Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yor
Speaker 1: the Order KERNI Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before
Speaker 1: we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
Speaker 1: would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
Speaker 1: of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
Speaker 1: acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
Speaker 1: through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
Speaker 1: and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
Speaker 1: today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Let's get into it.
Speaker 3: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Speaker 4: Hello, and welcome to she Is on the Money, the
Speaker 4: podcast the millennials who want financial freedom. My friends, it
Speaker 4: is the and I am back not for a podcast,
Speaker 4: but for an audio book. I have written another book,
Speaker 4: which I don't think is surprising to anybody who knows me.
Speaker 4: But this time it's a little bit different. It's about
Speaker 4: the power in rewriting your money story. You guys know
Speaker 4: that I am wildly passionate about money stories, and so
Speaker 4: I am beyond excited to announce that Money Diaries with
Speaker 4: She's on the Money was published on the twenty first
Speaker 4: of May twenty twenty four. So if you want to
Speaker 4: feel inspired, motivated, and empowered to create the financial life that.
Speaker 2: You deserve, this is the book for you.
Speaker 4: It is full of page turning stories from real people
Speaker 4: in our community about their relationships with money, plus some
Speaker 4: fun activities and quick tips to help transform your own
Speaker 4: money story. Money Diaries with She's on the Money is
Speaker 4: the enjoyable, useful financial book that you not only need, but.
Speaker 2: You actually want.
Speaker 4: This is the one where I would say, actually read
Speaker 4: this before you read my first book, like I wish
Speaker 4: I'd written this one first, because it gets you into
Speaker 4: the mindset of going, I really want to change my
Speaker 4: money story. So do you actually know what your money
Speaker 4: story is? What is your personal set of beliefs and
Speaker 4: experiences and values around money that directly influences how you
Speaker 4: earn and save and spend and invest. Could this story
Speaker 4: be holding you back from the financial life that you
Speaker 4: have been dreaming of.
Speaker 2: In this book, you are going to meet.
Speaker 4: Twenty five incredible real life money diarists who are digging deep,
Speaker 4: opening up and sharing their intimate money stories with me
Speaker 4: to lift the lead on how money really works In
Speaker 4: our lives so that we can all understand it better.
Speaker 4: This book has not just been written by me, it
Speaker 4: has been written by our community. It's honest, it's eye opening,
Speaker 4: and it's more juicy than you'd ever expect a money
Speaker 4: book to be. These inspiring and motivational stories come with
Speaker 4: a whole heap of guided journaling activities that are going
Speaker 4: to help you work out your own money story, how
Speaker 4: it imp hacked your behavior, and how you can change
Speaker 4: your mindset about money to feel way more in control. Plus,
Speaker 4: there are obviously going to be a whole heap of
Speaker 4: money win tips from the savvy She's on the Money
Speaker 4: community in every single chapter to help you pocket some
Speaker 4: really easy savings.
Speaker 1: Look.
Speaker 4: Money Diaries with Shees on the Money is my best
Speaker 4: book yet, and it's going to help you align your
Speaker 4: finances with your values and feel proud of your progress
Speaker 4: and gain confidence on your journey towards financial freedom and
Speaker 4: to really motivate you. Guess what, You've got a whole
Speaker 4: chapter to listen to now, so dive in, enjoy it.
Speaker 4: And I am not only proud of the book that
Speaker 4: we've created, but of the twenty five incredible diarists who
Speaker 4: were so happy to share their stories with us so
Speaker 4: that you could be in a better position.
Speaker 2: So this is a community book.
Speaker 4: Guys dive in First Nations remote community to now a CPA.
Speaker 4: This Money Diarist is a thirty three year old First
Speaker 4: Nations woman who grew up in a remote Indigenous community
Speaker 4: and was surrounded by the cycle of welfare dependency, drug
Speaker 4: and alcohol abuse, send domestic violence. With dreams of creating
Speaker 4: a different life for herself, she moved to the mainland
Speaker 4: and pursued a financial education. She's now a Certified Practicing
Speaker 4: Accountant CPA and proud homeowner. What grade would you give
Speaker 4: your money habits?
Speaker 5: I think I would be a B or a B minus.
Speaker 4: Okay, can you tell us a little bit more about
Speaker 4: your money story.
