May 28, 2023 • 53 mins
Wait till you meet this game changing member of our community! She's a 29 year old Torres Straight Islander woman with 2 kids. At 23 years old, her ex left her at 8 months pregnant to pay their mortgage. But she is now in the final year of her Doctor of Medicine, she's tutoring, plus managing a side hustle all while saving for her wedding with FIFO fiancée!
Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements.
The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708, AFSL - 451289.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr
the Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before
we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
(00:22):
through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Let's get into it. She's on the Money. She's on
the Money. Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money,
(01:00):
the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back
to another one of our money diaries where I get
the privilege of talking to one of our incredible She's
on the Money community members all about their journey. Let's
jump straight into it, because this week I got a
message that went like this, Hi Ve, I'm a Torres
Strait Islander woman who is twenty nine years old with
(01:21):
two kids. I was a single mum at twenty three
years old after my ex left me eight months pregnant
and I had to pay our mortgage. I'm now in
the final year of my doctor of medicine. My income
comes from scholarships and tutoring. I have a new side
hustle making med students notes that I sell on Etsy,
and I'm saving for my wedding to my beautiful five
(01:43):
fo fiance. Money Diarist, What how good is that you
just like sell your med notes? Yeah, yeah, your genius.
I used to do that, like, not med notes. I
never did med school like, so that would make no sense.
But I used to photocopy my notes and sell them
at UNI. What are you doing just taking this to
the fiftieth level by selling them online?
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Yeah, so I use Canva. So I guess medical notes.
I guess there's a lot of similarities between a lot
of the unis and Australia and overseas and stuff where
I guess, you know, we get kind of given, you know,
information about like things we need to ask patients for
specific problems, and so usually the UNI will just give
you like a PDF. It's just like a table and
(02:26):
it's really just boring and ugly, not that sexy. No,
And you basically have to memorize this and then you know,
in your kind of exams, your clinical like tests and stuff,
you basically have to memorize that whole thing and ask,
you know, the patients those questions. Like, my undergrad was
in arts, so I did sociology and international studies, so
(02:50):
I kind of identify a little bit artsy. And yeah,
I just figured like I'm a very visual learner, and
if I was able to see these kind of like
summaries of histories and physical examinations right in front of
me that were like color coded and super pretty, like,
it would be really good for my recall.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Oh my gosh, you're a genius.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah, So I started making those. I just launched last week.
I've made about one hundred dollars so far.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Oh my gosh, money weed.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, and it would like force you to study to
put it in the best possible format to themselves, so
you're like business making and studying at the same time.
You're an actual genius.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Yes, I use it as like a form of meditation
as well. Like I have a very full on life,
so when my partner's not here, when he's away at work,
I kind of use it as kind of like a
meditative practice. But I'm also studying at the same.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Time, I'm obsessed. A week on Etsy and you've made
a hundred bucks. That is actually really really good. That
never happens.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
I know nothing about business. I know nothing about any
of that, so I'm kind of stumbling my way through.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Oh my gosh, I am obsessed with that. I feel
like that is such a good way of sharing content
as well. I love it. I can't say that any
of the notes that I wrote were that esthetic, like
they were literal photocopies, but that's okay. I had a
little loyal client base and I no longer serve them.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Yeah, yeah, well, hopefully this can be kind of like
a long term.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yeah it's yeah, you pop it out. I feel like
it's is so underrated. Do you know how many times
I've looked at it and gone, you know, what, I
should be putting finance content on there, because our community
are always asking me for like saving hacks and templates
and whatnot, and it just makes no sense for me
at this point in my life to be making those
and sitting down and going okay, like cause I just
(04:43):
don't have time, Like I don't have time, and if
I pop it on the website for free, Like it
doesn't get that much traction because we don't like market
it or anything. And the amount of times I get
messages from people that I'm like, oh my god, I
didn't realize you had free budget tenplates on your website, which,
by the way, free budget templates, there are saving hacks.
There are heaps of free things on our website. But like,
we don't market it. Why would we do that. I'm silly.
(05:06):
I'm not good at this.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
I offer my resources free to abridge Ontosure and the
medical students.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Also, you're like the most wholesome person in the entire world.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yeah, I mean it's been difficult for me throughout med
school and so.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
You know, we just want to help people in own community.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
That's right, That's what it's all about. Oh love.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
All right, Well, let's get into a money diary because
I want to ask you more about the financial side
of things really really soon. But let's start the way
we always start a money diary. If I asked you
to grade your habits from an A through to an F,
what do you think they would be?
Speaker 3 (05:37):
So this year I would say probably like a B
compared to the rest of my life. So I feel
like I've exponentially improved in the last chilt.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
So good.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Oh my gosh. All right, let's get into it. Money diarist,
I want to know this is my favorite question. Can
you tell me a little bit more about your money story.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah. So I am a Torres Strait Allander woman. I
grew up in Darwin. Both my parents, one of them
finished high school, the other one didn't. I guess they
were kind of told like they need to get a
job as soon as possible to kind of, you know,
make a family, things like that, and so my parents
kind of didn't go to university. A lot of people
(06:21):
in my family didn't go to university. I guess we
were all kind of just told, like, just get a
job in the government. You'll be safe, you'll have a
solid income, and everything will be you know, everything will
be great. You'll be set up for the rest of
your life. However, that kind of changed a little bit
when I was quite young. My dad got diagnosed with
(06:42):
like a very severe psychological illness which put him out
of the workforce, so he could no longer work and
was on a disability pension. And my mum kind of
was like the main breadwinner. She worked like two or
three jobs, which it was insane. Yeah, Like I think
about it now and I'm just like, what on earth
are you? Like, what were you doing?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I'm not not to spoil the story, but now that
you're a mum, do you now go, Mum, what the hell?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah, like how did you balance this?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Yeah? And you know, the reality was was that she didn't,
you know, like it was very difficult and so yeah,
like she kind of was doing so many things. So
it was kind of like this parallel where she was
super super tight with money and my dad was kind
of a little bit like I wasn't sure if he
(07:35):
ever contributed to the bills or anything like that with
his pension, but he was the kind of one where
like if we wanted like a Maca's ice cream or
something like, he would buy it for us, you know.
Or you know, if we wanted to go to the
movies or something, you know, he would buy it for us.
So I kind of grew up with those two parallels,
(07:55):
and I was, I guess, kind of encouraged to start
work early. So I started working at a part time
job when I was twelve years old, which is like,
you know, back then, I don't think there were any
laws about how old you could be when you worked.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
So I was twelve. You look very young. You're only
twenty nine. So no, they're definitely laws. But I'm going
to make some grand assumptions here, my friend, you paid
in cash, weren't you?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
No, I wasn't. It was all yeah, it was all
on the books. I was paid super yeah, twelve. Yeah,
I'm impressed.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Honestly, I'm very impressed.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Yeah, So I don't know if they're Yeah. So anyway,
that was and I got like six dollars fifty an
hour or something. So I started working when I was twelve,
in like part time jobs, and I guess kind of
growing up, you know, we didn't have a lot, Like
my parents had to default on their home loan, so
we you know, we're just moving rentals every year, and
(08:51):
so you know, we got the bare minimum, and you know,
we got food on the table, and there wasn't really
kind of anything that I didn't get. So there wasn't
like this energy, like the vibe that I you know,
was poor or anything like that, but it was just
kind of like, oh, we just don't spend the money
(09:13):
on a lot of things, right, So when I started working,
I was like, oh my god, I'm so rich, Like
I have all this money. And the only thing I
guess that was told to me from my mom. She
had to be very strict with her money. It was
just like, you just need to save your money. Like
that was kind of the extent of my financial education.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, what do I do?
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Mom?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yep, just say that you'll be fine.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Yeah, And so what did I do? I spent all
of it.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Yeah, you come across as someone who I can relate to.
My dad also told me to save all my money,
but I didn't listen. No is I'm much smarter than
an accountant. When I was fourteen years old and nine months.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Yeah, well like yeah, like I kind of you know,
like there were these like cool like custom shoes that
were at City Beach that were like super pop. There
were like eighty bucks, which is just ridiculous for that time,
like when I was that age. Yeah, like my parents
could not afford that, and so I was just like,
you know, earning maybe one hundred dollars of week or
(10:13):
a fortnight or something, and then like straight away I'll
be like I'm getting these new shoes, I'm getting this,
I'm getting that, and I didn't save any.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Of it, and then absolutely not any context, Like it
makes no sense. Like looking back, you're like, eighty dollars,
Like that is so much money when you're earning six
dollars fifty an hour. Like if you do some quick colcs,
that's twelve hours of work that you did for a
pair of shoes. Yeah, but at the time they were
real cool shoes, weren't they.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Yeah they were. Like even now at twenty nine years old,
I'm like, would I pay eighty dollars for shoes? Like
maybe maybe not, But that was just really interesting. And
then I guess kind of, you know, I kind of
went through a few different part time jobs, like various
kind of retail outlets, which was great. And afterwards, at sixteen,
my my dad passed away, and so that was kind
(11:05):
of like a very difficult time for a teenager and
for you know, my mum, who was like the sole
supporter of our family. My dad, I guess, you know,
he didn't really have any insurances or anything like that,
so we kind of had to rely on family to
try and support us financially for a little bit, and
(11:27):
to support like the funeral costs and all these things,
and I guess at the time, I was just kind
of like, oh, you know, that sucks, you know, But
now I'm like, oh, you know, I wish he kind
of knew a little bit more about that, you know.
And then yeah, I guess around that time it was
the first time that I was broken up with.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Well, so you were heartbroken as well.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
I was absolutely heartbroken by my boyfriend of like I
don't know, three months.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Yeah, because you're in love after three months.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Yeah, I distinctively remember to this day just being so
like heartbroken and like not knowing what to do with myself.
So I just kind of went to my bank. You know,
back then internet banking didn't exist.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Yeah, of course you have to go down to the bank.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Yeah. I went to my bank and I took out
like two hundred dollars, which was like my entirety of
my savings, and I just shopped until I dropped.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Oh my god, emotional spending.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
That's been my life until like two or three years ago.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Oh we just kept that up, did we?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Yeah? We did?
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Oh good?
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Yeah? Good.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah, at least did you enjoy it? Did you get
some more good shoes?
Speaker 3 (12:31):
I mean at the time, Yeah, it was great fun We've.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Just got to live and learn through these things. Honestly,
there's no point holding any shame about parts of our
money story because what does that do for us? Literally nothing?
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Yeah, exactly. I feel like I went through like trial
by fire though when it came to my finances.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Yeah. Wow.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
And then I kind of, you know, after losing my dad,
I transferred to a new school and I kind of
I want a scholarship to go there. It was one
of the best private schools in Duhwin, and so I
went there, and you know, I just decided that even
though I was a good student, that I was just
not gonna, you know, be that involved in class and
(13:14):
things like that. And I kind of like, you know,
decided that, like by then, I had my car and
my pea plates, you know, because in dah And back
then you could get it at like sixteen years and
six months you could get your pea plates.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Oh my gosh. Really I had to wait till eighteen.
Down in Victoria. They were very strict on there. So
I used to think it was a joke, but that
is okay.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Yeah, it's definitely what I see now in the hospital.
It's definitely appropriate.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
I was about to say it's a good idea.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Yeah. So I kind of just rocked after school whenever
I felt like it. A lot of my friends had
already dropped out to do kind of like apprenticeships or
go work in government, and I was very close to
doing that as well, but I can't remember why. I
just decided that I wasn't going to do it. And then,
you know, one day I kind of just you know,
walked out of class and I was like, I don't
(14:04):
like this school. I don't like that one anymore, Like
it was just getting a bit too much for me,
and so I just decided I was going to go.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
To boarding school. You're going to boarding school?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (14:13):
With who's money? Who was who was funding that one?
