August 24, 2025 • 33 mins
Have you ever had to say no to something you couldn’t afford... and it completely changed your life? This week’s Money Diarist has. She was literally ranked top 10 in the world as a professional athlete… while earning less than $20k a year. (Yep, you heard that right. Top 10 in the world, but that's all she was paid). Backed by her powerhouse single mum, she trained, studied, worked odd jobs, and poured everything into her sport, until the moment came to head to Europe to compete and the price tag was just too high. That no changed everything. Fast forward to today and her money story looks very different. She’s swapped early morning training for a six-figure 9–5, added a pilates side hustle and has gone through a casual financial glow-up. Fast forward to today and she’s swapped early morning training for a six-figure 9–5, added a Pilates side hustle, and gone through a casual financial glow-up. This diary has it all: the brutal truth about money in elite sport, a comeback story worth cheering for, and the reminder that your “no” today might just be what sets you up for a much bigger yes tomorrow.
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Acknowledgement of Country By Nartarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
My name's Aatasha Bamblet. I'm a proud First Nations woman
and I'm here to acknowledge country t Glenn Young Ganya Niana,
kaka ya Ya bin Ahaka Nian Our gay In Nimbina,
yakarum jar Dominyama, Domaga Ithawakaman, damon Imlan Bomber bang Gadabomba
in and now in wakah ghana on yakram jar Watnadaa. Hello,
(00:22):
beautiful friends, we gather on the lands of the Aboriginal people.
We thank acknowledge and respect the Abiginal people's land that
we're gathering on today. Take pleasure in all the land
and respect all that you see. She's on the Money
podcast acknowledges culture, country, community and connections, bringing you the tools,
knowledge and resources for you to thrive.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
She's on the Money. She's on the Money.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
that lets you be pervy about other people's money situations
for educational purposes, of course. Welcome back to another one
of our Money Diaries episodes where I get the absolute
pleasure of sitting down and having a chat with one
of our She's on the Money community members all about
their money story. Let's jump straight into it, because this
(01:27):
week I got a message and it sounded exactly like this. Hi,
she's on the money. I used to be a professional
athlete earning twenty thousand dollars a year that was paid
quarterly while juggling part time, study and casual jobs, all
backed by my single income family who took on multiple
mortgages to support my dream. But at the height of
my career, I couldn't afford to send myself to Europe
(01:49):
to compete, and that completely changed the trajectory of my life.
Now I'm a full time instructional designer with a polates
side hustle, a homeowner with a growing share portfolio, and
an above average super I've gone from financial stress to
financial strength. It has been a wild ride. Money Darist,
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Hello, thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
This is fun. Tell me before we even dive further
into it for ask you to give your money habits
a grade from A through to air. What grade would
you be giving them?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I'm going to go in kind of strong with a
B plus. I think I'm very organized in my finances.
I have a pretty good cash flow system set up
for each payday, which is my favorite thing. Every payday,
everything send itself automatically to where it needs to go.
But I do think there's a bit of room for
me to improve with budgeting on my sort of smaller
(02:40):
day to day expenses. I do succumb to the chiky
impulse by here and there, and I love eating out,
so that can chew down on the old bank balance occasionally.
Give it.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
We just girls, and sometimes we do need to eat out.
So I get it.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
We do.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
I get it. So tell me a little bit more
about your money story. I'm so interested. How do you
become a professional athlete? And what do you mean you
only earned twenty thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah, you become a professional athlete completely by accident. You
start when you're a kid, and you love it so
much that you just keep going. And one day you
wake up and you go, oh my goodness, I'm I'm
a professional athlete. This is my job. This is what
I do every day, and this is what I love
and I get to do it and it's incredible and amazing.
Not without some struggles on the way there, though. So
(03:27):
I was just me and my mom growing up. Really,
I'm about to just tell you how absolutely wonderful my
mom is.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Good. I can't wait, I'm stripped in I'm ready. Let
me know about your mom. So things were kind of
tough for us growing up. For me, growing up, I
knew we weren't super wealthy, but my mom did a
really good job of hiding the extent of kind of
what our situation was like from me.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I absolutely never lacked anything that I needed. She made
sure that I had absolutely everything that I could imagine
that I would need. And I got pretty serious about
sport from a young age. Joined my local club when
I was eight, and I was competing at a state
level by nine. So it all happened very quickly.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
That's kind of crazy. You were obviously some kind of unicorn,
I like to think. So I also think, so, guys,
I know what sport it is, and sadly, it's a
pretty regular sport. It's not like a shot put or
like something really fancy, like really exciting, but also not
as niche as it could have been.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yep, just just standard run of the mill, do you
know what.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
That's good? That's good. So tell me a bit more
about your mum, who sounds like an absolute legend this
type of sport that you're doing. Obviously, when you're that young,
starting it would require you to have some pretty significant
training as well. And like, sorry, but at the age
of nine, you're not driving yourself to training like your
single income family I'm assuming was driving you to sport.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Yes, absolutely, my mum was early mornings in the sport
that I'm in, so early mornings, late nights to and
from school, from school, training, from training to school, all
that sort of stuff. And you're looking at expenses of
like you know, even from that kind of young age
of nine and competing at that state level, it's competition
entries and expenses, it's equipment, it's nutritious meals to have
(05:14):
a child that's both growing and doing a lot of exercise,
fully fueled and healthy, and all that stuff was starting
to add up. So she was already footing the bill
for all of that from when I was at such
a young age and by the time I'd gotten to twelve,
we were going to national championships, which was you know,
interstate trips and flights and accommodation and all of that
(05:36):
stuff that you can imagine, you know, adds up to
you know, five grand ten grand at a time for
you know, a twelve year old child to pursue their dreams.
So she was absolutely bending over backwards for me to
make all of this work. She was doing multiple jobs,
and you know, part time jobs that fit in around
getting me to training at these absolutely obscure hours and
(05:57):
then getting me off to school on time and being
able to get back to a workplace that was flexible
with that. So she had all kinds of different jobs.
She's absolutely incredible. She can do so many different things,
and she's amazing.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
She's a superhero.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
I love her. Yeah, she's wonderful.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
I love this so much. So tell me a bit
more about your money story. Obviously that stuff adds up
really quickly. And part of this, like I'm assuming this
is when you became an adult. You said, at the
height of my career, I couldn't afford to send myself
to Europe. What was that like, because that sounds heartbreaking.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
It was really heartbreaking. I made my first senior level
international team in twenty fifteen. That was a world championship.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Jeez, Louise.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, it was very cool and exciting to have you know,
kind of your dreams coming through in front of you incredible,
and at that stage that's kind of when things start
getting paid for for you. So that was actually a
little bit of financial relief before we kind of had
a little bit of a bump in the road. The
following year was then the Trials of the Olympics in
twenty sixteen, and because I'd made the team the year before,
(06:59):
it's it's not expected that you're going to make the
next year's team, but you're kind of, you know, in
with a good chance, and the powers that be in
sport are kind of preparing for you to be on
this team, and they're starting to think about uniform sizing
and flights and accommodation and all that sort of stuff
for the potential that you will qualify for this team.
And I got to the trials for that and got
(07:20):
food poisoning the night before.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
No, no, what that should be illegal.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
It should be illegal, And I was so upset. I
developed a real addiction to I don't know if you've
ever been to tea too. I'm sure you have tummy
tea from T two. Oh my goodness, Oh yeah, yep, yep, yeap.
