Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr
Speaker 1: the Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before
Speaker 1: we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
Speaker 1: would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
Speaker 1: of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
Speaker 1: acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
Speaker 1: through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
Speaker 1: and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
Speaker 1: today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Let's get into it. She's on the Money. She's on
Speaker 2: the Money.
Speaker 3: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
Speaker 3: for millennials who want financial freedom.
Speaker 2: Today, my friends, is Friday, which means it.
Speaker 3: Is time to get my little team together and celebrate
Speaker 3: you ow incredible.
Speaker 2: She's on the Money community.
Speaker 3: Today, we're going to be sharing our favorite money wins
Speaker 3: of the week, or as always, miss Jess Gricci, you
Speaker 3: will be sharing the favorite money wins of the week.
Speaker 3: We're going to be helping to answer a juicy money dilemma,
Speaker 3: which this week is all about whether you should be
Speaker 3: using your savings to set up your small business or not.
Speaker 3: And we're going to be unpacking something that you guys
Speaker 3: slid into our DMS about living on a pension. I
Speaker 3: feel like this is going to be a really interesting
Speaker 3: juxtaposition talking about savings and setting up a small business
Speaker 3: versus actually living on a pension and how to budget
Speaker 3: and how to save and like actually how to survive.
Speaker 2: But let's start with.
Speaker 3: Our little team, Beck, how was your week really good?
Speaker 2: It's because you saw Jess and I right, Yes, that definitely.
Speaker 4: Helped that I saw you guys, of course, but also
Speaker 4: I know that only u V might have context for this.
Speaker 3: Okay, well this is probably really good then to share
Speaker 3: on a podcast to a billion people.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it could be good because no one else will
Speaker 2: know what's going on.
Speaker 4: But I applied for a job this last couple of
Speaker 4: weeks and I got it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm so excited. You got it.
Speaker 5: I'm so excited.
Speaker 2: And I mean that doesn't mean she's leaving.
Speaker 3: She's on the money, guys, she just arrived and it's
Speaker 3: your full time, legit job.
Speaker 4: It means that I will be going from literally drowning
Speaker 4: every single month to being a little bit more.
Speaker 2: I'm so proud of you. I got the job, that's all.
Speaker 2: I'm actually so excited.
Speaker 3: I've been so low key, you know how you shouldn't
Speaker 3: ask people like you shouldn't be like, oh, did you
Speaker 3: get the job? And like obviously knew replied, And we've
Speaker 3: been talking about it like you can't just go, oh
Speaker 3: did you get it because like you might go, no,
Speaker 3: I didn't get it, Like and that's that's a really.
Speaker 2: Not a nice thing to bring up, and you might
Speaker 2: have been upset about it. Yeah, you waited deal.
Speaker 1: It was on the pod to.
Speaker 2: Share that dirty dog. I love it, Jess.
Speaker 3: I'm hoping you don't have the same news because I'll
Speaker 3: be sot a job.
Speaker 6: No, no, no, I have nothing that could that action.
Speaker 6: You know, when these pea don't leave me this.
Speaker 5: I won't.
Speaker 6: Well I will leave you, but I'll leave with you
Speaker 6: to go. Where are we going, Sydney? Well, this week
Speaker 6: we went to Perth and Brisbane.
Speaker 2: We do.
Speaker 6: That's why we didn't know what Beck was literally well
Speaker 6: in Brobeck still love you were in Brisbane today. Thank
Speaker 6: you so much to everyone who spent their morning with us,
Speaker 6: and thank you so much everyone who came out in
Speaker 6: Perth for our first time ever.
Speaker 2: I actually can't stop. All I do is cry beck.
Speaker 3: Like when we have live events, I find it so
Speaker 3: overwhelming and I thought this would get better time.
Speaker 2: It's just no word. Yeah, it's actually so beautiful.
Speaker 3: Like you go to these events and it's full of
Speaker 3: people all on the same page, right, like, and it's
Speaker 3: not that common that you'll go to like I don't know,
Speaker 3: you go to a concert, right, and you'll be in
Speaker 3: the same room as people who all have bonavert right,
Speaker 3: and you're kind of like, yeah, cool, But we're all
Speaker 3: eclectic and we just have this one shared like interest.
Speaker 3: We don't actually have that much in common. But I
Speaker 3: feel like when you get the Ches on the Money
Speaker 3: community together, it's really it's a very similar personality type.
Speaker 3: Like we all want the best for each other. All
Speaker 3: you know, care about our saving and our spending. We
Speaker 3: all care about similar things. And often people have really
Speaker 3: beautiful personal stories that intertwine into the community and make
Speaker 3: the community even stronger. And as much as I love
Speaker 3: hearing them, I find them so overwhelming. Like if people
Speaker 3: come up and they say, hey, they like, you know,
Speaker 3: like so excited to be here, and I'll be so
Speaker 3: excited too, Like I just wanted to let you know
Speaker 3: that I listened to your podcast and got out of debt.
Speaker 2: Because of you. Like that does not get old.
Speaker 3: Like that to me, and Jess is exactly the same,
Speaker 3: Like it's overwhelming to think that our little podcasts that
Speaker 3: we you know, do from our studio every week in
Speaker 3: our active wear and like have my dog here, like
Speaker 3: that changes people's lives. Like and music is you know,
Speaker 3: obviously really important. But when you look at a community
Speaker 3: like She's on the money, you just know there are
Speaker 3: people who've gotten out of traumatic relationships because of us.