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Yeah exactly, No one's no one, No one could fund
it for me. So I kind of just I found
some boarding schools down South that looked good. I kind
of just typed in like boarding schools South Australia, and
then the first one I just called up and I
was like, Hey, I'm like keen to come to your school, like,
you know, can I talk to your principal?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Like they's just free straight to the top, babe.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
I was seventeen I just there was no fear. I
was just like, can I just have chat? And they
allowed that, and they were like, oh, yeah, he's free.
Let's like let's just yeah quick, like, oh he's free. Yeah, okay,
And then what happened? You've got to tell the whole
story here, my friend. Yeah, and then I kind of
just like e spoke to him. I was like, oh, hey,
like I'm year eleven student in Darwin, Like I really
want to attend your boarding school down South, Like I
(15:01):
really at the time, I wanted to be a lawyer.
I was doing legal studies. I really enjoyed it. And
I was like, you know, I just don't think that
if I stay here, I'm going to get the grades
that I want to be able to get into law.
And he was like okay. And then it just so
happened that, like you know, a lot of the boarding
schools down South they go to kind of like rule
(15:22):
remote areas to try and like get interest in boarding
and things like that, and so he was like, oh,
we're actually coming up to Darwin like next week, Like
why do we? I was like sweet, And then we
kind of went through the interview, you know, he was like,
you know, like why do you want to be a lawyer,
Why do you want to come down South? Blah blah blah.
And you know, I was just like a very good talker,
(15:43):
which is why I wanted to be a lawyer. And
he was like, well, we'd love to have you at
our school. And I was like, so, my mom is
a single mom. She can't afford it. She's on like
fifty k year Yeah. Wow, Like she just can't afford
your like forty k year feet Yeah, that's not going
to happen. Yeah. And he was like, oh, look, like
leave it with me and I'll like get back to you.
(16:05):
This was like a couple of months before the next
school year started, and then he kind of like called
my mom up the following week and he was like, oh, hey,
like I found like one of our previous students or
like I'm an old scholar, like has their own scholarship
fund and they'd be really happy to like pay for
her to come down and study for a year twelve
(16:25):
what and like pay for boarding as well.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
And then it all just happened.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah, So it was just amazing.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Baby. You was like, what do you mean that private
schools are restrictive? I'll be going to one. I actually,
you know what, I'll just pick one. Whichever one I want,
we'll be going there.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
I actually picked this one because it was the first
co ed school on the list, So.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Oh well, yeah, were they're boys there. Obviously you don't
want to just go to an all girls school if
you're planning your own life.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Out right, No, So I was like, you know, I
gotta keep my options open.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
And she's a genius. Yeah, the devil works hard, but
this money darist, she works harder. Guys.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Yeah, but I absolutely loved it, Like it was just
I came down, I was getting really good grades. You know,
the teachers were super supportive. I had a lot of
tutoring support that the boarding house provided to me, and
it just was just such a change from being you know,
in a rural place and coming to a different kind
of environment where you know, I guess they were just
(17:27):
so encouraging and like, yeah, you can do it, and
you know, I just hadn't really experienced that before and
so you know, I really really enjoyed it. And I
can't speak like highly enough of that school, Like it
was just amazing. And so yeah, after that, I decided
to stay, you know, down South for UNI because I
(17:48):
wanted to go to UNI. I did start doing law,
Like I managed to get like a cadet ship, so
I was able to do like a couple of days
in a law firm and the rest of the days
at UNI. And so I guess throughout that time, I
started like coming into a lot of money. Like for
at that time, it was a lot of money for me.
(18:09):
So I guess I was getting maybe around five hundred
dollars a week, which was like quite a lot.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
That's a lot of money, especially with the background that
you had come from, and you know the income that
you were historically earning just individually as a young teenager.
Like that's I feel like some people would look at
that and go, oh, well, that's not that much money.
That's so much money, I think for.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
An eighteen year old, which was like how I was
at the time. And I also applied for a scholarship
to get my accommodation like paid for, so I was
kind of living in and it was like a university college,
and so I had pretty much free accommodation. But you know,
(18:54):
a lot of the students there, you know, they were
just really focused on having fun and all of that stuff,
and I kind of had to work like two days
a week in an office, and like, I just wasn't
really vibing the place. And so I decided to move
out after my year had ended and my family moved
down from Darwin. Oh really, so I was living with
them for a while, which was great, And then my
(19:16):
sister went to the same boarding school, so you know,
she was able to have that same experience, which was lovely.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
How beautiful is that?
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Or because you decided to just call the first person
that came up on Google?
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Yeah? Literally?
Speaker 2 (19:30):
How good is that? And you've kind of like obviously
you had worked out at that age you were seventeen.
You're like, look, my trajectory isn't going to work out
the way I want to. I need this level of support.
You've not only changed the trajectory of your life, but
also your sister's life in making that decision. Isn't that wild?
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Yeah? And she's doing very well now?
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Or does she do?
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Tell us? So she's a final year neuroscience shootent would yeah,
but I'm trying to get her on the podcast because me,
you know, she's having a little bit of problems with money,
like in terms of budgeting and stuff, so I'm helping
her out a little bit as well.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
So, oh my gosh, you're finishing your doctor of medicine.
She's doing Europe what like that is so crazy?
Speaker 3 (20:14):
And my brother is also a lawyer. What Yeah, I
have a brother as well.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, the brother who's a lawyer. You have, Yeah, two
basically doctors in the family.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
What does your mum think of all of this? Is
she the most proud woman in the entire world?
Speaker 3 (20:29):
She is? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Oh my god, I would be too, Like, my heart
is so happy hearing this story. Imagine how proud your
dad would be of you. I know, Oh my god,
he would be over the moon. I bet he wouldn't
even believe it.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Yeah, he would be. Yeah, Like I often have like
a psychic that I talked to, and she kind of
connects with my dad, and you know, he does verbalize
that like, you know, a part of you I can't
believe that you're a doctor, like all these things, and
that gave me goosebumps.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
I feel like it's so nice to know. And I
know that so many people are going to be skeptical
of things like that, but it's just even if you
don't believe in it, and I do. But even if
you don't, isn't it beautiful that someone's found a way
to deal with grief and loss and change and feel
connected to a person in a way that without it
you wouldn't be able to. Like It's just ye, I
(21:20):
don't care what people think, because I definitely am of it.
I actually spoke to This is crazy. I spoke to
a psychic before I got pregnant both times, so I
don't know how closely people follow me on social media,
but recently I've gone through two pregnancy losses, both at
relatively late stages, which has been awful. But the psychic
(21:42):
that I spoke to predicted both of them perfectly. I
mean she didn't say that I'd lose them, but she
predicted absolutely everything around it. She predicted gender, she predicted
how I'd feel. She gave me all of these things,
and it's crazy because I've shown my team. They're like
notes that she gave me, and they were so specific.
They were like this song, this sign, and all of
(22:04):
them are not common. Like it's not as though, oh, Victoria,
he's a top ten song that's going to be playing
and you'll feel connected to it. It was just like
too many she told me, the dates, she told me everything.
Isn't it crazy how the world and the universe works,
like it just it blows my mind.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Yeah, no, it's I've definitely relied on it a lot
actually ever since I was a teenager to really get
me through periods of grief and as well. I've had
two miscarriages as well, and I've used that kind of
as this before I was studying medicine, and not that
I don't do it now, because I still do. I
have like a three monthly like psychic appointment.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Yeah, like it's quarterly and you know, like it's it
helps me feel a bit more kind of like at
ease and spiritually connected, and like that's very common in
Torres sh Islanders culture as well, you know, to feel
very you know, like spiritually connected and things like that,
and we rely on a lot of those kinds of
(23:02):
things to kind of place ourselves in the world and
that kind of thing. So I've definitely relied on that
a lot. And like I often have like my pre
pregnancy psychic appointment, like all these things like same, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Literally same. I feel like it's so beautiful that it's
part of your culture, and it just kind of makes
sense that that's then what grounds you, and that's then
what makes you feel so connected to like your ancestors
and your family. Like it just it kind of makes sense.
And I love the fact that even though you know,
you moved down to South Australia and like you went
(23:36):
so far, you're still kind of in a way connected
to that level of spirituality, because yeah, let's be honest,
a lot of the time when you uproot yourself in
such a way, you actually lose a lot of that
connection to culture, which ultimately is probably one of the
most important things.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
To you, absolutely, and yeah, it's super important. Around like
twenty two, So this is before I kind of, you know,
i'd finished UNI. I dropped out a law because I
didn't like it. I was doing international studies in sociology,
which I really really enjoyed. Worked in government for a bit,
got a graduate position, and like the pay was great,
(24:13):
the entitlements were great, I just didn't feel that fulfilled,
like working nine to five at a desk the whole week.
So I kind of decided then like that I would
attempt to get into medicine.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Yeah, no, biggie, no biggie, just a really small thing
that you could go and do.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Yeah. Yeah, I mean I was previously told by teachers
that I would not be smart enough to like get into,
you know, anything, Like I was told that I couldn't
even get into journalism, which is something that I really enjoyed.
So that kind of, you know, when I was a teenager,
I was like, oh, okay, I guess I'm not doing that.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Some teachers need to be sat down and spoken to.
Because I had a very similar experience where I was
told I wouldn't go anywhere.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Yeah, Like I had interest in medicine, but I was
just like, oh, there's no way I can do it
because people told me I wasn't smart enough. But then
I was like, oh, just have a crack, Like there's
no problem. I already have a safe job, Like there's
already like some kind of you know trajectory that I
can probably you know, get a bit higher whatever. So
I kind of like studied for all of that, did
(25:17):
very well, got in, and then I decided that I
was actually really worried that I would not have kids
because I would be super focused on my career and
so for me coming from like aatosha on a background
like family is super important and it was something that
I really valued. But I knew just my personality like
(25:39):
so far I had just gotten myself into just like
every single kind of extracurriculous thing you could think of.
And I was really worried that, like if I just
jumped straight into medicine, that I would.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Hit the ground and run and just sid and just
like not look back.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
And then it would it would be a bit you know,
too late by the time I considered that. So at
the time, my partner was like I said to him,
you know, like I'd really like to have a baby
before I start medicine, just to like you know, get
the ball rolling that kind of thing. And you know,
he agreed at the time, and so you know, we
(26:15):
got pregnant. We bought a house. Back then I just
thought I knew things about finance. I one hundred percent
did not. I just kind of went to a broker
and they just said sign here. His you're like your house,
like his parents guaranteled the loan, so like we really
didn't need to work hard for anything, like and you know,
that was very privileged position to be in, Like no
one in my family owns a house, so like that's
(26:38):
kind of been told to us, like, oh, you know,
if you own a house, like you've made it in life.
