Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr
Speaker 1: the Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before
Speaker 1: we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
Speaker 1: would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
Speaker 1: of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
Speaker 1: acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
Speaker 1: through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
Speaker 1: and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
Speaker 1: today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Let's get into it. She's on the Money, She's on
Speaker 2: the Money. Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money
Speaker 2: the podcast and millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back
Speaker 2: to another one of our money diaries where we get
Speaker 2: to talk to one of our incredible She's on the
Speaker 2: Money community members all about their journey. Let's jump straight
Speaker 2: into it, because this week I got a message and
Speaker 2: it went like this, Dear Victoria, I became a single
Speaker 2: mom six months ago after finally getting the courage to
Speaker 2: leave my ex. He was financially abusive and draining my
Speaker 2: money for the six years we were together, but now
Speaker 2: I'm recovering and flourishing. I finally feel like myself again
Speaker 2: and have savings, investments, and I'm even putting money away
Speaker 2: from my daughters who are one and two years old,
Speaker 2: to help them with their studies when they finish school.
Speaker 2: She's on the Money really helped me on this journey.
Speaker 2: Money Diarist, what a queen. Thank you, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited to talk to you and get to
Speaker 2: know you a little bit better, as I'm sure all
Speaker 2: our listeners are as well. Do you want to jump
Speaker 2: straight into it?
Speaker 3: That sounds good and I'm so i stoked to be
Speaker 3: here because finding Cheese on the Money has absolutely changed
Speaker 3: the trajectory of my life.
Speaker 2: Oh my god.
Speaker 3: So it's just so surreal that, like I'm talking to you.
Speaker 2: I love it. I'm so excited about it, all right,
Speaker 2: So let's jump in. My first question is I want
Speaker 2: to know what would you give your money habits if
Speaker 2: I asked you to give yourself a grade from A
Speaker 2: through to F.
Speaker 3: I think probably B minus, maybe B plus, because I
Speaker 3: think I'm doing pretty well given my circumstances right now,
Speaker 3: but I think there's always room to improve and to grow.
Speaker 2: Love love, all right, I want to know can you
Speaker 2: tell us a little bit more about your money story.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So I got married when I was twenty three,
Speaker 3: and at that stage I already owned my own home.
Speaker 3: I had a little bit of savings, and my husband
Speaker 3: at the time had no savings, no career as a
Speaker 3: student living in college accommodation. So I paid for our
Speaker 3: wedding honeymoon first car I moved to Sydney to you know,
Speaker 3: support him in his studies. I was working two jobs
Speaker 3: at times to support our lifestyle, and he had, you know,
Speaker 3: a few hours a week at McDonald's, so pretty much
Speaker 3: I was just pouring all my money and savings into
Speaker 3: my marriage. In retrospect, moving to Sydney was the worst idea.
Speaker 3: It is so incredibly expensive. I still had my mortgage
Speaker 3: back home as well, playing you know, outrageous Sydney rent.
Speaker 3: And that kind of continued for the next few years.
Speaker 3: I realized, you know, growing up in the church, like
Speaker 3: we've never lived together before we got married, we never
Speaker 3: really talked about finances, and in the first few months
Speaker 3: of our marriage, I realized, oh my goodness, we spend
Speaker 3: money very, very differently. It wasn't something we'd really discussed before.
Speaker 3: So not only had I just poured all my money
Speaker 3: into the wedding and New Sydney life, but I was
Speaker 3: still sort of funding his lifestyle. Yeah. Wow, So that
Speaker 3: had to change pretty quickly. And yeah, that just continued
Speaker 3: for the next few years. We moved back home eventually
Speaker 3: it was a bit more affordable and we wanted to
Speaker 3: start a family. He was still studying at this point
Speaker 3: and I was working full time. So over seven years,
Speaker 3: things never really changed. He was always studying. I was
Speaker 3: always the main breadwinner in our relationship, and so then
Speaker 3: when I started my maternity leave, it was just really
Speaker 3: challenging because all of a sudden, you know, I wasn't
Speaker 3: making the same as before, and we had to rely
Speaker 3: more on his income. And then just after I had
Speaker 3: my second I think I realized just how toxic and
Speaker 3: that the marriage should become. I think it was probably
Speaker 3: always there, but I was a bit you know, rogues
Speaker 3: colored glasses in love, and I just realized how drained
Speaker 3: and exhausted I was, and I realized, Okay, I need
Speaker 3: to make a very serious decision right now. And it
Speaker 3: took me a few months. I really thought about it
Speaker 3: from all angles. Am I making the right decision for me,
Speaker 3: am I making the right decision for the girls. And
Speaker 3: the biggest thing that held me back for so long
Speaker 3: was finances because I was still even though it had
Speaker 3: mostly been the main breadwinner, I was still on maternity leave,
Speaker 3: so I did have my full pay and I was
Speaker 3: so so worried about how I'm like in a couple
Speaker 3: of the mortgage and pay for the girls. And I thought,
Speaker 3: you know what, like my mental health can't suffer any longer,
Speaker 3: Like I just have to do it and make it work.