Speaker 3: They've gotten out of abusive situations, they finally have savings,
Speaker 3: they're not living paycheck to paycheck. They've you know, saved
Speaker 3: for their first home, or they've just bought their first car,
Speaker 3: or they've done something that has put themselves in the
Speaker 3: best possible position. And I think it's just it's crazy. Anyway,
Speaker 3: all I do is cry. So if you saw me
Speaker 3: crying this week, sorry not sorry.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's really amazing because I love you.
Speaker 5: An incredible week all round for the team.
Speaker 3: It sounds like, yeah, it's literally my favorite thing ever.
Speaker 3: But let's get into this because this week we didn't
Speaker 3: miss a beat. We also asked about our community money wins,
Speaker 3: and we always want to know what you guys are
Speaker 3: up to literally every week. So Jess, you've got a
Speaker 3: few that you've pulled out that you would like to
Speaker 3: share on the show.
Speaker 2: What are they? What have we got do?
Speaker 6: First money when this week comes from Kate, who said
Speaker 6: I'm going to Europe for the summer.
Speaker 2: Lucky hot girl.
Speaker 6: I booked an intrepid tour for Portugal ages ago and
Speaker 6: recently saw a twenty five percent off sale for my
Speaker 6: tour day. Thought it wouldn't have to ask if I
Speaker 6: could redeem the discount on my car. That's a lot
Speaker 6: of money. Surprisingly, they said yes, and I now have
Speaker 6: one thousand extra dollars to spledge on Portuguese tarts.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, amazing Portuguese tarts are good.
Speaker 6: There are literally about six comments underneath her comments saying,
Speaker 6: oh my.
Speaker 2: God, I love Portuguese.
Speaker 6: I love it.
Speaker 2: That's what people got out of this.
Speaker 6: But also if you don't ask, you don't get I'm
Speaker 6: really impressed that they honored it, to be honest, because
Speaker 6: I need to drink it. My next money wind comes
Speaker 6: from Bianca, who said life win settlement for my first
Speaker 6: home was last week, and I'm feeling so silly, proud
Speaker 6: of myself for being able to achieve this all on
Speaker 6: my own.
Speaker 2: I'm so pressed, still feels.
Speaker 5: Surreal that it's mine.
Speaker 6: And there's a cute little photo of her dogg O
Speaker 6: living on her front.
Speaker 5: No, I'm sure he lives. That's his house.
Speaker 2: Now, that's his house. That's so you bought a house
Speaker 2: so that your dog could live their best life all
Speaker 2: by yourself.
Speaker 5: Good on you, queen.
Speaker 6: My next money win comes from Murphy, who says it's
Speaker 6: taken six years, but we are finally consumer debt free. Yes,
Speaker 6: seventeen hundred dollars a month in personal loan repayments is
Speaker 6: something I never want to go back to. My partner
Speaker 6: and I were both stuck in the cycle paying off
Speaker 6: one and taking on another. Never again. I'm so proud
Speaker 6: of you, Murphy. Murphy's been in the community for a
Speaker 6: really long time, and.
Speaker 2: Name feels really familiar with your phone.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2: No, we do definitely know Murphy. Well done. That is
Speaker 2: a month think about what?
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, you're not going to know yourself.
Speaker 6: Nah, it's going to be incredible. My next money win
Speaker 6: comes from a lease who said money win. I am
Speaker 6: terrible at sticking to budgets because of FOMO. Until now,
Speaker 6: I've had all my money in one big savings bucket,
Speaker 6: and I've always dipped into it to overspend. Recently, I've
Speaker 6: split my savings into sub accounts where I now put
Speaker 6: how much I'm willing to spend for the year on
Speaker 6: different categories like entertainment events, eating out, et cetera. And
Speaker 6: when it runs out, it's out. So far, I'm already
Speaker 6: way more conscious of my budget and I'm spending well
Speaker 6: within my means.
Speaker 2: Queen behavior.
Speaker 5: We love to see it.
Speaker 6: And then my lucky last win for this week comes
Speaker 6: from Georgia, who said, after almost a year off of
Speaker 6: work battling with health issues, I finally got myself a
Speaker 6: suitable job and I worked my first eight hour day
Speaker 6: in as long as I can remember on Saturday. It's
Speaker 6: a big money win for my partner and I who
Speaker 6: have just been getting buy on one income. Oh congrats,
Speaker 6: How exciting gratulations Georgia, and just goes to show the
Speaker 6: importance of flexible roles and roles that can offer you
Speaker 6: support or things that you need. Because she sounds she's
Speaker 6: capable and she's excited to be working an eight hour day,
Speaker 6: and I'm just so excited that you found an employer
Speaker 6: who can let you do that.
Speaker 2: I think we'll forget what a privilege that is like.
Speaker 3: To be able to go to work for an entire
Speaker 3: day and be able to have an uninterrupted work day
Speaker 3: because our health allows us to like that is so special.