Best thing.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
I love this for you. I mean, I don't love
why you found it though, because that sounds like that's
what then happened.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yeah, so that meant funding gets cut because of that,
you kind of don't get as many opportunities in the
sport that I'm in.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
There, guys, I had gastro leave me alone.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah right, I'm already down.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Don't kick me please, sorry, yeah, sorry, I won't remind you.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
So all of our funding in our sport is kind
of based on performance, so if you don't perform, you
don't get cash to help.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Trying to make sense, but I'm mad about it on
your behalf right now.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah, So that was kind of that was the first
spanner in the works, which then led to later in
the years, a lot of the people that I was
training with, my teammates and my friends, had qualified for
either the Olympics or various other international events that were
on later in the year, and so a trip had
been arranged to go to an event. It's kind of
like it's almost like a tour. So you kind of
(08:28):
go overseas to one country in Europe and you compete
there for a few days, and then you travel to
your next country and you compete there for a few days.
We're talking like Monaco, all the great stuff. So it
was a European tour.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
That sounds fun though.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
It sounds so cool, and I wish I'd gotten to
go on it because it would have been amazing. My
teammates had a fantastic time, and I was very jealous
of all the Instagram So of course my mum and
I couldn't manage to make that work between the two
of us. It was meant to be an eight week trip.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Oh that's so much money. That would have been thousands,
if not tens and tens of thousands of dollars yea, So.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
It was absolutely going to break the bank.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Especially you said Monaco, I'm sorry, that is so expensive, right,
it was crazy.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
I was like, there's absolutely no way I can do this.
So that unfortunately everyone went without me and I stayed
in Australia. But I can't complain too much because I
did get a really fantastic opportunity to go to the
Australian Institute Sport in Canberra.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Hey, that's cool, but also that's not Monaco.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
So it's not Monaco. And it was the middle of July,
so it was Oh, Canberra put it on for you.
It was freezing and you know. I was from Melbourne originally,
so I went up there and everyone went, oh, you're
used to the cold, you're from Melbourne. It's way colder
in Canberra than it is in Melbourne.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Canbra is crispy, very crispy, very fresh. Oh my god. Well,
I like how you're framing this as well, because like, yes,
you missed out, but like I'm a very big believer
that opportunities that are meant for you never missed you,
and the ones that do miss you you weren't meant
to be involved in any way. So like this does
still feel like trash, but like I fear that it
has worked out for the best.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
It did. It did absolutely work out for the best,
and I am so grateful. I came to Canberra for
eight weeks and I didn't go back. I've been here
for eight years.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Oh so you leave in Canberra now, so you lack
the crispy.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yep, So I loved it. Camera's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Oh look, I've got no problem with Canberra, but I
have a lot of issue with cold temperatures. I'm from Tasmania,
so I feel like I can empathize with having to
literally defrost your windscreen to be able to drive anywhere.
But it doesn't mean I enjoyed that part of it,
very true.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
I also, you know, I could live without the cold.
I'd love to have a beach nearby as well. I
missed the beach very much.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Yeah, that would be good. I feel like Canberans they
miss out on that part because it's not like you
even have a local.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
It's true, the nearest one is about two hours away,
which is too far.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
No thank you, and you literally have to leave the state.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
It's not good, it's not fair.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
So all of that happened. You now live in Cambra,
But how do you come to live in Camera You
were only meant to be there for a short period
of time.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yes, so for that very short period of time. I
was very fortunate that everything, everything was covered during that time.
So my meals were covered, my rent was covered, my
training expenses were covered. Absolutely every expense sort of related
to my sport was taken care of for me.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
It could convince me to become a professional athlete, like
not gonna lie. Like, if you're going to pay for
literally everything, maybe I do want to do that.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
The only trade off is you have to get up
at four o'clock in the morning and you've got to
train for like thirty five hours a week. So just
it's just work. I guess, you know, what kind of
work do you do? You want to do?
Speaker 3 (11:41):
It's chaotic in the nicest way possible. But like the
fact that it's it's athletes like, go, I'm tired already
thinking about it, Like I already get out of going
to the gym the three times that I plan to
go each week. And You're like, oh, yeah, I did
thirty five hours and I'm like, I can't even manage
three at this point.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
But with kids than a full time job, and I
was at working full time at this time. I was,
you know, I was studying and training and doing odd
jobs and part time work and casual work here and there.
So it's all a balance that.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Is very fair. So tell me about life now, because
you never left you started doing that training. But also
in your letter in you said I'm an instructional designer
and a pilates side hustler. How does that come to
fruition from you know, obviously working as an athlete, being
paid as an athlete, being a full time athlete. Where
were the changes? When did that stop? And what changed.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Yeah. So also the changes are completely by accident. Lots
of complete accidents in my life. I've gotten me where
I've ended up. So it was actually COVID that kind
of spurred my kind of change in Koreas. So, of
course twenty sixteen Olympic trials didn't go so well, and
then twenty twenty Olympic trials were meant to be in
(12:54):
the middle of twenty twenty, so we obviously all went
into lockdown in March and the Olympics got postponed to
T one.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
I was getting to the ripe old age of maybe
don't tell people how old I am.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
You're getting to the ripe old age of being middle
aged for an athlete.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
I was becoming very middle aged for an athlete. So
at that time, when leelin we've got postponed, I kind
of went, you know, I'm ancient in my sport now,
so I think now's a good time to retire. And
one of the companies that I've been working for doing
sort of public speaking type work actually had a part
time job in their office coming up, and I just
(13:30):
hit them up and said, hello, excuse me, can I
please have some work and they said, yes, you absolutely can.
Here you go.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Oh thank you. That was easier than I thought it
would be.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
It was so much easier than I have thought it
would be. As well. When I did get that job,
I thought to myself, you know, this will be a
great foot in the door one day, and it ended
up absolutely being that. So I was very fortunate, especially
during that tricky COVID time where work was a challenge
for so many of us.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Yeah, and also when you'd contributed so much to your
sport as well. I feel like athletes are so hard
done by when they go all right, well, now I
want kind of like a mainstream job, and you kind
of have to really start from scratch because you actually
don't have the experience that you need to jump into
a career. But now you're doing it much older because
you've spent all of this time focusing on your sport.
So that's stressful.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
It is stressful. And as much as you have so
many transferable skills when you're an athlete, you learn so
much about resilience and you know, bouncing back and so
many other useful skills in the workplace, like dedication and
focus and you know, working hard and getting a result
out of it. People say, yeah, but we want three
to five years of experience in the business area.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Okay, I've got it on a running track, you know,
like I don't.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Have the what you have. It's all just different. But
that was kind of how I ended up in sort
of well it wasn't an instructional design role then that
was also a complete accident. I have just stayed with
the company and rolled into a few different positions over
the time that I've been there, and this is kind
of where I've landed, which has also been very fortunate
and fantastic. And the plates as well with something where
(15:00):
when I decided to retire, I was like, exercise and
movement has been part of my life for the last
you know, ten fifteen years. I can't just give that away.
I'm going to need to have something related to movement
in my life as well. So I threw myself straight
into that at the same time, which was convenient when
the job was still part time, so I had plenty
of time to balance it and kind of have a
nice soft transition out of sport into the real world.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Yeah, okay, I love it, and as a pilates girl,
like I love a good pilates instructor too. They like
make or break the class. So I'm glad that you're
here for us. Tell me a little bit more about
now what you earn. So we know you're an instructional
designer and you have a Polarates side hustle. But what
kind of income does that bring in?
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Yeah? So my nine to five as an instructor designer
gets me around about one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars
each Okay, very nice, which is very comfortable. I feel
very grateful to have that coming into my bake account
each fortnite.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Is that plus or including super?
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Is there plus? A very comfortable fifteen percent superannuation?
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Okay, I love this for us. I'm glad I asked,
and then talk to me about pilates.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Yes, so, in my moonlighting as a pilaratees teacher, I
work both as a PYG employee and also as a
sole trader across different places, and I'm multiple teaching.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Fun. We love cel trader financial administration very No, we.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Do not, very do not. No, one out of ten
cannot recommend. But tell me what kind of income does
that bring in each year? That brings in about seven
thousand dollars, So it brings me to about one hundred
and thirty thousand each year. All up, Hey, that's nice.
