1
00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:07,080
Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families podcast. It's the podcast for the

2
00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:10,119
Speaker 1: time poor parent who just wants answers.

3
00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:12,399
Speaker 2: Now, we have in our heads that a budget is

4
00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:15,520
Speaker 2: about restriction, and it's actually about the opposite. It's about

5
00:00:15,520 --> 00:00:18,439
Speaker 2: allocating money in line with the things that we value.

6
00:00:18,840 --> 00:00:20,560
Speaker 2: And if you've got your head in the sand about

7
00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:23,040
Speaker 2: money and budgeting like we can't ever be on top

8
00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:23,360
Speaker 2: of it.

9
00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:26,720
Speaker 1: And now here's the stars of our show, my mum

10
00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:27,200
Speaker 1: and dad.

11
00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:29,000
Speaker 3: Hello, this is doctor Justin Coulson.

12
00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:33,040
Speaker 4: Cost of living is getting out of control, frustrating when

13
00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:35,320
Speaker 4: you almost cry every time you have to fill up

14
00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:37,000
Speaker 4: the car put petrol in there.

15
00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:39,000
Speaker 3: It's just awful and it.

16
00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:40,919
Speaker 4: Doesn't look like it's going to get any better as

17
00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:44,800
Speaker 4: we move closer and closer to political elections and all

18
00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:47,360
Speaker 4: the political stuff around finance. This is not a conversation

19
00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:50,319
Speaker 4: about politics though today it's a conversation about getting our

20
00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,559
Speaker 4: money sorted when times are tough. And my guest for

21
00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:57,200
Speaker 4: today's podcast is Victoria Devine from She's on the Money.

22
00:00:57,240 --> 00:00:59,600
Speaker 4: It's a podcast that I reckon you should follow for

23
00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:03,440
Speaker 4: free on whatever podcast app you're listening on. All about budgeting,

24
00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:05,360
Speaker 4: all about getting stuff right. Also, the author of the

25
00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:07,560
Speaker 4: book She's on the Money. Hey, Victoria, great to have

26
00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:08,840
Speaker 4: you on the Happy Family Podcast.

27
00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:10,880
Speaker 5: Hello, thank you so much for having me.

28
00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:13,480
Speaker 4: I want to ask you a really big question to

29
00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:15,720
Speaker 4: start with. We're going to get to the budgetary stuff later,

30
00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:17,640
Speaker 4: but what does it cost to raise a child? I mean,

31
00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:19,839
Speaker 4: I've read all these articles all over the place about

32
00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:21,920
Speaker 4: it's a million bucks, and it's eight hundred grand, and

33
00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:25,520
Speaker 4: it's two million. People just say that having children is expensive.

34
00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:27,399
Speaker 4: How much does it cost?

35
00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:29,199
Speaker 3: You've written about this in your book, She's on the Man.

36
00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:29,400
Speaker 1: I have.

37
00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:32,720
Speaker 2: I did a whole chapter on how to budget for

38
00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:35,720
Speaker 2: a baby and how much a cost to raise a child,

39
00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:38,920
Speaker 2: and my research doesn't tell me a million dollars, although

40
00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:41,640
Speaker 2: sometimes I feel like it can probably feel like a

41
00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:45,240
Speaker 2: million dollars, and with you having six kids probably going.

42
00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:47,840
Speaker 5: To cost that, I do apologize.

43
00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:49,080
Speaker 3: It feels like I'm killing you out.

44
00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:52,480
Speaker 2: But there was a research study done in twenty eighteen

45
00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:57,160
Speaker 2: by the Australian Institute of Family Studies and that showed

46
00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:00,639
Speaker 2: that it's about eight eight hundred and four forty dollars

47
00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:04,400
Speaker 2: per child per couple to raise a child here in Australia,

48
00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:07,800
Speaker 2: which equates to about one hundred and fifty nine thousand,

49
00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:11,360
Speaker 2: one hundred and twenty dollars per eighteen years.

50
00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:12,200
Speaker 3: Wow.

51
00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:14,480
Speaker 4: So if I multiply that out by six, and I'm

52
00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:16,359
Speaker 4: not very good at maths, but let's say it's approximately

53
00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:18,880
Speaker 4: one hundred and fifty, I'm up for nine hundred grand.

54
00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:21,520
Speaker 5: Yeah. So, as I said, you're up for the million,

55
00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:23,000
Speaker 5: my friends, But what.

56
00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:23,840
Speaker 3: Does it not include?

