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.
Speaker 3: She's on the Money. Hello, and welcome to She's on
Speaker 3: the Money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom.
Speaker 3: Welcome back to another one of our money daries where
Speaker 3: we get to talk with one of our incredible She's
Speaker 3: on the Money community members all about their journey. Let's
Speaker 3: jump straight into it because this week I got a
Speaker 3: message and it read like this, Hi, She's on the
Speaker 3: Money team. I wanted to share my money story as
Speaker 3: listening to She's on the Money and my millennial money
Speaker 3: has pivoted my mindset and set me up on the
Speaker 3: path to take control of my finances. Growing up with
Speaker 3: a single mum who had nine credit cards, I thought
Speaker 3: it was normal to have debt. After leaving home at
Speaker 3: sixteen with nothing but the clothes on my back. I
Speaker 3: used centraling to survive between the ages of sixteen and eighteen,
Speaker 3: and then found myself in a world of credit cards
Speaker 3: and personal loans after spending the last decade in debt.
Speaker 3: In two years of listening to your pod, I've been
Speaker 3: able to double my income, become free of debt with
Speaker 3: an emergency fund, and I'm on my way to saving
Speaker 3: for my first home and creating natural freedom for myself.
Speaker 3: I want the community members who are struggling to know
Speaker 3: that it doesn't matter what your upbringing looked like. You
Speaker 3: can change your mindset and your habits to achieve the
Speaker 3: life you want. Money Diarist, This is going to be
Speaker 3: one of my favorite diaries ever. I can already feel it.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the show, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, no, what a story. I love that
Speaker 3: it's really mindset based and that you've gone through all
Speaker 3: this stuff but you're like, Nope, you can do whatever
Speaker 3: you want. I feel like that's going to be so
Speaker 3: motivating for so many people. Before we jump into the
Speaker 3: thick of it, which is my favorite part, I want
Speaker 3: to know if you were to give your money habits
Speaker 3: a grade, what would that grade be?
Speaker 2: At the moment, I think I'd probably be about a
Speaker 2: B plus A B plus.
Speaker 3: All right, let's learn a little bit more about it,
Speaker 3: money direst. You showed us in your letter a little
Speaker 3: bit about your money story, but I want to know more.
Speaker 3: So can you tell us a little bit more about
Speaker 3: your money story?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Sure. So it was quite a troubled upbringing. Yeah.
Speaker 2: As I said, raised by a single mother, and although
Speaker 2: she provided well for us financially, emotionally and support wise,
Speaker 2: we struggled. We didn't necessarily have a great connection, and
Speaker 2: unfortunately sometimes it was quite abusive, so we didn't have
Speaker 2: a lot of mentorship around how to handle finances. I
Speaker 2: just knew that that's how she funded our lifestyle, so
Speaker 2: we never went without. We had passes to theme parks,
Speaker 2: we went on holidays quite frequently, but that was all
Speaker 2: funded through debt. At the time, I thought it was normal,
Speaker 2: just because obviously she was working and raising two children
Speaker 2: on her own. But that obviously did have quite a
Speaker 2: large impact on my financial story. I wanted to start
Speaker 2: working as soon as possible because I understood them. You know,
Speaker 2: to get the things that you want in life, you
Speaker 2: need to have your own income. So as soon as
Speaker 2: I turned fourteen and was able to work, I started working. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: I wasn't able to have access to the money that
Speaker 2: I was working for, so I didn't have an appreciation
Speaker 2: for how to save. My Mum held my key card
Speaker 2: so I could spend when she advised me, and I
Speaker 2: think that that was to my detriment, Whereas if I
Speaker 2: was able to earn and spend at a young age,
Speaker 2: I would have more of an understanding of how to
Speaker 2: budget for certain things that I would want and avoid
Speaker 2: having that instant gratification rather than budgeting more correctly.
Speaker 3: Do you think that that came from her just trying
Speaker 3: to protect you in a way, from like, you know,
Speaker 3: running out of money or was that more a control
Speaker 3: feature of your relationship?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, so everything was under control. I was quite
Speaker 2: independent and was from quite a young age, and that
Speaker 2: was quite a sore spot for our relationship. It wasn't
Speaker 2: not long after that I started working that our relationship
Speaker 2: really went downhill and led to me being kicked out
Speaker 2: at home.
Speaker 3: So yeah, wow, And what did that look like? Obviously
Speaker 3: you got your first job, where are you working? What
Speaker 3: type of role were you doing?
Speaker 2: Hj's as a retail.
Speaker 3: Like that, and how often were you working? Was it
Speaker 3: like a couple of days or a couple of just
Speaker 3: hours on one day or what did that journey look like?
Speaker 2: Yes, I'd work both days on the weekend and working
Speaker 2: nighttime when I could after school. But obviously school played
Speaker 2: a massive factor in how many hours you could work.
Speaker 2: But working for a whole eight dollars back in the day.
Speaker 3: Oh, check that out. Do you know what at the time,
Speaker 3: eight dollars would have sounded really good?
Speaker 2: Felt rich?