Speaker 5: My money story starts with where I was raised. I'm
Speaker 5: an Aboriginal woman from an island off the east coast
Speaker 5: of Brisbane in Queensland. I come from a small Indigenous
Speaker 5: community that is really quite welfare dependent, drug and alcohol
Speaker 5: abuse and domestic violence are pretty rife too. I grew
Speaker 5: up knowing that I didn't want that, which is hard
Speaker 5: right because you grow up with families and you grow
Speaker 5: up with friends who are part of that and will
Speaker 5: always live there. But as soon as I could, I
Speaker 5: knew I wanted to escape and get out of the
Speaker 5: community to create a different life for myself. On the
Speaker 5: other hand, I knew I would always come full circle
Speaker 5: and that depending on what I did and how I
Speaker 5: went about it, I would bring something back to my family,
Speaker 5: my sister, her children, and my children when I have them.
Speaker 5: Being Aboriginal, you talk about intergenerational wealth and the fact
Speaker 5: that it's not there, especially in communities that are so
Speaker 5: heavily welfare dependent, and so regardless of what I earned,
Speaker 5: I always wanted to be able to return and give
Speaker 5: back to the people who helped me.
Speaker 4: Did you have any role models in your family? How
Speaker 4: did you know that you wanted to create a different
Speaker 4: life for yourself.
Speaker 5: It definitely comes back to my parents. My dad has
Speaker 5: his own business, and you know how one of your
Speaker 5: She's on the Money principles is about saving pennies from
Speaker 5: little things big things grow well. He was always really
Speaker 5: focused on how much everything cost, right down to the
Speaker 5: last cent, which as a child always annoyed me. Whenever
Speaker 5: we went to Woolli's or Coal's, it'd take forever. He'd
Speaker 5: be price checking everything, so He was an influence, but
Speaker 5: I think the biggest role model for me was my mum.
Speaker 5: From a very young age, I could see the sacrifices
Speaker 5: she made for us so we could do the things
Speaker 5: that we wanted to. She and my dad sacrificed a
Speaker 5: lot to support us, not just when I was at school,
Speaker 5: but when I was at university as well. The things
Speaker 5: they helped me do and the money my mom snuck
Speaker 5: me without my dad knowing helped so much.
Speaker 4: Do you know much about your dad's childhood.
Speaker 5: My Aboriginal background is on my mom's side and my
Speaker 5: dad's side is white. His family were actually Swedish and
Speaker 5: he grew up in Horsham in Victoria. They were very poor.
Speaker 5: His meal was basically going out into the country and
Speaker 5: shooting rabbits. That was often the only way they could eat.
Speaker 5: He's quite private about his life growing up. I know
Speaker 5: that in his teenage years his parents divorced, so that
Speaker 5: would have brought more strain, going from a duel income
Speaker 5: to a single income when they were already struggling.
Speaker 2: How about your parents.
Speaker 5: They met when they were sixteen and married when they
Speaker 5: were eighteen, so they basically grew up together. My mom
Speaker 5: came from a welfare dependent family. Her dad passed away
Speaker 5: when she was sixteen, and he'd been the in come ana.
Speaker 5: She was one of seven kids and they quickly fell
Speaker 5: back into the welfare cycle. I've seen the house she
Speaker 5: grew up in. It was a tiny two bedroom shack
Speaker 5: and I can't imagine how you could fit all those
Speaker 5: kids in there. I know in communities we talk about
Speaker 5: social housing and overcrowding being an issue, but there are
Speaker 5: pros and cons. You're very connected with your family in
Speaker 5: a situation like that, and that's great, because of course
Speaker 5: there are inequities that come with social housing as well.
Speaker 5: My mum's mum was part of the stolen generations, and
Speaker 5: so I think for her it was all about trying
Speaker 5: to move forward and create a better life for her children.
Speaker 5: Her dad had been blackbirded from Vanuatu, which has since
Speaker 5: been recognized by the Queensland Government as wage theft. So
Speaker 5: the couple of generations before me were really conscious about
Speaker 5: building wealth for their families.
Speaker 2: Do you think that history impacts you today?
Speaker 5: One percent. There's no generalized way that you can articulate
Speaker 5: how you're different to white Australian or Asian communities. Or
Speaker 5: other cultures. Either my husband is Tonguan, and that differs
Speaker 5: from other Polynesian communities. You just grow up knowing that
Speaker 5: this is how you do things, that it's all about
Speaker 5: that connection, whether it be a connection to culture, a
Speaker 5: connection to family, or a connection to community. Basically, what's
Speaker 5: yours is mine. The only way I got ahead was
Speaker 5: because of my family, So if I can show them
Speaker 5: thanks in some way, then why wouldn't I do that?
