Speaker 1: Hello.
Speaker 2: My name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr the
Speaker 2: Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before we
Speaker 2: get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would
Speaker 2: like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of
Speaker 2: which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging
Speaker 2: the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through
Speaker 2: as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and
Speaker 2: the storytelling of you to make a difference for today
Speaker 2: and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Speaker 1: 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. My name is Victoria
Speaker 4: Devine and I am so excited to welcome you back
Speaker 4: to another one of our shop backed money diaries where
Speaker 4: we get to talk to one of our beautiful She's
Speaker 4: on the Money community members and learn a little bit
Speaker 4: more about their journey. So let's get straight into it.
Speaker 4: This week I got a message from one of our
Speaker 4: diarists and it said I went to UNI straight out
Speaker 4: of school and I wanted to do everything right. This
Speaker 4: developed into a toxic perfectionist pattern. When I landed my
Speaker 4: dream job, I realized something was really wrong. After long
Speaker 4: periods of bad anxiety and finding myself crying on the floor.
Speaker 4: After much soul searching, I returned to UNI to study
Speaker 4: international development and climate change. At around this time, my
Speaker 4: sixteen year old dog got really unwell.
Speaker 1: After a year and a.
Speaker 4: Half of VET bills that added up to twenty thousand dollars,
Speaker 4: my beloved pub passed away. While this was happening, my
Speaker 4: dad's cancer returned and he was given a short period
Speaker 4: of time to live, passing away in July of last year. This,
Speaker 4: of course, put work and union hold. After a diagnosis
Speaker 4: of OCD, but some wonderful therapy, I now work full
Speaker 4: time at my real dream, not for profit job where
Speaker 4: I earn less but my cup is full money diarist,
Speaker 4: what a journey, what a story. Thank you for wanting
Speaker 4: to share it with.
Speaker 1: Me, No, thank you so much for having me on.
Speaker 1: I'm very excited to share some more.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, it started with like I landed my
Speaker 4: dream job. Then I was on the floor, then all
Speaker 4: of this other stuff. My gosh, I am so excited
Speaker 4: to dive straight into it as always. Let's start with
Speaker 4: the most common question I ask my favorite one of all.
Speaker 4: Can you tell us a little bit about your money story?
Speaker 1: Yes, for sure, So I guess it really starts when
Speaker 1: I was younger. I had what I've learnt from you,
Speaker 1: actually was a bit of a scarcity mindset grow up
Speaker 1: when it comes to money. So my family wasn't super
Speaker 1: well off and money just wasn't something that we had
Speaker 1: laying around to spend. However, my parents always worked really
Speaker 1: really hard, So from a young age, I really had
Speaker 1: this mentality that kind of took over my brain that
Speaker 1: basically you had to work really hard to get anything
Speaker 1: that you wanted in life. So after high school, I
Speaker 1: went to university to study what I thought would be
Speaker 1: a degree that got me the most money.
Speaker 4: Basically, what degree was that we want to know?
Speaker 1: So that was just a basic kind of business degree
Speaker 1: with some international relations chucked in from my own interest area,
Speaker 1: and I thought that was the exciting thing that I
Speaker 1: could do to make money.
Speaker 4: Basically, that does definitely sound like you could be richreach
Speaker 4: after doing that. Sounds stassy, Yeah, yeah, I get the logic, yep.
Speaker 1: So I spent Uni basically working a lot part time
Speaker 1: studying really hard to get good grades and doing a
Speaker 1: ridiculous ant of unpaid volunteer work to try and build
Speaker 1: up that resume. Basically, so after I've finished my undergrad
Speaker 1: I thought it had all paid off when I got
Speaker 1: a dream job straight out of university that was paying
Speaker 1: almost ninety K wow, which was just wild.
Speaker 4: That's so much money straight out of university. Like, straight
Speaker 4: out of Uni, I was on like forty K and
Speaker 4: I thought I was making bank.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was overwhelmingly wild. So it was the first
Speaker 1: time I'd ever actually really had money, and I had
Speaker 1: no financial literacy at the time, so I basically went wild.
Speaker 1: Like we're talking like fifty dollars bottles of wine during
Speaker 1: the week, uber eats and dinners out daily, Like it
Speaker 1: was just draining, and I was definitely living what I
Speaker 1: thought was my best life.
Speaker 4: I mean, that does sound pretty good. I would definitely
Speaker 4: crack a bottle of fifty dollars wine on a Wednesday
Speaker 4: and call that a good week. So I see where
Speaker 4: you were going with that.
Speaker 1: It was chaotic, It really was chaotic times, but it
Speaker 1: was fun. But yeah, So in a bit of a
Speaker 1: plot twist, it actually turns out that I really wasn't
Speaker 1: that happy. I might have thought I was, but on
Speaker 1: those nights that I wasn't kind of out with friends
Speaker 1: or like having a fun time with my partner, I
Speaker 1: was just so exhausted and overwhelmed. And I finally realized
Speaker 1: that I was genuinely really burnt out when one day
Speaker 1: I was having a proper panic attack in the kitchen,
Speaker 1: lying on the floor, just like balling my eyes out,
Speaker 1: and my partner was talking to me and he was like,
Speaker 1: I think maybe this isn't what you want in life,
Speaker 1: And I was like, maybe you're right, maybe this isn't it.