Speaker 3: And so I did, and I am, oh.
Speaker 2: I'm so glad, are you? I love that, and I
Speaker 2: love that you can say I'm thriving like that is
Speaker 2: the best thing to hear ever, because you can hear
Speaker 2: the energy and where that's coming from as well. It's
Speaker 2: not just oh yeah, I'm doing well, like you're just
Speaker 2: so excited to be in the position you're in, and
Speaker 2: it makes me so happy, thank you.
Speaker 3: It was. There was probably a few months where it
Speaker 3: was really tricky and I just had to find my feet.
Speaker 3: But now, yeah, as I said, I'm thriving. I don't
Speaker 3: think I realized just how much of my money he
Speaker 3: was draining. And when I was so worried about, you know,
Speaker 3: doing it by myself, Like it's actually been easier because
Speaker 3: I just have to worry about me and the girls.
Speaker 2: I'm not funding somebody else's lifestyle exactly. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 2: when you said before just because I'm really pervy that
Speaker 2: your husband at the time was studying throughout your entire marriage,
Speaker 2: was it always towards the same thing or was it
Speaker 2: only because I've heard this historically that people sometimes bounce
Speaker 2: around because they don't want to go into a full
Speaker 2: time job if they have a financially dependent person or
Speaker 2: someone that they can be financially dependent upon, so they
Speaker 2: keep going, Nah, the lifestyle is good, maybe I'll just
Speaker 2: do another degree, or maybe I'll just you know, change degrees.
Speaker 2: And they don't have a lot of clarity. So I
Speaker 2: guess I'm asking not because I'm just pervy, but because
Speaker 2: that seems to be a strategy, if that makes sense.
Speaker 3: It is so interesting you said that because seeing a
Speaker 3: therapists just to work through, you know, all this marriage
Speaker 3: and unpack a lot of the things that went down.
Speaker 3: And she said, you know, he is a textbook narcissist.
Speaker 3: And she said, you know, like, I'm really not surprised
Speaker 3: that he's kind of just coasted through his study journey.
Speaker 3: She said, like, that is a very typical narcissistic behavior
Speaker 3: you're finding him. He has no real motivation to finish,
Speaker 3: to change what he's doing, And that absolutely rings true.
Speaker 3: The first three and a half years he was studying
Speaker 3: at Hillsong, and then when we got back home, he
Speaker 3: decided he wanted to do teaching.
Speaker 2: Wait, he was studying at Hillsong as in the church, Hillsong.
Speaker 3: Yes, at the church. They've got a college that's attached
Speaker 3: to the church. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Cool.
Speaker 3: And then he switched to teaching when we got home.
Speaker 2: Then he studied teaching them. What did he do?
Speaker 3: Are he's still studying teaching?
Speaker 2: He's still studying, I think almost halfway along.
Speaker 3: Like it's just yeah, it was you know, I'll just
Speaker 3: do one subject a semester. But oh, it's so funny,
Speaker 3: like when we split up. You know, he's never done
Speaker 3: a summer some during his life, and he said to me,
Speaker 3: I'm doing you know, a couple of summer subjects this
Speaker 3: semester because I really need to finish so that I
Speaker 3: can have a full time job.
Speaker 2: You're like, wow, where's that motivation coming?
Speaker 3: From I know, why couldn't you have had that motivation
Speaker 3: years ago?
Speaker 2: It's because he's being forced to have the motivation because
Speaker 2: he's no longer got you to financially rely on exactly.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, all right, I want to know, obviously
Speaker 2: you've managed to fund somebody else's life for this entire period.
Speaker 2: What do you do for work? How much money do
Speaker 2: you earn?
Speaker 3: So I'm a primary school teacher. I actually had to
Speaker 3: look this up because I wasn't sure what I I've
Speaker 3: just finished my maternityly two weeks ago, so I haven't
Speaker 3: quite jumped back into work yet because school's only just started.
Speaker 3: But in my position, it's ninety four thousand dollars gross.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's good, that's epic.
Speaker 3: So I'm not going back to my full time work.