Speaker 3: Let's go to a really quick break, though, because, as
Speaker 3: you guys know, I'm wildly passionate about small business and
Speaker 3: the next question that is coming up after the break
Speaker 3: is about whether you should spend your savings on setting
Speaker 3: up a small business. And we're going to be discussing
Speaker 3: getting by on a pension, So don't go anywhere, guys.
Speaker 5: Welcome back, everybody.
Speaker 6: Let's get into one of my favorite parts of the week,
Speaker 6: the money dilemma.
Speaker 2: Let's have a listen.
Speaker 3: Hi, there, have you got a money dilemma you just
Speaker 3: can't solve that. She's on the Money Team is here
Speaker 3: to help. Every week we tackle your dilemmas, both big
Speaker 3: and small, to answer your most burning money, career.
Speaker 2: And life questions.
Speaker 3: To get involved, simply head to our website and leave
Speaker 3: us a short voice recording and you oh, I just
Speaker 3: find yourself on the show. Now, let's take a listen
Speaker 3: to this week's money dilemma.
Speaker 5: Hi, She's on the Money.
Speaker 7: My question is about small business. I am a sole trader,
Speaker 7: and I am moving from my home office into a
Speaker 7: commercial space that I'm turning into a clinic and office.
Speaker 7: I am having the hardest time spending my savings to
Speaker 7: set this up. I originally thought I would get a
Speaker 7: business loan, but I realized it makes a lot better
Speaker 7: sense to use my own money rather than be in debt.
Speaker 7: But I'm just having the hardest time spending my own money,
Speaker 7: my own savings. I'm not sure what's going on, but
Speaker 7: I just can't seem to part with this money. I
Speaker 7: know that investing in myself is going to bring me
Speaker 7: more money at the end of the day, but I
Speaker 7: just can't do it. Please give me some advice.
Speaker 3: That is a really good question, and it's one that
Speaker 3: when I was setting up Shees on the Money and Zella,
Speaker 3: I felt sick about, like I would consistently not know
Speaker 3: if I was doing the right thing. From my perspective,
Speaker 3: I think you are doing the right thing spending your
Speaker 3: money that you already have instead of getting a business loan.
Speaker 2: Obviously, business loans.
Speaker 3: Have higher interest rates than you know, a home loan,
Speaker 3: and at the moment, with the interest as high as
Speaker 3: it is, if you can do anything to avoid that,
Speaker 3: that is fantastic. It is a massive privilege to have
Speaker 3: the savings to be able to invest into a business,
Speaker 3: and I think that's really really special. But the thing
Speaker 3: I really struggled with guys was actually.
Speaker 2: Just not having a plan.
Speaker 3: I think when you are starting a small business, you
Speaker 3: just don't think enough. And you would think that a
Speaker 3: financial advisor or an ex financial advisor would have thought
Speaker 3: about the budget, But like when it comes to your
Speaker 3: own house or your own financial situation, sometimes you just
Speaker 3: don't do the maths in the way that you should.
Speaker 3: And it felt really hard to separate from the money.
Speaker 3: And let's talk about this clinic you're setting up. I'm
Speaker 3: assuming you're like, yep, I know, I've got savings. Let's
Speaker 3: start setting up the clinic. Have you got a budget?
Speaker 3: Have you actually worked out what that clinic's going to cost.
Speaker 3: We're talking rent and overhead expenses, we're talking about fit out,
Speaker 3: but what is it going to cost to you know,
Speaker 3: if you need a receptionist, what's that going to look like,
Speaker 3: have we actually worked out what this is? How much
Speaker 3: is that business going to cost you per month to run?
Speaker 3: Like what is the minimum amount of money that you
Speaker 3: would need coming in the door for that business to
Speaker 3: make sense? And I think that once you have that
Speaker 3: structure and you can say, okay, well, actually i've worked
Speaker 3: out that you know, hypothetically rents one thousand dollars, my
Speaker 3: overheads are five hundred dollars, you know, all of the
Speaker 3: fit out over this period of time, because a fit
Speaker 3: out can be really expensive of a facility, right, like
Speaker 3: when it comes to setting up an office. I don't
Speaker 3: think people understand how expensive it can be. Like rent
Speaker 3: often when you sign a lease usually is five years
Speaker 3: as a rental period for a commercial space. Then on
Speaker 3: top of that, if it doesn't come with like desks
Speaker 3: and chairs, and if you're starting up a clinic, you
Speaker 3: probably need something specific. We're talking ten twenty thirty thousand
Speaker 3: dollars to set you up for success. So I can
Speaker 3: see why it's really hard to separate from that money.
Speaker 3: But what we need to do is actually create the structure.
Speaker 3: So if you go, all right, well I'm going to
Speaker 3: spend thirty thousand dollars let's just say on this fit
Speaker 3: out for this clinic, because obviously you've gotten to a
Speaker 3: point where your business is doing well and you want
Speaker 3: to take it to the next level. How are you
Speaker 3: paying yourself back? Let's pretend that's alone. Let's pretend that
Speaker 3: those savings are a loan facility and that you're just
Speaker 3: borrowing them off yourself to pay back later. So if
Speaker 3: that's thirty thousand dollars, let's go, all right, what period
Speaker 3: of time feels reasonable? Are we going to pay it
Speaker 3: back over twelve months, maybe three years? What does that
Speaker 3: look like? Maybe I pay back ten thousand dollars a
Speaker 3: year towards that. So you're going to feel a lot
Speaker 3: more comfortable because you personally aren't being put at a
Speaker 3: detriment because you're setting up this small business. And sometimes
Speaker 3: as small business owners, we forget that we need to
Speaker 3: put ourselves first.
