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.
Speaker 3: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Speaker 4: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
Speaker 4: for millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another
Speaker 4: shop back Money Diary Monday. We get to chat to
Speaker 4: a community member and learn about them, their money and
Speaker 4: all of the interesting bits in between. This week, Victoria,
Speaker 4: I have a very fun diarist for you. Are you
Speaker 4: ready to hear it?
Speaker 5: I am. I'm surprised you didn't say I've got a
Speaker 5: good one for you.
Speaker 1: Had it.
Speaker 4: Away from that, I'm trying to branch out, so our
Speaker 4: diarist says over the past twelve months, I seem to
Speaker 4: have subconsciously hit autopilot on my life, my goals, and
Speaker 4: my finances, and now I'm uning for positive change. I
Speaker 4: am a happy, healthy young woman, and while nothing is
Speaker 4: inherently wrong with the way I am currently doing life,
Speaker 4: there are definitely opportunities I am missing, risks I'm not taking,
Speaker 4: and all round complacency is settling in. I am truly
Speaker 4: eager to dive into my psyche with your wonderful support
Speaker 4: and advice, find my way out of this funk and
Speaker 4: explore way to next. For this near twenty seven year
Speaker 4: old who seems to be stuck live in Lovita, Limboo.
Speaker 5: Sounds very fun, Money Diarist, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2: Thank you both for having me.
Speaker 4: I'm so excited to talk to you because I feel
Speaker 4: like this is something that a lot of people can
Speaker 4: relate to, and I like it's something that I've experienced.
Speaker 4: It's almost like that quarter life crisis moment that you
Speaker 4: have where you go, oh, like, am I doing the
Speaker 4: right thing?
Speaker 5: So I feel like I went through this maybe when
Speaker 5: I was like twenty five, twenty six, and I was
Speaker 5: just like not sure what I was doing with my life.
Speaker 5: I was like, where am I going? What am I doing?
Speaker 5: So I feel like this could be a super relatable
Speaker 5: one because I want to know exactly where you're at,
Speaker 5: where you're going, and maybe what we're thinking about goals
Speaker 5: and how we could get back on track. So let's
Speaker 5: start as we always do, money direst, Can you tell
Speaker 5: us a little bit about your money story?
Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely so. I grew up in a small ish
Speaker 2: town in Victoria and we I guess we're low to
Speaker 2: middle income household with both of my parents and my brother.
Speaker 2: My parents did have a credit card, and they instilled
Speaker 2: in me from the get go that just be because
Speaker 2: we have this, we don't want this path for you,
Speaker 2: and that I could make better choices for myself if
Speaker 2: I employed you know, strict practices for my own finances.
Speaker 2: And they really encouraged me to not go down that
Speaker 2: path that they were. So my parents worked also quite
Speaker 2: tirelessly to provide opportunities for me and my brother just
Speaker 2: for you know, travel and just participating in recreation and community.
Speaker 2: So that was really rewarding experience as a child and
Speaker 2: an adolescent growing up. But you would often see, you know,
Speaker 2: that they would make sacrifices to provide that lifestyle for us.
Speaker 2: So I guess that was a humbling experience and it's
Speaker 2: part of the reason why I am who I am today.
Speaker 2: And I've had instilled in me from the ripe age
Speaker 2: of you know, fresh out the womb, that hard work
Speaker 2: pays off, but never at the expense of, you know,
Speaker 2: your well being and your mental health. So always know
Speaker 2: that there will be money, and it's not worth working
Speaker 2: for someone or a bit business that makes you miserable. Really,
Speaker 2: so a bit of both in terms of that hard
Speaker 2: work but also protecting yourself is really important, and that
Speaker 2: was from my parents. And I got my first job
Speaker 2: just before sixteen, in pharmacy, and that was a great
Speaker 2: little start to my career that traveled with me throughout
Speaker 2: my university experience and I've been saving ever since and
Speaker 2: that's been my ultimate goal. Save, Save, Save.
Speaker 5: I love that your parents sound like really humble and
Speaker 5: kind people. They're like, they cool, this is what we've got, yeah,
Speaker 5: they just say. And I love the tone of voice
Speaker 5: you're using when talking about them. I feel like the
Speaker 5: tone of voice when someone talks about their parents tells
Speaker 5: you a lot about the relationship you have with them.
Speaker 5: Next question, my friend, what do you currently do for work?
Speaker 5: And tell us how much money do you earn?
Speaker 2: So I am a coordinator for a youth services organization,
Speaker 2: and before tax, it comes to about ninety five thousand
Speaker 2: per annum.
Speaker 5: Very cool, And what hits your bank account each and
Speaker 5: every single month.
Speaker 2: I have the privilege of being able to salary package,
Speaker 2: so I guess that combined with my regular income, it's
Speaker 2: about twenty seven hundred and fifty per fortnite.
Speaker 5: Oh, very nice. Tell us a little bit. I know
Speaker 5: we're going off track, Jess, Please don't come for me.
Speaker 5: Tell me a little bit about salary packaging. How do
Speaker 5: you use that to benefit your income?