And so I was like, well, I just like got one,
so what's what's the problem. But like, honestly, I knew nothing,
Like I just walked in blind, did not do my research,
did not really care for like anything. I just kind
of thought, Okay, we've decided to have a family, let's
(27:00):
buy a house. And so we did. And then about
like thirty five weeks pregnant, my partner, or previous to that,
my partner had been in an accident when I was
like two months pregnant. He accidentally got really quite injured
and was in hospital for like two or three months,
and because it didn't happen at work, he didn't obviously
(27:20):
have any insurances to cover anything. Yeah wow, So I
ended up paying for everything, like the mortgage, all of
our joint bills. We had a car loan at the time,
and I was only on about eighteen hundred dollars a
fortnite from my government job, and it was very much
a tie squeeze. It was very stressful. And then he
(27:41):
couldn't go back to work or like rather he didn't
want to go back to work, I think, and so
about like thirty six weeks he just decided that, like
he didn't want to be together anymore. Yeah, wow, Oka,
he was just kind of like, oh yeah, I just
like don't love you anymore, so like let's just break up.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Oh good, idea, babe, by my only thirty six weeks
pregnant with your baby, and we have a mortgage and
a car loan together and probably a lot of connection,
but that's okay, have a nice laughter.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
It was very very just nonchalant, like it was very shocking,
and I felt, I guess after that, like I had
to move back in with my mum, which I was
like really grateful that, you know, like I definitely do
not have the bank of mum and Dad, but if
I ever need anywhere to stay, I can always stay
with them, So that's always been great. And so I
(28:31):
moved back in with her, gave birth. At the time,
I was able to get matt Lee from my government
job and from Senlink, so you know, I did have
quite a lot of income at that time, but I
was still having to like pay for my half of
the mortgage, even though I had moved out, and I
kind of gave him a deadline. I was like, look,
(28:52):
I'm going to give you like six months to get
back to work and decide what you want to do
with the house. Like, I can't continue paying this mortgage.
It was like eight hundred dollars a month for me
to pay. I was like, look, I'll help pay for
a little bit, but like we need to sort it out, like,
you know, because I just thought legally I still was
(29:14):
on the mortgage, so I still should have paid it,
even though I wasn't living there. Yeah, and so by
the time I stopped paying it, I was like, hey,
he hadn't made a decision about what we were going
to do, and that I just thought, okay, well you
can just pay it because you're living there. And then
I got a call from the bank to say that
we had defaulted because he had not paid the mortgage
for like two months in a row or something. Yeah.
(29:36):
So I was like, my baby was like five months old,
and then here I was just being like, oh my god,
my credit is just going to go through the floor. Yeah,
Like I was just so it was just such a
stressful time. Thankfully, Like that's kind of what got his
parents kind of made him sell the house so that
we could get out of it. Yeah, but that's kind
(29:59):
of I guess what happened. And yeah, like he doesn't
pay child support. He's not really involved in our life,
which is fine, Like I'm happy to pay for.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
My kid, Yeah, but it would be nice to know
that he wanted to support it. Like, yeah, it's a
crazy juxtaposition, right, Like, yeah, some people really really need
the money, which makes sense. But knowing the rest of
your money story, which our listeners don't write, now, your
life has turned around completely, Like you have a beautiful fiance, right, Like,
(30:29):
tell us about that side of it, because right now
it's looking a little bit grim.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Yes, So at that point, I started using after pay
a lot. I relied on after pay for all of
my purchases from when my son was like one years old,
and then a couple of years later, I started medicine again.
I was able to win a scholarship which allowed me
to move out of my mum's house and I was
able to rent, you know, just a small place for
(30:55):
me and my son at the time, which was really amazing.
And then shortly after that I met my fiance now exciting.
How did you meet?
Speaker 2 (31:05):
So we met on Hinge stunning.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Yes, So I kind of think it's a little bit
of fate because he was only like here down South
for like two months before he was moving overseas. So
this was like at the start of twenty twenty, right,
So this is when everyone was like super happy and
everyone was going really well. And then we started dating.
(31:29):
You know, we decided like our values a line, and
you know, we'd like to be serious. And you know,
he knew that in the long term, like he would
be considered by son's dad, but at the time, he
was training for a job that would be based overseas,
so because he was a pilot, so he went overseas.
I think about a month after we started dating. You know,
we had all these plans like, yeah, we'll go back
(31:50):
and forth and all these things. And that's when I
started to get a little bit better with my money
because I was like, Okay, I got to save money
so I can go overseas and see like my partner
and COVID hit oh no, and so like he couldn't
get back, I couldn't get to him. And then throughout
that period of time, throughout all of twenty twenty. Then
my money habits like went pretty bad again. Like I
(32:12):
pretty much spent the entirety of my money on either
plants or Uber eats.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
That's relatable for COVID though, Yeah, that's really really.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
It was like an exorbitant amount of money, Like it
was crazy, Like it was kind of like that whole
like just emotional spending again. Like I really was just like,
you know, I had my son at home with me
for the he like he couldn't go to childcare. Like
I was trying to study medicine online which was very
difficult and like pass my exams and things like that,
and so yeah, it was just really difficult to deal
(32:43):
with that, like by myself.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Yeah wow.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Obviously I had the support of my partner, like he
would you.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Know, emotionally there but not physically right.
Speaker 3 (32:51):
Yeah, and so like you know, he would like skype
us every day and like built a really good relationship
with my son, which was amazing. But then towards the
end of that year, he got told that he was
being made redundant because of COVID because he was a
recent higher So then he kind of came back to
Australia and yeah, since then he told me to tell
(33:14):
you that, like my money habits have gotten way better
because of him. Oh okay, yep mm hmm, yeah, and
I disagree. You know what, we can give it to him,
let him have it, Let him have it. I mean
we had similar upbringings, but he kind of went in
a different direction, Like he went in the hole, like
he needed to hold all of his money, like he
really needed to save all of it. He wasn't allowed
(33:34):
to buy anything, and I was kind.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Of like to spend it because emotionally that makes me.
It's like a little bit of an emotional crutch. It's
funny how trauma and just the way we go through
different circumstances can send us one way or the other. Yeah,
it's crazy to think that for one person, you come
out of a level of trauma and you save every
cent you've ever had and become the best with money
(33:57):
you've ever been, or you flip and you go, you
know what, I'm really good out after pay brilliant at it.
And it's just crazy to think that different people just
respond to different circumstances in ways like that. I love
learning more about people's stories purely because they're always so different.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
Yes, well, like we kind of had to come to
a happy medium because you know, we kind of like
we're getting mad at each other a lot about money,
So we kind of came to a happy medium. And then,
you know, I was still studying. I was in my
second or third year at UNI. We decided to have
another baby because my son was getting a bit older
(34:35):
and we didn't know when he was going to go
back overseas, so we thought, let's just have another baby.
So that was kind of the first time that I
attempted to save money or apart from the flight thing
to like go see him in twenty twenty, but I
attempted to save money because I was a student. I
wasn't eligible for maternity leave from send length, so like
(34:56):
I wanted to take the whole year off to be
at home with my daughter. And so I kind of
said to him, like, like that's what's important to me,
that's what I need before I go back to medicine,
and like we're going to have to like work out
all of our expenses and bills and like save up
so that can cover that for when I'm at home. Basically,
(35:17):
so we saved up I think maybe thirty or forty
grand because he was still working, so it was just
kind of like to cover our additional expenses while I
was at home. So that was last year, and yeah,
that we just kind of decided, like I started getting
super on my matt leave because I'm a very busy person.
(35:38):
I just can't like sit down and take care of
a baby. That's like really difficult. So I just kind
of decided last year like that I was going to
organize all these things and get my finances in order.
And then I found like, she's on the money.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Welcome to the family. Thank you, We've done nothing. Your
partner did it all.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
Yeah. Absolutely, he's going to claim that. And then I
just like I just told him, like, hey, we should
probably get married.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
You just told him, I feel like you're a vibe.
You just called a principal and said, hey, you should
give me a full scholarship to your boarding school. That's
what's going to happen. You just told him, you know what,
we're gonna have a baby. You're at home. Also, by
the way, we're getting married.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Did you know that?
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Did he take it well? He agreed or he did?
Speaker 3 (36:23):
Yeah, I mean it was definitely something we had previously
talked about. We just couldn't entirely sure when it was
going to be right, because you know, we're just in
different like our career paths were a little bit like,
you know, like tumultuous. We just didn't know when like
the perfect time would be. And so I kind of
said to him last year, like, hey, I figured out
the perfect time for us to get married is going
(36:44):
to be at the end of this year. So once
I finished my med degree and before I start working
as a doctor. Yep.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Stunning, She's planned it all out, yep.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
And then so that was like in the middle of
Matt Leaf and I just said like, hey, I'm just
going to start doing all of this stuff and I'm
just going to like look it in, just get it
done in, save all our money, sort it all out.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
So that's kind of what happened. And that was last year.
And the wedding's pretty much all sorted. I don't need
to worry about that at the moment. How exciting, But
it is an expensive wedding, like it's going to be
you know, it's in Darwin. Here's Chinese arm Treasure Islander.
We have like a billion family members who will one
hundred percent need to all be invited, and you know
(37:26):
that's really important to us as well. We're very like
family orientated.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
What's expensive when it comes to a wedding, Well, like I.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
Didn't think it was that expensive because I've just heard
that this is the general price. But whenever I say
to people, oh, it's this much money, they're like, they're
like really shocked, Like, so ours I think is going
to be in total, like for everything, maju, we have
cut expenses here or there. I think it was going
to be fifty seven k.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Yeah. Wow, it feels like a lot of money. But
at the same time, that's about the average of what
an Australian wedding is now, and I mean the average
is probably not that reflect because that takes into consideration
those outliers of people who do spend hundreds of thousands
of dollars on their weddings. But at the same time,
I don't think it's shocking when people spend that anymore.
(38:12):
I think in you know, maybe nineteen ninety, if you're
saying that was what your wedding costs, people would be horrified.
But these days, I think times have changed, right, Like
marriage is no longer some kind of prerequisite to having
a successful relationship. And you know, as you've shown, you
don't need to get married to then have kids and
have you know, perfect timeline. You can kind of just
(38:33):
make it up and do whatever you want that makes
you happy. And I think that nowadays because marriage I
don't know. I feel like, from my perspective, marriage now
feels like a luxury, Like it is a luxury to
me to have had the opportunity to get married to
my partner, because to achieve all the other life things
that we wanted to do, we didn't need to be married.
And technically I feel like I had very very similar
(38:55):
rights before we got married. But I think it's now
exactly become a luxury. So when you talk about the
expense of it, it feels like a bit of a
cheeky expense, whereas historically it was like oh money, jarist,
how very dare you move in with your not married men?
Like it's crazy right to think how different the world
used to be and now it's just you do whatever
(39:16):
you want. Like I lived with my partner four years
before we got married. We had pets, like, we didn't
have kids yet, but it wouldn't have surprised me if
we had had kids. Yet, Like it's just it's the
world we live in now where I think that people
are shocked because it feels like a luxury expense, right, And.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
I know a lot of people have said to me like, oh,
wouldn't you like think that money could be better spent elsewhere?
And I've kind of said, like.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Well, why are you questioning my money values and the
way that I'm running my life? Maybe for you if
you had that, But it's crazy because I had quite
an extravagant wedding. My wedding was very over the top.
I regret nothing, not one thing. Yeah, not one thing.
The amount of times people like do you wish you
spent less? No, probably could have spent more. Best day
(40:01):
of my entire life. Like I loved every second of it.
My husband and I talk about it weekly. Still we're
always like, oh, our wedding, we could do it again,
Like it was the best thing ever. But then there
are people who say, oh, I'd never get married, it's
a waste of money. You do you boo? That's fine.
I could not care what you spend your money on.
But what I do ask is that you respect the
(40:21):
decisions I make around my finances because they do not
impact anybody but me. They don't, So I think it's
wild to me that people can be so judgmental, like, oh,
couldn't you spend that better? Yes, Suzanne probably could not
gone to though.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
I have lots of questions and I want to dive
straight back into your money story right after this. All right, guys,
we are back. This money diarist is incredible. I am
so excited to be sharing her with you. I want
to know, now, though, what are you currently doing for
work and how much are you earning?