Speaker 3: Yeah? One percent eight dollars at that time is really good.
Speaker 3: Really frustrating though that you couldn't access it. Did that
Speaker 3: lead to lots of like arguments or did that lead
Speaker 3: to a lot of resentment or what did that look like?
Speaker 2: Not necessarily so, I've always I wouldn't say be materialistic,
Speaker 2: but I like nice things. I like living related. I'm
Speaker 2: very proud of my home. And even back then, like
Speaker 2: when I was fifteen, I wanted to buy a rug.
Speaker 2: So I was able to buy myself a six hundred
Speaker 2: dollars rug at fifteen, like.
Speaker 3: My gosh, eight dollars an hour that rather was worth
Speaker 3: a lot of hours of work.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and was able to fund a snow trip through school.
Speaker 2: So I was able to buy things with that money,
Speaker 2: But it would have been more beneficial to my future
Speaker 2: self if I had been able to trial an error.
Speaker 2: Obviously I would have spent more if I had had
Speaker 2: access to that, and may not have been able to
Speaker 2: buy the nice things, but I would have built a
Speaker 2: better foundation. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Wow, I feel like it's really interesting talking to people
Speaker 3: about their money stories, especially first up, because obviously I'm
Speaker 3: going to be like, Okay, what do you am, what
Speaker 3: do you spend? All of those questions, But just learning
Speaker 3: a little bit about the mindset side of things is
Speaker 3: to me so interesting because having gone through the mindset
Speaker 3: of having things taken off you and you're spending controlled
Speaker 3: all the way through to you know, creating financial freedom
Speaker 3: to yourself. Can we talk about the pivot point of that,
Speaker 3: because I feel like that's a massive mindset shift from
Speaker 3: someone controlling you to your going I can control my
Speaker 3: entire life and create the life I deserve and the
Speaker 3: life I How do we do that?
Speaker 2: Podcasts apparently in some books. Unfortunately, but also fortunately it's
Speaker 2: only happened in the past couple of years. So between
Speaker 2: eighteen and twenty eight, I was in a revolving door
Speaker 2: of getting myself in debt and then out of debt.
Speaker 2: You know, when I first turned eighteen, I was like, Okay,
Speaker 2: I have no family, I'm living out on my own.
Speaker 2: I was earning a decent income for my age, but
Speaker 2: I just I've always lived beyond my means to that point.
Speaker 2: So I would earn enough to cover groceries, live a
Speaker 2: decent lifestyle, but then you know, I would want to
Speaker 2: shout my friend's drinks or go shopping and wanted to
Speaker 2: get a TV, these nice things for myself, and I
Speaker 2: was like, oh, I just need a safety net. I'll
Speaker 2: get a five hundred dollars credit card, and that was
Speaker 2: the spiral. Then I went and got a TV on
Speaker 2: Go MasterCard and it just went downhill from there. So
Speaker 2: constantly refinancing, getting rebalanced credit cards just to try I
Speaker 2: avoid that interest. I don't know how I was smart
Speaker 2: enough to know that interest was bad, but debt was good,
Speaker 2: Like it was okay to be in debt as long
Speaker 2: as I kept paying it. Down so I could always
Speaker 2: reford the repayments. I've never default on it on anything,
Speaker 2: but I've had numerous personal loans. I wish that I
Speaker 2: quantified it, but at least five personal loans, probably about
Speaker 2: ten credit cards just in that eight year period, paying
Speaker 2: them down, getting a balanced transfer, trying to avoid any
Speaker 2: additional fees, but just constantly living beyond my means.
Speaker 3: I feel like that's really relatable though, Like it's part
Speaker 3: of my money story that when I first went to
Speaker 3: UNI and got out of UNI, I ended up in
Speaker 3: forty thousand dollars worth of personal debt and that all
Speaker 3: started in exactly the same position as you, with a
Speaker 3: five hundred dollars credit card that I got because I
Speaker 3: was like, oh my gosh, I'm going to go get this,
Speaker 3: and it was my Virgin Money credit card because I
Speaker 3: felt like Virgin was better because you were getting some points.
Speaker 3: Like that's a good idea, right, that's money saving in
Speaker 3: my savvy. So I got this five hundred dollars Virgin
Speaker 3: credit card once I got out of UNI, and I
Speaker 3: thought that's going to be my buffer, and then yeah,
Speaker 3: it kind of just spirals out of control because this
Speaker 3: piece of plastic enables you to live a lifestyle that
Speaker 3: you didn't have access to before. You're like, well, this
Speaker 3: is fine, Like carrying debts fine as long as I'm not,
Speaker 3: you know, racking up a whole heap of interest. That's smart.
Speaker 3: And I just think that financial literacy, especially in schools,
Speaker 3: especially during our journey as a young teen, especially with
Speaker 3: our first jobs, does us a bit of a dirty
Speaker 3: because you just don't know what you don't know. I
Speaker 3: too knew the interest was bad. I don't want to
Speaker 3: pay money for owing money, but I'll pay you back
Speaker 3: the money that I owe you. That didn't feel too bad.