Speaker 4: That's some good insight. I mean, that's probably a good
Speaker 4: indicator if you're having a panic attack on the floor
Speaker 4: and you are balling your eyes. I just feel like, yeah,
Speaker 4: he's pretty switched on.
Speaker 1: Yeah he's a good reader. I'll definitely give him that.
Speaker 1: He's a very good emotion reader, which is very handy.
Speaker 1: So yeah, So I got to the point then, and
Speaker 1: a bunch of self reflection after that moment, realizing that
Speaker 1: money probably wasn't all I wanted in life, and I
Speaker 1: really wanted to do something that was a bit more
Speaker 1: meaningful and could help me help people, and kind of
Speaker 1: lean into my passion for the environment as well. So
Speaker 1: I went back to UNI, which was my safe space
Speaker 1: at the time, and enrolled in my Masters of Global
Speaker 1: Development and Climate Change and started working part time. So
Speaker 1: about this time is actually when I found your podcast
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 4: Welcome to the Family.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, So it was very exciting. So I was
Speaker 1: actually getting on top of my money. I was figuring
Speaker 1: out how to do baskets, I was saving all my
Speaker 1: part time earnings, like things were looking right, and then
Speaker 1: these three major things kind of happened over the span
Speaker 1: of a few years. So, as you mentioned at the start,
Speaker 1: my gorgeous, gorgeous dog that i'd had sent you two
Speaker 1: got really sick.
Speaker 4: What kind of dogs? Tell me about how her?
Speaker 1: She was like this little beautiful silky cross, like one
Speaker 1: of those bits of dogs that's like five different things. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she's very sweet. So she was sixteen, and she got
Speaker 1: all of the things wrong with her basically at the time.
Speaker 1: So over the twenty eighteen to twenty twenty, I ended
Speaker 1: up spending I think it was about twenty two thousand
Speaker 1: dollars all up on her vet bills as I didn't
Speaker 1: have pet insurance. Because I got her when I was
Speaker 1: so young, and she ended up passing away in twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: But it was totally worth it, but obviously took a
Speaker 1: huge stent in the old savings.
Speaker 4: That is the worst petsa as you probably already know
Speaker 4: if you've been listening to the pod a while. I
Speaker 4: am the biggest pet person ever. I have three of
Speaker 4: my own, and they are the best things to ever
Speaker 4: happen to me. And I mean, it's not going to
Speaker 4: make you feel better about this, but you mentioned pet
Speaker 4: insurance before. Your Bambino had a very good inning. Sixteen
Speaker 4: years is very impressive, especially for a dog. But most
Speaker 4: pet insurance will not cover any dog over the age
Speaker 4: of ten or twelve, depending on what insurance policy it was,
Speaker 4: so they might not have even covered that. So I
Speaker 4: don't think insurance could have saved you there. Unfortunately, that's
Speaker 4: all up to old dogs.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, that's very true actually, and it has helped
Speaker 1: me learn now. For our dog that we got only
Speaker 1: a few years ago, we have a joint account my
Speaker 1: partner and I either push money into it was a
Speaker 1: big savings just in case, which is very nice. Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh.
Speaker 4: They're babies that need being looked after, so I am
Speaker 4: totally there. But then your story develops further that wasn't
Speaker 4: the only bad thing to happen during that period of time, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1: So early last year, I got a call from my
Speaker 1: mum that my dad was in hospital because he prostate
Speaker 1: cancer that he'd been dealing with, like really well for
Speaker 1: the last six years had come back and had spread. Wow.
Speaker 1: And I was so used to him being sick that
Speaker 1: I didn't really think about it at the time. It
Speaker 1: wasn't until for the first time she said you better
Speaker 1: get here because we've been told there's only months that
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, my goodness, yeah, this is serious.
Speaker 1: So yeah, after going down to visit my family and
Speaker 1: realizing that this was it, so I basically decided then
Speaker 1: and there that family was more important than my UNI
Speaker 1: and my work and all my other things I had
Speaker 1: going on. So I ended up spending about one week
Speaker 1: a month for six months going in between my home
Speaker 1: and my family's home, visiting while they could, to just
Speaker 1: support and be with Dad. And it was just such
Speaker 1: a tough time and he ended up passing away last July.
Speaker 1: But I wouldn't trade it for a day, taking that
Speaker 1: time off UNI, pushing things back and taking that time
Speaker 1: off work to be with my family. It was the
Speaker 1: best decision that I've ever made.
Speaker 4: I think I'm so glad to hear that you had
Speaker 4: that time with your family. I mean, there's no you know,
Speaker 4: right or wrong when it comes to stuff like this,
Speaker 4: but the fact that you're saying like this is the
Speaker 4: right decision for me. I love that you had the
Speaker 4: ability to make that decision. And it sounds like your
Speaker 4: dad probably really appreciated that too, like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 4: he would have loved that time with you.
Speaker 1: Right. Yeah, we had a lot of fun, and we
Speaker 1: had a lot of like quality family time, which you
Speaker 1: don't always get when the kids have all grown up
Speaker 1: and we've moved to different states. So that was really
Speaker 1: nice as well. So silver linings, yeah, especially as an adult.
Speaker 1: I mean, let's try and see that as a silver lining.
Speaker 1: And then what happened? You put work in UNI on hold?
Speaker 4: And then what So?
