know. I think it's all very subconscious,
Speaker 4: Like I honestly forget about a lot of things, and
Speaker 4: it's not until I actually think back deeply into it.
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, maybe that's why so normal.
Speaker 4: Yeah, like my mum is well off now. But my
Speaker 4: parents had got divorced when I was a bit younger,
Speaker 4: and she was working in like a retail store that
Speaker 4: she just didn't earn enough money and I had a
Speaker 4: ridiculous rent and it was quite stressing for her. And
Speaker 4: I think, like I have seen that version of her
Speaker 4: as well, and like, I just want to make sure
Speaker 4: that I don't have to have that life either.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so stressful and seeing a parent go through
Speaker 2: something like that, you want to be able to help
Speaker 2: them and you want to be able to support them,
Speaker 2: but at the same time you're learning along the way
Speaker 2: that maybe that's not a path you want to take,
Speaker 2: Like it's a very expensive gift your mum gave you. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so talk me through this, because at the start of
Speaker 2: the episode, I was like, all right, give us your money. Great,
Speaker 2: and you're like, look for you, I think I'm a
Speaker 2: B plus and I was like, all right, no worries.
Speaker 2: And then we started getting into it and you're like, look,
Speaker 2: my friend took me for a ride. You know, got
Speaker 2: this credit card? All made sense. You used to have zippay,
Speaker 2: used to have after pay. There's a little bit of
Speaker 2: room for growth, but your Zippay enough to pay a clothes.
Speaker 2: You don't have that debt anymore. You've you know, wiped
Speaker 2: out this debt that your friend gave you. You've always
Speaker 2: had three jobs since you were fifteen, Like, be for real,
Speaker 2: that's a lot of jobs. You're now a registered nurse.
Speaker 2: You mentioned before you not only are you a registered nurse,
Speaker 2: you've also done your grad dip like you've gone back
Speaker 2: and done post grad studies. Not only that you have
Speaker 2: your own business on the side, you're earning between one
Speaker 2: hundred and thirty one hundred and fifty grand. Like, sorry,
Speaker 2: fact check, just for everybody listening. She's twenty six, like you,
Speaker 2: to me are a child, Like you are still a baby.
Speaker 2: And that's not me being rude or mean. Like I
Speaker 2: just look at someone who's twenty six and go, they
Speaker 2: have their entire life ahead of them. Like the fact
Speaker 2: that you're so well set up, you're so financially savvy
Speaker 2: that you're having your wedding at home and you're growing
Speaker 2: your own flowers. When you saw the cost of flower
Speaker 2: like that is iconic, Like not only is iconic, but
Speaker 2: like how beautiful You're going to have these flowers that
Speaker 2: bloom the year after your wedding in your garden that
Speaker 2: were your wedding flowers. Like, ah, I just think the
Speaker 2: sentiment will vow you there outweighs the financial benefit. You
Speaker 2: were smart about seeing a broker. You knew when to
Speaker 2: push back on a broker to make sure that you
Speaker 2: were getting what you needed. You were like, no, you're
Speaker 2: pretty good at this. Like, but also, you're not giving
Speaker 2: me the outcome I need. I'm going to get a
Speaker 2: second opinion. And that second opinion led you to getting
Speaker 2: a property that you got to sell for three hundred
Speaker 2: thousand dollars. More like you got a three hundred grand
Speaker 2: profit which got you into your family home. Now, like,
Speaker 2: I have a lot to go through. I'm going to
Speaker 2: stop there though, because I think that you're getting a
Speaker 2: sense of where I'm going with this. My friend, if
Speaker 2: you're really a B plus, tell me what it would
Speaker 2: take to get you to an A plus. If you've
Speaker 2: listened to this and you're like me, maybe I'm not
Speaker 2: a B plus? Where are we sitting after this comment station,
Speaker 2: my friend.
Speaker 4: I'm a bit more than a B plus.
Speaker 2: Oh really, I did not see that coming. I am
Speaker 2: shocked and horrified.
Speaker 4: I wouldn't say that I'm an A plus or anything.
Speaker 4: I think that even though, like I want to pay
Speaker 4: off my house and stuff, I still think that it
Speaker 4: would be beneficial for me to invest or do property
Speaker 4: investing just for like the future as well. So I
Speaker 4: think that would Yeah, that would be what it takes
Speaker 4: to get to an A plus.
Speaker 2: But what is in the way, Like, I need to
Speaker 2: understand what is in the way of you becoming a
Speaker 2: property investor, because right now, all of your ducks are
Speaker 2: in a perfect line to put you there. You right
Speaker 2: now just need a bit more time. Is that right?
Speaker 2: So you're telling me that time is the thing that
Speaker 2: is going to change you from a B plus to
Speaker 2: an A plus because your plan's perfect. Yeah, okay, all right,
Speaker 2: brag about it. I'm very envious but also so in
Speaker 2: awe that you set yourself up like this money diarist.
Speaker 2: I am so impressed, and I'm just so glad that
Speaker 2: I get to share your story with our community. I'm
Speaker 2: so excited that you were a money Diary listener and
Speaker 2: now you've become a money diarist, Like that's the coolest
Speaker 2: thing ever. And to me, knowing that you know the
Speaker 2: content that we create motivates you, Like, isn't that cool, Like,
Speaker 2: I don't know. I have to pinch myself sometimes because
Speaker 2: often the podcast is just s you are me. We're
Speaker 2: currently sitting online doing a zoom, just having a chat
Speaker 2: as friends, and I've got this set of questions that
Speaker 2: I ask all of my friends that come on the show,
Speaker 2: and it doesn't feel like so many people listen, and
Speaker 2: then you realize the impact in You're like, this is cool,
Speaker 2: this is changing people's money stories for the better. So
Speaker 2: I'm so glad that we've spoken and I've gotten to
Speaker 2: share your story with the community. Unfortunately, this has been
Speaker 2: a long one, so we have run out of time
Speaker 2: for today, but I'm really grateful that you joined us,
Speaker 2: so thank you, and I know our community is gonna
Speaker 2: love this story as much as I have.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
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