Speaker 3: And I think it's one of those things that once
Speaker 3: you start learning about the flip side, you go, oh,
Speaker 3: my gosh, this is not how I should be doing it.
Speaker 3: This is not how the smart people are doing it,
Speaker 3: this is not how the wealthy are doing it, and
Speaker 3: you just go oh, and I feel like there's then
Speaker 3: a really bad layer of guilt, feel awful, and you
Speaker 3: feel a little bit ashamed of the way that you've
Speaker 3: been managing money, especially when you start to realize other
Speaker 3: people weren't doing the same thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, most definitely, I think a hard thing for me
Speaker 2: is that everyone around. All of my close friends have
Speaker 2: had a lot of financial support from their parents, so
Speaker 2: I never felt like I was going without because I
Speaker 2: was able to finance it myself. But I did feel
Speaker 2: bad that I wasn't doing and even to this day,
Speaker 2: like I still don't have the things that they necessarily have,
Speaker 2: but I have to constantly remind myself that I'm doing
Speaker 2: it on my own and that's okay. But it took
Speaker 2: me a long time to come to terms with the
Speaker 2: fact that you're never going to be at the same
Speaker 2: pace as everyone else. Yeah, you just got to stick
Speaker 2: in your own lane and educate yourself. I'm a massive
Speaker 2: advocate now for educating yourself on financial literacy, and it's
Speaker 2: such a shame that it's not taught in schools, even
Speaker 2: the basic fundamentals of tax and super and these are
Speaker 2: life altering decisions. People really need to be educated about
Speaker 2: that in the final years of school, and it's such
Speaker 2: a shame that it's not the case.
Speaker 3: Oh well, it keeps the world revolving, keeps the world
Speaker 3: in debt. I feel like that's maybe what they want
Speaker 3: in a way. Yeah, I feel like it's so interesting
Speaker 3: having this conversation because I immediately feel like I resonate
Speaker 3: with you, and I guess your story. I want to
Speaker 3: know now though, because obviously you've changed gears and you've
Speaker 3: been like, okay, I'm going to go from maybe not
Speaker 3: being in control to being in complete control. And our
Speaker 3: producer told me that you have your dream job, so
Speaker 3: I want to know about that. So what do you
Speaker 3: do for work and how much money do you earn?
Speaker 2: So I'm an analyst in the energy industry and I
Speaker 2: recently started my dream role late last year and with
Speaker 2: bonuses and the base salary on one hundred and just
Speaker 2: over one hundred and thirty. Oh my god, plus super Yeah.
Speaker 2: I'm still pinching myself. Are you kiddy? That's incredible? Good
Speaker 2: is that?
Speaker 3: I feel like, I don't know. You set this up.
Speaker 3: You set me up. You were like, oh, I can't
Speaker 3: afford the same things that my friends skin afford. I'm
Speaker 3: not in the same position as them. Like I worked
Speaker 3: until twenty eight and only just really what you're a
Speaker 3: month thirty, You're going to be like running rings around
Speaker 3: people give it ten years?
Speaker 2: Oh not even Yeah, So I guess the benefit of
Speaker 2: Everything's happened in such a perfect way in the sense
Speaker 2: of when I was twenty seven, I was earning sixty K,
Speaker 2: and I'd outgrown that workplace. I just finished UNI, and
Speaker 2: the boss was like, oh, you know, I understand you've
Speaker 2: just finished UNI, but I don't think that it's suitable
Speaker 2: to give you a raise at this point in the bin,
Speaker 2: essentially saying that he didn't think that I was worth
Speaker 2: that money at that time.
Speaker 3: Good luck replacing me.
Speaker 2: But I was managing his business and a team of
Speaker 2: six people, so that felt otherwise, and I knew it
Speaker 2: was time to move on. So I'd always had a
Speaker 2: dream company in mind, just really appreciative of the customer
Speaker 2: service and the way that their staff were. So somehow
Speaker 2: managed to reach out to a recruiter and land a
Speaker 2: job there.
Speaker 3: What you just like said, oh, this is my dream company,
Speaker 3: And the recruiter was like, yes, queen, I will make
Speaker 3: that happen, and it happens.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know how I do again, still pinch myself.
Speaker 3: Noah, I know how you worked hard, you knew your worth,
Speaker 3: you knew what you wanted, and you manifested it. So
Speaker 3: it came true, Like it makes sense to me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so great. I love it. So within two years,
Speaker 2: I've been working at that company. I've had two promotions.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, you don't get a promotion if you're
Speaker 3: not good at your job, Babe. I don't know how
Speaker 3: to tell you this.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: No, I think it's my attitude, like because I've wanted
Speaker 2: it and I'm passionate about it, and I guess that
Speaker 2: just sort of flows through. I've always had amazing work ethic.
Speaker 2: That's probably one of the best things that I'm proud
Speaker 2: of myself. I always find difficult to find good qualities
Speaker 2: in myself, but my work ethic is something that's never faulted.