Speaker 1: Then after my dad had passed away, I kind of
Speaker 1: went back to my usual life, tried to just dive
Speaker 1: straight back into things, as you know the overchievers do,
Speaker 1: and then I realized something was very off and it
Speaker 1: didn't feel like my regular anxiety things were going downhill
Speaker 1: really quickly, and I was lucky enough to have had
Speaker 1: a friend who had been diagnosed with OCD a few
Speaker 1: years prior to me, and I thought, this sounds a
Speaker 1: lot like what my friend was telling me about. So
Speaker 1: I went straight to a psychologist within about a month
Speaker 1: of it coming on. So I think that was really
Speaker 1: lucky for me that it didn't have enough time to
Speaker 1: develop into something really, really bad. But yeah, I got
Speaker 1: diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder and it has easily been
Speaker 1: apart from everything else that I've gone through, one of
Speaker 1: the toughest things I've ever dealt with. It is dehabilitating.
Speaker 1: It just drains you. It wastes so many days of
Speaker 1: your life. And I didn't really understand what it was
Speaker 1: before it happened to me, and I think a lot
Speaker 1: of people don't understand it either. So that was really
Speaker 1: tough with work and UNI again trying to figure out
Speaker 1: how to navigate.
Speaker 4: That money drive. So when I ask a perfect question here,
Speaker 4: because you said that you know, OCD is not really understood,
Speaker 4: and one of the reasons why it's not understood is
Speaker 4: it manifests really differently for different people, so it doesn't
Speaker 4: always look exactly the same, and there's no one quote
Speaker 4: indicator of it. And I think that a lot of
Speaker 4: people joke about it and say, oh my gosh, I've
Speaker 4: got OCD. I have to clean the sink, and it's
Speaker 4: just like, no, sit down, that not what it is.
Speaker 4: So could you teach us a little bit about how
Speaker 4: that might manifest for you, because obviously it is debilitating,
Speaker 4: but that means different things to different people, and I
Speaker 4: feel like that insight could be really powerful here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, one hundred percent. It can look so significantly
Speaker 1: different for different people. So for me, I had like
Speaker 1: certain themes that would pop up. So the general way
Speaker 1: that OCD works is that you have an obsessive thought
Speaker 1: and then you feel this urge to compulse on that
Speaker 1: obsessive thought. So one that I had was there's so many,
Speaker 1: but one that is probably not as stressful for people
Speaker 1: to listen to at home was that I had this
Speaker 1: obsessive thought that I had done something in the past
Speaker 1: to cheat on my partner. And it's the most ridiculous
Speaker 1: thing because I knew that I hadn't, but my brain
Speaker 1: was convincing me that I had. And then you get
Speaker 1: into this cycle of overthinking, like I have this initial
Speaker 1: obsessive thought, like you did something inappropriate with that guy once,
Speaker 1: and then your brain starts to think, oh, let's get
Speaker 1: to the bottom of this, and that's the compulsion. So
Speaker 1: it can look like you overthinking a scenario, trying to
Speaker 1: get to the exact bottom of a memory. It can
Speaker 1: look like you going to your partner to try and
Speaker 1: get feedback from them and that confirmation that no, you
Speaker 1: didn't do anything wrong, or it could be you sitting
Speaker 1: on your phone, like trying to search answers for hours
Speaker 1: and hours and so many different things. So it's like
Speaker 1: that really negative cycle and you might think that you've
Speaker 1: solved it, but then you've strengthened that obsessive thought and
Speaker 1: then it comes up again and again. So the best
Speaker 1: way to deal with it is for me, at least,
Speaker 1: it was going to therapy and doing exposure therapy. So
Speaker 1: it's when you're actually exposed to the things that bring
Speaker 1: on that obsessive thought. But then you have to force
Speaker 1: yourself to say this is OCD and not lean into
Speaker 1: those compulsions. And it probably sounds really easy to average
Speaker 1: lovely healthy mind out there, but it's really really hard.
Speaker 1: So that mixed with some really good drugs that helped
Speaker 1: with my OCD, really helped me get on top of it.
Speaker 1: And I was very much scared of taking any type
Speaker 1: of medication, but life changing one of the best things
Speaker 1: I've ever done.
Speaker 4: I feel like there's such a stigma around medication. Why
Speaker 4: were you apprehensive to take medication.
Speaker 1: I've been told to take it before for my anxiety,
Speaker 1: because I've been dealing with anxiety for about a decade,
Speaker 1: and I always just kind of thought, no, mine's not
Speaker 1: that bad. You know, it's not bad enough. Other people
Speaker 1: have it worse, And it's such a lie that you
Speaker 1: tell yourself, like especially when you get to the point
Speaker 1: if you're carrying on the bathroom floor, it's developing further
Speaker 1: into something like OCD. And yeah, I just got to
Speaker 1: the point where I thought, why not give bit a go,
Speaker 1: Like it's pretty bad. If it's gonna help, it's gonna help.
Speaker 1: And it honestly changed my life. Yeah, it's incredible.