57
00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:26,480
Speaker 4: Because families are paying I know some people are going

58
00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:28,919
Speaker 4: to say eight thousand dollars, but what about my even

59
00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:32,360
Speaker 4: my low fee private sych like a Catholic school maybe

60
00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:34,359
Speaker 4: six grand a year, maybe up to ten or fifteen

61
00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:37,040
Speaker 4: depending on the school. Those fancy hoity toity schools, we're

62
00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:38,399
Speaker 4: talking thirty grand a year.

63
00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:39,480
Speaker 5: Yeah.

64
00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:43,240
Speaker 2: Well, there's a little bit of research. Yeah, absolutely, there's

65
00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:45,560
Speaker 2: a little bit of research around it that was actually

66
00:02:45,639 --> 00:02:48,680
Speaker 2: done in twenty sixteen by the government and they did

67
00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:52,920
Speaker 2: some budgeting and some guidelines for lower income families to

68
00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:55,680
Speaker 2: give them an idea of how much it would cost

69
00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:59,320
Speaker 2: to have different items budgeted into each week's budget. So

70
00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:03,240
Speaker 2: they said, for a couple with one child, food for

71
00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:06,320
Speaker 2: their budget should be about one hundred and fifty six dollars.

72
00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:09,720
Speaker 2: You should be budgeting about twenty four dollars for clothing

73
00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:13,480
Speaker 2: and footwear, about one hundred and thirteen for household goods

74
00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:17,520
Speaker 2: and services, and then education they said budget about twenty

75
00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:21,520
Speaker 2: seven dollars per child. So I think that's an interesting

76
00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:25,840
Speaker 2: one because obviously that's going definitely off the public system,

77
00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:27,240
Speaker 2: not the private system.

78
00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:29,040
Speaker 5: But I don't know if.

79
00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:31,600
Speaker 2: That includes things like school camps and all of the

80
00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:34,480
Speaker 2: extracurricular activities that a lot of kids get up.

81
00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:35,160
Speaker 5: To these days.

82
00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:37,200
Speaker 3: And that's what I was thinking, where you're going through that.

83
00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:38,360
Speaker 3: I was like, and when are you going to say

84
00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:44,000
Speaker 3: piano lessons or or netball exactly? It just keeps ongoing.

85
00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:45,200
Speaker 3: But that's really fascinating.

86
00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:48,920
Speaker 4: What that tells me is that the choices that we

87
00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:52,240
Speaker 4: make over and above the basics are where the real

88
00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:56,000
Speaker 4: costs are. If it's only about eight thousand dollars per child,

89
00:03:56,160 --> 00:04:00,240
Speaker 4: per couple per year, most of us can probably figure

90
00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:02,160
Speaker 4: out a way to navigate that unless things are getting

91
00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:05,240
Speaker 4: really really tight, maybe unemployment, or if we're.

92
00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:05,640
Speaker 3: Doing it on our own.

93
00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:07,800
Speaker 4: I mean, my hat just goes off again and again.

94
00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:10,640
Speaker 4: To single parents, it must be so so tight.

95
00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:10,920
Speaker 3: So tough.

96
00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:14,760
Speaker 4: So let's let's dive into this a little bit petrol prices,

97
00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:17,880
Speaker 4: even though there's been this nice reduction in fuel excise

98
00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:18,480
Speaker 4: in the budget.

99
00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:20,520
Speaker 5: We love that. We love that.

100
00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:23,640
Speaker 2: Recently we saw the budget give us a fuel excise,

101
00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:26,039
Speaker 2: which if you missed it because you're a busy parent,

102
00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:28,960
Speaker 2: I'm not surprised. But the government turned around and said,

103
00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:31,240
Speaker 2: you know what, as of midnight on the night that

104
00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:34,440
Speaker 2: the budget came out, we're going to have the tax

105
00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:36,839
Speaker 2: on fuel, So we're going to go from forty four

106
00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:40,560
Speaker 2: point two cents per liter down to twenty two point one,

107
00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:44,120
Speaker 2: which the idea of that is to be completely passed

108
00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,039
Speaker 2: on to us. So if recently you've been seeing a

109
00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:49,000
Speaker 2: little bit of a price drop at the bowser, that

110
00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:50,640
Speaker 2: is the reason I.

111
00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:52,480
Speaker 4: Wonder if our roads are going to deteriorate. I mean,

112
00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:54,960
Speaker 4: they reckon that that excise fixes all of our anyway,

113
00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:56,640
Speaker 4: Let's not go down. I'm not going to have a

114
00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:00,479
Speaker 4: slippery slope it is. So that's only going last for

115
00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:02,560
Speaker 4: six months as well, So obviously.

116
00:05:02,279 --> 00:05:05,359
Speaker 2: Apparently they didn't give us any indication of why only

117
00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:08,200
Speaker 2: six months, because obviously there's a lot of uncertainty in

118
00:05:08,279 --> 00:05:11,760
Speaker 2: their marketplace at the moment, so maybe it'll be extended.