Speaker 2: We forget to pay ourselves.
Speaker 3: We don't pay ourselves super, we don't actually do the
Speaker 3: things that we're meant to do, and sometimes that means
Speaker 3: pouring all of our savings in and pretending like it's
Speaker 3: a lost cause. I think making sure that any money
Speaker 3: you put into your business, your business pays you back,
Speaker 3: and I think that if you can start seeing it
Speaker 3: that way, you'll be a bit more confident because you're
Speaker 3: then making an investment that's going to be paid back,
Speaker 3: and then that investment is going to generate more income.
Speaker 3: So from my perspective, if you're setting up a small
Speaker 3: business and relying on your savings, pretend those savings are alone,
Speaker 3: but from yourself, we want to pay it back because
Speaker 3: I don't want you to be without that thirty thousand
Speaker 3: dollars hypothetically right, I actually want you to be in
Speaker 3: the best position. And if you want to be a
Speaker 3: little bit cheeky add an interest rate, be like, all right,
Speaker 3: well I'm also going to pay back five percent.
Speaker 2: I'm going to be in a better off position.
Speaker 3: And then also my other advice would be please set
Speaker 3: up in that budget you to pay you super and
Speaker 3: make sure that you are being put first, because to
Speaker 3: bring the mood down for a hot second, most small
Speaker 3: businesses don't make it to ten years, and I don't
Speaker 3: want you in ten years time to be behind the
Speaker 3: apall when it comes to being able to retire. I
Speaker 3: want every small business owner that goes into business to
Speaker 3: be able to you know, if it's not working out
Speaker 3: step away and not have been negatively impacted by that
Speaker 3: experience because it happens, right. Small businesses might not work out,
Speaker 3: It might not be what you thought it was going
Speaker 3: to be. At least then you can go all right,
Speaker 3: just going to go get a salary and way journing job.
Speaker 3: This definitely wasn't for me, but you're not behind because
Speaker 3: you always put yourself first.
Speaker 2: There's a really good book.
Speaker 3: I've talked about it on the podcast before and I've
Speaker 3: also talked about it on the Business Bible, which is
Speaker 3: our business podcast, and it's called Profit First. And if
Speaker 3: you are a small business owner, I really recommend reading
Speaker 3: that because it's really about reverse engineering how profit is
Speaker 3: distributed in a business to make sure that you are
Speaker 3: financially okay. Because I think that there's this really toxic
Speaker 3: mentality of all right, you've got to be really hard
Speaker 3: and you've got to struggle for the first ten years
Speaker 3: and every single dollar needs to be reinvested into your
Speaker 3: business and if it's not, you're not going to have
Speaker 3: a successful business. I don't believe that to be true
Speaker 3: because they needs to be work life balanced and if
Speaker 3: I'm burning you out for the next ten years because
Speaker 3: you're sacrificing everything. You're not going to want the business
Speaker 3: in ten years, so let's make it sustainable. But back
Speaker 3: to the original question, I think that you're probably doing
Speaker 3: the right thing. You just don't have enough structure around
Speaker 3: how to implement. Meant that strategy and a budget literally
Speaker 3: going to be your best friend.
Speaker 6: And you'd want to be making sure as well that
Speaker 6: if you're pulling money out of your savings, like your
Speaker 6: personal savings, that you're leaving yourself one your own personal
Speaker 6: emergency fund to patent. Would we also be wanting to
Speaker 6: implement an emergency fund for the business as well, so
Speaker 6: that if the business has a bit of a crisis,
Speaker 6: you don't have to rely on your personal emergency fund.
Speaker 2: Very good, very genius.
Speaker 3: And Jess knows this well because she does know the
Speaker 3: back end if she's on the money, and she's on
Speaker 3: the money, does have an emergency fund. It makes me
Speaker 3: feel very confident when we make business decisions that I
Speaker 3: know that I can pay my team regardless of whether
Speaker 3: we get.
Speaker 2: Paid next month or not.
Speaker 3: And I wouldn't want that to be coming out of
Speaker 3: my personal income, not because I'm selfish, but because I
Speaker 3: think it gives me peace of mind knowing that the
Speaker 3: business is now self sufficient. I mean, we can't go
Speaker 3: on forever and ever and ever, and if something happens,
Speaker 3: I know, right sucks.
Speaker 2: We can't go on forever.
Speaker 3: But if something does happen, I know that we've got
Speaker 3: the cash as a backup. And I think that a
Speaker 3: lot of small business owners forget to do that as well.
Speaker 3: And you should really treat your business in the same
Speaker 3: way that we do a budget. Go all right, well,
Speaker 3: what does three months worth of expenses look like? How
Speaker 3: would I make sure that if you know, one month,
Speaker 3: what if invoices don't come in, because that's so.
Speaker 5: Don't pay on time? They just don't.
Speaker 3: They just don't, right like, And having run a small
Speaker 3: business for the last seven years, that statement could not
Speaker 3: be more true. People do not pay their invoices on time.