Speaker 4: As somebody who has had their life changed as well
Speaker 4: by various medications for ADHD, for anxiety, for depression, I
Speaker 4: currently take medications for all of those. I bought into
Speaker 4: that stigma for a really long time. In fact, I
Speaker 4: went off one of my medications for a really long
Speaker 4: time because I was like, I don't need it, Like
Speaker 4: I don't need to be defined by this. And now
Speaker 4: I look at it and go, you wouldn't say to
Speaker 4: somebody with diabetes, don't worry, don't take your insulin, like
Speaker 4: you're better now, you're functioning fine, Like I literally have
Speaker 4: a chemical imbalance in my brain and these medications help
Speaker 4: fix that. I just think that, you know, things like
Speaker 4: OCD and anxiety are dealt with in a very similar
Speaker 4: way because most of the time, and there's obviously a
Speaker 4: million different reasons why people have these symptoms, but for me,
Speaker 4: it's just a brain issue. Like it is, literally I
Speaker 4: have a chemical imbalance in my brain and that's what's
Speaker 4: creating it. So I just fix it with a medication.
Speaker 4: How crazy is it that I can do that and
Speaker 4: now I get to live my best life. I'm not
Speaker 4: advocating for everyone to jump on medication, but I just
Speaker 4: think that sometimes the doctors do know what they're talking
Speaker 4: about when they say, maybe you should consider this.
Speaker 1: One hundred percent. Yes, definitely. I was just going to say,
Speaker 1: so that was all pretty terrible, but I'm definitely on
Speaker 1: top of it now and then moving into this year,
Speaker 1: the money story is actually looking quite well. So I
Speaker 1: moved cities and I ended up getting my real dream job,
Speaker 1: and my partner and I have actually just bought our
Speaker 1: first apartment. Thank you. Things have changed. Things are good.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh. It is a journey, but it sounds
Speaker 4: like you're on the light side of it at the moment,
Speaker 4: which is so exciting. All right, I have so many
Speaker 4: questions for you, but I know I want to get
Speaker 4: through these questions first. So now I want to know.
Speaker 4: You said you got your quote real dream job and
Speaker 4: you're not for profit. But what do you do for work?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 4: How much money do you earn?
Speaker 1: So I work in international disaster and crisis response.
Speaker 4: Wow, what does that mean.
Speaker 1: I am based in Australia, but I basically coordinate response
Speaker 1: work to other countries, especially in the Asia and Pacific regions. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's all about mostly giving funding but also capacity development
Speaker 1: to disaster workers in other countries and really working to
Speaker 1: help localize responses to disasters, especially in an era of
Speaker 1: changing climate and increasing and more unpredictable disaster event So yeah,
Speaker 1: really moving towards away from traditional kind of humanitarian aid
Speaker 1: models more to working with communities on the ground, which
Speaker 1: is really exciting. And I currently earn eighty two thousand dollars,
Speaker 1: which I only just started two weeks ago. I went
Speaker 1: on a mini little pay rise, which was very exciting.
Speaker 4: I feel like that's a really good income for the
Speaker 4: type of work that you do. Am I right in
Speaker 4: saying that? I feel like in the not for profit space,
Speaker 4: it's really common to not have very high salaries. And
Speaker 4: I mean, that's not super high, but it's a innings.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it definitely is. I am quite lucky where I
Speaker 1: work does pay its employees quite well for the nonprofit space.
Speaker 1: And I started off in a lower position on about
Speaker 1: sixty five K, but I recently just moved up into
Speaker 1: a new role.
Speaker 4: Oh gosh, congrats that an apartment. Oh you are killing
Speaker 4: it at the moment. All right. I want to know,
Speaker 4: given you've just bought your own apartment, what's now your
Speaker 4: big money goal? What are we working towards?
Speaker 1: So one of my biggest money goals is to pay
Speaker 1: off our mortgage as soon as possible. So we actually
Speaker 1: bought something that's quite cheap. So we realized that our
Speaker 1: values isn't really property so we only really ended up
Speaker 1: buying because of how significantly the rental market is going up,
Speaker 1: and we realized that buying a nice, cheap apartment would
Speaker 1: work out really well for us, so we got the
Speaker 1: Victorian First Home Buyers scheme. So we're planning to pay
Speaker 1: off that contribution as soon as we can and then
Speaker 1: start to pay that off, and my long term is
Speaker 1: to really get into investing to set myself up for
Speaker 1: a sustainable future as well.
Speaker 4: Yeah wow, all right, that is super exciting. The next
Speaker 4: question I have for you, though, is do you currently
Speaker 4: have any investments. If so, what are they.
Speaker 1: So I don't actually have any investments at the moment
Speaker 1: apart from my super but it is my massive goal
Speaker 1: in the next financial year to start building. So I'm
Speaker 1: currently doing a lot of research into what funds I
Speaker 1: want to put my money into. As you can probably tell,
Speaker 1: I'm really interested in putting my money into ethical and
Speaker 1: environmentally friendly investment funds, so it's very confusing. So I'm
Speaker 1: doing a lot of research to try and figure out
Speaker 1: where I want to put my money, and then that's
Speaker 1: my plan to kind of start really significantly building that
Speaker 1: up in the next couple of years.
Speaker 4: I'm not surprised to hear that in the slightest given
Speaker 4: what you've told me, especially about your career. But it
Speaker 4: is a really prickly position to be in at the
Speaker 4: moment because ethical doesn't necessarily mean ethical in the way
Speaker 4: that you would accept it, and so there's a lot of,
Speaker 4: you know, conversation going on about greenwashing at the moment.
Speaker 4: In fact, if you want to go back, I don't
Speaker 4: know if you've been through the pod that deeply yet,
Speaker 4: but we did an entire episode of what greenwashing is,
Speaker 4: how it works, and how to pick investments that align
Speaker 4: to your values, which I'm a bit biased, but I
Speaker 4: think it was a good episode, Like I don't think
Speaker 4: it was too bad. But moving on, who mentioned your mortgage.