119
00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:13,520
Speaker 2: But do you know what, I'm just grateful for it

120
00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:15,920
Speaker 2: right here and right now, because I got very sick

121
00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:17,600
Speaker 2: of paying more than two dollars a lead.

122
00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:20,760
Speaker 4: Oh man, I know, like I literally, I know I

123
00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:22,440
Speaker 4: said it in the intro, but I nearly cried when

124
00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:24,520
Speaker 4: I had to pay for fuel a couple of weeks,

125
00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:26,240
Speaker 4: so I was like, how can they charge us this?

126
00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:30,320
Speaker 4: It's never been there. We struggle though, when it comes

127
00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:33,760
Speaker 4: to budgeting. Before we talk about some specific tips for budgeting,

128
00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:37,159
Speaker 4: can you just tell me a bit about why we

129
00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:41,080
Speaker 4: don't budget well. Why people roll their eyes as if

130
00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:44,040
Speaker 4: it's a dirty word, Why people get so frustrated about budgets,

131
00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:46,000
Speaker 4: why they so hard to stick to.

132
00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:48,920
Speaker 2: Oh, there's so many reasons, but the top two for

133
00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:50,120
Speaker 2: me is number one.

134
00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:50,640
Speaker 5: Judgment.

135
00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:53,240
Speaker 2: You feel like you're judging yourself. You don't feel like

136
00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:55,040
Speaker 2: you want to look at it because you're like, oh

137
00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:56,760
Speaker 2: my god, I'm going to feel so awful about the

138
00:05:56,800 --> 00:05:59,560
Speaker 2: decisions I've made. I don't need to feel awful today, No,

139
00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:03,040
Speaker 2: thank you. And the second point there is actually we

140
00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:05,320
Speaker 2: have in our heads that a budget is about restriction,

141
00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:08,760
Speaker 2: and it's actually about the opposite. It's about allocating money

142
00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:11,280
Speaker 2: in line with the things that we value. And if

143
00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:13,680
Speaker 2: you've got your head in the sand about money and budgeting,

144
00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:15,880
Speaker 2: like we can't ever be on top of it. And

145
00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:19,960
Speaker 2: from my perspective as a financial advisor, budgeting is actually

146
00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,880
Speaker 2: about really understanding every dollar that comes in and knowing

147
00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:26,360
Speaker 2: what that looks like, but then also understanding every dollar

148
00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:29,159
Speaker 2: that goes out, regardless of where it is going, just

149
00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:30,440
Speaker 2: so that you're on top of it.

150
00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:33,400
Speaker 4: Victoria, we need to take a quick break, but before

151
00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:35,359
Speaker 4: we do, I just want to go a little deeper

152
00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:39,040
Speaker 4: on that concept, because that's precisely how I see budgeting.

153
00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:41,359
Speaker 4: It's like, oh, I've got to spend this much on that,

154
00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:43,640
Speaker 4: and this much on I've got my rates, I've got

155
00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:46,240
Speaker 4: my mortgage, I've got my car repayments, I've got my

156
00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:48,560
Speaker 4: credit card, my blah blah blahlah blah blah blah, got

157
00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:50,640
Speaker 4: a budget for kids in school. And I do I

158
00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:52,760
Speaker 4: feel like as the money comes in, I'm putting it

159
00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:55,000
Speaker 4: into all of these I mean I used to when

160
00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:57,279
Speaker 4: we had cash all the time. I used to literally

161
00:06:57,279 --> 00:06:59,720
Speaker 4: put the money into envelopes. With my wife Kylie, we

162
00:06:59,839 --> 00:07:01,880
Speaker 4: say down, we'd pull the money out of the bank,

163
00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:04,040
Speaker 4: we'd put it into the envelopes and we'd be like, Wow,

164
00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:05,960
Speaker 4: we've got seventy six cents left that we can spend

165
00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:06,960
Speaker 4: and have fun with this week.

166
00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:08,799
Speaker 3: And it felt like it was restrictive.

167
00:07:08,839 --> 00:07:10,920
Speaker 4: Can you just talk a bit more about that for

168
00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:14,600
Speaker 4: just a minute or so, about why it's not necessarily

169
00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:16,160
Speaker 4: about restricting our funds.