Speaker 3: It doesn't matter how big that company is. And you
Speaker 3: would be surprised at the people that poor Jess has
Speaker 3: had to chase up hysterically.
Speaker 5: Coming from a place of truth.
Speaker 2: Is embarrass Is it like wild?
Speaker 1: Is it like a.
Speaker 5: Benefit to like paying late or something?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 5: Why do people know we started adding interest?
Speaker 3: Yeah, if you're a small business owner, always have that
Speaker 3: clause at the bottom of the invoice that says, if
Speaker 3: this is not paid on time, late fees will be incurred,
Speaker 3: and if it has to go to a debt collection,
Speaker 3: which sometimes that actually does happen, those fees will be
Speaker 3: added on top. Because if that's not on your invoice,
Speaker 3: that's coming out of the profit that you will make.
Speaker 3: So if that's not outlined clearly on the invoice that
Speaker 3: you gave to your client, you actually can't make them
Speaker 3: pay those fees if they are late. You can't just
Speaker 3: turn around and be like, oh, you've been late for ages,
Speaker 3: I'm going to start charging interest.
Speaker 1: None.
Speaker 2: No, no, it has to be in the terms and conditions.
Speaker 2: So we learned that the hard way, Yes, we did.
Speaker 3: We learned that the hard way, even though I knew
Speaker 3: that that was a thing the whole time.
Speaker 2: Don't trust yourself, don't trust for all of this whole story. Yeah,
Speaker 2: don't trust yourself.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: But also like back yourself, right.
Speaker 3: So, like in a business, if you genuinely believe in that,
Speaker 3: create the structure so that you can see it down
Speaker 3: on paper and it just makes sense and you go, yeah,
Speaker 3: of course I'm going to put my money into that.
Speaker 3: Often we are a little bit apprehensive when there's a
Speaker 3: lack of clarity, and I think by giving yourself that clarity,
Speaker 3: you'll find you'd.
Speaker 5: Be more peace very interesting.
Speaker 3: So this week we got a message about living on
Speaker 3: the disability pension and I feel like this is a
Speaker 3: really interesting one. So they said, hi, Ve, I'm currently
Speaker 3: on a disability pension and I anticipate that I will
Speaker 3: be on this for the rest of my life. I'm
Speaker 3: making just over one thousand dollars each and every single fortnight,
Speaker 3: but it's not hitting the sites. What can I do
Speaker 3: to be a little bit more financially independent when it
Speaker 3: comes to a very strict income. Feel like this is
Speaker 3: really relatable and the amount, so I've looked it up
Speaker 3: to make sure that we're all on the same page.
Speaker 3: So if you've got the maximum amount of a disability
Speaker 3: pension here in Australia, every single fortnite, your maximum base
Speaker 3: rate plus your maximum pension supplement plus your energy supplement
Speaker 3: comes out to one and twenty.
Speaker 2: Six dollars fifty each and every single.
Speaker 3: Fortnite, which if we times out by twenty six and
Speaker 3: then divide that by twelve so that we get the
Speaker 3: amount per month. Because I feel like sometimes we all
Speaker 3: just function better on a month to month basis. That's
Speaker 3: twenty two hundred and twenty four dollars each and every
Speaker 3: single month.
Speaker 2: As a total of little money. It's total income.
Speaker 3: And I feel like that's a really relevant question because
Speaker 3: so many people are in their situation, and I mean,
Speaker 3: we've spoken about it off air. This conversation is really
Speaker 3: about how do you make the most of the money
Speaker 3: that you have and live the life that you want
Speaker 3: when you're quite restricted because you don't have the ability
Speaker 3: to go and earn additional income. You don't have the ability,
Speaker 3: and I mean you can, like, let's be honest.
Speaker 2: I know of people who.
Speaker 3: Have been on disability pensions and they have a little
Speaker 3: cash job that they can do for three hours once
Speaker 3: a month, and to be honest, I think that's great.
Speaker 3: Like I'm for that because I just think that's not
Speaker 3: much money and I don't think you know, being really let's.
Speaker 2: Just be a little bit spicy.
Speaker 3: I really don't think our government does nearly enough to
Speaker 3: look after people in those situations. And if you are
Speaker 3: on a disability pension, there's going to be a really
Speaker 3: good reason for it, because it's really hard to get
Speaker 3: on a disability pension. Like, we're not talking about being
Speaker 3: on centling here. We're not talking about people who maybe
Speaker 3: are taking advantage of the system. Let's admit, yes, those
Speaker 3: people exist, That's not who we're talking to in this community.
Speaker 3: And you know what, I really don't think that there
Speaker 3: are people in the She's on the Money community that're
Speaker 3: doing that because you're not going to care about your
Speaker 3: budget and your cash flow and making the most of
Speaker 3: things if that's your mentality, if you're someone who takes
Speaker 3: advantage of things, I just don't think that's a She's
Speaker 3: on the Money listener, you know, Like, I just think
Speaker 3: that the people that listen to our content are the
Speaker 3: types that just want the best for themselves and the
Speaker 3: situation that they're in. So I feel like that's not
Speaker 3: much money, but what can we actually do with it? So,
Speaker 3: do you guys have any suggestions? Before I dive in?