Speaker 2: So I've submitted my lease so it contributes to my rent,
Speaker 2: and I guess it's just the government recognizing the hard
Speaker 2: work of community service organizations and giving them a little
Speaker 2: bit of a boost in terms of yeah, taking that
Speaker 2: money out tax free and then popping it back in
Speaker 2: my account. So I claim the maximum on general living
Speaker 2: expenses each fortnight, which is I think about six hundred
Speaker 2: and eleven dollars and a couple of cents.
Speaker 5: I met someone the other day, my friend. I was
Speaker 5: about to say your name, but I'm not going to
Speaker 5: slip up this early on in the episode. But I
Speaker 5: met someone the other day and they're like, oh, I
Speaker 5: could salary sacrifice because I work in a similar space
Speaker 5: to you. And I was like, what do you mean
Speaker 5: you could? They're like, I just can't be bothered setting
Speaker 5: it up. I'm like, sir, it is tax free money,
Speaker 5: like you are going to get that bank and I
Speaker 5: basically forced them to do that. So I think that
Speaker 5: that is a very good thing. I'm glad that that's
Speaker 5: all set up for you. You said before that you're a
Speaker 5: really good saver. But we want to know what is
Speaker 5: your big money goal.
Speaker 2: It has fluctuated quite a bit in the past six months.
Speaker 2: I would say it used to be the Australian dream
Speaker 2: buying home, but now I'm kind of in that space
Speaker 2: where I don't really know. I guess for now, I'd
Speaker 2: love to explore more about investing and increasing my investing portfolio,
Speaker 2: So for now that's kind of a bit of my goal.
Speaker 2: But also I guess retiring by sixty would be ideal,
Speaker 2: So I guess working towards that very exciting.
Speaker 5: All Right, you mentioned investments. The next question is do
Speaker 5: you currently have any investments it's so what are they?
Speaker 2: I do nothing Super Crazy because I'm still in the
Speaker 2: position of doing my research and building on that and
Speaker 2: it scares me a little bit so working towards it.
Speaker 2: But I have some minor investments in spaceship, so I've
Speaker 2: just started on a micro investing platform, and I also
Speaker 2: do voluntary contributions to my super each fortnite.
Speaker 5: Oh exciting. How did you decide how much you wanted
Speaker 5: to contribute towards Super?
Speaker 2: Oh, very good question. I think I just picked a
Speaker 2: number that I was comfortable with parting with regularly each fortnite,
Speaker 2: knowing that I wouldn't see it because I have it
Speaker 2: direct debited on payday. So at the moment, it's only
Speaker 2: forty dollars a week, so eighty dollars for that fortnight,
Speaker 2: and it's not a noticeable number. It doesn't really impact
Speaker 2: my general living expenses elsewise. So that's where I'm at
Speaker 2: for now. But if anything changes for me, I'll definitely
Speaker 2: look at increasing it.
Speaker 5: That's going to end up impacting future you though, pretty significantly,
Speaker 5: because even though you feel like, oh my gosh, I
Speaker 5: can part with this, that doesn't really matter. It makes
Speaker 5: sense to me. It's actually going to impact you by
Speaker 5: probably a couple of one hundred thousand dollars down the
Speaker 5: track when you decide to retire at sixty. So you're
Speaker 5: definitely putting yourself in an optimal position by you know,
Speaker 5: investing for your future. And once you get a little
Speaker 5: bit more comfortable with what asset class or what type
Speaker 5: of portfolio you want, I'm sure that'll be tobocharged even more.
Speaker 5: Flip side though investments. The opposite of that is debt.
Speaker 5: Do you have any debt? If so, what is it?
Speaker 2: So I'm just sitting on my hextet at the moment
Speaker 2: from my studies, which from memory is I think I
Speaker 2: have about seventeen thousand left.
Speaker 5: Oh that's not too bad. And do you feel like
Speaker 5: with your salary it makes a pretty good dint in
Speaker 5: it each financial year or how does it make you feel?
Speaker 2: I mean I feel okay because I don't really pay
Speaker 2: it much mind, which is I guess a good good
Speaker 2: form of debt to have where it's not overwhelming you.
Speaker 2: But with salary packaging, it can impact on how much
Speaker 2: gets contributed to that. So sometimes at the end of
Speaker 2: the financial year and at tax time, I'll need to
Speaker 2: balance that out and actually contribute money.
Speaker 5: Yeah, okay, So how do you manage for that? Are
Speaker 5: you putting some cash aside? Obviously you're a good saver,
Speaker 5: but are you specifically putting cash aside for that? Or
Speaker 5: you just know I'll have enough cash at the end
Speaker 5: of the financial year to make sure that I'm not
Speaker 5: even a.
Speaker 2: Pick call pretty much making sure, yeah, that I have enough.
Speaker 2: I know that there's always going to be money there.
Speaker 2: I have an emergency fund as well that I could
Speaker 2: always draw on if the amount that I would owe
Speaker 2: is higher than when I was anticipating. But generally it's
Speaker 2: not too much. It's never more than about maybe five
Speaker 2: hundred dollars.
Speaker 5: Oh, that's not too bad. Some people end up getting
Speaker 5: absolutely stung and it's a couple of thousand dollars and
Speaker 5: then you end up on a payment plan with the
Speaker 5: ATO and it ends up being very stressful. So I'm
Speaker 5: glad it's not too bad for you. Next question, do
Speaker 5: you use shop back?