Speaker 3: I've decided I'm just going to do some relief work.
Speaker 3: And relief in Queensland. I think it's about four hundred
Speaker 3: and forty dollars a day.
Speaker 2: That's actually pretty good. That's more than I anticipated it
Speaker 2: to be. But how consistent is relief work.
Speaker 3: At the moment, I would say very There's definitely a
Speaker 3: teacher shortage in Queensland, so I was even getting calls
Speaker 3: on my maternity leave like.
Speaker 2: Hey, can you come in, and you were like, no,
Speaker 2: I'm literally on maternity leave. Sorry, that's not too bad.
Speaker 2: And if you can do relief work for four hundred
Speaker 2: and forty dollars a day, that's not bad at all.
Speaker 2: Does that mean that you have to travel significantly though,
Speaker 2: to different locations.
Speaker 3: No, I'm in a great position where we are. I've
Speaker 3: got so many schools within walking distance, and then you know,
Speaker 3: the school's five to ten minute drive. I'm in a
Speaker 3: really good placed location wise. I think the furtherest I
Speaker 3: would have to drive if I was desperate, would maybe
Speaker 3: be twenty minutes.
Speaker 2: Live in the teaching dream, my friends teaching dream, I
Speaker 2: love that I was doing a little bit of relief
Speaker 2: between having my two girls, and I was walking distance
Speaker 2: to my school most days, because, as I said, there's
Speaker 2: just such a demand for relief teachers at the moment. Yeah,
Speaker 2: especially because I feel like people are actually putting their
Speaker 2: health first as well, so instead of just going to
Speaker 2: work not that well, they are more likely to take
Speaker 2: the day off, which I think is really really important.
Speaker 2: And I'm glad they are resources like you to kind
Speaker 2: of fill in what happens with childcare. So you've obviously
Speaker 2: got a one and a two year old. What happens
Speaker 2: if you get a relief job and it's obviously last minute,
Speaker 2: because that's usually how they work, What do you do
Speaker 2: about childcare only? Because I know that can be quite
Speaker 2: an expensive ordeal.
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely. I tell schools that my availability is and
Speaker 3: I give them the two days a week that I
Speaker 3: know that I can organize childcare, so Fridays. My eldest
Speaker 3: has just started pre kindy, so Friday's obviously, and my
Speaker 3: mom has just retired.
Speaker 2: Oh money win.
Speaker 3: I know. It's so great she has the girls when
Speaker 3: I go to work. But I've limited it to two
Speaker 3: days a week and Mum and I have a pre
Speaker 3: arranged day so that it's not a huge surprise for
Speaker 3: her either.
Speaker 2: Oh how good she doesn't have.
Speaker 3: To change all the plan for her day. And oh
Speaker 3: she loves it. So when I told her I was pregnant,
Speaker 3: like I was four weeks pregnant, she was like, I
Speaker 3: have to retire. Oh my god, I'm down, like I'm
Speaker 3: four weeks Like she is so excited to be a grandma,
Speaker 3: like she she offered. It was never like hey mom,
Speaker 3: I need you to take the girls.
Speaker 2: She's just like, give me your children. I love them.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So even when I, you know, have been on
Speaker 3: maternity leave again, she's like, you know, I'm still having
Speaker 3: the girls one day a week.
Speaker 2: Everyone deserves a mom like that.
Speaker 3: That is literal invest I'm very very very lucky.
Speaker 2: Talk to me about your money goals. So you said
Speaker 2: before that you now have savings investments and you're putting
Speaker 2: money away for your daughters to help them with their
Speaker 2: studies when they finish school. But I want to know
Speaker 2: what is your biggest money goal. What are you currently
Speaker 2: working towards.
Speaker 3: Oh, my biggest money goal at the moment is probably
Speaker 3: just setting up for my girls when they're older. And
Speaker 3: I know this is so far away and it's just
Speaker 3: going to go so quickly.
Speaker 2: But the sooner you start, the less you have to
Speaker 2: invest on a regular base exactly, and the more at compounds.
Speaker 2: Like it's just smart business, my friend.