Speaker 2: So yeah, So I had two promotions and I felt
Speaker 2: bad late last year because i'd only been in the
Speaker 2: role for a few months, leaving the role that I
Speaker 2: was in but it wasn't really serving me. And when
Speaker 2: the opportunity came up to become an analyst, I knew
Speaker 2: that I had to do it and otherwise I'd regret it.
Speaker 2: And everything's just fallen into place.
Speaker 3: Oh, I'm so proud, and I can see how proud
Speaker 3: you are of you. I wish everyone could see your
Speaker 3: face right now, because you're glowing. You're like beaming, You're
Speaker 3: so happy, You're smiling like, I can tell that that
Speaker 3: means a lot to you, even more than just I
Speaker 3: guess the remuneration of the role as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, most definitely. I think last year when I chose
Speaker 2: the role I originally took, I actually regretted it. So
Speaker 2: I chose the role for financial purposes. It was providing
Speaker 2: me a twenty five K increase, and I was like,
Speaker 2: how can I pass this up?
Speaker 3: How can I not?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I just thought I have to do it,
Speaker 2: and I knew I was going to do well in
Speaker 2: the role. It wasn't necessarily where I wanted to go,
Speaker 2: but I knew I was going to do well because
Speaker 2: that's where my career has led me to. So I
Speaker 2: took it. But after a few months, I just it
Speaker 2: wasn't the right fit and I did regret choosing it
Speaker 2: because of the financial reasons. It really deviated from my values.
Speaker 2: So I've let my lesson there.
Speaker 3: Oh I'm glad you kind of went through that, especially
Speaker 3: before finding this role, because in this role, it's kind
Speaker 3: of like you know you're worth, you know what you're getting.
Speaker 3: Obviously it's an epic paycheck, but at the crux of it,
Speaker 3: you also know that that's not the only reason you're there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, most definitely, And now this role is challenging me.
Speaker 2: The team are incredible, and I'm getting an awesome paycheck.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, financial freedom come at you. Let's talk
Speaker 3: about your money goals. What are you working towards? What
Speaker 3: is your big money goal at the moment.
Speaker 2: I'm currently saving for a house, my first time.
Speaker 3: How are we doing on that front?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're getting there. I've only got eleven K saved.
Speaker 3: Only into the bin. My friend, I have eleven grand saved.
Speaker 3: What a journey.
Speaker 2: Yes, When I first started this company, I started I'd
Speaker 2: listen to Barefoot Investor. Yeah, and then I started looking
Speaker 2: at otherwise to help myself get more financially literate. So
Speaker 2: I literally binge listened to every single episode of She's
Speaker 2: on the Money.
Speaker 3: So you're really sick of my voice by now? I
Speaker 3: like it.
Speaker 2: No, it's a routine, it's a ritual. Like even though
Speaker 2: sometimes this stuff doesn't necessarily resonate with me or I've
Speaker 2: outgrown it, I think it helps keep me on track
Speaker 2: and accountable if I am ever second guessing myself.
Speaker 3: Oh, I love that I.
Speaker 2: Had money in savings and then I still had a
Speaker 2: credit card debt and I was like, you know what,
Speaker 2: Like I had a chunk of interest come through, and
Speaker 2: I was like, I've got more money in my savings
Speaker 2: than I have that I could pay this credit card
Speaker 2: off and not get interests, Like what am I doing?
Speaker 2: And so I paid that off and it was honestly
Speaker 2: the best feeling in the world. So it's been eighteen
Speaker 2: months now being debt free, Queen behavior, I'm so excited
Speaker 2: for you, and saving about thirty five percent, trying to
Speaker 2: get to forty percent of my salary towards saving.
Speaker 3: How cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so being able to save for a trip for
Speaker 2: my thirtieth to go to Europe for a few weeks.
Speaker 2: So I'm excited for that. And yeah, now just purely
Speaker 2: focusing on the house. But I just think that everything
Speaker 2: happened really well in the sense of getting a job
Speaker 2: and getting these large increases in income. I'm glad that
Speaker 2: my mindset had shifted.
Speaker 3: Before that happened.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like, I can only imagine how I would have
Speaker 2: been spending my money beforehand with this sort of money
Speaker 2: now and going, oh, well, I'm owning all of this money,
Speaker 2: I can I can spend more, you know, Whereas now
Speaker 2: I'm so conscious of wanting to achieve so many goals.
Speaker 3: How exciting. What would happen if we went back to
Speaker 3: twenty five year old you and said, hey, by the way,
Speaker 3: this is what life looks like at twenty eight, twenty nine.
Speaker 3: What would twenty five year old you think already?
Speaker 2: She achieved it already. I feel like I definitely would
Speaker 2: have gotten there eventually. From a young age, I always
Speaker 2: wanted to have my own home. I definitely just feel
Speaker 2: as though it's security for me. Yeah, one hundred percent,
Speaker 2: something that's mine that no one can take away from me.
Speaker 2: So I always knew by the time I was thirty
Speaker 2: that I wanted to achieve that. It might not be
Speaker 2: right on thirty, but I'm definitely going to get there.