Speaker 2: I do. I don't do a whole lot of shopping,
Speaker 2: but whenever I'm ready to, I definitely go and shop back,
Speaker 2: and I also just use it day to day. So
Speaker 2: I needed to do a little chemi swear House top
Speaker 2: up the other day. So I just went on to
Speaker 2: shot back and saw that they had a good little
Speaker 2: percentage cash back and thought why not. So I use
Speaker 2: it for things like that where I can too.
Speaker 5: I actually used it a chemist Warehouse the other day.
Speaker 5: I was buying perfume for someone's birthday. I'm not going
Speaker 5: to say who it was, but Chemist Warehouse was like
Speaker 5: the cheapest, and then I got it even cheaper he
Speaker 5: shot back, and I felt like a queen. I was like,
Speaker 5: I'm a budget queen. We're not going to talk about
Speaker 5: the parking fine I got the other day, but I'm
Speaker 5: a budget queen. And do you know what someone said
Speaker 5: to me the other day? Yes, in my DMS, because
Speaker 5: obviously I'm a bit of a shop backstand right, we
Speaker 5: love it. Someone was like, oh V Like I just
Speaker 5: don't get it. It just feels like another thing to
Speaker 5: add to the least. And I was like, sir, it's
Speaker 5: free money. Yeah, Like I don't understand, Like what what
Speaker 5: do you mean? It's like it's free stuff, Like I
Speaker 5: will do a lot through discount. All you have to
Speaker 5: do is put it on your corome extension. Yeah, like
Speaker 5: it's free. So anyway, I was very baffled by that,
Speaker 5: and literally that was my response. Next question, my friend,
Speaker 5: what's your best money habit? I feel like she might
Speaker 5: have a sneak you, Jess.
Speaker 2: My best is probably I'm just going to say my mindset.
Speaker 2: I'm very disciplined when it comes to every fortnight when
Speaker 2: my pay comes in, I know exactly how much I'm
Speaker 2: transferring across to my savings account, how much I'm transferring
Speaker 2: into my general living expenses account, and how much I
Speaker 2: might want to play with that particular month. So I
Speaker 2: think I'm very disciplined in that sense. But also that
Speaker 2: can also be to my detriment and not as fun.
Speaker 2: But that would be probably my best.
Speaker 5: And to flip that, what is your worst?
Speaker 2: I wouldn't say that I'm a lazy human, but I'm
Speaker 2: a very hard working human. And at the end of
Speaker 2: the day, I can be quite tired and go for
Speaker 2: takeaway for dinner instead of committing myself to a forty
Speaker 2: five minute recipe at home with the food that I
Speaker 2: have in the fridge.
Speaker 5: You are me, I always say, And it's funny. I
Speaker 5: feel like I'm a different person at work than I
Speaker 5: am at home, So at work I'll be like this
Speaker 5: super modivated person. I'll get all my stuff done. I'll
Speaker 5: be like, yep, this, this, and this, get home and
Speaker 5: I'm like, do.
Speaker 2: We have to cook?
Speaker 5: Like I would like to sit on this couch like
Speaker 5: a slug. And Uber eats is sometimes a little bit
Speaker 5: too tempting for me. In fact, I was talking the
Speaker 5: other day with a friend, a friend who is on
Speaker 5: the radio with me, Jess, who has spent seventeen thousand
Speaker 5: dollars in the last twelve months on Uber eats.
Speaker 2: What wild?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: Is so too much money?
Speaker 5: Mitch jury coming for you. But but I'm not there.
Speaker 5: But I'm also a little bit scared to calculate mine,
Speaker 5: you know, I.
Speaker 2: Wouldn't want to do it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I calculate without how much it was per week,
Speaker 5: and I was like, so that's more than my grocery bill.
Speaker 5: Like I'm just a cheeky pizza and salad kind of goal.
Speaker 5: All right, next question before we go to a very
Speaker 5: quick break, is my friend, what gray would you give
Speaker 5: your money habits if we forced you to give yourself
Speaker 5: a grade.
Speaker 2: I would probably give myself either a B plus or
Speaker 2: an A minus somewhere around that ballpark, because I do
Speaker 2: still have a lot to learn. I need to really
Speaker 2: become focused on a new goal and set a new
Speaker 2: target for myself. So yeah, I'm thinking around B plus
Speaker 2: A minus.
Speaker 5: I feel like that's very fair given you've said I
Speaker 5: want to grow and I want to change in there's
Speaker 5: some things I need to get in order. But like
Speaker 5: a minus, I reckon it's a very nice place to
Speaker 5: be given how good you are at saving my friend.
Speaker 5: Let's go to a quick break, and then after our
Speaker 5: break I want to talk about your living LaVita limbo comment.
Speaker 5: Let's go, all right, Jess, we are back. I've never
Speaker 5: heard someone say living LaVita limbo before, but I feel
Speaker 5: like it summarizes the experiences of a lot of our community,
Speaker 5: especially after the last few years that we've had where
Speaker 5: we were like not sure what's going on or how
Speaker 5: it works, and now we're getting back into the swing
Speaker 5: of things, we're all like, what are my goals? Who
Speaker 5: am I? What do I like? Where do I want
Speaker 5: to be in a few years? Do I even want
Speaker 5: to own property? Who am I? Is marriage an option?