Speaker 3: Definitely, That's what I think as well. So when I
Speaker 3: finished high school, I think I was quite unimaginative when
Speaker 3: picking a Korea. We have a little university here, and
Speaker 3: I knew I could study teaching. I didn't have to move,
Speaker 3: I wouldn't have to you know, find accommodation in a
Speaker 3: bigger city to study somewhere else, And so I just
Speaker 3: sort of fell into teaching, and looking back, I think
Speaker 3: like I wish I'd had the courage to move somewhere
Speaker 3: and you try something like I'd love to, you know,
Speaker 3: maybe marine conservation or just something a bit more creative
Speaker 3: than teaching. And so I thought, Okay, well, how do
Speaker 3: I stop that happening for my girls? And I think
Speaker 3: a big thing is financially, if they have the money
Speaker 3: to live out their dreams, hopefully there's going to be
Speaker 3: nothing else holding them back if they want to move
Speaker 3: to Europe and study over there, if they want to
Speaker 3: go anywhere else in Australia or anywhere in the world.
Speaker 3: Just making sure that they can achieve that tream. They
Speaker 3: don't have to wait for years saving to start university
Speaker 3: and they can be a bit more creative, I guess
Speaker 3: than myself. So that's really my drive behind that, and
Speaker 3: it's something you know, I'm so passionate about education.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 3: So I've just started putting I think it's at the
Speaker 3: moment I'm doing like fifteen dollars a week for them.
Speaker 3: At the moment, it's just going into a savings account
Speaker 3: because I haven't quite decided how I want to invest that,
Speaker 3: and I think something maybe like bonds or a blue
Speaker 3: chip share that's a little bit.
Speaker 2: More, a little bit more conservative.
Speaker 3: I'm hearing conservative, yeah, but like I don't want to
Speaker 3: rush into that, so I'm just taking my time to
Speaker 3: explore what options are out there that could work really
Speaker 3: well for the girls.
Speaker 2: I am obsessed with that idea of setting your kids up,
Speaker 2: doing it young, organizing it when they're really little, so
Speaker 2: that it doesn't have to be significant, like I think
Speaker 2: a lot of people assume it has to be a
Speaker 2: lot of money. And the other day I made this
Speaker 2: example on TikTok actually, and it was like, if you
Speaker 2: put one hundred and fifty dollars a month away for
Speaker 2: X amount of years for your kids, this is what
Speaker 2: it would create. And so many people jumped down my
Speaker 2: neck and we're like, well, not all of us have
Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty dollars, And I was like, it's
Speaker 2: just an example, Like it's just an example that I've
Speaker 2: pulled out of nowhere to show you the power of
Speaker 2: compounding interest. And the same thing happens for fifteen dollars
Speaker 2: a week. It obviously doesn't happen on exactly the same scale,
Speaker 2: but it happens, and compound interest is going to be
Speaker 2: your best friend of the long term. But the one
Speaker 2: thing that I think people forget is that income scales.
Speaker 2: So right now, you've just gotten out of a relationship,
Speaker 2: you're a single mum finding your feet again. While you're thriving,
Speaker 2: I'm assuming that you are throwing everything you can at
Speaker 2: your financial life. But that doesn't mean that in a
Speaker 2: couple of years it won't be twenty dollars a week.
Speaker 2: It won't be twenty five dollars a week, And these
Speaker 2: things can change and grow, and the same can happen
Speaker 2: in the opposite direction. Maybe you can afford one hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty dollars a week at the moment, but maybe
Speaker 2: in a couple of years that's just uncomprehensible and that's
Speaker 2: not an option. So I think it's about making the
Speaker 2: most with what you have, and it's sounds like you
Speaker 2: are absolutely doing that, and it makes me so happy.
Speaker 2: All right, let's hold the horses right there, and we're
Speaker 2: going to go to a really quick break and I'll
Speaker 2: see you on the other side. All right, Money dires.
Speaker 2: Let's dive straight back in. So in your ladder you
Speaker 2: said I have investments, Talk to me about them. What
Speaker 2: investments do you have? Yes?
Speaker 3: So I discovered Concept when it first came out.
Speaker 2: Do you mean Concept Pocket? Yes, yes, that's in Concept.
Speaker 2: I was like, when Concept came out, I was like, baby,
Speaker 2: you weren't born.
Speaker 3: Concept Pocket of aged really well.
Speaker 2: You are stunning for your age. Oh thank you.
Speaker 3: I just came across the sustainability shares and I was like,
Speaker 3: oh cool, that's something I'm really interested in, something I
Speaker 3: value and I absolutely think that that's our future. So
Speaker 3: I just put like two three hundred dollars in and
Speaker 3: I just sort of, you know, forgot about it. And
Speaker 3: then at the already started my maternal I can't know
Speaker 3: if I just had the baby or I was just
Speaker 3: starting leave. My husband and I went and saw a
Speaker 3: financial advisor, and I think at this point in my life,
Speaker 3: I felt quite limited and restricted by what I could
Speaker 3: do with my money, Like I was on half pay
Speaker 3: with maternityly my husband was still a student. But we thought,
Speaker 3: we'll go see a financial advisor and see, you know,
Speaker 3: just if we're on the right track. And he kind
Speaker 3: of said to us. You know, you're doing as much
Speaker 3: as you can. Come see me when you're both working
Speaker 3: full time. And I think I just sort of thought, okay,
Speaker 3: well a financial advisors pretty much confirmed what I felt already.