Speaker 3: No, you've got that security, You've got that job, like
Speaker 3: one hundred percent. It's crazy the pressure that we put
Speaker 3: on ourselves to achieve things before thirty. I found a
Speaker 3: diary entry from twenty one year old me, and I
Speaker 3: look at it and I just go, Victoria, there's so
Speaker 3: much more to life than what you thought you'd have
Speaker 3: at thirty. Like, there's this diary entry, and it's in
Speaker 3: this dumb diary, and it was right before I broke
Speaker 3: up with a long term partner, and I was kind
Speaker 3: of like, you know, journaling because I was stressed and
Speaker 3: kind of knew what was coming and didn't know what
Speaker 3: was there. And it's like this letter to myself and
Speaker 3: it's kind of like, at thirty, you'll have a job
Speaker 3: and you'll be earning at least six figures. Like that
Speaker 3: was to me a really big For some reason in
Speaker 3: my head, I was like, you have to do that
Speaker 3: by thirty, Victoria. And now it just like makes no sense,
Speaker 3: Like that's such a naff way of looking at life.
Speaker 3: I also was apparently going to already have two children,
Speaker 3: I would have already been married, I already would have
Speaker 3: owned a house and just all this stuff that I
Speaker 3: was like, those are milestones, yes, but that doesn't mean
Speaker 3: I would have been happy with the life that I
Speaker 3: thought I was going to create for myself. And I
Speaker 3: just think that we put so much pressure on ourselves.
Speaker 3: But at the same time, it's so gratifying to go, oh,
Speaker 3: my gosh, past me would actually be really proud of
Speaker 3: where we are, Like past me would be like, Wow,
Speaker 3: there's a lot more to life than just earning six figures,
Speaker 3: or there's a lot more to life than you know,
Speaker 3: just getting a house and just doing these things. Because
Speaker 3: now if you ask me what my values are in life,
Speaker 3: I'm like, have you met my pets? Have you met
Speaker 3: my friends? Like they're the coolest things ever. So I
Speaker 3: just think it's such an exciting period of life, especially
Speaker 3: when you start coming into this like world of creating
Speaker 3: financial freedom. It opens up so much more than what
Speaker 3: twenty one year old Victoria thought, which was designer bags
Speaker 3: and shoes and you know, all of the markers of success,
Speaker 3: but not really the excitement around it. Yeah, all right,
Speaker 3: I want to ask you a whole heap more questions,
Speaker 3: but I'm going to go to a really quick break
Speaker 3: and on the flip side, we're going to talk about debts, investments.
Speaker 3: I want to know about your best and your worst
Speaker 3: money habits and how you've managed to avoid lifestyle groep. Alright, guys,
Speaker 3: don't go anywhere. All right, money direst we are back.
Speaker 3: You have now saved eleven grand, which is epic, towards
Speaker 3: your first home. You're out of debt and have been
Speaker 3: debt free for eighteen months now, which is so cool.
Speaker 3: But I want to know are you investing If so, what.
Speaker 2: In Yes, I am. I started in cheersas say, she's
Speaker 2: on the money. I have recently just transferred over to COMSEP.
Speaker 2: I have about five thousand invested now.
Speaker 3: Oh big dog Energy.
Speaker 2: So yeah, just focusing on building that up slowly.
Speaker 3: What's the plan there, like, what made you change platforms
Speaker 3: and how have you chosen the investments that you've got.
Speaker 2: I'm really focusing on diversification. I've got a couple of
Speaker 2: high risk lithium stocks in cheesy is that I'll just
Speaker 2: keep there just for growth. But the main thing that
Speaker 2: I wanted to focus on was ETFs that were going
Speaker 2: to provide me with diversification and a little bit of
Speaker 2: lower risk that pay a dividend. So I can just
Speaker 2: reinvest that and just let it grow and not touch it,
Speaker 2: not overthink it.
Speaker 3: I love it, and we already know you don't have
Speaker 3: any debts, so I feel like that's a pretty redundant question.
Speaker 2: I do have hex stet.
Speaker 3: Oh okay, what hextet have you got?
Speaker 2: So sitting at about thirty three K at the moment,
Speaker 2: So looking forward to indexation in June.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was going to say they're talking about indexation
Speaker 3: being at about seven percent this year which makes me
Speaker 3: feel physically ill. And guys, don't worry. There's an entire
Speaker 3: episode coming on how to manage that and what that
Speaker 3: means and how that's going to work. But money dist
Speaker 3: I want to know what are your thoughts on that
Speaker 3: as somebody who is all over it. Are you going
Speaker 3: to be paying more off? Of you not going to
Speaker 3: be paying more off? Where is your head.