Speaker 5: Like I feel like, is so relatable? Money Diarist, When
Speaker 5: did you come to the conclusion that you were in
Speaker 5: this limbo state and how are you feeling about it.
Speaker 2: I probably came to the realization that I was in
Speaker 2: this feeling of starkness probably in the last month. But
Speaker 2: then upon reflection, I realized I've probably been here for
Speaker 2: at least six to twelve months.
Speaker 5: I feel like it's always us who finds out last.
Speaker 5: So it's like, oh, everybody else was probably a little
Speaker 5: bit like, oh, Jess is a little bit lost right now,
Speaker 5: but didn't notice yet. So talk to me about why
Speaker 5: that might be the case. Obviously, you're a really good saver,
Speaker 5: and externally, I would say, it looks like you have
Speaker 5: all your stuff together. I just listened to your very
Speaker 5: structured money diary, and you're a good saver. It sounds
Speaker 5: like you've got some good goals. You're looking towards investing
Speaker 5: in the future, You're making the most of the way
Speaker 5: you get paid. Like, talk to me about why you
Speaker 5: still feel like you're in limbo. For sure.
Speaker 2: I think I'm very as a person hesitant to take risks,
Speaker 2: whether there's an element of you know, I could have
Speaker 2: a return of unimaginable finances or anything like that. If
Speaker 2: I foresee any element of loss, I hold my cards
Speaker 2: quite close to my chest. I don't dive in. I
Speaker 2: don't try new things. I'm very vanilla in that sense.
Speaker 2: But also, you know, vanilla can be a good, safe flavor,
Speaker 2: so I just live in my safe bubble.
Speaker 5: Some people that's their favorite, so I don't think it's
Speaker 5: a bad thing at all. In fact, I always chuse
Speaker 5: vanilla ice cream over any other flavor because it goes.
Speaker 2: With so much and you're never disappointed.
Speaker 5: Exactly exactly, but sometimes we get sick of vanilla and
Speaker 5: we want to try something different. Talk to me about
Speaker 5: why I'm getting the vibe that you're a bit risk averse.
Speaker 5: Is it your money diary? Is how you grew up
Speaker 5: around money? Is it any experience that you've had relatively recently,
Speaker 5: like what's going on?
Speaker 2: That is an excellent question. So I guess my parents
Speaker 2: did have one negative experience with investing when I was
Speaker 2: a lot younger. Actually so well, probably about twenty years ago,
Speaker 2: where their investment in particular didn't pay off and they
Speaker 2: experienced quite a bit of loss in that regard. I
Speaker 2: don't think that's necessarily dramatically shaped. You know, my thought
Speaker 2: process is today, but I think just knowing how long
Speaker 2: it's taken me to build up my savings and the
Speaker 2: work that I've committed to that and the journey. I
Speaker 2: am very hesitant to part with that. So I think
Speaker 2: it's just reflecting on how long it's taken me to
Speaker 2: get here and what I've done to get here, and yeah,
Speaker 2: being a bit worried in that sense, what happens if
Speaker 2: I lose it.
Speaker 5: I feel like that's a really common experience, and we've
Speaker 5: spoken about it on the podcast before. You know, Jess,
Speaker 5: you've mentioned something similar before, and also Georgia talks about
Speaker 5: it quite openly that Georgia is like a killer saber.
Speaker 5: She's a small wizard. I am sure you and Georgia
Speaker 5: would get along like a house on fire. She is
Speaker 5: so good at money, but she's also still, even having
Speaker 5: been in this she's on the money sphere for so long,
Speaker 5: she's very risk averse and is a bit worried about
Speaker 5: investment markets, even though she has access to the advice. Right,
Speaker 5: So it doesn't even mean that if you get the
Speaker 5: advice you'll immediately go and invest. It's all about mindset.
Speaker 5: But you said before you have a really good money mindset,
Speaker 5: So talk to me about what's stopping you taking that
Speaker 5: next step into creating wealth so you can retire at sixty.
Speaker 2: I think it's just letting myself become comfortable with you know,
Speaker 2: fluctuating markets. It's going to go down sometimes, it's going
Speaker 2: to go up sometimes. And at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: if I'm not doing this, if I'm not investing in
Speaker 2: the market, my money is just sitting there doing nothing
Speaker 2: and it's not, you know, growing its wealth. So I
Speaker 2: think it's just building my own you know, assurance in
Speaker 2: the system and just the market, and just accepting that
Speaker 2: it is what it is, and I need to start
Speaker 2: making positive change and getting my money to work for
Speaker 2: me rather than just sitting stagnant. It's a mind.
Speaker 5: Shift, exactly. But it sounds like you're on the right
Speaker 5: pathway now. I know this money diaries about you, not
Speaker 5: about your parents, but I want to be a little
Speaker 5: bit pervy and ask do you know what they invested in?
Speaker 5: Because I always like to ask this question because often
Speaker 5: when we talk to parents or grandparents who have experienced
Speaker 5: significant loss, often it's an asset class that we would go, oh, well,
Speaker 5: that kind of makes sense in hindsight that that didn't perform,
Speaker 5: or it wasn't an index fund, or it wasn't an
Speaker 5: ETF that they put their money in and it was
Speaker 5: growing over the long term. So do you have any
Speaker 5: insight into that?