Speaker 4: I want to know more about that, But I also
Speaker 4: want to know do you have any other debts? If so,
Speaker 4: what are they.
Speaker 1: So apart from the mortgage. The only other debt that
Speaker 1: I have is my hextet, which is rather large given
Speaker 1: in my master's degree. But I will credit my mum
Speaker 1: for that one, because I remember watching a news story
Speaker 1: with her one morning. It was about credit cards, and
Speaker 1: she was telling me how terrible they were, and I
Speaker 1: remember at that moment at like five, I was like, no,
Speaker 1: I'm never having one of those. So shout out to
Speaker 1: mum for that.
Speaker 4: Shout out to five year old you for making the
Speaker 4: decisions not get a credit card when you're older, Like
Speaker 4: that is not what I was thinking of when I
Speaker 4: was five. I think I was just convinced that one
Speaker 4: day I would meet the red Wiggle. So you are
Speaker 4: definitely miles ahead of me thinking about credit cards. It
Speaker 4: makes absolute sense that you're in such a good position. Now.
Speaker 4: Talk to me about your mortgage though, I want to
Speaker 4: know how much is left on that and how you're
Speaker 4: paying it off.
Speaker 1: Definitely. So it's literally just started. So we're actually moving
Speaker 1: in next week.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, exciting. Welcome to debt life.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it's very chaotic at the moment. So we've
Speaker 1: got quite a small mortgage. It's only three hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty K, and we got about twenty percent of it
Speaker 1: through the Victorian Home by a scheme as well, so
Speaker 1: we actually got a significant reduction in our interest rate
Speaker 1: and we didn't have to pay stamp duty because we're
Speaker 1: in Victoria. So we were so lucky in getting this mortgage.
Speaker 4: So money Diarist before you said, you use the Victorian
Speaker 4: home by a fund, which I actually think is really
Speaker 4: important to mention here because you one of your goals
Speaker 4: is to pay off your mortgage as soon as possible,
Speaker 4: and obviously for some people that actually isn't the best
Speaker 4: financial decision, but for you it definitely is going to
Speaker 4: be because this fund actually enables you to have like
Speaker 4: a five percent deposit and then the Victorian government could
Speaker 4: or can contribute up to twenty five percent of the
Speaker 4: purchase price in exchange for an equivalent share of the property,
Speaker 4: which means with this scheme, you probably want to pay
Speaker 4: back your mortgage asap so that you can buy the
Speaker 4: government out.
Speaker 1: Is that right? Yep, that's basically it. So we got
Speaker 1: about twenty percent of our mortgage through this scheme and
Speaker 1: we actually have to live in it full time until
Speaker 1: we've paid the government out of it, so that is
Speaker 1: one of our biggest goals to pay off that. It's
Speaker 1: about eighty five thousand dollars for us, So to get
Speaker 1: that paid off so that we can actually move overseas
Speaker 1: eventually as the goal. So that's definitely the plan at
Speaker 1: the moment. But still it's an amazing scheme for us
Speaker 1: in our position at the same time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, how did you learn about that? I feel like
Speaker 4: this is why one of the lesser conversed about schemes.
Speaker 4: And when you mentioned it, I was like, Oh, do
Speaker 4: you mean the first home Buyer scheme or do you
Speaker 4: mean the fund? I mean you were definitely talking about
Speaker 4: the fund, So I want to know more. Let's use
Speaker 4: this time to educate the community. How did you get involved,
Speaker 4: how did you sign up, and how did you decide
Speaker 4: that it was the right thing for you guys.
Speaker 1: So it's actually a very funny story how we found
Speaker 1: out about it. So we actually thought that we were
Speaker 1: going to apply for the wider federal government first home
Speaker 1: Buyer Scheme, and we really wanted to go with a
Speaker 1: particular bank that suited our kind of like environmental and
Speaker 1: ethical stance. So we reached out to this bank. I
Speaker 1: thought we were applying for the scheme, and then they
Speaker 1: came back and all the documents were saying the Victorian
Speaker 1: Home buy A Fund and we were like, that sounds
Speaker 1: a little bit different. What are we applying for here?
Speaker 1: And then we looked into it and we were like, oh,
Speaker 1: for our circumstances, this is way better than what we
Speaker 1: would have been getting with the other scheme, so it
Speaker 1: worked out really well for us. And because we're buying
Speaker 1: an apartment, the value of our property isn't going to
Speaker 1: go up significantly like a house might, so we're not
Speaker 1: as stressed about the government owning a percentage of the
Speaker 1: property as what we might be if it was a house.
Speaker 1: So it does work really well for us in the
Speaker 1: stance where we've got such a small mortgage and a
Speaker 1: property that blackly won't go up too much in the
Speaker 1: next five ten years.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I feel like that's a really valid consideration
Speaker 4: because that's one of the things that I was like, Oh,
Speaker 4: I'm not sure how much I want the government to
Speaker 4: own my property, given in my area. Honestly, so many
Speaker 4: houses have gone up by like two hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 4: in the last three or four years, So for me,
Speaker 4: I was like, Oh, that's risky because then I'd owe
Speaker 4: them more. And I feel like you have approached it
Speaker 4: really smartly in saying that I'm glad it worked out
Speaker 4: well for you. But this is a very good lesson
Speaker 4: that you should never go straight to a bank, and
Speaker 4: you absolutely should go to a mortgage broker and have
Speaker 4: a chat to them. Obviously I'm being a bit biased here.