Speaker 4: I feel like we should ask my mum about this,
Speaker 4: because she did this. She's a mother of four children
Speaker 4: and there was a time where she was definitely on senelink,
Speaker 4: not the disability pension necessarily, and I don't actually know
Speaker 4: what it was, but I feel like I was like,
Speaker 4: one second old, not really, I was eighteen or something, but.
Speaker 2: She was really lucky.
Speaker 4: And we were really lucky because we were in a
Speaker 4: situation where we were on a waiting list for a
Speaker 4: community housing place, and that wait list can be five
Speaker 4: ten years years long, Like you have to wait for
Speaker 4: so long. We were in a position where I was like,
Speaker 4: you know, a bit more prioritize, a little bit more
Speaker 4: of an emergency. So we got a place maybe after
Speaker 4: a year. We were very, very lucky. And so the
Speaker 4: rent in that situation, I think it's like twenty five
Speaker 4: percent of your total income, So if you're making like
Speaker 4: fifty bucks, like it's really not that much money. So
Speaker 4: I think in that scenario it's a little bit better.
Speaker 4: But I'm not too sure if our community member is
Speaker 4: in a fixed lease or if they're in a community
Speaker 4: housing house. But it wouldn't hurt to put your name
Speaker 4: down for something like that, and just and I know
Speaker 4: it sucks, but if that's like you know, something you
Speaker 4: haven't done yet, put your name down, you don't know,
Speaker 4: like you could get a house really quickly. You could
Speaker 4: be waiting ten years. As long as you're going, you
Speaker 4: got to be in it, and that will just take
Speaker 4: a little bit of pressure off just that rent part
Speaker 4: of the equation, but there's all these other things as well.
Speaker 5: Then I would say twenty I.
Speaker 2: Make that feels so much, I might be wrong.
Speaker 6: In this scenario, that would leave you fifteen hundred dollars
Speaker 6: for a month. And then you've got to obviously consider
Speaker 6: you know, your bills, which conservatively, maybe if you were
Speaker 6: just by yourself, would be at least what two hundred
Speaker 6: bucks a month, I would say a minimum for gas,
Speaker 6: electricy and water. And that's I would say, being conservative.
Speaker 6: It's not leaving you with much like you're making.
Speaker 3: Like if we talk about it on an annual basis,
Speaker 3: which I think really drives home what's going on. That
Speaker 3: income that we're talking about is twenty six thousand, six
Speaker 3: hundred dollars a year, and if you were paying twenty
Speaker 3: five percent of your income towards rent, that's six thousand,
Speaker 3: six hundred and sixty four dollars per year, which leaves
Speaker 3: you with about nineteen thousand dollars to spend on absolutely
Speaker 3: everything else. That's not much at all. No, that's not
Speaker 3: especially Oh my gosh, your mum sounds like a wizard.
Speaker 6: Four kids.
Speaker 2: She really is. She she needs all the credit.
Speaker 5: I know she really is a wizard.
Speaker 4: Like looking back, I actually don't know how she did
Speaker 4: it because we didn't feel like we were struggling.
Speaker 2: But she just made it work.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: Oh, I love her.
Speaker 3: I feel like I do want to have a combat
Speaker 3: that would be such a good money direst I want
Speaker 3: somebody like your mum on the podcast. If that's you,
Speaker 3: please reach out. So there are a few things that
Speaker 3: you can do, right, Like, obviously, if you're on a
Speaker 3: disability support pension, the idea that you can work might
Speaker 3: be elusive, like it might be something that's just not
Speaker 3: an option, Like it just might not be something that
Speaker 3: you can do because it's just not going to work.
Speaker 3: But if you can work, you can actually have paid
Speaker 3: work up to twenty nine hours per week, which is
Speaker 3: like just a little bit over part time, and you
Speaker 3: can do this without losing your disability support payment. And
Speaker 3: I think it's really important to talk about this too,
Speaker 3: because as much as that is income tested, so they'll
Speaker 3: make sure Like obviously, if you're earning one hundred grand
Speaker 3: from those twenty five hours, they're going to be like, man,
Speaker 3: you don't get this. They're going to make sure that
Speaker 3: you're in the best possible position, but you also need
Speaker 3: to do the maths because sometimes it just doesn't work out.
Speaker 3: If you're on a disability support pension and you know
Speaker 3: you're actually quite stressed about it. Is that compromise worth it?
Speaker 3: Is working twenty nine hours a week going to actually
Speaker 3: put you in your mental health first and put you
Speaker 3: in the best possible position. Like, we actually need to
Speaker 3: weigh up the pros and cons and I think it's
Speaker 3: one of those things where you just never know. So
Speaker 3: when it comes to surviving on a low income, obviously
Speaker 3: all of the basics still apply. But I think the
Speaker 3: first thing we need to acknowledge though, is you're not
Speaker 3: going to be able to budget yourself out of poverty
Speaker 3: if you feel like you're in that circumstance. Like unfortunately,
Speaker 3: the services that exist here in Australia, as much as
Speaker 3: we are very very fortunate to have them, because not
Speaker 3: every country supports their community in the same way that
Speaker 3: Australia doesn't. I mean, there's going to be a lot
Speaker 3: of hot conversation around this because a lot of people
Speaker 3: think that, you know, Australia doesn't do enough, and like
Speaker 3: that's a different conversation right, Like, that's not what we're
Speaker 3: talking about now. But I think it's really about talking
Speaker 3: about the fact that one in five Australians actually living
Speaker 3: on the disability support pension.