Speaker 2: Yes, so it was this is going to be polar opposites.
Speaker 5: It was either coal or gold, so very different resources.
Speaker 2: Sorry, it's totally escaped me now. But they got to
Speaker 2: tip off from a friend of theirs and this was
Speaker 2: going to be the next big mining opportunity, and turns
Speaker 2: out it wasn't.
Speaker 5: It wasn't. Oh that is the worst, especially because in
Speaker 5: that situation, I'm sure they trusted the person who gave
Speaker 5: them the advice they did. Oh that makes me feel icky,
Speaker 5: But it's also a very good reflection. You know that
Speaker 5: book that I adore Jess The Richest Man in Babylon.
Speaker 5: There is some very good advice in there. And you
Speaker 5: guys have probably already listened to our book episode, so
Speaker 5: you've heard this before, but I want to drum it
Speaker 5: into you. One of the quotes in The Richest Man
Speaker 5: from Babylon is you would never take advice from a
Speaker 5: bricklayer on buying diamonds. And that doesn't mean that they're
Speaker 5: not a good bricklayer and don't know their trade. But
Speaker 5: I think it's so important to always question where advice
Speaker 5: comes from and say like, oh, great, Like I've got
Speaker 5: a tip off from a friend Jess told me. Would
Speaker 5: just know like she's a content creator in this and that.
Speaker 5: But then oh, she works in finance, maybe she knows
Speaker 5: a little bit more. But I think it's so important
Speaker 5: to really contextualize where your advice is coming from because
Speaker 5: so many of us us get it from friends, or
Speaker 5: so many of us get it from the media. What
Speaker 5: does Channel nine or ten or Channel seven know about
Speaker 5: investing properly? Yeah, I feel like it's such an interesting
Speaker 5: space to ask about because every time I ask about
Speaker 5: a big loss, it was never in something really stable,
Speaker 5: which is a good and a bad thing. I mean,
Speaker 5: it's good for us to learn, it's terrible for them,
Speaker 5: and it gives me a bit of ick. I'm like,
Speaker 5: oh my gosh, I wish I could help.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wish I could have helped. Not that I
Speaker 2: would have known anything back then, but yeah, it's one
Speaker 2: of those things that, especially with where they were at
Speaker 2: financially in their journey, it was just a bit of
Speaker 2: a rough patch. But it's okay. It happens. We learn
Speaker 2: they haven't done it since.
Speaker 5: So talk to me about the Great Australian dream. You
Speaker 5: mentioned before that you're just not sure about it anymore.
Speaker 5: Where did your shift in mindset around that come from.
Speaker 5: And is that something they're growing up you just assumed
Speaker 5: would happen or you really wanted to happen or what
Speaker 5: are your thoughts on property ownership?
Speaker 2: Definitely, growing up, it was something you know, ever, I mean,
Speaker 2: I grew up in a small rural town in Victoria,
Speaker 2: so you know, owning your own home was more common
Speaker 2: than renting because it was quite affordable where we were living.
Speaker 2: And it was just you know, you save and then
Speaker 2: you get your deposit, you buy your house, you get married,
Speaker 2: you start your family. Like it was all that flow
Speaker 2: on effect and it all stemmed from this big, beautiful
Speaker 2: home that you owned. It's all a lie, but it's well,
Speaker 2: I just probably until about twelve months ago, I was
Speaker 2: still in that mindset, but it shifted a little bit
Speaker 2: now that I'm living in the Melbourne region to Okay,
Speaker 2: maybe I won't buy a house for myself. Maybe I'll
Speaker 2: buy an investment property or you know, out of area
Speaker 2: so that I can save a bit of money on that,
Speaker 2: so that I'm not dropping a million dollars, for example,
Speaker 2: And then that shifted again after a really I guess
Speaker 2: important conversation that my partner and I had about where
Speaker 2: our values were sitting right now, not you know, what
Speaker 2: did we want when we were eighteen, it's what do
Speaker 2: we want for ourselves right now? And we decided that
Speaker 2: we don't want a house right now, and we don't
Speaker 2: really have a need for an investment property and possibly
Speaker 2: the extra work or stresses that that might put on
Speaker 2: our lives right now. But we agreed that maybe in
Speaker 2: the future that's something that we can re explore together
Speaker 2: or separately. But yeah, we don't really know where we
Speaker 2: want to put down our roots. We would like to
Speaker 2: be doing so much else, like traveling and just growing
Speaker 2: together as a couple before we commit to any large
Speaker 2: purchases like a home.