Speaker 4: I own Zella Money and I adore the brokers there,
Speaker 4: but they would teach you all of this and put
Speaker 4: you on the right track to get into the right
Speaker 4: scheme and even apply for you. So if you've been
Speaker 4: thinking about it, definitely get in contact with a broker
Speaker 4: because it will be one of the best things that
Speaker 4: you can do. I mean, I'm glad it worked out
Speaker 4: for you, though Money direst it sounds like it was
Speaker 4: a perfect outcome.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it definitely worked out well. But considering the stress
Speaker 1: of filling out different documents and trying to think of
Speaker 1: where things are at in application processes, I would also
Speaker 1: recommend going to the broker, and I will next time.
Speaker 4: I love that, all right, Moving on, I want to
Speaker 4: know if you're shopping online, do you currently use shop back?
Speaker 1: So I actually use shot back for the first time
Speaker 1: about three weeks ago.
Speaker 4: What a queen was it? Because you knew you were
Speaker 4: going to get asked this question on the podcast?
Speaker 1: No, No, I promise it wasn't. I actually wanted to
Speaker 1: buy some new swimwear and I usually don't shop online
Speaker 1: very often, but I have heard so much good things
Speaker 1: about shot back through the pod and I went on
Speaker 1: just to kind of suss out type of swimmers I
Speaker 1: could find, and I ended up finding a pair that
Speaker 1: I really liked, and I think I saved about twenty dollars,
Speaker 1: so I was like, great, oh money win. It was perfect.
Speaker 4: I mean, it sounds a bit ballsy of you to
Speaker 4: be buying swimwear online. I don't think I could ever
Speaker 4: do that. Swimwear shopping is my worst thing, like it
Speaker 4: is the worst. I hate swimwear shopping. But to think
Speaker 4: that I couldn't try it on beforehand, Like my friend
Speaker 4: props to you. You deserved that discount one thousand percent.
Speaker 4: I want to know, next, though, what is your best
Speaker 4: money habit?
Speaker 1: So I would actually say that my best money habit
Speaker 1: stems from when I was younger and we didn't have
Speaker 1: a lot of disposable income, in that I'm not really
Speaker 1: a big spender. It used to be probably a little
Speaker 1: bit more of a toxic trait in that I would
Speaker 1: never spend any money on myself. But I've got to
Speaker 1: a point where I really only just buy the things
Speaker 1: that I want. So I bought swimmers because I genuinely
Speaker 1: needed them, and I also get all of my clothes,
Speaker 1: I'd say about ninety five percent of my clothes from
Speaker 1: op shops, which my mum instilled in me when I
Speaker 1: was young. I like to say that I was op
Speaker 1: shopping before it was trendy, and it's easily one of
Speaker 1: my best money habits. I find so many bargains, it's amazing.
Speaker 4: I love that. I feel like it takes a lot
Speaker 4: of time, though, to like find the right outfits. What
Speaker 4: are your best hacks for going op shopping?
Speaker 1: Oh, I have so many good hacks. So you've got
Speaker 1: to find which op shops kind of suit your particular style,
Speaker 1: which I know sounds a bit extreme, but you'll get
Speaker 1: a vibe when you figure out which op shops are
Speaker 1: around you, which ones kind of stock certain things. And
Speaker 1: my biggest tip actually is to have an idea in
Speaker 1: mind what you actually want. I think when people go
Speaker 1: op shopping, they just think it's an op shop, so
Speaker 1: I'll just kind of pick up what I could find.
Speaker 1: But if you go in with like a mentality of
Speaker 1: I really want a new skirt, you know what colors
Speaker 1: you like to wear, you know what style you like
Speaker 1: to wear, it's just so much easier to just flick
Speaker 1: through the shelves, figure out and then just go from there.
Speaker 1: It makes it much quicker, and you're more likely to
Speaker 1: find those like really high quality items that will last
Speaker 1: you ages and only cost you like ten dollars.
Speaker 4: Yeah, money whin. I love that? All right, Well, let's
Speaker 4: take the mood down a little bit. I now want
Speaker 4: to know what is your worst money habit.
Speaker 1: So my worst money habit is easily spending way too
Speaker 1: much money on food, which I think seems to be
Speaker 1: quite a common theme for money diarist.
Speaker 4: I can resonate with that too, Let's be honest.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I spend nearly i'd say eighty percent of my
Speaker 1: social money in my social basket each week just on food,
Speaker 1: take out, all that kind of thing. It's something that
Speaker 1: I'm really trying to work on, trying to put in place,
Speaker 1: things like going for a picnic as opposed to going
Speaker 1: out for dinner with my partner and spending ninety dollars
Speaker 1: just on dinner. But yeah, it's a tough one, especially
Speaker 1: after a big week at work, easy to just want
Speaker 1: to go out, especially with daylight saving makes it so
Speaker 1: much harder.
Speaker 4: Oh it does, doesn't it. I have been so guilty
Speaker 4: of that now I'm like, oh, well, why don't we
Speaker 4: just pop out for a wine on a Thursday night.
Speaker 4: It's still so light, it's still so nice, And then
Speaker 4: my bank accounts so like, why, Victoria.