Speaker 3: I can't be doing anything more with my money?
Speaker 2: Not true, I know.
Speaker 3: Well, oh literally like a month later, I was sitting
Speaker 3: in my car thinking like, oh, I just I wish
Speaker 3: I knew how to invest. I just feel like I
Speaker 3: could be doing so much more with my money. Because
Speaker 3: if you have that mindset that like, oh, I can't
Speaker 3: say if I can't do anything, I think I was
Speaker 3: more more willing to just throw money at different things like, oh,
Speaker 3: you know, he is a fifteen dollar you know take out.
Speaker 3: Here's ten dollars on some chocolate I probably don't need
Speaker 3: to eat. Here's a fifty dollars dress, you know, just
Speaker 3: spending money on things that don't really count. And yeah,
Speaker 3: I was just sitting in my car thinking, ah, I
Speaker 3: wish I like, I just wish I knew better how
Speaker 3: to handle my money. And literally, on the radio, I
Speaker 3: heard an ad for She's on the Money. Oh huh,
Speaker 3: that's literally exactly what I'm looking for right now, And
Speaker 3: so I started listening to the podcast, and then I
Speaker 3: found your book and that whole you know you're always
Speaker 3: talking about, like, yes you can, you know, just having
Speaker 3: that mindset of you can always be saving, or there's
Speaker 3: that really great story of the two different couples you
Speaker 3: worked with and how one of them, you know, I
Speaker 3: felt like I really identified with them, like, oh, you know,
Speaker 3: I could have financial freedom and a really great retirement.
Speaker 3: So yeah, just finding Cheese on the Money really shifted
Speaker 3: my perspective towards my money. And so something we've done
Speaker 3: right from the start of our marriage have pocket money
Speaker 3: each week because when I realized my husband was spending
Speaker 3: far much more money than me, I said, right, we're
Speaker 3: each going to get pocket money each week, and we
Speaker 3: can spend our pocket money on anything without talking to
Speaker 3: the other person if we need to buy a bigger purchase,
Speaker 3: like that's the conversation that this pocket money you can
Speaker 3: do anything with. And as I said, like with my
Speaker 3: pocket money, it was just you know, take out here
Speaker 3: or some clothes there. But then when I found Cheese
Speaker 3: on the Money, I started investing my pocket money every week.
Speaker 2: Oh I love this so much.
Speaker 3: Forty dollars a week. But I thought, you know, that's
Speaker 3: going to compound. And the sooner I start putting that
Speaker 3: money aside, the more it's going to be later. So
Speaker 3: that was June. I think I started putting my pocket
Speaker 3: money in and I've got about sixteen hundred dollars in
Speaker 3: shares at the moment.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. That makes me so happy that you
Speaker 2: found us and that we get to hang out and
Speaker 2: that you get to be in a better financial position,
Speaker 2: but also that you know that just because one financial
Speaker 2: advisor said no just comes when you've got a double income, like, no,
Speaker 2: that doesn't mean you can't achieve success. Like it's crazy
Speaker 2: to me to think that some people just take that
Speaker 2: as gospel and they don't go and ask more questions.
Speaker 2: They go, all right, well, I guess that we're screwed,
Speaker 2: like that's fine, and it's not fine, it's not okay.
Speaker 3: No, And I think like if I hadn't started putting
Speaker 3: that money into shares, like that's sixteen hundred dollars that
Speaker 3: I would have just spent, you know, mindlessly on things
Speaker 3: that you know, just a're just so fleeting. Like as
Speaker 3: I said, most of it was probably food and not
Speaker 3: even like like like luxury food, like not just my
Speaker 3: essential groceries, like yeah, out more than I should have,
Speaker 3: and just having that mind shift as well from going
Speaker 3: you know, oh, I'm so limited, I can't you know,
Speaker 3: do what I want. Who I can't be saving to now? Well, actually,
Speaker 3: you know what, look at what I've got, look at
Speaker 3: what I can do. It's just so empowering just just
Speaker 3: having that positive attitude, and yes, such a game changer.