Speaker 5: Yeah, because it's such a big investment, and it's not
Speaker 5: just an investment in terms of we'll get a return
Speaker 5: out of this. It's your time, your energy, your effort,
Speaker 5: all of your savings. Arguably also the ongoing commitment of
Speaker 5: paying a mortgage. I don't think a lot of people
Speaker 5: understand what that commitment looks like until you're actually in
Speaker 5: the depths of it. We talk about it a lot
Speaker 5: of work, and we talk a lot about it in
Speaker 5: the office, just about making sure that you can afford
Speaker 5: the repayments, and the repayments are something that are not
Speaker 5: compromising your future goals and what you actually want to
Speaker 5: achieve in life. Because I think once we start looking
Speaker 5: at property, we get so tunnel visioned and we go,
Speaker 5: all right, we need to save as much as possible,
Speaker 5: and then once I have that deposit, I'm going to
Speaker 5: be able to be a bit more free, And unfortunately
Speaker 5: so many of us go. We do that, We save
Speaker 5: our butts off. We get to that point where we
Speaker 5: can purchase a property, we speak to a broker, They
Speaker 5: talk to you about what your serviceability looks like and
Speaker 5: what you can afford, and you go, great, no problems,
Speaker 5: that's fantastic, and we end up on the higher end
Speaker 5: of that spectrum, locking us into a mortgage repayment that
Speaker 5: stops us doing those things that you just said you love,
Speaker 5: like growing as a couple and having shared beautiful experiences
Speaker 5: and traveling and experiencing the world. And I think that
Speaker 5: we need to zoom out a little and go, all right, well,
Speaker 5: what does life look like if we are going to
Speaker 5: go down that route at some point, what does it
Speaker 5: look like, how does it work? Where would it sit?
Speaker 5: And I think that you're making a really important decision
Speaker 5: as a couple right now. That's okay, Well, that's not
Speaker 5: in line with our goals and values. And I think
Speaker 5: that's so powerful because it bucks the trend of what
Speaker 5: everyone might expect from you, especially if you've come from
Speaker 5: a small town.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and I constantly hear your voice in my head, Victorias, saying,
Speaker 2: you know, what are your money values and reminding myself
Speaker 2: that just because everyone else is doing this doesn't mean
Speaker 2: that I should do that. And it's not what I
Speaker 2: necessarily want to do anymore. And it's okay that my
Speaker 2: mindset has shifted over the past couple of.
Speaker 5: Years exactly, and it can shift again, like you could
Speaker 5: come full circle and go, oh my gosh, we have
Speaker 5: changed our minds. The only thing we want to do
Speaker 5: is buy a house, and that's so fine. But it's
Speaker 5: about being in touch with what that looks like. And
Speaker 5: it changes and it shifts. And I think that if
Speaker 5: you spoke to even baby Victoria, her goals and her
Speaker 5: values were absolutely not aligned to what current Victoria's goals
Speaker 5: and values are like I'm looking at it going, oh
Speaker 5: my gosh, at some point, I'm gonna have a baby,
Speaker 5: and that's so exciting. I want to provide for that baby.
Speaker 5: Like if you'd set that to past Victoria at twenty
Speaker 5: two twenty three, she would have been like, that's disgusting.
Speaker 5: You're never having kids. What are you talking about. I
Speaker 5: don't want to be locked down to any man. I
Speaker 5: think it's just such an interesting mindset shift to even
Speaker 5: contrast past us to future us, because I don't even
Speaker 5: know what I would want to do in the future, right,
Speaker 5: And I think that that's where it gets so confusing,
Speaker 5: because we often compare ourselves to our friends and our
Speaker 5: family and our colleagues and people who surround us instead
Speaker 5: of ourselves. Like, the only person you should ever compare
Speaker 5: yourself to is past you, never anybody else, because if
Speaker 5: you're doing that, you're doing yourself a disservice, because everybody
Speaker 5: else has different experiences and goals and values and things
Speaker 5: they want to achieve. And I mean, if I look
Speaker 5: at Jess, she's a way better savor than me. Like
Speaker 5: Jess is a small wizard, so is Georgia. It's really
Speaker 5: jarring because I am not nearly as good at money
Speaker 5: as they are. I have to be super automated, and
Speaker 5: I look at them and I go, oh my gosh,
Speaker 5: like I can't believe how good at money they are
Speaker 5: consistently because I am not. But that doesn't put me
Speaker 5: in a good position at all. It just makes me
Speaker 5: feel bad. It puts me in a position where I'm
Speaker 5: then reflecting on their goals and their values to overlay
Speaker 5: onto my life, whereas I could go, oh my gosh, Victoria,
Speaker 5: you're doing so well. You're so much better than past you,
Speaker 5: because past you was an absolute shamble. So I think
Speaker 5: it's about really understanding and it sounds like you're on
Speaker 5: track to really going all right, Well, this is how
Speaker 5: we want to live life on our terms, and that's
Speaker 5: such a beautiful thing, Tiki, I love it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, life is definitely too short and too fluid to
Speaker 2: remain stagnant.
Speaker 5: So what are we going to do about our living?
Speaker 5: Levita Limbo? How are we going to sort that out?
Speaker 5: Because I think that this topic is such a common
Speaker 5: one and it's such a relatable topic in our community.
Speaker 5: What are you going to do? How are we going
Speaker 5: to do it, and how are we going to do
Speaker 5: it together?
Speaker 2: I was hoping you might have that answer, but I
Speaker 2: can contribute. I think I might just need to take
Speaker 2: that leap and if I want to invest, just accepting
Speaker 2: that with investing comes ebbs and flows and that's all
Speaker 2: part of the journey. So I think taking that leap there,
Speaker 2: but ensuring that I'm doing it in a financially safe way.
Speaker 2: So I've done my research. I've spoken to a financial advisor.