What type of contribution are you making time wise? Though,
because like if your moonlighting as a polaratees instructor, but
you're working nine to five? Are we doing this before work?
(16:43):
After work? How many days a week are we doing this?
I just I need to know the pervy details.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah, totally. So, Look, it's a bit tiring. I must say.
I teach pilarates three days a week. I teach bar
as well. Actually, so it's pilarateis two days a week
and bar one day a week or Barret familiar with
the Scott Morrison press conference from back in COVID. So yeah,
it's around five six seven ish hours a week on
(17:10):
top of my sort of regular nine to five, which
is that sort of thirty seven and a half hour week?
Speaker 3 (17:14):
And are you enjoying it? Most importantly, I feel like
you said you really wanted to bring like a little
bit of movement back into your life, and I feel
like that clearly is doing that. But like, do you
feel like having a side hustle is a joy or
is it a bit of a slog?
Speaker 2 (17:28):
I think it's both. Honestly, I love it so much.
It's so much fun. But sometimes I get to the
end of my nine to five day and I just
want to go home and fill on the couch and
do nothing. But it's such a lovely community. It kind
of gives energy. As much as you kind of walk
into the studio and you're like, oh, I'm tired, you
kind of you know, you can't show your class that
(17:49):
you're tired. You have to show them that you're overjoyed
to see them and that you're showing up for them,
and so it kind.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Of see, I knew you were a good pilates instructor.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
I knew it.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
I could tell from the tone of your voys.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
You've got to be there for your community. They come
for you, You've got to be there for them. So
you've got to kind of almost fake it till you
make it. You put the big smile on, you bring
the energy, and you feel energized by the end of
the class that you're teaching. So I love it.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
I love that you've kind of like gasled yourself into
having a good time. That's how I feel every time
I'm like, I don't want to go to pilates. I
can't be bothered. And then I turn up and by
the end of the class, my instructor has been so
positive and like I've moved my body and I feel
a million times better, and I'm like, see, I knew
I should go, but the motivation wasn't there at the start.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
That's exactly how it should be. I'd love that for you.
That means you found a good studio and a good
instructor that works for you.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
I have not gonna lie. Tell me now, you're a
homeowner with a growing share portfolio and an above average
super which is very fun. But those are all goals
that lots of people are working towards. So tell me
what are your current goals? What are you currently working towards?
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, so I am a homeowner. My partner and I
only just bought our first house about eighteen months ago,
so we've just kind of settled in and made changes
and ripped out cupboards and put drawers in and all
that fun stuff. So where now aiming to be able
to buy a second one without having to sell this one,
which is quite a lofty goal. Where kind of on
(19:11):
track to to be in a position to do that?
In about four or five years time, if we keep
going how we're going.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Yeah, okay, that is very exciting. Are there any other
big money goals you're currently working towards?
Speaker 2 (19:21):
In the back of my mind, I would love to
open my own Pilaratei studio, but I am absolutely horrified
about doing that. I'm very scared and very nervous about
starting my own business, but I would love to do
that one day. Possibly.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
I totally think you could, Like I totally. You're already
doing freelance admin. Like that stuff's hard, gal, you are
able to manage a full time job and moonlighting as
a pilarates and bar instructor.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Come on, maybe I'll have to dedicate a bit more
structure to that goal instead of having it be lofty.
Maybe I need to think about it and put some
structure in place for it.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
But it would be so pretty, and I can tell
from your tone of voice and just like how you're
presenting yourself, you would be literally perfect. So I'm excited
for that. I can see that in your future. Let's
go to a really quick break, because after the break,
I want to be talking a little bit more about
this share portfolio you've been growing and you're above average
super so guys don't go anywhere, all right, money dre.
(20:18):
So we are back and I get to be so
pervy because you're anonymous. And this is my favorite thing
in the entire world. Let's talk about investments. Tell me
what does this growing share portfolio look like?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yes, so my share portfolio. Actually, you know, I kind
of owe the share portfolio entirely to you, Victoria, because
I wouldn't even have jumped in if I hadn't started
listening to the podcast. Yay.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
But also I'm sorry, sorry you did the work. I
didn't do the work. I just gave you the platform.
If you didn't want to do it, you didn't have
to do it. But look at the work you did.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
It's true. But with knowledge comes power, so exactly, it's
given me that springboard that I needed. My mum was
a very scared shares equals scary and risky and we
do not do that coach to investing, which up until
I started listening to the podcast, I shared as well,
and just of course kind of went I'm no investments,
(21:08):
not for me, I don't do that. It was all
very Wolf of Wall Street in my head, you know,
crazy trading and risk.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
I look like the Wolf of Wall Street characters actually,
so turn out of ten, like not the smart ones.
I just would like to look like Margo Robbie, So
wouldn't we all? Yeah, so when you talk about Wolf
of Wall Street, yeah, I'm in. I'm committed.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
So there was there was that kind of approach. But
since listening to the pod, so I started off with
rais and just started with roundups to dip my toe
and kind.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Of didn't we all though? I feel like even I
did that.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
It's just nice to have something that's not scary, you know,
it's kind of it's just a few cents and it's
just kind of there, and then you go, oh, actually,
I've now there's two hundred and fifty dollars in there,
and sixty eight dollars of it isn't money that I
put in. It's money that I have earned back. Amazing.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Do you know what? Someone sent me a screenshot of
their share portfolio the other day and they were like,
look at this, I have now reached those little life
of their share portfolio. They've like made fifty thousand dollars
in dividends. She's like, that's free money. Victoria and I
was like, yes, it is.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Queen fifty grand in free money. That's amazing, insane, right,
I'm very envious. I don't have quite that much maybe
one day, oh no.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
But like you're on the journey, and you know what,
she'd been investing a lot longer than all of us
time in the game. That's what you need exactly. So
tell me a bit more about this. You've graduated from
raise to what.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Yes, I now have a I have a sustainable ETF
portfolio via a managed fund, okay, Queen. Also because I
like to have, I like to set and forget, and
you know, I have my automatic bank transfer set up.
Every fortnight when my pay comes in, my money goes
straight into all my allocation of money goes straight into
that account. And they're looking after all the investing for me.
(22:45):
I don't have to worry about buying or selling anything.
I just say, here's my money, Please do what you
need to do with it. I'm not planning on take
it out for the next you know, thirty or forty
years until I'm planning to retire.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Yes, I can't.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
So it's just in there doing its thing. And I
start started well. I started with an emergency fund when
I was getting my five thousand dollars a year in
quarterly installments as an athlete. So each time I got
my quarterly installment, I'd just swirl a little bit of
it away into an account which was slowly growing and
becoming my emergency fund. And then once we got through
(23:17):
COVID and I'd had to dip into that for a
few bits and pieces during that tricky time, but I
had enough that I was like, Okay, I've saved up
enough in my emergency fund that I'm comfortable to take
out a reasonable sum and pop it into shares. So
that was actually kind of how I got started in that.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Look at you go. I love that. So now tell
me a bit about this above average super, because I'm
not going to lie. If you had sat me down
and said, look, this person's an ex athlete, they were
earning twenty K year, They've sacrificed a lot for their
career and their passion. What do you think their super
looks like? And I'd be like, look, their super is
probably not looking incredible, but you've gotten above average super.
(23:54):
How the heck does that happen?