Speaker 1: Why one hundred percent? Yeah?
Speaker 4: All right, last question before we go to a really
Speaker 4: quick break, I want to know what grade would you
Speaker 4: give your money habits if we forced you to give
Speaker 4: yourself a grade.
Speaker 1: I think at the moment, I would probably give myself
Speaker 1: maybe like a C C plus. But I'm really hoping
Speaker 1: that by the time I can get on top of
Speaker 1: my investments, now that I'm in a full time, steady
Speaker 1: income and I've got this lovely mortgage in my life,
Speaker 1: I'm hoping that by the end of this year, I
Speaker 1: want to be able to say that I'm more of
Speaker 1: a B.
Speaker 4: I love that. What would it take to get you
Speaker 4: even higher?
Speaker 1: I think even higher than that would be having really
Speaker 1: steady investing money going in, but also having a balance
Speaker 1: between not getting too fixated on just building that. Having
Speaker 1: money going towards travel and other things as well. I
Speaker 1: think would really build me up, and I'd be happier
Speaker 1: to say it was more of a B or an A.
Speaker 4: I feel like you're on the right path. Though sometimes
Speaker 4: when I ask money diarists what it would take, they
Speaker 4: have these big, extraordinary plans that you know, they're not
Speaker 4: currently implementing.
Speaker 1: I feel like.
Speaker 4: You're definitely en route to that outcome, So let's leave
Speaker 4: it there. We are going to go to a really
Speaker 4: quick break, and then afterwards, I'm going to take you
Speaker 4: all the way back to the start of this money
Speaker 4: diary when you mentioned scarcity mindset, because I want to
Speaker 4: deep dive into that. Don't go anywhere, guys, all right,
Speaker 4: we are back money Diarist. I am really excited to
Speaker 4: ask you about this because it is something that I
Speaker 4: have spoken about a lot historically, but I haven't recently,
Speaker 4: so I want to dive back into it. You mentioned
Speaker 4: before that until you listened to the pod, you hadn't
Speaker 4: really identified that you kind of grew up with a
Speaker 4: scarcity mindset, and I feel like this is a mindset
Speaker 4: that is really common in our community and not often identified,
Speaker 4: and when it is, you feel a lot more powerful.
Speaker 4: Can you tell me maybe a little bit about where
Speaker 4: your scarcity mindset came from and what it meant to
Speaker 4: be able to identify how that's impacted you.
Speaker 1: Definitely, so as I mentioned. When I was growing up,
Speaker 1: we definitely weren't super well off. My parents both worked
Speaker 1: very just kind of average jobs, I guess in terms
Speaker 1: of income, and they were doing their best raising three kids,
Speaker 1: working really long hours and just getting us by, and
Speaker 1: in general, I never felt like I was going without.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, I knew that I didn't
Speaker 1: have the money that my friends had, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1: So like friends would go on extravagant holidays or always
Speaker 1: have like new surf brand gear, which was really cool
Speaker 1: when I was younger.
Speaker 4: Ah, it was cool when I was younger too, Like
Speaker 4: it was hot topic in my family to get a
Speaker 4: rip curl pencil case because I didn't have one, and
Speaker 4: it's all I wanted, and it was like my favorite
Speaker 4: Christmas present one year. So I resonate with that.
Speaker 1: Yep, and that was like the big thing. And I
Speaker 1: really just kind of got used to knowing that I
Speaker 1: wouldn't like my mum if I could have a particular
Speaker 1: jacket from the surf Store and I couldn't have the
Speaker 1: brand name Musleybars, we would get the home brand ones.
Speaker 1: And I never thought too much about it until I'd
Speaker 1: say my first two years of UNI, when I would
Speaker 1: be with my partner in a shopping center and he
Speaker 1: would be buying like a new shirt or something that
Speaker 1: would say eighty dollars, and I would just freeze and
Speaker 1: be like, how could you spend eighty dollars on a shirt?
Speaker 1: Like I would just be horrified. And he always used
Speaker 1: to mention like, like, are you okay, Like that's weird
Speaker 1: that you're freaking out about this, and I feel like, no,
Speaker 1: you're just like you shouldn't spend all this money. And
Speaker 1: it probably wasn't until I'd say I properly started listening
Speaker 1: to the podcast and hearing some of the episodes about
Speaker 1: kind of how your childhood changes your money story, and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, that clicks in. Maybe that's why
Speaker 1: I'd never let myself kind of go on that trip,
Speaker 1: or maybe that makes sense why I've never really bought
Speaker 1: myself like that new dress when I really wanted something,
Speaker 1: or kind of just missed out on things that I
Speaker 1: didn't need to even when I did have the money,
Speaker 1: and always having that fear of like, if you make
Speaker 1: this decision, it's gone then and then money's gone forever,
Speaker 1: and it was always so scary. So I think the
Speaker 1: power in just Recognizing that you have that mindset is
Speaker 1: so important to then be able to overcome it and
Speaker 1: just kind of change the way that I view money,
Speaker 1: which is a slow thing. It's definitely not overnight, but
Speaker 1: I can tell that it's changed significantly even in the
Speaker 1: last like five six years.
Speaker 4: I love that, and I love that you've been able
Speaker 4: to identify it and kind of go, well, that doesn't
Speaker 4: have to be the way that I live my life
Speaker 4: in the future. I mean, it doesn't mean you need
Speaker 4: to go out and buy eighty dollar shirts for yourself
Speaker 4: now to justify it and say that you're over it.