Speaker 4: That is so beautiful. So tell us a bit more
Speaker 4: about you. What do you do for work and how
Speaker 4: much money do you word.
Speaker 5: I'm a CPA, a certified Practicing accountant and a senior
Speaker 5: manager at PwC Indigenous Consulting. We're a separate legal entity
Speaker 5: to PwC. They own forty nine percent and we own
Speaker 5: fifty one percent, so we are self determining but obviously affiliated.
Speaker 5: I'm on a salary of one hundred and eighty thousand dollars,
Speaker 5: so very very blessed to start of UNI. I started
Speaker 5: off at a smaller indigenous organization. It was a peak
Speaker 5: body at the time. That's when I started studying to
Speaker 5: be a CPA. I worked there for a couple of years,
Speaker 5: then moved across to where I am now, and I've
Speaker 5: been here for eight years. I moved up the ranks
Speaker 5: from the associate grade up to senior manager. There are
Speaker 5: now only two positions above me, Director and partner, so
Speaker 5: there's still the ability to take on more responsibility and
Speaker 5: increase my salary. You have to work really hard at
Speaker 5: one of the big four consultancy firms. It's competitive and
Speaker 5: there are so many people that are incredibly hard working
Speaker 5: and really high performing. In order to show your worth
Speaker 5: and prove your value, you do have to work above
Speaker 5: and beyond. In an indigenous business where around sixty percent
Speaker 5: of us are Indigenous, really being able to step up
Speaker 5: and show your value takes hard work.
Speaker 4: Do many people in your family have degrees.
Speaker 5: I'm one of very few people from our community to
Speaker 5: go to UNI and get a degree. At the time
Speaker 5: I went, ten or so years ago, there would have
Speaker 5: been maybe one in every three of us that went.
Speaker 5: So it's something I don't take lightly at all, and
Speaker 5: I'm incredibly grateful for it. Around the time I enrolled,
Speaker 5: my family bought a little three hundred thousand dollar house
Speaker 5: on the mainland that we could use when we were
Speaker 5: at university. All we had to do was fill the fridge,
Speaker 5: basically to look after ourselves so I didn't have to
Speaker 5: stress about rent and all those extras. My mum and
Speaker 5: dad just wanted me to focus on my studies. I
Speaker 5: was very lucky that I was able to do that.
Speaker 5: My husband and I were eventually able to buy that
Speaker 5: house off my parents. We met in twenty fifteen and
Speaker 5: pretty much moved in together straight away. My parents offered
Speaker 5: to sell us the house for one hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 5: less than the market value.
Speaker 4: That's so generous self them, it really was, So we
Speaker 4: took the opportunity, knowing we'd have to renovate it in
Speaker 4: the future, and leveraged it to buy an investment property.
Speaker 5: At the time, my salary was around fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 5: I often think about that and how my salary, as
Speaker 5: just one indicator, has increased so much since we bought
Speaker 5: that house eight years ago. So I'm pretty blessed and
Speaker 5: lucky and very proud of what we've done, because that's
Speaker 5: meant we've been able to take another step towards building
Speaker 5: that intergenerational wealth.
Speaker 4: Do you ever look at it and go, it's not luck,
Speaker 4: it's actually bloody hard work.
Speaker 5: That's a really interesting point because I think there are
Speaker 5: a lot of stereotypes about Aboriginal people owning homes and
Speaker 5: how apparently we get all sorts of help, like a
Speaker 5: really good interest rate or what have you. When I
Speaker 5: went through the process of buying this house, the only
Speaker 5: advantage I received was that I'm a CPA accountant, which
Speaker 5: positively affected my LMI. The fact that I'm Indigenous played
Speaker 5: no part in it. In our case, you have to
Speaker 5: reel it back to understand how hard we've worked. I've
Speaker 5: been on a salary all my adult life, but there
Speaker 5: was a time in our relationship where the amount of
Speaker 5: hours my partner worked to put us ahead so we
Speaker 5: could really start paying off some of the loan leverage
Speaker 5: the equity and add more money to our renovation fund
Speaker 5: was huge. We lost so many weekends together. So, yeah,
Speaker 5: you're right, it's not all luck. It's about being able
Speaker 5: to sit back and acknowledge just how hard you've worked.
Speaker 4: All right, guys, you've heard a little bit of the
Speaker 4: Money Diaries Booklet's go to a really quick break and
Speaker 4: on the flip side, are we going to dive straight
Speaker 4: back in? And don't worry, it gets juicier. Now, let's pivot.