Speaker 2: At for the two grand I'm going to get whacked
Speaker 2: with if it's seven percent, I'm not gonna worry about
Speaker 2: paying it off. I'd rather have that money sit there
Speaker 2: in my bank account ready for my home loan. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: having hextut does wipe off about one hundred k off
Speaker 2: my borrowing capacity, so I did think about taking care
Speaker 2: of it. But yeah, look, it's just going to sit
Speaker 2: there in the background, and it's better than having, you know,
Speaker 2: an interest loan paying off that. Like the education has
Speaker 2: allowed me to get the income that I have, so
Speaker 2: I'm happy to just write it out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, No, that's fair, and I think that that's where
Speaker 3: a lot of us are at. Yes, it wipes off
Speaker 3: some borrowing capacity, but also you know what wipes borrowing
Speaker 3: capacity is not having enough of a deposit and it's
Speaker 3: kind of like weighing up what the difference between those
Speaker 3: two things is actually going to look like and how
Speaker 3: that works. And to be honest, the best thing you
Speaker 3: can do is actually talk to a mortgage broker sooner
Speaker 3: rather than later, because they're going to be able to
Speaker 3: tell you, especially if your goal is to buy a property. Okay, well,
Speaker 3: this is what your HEX set personally looks like. I've
Speaker 3: thought for ages. I was like, oh my gosh. You
Speaker 3: know what it would be really cool is a table
Speaker 3: where I could tell you how much your borrowing capacity
Speaker 3: is impacted by HEX. So like, if it's thirty thousand dollars, okay,
Speaker 3: well it will be impacted by about one hundred grand,
Speaker 3: or if it's more or less. But the problem is
Speaker 3: the variable of income, and then the variable of whether
Speaker 3: you're going to be buying with a partner or not,
Speaker 3: and what their income is, and whether you have any
Speaker 3: other debts or any other liabilities. And it's just it's
Speaker 3: not a table I can create, sadly, because it's just
Speaker 3: not going to work. But it's one of those things
Speaker 3: that I think a lot of people stress about. And
Speaker 3: if you're stressing about it, go talk to a mortgage
Speaker 3: broker and they'll be able to tell you exactly what
Speaker 3: your personal situation looks like, because Googling isn't going to
Speaker 3: do that. Unfortunately.
Speaker 2: If it was sitting at five, I probably would on
Speaker 2: the basis that it would give me just under one
Speaker 2: thousand dollars a month extra in my pocket, and also
Speaker 2: it would help me with my borrowing capacity. But given
Speaker 2: the amount that it is, I'm just going to write
Speaker 2: it out and not to mention it over COVID it
Speaker 2: was so low, like twenty twenty one it was only
Speaker 2: nine hundred dollars. Yeah, exactly. So we've just got to
Speaker 2: keep in mind that, yes, okay, this is going to
Speaker 2: be pretty high this year, and it does suck, but
Speaker 2: in relation to the past couple of years, like if
Speaker 2: we average it all out, we're all good.
Speaker 3: Exactly. To people who currently are in debt and looking
Speaker 3: at your story, going wow, how did you go from
Speaker 3: growing up with a mum who had nine credit cards,
Speaker 3: so then you having ten credit cards and personal loans
Speaker 3: and cycling through that to being in the financially responsible
Speaker 3: position you're in now? What would you say to people
Speaker 3: who currently have debt who maybe just don't want debt anymore,
Speaker 3: but don't even know where to start.
Speaker 2: Baby steps a sessious situation, and there's so many different
Speaker 2: ways to knock down your debt, but do things that
Speaker 2: are going to help you hit milestone sooner so you
Speaker 2: can get that feeling, because nothing beats it when you
Speaker 2: pay off a credit card and you get to shut
Speaker 2: it down. It is the best feeling.
Speaker 3: It actually is. I feel like someone should jump out
Speaker 3: of like a cupboard or something with like party poppers
Speaker 3: and pay and celebrate, because that's exactly what I expected
Speaker 3: to happen when I paid mine.
Speaker 2: Not for yourself, do it for yourself. No one else
Speaker 2: is going to. But I tell you what, it's a
Speaker 2: bloody good feeling, especially after you've been in it for
Speaker 2: so long and it is such a hard slog to
Speaker 2: see light at the end of the tunnel. Start with
Speaker 2: your after pay. I think that was definitely the first
Speaker 2: thing I got rid of, and then yeah, just paid
Speaker 2: down that credit card. Obviously, the increases in my income
Speaker 2: were a massive help to myself, and I'm not going
Speaker 2: to discount that, you know, Like I made sure that
Speaker 2: when I got paid extra, I wasn't spending that, I
Speaker 2: was saving it Prior to saving it, I was paying
Speaker 2: off my debt, so that does help, so find additional
Speaker 2: ways to make income to get rid of that debt.
Speaker 2: It makes such a big difference.
Speaker 3: Once it's gone, you just feel so light, you do,
Speaker 3: there's just not.
Speaker 2: A care in the world. And then having an emergency
Speaker 2: fund finally and understanding that no matter what, I'm going
Speaker 2: to be all good, Like if anything happens to my
Speaker 2: dog or a medical expense, like, I'm all good, and
Speaker 2: it's such an amazing feeling. The bear.
Speaker 3: I feel like you have some good money habits. So
Speaker 3: now I want to know what do you think your
Speaker 3: best money habit is?