Speaker 3 (40:58):
So, Like, I'm a fine year medical student. I have
like some scholarships that I've accumulated over the years from studying,
so from those I get about seventeen hundred dollars a fortnight.
I'm also a tutor for aboriginal torture under university students,
so I tutor ound about four different universities.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
Oh my gosh. Yeah, you're doing all of this stuff
and someone at some point had the audacity to tell
you you weren't smart enough for medicine, and now you're
teaching it to other people. Okay.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
Yeah, it's also kind of a little bit of a
selfish thing, like in that I really enjoy, you know,
like helping them and helping them understand things that I
didn't necessarily have that same tutoring support in my early
years of medicine, especially not from someone who was aboriginal
troisure islander. So there was that kind of mutual understanding
(41:52):
of lifestyle and culture and like our kind of expectations
of our commitment to medicine. Like it's just a little
bit harder, Like not all of us are living with
our parents. You know, we have kids. We just have
a lot of things that we need to juggle it around,
especially if we need to go, you know, go away
(42:12):
and see family and things like that. And so you know,
I feel like, you know, like I kind of help
my students understand stuff so that they can just like
shut off and just focus on their life as well,
like have a good work life balance, focus on family,
focus on their kids, focus on you know, if they
need to work as well. Like it's really really difficult,
(42:34):
and when you're studying medicine, like my unied particularly it's
only four years, so it's just like bam bam, bam,
bam bam, Like it's just NonStop.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
Yeah, that's really condensed, like it's.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
NonStop, and so people, you know, have a really tough
time like trying to work through that and like just
having so many things that they need to do, and
also just emotional support as well.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
Yeah, totally totally, And I mean I can't empathize with
it because I haven't been in that situation, but I
can completely understand that that's actually really necessary. Like you
just want people to get where you've come from and
get your I guess background and what you've been through,
and it just makes sense that you would fall perfectly
into that situation to be I guess, that supportive person.
(43:19):
I love that you get to do that, and I
love that people get to experience you in that way.
They get to actually, you know, connect, and I feel
like that's so important, especially during UNI when it can
just feel all consuming and overwhelming.
Speaker 3 (43:31):
Right, Yeah, absolutely So from my tutoring, it's quite variable
because it just depends on the student's requirements. But since
I'm shooting for four unis, I generally get about one
thousand to two thousand a fortnite from shooting. Well, yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
You're just doing really well financially as well while studying
at UNI, and you've started your etsy side hustle.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
Made one hundred bucks from that, thus far passive income.
We love to see it, Is it any other way
that you're generating income?
Speaker 3 (44:00):
Also do and this is like very casual, Like I
kind of do, like writing reviews for a local kids
social media presence, like if we go to a new playground,
or write a review on that. If we go to
a new like recently we had the Adelaide Fringe, So
like a lot of the shows that are directed towards kids,
I can write reviews on that. That's very casual. I
(44:20):
only do it when I have time and if you know,
my kids are interested in what we're going to do.
But generally, like around four hundred a year I'll get
from that as well.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
Oh how cool is that? I feel like you're the
ultimate side hustler going to be a doctor?
Speaker 3 (44:34):
Yes? Yeah, how good? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (44:36):
All right. You mentioned before that you're getting married soon
and that's all kind of like sorted. But I want
to know what big money goals are you currently working towards.
Speaker 3 (44:46):
So that's one of them. Like I still have about
forty k left I need to save for that, which
I think will be fine. Like over the next couple
of months just like that. With my partner's income as well,
because he works FIFA, so he kind of covers a
lot of the things, and I save for the wedding
pretty much my entire income.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
Yeah wow, yeah, so we have that.
Speaker 3 (45:08):
I recently just started my own chasa's portfolio. I guess,
like being a little bit. I felt really comfortable after
I had listened to a lot of things on She's
on the Money and some other kind of like finance podcasts,
I finally felt comfortable enough to just, I guess start that.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
Congrats, that's so exciting.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
Yeah. So I put fifty dollars a fortnite into that
and just kind of like alternate. I love chasas, like
I alternate automatic investment profiles or whatever they call it.
One fortnite I invest into blue chip stuff, and the
following fortnite I invest into ETFs, and so I have
around six hundred in that at the moment. But I
really like the automaticity of that, So that just kind
(45:49):
of does its own thing for me.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
I feel like that makes things so easy. That was
actually my next question to you. I was going to say,
do you invest if so whatdy? I already answered that,
But do you invest in any other or is it
just Sharez's at this point.
Speaker 3 (46:02):
At the moment, I just have share ease. I have
been putting away money for my current kids slash future kids,
which I probably I've been looking into a few different
ways where I can invest at the Vanguard Kids account
also sounds pretty good. Cool, So as I kind of
start working properly next year, that'll be my focus to
(46:22):
kind of really up my shares investments and really get
all of that going. Yeah, and also like next year
probably we do want to buy a house, so that'll
be like another block of saving we'll have to do.
Speaker 2 (46:34):
How good?
Speaker 3 (46:34):
All right?
Speaker 2 (46:35):
I want to know you mentioned that you used to
be pretty good at after pay. Do you currently have
any debt? If so, what is it and what is
it for?
Speaker 3 (46:43):
So I stopped using after pay it's been almost a year.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
Now, good behavior.
Speaker 3 (46:49):
Yeah, I used it for such a long time.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
It just becomes a habit. It just becomes a way
that you function, right. It becomes part of your budgeting
cash flow system, and it can be really hard to
move away from if you've become to on it.
Speaker 3 (47:00):
And see, my partner doesn't use it ever because he
always just if he needs to buy something here already
he has cash on hand or like in it that
he's already saved for, so like he's never used it.
And so, you know, as I started, you know, educating
myself a little bit more about finance and listening to things,
and then I looked at my credit score, which is
like average, it's not great, and so I was like, oh, like,
(47:21):
I really need to stop using this. So I stopped
using it about a year ago, and it's been great.
I haven't been tempted to use it again. Like I
feel like there were a lot of times where I
was like, I paid it off and I was like,
I'm not going to use it again, and then within
like a month I would use it again. But yeah,
like I haven't used it for a year. I don't
think i'll use it again now because I've actually been
able to put myself in a position where if I
need to buy something, I have money sitting now, Like
(47:43):
I don't need to put it over a month per se.
I have a car loan it's currently sitting out seventeen K,
but I pay make regular payments on that and then
it finishes up next year. So I'm keen to just
pay that out and then just like leave it there
and like not get another car loan. That's the only
debt that I have at the moment.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
How good? All right, Yeah, it sounds like you've got
some pretty good money habits. What would you say is
your best money habit?
Speaker 3 (48:09):
I think, just at the moment, like the fact that
I'm saving quite a lot of money for the wedding
and not digging into it is just next level for
me because that's never been the case for me for
such a long time, for like my whole life.
Speaker 2 (48:23):
Basically, yeah.
Speaker 3 (48:24):
Wow. So the fact that I've been able to like
get educated enough and like manage my self control and
just kind of you know, not be needing to buy
a lot of things. I think that's my best money
habit at the moment is the fact that I'm literally
not spending the money that I'm saving.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
See, that's a good money habit. It takes a lot
of discipline and change for that to occur. Like, let's
bring down the mood again, though, I want to know,
what do you think is your worst money habit?
Speaker 3 (48:54):
So I particularly don't think I have one, to be honest,
because I'm just amazing now. But according to my partner,
he reckons. My worst money habit is that I use
the heater too much.
Speaker 2 (49:06):
That's not a bad money habit. That's an essential service.
I don't know why.
Speaker 3 (49:09):
Because I pay for it so so I don't care
who you called here.
Speaker 2 (49:13):
I will put your like. This was an ongoing argument
growing up for me. My dad would always set the
heater in our house to twenty one. He would go
to work, I'd put it up to twenty four. He
was on his way home from work, I'd put it
back down to twenty one. Pretend it never happens. That's
literally me genius. I still do that. I still do that.
The best thing about being an adult is being able
(49:33):
to regulate your own heater in your own house. I know,
I know, I'm not talking to your partner about that.
He can have the credit for your financial literricy, but
I'm not letting him tell you that using the heater
too often is a bad idea one out of ten
can't recommend.
Speaker 3 (49:47):
I also do tend to like whenever there's a scrub sale,
so like hospital scrub. Yes, I literally have like ten
different pairs of hospital scrubs that are all different beautiful colors,
and I love them. I've just kind of like gone
from not wearing professional clothes now in the hospital because
it's just uncomfortable. And I also just had a baby
(50:09):
and none of them fit me, and I don't want
to buy new clothes, and so to buy a pair
of scrub sets on sale is like about forty or
fifty dollars, and so I've just kind of like, as
I've had spare money, as I go along, I've just
kind of bore one here or there, and now that's
my uniform.
Speaker 2 (50:25):
Now you've got a gorgeous collection.
Speaker 3 (50:27):
I mean, but if I was left to my own devices,
I would definitely auto more.
Speaker 2 (50:32):
Yeah, that's fair. We'll try and manage that. Oh my gosh,
this has been an epic money diary. The last question
before we go, though, is you mentioned at the start
of this episode that you were a bee when it
came to grading your money habits. And I feel like
I've learned so much about you, so much about what
you've done for your family, but also just the fact
(50:52):
that you've managed a baby, having had a mortgage historically,
getting out of that now having another baby, going through medicine,
getting rid of after pay, like doing everything that you've done,
having the side hustle that you have, and then also
doing tutoring and having your scholarship. I feel like you
are just way smarter at money than you probably give
yourself credit for. Do you still think that you're a
(51:15):
B and if so, why? But if not, what would
it take to get to an A?
Speaker 3 (51:21):
Look, you've convinced me, so I feel like I can
be an A. I know you can be an A.
Speaker 2 (51:25):
We can all be as. It just takes a lot
of work.
Speaker 3 (51:28):
It does. I feel like I'm on such a good
trajectory now, like I'm have a good income coming in
and next year as I start working as well as
a doctor, like, I'll continue to have a good income and.
Speaker 2 (51:41):
It's just going to go up from there.
Speaker 3 (51:43):
Yeah, Like I really want to focus on investing a lot,
Like I don't necessarily want to retire early, but I
want to have a good, you know, investment portfolio with
a good like passive income so that you know, I
can kind of just start working part time because you know,
spending time with my family is really important to me,
(52:05):
and I don't really buy into the whole like six
days working a week as.
Speaker 2 (52:09):
A doctor so yeah, that's fair, especially when you have
kids and you did drop future children, so I'm assuming
that you're going to have more than two and I
feel like, yes, you're going to need a lot more
work life balance.
Speaker 3 (52:20):
Yes, and that's huge for me. So yeah, I really
want to set myself up so that that's possible and
I don't need to be working for money.
Speaker 1 (52:27):
You know.
Speaker 4 (52:28):
I love this.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
I feel like this has been such a beautiful story
to share with the community. Unfortunately, that is all we
have time for today. Money direst Thank you so much.
I'm so grateful that I get to share this story
and that people get to learn from you, if not
about becoming a doctor, but just about putting yourself out
there and asking, because what's the worst thing people can say, No,
you're just calling others school and ask for a different scholarship.
Speaker 3 (52:51):
Thank you, thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (53:00):
Buy shared on She's on the Money is general in
nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on
the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not
be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision.
If you do choose to buy a financial product, read
the PDS TMD and obtain appropriate financial.
Speaker 2 (53:18):
Advice tailored towards your needs.