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Look? I think this is the theme of the podcast
for today. A little bit accidental. However, something that I
did become very conscious of was consolidating SUPER from all
of these casual jobs that I had floating around in
various places and from sol trading, and I had SUPER
in all these random places, and of course having it
separated is not ideal. It's going to do a lot
(24:17):
more for you all rolled into one place, so pretty
early on I made a very conscientious effort to make
sure everything was rolled into one And I'm also very
fortunate that I've got that large SUPER contribution coming from
my full time job. Yeah, that's nice, which has been
very lucky as well, not luck so much. I've worked
hard for the job so.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Exactly, I didn't even have to correct you. You did
it yourself. Good girl.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Trying to change mattitude a little bit.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
And are you planning on contributing more to that above
and beyond? Because earlier you told us that you get
like fifteen percent superannuation, which is very very exciting, But like,
do you do above and beyond in that given you're
planning on investing outside of Super as well.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
I have started doing a little bit extra only recently,
and that was because I have recently paid off my
hex debt or my help debt. Hexdet shows my age
a little bit, doesn't it.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
It's called help now, I still call it hextet. I've
even labeled bloody podcasts hex and people messaged me They're like,
what's that and I was like, you are a baby.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
You're too young.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
I'm sorry, I'm too old. Should not be on any
podcasting platforms.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
So very funny. Anyway, the hex help student debt that
I had has now been paid off. Oh good job,
which I'm super excited about.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Mine's not even paid off. That's a flex.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
I should preface I did choose a Bachelor of Arts,
which back in the day when I started doing it
was quite a bit less expensive than a number of
other degrees, so I should mention that I was fortunate
in that regard. But I have you been working hard
and kind of working my way up the ladder in
the place that I work to you know, keep paying
that off at a reasonable rate. And it took me
about five years all up from graduation to pay it off,
(25:57):
so it's not like it was overnight, but very started
to pay that off.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
No, that stuff takes ages, but that is so cool.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Congrats, thank you. But it does mean that I had
a little bit extra. So I've now the amount that
was going into my tax to pay that off. I've
now split it in half, and I pay a little
bit extra tax just so that at tax time there's
something there to pay for various things that come up,
as things always do at tax time, and then the
other little portion goes into my super.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Yeah. No, that's very cool, very cool. I love that
for you. So are you investing in any other ways?
Speaker 2 (26:30):
No, those are my only investments. I haven't had any
property or anything like that, so it's it's super and
raise and EASIF.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
Now I'm gonna take a stab in the dark. I
don't think you've got any debt, do you?
Speaker 2 (26:40):
I do not. I do not have any well, other
than the mortgage. That's a fairly sizable debt, but that
doesn't count in my opinion. I have no other debt.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Tell me about this mortgage. What did you purchase from
when we're like, give us the juicy details.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Yeah, sure, So we purchased a little townhouse. It's a
two bedroom, two bathroom or two bedroom, two and a
half bathroom. Brother. It's got a little power room sort
of toilet downstairs, and then both the bedrooms upstairs are
actually on suites, which we are very proud of.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
That's nice. Well, the guests aren't going to use the
upstairs bathroom if they've got a powder room, so unnecessary.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Yeah, we love a powder room. I mean, no one's
powdering their nose anymore. It's a very funny term to
use for But.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
You know what, it's better than calling it the toilet room,
isn't it?
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Like it sounds fancy. I'm just going to the powder
room one moment. I'll just be in the powder room.
I'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
It makes you sound rich. You can tell people.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Sorry, on the weekend, I was cleaning my powder room
like that does feel rich.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
It makes me feel very rich.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
You've got three toilets in your house, that's a flex.
I only had one toilet in my house growing up.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
It's such a privilege, isn't it having more than one bathroom,
especially when I live with a man. And I'm not
sure about anybody else who lives with a man, but
it's nice to have more than one bathroom when you
live with a man.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
One hundred percent, one hundred percent, I know exactly what
you're talking about. In fact, I don't know how I
grew up with another Like I had a sister growing
up and my mum and my dad and we all
shared one bathroom, like, I don't know how one of
us did in it and dead if I'm being honest,
It's where.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Fights start, isn't It's where family fights start in the bathroom.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
One hundred percent. So now my husband he can go downstairs.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
That's the plan. Fair.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
I feel like that's reasonable. So how much did you
purchase this house for?
Speaker 2 (28:13):
And when we purchased it for six hundred and fifteen
thousand dollars, we bought it in it was right at
the end of twenty twenty three, so we actually settled
on the twenty third of December twenty twenty three. Oh,
very cool, which was a little bit stressful at a
stressful time to be trying to settle.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
I was about to say, yeah, but merry Christmas. You
settled and then got to have Christmas, and you went
stressed over Christmas because you'd already done it.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Yes, it was very nice to have it off the
list of stressful things at Christmas time.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
And do you know what that property is worth now?
Speaker 2 (28:45):
It's probably pretty similar at the moment we live in
a suburb where there seems to be a house for
sale every other day, so we're kind of keeping an
eye on the market. I don't think it will have
fluctuated too much. We have made some improvement to it
well in our humble in and we've added you know,
grass and a bit of a nice garden, and we've
changed out some things in the kitchen drawers, cupboards, that
kind of thing, crim safe. I'm a big fan of
(29:07):
crim safe. Oh yes, yes, that makes me feel good. Yes,
the crim safe on there. So all that sort of
stuff we would hope would bolster its value a little
bit more. But we've only been in here for we've
been living here for about a year and a half,
almost two years, so we kind of haven't haven't kept
too much of an eye on sort of where it's going,
Like kind of like, let's just sit out on it,
(29:28):
make it ours and live in it for a few
years and more, come back and revisit. No.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
I totally get that. I'm just so pervy. I'm like,
so do you know if it's worth anymore? Because like
on the odd occasion we meet someone and they're like, yeah,
got revalued, and it's like worth US squillion dollars now,
and you're like, what the heck?
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Those stories are crazy? I'm so jealous.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Well, it'll be you at some point, don't you worry.
Don't you worry, So talk to me. I feel like
to go to having a full time job with a
side hustle. Your homeowner. You've got to share portfolio. You've
got very sexy souper. I'm still going to argue with
you about you being a bee, but I want to
know what do you think your best money habit is.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
I think the ortomization of absolutely everything related to finance
for me is my best money habit. I'm pretty good
at record keeping as well. So I get to tax
time and I'm not stressed at all because I've been
keeping track of that stuff all year long. I'm ready.
I love tax time. I'm like, here, I am with
my spreadsheet, and I've got all my receipts and I've
got everything that I need. Here's my list of income
from various places. Here go, mister tax accountant, please sort
(30:22):
that out for me.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
Good job, especially as a side hustler. Good job. That's
very stressful. On the flip side, though, what are you
maybe not so good at what's your worst money habit.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
I'm definitely I've got a little bit of an impulse spending,
not problem, maybe just a bit of an enthusiasm for
a little impulse spend. I have a in Quote Marks
emergency credit cards that often gets used for a little
bit of extraneous spending towards the end of the pay cycle.
It has a twenty percent interest rate on it, though,
(30:53):
so I'm always very stressed about getting caught out having
to pay back twenty percent interest, so to my own credit,
very diligent about paying it off as soon as I
get paid.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Yeah, yeah, I get that. You're kind of like, this
sounded like a good idea until the reality of it
reminded me that it's a terrible idea. Yes, yes, I
totally get that. Now tell me a little bit more
about this B plus, because like, while that's still a
good mark, I do feel like you're doing pretty well
after having this conversation. Would you change that? If not?
(31:23):
What's it going to take to get you to say
I think I'm an av Maybe.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
I could be nice to myself and bump myself up
to an a you know, some of that frivolous spending
at times is you know, it's not outside of my means.
You know, I've taken care of everything with my automation,
feel and everything are paid for and it's bringing me joy.
It's aligning with my values. So maybe I'm doing okay.
Maybe I can give myself an A.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Yeah see okay, I feel like that's good. Especially it
can be quite confronting when you hear back your own
money story and then you have a chat with me
and I'm like, hey, yep, that's good. That's not this
is this, this is that, And then I'm like, what
would it take for you to get to an A.