Speaker 2: That's a lot of people. How do we budget? How
Speaker 2: do we save?
Speaker 3: And I think the first thing to do is actually
Speaker 3: again pull our heads out of the sand. If you
Speaker 3: feel like it's a terrible situation, wipe that out.
Speaker 2: It is not helping you. How good is it that?
Speaker 2: Full stop? End of story.
Speaker 3: We have an income that we can work with, What
Speaker 3: does that look like? How much money is coming in?
Speaker 3: What are your overhead expenses? How can we reduce those?
Speaker 3: What support can you reach out to? As you were
Speaker 3: saying before, beck be your favorite thing. And I feel
Speaker 3: like ego comes into it a lot, Like when I
Speaker 3: talk to people in these situations, they're like, oh, I
Speaker 3: didn't want to do it because I felt too bad,
Speaker 3: or there were people in worse off situations that may
Speaker 3: push that to a side. If you need help, you
Speaker 3: need helpful stop end of story. I don't want you
Speaker 3: to be suffering because you think somebody else has it worse,
Speaker 3: or you think that you're not eligible but you haven't checked.
Speaker 3: Please do please, go and check and don't feel ashamed
Speaker 3: to access these services. These services have such high barriers
Speaker 3: to entry that if you actually get through them, I
Speaker 3: promise you you deserve it. Like I promise you that's
Speaker 3: the position you are meant to be in. So see
Speaker 3: what you can do there. But then also get savvy.
Speaker 3: So when it comes to budgeting, there are going to
Speaker 3: be things that we can't change, like accommodation costs, Like
Speaker 3: we don't have a lot of control over those, But
Speaker 3: how do we get a little bit creative with food?
Speaker 3: We could look at our budget for that. And as
Speaker 3: much as you're probably already being super savvy, are we
Speaker 3: able to like think about the concept of bulk cooking, Like,
Speaker 3: if we're going to cook, can we rely on what's
Speaker 3: on special this week? Maybe we can backtrack what we're
Speaker 3: actually working on this We can go all right, well,
Speaker 3: I was probably going to do tacos, but actually this
Speaker 3: other thing is on sale. What can I do with this?
Speaker 3: What meals can I make that are under five bucks?
Speaker 3: What can I actually do? And I feel like it's
Speaker 3: not the sexiest conversation to have because I feel like
Speaker 3: a broken record and everyone's heard it before, right, They're
Speaker 3: like cool, here comes Victoria who thinks she knows everything
Speaker 3: about finance, and she's going to tell us to budget
Speaker 3: and scrimp and save. But I actually think it's also
Speaker 3: about taking the pressure off yourself, because, like you said,
Speaker 3: it doesn't feel good, Like you don't want to be
Speaker 3: in those circumstances, you don't want to talk about it.
Speaker 3: But like, I'm proud of you for reaching out for help.
Speaker 3: I'm proud of you that you've gone through this process,
Speaker 3: and I'm proud that you are living in a country
Speaker 3: where that's accessible to you.
Speaker 2: That's hot as hell. Absolutely, that's really cool.
Speaker 3: And I think that we need to look at it
Speaker 3: more as a pragmatic thing rather than a reflection of
Speaker 3: your value. And I think so often we tie our
Speaker 3: self worth to the income that we generate, and you
Speaker 3: assume it's incorrect, but you assume that the money you
Speaker 3: earn is reflective of how valuable you are as a
Speaker 3: human being, and that is not the case at all.
Speaker 3: In fact, it couldn't be further from the case. Like
Speaker 3: I would prefer to surround myself with people who have
Speaker 3: absolutely no income and are super kind and conscientious, and
Speaker 3: they're the type of people that are super empathetic than
Speaker 3: having really rich friends that have heaps of money and
Speaker 3: no empathy, and you get in getting it in, Like,
Speaker 3: it's never been the type of person that I have
Speaker 3: gravitated towards. It's one of those things that think about
Speaker 3: your circle around you.
Speaker 2: You probably have a beautiful circle.
Speaker 3: Think about the community that you're already in and the
Speaker 3: company that you keep, Like, there are so many ways
Speaker 3: to illuminate your life that don't necessarily mean spending more money. Like,
Speaker 3: I know that that sounds really flippant, but like, how
Speaker 3: grateful are we for our health? How grateful are we
Speaker 3: that the sun is shining? I mean, I'm not that
Speaker 3: grateful that the air condition is not working in the
Speaker 3: podcasts too? Yeah, but like what can you do? Can
Speaker 3: you implement some routine in your life that feels a
Speaker 3: little bit better. You might be making a cup of tea,
Speaker 3: I'm going for a walk in the mornings instead of
Speaker 3: staying at home. Like, none of these things need to
Speaker 3: be expensive, none of these things need to really impact
Speaker 3: your budget. But how do we create the life that
Speaker 3: you deserve on the income that you actually have.
Speaker 4: Sure, I don't know if this community member is in Victoria,
Speaker 4: but I know that there are you know, for example,
Speaker 4: near my house there's a outdoor pantry. I don't know,
Speaker 4: I don't know who put it there, but it's always
Speaker 4: stocked with food. So there are things like that around
Speaker 4: cheaper by miles. I'm not too sure if you've heard
Speaker 4: of it, but it's all this stuff that's either not
Speaker 4: not safe to eat, but it's kind of you know,
Speaker 4: on its last look in QR.