170
00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:19,040
Speaker 2: I think too many times we look at it and

171
00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:21,400
Speaker 2: we're shocked about the numbers that we see. You might

172
00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:23,240
Speaker 2: think in your head, oh my gosh, all right, I've

173
00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:25,640
Speaker 2: got a couple of kids. My grocery budget is sitting

174
00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:28,200
Speaker 2: just under two hundred dollars, Like can you feel really

175
00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:30,720
Speaker 2: okay with that? But when you start to look into it,

176
00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:33,040
Speaker 2: you go, all right, well, I'm spending that two hundred dollars,

177
00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:34,680
Speaker 2: but then I'm doing three or four trips to the

178
00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:37,440
Speaker 2: supermarket in between. I'm now spending four hundred dollars. I

179
00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:40,640
Speaker 2: didn't realize. I feel very guilty about my spending, and

180
00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:42,320
Speaker 2: you don't really want to get on top of it.

181
00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:45,600
Speaker 2: But it's actually more about creating a budget and setting

182
00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:48,240
Speaker 2: an amount that is allocated to that that is in

183
00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:50,840
Speaker 2: line with your lifestyle. If you pop out to the

184
00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:53,760
Speaker 2: shops a lot, that's totally okay. Let's just make sure

185
00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:55,960
Speaker 2: that there's a wiggle room in the budget so that

186
00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:58,720
Speaker 2: that doesn't eat into your future holidays or into the

187
00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:01,560
Speaker 2: ballet lessons, or into something else that you know you

188
00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:03,040
Speaker 2: want your money to be working on.

189
00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:04,080
Speaker 5: So it's more.

190
00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:06,280
Speaker 2: About going, all right, well, what type of person and

191
00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:09,320
Speaker 2: am I how are we budgeting as a family? Is

192
00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:12,520
Speaker 2: convenience something that we are really happy to pay for?

193
00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:15,560
Speaker 2: And if it is, that's totally fine. It doesn't matter

194
00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:18,280
Speaker 2: that Susie down the road has managed to mail prep

195
00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:21,320
Speaker 2: everything and she does two hundred bucks a month, like,

196
00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:24,640
Speaker 2: that's not you, that's not your comparison to draw. We

197
00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:27,320
Speaker 2: need to really just focus on ourselves. So I think

198
00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:30,400
Speaker 2: by budgeting, it's not about setting a limit. It's actually

199
00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:33,400
Speaker 2: about going how much my spending and if you're not

200
00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:36,800
Speaker 2: comfortable with it, finding a way to change that amount

201
00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:40,520
Speaker 2: that actually makes sense for your personal situation. Because there

202
00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:43,360
Speaker 2: are some things that you'll just say, oh, I know

203
00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:46,080
Speaker 2: I spend more on groceries, but I'd much prefer to

204
00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:48,880
Speaker 2: buy the pre cut carrots than I would to have

205
00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:49,440
Speaker 2: to do.

206
00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:50,520
Speaker 5: All the prep myself.

207
00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:53,520
Speaker 2: And I think that is very fair and very reasonable

208
00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:56,000
Speaker 2: to make that decision as long as it's a decision,

209
00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:58,960
Speaker 2: not just an incidental that's eating into your budget.

210
00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:01,400
Speaker 4: I think this is why so many people like your podcast.

211
00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:04,400
Speaker 4: You're reassuring and you've just got such great answers. I'm

212
00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:07,440
Speaker 4: speaking with Victoria Divine from that she's On the Money

213
00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:09,480
Speaker 4: podcast and the author of the book She's On the Money.

214
00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:12,920
Speaker 4: You can check out her podcast whatever app you listen

215
00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:15,360
Speaker 4: to podcasts on. After the break, we're gonna have a

216
00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:18,840
Speaker 4: conversation about getting our budget right and how we can

217
00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:21,240
Speaker 4: make the tough decisions when there just doesn't seem to

218
00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:27,000
Speaker 4: be enough money left at the end of the week.

219
00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:30,320
Speaker 4: Your daughter just walked by, eyes glued to her phone,

220
00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:31,760
Speaker 4: expression unreadable.

221
00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:34,160
Speaker 3: You ask her to put it down, but she balks.

222
00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:36,440
Speaker 4: You know it's not good for her, but you're not

223
00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:40,640
Speaker 4: sure why or how to support better choices. In the webinar,

224
00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:44,599
Speaker 4: pixel perfect I joined with psychologists and Team tech expert

225
00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:48,200
Speaker 4: Jocelyn Brewer to discuss how to set screen boundaries that

226
00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:51,480
Speaker 4: work for you and your daughter. Check out pixel perfect

227
00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:55,320
Speaker 4: now on the Happy Families webshop. It's the Happy Families podcast,

228
00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:57,439
Speaker 4: the podcast for the time poor parent who just wants

229
00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:01,120
Speaker 4: answers Now. Victoria Divine from the She's on the Money

230
00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:03,800
Speaker 4: podcast is with me right now, and we're talking about

231
00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:07,320
Speaker 4: how to get through these tough times as everything goes up,

232
00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:11,000
Speaker 4: like bananas and tomatoes and cucumbers and broccoli and fuel

233
00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:12,679
Speaker 4: and bread and milk, I mean just.