Speaker 5: Yay, I've heard they're good eggs.
Speaker 2: Do you know any good ones?
Speaker 5: No, I've heard of one I wouldn't recommend.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, give it a miss then, But yeah, So
Speaker 2: I just I need to and I think in terms
Speaker 2: of what I've already done a little bit of research,
Speaker 2: quite a bit of reading, I think I'm at that
Speaker 2: point where I'm ready to meet with their financial advisor,
Speaker 2: whether that's to provide an element of comfortability and security
Speaker 2: in taking that leap or getting that professional advice.
Speaker 5: I think that's a really important point bring up because
Speaker 5: we've done episodes on different ways to invest. So we
Speaker 5: talked about micro investing and then DIY platforms and robo
Speaker 5: advice and financial advice and Obviously, financial advice can be
Speaker 5: quite expensive and arguably a little bit prohibitive for a
Speaker 5: lot of people. But a lot of the time, when
Speaker 5: we talk to clients or I see new clients, they'll
Speaker 5: sit down and be like, Victoria, this is worth it,
Speaker 5: because I'm never going to get into the market if
Speaker 5: I don't have someone holding my hand or if I
Speaker 5: don't have this sense of support around me, because it's
Speaker 5: just never going to happen. So as much as it's
Speaker 5: an investment, it's an investment in my future because I'm
Speaker 5: not going to invest without somebody else. And I really
Speaker 5: like reframing it to that because so many people say
Speaker 5: things like, oh my gosh, you could just do it yourself,
Speaker 5: and you absolutely could, but a lot of people aren't
Speaker 5: comfortable to do that. A lot of people need that journey.
Speaker 5: And we talk about investment so much, which is why
Speaker 5: we have a book coming out in September literally on investment,
Speaker 5: because after the first book came out, I obviously included
Speaker 5: some information about investment in different asset classes, and I
Speaker 5: was like, this is good, this is a really good
Speaker 5: based understanding. Everyone was basically shaking me, going well, what's next,
Speaker 5: how do we do the next thing, and I go, oh, okay, well,
Speaker 5: I guess we have to write another book. So hopefully
Speaker 5: you can get your mittens on that and put yourself
Speaker 5: in a position where you go, oh, this makes sense.
Speaker 5: These are the next steps. These are the things I
Speaker 5: need to understand to feel comfortable with the markets, and
Speaker 5: it's something that I want to create way more content
Speaker 5: around as well. So hopefully we can do a little
Speaker 5: course so we can do it together and actually sit
Speaker 5: down and have webinars and stuff. And I'm just trying
Speaker 5: to find a format to make that work so that
Speaker 5: we can learn together and it be collaborative. However, you
Speaker 5: said before a very interesting comment where you're like, oh,
Speaker 5: I hoped that you have the answers, and I'm like,
Speaker 5: my friend, I wish I had the answers. But the
Speaker 5: thing is, I am a financial advisor. I can advise,
Speaker 5: but what you actually take up is really based on
Speaker 5: your goals and your values, and a lot of the
Speaker 5: financial advice process is actually very psychological. It's very sit
Speaker 5: down and saying money gyrus, but what do you want?
Speaker 5: And it's like asking the questions that get the answer
Speaker 5: out of you, So the answer truly lies with you.
Speaker 5: It's not actually with me, there's no magic wand that goes,
Speaker 5: oh my gosh, you can feel like you're not in
Speaker 5: limbo anymore. It's actually that structure and sitting down and
Speaker 5: going well, what are my attitudes towards money? What do
Speaker 5: I want to achieve? And journaling is a really powerful
Speaker 5: tool that you can use to sit down and go, oh, well,
Speaker 5: what does life look like in ten or twenty years.
Speaker 5: It's something that I've done with my partner. He was
Speaker 5: a bit begrudging of it. He didn't like this idea
Speaker 5: because quote lame. But sitting down and going well, what
Speaker 5: does life look like for us in five years? Like
Speaker 5: where are we at, where do we live, what amount
Speaker 5: of money do we earn? Do we have kids? Do
Speaker 5: we not have kids? Do we still live in the
Speaker 5: same location. I think that that can be a really
Speaker 5: powerful tool of saying five years and then we did
Speaker 5: ten years, and after that we both just started arguing
Speaker 5: about how it wasn't worth, you know, going any further
Speaker 5: than that, But that gave us a really good structure
Speaker 5: of well, what do we need to get in place
Speaker 5: to create that reality? What do we need to organize
Speaker 5: to make sure that that works? And that was something
Speaker 5: that Steve and I had done before we got engaged,
Speaker 5: and I didn't know that that was coming at that point,
Speaker 5: but we sat down and I was like, oh, like,
Speaker 5: you know, being really honest, I'd love to think that
Speaker 5: in five years would be married. Steve was like, yeah,
Speaker 5: like that seems like a really nice, you know, part
Speaker 5: of life. And I think that to have those open,
Speaker 5: honest conversations about where your life goes, whether it is
Speaker 5: with your partner or with a friend, or even just
Speaker 5: with yourself and a journal, sitting with a really nice
Speaker 5: cup of tea, I think that that can be a
Speaker 5: really awesome point of reflection where you go, well, what
Speaker 5: does it look like in the future. We're not comparing
Speaker 5: to anybody else, we're not reflecting on other people's expectations
Speaker 5: of ourselves, and more often than not, I think you'll
Speaker 5: find that most of us it's not about things. It's
Speaker 5: about experiences and feelings and mental health. And I think
Speaker 5: that those are really beautiful outcomes that we can start
Speaker 5: working towards. So I'm sorry I don't have the answers,
Speaker 5: because unfortunately I never do. I can give you an education,
Speaker 5: I can give you all the information on how to
Speaker 5: look at the returner on the investment or the returner
Speaker 5: on equity. We can sit down, we can talk about
Speaker 5: asset classes, but at the end of the day, your
Speaker 5: values and what your life looks like, and that guidance
Speaker 5: actually comes from within. As fluffy as that sounds, and
Speaker 5: I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: No, I think it's I think it's really relevant. Sometimes
Speaker 2: you just need someone to say to you. I hear
Speaker 2: that you're wanting to explore this, and that's okay, And
Speaker 2: whether it's a flop or a success, you're going to
Speaker 2: do what you want to be doing. And I think
Speaker 2: that's what you guys are providing for me right now.