Speaker 4 (53:20):
Victoria Divine and She's on the Money are authorized representatives
of money. Sheper Pty Ltd ABN three two one six
four nine two seven seven zero eight AFSL four five
one two eight nine
Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr
the Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before
we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
(00:22):
through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Let's get into it. She's on the Money. She's on
the Money. Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money,
(01:00):
the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back
to another one of our money diaries where I get
the privilege of talking to one of our incredible She's
on the Money community members all about their journey. Let's
jump straight into it, because this week I got a
message that went like this, Hi Ve, I'm a Torres
Strait Islander woman who is twenty nine years old with
(01:21):
two kids. I was a single mum at twenty three
years old after my ex left me eight months pregnant
and I had to pay our mortgage. I'm now in
the final year of my doctor of medicine. My income
comes from scholarships and tutoring. I have a new side
hustle making med students notes that I sell on Etsy,
and I'm saving for my wedding to my beautiful five
(01:43):
fo fiance. Money Diarist, What how good is that you
just like sell your med notes? Yeah, yeah, your genius.
I used to do that, like, not med notes. I
never did med school like, so that would make no sense.
But I used to photocopy my notes and sell them
at UNI. What are you doing just taking this to
the fiftieth level by selling them online?
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Yeah, so I use Canva. So I guess medical notes.
I guess there's a lot of similarities between a lot
of the unis and Australia and overseas and stuff where
I guess, you know, we get kind of given, you know,
information about like things we need to ask patients for
specific problems, and so usually the UNI will just give
you like a PDF. It's just like a table and
(02:26):
it's really just boring and ugly, not that sexy. No,
And you basically have to memorize this and then you know,
in your kind of exams, your clinical like tests and stuff,
you basically have to memorize that whole thing and ask,
you know, the patients those questions. Like, my undergrad was
in arts, so I did sociology and international studies, so
(02:50):
I kind of identify a little bit artsy. And yeah,
I just figured like I'm a very visual learner, and
if I was able to see these kind of like
summaries of histories and physical examinations right in front of
me that were like color coded and super pretty, like,
it would be really good for my recall.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Oh my gosh, you're a genius.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah, So I started making those. I just launched last week.
I've made about one hundred dollars so far.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Oh my gosh, money weed.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, and it would like force you to study to
put it in the best possible format to themselves, so
you're like business making and studying at the same time.
You're an actual genius.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Yes, I use it as like a form of meditation
as well. Like I have a very full on life,
so when my partner's not here, when he's away at work,
I kind of use it as kind of like a
meditative practice. But I'm also studying at the same.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Time, I'm obsessed. A week on Etsy and you've made
a hundred bucks. That is actually really really good. That
never happens.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
I know nothing about business. I know nothing about any
of that, so I'm kind of stumbling my way through.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Oh my gosh, I am obsessed with that. I feel
like that is such a good way of sharing content
as well. I love it. I can't say that any
of the notes that I wrote were that esthetic, like
they were literal photocopies, but that's okay. I had a
little loyal client base and I no longer serve them.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Yeah, yeah, well, hopefully this can be kind of like
a long term.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yeah it's yeah, you pop it out. I feel like
it's is so underrated. Do you know how many times
I've looked at it and gone, you know, what, I
should be putting finance content on there, because our community
are always asking me for like saving hacks and templates
and whatnot, and it just makes no sense for me
at this point in my life to be making those
and sitting down and going okay, like cause I just
(04:43):
don't have time, Like I don't have time, and if
I pop it on the website for free, Like it
doesn't get that much traction because we don't like market
it or anything. And the amount of times I get
messages from people that I'm like, oh my god, I
didn't realize you had free budget tenplates on your website, which,
by the way, free budget templates, there are saving hacks.
There are heaps of free things on our website. But like,
we don't market it. Why would we do that. I'm silly.
(05:06):
I'm not good at this.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
I offer my resources free to abridge Ontosure and the
medical students.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Also, you're like the most wholesome person in the entire world.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yeah, I mean it's been difficult for me throughout med
school and so.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
You know, we just want to help people in own community.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
That's right, That's what it's all about. Oh love.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
All right, Well, let's get into a money diary because
I want to ask you more about the financial side
of things really really soon. But let's start the way
we always start a money diary. If I asked you
to grade your habits from an A through to an F,
what do you think they would be?
Speaker 3 (05:37):
So this year I would say probably like a B
compared to the rest of my life. So I feel
like I've exponentially improved in the last chilt.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
So good.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Oh my gosh. All right, let's get into it. Money diarist,
I want to know this is my favorite question. Can
you tell me a little bit more about your money story.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah. So I am a Torres Strait Allander woman. I
grew up in Darwin. Both my parents, one of them
finished high school, the other one didn't. I guess they
were kind of told like they need to get a
job as soon as possible to kind of, you know,
make a family, things like that, and so my parents
kind of didn't go to university. A lot of people
(06:21):
in my family didn't go to university. I guess we
were all kind of just told, like, just get a
job in the government. You'll be safe, you'll have a
solid income, and everything will be you know, everything will
be great. You'll be set up for the rest of
your life. However, that kind of changed a little bit
when I was quite young. My dad got diagnosed with
(06:42):
like a very severe psychological illness which put him out
of the workforce, so he could no longer work and
was on a disability pension. And my mum kind of
was like the main breadwinner. She worked like two or
three jobs, which it was insane. Yeah, Like I think
about it now and I'm just like, what on earth
are you? Like, what were you doing?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I'm not not to spoil the story, but now that
you're a mum, do you now go, Mum, what the hell?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah, like how did you balance this?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Yeah? And you know, the reality was was that she didn't,
you know, like it was very difficult and so yeah,
like she kind of was doing so many things. So
it was kind of like this parallel where she was
super super tight with money and my dad was kind
of a little bit like I wasn't sure if he
(07:35):
ever contributed to the bills or anything like that with
his pension, but he was the kind of one where
like if we wanted like a Maca's ice cream or
something like, he would buy it for us, you know.
Or you know, if we wanted to go to the
movies or something, you know, he would buy it for us.
So I kind of grew up with those two parallels,
(07:55):
and I was, I guess, kind of encouraged to start
work early. So I started working at a part time
job when I was twelve years old, which is like,
you know, back then, I don't think there were any
laws about how old you could be when you worked.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
So I was twelve. You look very young. You're only
twenty nine. So no, they're definitely laws. But I'm going
to make some grand assumptions here, my friend, you paid
in cash, weren't you?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
No, I wasn't. It was all yeah, it was all
on the books. I was paid super yeah, twelve. Yeah,
I'm impressed.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Honestly, I'm very impressed.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Yeah, So I don't know if they're Yeah. So anyway,
that was and I got like six dollars fifty an
hour or something. So I started working when I was twelve,
in like part time jobs, and I guess kind of
growing up, you know, we didn't have a lot, Like
my parents had to default on their home loan, so
we you know, we're just moving rentals every year, and
(08:51):
so you know, we got the bare minimum, and you know,
we got food on the table, and there wasn't really
kind of anything that I didn't get. So there wasn't
like this energy, like the vibe that I you know,
was poor or anything like that, but it was just
kind of like, oh, we just don't spend the money
(09:13):
on a lot of things, right, So when I started working,
I was like, oh my god, I'm so rich, Like
I have all this money. And the only thing I
guess that was told to me from my mom. She
had to be very strict with her money. It was
just like, you just need to save your money. Like
that was kind of the extent of my financial education.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, what do I do?
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Mom?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yep, just say that you'll be fine.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Yeah, And so what did I do? I spent all
of it.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Yeah, you come across as someone who I can relate to.
My dad also told me to save all my money,
but I didn't listen. No is I'm much smarter than
an accountant. When I was fourteen years old and nine months.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Yeah, well like yeah, like I kind of you know,
like there were these like cool like custom shoes that
were at City Beach that were like super pop. There
were like eighty bucks, which is just ridiculous for that time,
like when I was that age. Yeah, like my parents
could not afford that, and so I was just like,
you know, earning maybe one hundred dollars of week or
(10:13):
a fortnight or something, and then like straight away I'll
be like I'm getting these new shoes, I'm getting this,
I'm getting that, and I didn't save any.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Of it, and then absolutely not any context, Like it
makes no sense. Like looking back, you're like, eighty dollars,
Like that is so much money when you're earning six
dollars fifty an hour. Like if you do some quick colcs,
that's twelve hours of work that you did for a
pair of shoes. Yeah, but at the time they were
real cool shoes, weren't they.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Yeah they were. Like even now at twenty nine years old,
I'm like, would I pay eighty dollars for shoes? Like
maybe maybe not, But that was just really interesting. And
then I guess kind of, you know, I kind of
went through a few different part time jobs, like various
kind of retail outlets, which was great. And afterwards, at sixteen,
my my dad passed away, and so that was kind
(11:05):
of like a very difficult time for a teenager and
for you know, my mum, who was like the sole
supporter of our family. My dad, I guess, you know,
he didn't really have any insurances or anything like that,
so we kind of had to rely on family to
try and support us financially for a little bit, and
(11:27):
to support like the funeral costs and all these things,
and I guess at the time, I was just kind
of like, oh, you know, that sucks, you know, But
now I'm like, oh, you know, I wish he kind
of knew a little bit more about that, you know.
And then yeah, I guess around that time it was
the first time that I was broken up with.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Well, so you were heartbroken as well.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
I was absolutely heartbroken by my boyfriend of like I
don't know, three months.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Yeah, because you're in love after three months.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Yeah, I distinctively remember to this day just being so
like heartbroken and like not knowing what to do with myself.
So I just kind of went to my bank. You know,
back then internet banking didn't exist.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Yeah, of course you have to go down to the bank.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Yeah. I went to my bank and I took out
like two hundred dollars, which was like my entirety of
my savings, and I just shopped until I dropped.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Oh my god, emotional spending.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
That's been my life until like two or three years ago.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Oh we just kept that up, did we?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Yeah? We did?
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Oh good?
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Yeah? Good.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah, at least did you enjoy it? Did you get
some more good shoes?
Speaker 3 (12:31):
I mean at the time, Yeah, it was great fun We've.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Just got to live and learn through these things. Honestly,
there's no point holding any shame about parts of our
money story because what does that do for us? Literally nothing?
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Yeah, exactly. I feel like I went through like trial
by fire though when it came to my finances.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Yeah. Wow.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
And then I kind of, you know, after losing my dad,
I transferred to a new school and I kind of
I want a scholarship to go there. It was one
of the best private schools in Duhwin, and so I
went there, and you know, I just decided that even
though I was a good student, that I was just
not gonna, you know, be that involved in class and
(13:14):
things like that. And I kind of like, you know,
decided that, like by then, I had my car and
my pea plates, you know, because in dah And back
then you could get it at like sixteen years and
six months you could get your pea plates.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Oh my gosh. Really I had to wait till eighteen.
Down in Victoria. They were very strict on there. So
I used to think it was a joke, but that
is okay.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Yeah, it's definitely what I see now in the hospital.
It's definitely appropriate.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
I was about to say it's a good idea.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Yeah. So I kind of just rocked after school whenever
I felt like it. A lot of my friends had
already dropped out to do kind of like apprenticeships or
go work in government, and I was very close to
doing that as well, but I can't remember why. I
just decided that I wasn't going to do it. And then,
you know, one day I kind of just you know,
walked out of class and I was like, I don't
(14:04):
like this school. I don't like that one anymore, Like
it was just getting a bit too much for me,
and so I just decided I was going to go.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
To boarding school. You're going to boarding school?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (14:13):
With who's money? Who was who was funding that one?