Speaker 4: But it definitely is really good to identify because I
Speaker 4: feel like it opens you up to have more of
Speaker 4: a growth mindset, and that's what you need to be
Speaker 4: able to create wealth. And like it sounds like you're
Speaker 4: on the track to do that. You've thought about what
Speaker 4: it looks like in the rental market and decided to
Speaker 4: buy a property and found the best outcome for you,
Speaker 4: and I feel like you're killing it, and I'm very
Speaker 4: excited to watch you grow. I want to go back
Speaker 4: and actually want to talk about your dad. He sounds
Speaker 4: like a really special human. Obviously you adored him, to
Speaker 4: spend one week every single month with him. But I
Speaker 4: want to know how that took a bit of a
Speaker 4: toll on you financially, because to say I'm going to
Speaker 4: travel to my family home and spend a week there
Speaker 4: every single month like that, obviously isn't the easiest decision
Speaker 4: to make, and I would argue might have been a
Speaker 4: bit financially taxing. Can you talk to us about how
Speaker 4: you made that decision and how you supported yourself during
Speaker 4: that time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it was definitely a huge financial I don't
Speaker 1: want to say burden, because it wasn't a burden.
Speaker 4: It's the wrong word. Isn't an impact?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it definitely had a huge financial impact in terms
Speaker 1: of draining the little savings that I did have, and
Speaker 1: inter of having to put off part time hours because
Speaker 1: I was working part time while I'm doing my Masters
Speaker 1: to travel. But the funny thing was there was never
Speaker 1: a decision. I never made a decision about it. I
Speaker 1: literally got that original phone call from my mum to say,
Speaker 1: this time, we've found out there's only a few months
Speaker 1: to go. And I actually had work on that day.
Speaker 1: I had a workshop that I was running for this
Speaker 1: volunteering that I did, and I just texted everyone that
Speaker 1: I was doing things with the next few days and said, look,
Speaker 1: this has happened. I have to go. And all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, my whole schedule was cleared, and it was just,
Speaker 1: in itself, a really profound moment of Oh, my goodness,
Speaker 1: all of this stuff that I put so much energy into.
Speaker 1: It's important, but it's not the most important thing to
Speaker 1: me that my schedule can be cleared that quickly, and
Speaker 1: that people are so understanding, And yeah, I genuinely never
Speaker 1: made the decision as such. It was just I need
Speaker 1: to be there for my family. Lucky enough that I'm
Speaker 1: in a casual job so I have that flexibility, which
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have if it had been this year, so
Speaker 1: it would have been a whole different story. And I
Speaker 1: had that supportive friends and my partner and my family.
Speaker 1: When I did have particular financial struggles, my partner stepped
Speaker 1: up or my family stepped in a couple of times
Speaker 1: as well. So I was genuinely so lucky as well
Speaker 1: going through that.
Speaker 4: I love to hear that you're I guess so like, oh,
Speaker 4: it wasn't really a decision. It kind of just happened
Speaker 4: because in most circumstances. This is how it happens. It
Speaker 4: kind of like creeps up and then life has changed,
Speaker 4: and then you're doing it every single month, and it
Speaker 4: makes sense and I'm really glad you had that time.
Speaker 4: But also, what would you say to people who are
Speaker 4: going through a bit of a hard time with parents
Speaker 4: that might not be well. I feel like that's something
Speaker 4: that in our community recently, I've seen a lot of
Speaker 4: people going, oh my gosh, what can I do? How
Speaker 4: can I support? And most of the time it's quality time, right,
Speaker 4: But what would you say to people going through a
Speaker 4: similar circumstance.
Speaker 1: I think what both of my parents appreciated the most
Speaker 1: was kind of what you just said, that quality time,
Speaker 1: just being they're just helping with cooking a meal here
Speaker 1: and there. My parents ran a business together, so my
Speaker 1: mum was trying to do it all her own, just
Speaker 1: helping out with random little bits. They're just like all
Speaker 1: the little things. Even being the person that kind of
Speaker 1: fields all of the well wishers who might be a
Speaker 1: bit overwhelming and kind of playing that role as well,
Speaker 1: but also taking a moment to look after your own
Speaker 1: mental health is really important. Through that. I think sometimes
Speaker 1: as the kids we feel a responsibility to shelter our
Speaker 1: parents and sometimes take on too much baggage. And I
Speaker 1: know I was doing that for my mum and I
Speaker 1: wouldn't change it, but having then my own support system
Speaker 1: was absolutely essential as well.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, I definitely can understand that, and I'm
Speaker 4: glad that you are pointing out mental health there, because
Speaker 4: as much as you're caring so much for somebody else,
Speaker 4: you do also have to take a little bit of
Speaker 4: time to fill up your own cup to make sure
Speaker 4: you can keep pouring some out. So I have loved
Speaker 4: this money Diary. Thank you so much for joining us,
Speaker 4: So I feel like this is probably a good place
Speaker 4: to leave it because I have taken up more than
Speaker 4: enough of your time. But Money direst, thank you so
Speaker 4: much for joining us. As always, I am super, super
Speaker 4: grateful to be able to share stories like yours on
Speaker 4: ol pod.
Speaker 1: Thanks very much for having me.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh. No, of course we will see you
Speaker 4: guys on Wednesday. The ad by shared on She's on
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