Speaker 2: Budgeting down Yeah, I'm.
Speaker 3: Not surprised by this at all.
Speaker 2: I've always been good at budgeting, you know, even when
Speaker 2: I was in debt, I always, you know, figured out
Speaker 2: what my monthly expenses would be and put a set
Speaker 2: amount away each week into my bill hub. So I
Speaker 2: don't know again where I got that information from, because
Speaker 2: I was doing that from that age is, you know, eighteen,
Speaker 2: But that budgeting is definitely my best money habit.
Speaker 3: What kind of budgeting are you doing? Are you doing
Speaker 3: the type of budgeting where you sit down and go Okay,
Speaker 3: cool money dice. You only get fifty dollars a week
Speaker 3: for groceries, and you only get this, this, this, and this.
Speaker 3: Is it like a restrictive type of budget or is
Speaker 3: it the type of budget where you just tracking income
Speaker 3: or what does that actually look like?
Speaker 2: It is definitely more strict. But I tend to be
Speaker 2: a bit guilty with the way I spend, Like if
Speaker 2: I take money out of my savings, I feel very
Speaker 2: guilty now to if I'm buying something. You know, I
Speaker 2: value lunches out, which is probably my worst money habit,
Speaker 2: and dinners out. But yeah, so it's very strict, like
Speaker 2: I will understand what my monthly or annual costs are
Speaker 2: and then I put that into my bill hub and
Speaker 2: then I've got my savings goals so everything's accounted for.
Speaker 3: Yeah, awesome. I love that. I also find it so
Speaker 3: interesting because when one person says, oh, I'm really good
Speaker 3: at budgeting, that actually could mean something really different to
Speaker 3: somebody else, because the way I budget is more around
Speaker 3: tracking my spending and making sure that I'm okay with
Speaker 3: that spend rather than setting a goal of okay, well, Victoria,
Speaker 3: your groceries are going to be X like I don't
Speaker 3: do that. I flip it around and go, okay, cool,
Speaker 3: you're on average spending this on groceries. Are you okay
Speaker 3: with it?
Speaker 2: All?
Speaker 3: Right? Well, if you don't want to change that, you're
Speaker 3: going to have to change something else. And it's less
Speaker 3: about restriction for me because I just know I'm not
Speaker 3: going to stick to it, like it's just not going
Speaker 3: to happen in my life. And I think that it's
Speaker 3: interesting to learn the way that other people manage that,
Speaker 3: because there's different forms of budgeting, and there's different flows,
Speaker 3: and there's different diferent ways that we're all motivated. And
Speaker 3: I just find it so pervy to be like, how
Speaker 3: do you do that? What does that actually mean? Because
Speaker 3: like one of our team members, Jess, you've probably heard
Speaker 3: her on the podcast before if you've listened to every
Speaker 3: single one, she has so many accounts for everything like clothes,
Speaker 3: for shoes, she has an account for makeup, hair and beauty.
Speaker 3: She has an account for literally everything. I could not
Speaker 3: think of anything worse. Like my ADHD would not allow
Speaker 3: me to have that many accounts and keep track of them,
Speaker 3: so I have to have like three and we call
Speaker 3: it a day there for you know, my average spend.
Speaker 3: But different people do different things, and it's so interesting
Speaker 3: to learn because you might look at somebody else's and go, oh,
Speaker 3: my gosh, that system would work so well for me.
Speaker 3: And that's why learning from other people is so important.
Speaker 2: Most definitely, well, I think I'm still struggling. I get
Speaker 2: paid monthly, and then it kills me. No matter how
Speaker 2: much I try and budget, I always taking money out
Speaker 2: of my savings and then having to replenish it the
Speaker 2: next month if I take too much out. You know,
Speaker 2: there's always like that little bit of a buffer. But
Speaker 2: I always make sure that I keep myself accountable. So yeah,
Speaker 2: strict budget and just constantly reviewing, Like you said, making
Speaker 2: sure you're okay with it, groceries has killed me. I'm
Speaker 2: constantly exceeding it every month.
Speaker 3: The rising cost of living is insane, Like I actually
Speaker 3: cannot believe how people are dealing with this because it's
Speaker 3: it's insane. Like my grocery budget has absolutely blown up,
Speaker 3: but the stuff I'm buying is exactly the same. Like
Speaker 3: why is it fifty dollars more perfect?
Speaker 2: Shop?
Speaker 3: Like I genuinely feel like the idea of even fifty bucks,
Speaker 3: Like historically, to me, fifty dollars was heaps of money,
Speaker 3: and it still is. Like I'm not gonna you know,
Speaker 3: absolutely pooh proo that, but I feel like you don't
Speaker 3: get that much change from fifty bucks for anything anymore. No,
Speaker 3: like go out for lunch fifty bucks, like just I swear.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it definitely doesn't go the same distance unfortunately. So
Speaker 2: it's also just a matter of acknowledging that sometimes things
Speaker 2: aren't in your control, Like you can over analyze it
Speaker 2: a little bit, and then I think it makes you
Speaker 2: feel guilty because you feel like you're not doing enough.
Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 2: Well, speaking from experience, like that's definitely me. Like if
Speaker 2: I look at I've overspent for the month, I sort
Speaker 2: of try not to punish myself, but I am feeling
Speaker 2: guilty that I've not met the budget that I set
Speaker 2: for myself. So perhaps I need to review my strategy.
Speaker 3: And then that's unreasonable because then you look at your
Speaker 3: budget and you go, well, that wasn't actually going to
Speaker 3: work given the things I did this month, So it's crazy, right,
Speaker 3: Like I used to do exactly the same thing, and
Speaker 3: then you would crucify yourself over you know, spending over
Speaker 3: but you're like, yeah, but what you didn't take into
Speaker 3: consideration was that You've got friend's birthdates, my mum's birthday,
Speaker 3: I've got all these other things that needed to be
Speaker 3: taken into consideration in the budget. I didn't go over
Speaker 3: I just didn't plan efficiently the first time. Yeah, yeah, definitely,
Speaker 3: it's crazy. All right. Well, you mentioned maybe what your
Speaker 3: worst money habit is, but I want to know what
Speaker 3: do you think officially your worst money habit is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely over spending on eating out. Yeah, I just
Speaker 2: I really valuing nice dinners with friends, and then yeah,
Speaker 2: just the cheeky lunch on the weekends and things like that.
Speaker 2: So that sort of stuff can really blow the budget
Speaker 2: out quite quickly.
Speaker 3: I feel like we'd get along really well because that's
Speaker 3: exactly where I'm spending my money too. Don't worry. All right,
Speaker 3: we have covered a lot, and I am very conscious
Speaker 3: of time. But now that we've talked, I feel like
Speaker 3: I've got a good idea of who you are, and
Speaker 3: I'm genuinely so impressed. Not only do I think that
Speaker 3: we could probably be best friends, because everything that you're saying,
Speaker 3: I'm like, yep, I think we're on the same page. Yep.
Speaker 3: Oh you're like going out. Yep, me too, great one
Speaker 3: hundred percent. Your dog barked before, and I was like, great,
Speaker 3: she's a dog person. Ten out of ten love this.
Speaker 3: But I feel like you've come so far, Like you
Speaker 3: have this epic salary, you're already well onto the way
Speaker 3: of saving for your first home. You're saving thirty five
Speaker 3: percent of your salary, which is like mind blowing to me.
Speaker 3: You're planning for forty you have a five thousand dollars
Speaker 3: investment portfolio, You've got your emergency fund. You said really
Speaker 3: interesting things before when we're talking about your investment portfolio,
Speaker 3: like it was very well thought out. You were talking
Speaker 3: about the importance of diversification. Then you said I've got
Speaker 3: some high growth lithium stuff in there as well. I'm like,
Speaker 3: this woman's clearly switched on, like she knows what she's
Speaker 3: talking about. You've got a strategy for your hex, you've
Speaker 3: already thought about it. But you seem to think that
Speaker 3: you're just a B plus. Is that fair? Now we
Speaker 3: reflect on things.
Speaker 2: Or our own worst critic, I guess one hundred percent
Speaker 2: we are maybe as I think that there's always room
Speaker 2: for improvement, there's always.
Speaker 3: Room for improvement. But I was just when someone says
Speaker 3: B plus and then they come at me with the
Speaker 3: story that you've just told me, I'm like, nah, babe,
Speaker 3: you're not a B plus like and I think everyone
Speaker 3: listening to this is like, no, Victoria's right on this one.
Speaker 3: It's not often that I'm right, but my friend, I'm
Speaker 3: right today. But oh my gosh, I feel like this
Speaker 3: is such a motivating story. Your mindset is so beautiful,
Speaker 3: and I feel like having been able to share this
Speaker 3: time with you and understand how you pivoted your mindset
Speaker 3: and like, I guess what you grew up with and
Speaker 3: what has changed. It's really a story of exactly knowing
Speaker 3: that it doesn't matter what your upbringing looked like you
Speaker 3: can actually create the life that you want and and
Speaker 3: actually being your control. Like it's wild to think that
Speaker 3: a little girl who grew up with a mum who
Speaker 3: controlled her finances and lived everything on credit now ins
Speaker 3: one hundred and thirty grand is saving for a first
Speaker 3: home and is absolutely killing it. Like how cool?
Speaker 2: Thank you?
Speaker 3: Isn't that like the best thing ever? Anyway, I'm so
Speaker 3: proud of you, and I know that the community is true,
Speaker 3: So thank you so much for sharing your story with us.
Speaker 3: I'm obsessed.
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you for having me, and thank you
Speaker 2: for everything that you do for the community. Yeah, a
Speaker 2: massive advocate for you guys.
Speaker 3: The advice shared on She's on the Money is general
Speaker 3: in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's
Speaker 3: on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should
Speaker 3: not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision.
Speaker 3: If you do choose to buy a financial product, read
Speaker 3: the PDS TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards
Speaker 3: your needs. Victoria Divine and She's on the Money are
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