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Yeah exactly, No one's no one, No one could fund
it for me. So I kind of just I found
some boarding schools down South that looked good. I kind
of just typed in like boarding schools South Australia, and
then the first one I just called up and I
was like, Hey, I'm like keen to come to your school, like,
you know, can I talk to your principal?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Like they's just free straight to the top, babe.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
I was seventeen I just there was no fear. I
was just like, can I just have chat? And they
allowed that, and they were like, oh, yeah, he's free.
Let's like let's just yeah quick, like, oh he's free. Yeah, okay,
And then what happened? You've got to tell the whole
story here, my friend. Yeah, and then I kind of
just like e spoke to him. I was like, oh, hey,
like I'm year eleven student in Darwin, Like I really
want to attend your boarding school down South, Like I
(15:01):
really at the time, I wanted to be a lawyer.
I was doing legal studies. I really enjoyed it. And
I was like, you know, I just don't think that
if I stay here, I'm going to get the grades
that I want to be able to get into law.
And he was like okay. And then it just so
happened that, like you know, a lot of the boarding
schools down South they go to kind of like rule
(15:22):
remote areas to try and like get interest in boarding
and things like that, and so he was like, oh,
we're actually coming up to Darwin like next week, Like
why do we? I was like sweet, And then we
kind of went through the interview, you know, he was like,
you know, like why do you want to be a lawyer,
Why do you want to come down South? Blah blah blah.
And you know, I was just like a very good talker,
(15:43):
which is why I wanted to be a lawyer. And
he was like, well, we'd love to have you at
our school. And I was like, so, my mom is
a single mom. She can't afford it. She's on like
fifty k year Yeah. Wow, Like she just can't afford
your like forty k year feet Yeah, that's not going
to happen. Yeah. And he was like, oh, look, like
leave it with me and I'll like get back to you.
(16:05):
This was like a couple of months before the next
school year started, and then he kind of like called
my mom up the following week and he was like, oh, hey,
like I found like one of our previous students or
like I'm an old scholar, like has their own scholarship
fund and they'd be really happy to like pay for
her to come down and study for a year twelve
(16:25):
what and like pay for boarding as well.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
And then it all just happened.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah, So it was just amazing.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Baby. You was like, what do you mean that private
schools are restrictive? I'll be going to one. I actually,
you know what, I'll just pick one. Whichever one I want,
we'll be going there.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
I actually picked this one because it was the first
co ed school on the list, So.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Oh well, yeah, were they're boys there. Obviously you don't
want to just go to an all girls school if
you're planning your own life.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Out right, No, So I was like, you know, I
gotta keep my options open.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
And she's a genius. Yeah, the devil works hard, but
this money darist, she works harder. Guys.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Yeah, but I absolutely loved it, Like it was just
I came down, I was getting really good grades. You know,
the teachers were super supportive. I had a lot of
tutoring support that the boarding house provided to me, and
it just was just such a change from being you know,
in a rural place and coming to a different kind
of environment where you know, I guess they were just
(17:27):
so encouraging and like, yeah, you can do it, and
you know, I just hadn't really experienced that before and
so you know, I really really enjoyed it. And I
can't speak like highly enough of that school, Like it
was just amazing. And so yeah, after that, I decided
to stay, you know, down South for UNI because I
(17:48):
wanted to go to UNI. I did start doing law,
Like I managed to get like a cadet ship, so
I was able to do like a couple of days
in a law firm and the rest of the days
at UNI. And so I guess throughout that time, I
started like coming into a lot of money. Like for
at that time, it was a lot of money for me.
(18:09):
So I guess I was getting maybe around five hundred
dollars a week, which was like quite a lot.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
That's a lot of money, especially with the background that
you had come from, and you know the income that
you were historically earning just individually as a young teenager.
Like that's I feel like some people would look at
that and go, oh, well, that's not that much money.
That's so much money, I think for.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
An eighteen year old, which was like how I was
at the time. And I also applied for a scholarship
to get my accommodation like paid for, so I was
kind of living in and it was like a university college,
and so I had pretty much free accommodation. But you know,
(18:54):
a lot of the students there, you know, they were
just really focused on having fun and all of that stuff,
and I kind of had to work like two days
a week in an office, and like, I just wasn't
really vibing the place. And so I decided to move
out after my year had ended and my family moved
down from Darwin. Oh really, so I was living with
them for a while, which was great, And then my
(19:16):
sister went to the same boarding school, so you know,
she was able to have that same experience, which was lovely.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
How beautiful is that?
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Or because you decided to just call the first person
that came up on Google?
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Yeah? Literally?
Speaker 2 (19:30):
How good is that? And you've kind of like obviously
you had worked out at that age you were seventeen.
You're like, look, my trajectory isn't going to work out
the way I want to. I need this level of support.
You've not only changed the trajectory of your life, but
also your sister's life in making that decision. Isn't that wild?
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Yeah? And she's doing very well now?
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Or does she do?
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Tell us? So she's a final year neuroscience shootent would yeah,
but I'm trying to get her on the podcast because me,
you know, she's having a little bit of problems with money,
like in terms of budgeting and stuff, so I'm helping
her out a little bit as well.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
So, oh my gosh, you're finishing your doctor of medicine.
She's doing Europe what like that is so crazy?
Speaker 3 (20:14):
And my brother is also a lawyer. What Yeah, I
have a brother as well.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, the brother who's a lawyer. You have, Yeah, two
basically doctors in the family.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
What does your mum think of all of this? Is
she the most proud woman in the entire world?
Speaker 3 (20:29):
She is? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Oh my god, I would be too, Like, my heart
is so happy hearing this story. Imagine how proud your
dad would be of you. I know, Oh my god,
he would be over the moon. I bet he wouldn't
even believe it.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Yeah, he would be. Yeah, Like I often have like
a psychic that I talked to, and she kind of
connects with my dad, and you know, he does verbalize
that like, you know, a part of you I can't
believe that you're a doctor, like all these things, and
that gave me goosebumps.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
I feel like it's so nice to know. And I
know that so many people are going to be skeptical
of things like that, but it's just even if you
don't believe in it, and I do. But even if
you don't, isn't it beautiful that someone's found a way
to deal with grief and loss and change and feel
connected to a person in a way that without it
you wouldn't be able to. Like It's just ye, I
(21:20):
don't care what people think, because I definitely am of it.
I actually spoke to This is crazy. I spoke to
a psychic before I got pregnant both times, so I
don't know how closely people follow me on social media,
but recently I've gone through two pregnancy losses, both at
relatively late stages, which has been awful. But the psychic
(21:42):
that I spoke to predicted both of them perfectly. I
mean she didn't say that I'd lose them, but she
predicted absolutely everything around it. She predicted gender, she predicted
how I'd feel. She gave me all of these things,
and it's crazy because I've shown my team. They're like
notes that she gave me, and they were so specific.
They were like this song, this sign, and all of
(22:04):
them are not common. Like it's not as though, oh, Victoria,
he's a top ten song that's going to be playing
and you'll feel connected to it. It was just like
too many she told me, the dates, she told me everything.
Isn't it crazy how the world and the universe works,
like it just it blows my mind.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Yeah, no, it's I've definitely relied on it a lot
actually ever since I was a teenager to really get
me through periods of grief and as well. I've had
two miscarriages as well, and I've used that kind of
as this before I was studying medicine, and not that
I don't do it now, because I still do. I
have like a three monthly like psychic appointment.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Yeah, like it's quarterly and you know, like it's it
helps me feel a bit more kind of like at
ease and spiritually connected, and like that's very common in
Torres sh Islanders culture as well, you know, to feel
very you know, like spiritually connected and things like that,
and we rely on a lot of those kinds of
(23:02):
things to kind of place ourselves in the world and
that kind of thing. So I've definitely relied on that
a lot. And like I often have like my pre
pregnancy psychic appointment, like all these things like same, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Literally same. I feel like it's so beautiful that it's
part of your culture, and it just kind of makes
sense that that's then what grounds you, and that's then
what makes you feel so connected to like your ancestors
and your family. Like it just it kind of makes sense.
And I love the fact that even though you know,
you moved down to South Australia and like you went
(23:36):
so far, you're still kind of in a way connected
to that level of spirituality, because yeah, let's be honest,
a lot of the time when you uproot yourself in
such a way, you actually lose a lot of that
connection to culture, which ultimately is probably one of the
most important things.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
To you, absolutely, and yeah, it's super important. Around like
twenty two, So this is before I kind of, you know,
i'd finished UNI. I dropped out a law because I
didn't like it. I was doing international studies in sociology,
which I really really enjoyed. Worked in government for a bit,
got a graduate position, and like the pay was great,
(24:13):
the entitlements were great, I just didn't feel that fulfilled,
like working nine to five at a desk the whole week.
So I kind of decided then like that I would
attempt to get into medicine.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Yeah, no, biggie, no biggie, just a really small thing
that you could go and do.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Yeah. Yeah, I mean I was previously told by teachers
that I would not be smart enough to like get into,
you know, anything, Like I was told that I couldn't
even get into journalism, which is something that I really enjoyed.
So that kind of, you know, when I was a teenager,
I was like, oh, okay, I guess I'm not doing that.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Some teachers need to be sat down and spoken to.
Because I had a very similar experience where I was
told I wouldn't go anywhere.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Yeah, Like I had interest in medicine, but I was
just like, oh, there's no way I can do it
because people told me I wasn't smart enough. But then
I was like, oh, just have a crack, Like there's
no problem. I already have a safe job, Like there's
already like some kind of you know trajectory that I
can probably you know, get a bit higher whatever. So
I kind of like studied for all of that, did
(25:17):
very well, got in, and then I decided that I
was actually really worried that I would not have kids
because I would be super focused on my career and
so for me coming from like aatosha on a background
like family is super important and it was something that
I really valued. But I knew just my personality like
(25:39):
so far I had just gotten myself into just like
every single kind of extracurriculous thing you could think of.
And I was really worried that, like if I just
jumped straight into medicine, that I would.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Hit the ground and run and just sid and just
like not look back.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
And then it would it would be a bit you know,
too late by the time I considered that. So at
the time, my partner was like I said to him,
you know, like I'd really like to have a baby
before I start medicine, just to like you know, get
the ball rolling that kind of thing. And you know,
he agreed at the time, and so you know, we
(26:15):
got pregnant. We bought a house. Back then I just
thought I knew things about finance. I one hundred percent
did not. I just kind of went to a broker
and they just said sign here. His you're like your house,
like his parents guaranteled the loan, so like we really
didn't need to work hard for anything, like and you know,
that was very privileged position to be in, Like no
one in my family owns a house, so like that's
(26:38):
kind of been told to us, like, oh, you know,
if you own a house, like you've made it in life.