Speaker 4: What are your current big money goals and.
Speaker 5: What are you working towards In terms of big money goals.
Speaker 5: The house that we're renovating is all well and good,
Speaker 5: but it will ultimately be rented out. We want to
Speaker 5: take advantage of that because we want to focus on
Speaker 5: our forever home. We got married recently and we want
Speaker 5: to be able to settle down and think about having
Speaker 5: a family. Maybe not seven kids like my mum, just
Speaker 5: two or three. My longer term goal is I want
Speaker 5: to be able to help my family. I have a
Speaker 5: little nephew, I have a little niece. My sister, if
Speaker 5: I can be honest, is caught in the welfare cycle
Speaker 5: and she's a single parent. I want to be able
Speaker 5: to focus on something like investing in bonds for them.
Speaker 4: That's so good. Do you have any investments right now?
Speaker 4: If so, what are they.
Speaker 5: Since we bought our home under market value, we could
Speaker 5: immediately leverage the equity to buy our investment property. Even
Speaker 5: though I'm an accountant and I'm pretty aware about this stuff,
Speaker 5: I'm starting to get a bit nervous that it's about
Speaker 5: to turn it to a positively geared property. So we
Speaker 5: have to sit down and think about it soon.
Speaker 2: The equity in.
Speaker 4: A property refers to how much of it you own
Speaker 4: versus what the bank owns valued in today's market. For example,
Speaker 4: if your home is valued at four hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 4: and you still owe three hundred thousand dollars, your equity
Speaker 4: is one hundred thousand dollars. Banks may let you use
Speaker 4: a portion of this as security against another loan, which
Speaker 4: is what our diarist did here to purchase an investment property.
Speaker 4: The financial planning around an investment property involves looking at
Speaker 4: the ways in which it will pay for itself as
Speaker 4: well as rental income. This could include keeping a property
Speaker 4: negatively geared, which essentially means that the costs of holding
Speaker 4: a property, such as interest repayments, maintenance costs, strata fees,
Speaker 4: and the like, exceed the income it generates. Investors use
Speaker 4: this difference to help reduce their taxable income.
Speaker 2: And how about debts.
Speaker 5: We're really lucky at the moment to just have two
Speaker 5: main lines of debt, the mortgage on our main property
Speaker 5: and the mortgage for the investment property. Both are under
Speaker 5: three hundred thousand dollars, so things are looking pretty good.
Speaker 5: We've just managed to refinance about one hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 5: from our owner occupied home to focus on the renovations.
Speaker 5: Other than that, I have no other personal debts.
Speaker 2: What's your best money?
Speaker 1: Have it?
Speaker 2: Do you think?
Speaker 5: I don't know if this is an accountant thing, but
Speaker 5: I'm not very creative. So when my husband and I
Speaker 5: sit down and talk about what we want to do
Speaker 5: in terms of the renovations, for example, because I'm not
Speaker 5: a creative brain, I just can't think on the spot.
Speaker 5: So I'll quite often sit on purchases before I buy something.
Speaker 5: I think that's a good thing because it means you
Speaker 5: can really try to understand whether you need something or
Speaker 5: whether it's just an impulse buy because you've been told
Speaker 5: that you need to buy it by Black Friday sales
Speaker 5: or the Instagram algorithm.
Speaker 4: What about super and other investments?
Speaker 5: I salary sacrifice into superannuation. If I remember correctly, my
Speaker 5: superbalance at the moment is about one hundred and eighty
Speaker 5: thousand dollars. I salary sacrifice an extra seven hundred dollars
Speaker 5: per month overall. That puts me just under the concessional
Speaker 5: contribution cap. I decided I wanted to reach the cap
Speaker 5: every year to see how much it can reduce my tax.
Speaker 5: Because I'm on one hundred and eighty thousand dollars, the
Speaker 5: more that we can do to reduce tax, the better,
Speaker 5: and it doesn't make a huge change to my disposable income.
Speaker 5: The seven hundred dollars is a buffer that I can
Speaker 5: pull out if and when we need to.
Speaker 4: Since sheese on the money is all about building financial
Speaker 4: freedom for future you. We love to talk about superannuation.
Speaker 4: If you're employed, your employer must pay at least eleven
Speaker 4: percent of your ordinary time earnings into your super account,
Speaker 4: unless exceptions apply. But if, like many in our community,
Speaker 4: you're self employed, it's even more important to take ownership
Speaker 4: of this for yourself if you can afford it. Making
Speaker 4: extra contributions to your super can boost your retirement savings
Speaker 4: and reduce your tax. Even small amounts add up over time,
Speaker 4: and voluntary contributions can reduce the amount of tax you pay.
