August 23, 2026 • 55 mins
Sometimes the biggest financial setbacks have nothing to do with money. After migrating to Australia from Malaysia, she watched her family go from a comfortable life to starting over from scratch. Money wasn't something anyone talked about, especially the women in her family, so when she entered her first serious relationships, she had no idea what financial abuse or manipulation could look like.
By 28, she'd lost thousands, moved back in with her parents and felt like she was starting all over again.
But instead of staying there, she got curious.
She started learning about money, bought her first home on her own, built a share portfolio worth $70,000, grew her super to more than $280,000, and carved out a career as an emergency veterinarian earning up to $250,000 a year. Along the way, she also met a partner who supports her goals instead of holding her back.
We chat about financial abuse, rebuilding your confidence after unhealthy relationships, migrating to Australia, buying a home solo, planning for a family, and why sometimes the best investment you can make is believing you're capable of creating a different future.
If you've ever felt like you've fallen behind because of the wrong relationship, this one's for you.
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Acknowledgement of Country By Nartarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
My name is Satasha Bamblet. I'm a proud First Nations
woman and I'm here to acknowledge country te glennyan Ganya,
nianar Kaka yah y and Binahaka nian Our gay In, Nimbini,
yakarum Jar, Dominyamiga, Dumaga, Ihowaka, Nile, Waman damind Imlan Bumba,
bang gadaboma In and naw In Waka Ghana and yakarrum
Jar Watanadana. Hello, beautiful friends, we gather on the lands
(00:24):
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 (00:50):
Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money in the
podcast that lets you be pervy about other people's money
stories for educational purposes of course. Welcome back to another
one of our money diaries, brought to you by our
friends at Skywealth, where I get the absolute privilege of
sitting down with one of how incredible shees on the
Money community members and talking to them all about their journey.
(01:12):
Let's jump straight into it, because this week I got
a message and it sounded exactly like this, Hi, she's
on the money. My family migrated to Australia just after
I finished high school and we went from living in
an upper middle class life to starting again with much less. Money.
Was never openly discussed in my family, especially among the women,
(01:32):
so I had to learn a lot the hard way.
After losing thousands in unhealthy relationships, I found myself single,
back at home and starting from zero at twenty eight.
Now at thirty six, I own and have renovated my home,
have six times my annual income saved and invested, and
have built a really strong superranuation fund. My husband and
(01:53):
I have also navigated redundancy, a one hundred and twenty
thousand dollars renovation, and a seventy thousand dollar wedding, and
we are now preparing to start a family money diarist.
Can we dive straight in, please, because like that sounds
like a lot, like having to restart from zero at
twenty eight and now you're thirty six, and it sounds
(02:15):
like you're an absolute weapon, Like what a one eighty
I love this for us. Yes it is.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
It's definitely a roller coaster ride on my end. And yep,
I hope you guys are prepared for the journey today.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
All right, we're strapping in. We are strapping in. I
am so ready before we get their money direst I
ask this question at the start of every episode. What
graade would you give your money habits if I asked
you to give them a grade from A through to F.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
I think I'm still B plus There's still so much
more to learn and so much more to do, and
I think my money journey is still happening and still ongoing.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
So that's where I'm at. Love it all right. Now
my favorite question, tell me a little bit more about
your money story and the things that have impacted it.
Oh man, well, oh, you just know it's going to
be a good woman. And the diary starts with you
just know. Yeah, where do I begin? All right?
Speaker 3 (03:08):
So my money story began when I would say growing up,
you know, I would say, very very early on in
my life, money was such a taboo topic in the family.
It was almost like, you know, money was associated with
you sort of being greedy, which I think that's such
a negative connotation with money. There's definitely an over arching
(03:29):
sort of like scarcy mindset. You know, there was all
the reasons are safe, but no reasons why we're saving.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
For what we are looking after? You know what was yeah, okay, yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
And then I guess what opened my eyes in the
end when it came to money was you know, realizing
that in my family, only my dad would pay the bills,
he'll do the mortgage, he would do the text returns,
and my mom didn't, even though she was working full
time herself, didn't know anything about you know, to the
(04:00):
day she retired. I don't think she even did her
own text return ever.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Oh my goodness, but that's so relatable, right, Like I
think that lots of us listening right now have parents
that are in the same situation. And it's not necessarily
a bad thing, but just the way that the world was.