Speaker 2: I feel like attitude is one of those things that
Speaker 2: you can control as well, and it's one of those
Speaker 2: things that regardless of your circumstances, you can choose to
Speaker 2: be more positive, if you can choose to do more research,
Speaker 2: you can choose to put yourself in a better position.
Speaker 2: And while I'm not saying that you know you can
Speaker 2: save or budget your way out of poverty, you can't,
Speaker 2: and that's not what we're saying here, But I do
Speaker 2: think that a positive mindset, that you know you are
Speaker 2: lucky and that you can do things and that you
Speaker 2: can create financial freedom is going to mean that that
Speaker 2: is going to come up more. I talk about a
Speaker 2: lot on the podcast recently, what is it the Yellow
Speaker 2: Honda Jazz and how important it is to just be
Speaker 2: always looking for something and if you are on the
Speaker 2: lookout for something consistently, you'd be surprised about how often
Speaker 2: it turns up. And like, no one ever thinks about
Speaker 2: the yellow Honda Jazz as you know, a very common car.
Speaker 2: But the second I say, well, start looking for them,
Speaker 2: my friend, they do pop up. And the same thing
Speaker 2: happens if you're looking for investment opportunities or opportunities to
Speaker 2: increase wealth, or opportunities to just educate yourself more so
Speaker 2: that in the future you can save more. I think
Speaker 2: that that is really really important, and it sounds like
Speaker 2: that's exactly what you're doing, and I'm obsessed.
Speaker 3: Oh it's so true, that Honda Jazz thing. So true.
Speaker 3: And since listening to that podcast, like I've just really
Speaker 3: tried to think, Okay, well, how can I like focus
Speaker 3: on joy and look for the joy in my life
Speaker 3: because obviously, you know I said at the start, I'm thriving,
Speaker 3: but there's still definitely those really challenging days where it
Speaker 3: kind of sinks in, oh my goodness, I'm a single mom.
Speaker 3: What am I doing? Everything's too much, you know, I'm sinking,
Speaker 3: I'm drowning. But then just giving myself that space to like, okay, well,
Speaker 3: you know what, it hasn't even been twelve months. You're
Speaker 3: focusing on the negatives, Like, let's shift the gear here,
Speaker 3: focus on the positive.
Speaker 2: Things and one hundred percent. And it honestly sounds like,
Speaker 2: and this is probably a little bit snarky to say,
Speaker 2: but we're going to say it anyway, doesn't sound like
Speaker 2: you had a husband. It sounds like you had another
Speaker 2: son that you were looking after funded a lifelop. So
Speaker 2: like you've gone from being a single mum of three
Speaker 2: to a single mum of two. And I think that
Speaker 2: might be easier, so much easier. That's very much easier.
Speaker 2: You've mentioned before that you had a mortgage. I want
Speaker 2: to know do you have any debts? If so, what
Speaker 2: are they?
Speaker 3: Ye episode my mortgage. I've got two hundred and sixty
Speaker 3: seven thousand left on that, and then I just have
Speaker 3: my hex. I've got nineteen thousand in my hex.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, what a queen. And tell me about
Speaker 2: the property you own. So you've got two hundred and
Speaker 2: sixty seven thousand dollars owing on it? What did you
Speaker 2: purchase it for?
Speaker 3: We borrowed three hundred and fifteen thousand when we bought it,
Speaker 3: and so I actually bought it with my sister. We
Speaker 3: got a split loan and we just took care of
Speaker 3: our separate loans, and then at the start of the pandemic,
Speaker 3: my husband and I bought my sister out of her half,
Speaker 3: so she's not on the title anymore. And it's still
Speaker 3: just a little bit up in the air with what's
Speaker 3: happening with how we're splitting it with my husband and I.
Speaker 3: Now I fixed at two percent.
Speaker 2: You're a genius. You are straight out genius.
Speaker 3: Best decision I will. But it just makes a little
Speaker 3: bit tricky now because if we try and if I
Speaker 3: buy him out.
Speaker 2: Now refinance, you end up on a really high interest rate.
Speaker 3: And I lose that two percent. He has actually been
Speaker 3: really gracious with this, and he said, you know, look,
Speaker 3: let's not rush it, because you know, having to go
Speaker 3: from two percent interest of five at the moment is
Speaker 3: going to be you know, obviously quite financial. So he said,
Speaker 3: I'm happy to wait. So I think it's twenty twenty
Speaker 3: four that that fixed term comes to an end, So yeah,
Speaker 3: he said he's happy to wait until then, which is
Speaker 3: really good. But I've taken over the full mortgage now,
Speaker 3: so he was really only on the title for two years,
Speaker 3: hoping that.