234
00:10:12,760 --> 00:10:17,280
Speaker 3: Every truly everything. Yep. Houses. Can we talk about houses

235
00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:18,040
Speaker 3: for a seconds now?

236
00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:19,680
Speaker 5: I think we'll end up crying.

237
00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:23,040
Speaker 4: So as life gets more and more expensive, Victoria and

238
00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:25,760
Speaker 4: families are saying, I get what you're saying about budgeting,

239
00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:27,559
Speaker 4: and I'm even on board with budgeting, and I get

240
00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:29,679
Speaker 4: that it's not necessarily a restrictive thing. It's supposed to

241
00:10:29,679 --> 00:10:32,000
Speaker 4: free me up. But I just don't have enough money.

242
00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:34,440
Speaker 4: I don't know how I'm supposed to do this. I'm

243
00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:36,600
Speaker 4: tightening my belt as much as I can. We've canceled

244
00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:39,920
Speaker 4: the kids extra curricular activities, and we we're crying into

245
00:10:39,960 --> 00:10:42,840
Speaker 4: our pillows every night because it's so hard right now?

246
00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:45,240
Speaker 4: How do you help parents like that? As a financial advisor?

247
00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:49,280
Speaker 2: I feel like so many parents put so much pressure

248
00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:52,240
Speaker 2: on themselves to adhere to what they think they should

249
00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:54,360
Speaker 2: be doing, rather than what they should be doing for

250
00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:57,400
Speaker 2: their own situation. And my friend, you probably know of

251
00:10:57,480 --> 00:11:00,960
Speaker 2: another very famous ex financial advice I didn't wear any

252
00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:04,400
Speaker 2: shoes that he had a very structured outline of what

253
00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:07,120
Speaker 2: he thought you guys should be doing, and he'd say

254
00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:09,480
Speaker 2: things like, all right, twenty percent into that, thirty percent

255
00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:11,400
Speaker 2: into that. And I just think that that's such a

256
00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:15,160
Speaker 2: redundant system, because if you're a single mum of two

257
00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:18,200
Speaker 2: kids and you're only forty five grand a year, that

258
00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:20,480
Speaker 2: is ridiculous to think that you are going to have

259
00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:22,520
Speaker 2: savings left over at the end of the month. And

260
00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:24,480
Speaker 2: I want you to know that that's okay that you

261
00:11:24,559 --> 00:11:27,360
Speaker 2: don't because you're in that period of your life where

262
00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:30,079
Speaker 2: do you know what that's not the priority. Putting food

263
00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:33,040
Speaker 2: on the table and giving your kids good experiences seems

264
00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:36,400
Speaker 2: to be your priority, and that's okay. But on the

265
00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:39,680
Speaker 2: flip side of that, maybe the more unrelatable side is

266
00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:42,600
Speaker 2: if we then applied that same structure to a family

267
00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:45,560
Speaker 2: that had an income of four hundred thousand dollars, I'd

268
00:11:45,559 --> 00:11:47,880
Speaker 2: expect them to save way more than ten percent. I'd

269
00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:51,040
Speaker 2: expect them to be doing backflips in comparison. So I

270
00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:54,840
Speaker 2: think these percentage based systems put a lot of pressure

271
00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:57,360
Speaker 2: on us to go, oh my gosh, like, I'm spending

272
00:11:57,400 --> 00:11:59,640
Speaker 2: so much more than that on housing. A lot of

273
00:11:59,640 --> 00:12:02,560
Speaker 2: single parents will report that they're definitely spending more than

274
00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:06,280
Speaker 2: thirty percent of their income or rent or on a mortgage.

275
00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:08,240
Speaker 2: A lot of them will say, like, at the end

276
00:12:08,280 --> 00:12:10,200
Speaker 2: of the day, Victoria, I don't have a lot left

277
00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:12,600
Speaker 2: to save or invest, and I just feel like there's

278
00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:15,280
Speaker 2: so much pressure in twenty twenty two to be an investor.

279
00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:17,360
Speaker 5: That's not the point.

280
00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:20,240
Speaker 2: It's important to be educated, but it's also important to

281
00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:23,520
Speaker 2: give yourself the grace and the space to thrive.

282
00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:23,840
Speaker 5: In the moment.