Speaker 4: If you're on a low income, you may be eligible
Speaker 4: for extra contributions from the government. You can choose to
Speaker 4: make personal contributions to your super in one of two ways.
Speaker 4: Concessional which is paid using pre tax dollars, or non
Speaker 4: concessional which uses after tax income. Concessional contributions are taxed
Speaker 4: at fifteen percent up to twenty seven thousand, five hundred
Speaker 4: per financial year, or higher if unused limits from previous
Speaker 4: years apply. For those earning over forty five thousand dollars
Speaker 4: a year, this could mean paying less tax while boosting.
Speaker 2: Your retirement savings.
Speaker 4: Non Concessional contributions are paid using your after tax income.
Speaker 4: They can reach up to one hundred and ten thousand
Speaker 4: dollars in each financial year and may also qualify for
Speaker 4: a tax deduction. If you're a low to middle income
Speaker 4: earner and make after tax super contributions, you may be
Speaker 4: eligible for a matching contribution from the government called a
Speaker 4: co contribution. The government will work out how much you
Speaker 4: are entitled to when you lodge your tax return. If
Speaker 4: you're eligible, the govern them will pay the co contribution
Speaker 4: directly to your fund. And what about your worst money habit?
Speaker 5: I would say good old luber Etes, which is really
Speaker 5: depressing because I think the food now area isn't even
Speaker 5: that good. I'm terrible at meal prepping and I'm terrible
Speaker 5: at grocery shopping and absolutely hate it. It's probably childhood
Speaker 5: trauma from my dad checking every single price on every
Speaker 5: single item.
Speaker 4: After everything you've told us, do you still think your
Speaker 4: money grade is A B or B minus?
Speaker 5: When I think about how I've grown up, how I've
Speaker 5: gone to university and created a career for myself, that
Speaker 5: I have around five times the average superbalance for Indigenous
Speaker 5: Australians my age, and that my partner and I will
Speaker 5: only continue to grow, I can be really grateful for
Speaker 5: how hard I've worked and what I've done. I'm also
Speaker 5: really grateful for my parents and the things they've provided
Speaker 5: along the way to help me achieve everything I have.
Speaker 5: So I would probably increase my grade to an A.
Speaker 5: But like I said in the beginning, there's always going
Speaker 5: to be different seasons of life where there'll be different
Speaker 5: financial priorities. I'd like to learn more about shares to
Speaker 5: be able to invest for my nephew and niece, and
Speaker 5: the whole conversation around childcare if we have children is
Speaker 5: another thing. If you put your kids in childcare, that's
Speaker 5: going to be a huge chunk of your salary and
Speaker 5: we'll need to plan for that. So different priorities, different
Speaker 5: things mean that I always need to learn more.
Speaker 4: All right, Welcome back from the book, this is now
Speaker 4: Podland talking to you.
Speaker 2: I am so proud of this book.
Speaker 4: Obviously that was only a very small snippet of what
Speaker 4: is to come. So if you want to pick up
Speaker 4: the book or the audiobook, I'll read the whole thing
Speaker 4: to you. But in this book, you're going to meet
Speaker 4: twenty five incredible real life money diarists who are digging
Speaker 4: deep and opening up to put you in a better
Speaker 4: financial position. So if you wanted to align your finances
Speaker 4: with your values and feel proud of your progress and
Speaker 4: gain confidence on your journey to financial freedom.
Speaker 2: I'm a bit biased, but I think money dies with Sheeese.
Speaker 2: On the Money is the next book for you, So
Speaker 2: pick it up from any.
Speaker 4: Good book retailer or order it online through book Topia,
Speaker 4: and please tag me if you're going to share it
Speaker 4: on social media, because I love seeing you guys putting
Speaker 4: yourself in a better financial position.
Speaker 2: So I'll see you next time.
Speaker 4: Guys, have the best day. The advice shared on She's
Speaker 4: on the Money is general in nature and does not
Speaker 4: consider your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists purely
Speaker 4: for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to
Speaker 4: make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose
Speaker 4: to buy a financial product, read the PDS TMD and
Speaker 4: obtain appropriate financial advice.
Speaker 2: Tailored towards your needs.
Speaker 4: Victoria Divine and She's on the Money are authorized representatives
Speaker 4: of Money. Sheper pty Ltd ABN three two one is
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