Speaker 2: You know, all helps in my favor, and I'm sure
Speaker 2: it will all work out, especially if you're being amicable.
Speaker 2: But I have a sinking suspicion one of you contributed
Speaker 2: a whole lot more financially to that house than the other.
Speaker 3: Hey, that would be.
Speaker 2: Correct, That would be correct.
Speaker 3: I got all our group certificates from the time we
Speaker 3: were together, and I contributed seventy percent of our income
Speaker 3: over the relationship. So I said, you know, I think
Speaker 3: with our savings that we've got, like, I think I
Speaker 3: should get seventy percent. And he's like, oh no, it's
Speaker 3: going to be fifty to fifty. Why, well, you haven't
Speaker 3: even contributed fifty percent. Well, because he needs to set
Speaker 3: up his new life and fund his future. And I said, well,
Speaker 3: I'm not going to be the one doing that, thank
Speaker 3: you very much.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that is absolutely fair.
Speaker 3: Done that for seven years. It's your turn.
Speaker 2: You're like, I set up your entire life and mine
Speaker 2: and our girls' lives. I think that maybe you could
Speaker 2: be a little bit more independent, thank you, sir. Oh
Speaker 2: I feel like that's such a stressful position to be in,
Speaker 2: but it sounds like you're handling it relatively well and positively,
Speaker 2: which is good. Talk to me next about your best
Speaker 2: money habits. What do you think the best money habit
Speaker 2: you have is?
Speaker 3: I think I'm quite organized with my finance. I didn't
Speaker 3: really grow up knowing how to budget. I was, you know,
Speaker 3: living quite comfortably when I was single as a teacher.
Speaker 3: I could pay for everything I needed to was sable
Speaker 3: to say for a home, so I didn't really need
Speaker 3: to budget. And then when I got married and moved
Speaker 3: to Sydney, all of a sudden, money was very, very tight,
Speaker 3: and I just had to figure out very quickly how
Speaker 3: to make my money work. And I got all my
Speaker 3: bank statements and I went through and highlighted the different
Speaker 3: sections of like where my money was going to. So
Speaker 3: I had liked my direct debits, my mortgage, rent, food,
Speaker 3: non essentials, and it was all color coordinated. And then
Speaker 3: I worked out, okay, how much do I pay in
Speaker 3: all of these things over twelve months? And I think
Speaker 3: I just went back over the last two three years.
Speaker 3: And so I then set up different accounts for those
Speaker 3: color coordinated areas, and I worked out, okay, so if
Speaker 3: my you know, I had my regio rate, all my
Speaker 3: utilities they were all in one section. I said, Okay,
Speaker 3: I pay in twelve months, So I need to be
Speaker 3: putting this much aside every week so that I'm covered
Speaker 3: for the whole year. And so that's something I've been
Speaker 3: doing for the last maybe no five years, and like
Speaker 3: now being a single mom, Like, my goodness, that is
Speaker 3: paid off because I've got my entire year of KINDI
Speaker 3: saved an entire year of swimming lessons are paid off.
Speaker 2: How good?
Speaker 3: I know, Like I need to put this much money
Speaker 3: aside for all of my bills and utilities, and then
Speaker 3: like I don't even have to think about it when
Speaker 3: the time comes around because I know I've put that
Speaker 3: money aside. So yeah, I think I'm quite organized, Like
Speaker 3: I know exactly where all my money's going. I've got
Speaker 3: all my little direct debit transfer setup so that I
Speaker 3: don't have to think about think about any of it
Speaker 3: week to week, and you know, it just kind of
Speaker 3: takes care of itself.
Speaker 2: I am obsessed with that, genuinely, Like I can't believe
Speaker 2: how organized you are, especially in the circumstances that you
Speaker 2: have gone through, Like that is why, And it makes
Speaker 2: me so happy to flip that though I want to
Speaker 2: know what is your worst money habit.
Speaker 3: Oh, I think I can be quite an emotional spender.
Speaker 3: When I'm thinking of buying something, it's not like, oh
Speaker 3: do I need this, It's like I am so sad
Speaker 3: right now. I need to buy something to make myself
Speaker 3: feel better, Like even if I'm happy, like, oh, I
Speaker 3: should go out and celebrate by buying a new dress,
Speaker 3: getting some gelato.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, that's me sad. I get a little treaty.
Speaker 2: Oh I need a little treat, Like, what is wrong
Speaker 2: with me? At what point do you not get a
Speaker 2: little treat Victoria.