Speaker 2: And some things are.
Speaker 4: So in date but just haven't sold for whatever reason. Yeah,
Speaker 4: going to places like that where things are so cheap,
Speaker 4: Going to you know, communal pantries and things like that
Speaker 4: when you need to will be a really really big help.
Speaker 5: Accessing concession cards as well.
Speaker 6: If you're own disability, you probably would qualify for a
Speaker 6: concession and you would be surprised how many businesses be
Speaker 6: and small offer us some kind of concession or pension
Speaker 6: deal to help you out.
Speaker 4: And honestly, I know this is really bad, probably bad advice,
Speaker 4: but I would say it is very, very exhausting living
Speaker 4: like this, And I would even prioritize if you can
Speaker 4: every now and then doing something really nice for yourself,
Speaker 4: whatever that guilty pleasure is, if you can try and
Speaker 4: find a way to do that to keep your head
Speaker 4: above water and just kind of make you feel good
Speaker 4: because it is very exhausting, Yeah, on such low income
Speaker 4: for so long, So just try and remember to do
Speaker 4: that every now and then.
Speaker 3: I could not agree with that anymore than I actually
Speaker 3: love that, because I think that a lot of the
Speaker 3: time people assume that the advice coming from my side
Speaker 3: of the table would be like, well, if you have
Speaker 3: some spare income, you better say that, Like, sometimes that's
Speaker 3: actually not the best thing for your mental health. And
Speaker 3: I think that there's this balance when it comes to life.
Speaker 3: I also think one thing that you should prioritize is
Speaker 3: an emergency fund, which, again very privileged. You might not
Speaker 3: have the cash flow to support that or even establish that.
Speaker 3: But even if it it's one dollar a month, one
Speaker 3: dollar a week, whatever it is that you have to
Speaker 3: the side. Maybe you've got a rebate that you didn't
Speaker 3: know was coming, Is there a way that you could
Speaker 3: put that to the side, Because I promise, once you
Speaker 3: start building up a little bit of a buffer, regardless
Speaker 3: of what your income is, the knowledge that an unexpected
Speaker 3: bill or maybe you needed to top up your mykey
Speaker 3: or your public transport card and you just completely forgot.
Speaker 3: I just think it's one of those things that a
Speaker 3: lot of us don't realize the financial freedom that can
Speaker 3: come from that. And financial freedom, to me is not
Speaker 3: necessarily you know, you might have heard, oh, we millennials
Speaker 3: who want financial freedom, like, and you assume everyone wants
Speaker 3: to be really rich. Look, yeah, of course people want
Speaker 3: to be rich, like that'd be great, but that's not
Speaker 3: actually what we're about. It's about creating financial freedom in
Speaker 3: the life that we have, and sometimes that is just
Speaker 3: having an extra hundred bucks to the side. That means
Speaker 3: that you sleep well at night knowing that if your
Speaker 3: kid goes to school tomorrow and something pops up and
Speaker 3: you need ten bucks, it's there and you can do that.
Speaker 3: And that's a financial freedom that I promise a lot
Speaker 3: of people would be like, oh my gosh, I wish
Speaker 3: I had that. So I feel like it's just, yeah,
Speaker 3: consensus of this is actually take the pressure off and
Speaker 3: create some structure. So create some structure in your budget,
Speaker 3: create some structure in what you can do, really look
Speaker 3: at it pragmatically, what can you do and brainstorm out
Speaker 3: those things instead of just dismissing them. So I think
Speaker 3: sometimes you would go quick try. I can't change my
Speaker 3: budget for my food. It's just not happening. I've done
Speaker 3: it a million times. Have a think about it again,
Speaker 3: Maybe look at it from a different perspective. What would
Speaker 3: happen if.
Speaker 2: You did one more meat free dish per week? What
Speaker 2: does that look like? How could that work like?
Speaker 3: And I know that they might not be the sexiest
Speaker 3: or the options that you immediately gravitate towards, because like fuck,
Speaker 3: lentils can get boring, but they can be really cool.
Speaker 3: And I think that it's one of those things that
Speaker 3: you know, have a look at all options from all
Speaker 3: viable sides of that equation, and you'll be in a
Speaker 3: better position. But also take the pressure off yourself because
Speaker 3: you are worth so much more than the income that
Speaker 3: comes into your bank account, and that does not dictate
Speaker 3: who you are as a person, or how kind you are,
Speaker 3: or how smart you are, or how important you are.
Speaker 2: It means nothing.
Speaker 5: Amen. Yeah, couldn't say it better.
Speaker 3: All Right, Well, I think that's all we've got time
Speaker 3: for today, because Jess and I need to go do
Speaker 3: some planning because we have a whole extra week of
Speaker 3: events next week, so we need to run.
Speaker 2: But Beck congrats on your job out of you.
Speaker 5: Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Guys. We'll see you next week.
Speaker 6: Have the best weekend, byey bye.
Speaker 3: The advice shared on She's on the Money is general
Speaker 3: in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's
Speaker 3: on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should
Speaker 3: not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision.
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