You're like, actually, yeah, I have explained an A situation,
haven't I Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
It's kind of it's good self reflection. I feel better
about myself today.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
I love that for you. No, good, good, Well, it's
been an absolute pleasure. I wish we had so much
more time to have more of a yap. I feel
like we get on really well. But also like your
story is just so interesting. Like also, shout out to
your mom. She sounds like an absolute bloody legend.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
She's amazing.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
I love her for you, Like I just I wish
everybody was as passionate about their parents as you are
so Thank you so much for coming on the show.
Thank you for sharing your story. I just know that
our community is going to have loved listening to this
as much as I have loved the privilege of recording it.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Thank you so much for having me. It's been an
absolute pleasure. I love the podcast so much. That's really
fun to be involved.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
You are so sweet.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Thank you.
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Speaker 3 (33:09):
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Speaker 4 (33:11):
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(00:22):
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We thank acknowledge and respect the Abiginal people's land that
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Speaker 2 (00:44):
She's on the Money. She's on the Money.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
that lets you be pervy about other people's money situations
for educational purposes, of course. Welcome back to another one
of our Money Diaries episodes where I get the absolute
pleasure of sitting down and having a chat with one
of our She's on the Money community members all about
their money story. Let's jump straight into it, because this
(01:27):
week I got a message and it sounded exactly like this. Hi,
she's on the money. I used to be a professional
athlete earning twenty thousand dollars a year that was paid
quarterly while juggling part time, study and casual jobs, all
backed by my single income family who took on multiple
mortgages to support my dream. But at the height of
my career, I couldn't afford to send myself to Europe
(01:49):
to compete, and that completely changed the trajectory of my life.
Now I'm a full time instructional designer with a polates
side hustle, a homeowner with a growing share portfolio, and
an above average super I've gone from financial stress to
financial strength. It has been a wild ride. Money Darist,
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Hello, thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
This is fun. Tell me before we even dive further
into it for ask you to give your money habits
a grade from A through to air. What grade would
you be giving them?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I'm going to go in kind of strong with a
B plus. I think I'm very organized in my finances.
I have a pretty good cash flow system set up
for each payday, which is my favorite thing. Every payday,
everything send itself automatically to where it needs to go.
But I do think there's a bit of room for
me to improve with budgeting on my sort of smaller
(02:40):
day to day expenses. I do succumb to the chiky
impulse by here and there, and I love eating out,
so that can chew down on the old bank balance occasionally.
Give it.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
We just girls, and sometimes we do need to eat out.
So I get it.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
We do.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
I get it. So tell me a little bit more
about your money story. I'm so interested. How do you
become a professional athlete? And what do you mean you
only earned twenty thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah, you become a professional athlete completely by accident. You
start when you're a kid, and you love it so
much that you just keep going. And one day you
wake up and you go, oh my goodness, I'm I'm
a professional athlete. This is my job. This is what
I do every day, and this is what I love
and I get to do it and it's incredible and amazing.
Not without some struggles on the way there, though. So
(03:27):
I was just me and my mom growing up. Really,
I'm about to just tell you how absolutely wonderful my
mom is.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Good. I can't wait, I'm stripped in I'm ready. Let
me know about your mom. So things were kind of
tough for us growing up. For me, growing up, I
knew we weren't super wealthy, but my mom did a
really good job of hiding the extent of kind of
what our situation was like from me.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I absolutely never lacked anything that I needed. She made
sure that I had absolutely everything that I could imagine
that I would need. And I got pretty serious about
sport from a young age. Joined my local club when
I was eight, and I was competing at a state
level by nine. So it all happened very quickly.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
That's kind of crazy. You were obviously some kind of unicorn,
I like to think. So I also think, so, guys,
I know what sport it is, and sadly, it's a
pretty regular sport. It's not like a shot put or
like something really fancy, like really exciting, but also not
as niche as it could have been.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yep, just just standard run of the mill, do you
know what.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
That's good? That's good. So tell me a bit more
about your mum, who sounds like an absolute legend this
type of sport that you're doing. Obviously, when you're that young,
starting it would require you to have some pretty significant
training as well. And like, sorry, but at the age
of nine, you're not driving yourself to training like your
single income family I'm assuming was driving you to sport.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Yes, absolutely, my mum was early mornings in the sport
that I'm in, so early mornings, late nights to and
from school, from school, training, from training to school, all
that sort of stuff. And you're looking at expenses of
like you know, even from that kind of young age
of nine and competing at that state level, it's competition
entries and expenses, it's equipment, it's nutritious meals to have
(05:14):
a child that's both growing and doing a lot of exercise,
fully fueled and healthy, and all that stuff was starting
to add up. So she was already footing the bill
for all of that from when I was at such
a young age and by the time I'd gotten to twelve,
we were going to national championships, which was you know,
interstate trips and flights and accommodation and all of that
(05:36):
stuff that you can imagine, you know, adds up to
you know, five grand ten grand at a time for
you know, a twelve year old child to pursue their dreams.
So she was absolutely bending over backwards for me to
make all of this work. She was doing multiple jobs,
and you know, part time jobs that fit in around
getting me to training at these absolutely obscure hours and
(05:57):
then getting me off to school on time and being
able to get back to a workplace that was flexible
with that. So she had all kinds of different jobs.
She's absolutely incredible. She can do so many different things,
and she's amazing.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
She's a superhero.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
I love her. Yeah, she's wonderful.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
I love this so much. So tell me a bit
more about your money story. Obviously that stuff adds up
really quickly. And part of this, like I'm assuming this
is when you became an adult. You said, at the
height of my career, I couldn't afford to send myself
to Europe. What was that like, because that sounds heartbreaking.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
It was really heartbreaking. I made my first senior level
international team in twenty fifteen. That was a world championship.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Jeez, Louise.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, it was very cool and exciting to have you know,
kind of your dreams coming through in front of you incredible,
and at that stage that's kind of when things start
getting paid for for you. So that was actually a
little bit of financial relief before we kind of had
a little bit of a bump in the road. The
following year was then the Trials of the Olympics in
twenty sixteen, and because I'd made the team the year before,
(06:59):
it's it's not expected that you're going to make the
next year's team, but you're kind of, you know, in
with a good chance, and the powers that be in
sport are kind of preparing for you to be on
this team, and they're starting to think about uniform sizing
and flights and accommodation and all that sort of stuff
for the potential that you will qualify for this team.
And I got to the trials for that and got
(07:20):
food poisoning the night before.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
No, no, what that should be illegal.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
It should be illegal, And I was so upset. I
developed a real addiction to I don't know if you've
ever been to tea too. I'm sure you have tummy
tea from T two. Oh my goodness, Oh yeah, yep, yep, yeap.
Best thing.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
I love this for you. I mean, I don't love
why you found it though, because that sounds like that's
what then happened.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yeah, so that meant funding gets cut because of that,
you kind of don't get as many opportunities in the
sport that I'm in.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
There, guys, I had gastro leave me alone.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah right, I'm already down.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Don't kick me please, sorry, yeah, sorry, I won't remind you.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
So all of our funding in our sport is kind
of based on performance, so if you don't perform, you
don't get cash to help.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Trying to make sense, but I'm mad about it on
your behalf right now.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah, So that was kind of that was the first
spanner in the works, which then led to later in
the years, a lot of the people that I was
training with, my teammates and my friends, had qualified for
either the Olympics or various other international events that were
on later in the year, and so a trip had
been arranged to go to an event. It's kind of
like it's almost like a tour. So you kind of
(08:28):
go overseas to one country in Europe and you compete
there for a few days, and then you travel to
your next country and you compete there for a few days.
We're talking like Monaco, all the great stuff. So it
was a European tour.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
That sounds fun though.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
It sounds so cool, and I wish I'd gotten to
go on it because it would have been amazing. My
teammates had a fantastic time, and I was very jealous
of all the Instagram So of course my mum and
I couldn't manage to make that work between the two
of us. It was meant to be an eight week trip.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Oh that's so much money. That would have been thousands,
if not tens and tens of thousands of dollars yea, So.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
It was absolutely going to break the bank.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Especially you said Monaco, I'm sorry, that is so expensive, right,
it was crazy.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
I was like, there's absolutely no way I can do this.