But there's just so much lacking from that, right, Like,
imagine the power your mom could have had.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Oh yeah, I think that, you know, if my mom
had the same like, you know, understanding as my dad
when it comes to money, I think they would have
been a powerhouse together as a couple, you know, much
much more.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
My mom.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
She definitely always strived for the better of the family,
even though she didn't play a big hand when it
comes to money. But she was the one or she
was the reason that we actually migrated to Australia. And
even though we never spoke about money, all we knew
is saving growing up. I think my earliest week up
call when it came to money was actually coming to Australia,
(04:54):
because it can almost imagine, you know, we went from
a two income household down to a income household. We
used to have a domestic helper back home.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Where did you migrate from? To give a little bit
more context, from Malaysia. We were from Malaysia, gorgeous but
also culturally so different.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
So different, I can tell you that. And we went
from you know, having owning two cars coming to Australia
because of currency exchange, my mom being disoberate when of
the family life just had a one eighty change altogether suddenly,
and because we don't speak about money, you know, but
the signs was obvious, you know, like we went from
two cars to one car suddenly. We were shopping homebrand
(05:37):
from Coals and Wooli's, So that was a bit of
a shock. For me when I came to Australia and
because you know, you just read the signs but you
can't talk about it, you know, there was this weird
I think I had this like paranoid that there was
no more money left or we were going brooke. And
I remember in my first two years of coming to
(05:57):
Australia and.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Studying at that time.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
I'm not sure that I can even say this on
a podcast, but I was actually like I would go
to the Red Cross donate blood and actually have a
free lunch because genius.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Honestly, yeah, because I.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Was like, how can I save everything I have or
my my you know, my allowances for the week as
much as I can because I didn't know what.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Was going on. Yeah, I mean you know what, lots
of people win out of that, so like that's a
money win, but also like more blood needs to be donated,
so if that's what you're getting, like pop off Queen,
I love that.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Yeah, And I think that habit stayed even till now.
I'm still regular blood donate as a result of.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
That, so I'm not allowed to donate blood anymore. But
when I did donate blood, I was there for that
and I think they have them at every donation center.
The Nippies hot chocolate. Yes, that's what I'm there for.
I'm there for the Nippies. Oh yeah. Definitely.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
After that we graduated, I was I'm not gonna lie.
During UNI, I was very creative when it came to like,
you know, sort of trying to earn like little bits
of like ink here and then amongst the whole university
schedule that was quite hectic. But because of our visa restrictions,
we were not really the ideal candidates for people to
hire us, just because of you know, the hours that
(07:12):
we could work, what jobs we could do. So as
a result of that, I did very odd jobs. I
was like a candle hand, so I was cleaning dog
cannels in a boarding facility in UNI. I was actually
a kitchen hand, so washing dishes on UNI. And I
even dropped like the little like males, you know, the
junk meals and everyone's posting.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah. Yeah, so at six o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
It almost became a family affair because my dad would
come with me too and would be dropping.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
But also, you're a hustler. I love these, Yes, I
think I was.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
I was very creative with you know what I had
with me at that time, and then I would say that,
you know, sort of my money story sort of shaped
and developed as I graduated and I started working because
like for me doing all these like random odd jobs,
by the time I graduated and started my first job,
even for what I earned anything at that time, it
(08:08):
felt like a large amount and I suddenly felt like,
oh my god. And I think that's when I started
my first job. When I was earning at that time
forty one grand a year, I felt like a millionaire.
I didn't realize forty one grand in the middle of Sydney.
It was pittance at that time, especially when it comes
to rant because of living. I think it was a
(08:30):
bit of an eye opener for me. And what happened
shortly after that was, yeah, I'm just thinking about my
money story because the next stage from when I started
working was in my first relationship. So you know how
in culturally the whole idea is like study hard, put
your head down. But once you graduate, where's the boyfriend,
(08:51):
where's the husband? Why are we not married?
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I've got a Malaysian friend and her parents, like they
still live in Malaysia and she's over here and I
swear every time she talked to her parents, they're like,
you've got boyfriend. Two seconds and she's like, mom, I
was just calling to let you know, and her mom's like,
no boyfriend, no talk exactly.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
I just need to know exactly. And it's so funny, like,
you know, growing up, it was all about the studies.
But as soon as I graduated and got.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
A job, yet no talking to boys. But then once
you've got your degree, Hey, so where are the boyfriends? Exactly?
How did you expect me to have boyfriends when you
told me I wasn't allowed to talk to them?
Speaker 3 (09:28):
I know, and obviously, you know, starting so much later
in life, you know, when it comes to dating, Oh
my god, I'm in to this day. Even my sister
agrees that, you know, I really know how to pick them.