283
00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:26,440
Speaker 2: So if you're not putting a heap aside, that is

284
00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:29,600
Speaker 2: totally okay. My number one priority for you would be

285
00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:32,920
Speaker 2: making sure that you have an emergency fund to the side,

286
00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:35,960
Speaker 2: maybe five hundred bucks, just so that you feel a

287
00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:39,760
Speaker 2: little bit more comfortable. But having that structured budget in place,

288
00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:41,960
Speaker 2: just so you know where every dollar is going, you

289
00:12:42,040 --> 00:12:44,040
Speaker 2: know what it's being spent on, and you know what

290
00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:47,240
Speaker 2: your values are. Because I promise once you put that

291
00:12:47,320 --> 00:12:50,720
Speaker 2: in place, you're going to feel so much more empowered

292
00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:52,840
Speaker 2: and once you let go of the idea that you

293
00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:55,080
Speaker 2: need to be saving and you need to be investing.

294
00:12:55,679 --> 00:12:57,600
Speaker 2: If you're a mum, and you're a single mum at

295
00:12:57,600 --> 00:12:59,960
Speaker 2: that or a single parent in general. That's a whole

296
00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:02,440
Speaker 2: heap of pressure. You don't need to be putting on yourself.

297
00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:04,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, and we do that so much as parents. Already.

298
00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:07,320
Speaker 4: A couple of thoughts have popped in my mind as

299
00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:10,880
Speaker 4: I'm listening to you walk through this conversation. The first

300
00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:13,800
Speaker 4: is just there's a period of life, and you've highlighted

301
00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:17,679
Speaker 4: this so succinctly, so nicely, where life just gets really expensive.

302
00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:20,520
Speaker 3: Kylie and I are in that period right now.

303
00:13:20,559 --> 00:13:22,240
Speaker 4: We've got all of our kids between the age of

304
00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:25,760
Speaker 4: seven and nineteen, except for eldest who's moved out and married.

305
00:13:26,520 --> 00:13:28,920
Speaker 4: And this is we've already kind of nodded our heads

306
00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:30,160
Speaker 4: at each other and gone, this is going to be

307
00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:31,280
Speaker 4: the most expensive decade of.

308
00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:33,240
Speaker 5: Our lives, because absolutely it is.

309
00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:36,280
Speaker 4: Five kids going through their adolescence and between and teen years.

310
00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:39,600
Speaker 4: That's costly. And once you recognize that that is it's

311
00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:41,800
Speaker 4: going to be an expensive decade, but it will pass.

312
00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:43,360
Speaker 3: That just made us feel better.

313
00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:45,080
Speaker 4: We're like, Okay, so we are probably going to be

314
00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:49,520
Speaker 4: a little bit less investment. Yeah, that's right, exactly going

315
00:13:49,559 --> 00:13:51,480
Speaker 4: to go away. We're just going to get through and

316
00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:53,120
Speaker 4: the other thing that we did. I mentioned this in

317
00:13:53,160 --> 00:13:55,680
Speaker 4: the first part of our conversation, but I'd love for

318
00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:57,840
Speaker 4: you to unpack how we can do this because we

319
00:13:57,840 --> 00:14:00,480
Speaker 4: don't do this anymore in our family because we don't

320
00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:03,320
Speaker 4: use cash anymore. Everything we don't mean tap but that

321
00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:06,840
Speaker 4: envelope system, right, So as a family, every couple of months,

322
00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:11,800
Speaker 4: we'll go through the credit card statement, well, the debit

323
00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:15,040
Speaker 4: card I should say. We pay for everything on our

324
00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:17,600
Speaker 4: Visa master card whatever it is where we tap and go.

325
00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:19,760
Speaker 4: It's a debit card because we're not into credit cards

326
00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:22,400
Speaker 4: at all. But we go through that statement and we

327
00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:25,560
Speaker 4: literally itemize everything that we're spending with the kids so

328
00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:27,600
Speaker 4: that they can see, Oh, I love that. This is

329
00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:29,680
Speaker 4: how much we spent on groceries last month. This is

330
00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:31,680
Speaker 4: how much we spent the month before, and we actually

331
00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:34,880
Speaker 4: step them through, dollar by dollar everywhere that our money

332
00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:36,640
Speaker 4: is going. And then we have a conversation with them,

333
00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:39,040
Speaker 4: is this working, Should we be changing anything? What are

334
00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:40,920
Speaker 4: your thoughts on how much we spend on fuel and

335
00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:44,960
Speaker 4: travel and car costs and food. And we have these

336
00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:47,080
Speaker 4: really great conversations, but we don't know what to do

337
00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:48,880
Speaker 4: with the money because we're just tapping, and it's much

338
00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:51,240
Speaker 4: harder to monitor it because we don't have the envelopes

339
00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:53,680
Speaker 4: where we take the cash out and then the envelope's empty.