So that unfortunately everyone went without me and I stayed
in Australia. But I can't complain too much because I
did get a really fantastic opportunity to go to the
Australian Institute Sport in Canberra.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Hey, that's cool, but also that's not Monaco.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
So it's not Monaco. And it was the middle of July,
so it was Oh, Canberra put it on for you.
It was freezing and you know. I was from Melbourne originally,
so I went up there and everyone went, oh, you're
used to the cold, you're from Melbourne. It's way colder
in Canberra than it is in Melbourne.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Canbra is crispy, very crispy, very fresh. Oh my god. Well,
I like how you're framing this as well, because like, yes,
you missed out, but like I'm a very big believer
that opportunities that are meant for you never missed you,
and the ones that do miss you you weren't meant
to be involved in any way. So like this does
still feel like trash, but like I fear that it
has worked out for the best.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
It did. It did absolutely work out for the best,
and I am so grateful. I came to Canberra for
eight weeks and I didn't go back. I've been here
for eight years.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Oh so you leave in Canberra now, so you lack
the crispy.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yep, So I loved it. Camera's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Oh look, I've got no problem with Canberra, but I
have a lot of issue with cold temperatures. I'm from Tasmania,
so I feel like I can empathize with having to
literally defrost your windscreen to be able to drive anywhere.
But it doesn't mean I enjoyed that part of it,
very true.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
I also, you know, I could live without the cold.
I'd love to have a beach nearby as well. I
missed the beach very much.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Yeah, that would be good. I feel like Canberans they
miss out on that part because it's not like you
even have a local.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
It's true, the nearest one is about two hours away,
which is too far.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
No thank you, and you literally have to leave the state.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
It's not good, it's not fair.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
So all of that happened. You now live in Cambra,
But how do you come to live in Camera You
were only meant to be there for a short period
of time.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yes, so for that very short period of time. I
was very fortunate that everything, everything was covered during that time.
So my meals were covered, my rent was covered, my
training expenses were covered. Absolutely every expense sort of related
to my sport was taken care of for me.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
It could convince me to become a professional athlete, like
not gonna lie. Like, if you're going to pay for
literally everything, maybe I do want to do that.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
The only trade off is you have to get up
at four o'clock in the morning and you've got to
train for like thirty five hours a week. So just
it's just work. I guess, you know, what kind of
work do you do? You want to do?
Speaker 3 (11:41):
It's chaotic in the nicest way possible. But like the
fact that it's it's athletes like, go, I'm tired already
thinking about it, Like I already get out of going
to the gym the three times that I plan to
go each week. And You're like, oh, yeah, I did
thirty five hours and I'm like, I can't even manage
three at this point.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
But with kids than a full time job, and I
was at working full time at this time. I was,
you know, I was studying and training and doing odd
jobs and part time work and casual work here and there.
So it's all a balance that.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Is very fair. So tell me about life now, because
you never left you started doing that training. But also
in your letter in you said I'm an instructional designer
and a pilates side hustler. How does that come to
fruition from you know, obviously working as an athlete, being
paid as an athlete, being a full time athlete. Where
were the changes? When did that stop? And what changed.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Yeah. So also the changes are completely by accident. Lots
of complete accidents in my life. I've gotten me where
I've ended up. So it was actually COVID that kind
of spurred my kind of change in Koreas. So, of
course twenty sixteen Olympic trials didn't go so well, and
then twenty twenty Olympic trials were meant to be in
(12:54):
the middle of twenty twenty, so we obviously all went
into lockdown in March and the Olympics got postponed to
T one.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
I was getting to the ripe old age of maybe
don't tell people how old I am.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
You're getting to the ripe old age of being middle
aged for an athlete.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
I was becoming very middle aged for an athlete. So
at that time, when leelin we've got postponed, I kind
of went, you know, I'm ancient in my sport now,
so I think now's a good time to retire. And
one of the companies that I've been working for doing
sort of public speaking type work actually had a part
time job in their office coming up, and I just
(13:30):
hit them up and said, hello, excuse me, can I
please have some work and they said, yes, you absolutely can.
Here you go.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Oh thank you. That was easier than I thought it
would be.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
It was so much easier than I have thought it
would be. As well. When I did get that job,
I thought to myself, you know, this will be a
great foot in the door one day, and it ended
up absolutely being that. So I was very fortunate, especially
during that tricky COVID time where work was a challenge
for so many of us.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Yeah, and also when you'd contributed so much to your
sport as well. I feel like athletes are so hard
done by when they go all right, well, now I
want kind of like a mainstream job, and you kind
of have to really start from scratch because you actually
don't have the experience that you need to jump into
a career. But now you're doing it much older because
you've spent all of this time focusing on your sport.
So that's stressful.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
It is stressful. And as much as you have so
many transferable skills when you're an athlete, you learn so
much about resilience and you know, bouncing back and so
many other useful skills in the workplace, like dedication and
focus and you know, working hard and getting a result
out of it. People say, yeah, but we want three
to five years of experience in the business area.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Okay, I've got it on a running track, you know,
like I don't.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Have the what you have. It's all just different. But
that was kind of how I ended up in sort
of well it wasn't an instructional design role then that
was also a complete accident. I have just stayed with
the company and rolled into a few different positions over
the time that I've been there, and this is kind
of where I've landed, which has also been very fortunate
and fantastic. And the plates as well with something where
(15:00):
when I decided to retire, I was like, exercise and
movement has been part of my life for the last
you know, ten fifteen years. I can't just give that away.
I'm going to need to have something related to movement
in my life as well. So I threw myself straight
into that at the same time, which was convenient when
the job was still part time, so I had plenty
of time to balance it and kind of have a
nice soft transition out of sport into the real world.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Yeah, okay, I love it, and as a pilates girl,
like I love a good pilates instructor too. They like
make or break the class. So I'm glad that you're
here for us. Tell me a little bit more about
now what you earn. So we know you're an instructional
designer and you have a Polarates side hustle. But what
kind of income does that bring in?
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Yeah? So my nine to five as an instructor designer
gets me around about one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars
each Okay, very nice, which is very comfortable. I feel
very grateful to have that coming into my bake account
each fortnite.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Is that plus or including super?
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Is there plus? A very comfortable fifteen percent superannuation?
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Okay, I love this for us. I'm glad I asked,
and then talk to me about pilates.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Yes, so, in my moonlighting as a pilaratees teacher, I
work both as a PYG employee and also as a
sole trader across different places, and I'm multiple teaching.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Fun. We love cel trader financial administration very No, we.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Do not, very do not. No, one out of ten
cannot recommend. But tell me what kind of income does
that bring in each year? That brings in about seven
thousand dollars, So it brings me to about one hundred
and thirty thousand each year. All up, Hey, that's nice.
What type of contribution are you making time wise? Though,
because like if your moonlighting as a polaratees instructor, but
you're working nine to five? Are we doing this before work?
(16:43):
After work? How many days a week are we doing this?
I just I need to know the pervy details.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah, totally. So, Look, it's a bit tiring. I must say.
I teach pilarates three days a week. I teach bar
as well. Actually, so it's pilarateis two days a week
and bar one day a week or Barret familiar with
the Scott Morrison press conference from back in COVID. So yeah,
it's around five six seven ish hours a week on
(17:10):
top of my sort of regular nine to five, which
is that sort of thirty seven and a half hour week?
Speaker 3 (17:14):
And are you enjoying it? Most importantly, I feel like
you said you really wanted to bring like a little
bit of movement back into your life, and I feel
like that clearly is doing that. But like, do you
feel like having a side hustle is a joy or
is it a bit of a slog?
Speaker 2 (17:28):
I think it's both. Honestly, I love it so much.