And so I was like, well, I just like got one,
so what's what's the problem. But like, honestly, I knew nothing,
Like I just walked in blind, did not do my research,
did not really care for like anything. I just kind
of thought, Okay, we've decided to have a family, let's
(27:00):
buy a house. And so we did. And then about
like thirty five weeks pregnant, my partner, or previous to that,
my partner had been in an accident when I was
like two months pregnant. He accidentally got really quite injured
and was in hospital for like two or three months,
and because it didn't happen at work, he didn't obviously
(27:20):
have any insurances to cover anything. Yeah wow, So I
ended up paying for everything, like the mortgage, all of
our joint bills. We had a car loan at the time,
and I was only on about eighteen hundred dollars a
fortnite from my government job, and it was very much
a tie squeeze. It was very stressful. And then he
(27:41):
couldn't go back to work or like rather he didn't
want to go back to work, I think, and so
about like thirty six weeks he just decided that, like
he didn't want to be together anymore. Yeah, wow, Oka,
he was just kind of like, oh yeah, I just
like don't love you anymore, so like let's just break up.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Oh good, idea, babe, by my only thirty six weeks
pregnant with your baby, and we have a mortgage and
a car loan together and probably a lot of connection,
but that's okay, have a nice laughter.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
It was very very just nonchalant, like it was very shocking,
and I felt, I guess after that, like I had
to move back in with my mum, which I was
like really grateful that, you know, like I definitely do
not have the bank of mum and Dad, but if
I ever need anywhere to stay, I can always stay
with them, So that's always been great. And so I
(28:31):
moved back in with her, gave birth. At the time,
I was able to get matt Lee from my government
job and from Senlink, so you know, I did have
quite a lot of income at that time, but I
was still having to like pay for my half of
the mortgage, even though I had moved out, and I
kind of gave him a deadline. I was like, look,
(28:52):
I'm going to give you like six months to get
back to work and decide what you want to do
with the house. Like, I can't continue paying this mortgage.
It was like eight hundred dollars a month for me
to pay. I was like, look, I'll help pay for
a little bit, but like we need to sort it out, like,
you know, because I just thought legally I still was
(29:14):
on the mortgage, so I still should have paid it,
even though I wasn't living there. Yeah, and so by
the time I stopped paying it, I was like, hey,
he hadn't made a decision about what we were going
to do, and that I just thought, okay, well you
can just pay it because you're living there. And then
I got a call from the bank to say that
we had defaulted because he had not paid the mortgage
for like two months in a row or something. Yeah.
(29:36):
So I was like, my baby was like five months old,
and then here I was just being like, oh my god,
my credit is just going to go through the floor. Yeah,
Like I was just so it was just such a
stressful time. Thankfully, Like that's kind of what got his
parents kind of made him sell the house so that
we could get out of it. Yeah, but that's kind
(29:59):
of I guess what happened. And yeah, like he doesn't
pay child support. He's not really involved in our life,
which is fine, Like I'm happy to pay for.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
My kid, Yeah, but it would be nice to know
that he wanted to support it. Like, yeah, it's a
crazy juxtaposition, right, Like, yeah, some people really really need
the money, which makes sense. But knowing the rest of
your money story, which our listeners don't write, now, your
life has turned around completely, Like you have a beautiful fiance, right, Like,
(30:29):
tell us about that side of it, because right now
it's looking a little bit grim.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Yes, So at that point, I started using after pay
a lot. I relied on after pay for all of
my purchases from when my son was like one years old,
and then a couple of years later, I started medicine again.
I was able to win a scholarship which allowed me
to move out of my mum's house and I was
able to rent, you know, just a small place for
(30:55):
me and my son at the time, which was really amazing.
And then shortly after that I met my fiance now exciting.
How did you meet?
Speaker 2 (31:05):
So we met on Hinge stunning.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Yes, So I kind of think it's a little bit
of fate because he was only like here down South
for like two months before he was moving overseas. So
this was like at the start of twenty twenty, right,
So this is when everyone was like super happy and
everyone was going really well. And then we started dating.
(31:29):
You know, we decided like our values a line, and
you know, we'd like to be serious. And you know,
he knew that in the long term, like he would
be considered by son's dad, but at the time, he
was training for a job that would be based overseas,
so because he was a pilot, so he went overseas.
I think about a month after we started dating. You know,
we had all these plans like, yeah, we'll go back
(31:50):
and forth and all these things. And that's when I
started to get a little bit better with my money
because I was like, Okay, I got to save money
so I can go overseas and see like my partner
and COVID hit oh no, and so like he couldn't
get back, I couldn't get to him. And then throughout
that period of time, throughout all of twenty twenty. Then
my money habits like went pretty bad again. Like I
(32:12):
pretty much spent the entirety of my money on either
plants or Uber eats.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
That's relatable for COVID though, Yeah, that's really really.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
It was like an exorbitant amount of money, Like it
was crazy, Like it was kind of like that whole
like just emotional spending again. Like I really was just like,
you know, I had my son at home with me
for the he like he couldn't go to childcare. Like
I was trying to study medicine online which was very
difficult and like pass my exams and things like that,
and so yeah, it was just really difficult to deal
(32:43):
with that, like by myself.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Yeah wow.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Obviously I had the support of my partner, like he
would you.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Know, emotionally there but not physically right.
Speaker 3 (32:51):
Yeah, and so like you know, he would like skype
us every day and like built a really good relationship
with my son, which was amazing. But then towards the
end of that year, he got told that he was
being made redundant because of COVID because he was a
recent higher So then he kind of came back to
Australia and yeah, since then he told me to tell
(33:14):
you that, like my money habits have gotten way better
because of him. Oh okay, yep mm hmm, yeah, and
I disagree. You know what, we can give it to him,
let him have it, Let him have it. I mean
we had similar upbringings, but he kind of went in
a different direction, Like he went in the hole, like
he needed to hold all of his money, like he
really needed to save all of it. He wasn't allowed
(33:34):
to buy anything, and I was kind.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Of like to spend it because emotionally that makes me.
It's like a little bit of an emotional crutch. It's
funny how trauma and just the way we go through
different circumstances can send us one way or the other. Yeah,
it's crazy to think that for one person, you come
out of a level of trauma and you save every
cent you've ever had and become the best with money
(33:57):
you've ever been, or you flip and you go, you
know what, I'm really good out after pay brilliant at it.
And it's just crazy to think that different people just
respond to different circumstances in ways like that. I love
learning more about people's stories purely because they're always so different.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
Yes, well, like we kind of had to come to
a happy medium because you know, we kind of like
we're getting mad at each other a lot about money,
So we kind of came to a happy medium. And then,
you know, I was still studying. I was in my
second or third year at UNI. We decided to have
another baby because my son was getting a bit older
(34:35):
and we didn't know when he was going to go
back overseas, so we thought, let's just have another baby.
So that was kind of the first time that I
attempted to save money or apart from the flight thing
to like go see him in twenty twenty, but I
attempted to save money because I was a student. I
wasn't eligible for maternity leave from send length, so like
(34:56):
I wanted to take the whole year off to be
at home with my daughter. And so I kind of
said to him, like, like that's what's important to me,
that's what I need before I go back to medicine,
and like we're going to have to like work out
all of our expenses and bills and like save up
so that can cover that for when I'm at home. Basically,
(35:17):
so we saved up I think maybe thirty or forty
grand because he was still working, so it was just
kind of like to cover our additional expenses while I
was at home. So that was last year, and yeah,
that we just kind of decided, like I started getting
super on my matt leave because I'm a very busy person.
(35:38):
I just can't like sit down and take care of
a baby. That's like really difficult. So I just kind
of decided last year like that I was going to
organize all these things and get my finances in order.
And then I found like, she's on the money.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Welcome to the family. Thank you, We've done nothing. Your
partner did it all.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
Yeah. Absolutely, he's going to claim that. And then I
just like I just told him, like, hey, we should
probably get married.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
You just told him, I feel like you're a vibe.
You just called a principal and said, hey, you should
give me a full scholarship to your boarding school. That's
what's going to happen. You just told him, you know what,
we're gonna have a baby. You're at home. Also, by
the way, we're getting married.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Did you know that?
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Did he take it well? He agreed or he did?
Speaker 3 (36:23):
Yeah, I mean it was definitely something we had previously
talked about. We just couldn't entirely sure when it was
going to be right, because you know, we're just in
different like our career paths were a little bit like,
you know, like tumultuous. We just didn't know when like
the perfect time would be. And so I kind of
said to him last year, like, hey, I figured out
the perfect time for us to get married is going
(36:44):
to be at the end of this year. So once
I finished my med degree and before I start working
as a doctor. Yep.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Stunning, She's planned it all out, yep.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
And then so that was like in the middle of
Matt Leaf and I just said like, hey, I'm just
going to start doing all of this stuff and I'm
just going to like look it in, just get it
done in, save all our money, sort it all out.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
So that's kind of what happened. And that was last year.
And the wedding's pretty much all sorted. I don't need
to worry about that at the moment. How exciting, But
it is an expensive wedding, like it's going to be
you know, it's in Darwin. Here's Chinese arm Treasure Islander.
We have like a billion family members who will one
hundred percent need to all be invited, and you know
(37:26):
that's really important to us as well. We're very like
family orientated.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
What's expensive when it comes to a wedding, Well, like I.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
Didn't think it was that expensive because I've just heard
that this is the general price. But whenever I say
to people, oh, it's this much money, they're like, they're
like really shocked, Like, so ours I think is going
to be in total, like for everything, maju, we have
cut expenses here or there. I think it was going
to be fifty seven k.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Yeah. Wow, it feels like a lot of money. But
at the same time, that's about the average of what
an Australian wedding is now, and I mean the average
is probably not that reflect because that takes into consideration
those outliers of people who do spend hundreds of thousands
of dollars on their weddings. But at the same time,
I don't think it's shocking when people spend that anymore.
(38:12):
I think in you know, maybe nineteen ninety, if you're
saying that was what your wedding costs, people would be horrified.
But these days, I think times have changed, right, Like
marriage is no longer some kind of prerequisite to having
a successful relationship. And you know, as you've shown, you
don't need to get married to then have kids and
have you know, perfect timeline. You can kind of just
(38:33):
make it up and do whatever you want that makes
you happy. And I think that nowadays because marriage I
don't know. I feel like, from my perspective, marriage now
feels like a luxury, Like it is a luxury to
me to have had the opportunity to get married to
my partner, because to achieve all the other life things
that we wanted to do, we didn't need to be married.
And technically I feel like I had very very similar
(38:55):
rights before we got married. But I think it's now
exactly become a luxury. So when you talk about the
expense of it, it feels like a bit of a
cheeky expense, whereas historically it was like oh money, jarist,
how very dare you move in with your not married men?
Like it's crazy right to think how different the world
used to be and now it's just you do whatever
(39:16):
you want. Like I lived with my partner four years
before we got married. We had pets, like, we didn't
have kids yet, but it wouldn't have surprised me if
we had had kids. Yet, Like it's just it's the
world we live in now where I think that people
are shocked because it feels like a luxury expense, right, And.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
I know a lot of people have said to me like, oh,
wouldn't you like think that money could be better spent elsewhere?
And I've kind of said, like.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Well, why are you questioning my money values and the
way that I'm running my life? Maybe for you if
you had that, But it's crazy because I had quite
an extravagant wedding. My wedding was very over the top.
I regret nothing, not one thing. Yeah, not one thing.
The amount of times people like do you wish you
spent less? No, probably could have spent more. Best day
(40:01):
of my entire life. Like I loved every second of it.
My husband and I talk about it weekly. Still we're
always like, oh, our wedding, we could do it again,
Like it was the best thing ever. But then there
are people who say, oh, I'd never get married, it's
a waste of money. You do you boo? That's fine.
I could not care what you spend your money on.
But what I do ask is that you respect the
(40:21):
decisions I make around my finances because they do not
impact anybody but me. They don't, So I think it's
wild to me that people can be so judgmental, like, oh,
couldn't you spend that better? Yes, Suzanne probably could not
gone to though.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
I have lots of questions and I want to dive
straight back into your money story right after this. All right, guys,
we are back. This money diarist is incredible. I am
so excited to be sharing her with you. I want
to know, now, though, what are you currently doing for
work and how much are you earning?