340
00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:55,080
Speaker 3: I guess we can't have that treat today.

341
00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:58,600
Speaker 5: Yeah. No, So I love that you're doing that with

342
00:14:58,640 --> 00:14:59,200
Speaker 5: your kids.

343
00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:01,800
Speaker 2: Have you actually heard of how some people put their

344
00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:04,440
Speaker 2: kids in control of the grocery budget for a week,

345
00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:06,800
Speaker 2: so they say, you make the decisions. We've got a

346
00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:11,280
Speaker 2: budget for breakfast, lunches, dinner, snacks, school lunches, everything, and

347
00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:15,080
Speaker 2: then they make the decisions. It's actually incredibly funny the

348
00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:18,920
Speaker 2: way that their thought processes work, especially the difference between

349
00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:21,000
Speaker 2: a seventeen year old and a twelve.

350
00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:22,400
Speaker 5: Year old making those decisions.

351
00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:26,560
Speaker 2: But back to cash envelope systems, obviously that's not as

352
00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:29,840
Speaker 2: feasible nowadays. So what you're going to do is do

353
00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:33,280
Speaker 2: that with your banking system. I have a strategy and

354
00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:35,320
Speaker 2: I recommend to this in my book, I recommend it

355
00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:37,560
Speaker 2: in my podcast and in my Facebook group. I am

356
00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:40,360
Speaker 2: obsessed with this strategy, and it's the strategy of having

357
00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:43,360
Speaker 2: six different bank accounts. So the first one is your

358
00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:45,960
Speaker 2: cash hub, and that's where all your money goes into

359
00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:48,240
Speaker 2: that kind of as like the bucket that makes sure

360
00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:51,240
Speaker 2: that everything is captured, and then we have a number

361
00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:54,200
Speaker 2: of different accounts off the side of that to make

362
00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:56,720
Speaker 2: sure that we have our savings goals. Maybe we've got

363
00:15:56,720 --> 00:15:59,200
Speaker 2: an account off the side for our investments. If we've

364
00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:01,360
Speaker 2: got it, we've got to wreck debits coming out of

365
00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:04,440
Speaker 2: that main cash hub. But then we have a debit

366
00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:08,840
Speaker 2: card attached to another account where we weekly transfer the

367
00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:11,880
Speaker 2: amount of money that we spend on our food, our fuel,

368
00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:15,000
Speaker 2: and our fun. So that could be different for a

369
00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:19,360
Speaker 2: husband and wife or couples who have different spending habits.

370
00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:22,320
Speaker 2: I'm sure you're of you're in the situation where only

371
00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:25,280
Speaker 2: one parent takes the kids to ballet lessons, so they're

372
00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:27,600
Speaker 2: going to need that money on their card to tap.

373
00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:31,200
Speaker 2: But that's where your grocery money goes every week, your

374
00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:33,880
Speaker 2: fuel money, which is probably a little bit more now

375
00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:36,160
Speaker 2: than it used to be, and your fun money. So

376
00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:38,800
Speaker 2: anything to do with the kids, anything that you're doing.

377
00:16:38,920 --> 00:16:41,520
Speaker 2: Maybe mum gets her hair done every six or eight weeks,

378
00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:44,400
Speaker 2: that goes on that card as well, and that becomes

379
00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:47,120
Speaker 2: your micro budget. So instead of always having to go,

380
00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:49,280
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, is there enough money left in the

381
00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:53,280
Speaker 2: cash hub to make sure that we're making regro or insurances.

382
00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:56,040
Speaker 2: That's all been thought about and that's being captured in

383
00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:59,280
Speaker 2: your cash hub and sitting there ready to use. But

384
00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:03,280
Speaker 2: we only draw out on a weekly basis, regardless of

385
00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:06,359
Speaker 2: how often you get paid. We draw out that amount

386
00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:09,480
Speaker 2: of money into our food, fuel and fun account and

387
00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:13,000
Speaker 2: that's what we tap. And so if we distill it

388
00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:15,920
Speaker 2: back down and go, okay, well we're only using this amount,

389
00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:17,480
Speaker 2: in the back of your head, you're like, all right, well,

390
00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:20,680
Speaker 2: I know there's four hundred bucks on that card this week.

391
00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:23,600
Speaker 2: Oh I went over on groceries. Maybe I won't pick

392
00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:26,160
Speaker 2: up that extra coffee. Oh I know that the kids

393
00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:29,440
Speaker 2: have ballet, and there's something additional to spend this week.