Speaker 3: I think it's from like our years in the primary
Speaker 3: school system, where it's like, oh, well done, here's a sticker,
Speaker 3: a good job, here's a sticker. You know, we've just
Speaker 3: been so conditioned our entire lives.
Speaker 2: I went to primary school. Yeah, I loved stickers. I
Speaker 2: used to get those scratch and sniff ones. Those were elite.
Speaker 3: Oh yes, you know, you're a good kid. You forgot
Speaker 3: a scratch and sim one hundred percent. But I think
Speaker 3: now that I'm aware of it, I'm maybe not quite
Speaker 3: as bad because I can sort of stop and think, oh,
Speaker 3: wait a second, I'm only buying this because of how
Speaker 3: I'm feeling right now.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3: And sometimes that works, and sometimes it's like, well, I
Speaker 3: deserve it because I've had a really good day.
Speaker 2: And that's why we need to have some flexibility in
Speaker 2: our budget to make sure we allow for that. Because
Speaker 2: I'm the same, like, I'm not frugal all the time.
Speaker 2: Sometimes I do deserve a little treat, and that's okay.
Speaker 2: But it comes from the little treat budget, doesn't it
Speaker 2: exactly exactly?
Speaker 3: So you don't have to feel guilty or worryboying it
Speaker 3: because you know everything else is taken care of too. True,
Speaker 3: And I think it's later. I often get home and
Speaker 3: I'm like, oh, what was I thinking? Like I don't
Speaker 3: even really like it that much. It's just that thrill
Speaker 3: of buying something.
Speaker 2: Well, you can always return it if it's not adding value,
Speaker 2: my friend, exactly, I'm really bad at returning things. Money, Diarist,
Speaker 2: you have told us a lot about your circumstance. You
Speaker 2: became a single mum six months ago. You now have
Speaker 2: investments and saving and you've put money away for your daughters.
Speaker 2: You literally have a savings plan for them. But then
Speaker 2: you've organized your money so much that you've pre paid,
Speaker 2: or you have the funds to prepay KINDI and swimming.
Speaker 2: You literally own a property which is epic. And previously
Speaker 2: you said, oh, I'm a B plus. Do you still
Speaker 2: think that's accurate?
Speaker 3: Look, maybe I could bump myself up a bit, maybe
Speaker 3: an A minus. But I think if I have, you know,
Speaker 3: this idea in my head that ah, I'm you know,
Speaker 3: an A plus, I've nailed it, it doesn't really encourage
Speaker 3: me to keep growing and challenge myself to, oh, how
Speaker 3: could I be doing better? Or yeah, maybe we'll sick
Speaker 3: with an A minus.
Speaker 2: Totally understand where you're coming from. I really enjoy that, actually,
Speaker 2: because I think that even if you've got the structure there,
Speaker 2: I think sometimes by saying, oh, well, I'm still not
Speaker 2: an A plus, because I believe everybody has room to
Speaker 2: grow still, that's actually a really positive mindset to be in.
Speaker 2: And I think that, you know, as much as we
Speaker 2: all want to be an A plus, with money, it
Speaker 2: goes in ebbs and flows. Sometimes we smash it out
Speaker 2: in one week and the next week we give ourselves
Speaker 2: a little too many little treats. But that is okay,
Speaker 2: and that is life. And I think that, yeah, this
Speaker 2: has been really powerful. I am so excited to know
Speaker 2: about how well you are doing and that you are flourishing.
Speaker 2: It makes my heart so happy. So thank you so
Speaker 2: much for joining us today for a money diary. I
Speaker 2: know that so many people are going to be so
Speaker 2: grateful having heard your story because it's inspiring, it's exciting.
Speaker 2: It is one of those things that I think a
Speaker 2: lot of people in the situation you were in six
Speaker 2: months ago, go oh, I don't know if I can
Speaker 2: do it, and you are leaving proof that you absolutely can.
Speaker 3: Oh well, thank you so much. And as I said,
Speaker 3: She's on the Money has been such a huge part
Speaker 3: of that journey and just giving me the confidence financially
Speaker 3: because it was never something I've been educated in before,
Speaker 3: and now I think I know just enough to get
Speaker 3: myself in trouble or get myself out of trouble rather.
Speaker 3: So thank you for for your movement.
Speaker 2: No, thank you all right, Well, thank you so much,
Speaker 2: But unfortunately I do think that's all we have time
Speaker 2: for today. We'll see you guys on Wednesday. The advice
Speaker 2: shared on She's on the Money is general in nature
Speaker 2: and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on the
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Speaker 2: relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If
Speaker 2: you do choose to buy a financial product, read the
Speaker 2: PDS TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs.
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