Speaker 4: I read a tweet on the weekend and it said,
Speaker 4: after your flop era comes your sleigh era.
Speaker 5: I'm sorry, Okay.
Speaker 4: Even if it is a flop, maybe that that means
Speaker 4: that something good will come around the corner for you.
Speaker 2: And look at rock bottom, you can only go up
Speaker 2: right exactly exactly.
Speaker 5: And I always say it's either a blessing or a lesson.
Speaker 5: So there's no such thing as a flop in my book, Jess,
Speaker 5: I got to read it, sheep. None of us are flocks.
Speaker 5: I think it's interesting as well. Because I think so
Speaker 5: many of us are actually looking for permission to explore it.
Speaker 5: I think we're not looking necessarily for the answers, we're
Speaker 5: just looking for the gateway to start. Right. It's like anything,
Speaker 5: you just don't feel like you're well enough equipped to
Speaker 5: start exploring that. But exploring it is free. You can
Speaker 5: read so much, you can listen to podcasts, You can
Speaker 5: explore different topics or even just different theories or different
Speaker 5: ideas from different people without having any complications on your
Speaker 5: financial life. Right, So I think starting to map out
Speaker 5: what that might look like, or even write down the
Speaker 5: things you don't want to be, because I think a
Speaker 5: lot of the time, if we're confused about our circumstances,
Speaker 5: it's very hard to say, Okay, Jess, well what do
Speaker 5: you want in five years? And you throw your hands
Speaker 5: in the air and you go, well, I don't know, Victoria.
Speaker 5: That's the problem. But what we can do is sit
Speaker 5: down and go, well, what don't you want? You go,
Speaker 5: I don't want to be in a job that I
Speaker 5: don't like, I don't want to not do this, or
Speaker 5: I don't want to have not traveled. I think it's
Speaker 5: easier to write a list of things you do not
Speaker 5: want as opposed to things you do want. Even though
Speaker 5: I'm very much of a positive mindset and I'd prefer
Speaker 5: us to be more aspirational, sometimes it's easier to start
Speaker 5: with the lists of don't because they quite easily can
Speaker 5: be reframed into well, the opposite of that is this
Speaker 5: is that what you want? You go, Yeah, that sounds
Speaker 5: about right for me. So I think it can be
Speaker 5: a little bit fluffy, but sometimes we need someone to
Speaker 5: just give us permission to explore that and say no,
Speaker 5: do it like that's the best thing for you. We
Speaker 5: want to see where you're at and how that works.
Speaker 2: I think so definitely, and having like you were saying, Victoria,
Speaker 2: having someone along that journey with you, whether it be
Speaker 2: a financial advisor or a partner or someone else that
Speaker 2: holds a lot of you in importance to you to
Speaker 2: you know, pick you up when things aren't great or
Speaker 2: if anything you know dips and just say, look, we're
Speaker 2: going to try again. So I think that's what I'll
Speaker 2: be seeking. Definitely.
Speaker 5: I love that, and I think you're absolutely on the
Speaker 5: right track. Jess, Do you have any other question?
Speaker 4: No, I feel like that's left it at a really
Speaker 4: nice place.
Speaker 5: I feel like we've run out of time as well,
Speaker 5: so I was like, ah, Yess, if you do, sorry,
Speaker 5: all right, thank you so much money, Dirist. I feel
Speaker 5: like this has been super relatable to me and to
Speaker 5: probably everybody who listens. But now, Jess, unfortunately it is
Speaker 5: time to wrap the boring but important stuff. Take it away.
Speaker 2: Don't forget guys.
Speaker 4: The advice shared on She's on the Money is generally
Speaker 4: nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on
Speaker 4: the Money exist purely for educational purposes and should not
Speaker 4: be relied upon to make an investment or a financial decision.
Speaker 4: And we promise Victoria Divine and She's on the Money
Speaker 4: are authorized representatives of InFocus Securities Australia Proprietary Limited ABN
Speaker 4: four seven oh nine seven seven nine nine seven oh fortnine.
Speaker 2: I oversell two three six five.
Speaker 5: Two three See you on Wednesday, guys.
Speaker 2: Bye,