394
00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:31,480
Speaker 2: I'm just going to be a little bit more conscious

395
00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:35,159
Speaker 2: with the grocery budget. So instead of having to overall

396
00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:38,680
Speaker 2: think about your money as this big, holistic picture, which

397
00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:42,800
Speaker 2: can be incredibly overwhelming, we're breaking it down. We're making

398
00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:45,080
Speaker 2: it small and it's just week to week. If you

399
00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:48,600
Speaker 2: have a bad week, that's totally okay. Next week is coming, Victoria.

400
00:17:48,640 --> 00:17:49,040
Speaker 3: This is great.

401
00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:50,879
Speaker 4: It's kind of like just setting up make accounts like

402
00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:55,560
Speaker 4: you would set up. It's precisely the same thing with exactly.

403
00:17:55,320 --> 00:17:58,080
Speaker 5: When you feel just so much more in control hundred percent.

404
00:17:58,600 --> 00:17:59,600
Speaker 3: I love it. I love it.

405
00:18:00,119 --> 00:18:02,959
Speaker 4: To wrap this up, time has gotten away and our

406
00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:05,160
Speaker 4: time poor parents are going hang on my car ride

407
00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:08,760
Speaker 4: to and from school is over. Last piece of advice,

408
00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:11,640
Speaker 4: last tip for parents who are just saying, but gee.

409
00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:13,720
Speaker 3: It's so hard. I'm really struggling right now. Cost of

410
00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:15,160
Speaker 3: living is just horrible.

411
00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:16,520
Speaker 5: It's astronomical.

412
00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:18,639
Speaker 2: I think my one piece of advice would be give

413
00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:19,840
Speaker 2: yourself a bit of grace.

414
00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:20,800
Speaker 5: You're doing well.

415
00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:23,480
Speaker 2: You clearly care about your family, you are listening to

416
00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:26,760
Speaker 2: this podcast to begin with, and obviously you're trying to

417
00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:31,399
Speaker 2: make sustainable changes. But this period of time, it's expensive,

418
00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:33,720
Speaker 2: but it's beautiful. So I think if you're in a

419
00:18:33,760 --> 00:18:36,640
Speaker 2: situation where you're incredibly stressed and you're like, oh my god,

420
00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:38,639
Speaker 2: I'm never going to be able to say, well, get ahead.

421
00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:41,439
Speaker 2: That's just right now, my friend, and there is always

422
00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:42,679
Speaker 2: tomorrow and we can work on it.

423
00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:42,920
Speaker 1: Then.

424
00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:46,280
Speaker 4: Victoria Devine from the She's on the Money podcast. You

425
00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:48,400
Speaker 4: can follow the show for free on whatever podcast app

426
00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:50,560
Speaker 4: you're listening on, and also the author of She's on

427
00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:51,120
Speaker 4: the money.

428
00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:52,520
Speaker 3: What a delight to talk to you.

429
00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:54,399
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for breathing a little bit of

430
00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:56,000
Speaker 4: hope into the lives of so many of us who

431
00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:57,359
Speaker 4: are going It costs too much.

432
00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:01,160
Speaker 2: Everything costs too much, honest. But what you can't get

433
00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:02,280
Speaker 2: back is time, my friend.

434
00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:05,440
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, yes, it doesn't cost money to take the

435
00:19:05,520 --> 00:19:06,120
Speaker 4: kids to the park.

436
00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:06,879
Speaker 3: But I'll tell you what.

437
00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:08,600
Speaker 4: Just recently, I took my kids out for a daddy

438
00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:10,159
Speaker 4: daughter date and I bought them a ham, cheese and

439
00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:12,359
Speaker 4: tomato croissant that costs twelve bucks and a milkshake that

440
00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:15,280
Speaker 4: cost eight and I just thought, what has happened to

441
00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:17,040
Speaker 4: the world. I'm going to the supermarket. From now on,

442
00:19:17,119 --> 00:19:18,359
Speaker 4: We're going to have a date at home. I'm going

443
00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:19,840
Speaker 4: to cook and make the stuff myself.

444
00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:22,439
Speaker 2: You can take the staff in a picnic basket to

445
00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:22,879
Speaker 2: the park.

446
00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:23,760
Speaker 5: How good's that?

447
00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:26,320
Speaker 3: Winning? See, this is why we have these conversations.

448
00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:29,480
Speaker 4: Victoria Devine from the She's on the Money podcast, what

449
00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:31,960
Speaker 4: a great chat. The Happy Family's podcast, as always, is

450
00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:34,359
Speaker 4: produced by Justin Ruland from Bridge Media, and Craig Bruce

451
00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:36,919
Speaker 4: is our executive producer. If you want more info about

452
00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:40,080
Speaker 4: making your family more budget conscious, check out cheese on

453
00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:42,640
Speaker 4: the money, or to make your family happier, visit happy

454
00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:44,080
Speaker 4: families dot com, dot a u