It's so much fun. But sometimes I get to the
end of my nine to five day and I just
want to go home and fill on the couch and
do nothing. But it's such a lovely community. It kind
of gives energy. As much as you kind of walk
into the studio and you're like, oh, I'm tired, you
kind of you know, you can't show your class that
(17:49):
you're tired. You have to show them that you're overjoyed
to see them and that you're showing up for them,
and so it kind.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Of see, I knew you were a good pilates instructor.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
I knew it.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
I could tell from the tone of your voys.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
You've got to be there for your community. They come
for you, You've got to be there for them. So
you've got to kind of almost fake it till you
make it. You put the big smile on, you bring
the energy, and you feel energized by the end of
the class that you're teaching. So I love it.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
I love that you've kind of like gasled yourself into
having a good time. That's how I feel every time
I'm like, I don't want to go to pilates. I
can't be bothered. And then I turn up and by
the end of the class, my instructor has been so
positive and like I've moved my body and I feel
a million times better, and I'm like, see, I knew
I should go, but the motivation wasn't there at the start.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
That's exactly how it should be. I'd love that for you.
That means you found a good studio and a good
instructor that works for you.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
I have not gonna lie. Tell me now, you're a
homeowner with a growing share portfolio and an above average
super which is very fun. But those are all goals
that lots of people are working towards. So tell me
what are your current goals? What are you currently working towards?
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, so I am a homeowner. My partner and I
only just bought our first house about eighteen months ago,
so we've just kind of settled in and made changes
and ripped out cupboards and put drawers in and all
that fun stuff. So where now aiming to be able
to buy a second one without having to sell this one,
which is quite a lofty goal. Where kind of on
(19:11):
track to to be in a position to do that?
In about four or five years time, if we keep
going how we're going.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Yeah, okay, that is very exciting. Are there any other
big money goals you're currently working towards?
Speaker 2 (19:21):
In the back of my mind, I would love to
open my own Pilaratei studio, but I am absolutely horrified
about doing that. I'm very scared and very nervous about
starting my own business, but I would love to do
that one day. Possibly.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
I totally think you could, Like I totally. You're already
doing freelance admin. Like that stuff's hard, gal, you are
able to manage a full time job and moonlighting as
a pilarates and bar instructor.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Come on, maybe I'll have to dedicate a bit more
structure to that goal instead of having it be lofty.
Maybe I need to think about it and put some
structure in place for it.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
But it would be so pretty, and I can tell
from your tone of voice and just like how you're
presenting yourself, you would be literally perfect. So I'm excited
for that. I can see that in your future. Let's
go to a really quick break, because after the break,
I want to be talking a little bit more about
this share portfolio you've been growing and you're above average
super so guys don't go anywhere, all right, money dre.
(20:18):
So we are back and I get to be so
pervy because you're anonymous. And this is my favorite thing
in the entire world. Let's talk about investments. Tell me
what does this growing share portfolio look like?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yes, so my share portfolio. Actually, you know, I kind
of owe the share portfolio entirely to you, Victoria, because
I wouldn't even have jumped in if I hadn't started
listening to the podcast. Yay.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
But also I'm sorry, sorry you did the work. I
didn't do the work. I just gave you the platform.
If you didn't want to do it, you didn't have
to do it. But look at the work you did.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
It's true. But with knowledge comes power, so exactly, it's
given me that springboard that I needed. My mum was
a very scared shares equals scary and risky and we
do not do that coach to investing, which up until
I started listening to the podcast, I shared as well,
and just of course kind of went I'm no investments,
(21:08):
not for me, I don't do that. It was all
very Wolf of Wall Street in my head, you know,
crazy trading and risk.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
I look like the Wolf of Wall Street characters actually,
so turn out of ten, like not the smart ones.
I just would like to look like Margo Robbie, So
wouldn't we all? Yeah, so when you talk about Wolf
of Wall Street, yeah, I'm in. I'm committed.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
So there was there was that kind of approach. But
since listening to the pod, so I started off with
rais and just started with roundups to dip my toe
and kind.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Of didn't we all though? I feel like even I
did that.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
It's just nice to have something that's not scary, you know,
it's kind of it's just a few cents and it's
just kind of there, and then you go, oh, actually,
I've now there's two hundred and fifty dollars in there,
and sixty eight dollars of it isn't money that I
put in. It's money that I have earned back. Amazing.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Do you know what? Someone sent me a screenshot of
their share portfolio the other day and they were like,
look at this, I have now reached those little life
of their share portfolio. They've like made fifty thousand dollars
in dividends. She's like, that's free money. Victoria and I
was like, yes, it is.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Queen fifty grand in free money. That's amazing, insane, right,
I'm very envious. I don't have quite that much maybe
one day, oh no.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
But like you're on the journey, and you know what,
she'd been investing a lot longer than all of us
time in the game. That's what you need exactly. So
tell me a bit more about this. You've graduated from
raise to what.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Yes, I now have a I have a sustainable ETF
portfolio via a managed fund, okay, Queen. Also because I
like to have, I like to set and forget, and
you know, I have my automatic bank transfer set up.
Every fortnight when my pay comes in, my money goes
straight into all my allocation of money goes straight into
that account. And they're looking after all the investing for me.
(22:45):
I don't have to worry about buying or selling anything.
I just say, here's my money, Please do what you
need to do with it. I'm not planning on take
it out for the next you know, thirty or forty
years until I'm planning to retire.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Yes, I can't.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
So it's just in there doing its thing. And I
start started well. I started with an emergency fund when
I was getting my five thousand dollars a year in
quarterly installments as an athlete. So each time I got
my quarterly installment, I'd just swirl a little bit of
it away into an account which was slowly growing and
becoming my emergency fund. And then once we got through
(23:17):
COVID and I'd had to dip into that for a
few bits and pieces during that tricky time, but I
had enough that I was like, Okay, I've saved up
enough in my emergency fund that I'm comfortable to take
out a reasonable sum and pop it into shares. So
that was actually kind of how I got started in that.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Look at you go. I love that. So now tell
me a bit about this above average super, because I'm
not going to lie. If you had sat me down
and said, look, this person's an ex athlete, they were
earning twenty K year, They've sacrificed a lot for their
career and their passion. What do you think their super
looks like? And I'd be like, look, their super is
probably not looking incredible, but you've gotten above average super.
(23:54):
How the heck does that happen?
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Look? I think this is the theme of the podcast
for today. A little bit accidental. However, something that I
did become very conscious of was consolidating SUPER from all
of these casual jobs that I had floating around in
various places and from sol trading, and I had SUPER
in all these random places, and of course having it
separated is not ideal. It's going to do a lot
(24:17):
more for you all rolled into one place, so pretty
early on I made a very conscientious effort to make
sure everything was rolled into one And I'm also very
fortunate that I've got that large SUPER contribution coming from
my full time job. Yeah, that's nice, which has been
very lucky as well, not luck so much. I've worked
hard for the job so.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Exactly, I didn't even have to correct you. You did
it yourself. Good girl.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Trying to change mattitude a little bit.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
And are you planning on contributing more to that above
and beyond? Because earlier you told us that you get
like fifteen percent superannuation, which is very very exciting, But like,
do you do above and beyond in that given you're
planning on investing outside of Super as well.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
I have started doing a little bit extra only recently,
and that was because I have recently paid off my
hex debt or my help debt. Hexdet shows my age
a little bit, doesn't it.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
It's called help now, I still call it hextet. I've
even labeled bloody podcasts hex and people messaged me They're like,
what's that and I was like, you are a baby.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
You're too young.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
I'm sorry, I'm too old. Should not be on any
podcasting platforms.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
So very funny. Anyway, the hex help student debt that
I had has now been paid off. Oh good job,
which I'm super excited about.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Mine's not even paid off. That's a flex.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
I should preface I did choose a Bachelor of Arts,
which back in the day when I started doing it
was quite a bit less expensive than a number of
other degrees, so I should mention that I was fortunate
in that regard. But I have you been working hard
and kind of working my way up the ladder in
the place that I work to you know, keep paying
that off at a reasonable rate. And it took me
about five years all up from graduation to pay it off,
(25:57):
so it's not like it was overnight, but very started
to pay that off.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
No, that stuff takes ages, but that is so cool.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Congrats, thank you. But it does mean that I had
a little bit extra. So I've now the amount that
was going into my tax to pay that off. I've
now split it in half, and I pay a little
bit extra tax just so that at tax time there's
something there to pay for various things that come up,
as things always do at tax time, and then the
other little portion goes into my super.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Yeah. No, that's very cool, very cool. I love that
for you. So are you investing in any other ways?