Speaker 3 (40:58):
So, Like, I'm a fine year medical student. I have
like some scholarships that I've accumulated over the years from studying,
so from those I get about seventeen hundred dollars a fortnight.
I'm also a tutor for aboriginal torture under university students,
so I tutor ound about four different universities.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
Oh my gosh. Yeah, you're doing all of this stuff
and someone at some point had the audacity to tell
you you weren't smart enough for medicine, and now you're
teaching it to other people. Okay.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
Yeah, it's also kind of a little bit of a
selfish thing, like in that I really enjoy, you know,
like helping them and helping them understand things that I
didn't necessarily have that same tutoring support in my early
years of medicine, especially not from someone who was aboriginal
troisure islander. So there was that kind of mutual understanding
(41:52):
of lifestyle and culture and like our kind of expectations
of our commitment to medicine. Like it's just a little
bit harder, Like not all of us are living with
our parents. You know, we have kids. We just have
a lot of things that we need to juggle it around,
especially if we need to go, you know, go away
(42:12):
and see family and things like that. And so you know,
I feel like, you know, like I kind of help
my students understand stuff so that they can just like
shut off and just focus on their life as well,
like have a good work life balance, focus on family,
focus on their kids, focus on you know, if they
need to work as well. Like it's really really difficult,
(42:34):
and when you're studying medicine, like my unied particularly it's
only four years, so it's just like bam bam, bam,
bam bam, Like it's just NonStop.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
Yeah, that's really condensed, like it's.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
NonStop, and so people, you know, have a really tough
time like trying to work through that and like just
having so many things that they need to do, and
also just emotional support as well.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
Yeah, totally totally, And I mean I can't empathize with
it because I haven't been in that situation, but I
can completely understand that that's actually really necessary. Like you
just want people to get where you've come from and
get your I guess background and what you've been through,
and it just makes sense that you would fall perfectly
into that situation to be I guess, that supportive person.
(43:19):
I love that you get to do that, and I
love that people get to experience you in that way.
They get to actually, you know, connect, and I feel
like that's so important, especially during UNI when it can
just feel all consuming and overwhelming.
Speaker 3 (43:31):
Right, Yeah, absolutely So from my tutoring, it's quite variable
because it just depends on the student's requirements. But since
I'm shooting for four unis, I generally get about one
thousand to two thousand a fortnite from shooting. Well, yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
You're just doing really well financially as well while studying
at UNI, and you've started your etsy side hustle.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
Made one hundred bucks from that, thus far passive income.
We love to see it, Is it any other way
that you're generating income?
Speaker 3 (44:00):
Also do and this is like very casual, Like I
kind of do, like writing reviews for a local kids
social media presence, like if we go to a new playground,
or write a review on that. If we go to
a new like recently we had the Adelaide Fringe, So
like a lot of the shows that are directed towards kids,
I can write reviews on that. That's very casual. I
(44:20):
only do it when I have time and if you know,
my kids are interested in what we're going to do.
But generally, like around four hundred a year I'll get
from that as well.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
Oh how cool is that? I feel like you're the
ultimate side hustler going to be a doctor?
Speaker 3 (44:34):
Yes? Yeah, how good? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (44:36):
All right. You mentioned before that you're getting married soon
and that's all kind of like sorted. But I want
to know what big money goals are you currently working towards.
Speaker 3 (44:46):
So that's one of them. Like I still have about
forty k left I need to save for that, which
I think will be fine. Like over the next couple
of months just like that. With my partner's income as well,
because he works FIFA, so he kind of covers a
lot of the things, and I save for the wedding
pretty much my entire income.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
Yeah wow, yeah, so we have that.
Speaker 3 (45:08):
I recently just started my own chasa's portfolio. I guess,
like being a little bit. I felt really comfortable after
I had listened to a lot of things on She's
on the Money and some other kind of like finance podcasts,
I finally felt comfortable enough to just, I guess start that.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
Congrats, that's so exciting.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
Yeah. So I put fifty dollars a fortnite into that
and just kind of like alternate. I love chasas, like
I alternate automatic investment profiles or whatever they call it.
One fortnite I invest into blue chip stuff, and the
following fortnite I invest into ETFs, and so I have
around six hundred in that at the moment. But I
really like the automaticity of that, So that just kind
(45:49):
of does its own thing for me.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
I feel like that makes things so easy. That was
actually my next question to you. I was going to say,
do you invest if so whatdy? I already answered that,
But do you invest in any other or is it
just Sharez's at this point.
Speaker 3 (46:02):
At the moment, I just have share ease. I have
been putting away money for my current kids slash future kids,
which I probably I've been looking into a few different
ways where I can invest at the Vanguard Kids account
also sounds pretty good. Cool, So as I kind of
start working properly next year, that'll be my focus to
(46:22):
kind of really up my shares investments and really get
all of that going. Yeah, and also like next year
probably we do want to buy a house, so that'll
be like another block of saving we'll have to do.
Speaker 2 (46:34):
How good?
Speaker 3 (46:34):
All right?
Speaker 2 (46:35):
I want to know you mentioned that you used to
be pretty good at after pay. Do you currently have
any debt? If so, what is it and what is
it for?
Speaker 3 (46:43):
So I stopped using after pay it's been almost a year.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
Now, good behavior.
Speaker 3 (46:49):
Yeah, I used it for such a long time.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
It just becomes a habit. It just becomes a way
that you function, right. It becomes part of your budgeting
cash flow system, and it can be really hard to
move away from if you've become to on it.
Speaker 3 (47:00):
And see, my partner doesn't use it ever because he
always just if he needs to buy something here already
he has cash on hand or like in it that
he's already saved for, so like he's never used it.
And so, you know, as I started, you know, educating
myself a little bit more about finance and listening to things,
and then I looked at my credit score, which is
like average, it's not great, and so I was like, oh, like,
(47:21):
I really need to stop using this. So I stopped
using it about a year ago, and it's been great.
I haven't been tempted to use it again. Like I
feel like there were a lot of times where I
was like, I paid it off and I was like,
I'm not going to use it again, and then within
like a month I would use it again. But yeah,
like I haven't used it for a year. I don't
think i'll use it again now because I've actually been
able to put myself in a position where if I
need to buy something, I have money sitting now, Like
(47:43):
I don't need to put it over a month per se.
I have a car loan it's currently sitting out seventeen K,
but I pay make regular payments on that and then
it finishes up next year. So I'm keen to just
pay that out and then just like leave it there
and like not get another car loan. That's the only
debt that I have at the moment.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
How good? All right, Yeah, it sounds like you've got
some pretty good money habits. What would you say is
your best money habit?
Speaker 3 (48:09):
I think, just at the moment, like the fact that
I'm saving quite a lot of money for the wedding
and not digging into it is just next level for
me because that's never been the case for me for
such a long time, for like my whole life.
Speaker 2 (48:23):
Basically, yeah.
Speaker 3 (48:24):
Wow. So the fact that I've been able to like
get educated enough and like manage my self control and
just kind of you know, not be needing to buy
a lot of things. I think that's my best money
habit at the moment is the fact that I'm literally
not spending the money that I'm saving.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
See, that's a good money habit. It takes a lot
of discipline and change for that to occur. Like, let's
bring down the mood again, though, I want to know,
what do you think is your worst money habit?
Speaker 3 (48:54):
So I particularly don't think I have one, to be honest,
because I'm just amazing now. But according to my partner,
he reckons. My worst money habit is that I use
the heater too much.
Speaker 2 (49:06):
That's not a bad money habit. That's an essential service.
I don't know why.
Speaker 3 (49:09):
Because I pay for it so so I don't care
who you called here.
Speaker 2 (49:13):
I will put your like. This was an ongoing argument
growing up for me. My dad would always set the
heater in our house to twenty one. He would go
to work, I'd put it up to twenty four. He
was on his way home from work, I'd put it
back down to twenty one. Pretend it never happens. That's
literally me genius. I still do that. I still do that.
The best thing about being an adult is being able
(49:33):
to regulate your own heater in your own house. I know,
I know, I'm not talking to your partner about that.
He can have the credit for your financial literricy, but
I'm not letting him tell you that using the heater
too often is a bad idea one out of ten
can't recommend.
Speaker 3 (49:47):
I also do tend to like whenever there's a scrub sale,
so like hospital scrub. Yes, I literally have like ten
different pairs of hospital scrubs that are all different beautiful colors,
and I love them. I've just kind of like gone
from not wearing professional clothes now in the hospital because
it's just uncomfortable. And I also just had a baby
(50:09):
and none of them fit me, and I don't want
to buy new clothes, and so to buy a pair
of scrub sets on sale is like about forty or
fifty dollars, and so I've just kind of like, as
I've had spare money, as I go along, I've just
kind of bore one here or there, and now that's
my uniform.
Speaker 2 (50:25):
Now you've got a gorgeous collection.
Speaker 3 (50:27):
I mean, but if I was left to my own devices,
I would definitely auto more.
Speaker 2 (50:32):
Yeah, that's fair. We'll try and manage that. Oh my gosh,
this has been an epic money diary. The last question
before we go, though, is you mentioned at the start
of this episode that you were a bee when it
came to grading your money habits. And I feel like
I've learned so much about you, so much about what
you've done for your family, but also just the fact
(50:52):
that you've managed a baby, having had a mortgage historically,
getting out of that now having another baby, going through medicine,
getting rid of after pay, like doing everything that you've done,
having the side hustle that you have, and then also
doing tutoring and having your scholarship. I feel like you
are just way smarter at money than you probably give
yourself credit for. Do you still think that you're a
(51:15):
B and if so, why? But if not, what would
it take to get to an A?
Speaker 3 (51:21):
Look, you've convinced me, so I feel like I can
be an A. I know you can be an A.
Speaker 2 (51:25):
We can all be as. It just takes a lot
of work.
Speaker 3 (51:28):
It does. I feel like I'm on such a good
trajectory now, like I'm have a good income coming in
and next year as I start working as well as
a doctor, like, I'll continue to have a good income and.
Speaker 2 (51:41):
It's just going to go up from there.
Speaker 3 (51:43):
Yeah, Like I really want to focus on investing a lot,
Like I don't necessarily want to retire early, but I
want to have a good, you know, investment portfolio with
a good like passive income so that you know, I
can kind of just start working part time because you know,
spending time with my family is really important to me,
(52:05):
and I don't really buy into the whole like six
days working a week as.
Speaker 2 (52:09):
A doctor so yeah, that's fair, especially when you have
kids and you did drop future children, so I'm assuming
that you're going to have more than two and I
feel like, yes, you're going to need a lot more
work life balance.
Speaker 3 (52:20):
Yes, and that's huge for me. So yeah, I really
want to set myself up so that that's possible and
I don't need to be working for money.
Speaker 1 (52:27):
You know.
Speaker 4 (52:28):
I love this.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
I feel like this has been such a beautiful story
to share with the community. Unfortunately, that is all we
have time for today. Money direst Thank you so much.
I'm so grateful that I get to share this story
and that people get to learn from you, if not
about becoming a doctor, but just about putting yourself out
there and asking, because what's the worst thing people can say, No,
you're just calling others school and ask for a different scholarship.
Speaker 3 (52:51):
Thank you, thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (53:00):
Buy shared on She's on the Money is general in
nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on
the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not
be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision.
If you do choose to buy a financial product, read
the PDS TMD and obtain appropriate financial.
Speaker 2 (53:18):
Advice tailored towards your needs.
Speaker 4 (53:20):
Victoria Divine and She's on the Money are authorized representatives
of money. Sheper Pty Ltd ABN three two one six
four nine two seven seven zero eight AFSL four five
one two eight nine
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!