Speaker 2 (26:30):
No, those are my only investments. I haven't had any
property or anything like that, so it's it's super and
raise and EASIF.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
Now I'm gonna take a stab in the dark. I
don't think you've got any debt, do you?
Speaker 2 (26:40):
I do not. I do not have any well, other
than the mortgage. That's a fairly sizable debt, but that
doesn't count in my opinion. I have no other debt.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Tell me about this mortgage. What did you purchase from
when we're like, give us the juicy details.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Yeah, sure, So we purchased a little townhouse. It's a
two bedroom, two bathroom or two bedroom, two and a
half bathroom. Brother. It's got a little power room sort
of toilet downstairs, and then both the bedrooms upstairs are
actually on suites, which we are very proud of.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
That's nice. Well, the guests aren't going to use the
upstairs bathroom if they've got a powder room, so unnecessary.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Yeah, we love a powder room. I mean, no one's
powdering their nose anymore. It's a very funny term to
use for But.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
You know what, it's better than calling it the toilet room,
isn't it?
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Like it sounds fancy. I'm just going to the powder
room one moment. I'll just be in the powder room.
I'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
It makes you sound rich. You can tell people.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Sorry, on the weekend, I was cleaning my powder room
like that does feel rich.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
It makes me feel very rich.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
You've got three toilets in your house, that's a flex.
I only had one toilet in my house growing up.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
It's such a privilege, isn't it having more than one bathroom,
especially when I live with a man. And I'm not
sure about anybody else who lives with a man, but
it's nice to have more than one bathroom when you
live with a man.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
One hundred percent, one hundred percent, I know exactly what
you're talking about. In fact, I don't know how I
grew up with another Like I had a sister growing
up and my mum and my dad and we all
shared one bathroom, like, I don't know how one of
us did in it and dead if I'm being honest,
It's where.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Fights start, isn't It's where family fights start in the bathroom.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
One hundred percent. So now my husband he can go downstairs.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
That's the plan. Fair.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
I feel like that's reasonable. So how much did you
purchase this house for?
Speaker 2 (28:13):
And when we purchased it for six hundred and fifteen
thousand dollars, we bought it in it was right at
the end of twenty twenty three, so we actually settled
on the twenty third of December twenty twenty three. Oh,
very cool, which was a little bit stressful at a
stressful time to be trying to settle.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
I was about to say, yeah, but merry Christmas. You
settled and then got to have Christmas, and you went
stressed over Christmas because you'd already done it.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Yes, it was very nice to have it off the
list of stressful things at Christmas time.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
And do you know what that property is worth now?
Speaker 2 (28:45):
It's probably pretty similar at the moment we live in
a suburb where there seems to be a house for
sale every other day, so we're kind of keeping an
eye on the market. I don't think it will have
fluctuated too much. We have made some improvement to it
well in our humble in and we've added you know,
grass and a bit of a nice garden, and we've
changed out some things in the kitchen drawers, cupboards, that
kind of thing, crim safe. I'm a big fan of
(29:07):
crim safe. Oh yes, yes, that makes me feel good. Yes,
the crim safe on there. So all that sort of
stuff we would hope would bolster its value a little
bit more. But we've only been in here for we've
been living here for about a year and a half,
almost two years, so we kind of haven't haven't kept
too much of an eye on sort of where it's going,
Like kind of like, let's just sit out on it,
(29:28):
make it ours and live in it for a few
years and more, come back and revisit. No.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
I totally get that. I'm just so pervy. I'm like,
so do you know if it's worth anymore? Because like
on the odd occasion we meet someone and they're like, yeah,
got revalued, and it's like worth US squillion dollars now,
and you're like, what the heck?
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Those stories are crazy? I'm so jealous.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Well, it'll be you at some point, don't you worry.
Don't you worry, So talk to me. I feel like
to go to having a full time job with a
side hustle. Your homeowner. You've got to share portfolio. You've
got very sexy souper. I'm still going to argue with
you about you being a bee, but I want to
know what do you think your best money habit is.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
I think the ortomization of absolutely everything related to finance
for me is my best money habit. I'm pretty good
at record keeping as well. So I get to tax
time and I'm not stressed at all because I've been
keeping track of that stuff all year long. I'm ready.
I love tax time. I'm like, here, I am with
my spreadsheet, and I've got all my receipts and I've
got everything that I need. Here's my list of income
from various places. Here go, mister tax accountant, please sort
(30:22):
that out for me.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
Good job, especially as a side hustler. Good job. That's
very stressful. On the flip side, though, what are you
maybe not so good at what's your worst money habit.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
I'm definitely I've got a little bit of an impulse spending,
not problem, maybe just a bit of an enthusiasm for
a little impulse spend. I have a in Quote Marks
emergency credit cards that often gets used for a little
bit of extraneous spending towards the end of the pay cycle.
It has a twenty percent interest rate on it, though,
(30:53):
so I'm always very stressed about getting caught out having
to pay back twenty percent interest, so to my own credit,
very diligent about paying it off as soon as I
get paid.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Yeah, yeah, I get that. You're kind of like, this
sounded like a good idea until the reality of it
reminded me that it's a terrible idea. Yes, yes, I
totally get that. Now tell me a little bit more
about this B plus, because like, while that's still a
good mark, I do feel like you're doing pretty well
after having this conversation. Would you change that? If not?
(31:23):
What's it going to take to get you to say
I think I'm an av Maybe.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
I could be nice to myself and bump myself up
to an a you know, some of that frivolous spending
at times is you know, it's not outside of my means.
You know, I've taken care of everything with my automation,
feel and everything are paid for and it's bringing me joy.
It's aligning with my values. So maybe I'm doing okay.
Maybe I can give myself an A.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Yeah see okay, I feel like that's good. Especially it
can be quite confronting when you hear back your own
money story and then you have a chat with me
and I'm like, hey, yep, that's good. That's not this
is this, this is that, And then I'm like, what
would it take for you to get to an A.
You're like, actually, yeah, I have explained an A situation,
haven't I Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
It's kind of it's good self reflection. I feel better
about myself today.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
I love that for you. No, good, good, Well, it's
been an absolute pleasure. I wish we had so much
more time to have more of a yap. I feel
like we get on really well. But also like your
story is just so interesting. Like also, shout out to
your mom. She sounds like an absolute bloody legend.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
She's amazing.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
I love her for you, Like I just I wish
everybody was as passionate about their parents as you are
so Thank you so much for coming on the show.
Thank you for sharing your story. I just know that
our community is going to have loved listening to this
as much as I have loved the privilege of recording it.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Thank you so much for having me. It's been an
absolute pleasure. I love the podcast so much. That's really
fun to be involved.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
You are so sweet.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
If I shared on She's on the Money is generally
nature and does not.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
Consider your individual circumstances.
Speaker 4 (32:56):
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 3 (33:09):
Advice tailored towards your needs.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
Victoria Divine and Sheese on the Money are authorized representatives
of Money sherper P t y lt D a b
N three two one six four nine two seven seven
zero eight AFSL four five one two eight nine
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