My first friend, oh gosh, never go on Tinder. I
mean look, I mean, look, I cannot complain because I've
heard amazing Tinder stories and you know, successful ones.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
You were just un lucky.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Yeah, I probably scraped the bottom of the barrel for
this one. When it came to dating.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
I mean, maybe I should thank you because I met
my husband on there, and I do not Levi's great
to the bottom of the barrel. But you know someone
had to do it, Yes, and you did that for us,
So I think that that's brought you and eye closer. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Oh, my first guy, I would say, he was such
a gadget that it was almost like a daily ritual gaslighting,
like manipulation, emotional blackmail. Like it got to a point where, like,
you know, I like the control. Like you know, initially
it was all I would say, rainbows and sunshine is
(10:29):
the first month. You know, they love bombing you so
hard you feel like, yes, this is the one, and
then suddenly, out of the blue, this, oh why did
you do that? That's so inconsiderate of you, Like, you know,
it begins as simple.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
As that, and then you're like, oh my god, I'm
so sorry. I didn't realize.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Yeah, I must be the selfish one. And then it
got to the point where because I was working and
he was still studying, and he was studying to be
a I don't even know with whatever happened to him,
but he was studying to be a lawyer. And he
mentioned to me that, oh, because I'm studying as a student,
(11:09):
dating you has set me back financially because I'm paying
then Nope, definitely not. And I didn't see it at
that time. I was like, Oh, this is how relationships are.
This is my very first one. This must be normal.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Oh honey. No, Like I want to pick you up
and hug you and be like no, honey, that's not
what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
No.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
And then it got to a point.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Where it was almost like, you're very selfish because I'm
paying all this money for our dates. This is how
much I've spent, and for me, it just did not
like the math was not mathing. I was like, I
just don't understand. And when I come to realize that
this is not what the real relationship it was actually
because it even got to a point where I couldn't
(11:53):
even go to the shops. I couldn't even go to
HNM without his permission or without him accompanying me, and
I knew that was weird. That's when I drew the line.
I was like, I've seen so many girls run to
the shops alone and they're not selfish.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
This is not normal. No, no, and we need to
call that exactly what it is. My friend. That was
financial abuse, and I think when you're in it you
don't realize because so many times financial abuse is wrapped
up in gas lighting behavior, where it's reframed to go,
(12:30):
I'm trying to help you here, and they're not trying
to help you, but they'll say that. They'll say, well,
you're really bad at this. You can't manage money, I'll
do that for you. You can't, you're not trustworthy, you
can't go out on your own, and then that external
narrative at the start you start going, wow, I didn't
even realize, like I lack self awareness, You don't, you're
(12:53):
being gas lit. But over time, that external narrative becomes
your internal monologue, and that's when that internal voice that
you've got goes. I am pretty selfish. I'm not thinking
about him. Oh, that's really awful.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
That is not it.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
You are abused, You are being manipulated. And it makes
me so mad because the way that it's wrapped means
that so many women can't see what's actually happening, even
though it's right in front of their faces. Like you
and I could see it from the outside because we
want to jump up and down and scream and shout,
but when you're in it, you just go ah. Of course,
I can't go to H and M by myself. But
(13:28):
I'm so glad you thought, hold on, other women go
to H and M and they're not selfish. I'm glad
your internal monologue was tapping on your shoulder, being like
money direst the s ain't right. This is not good. Oh.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
And what's crazy is that I only found out later
on after when I left that relationship, is that the
statistics is that normally women will attempt, you know, to
leave the relationship seven times before they're successful in that relationship.
Across six months, it was six times. It was a
sixth time I was able to leave, and that was
(14:00):
when sorry, he was picking on everything he has spent
in the relationship. And what I did was I sat down,
I did the math, and so happened. My first text
returned from my very first job, came in and every
cent went to him. And that was the wake up call.
(14:21):
I was like, I'm paying you back every cent that
you say that I owe you, and I'm walking and
I owe you nothing.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Oh good girl. But also you owe him nothing. I
know nothing. But at the same time, that was the
cost of getting out peacefully exactly. And you know, I
walked away.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
That was the strongest, Like I would say, stance that
got me out of that.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I'm so proud of you. Oh well, you haven't heard
the end of the story. I'm ready, I'm stretched. You
did say strapped in, so come on.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
I feel like everyone that's in my family was probably
strapped in because this was the first one.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Second one. Oh you did it again?
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Oh no, no, I wouldn't say the second guy, but
the second guy, I was like, Oh, he's a sweetheart.
There was no gas lighting, sweet as pie. And then
I was like, okay, so you know what do you do?
Speaker 2 (15:18):
What do you work?
Speaker 3 (15:18):
And it was only six months in the relationship I
found out he's been unemployed for two years?
Speaker 2 (15:24):
How I have?
Speaker 3 (15:26):
And and then it only struck me. I was like, oh,
that's why he always cooks eggs and we always ate
eggs with barbecue. Maybe because I came from relationship number
one thinking that that was the bare minimum and for me,
just cooking eggs and eating it for every almost every meal,
(15:47):
I thought that was the sweetest thing.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Top it. I love you so much. I think that
you are so sweet, but I want to shake you
a little bit and be like, babe, what I don't know.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
And funny enough, it was me who sort of convinced
him to actually get a job into State. And that's
how the relationship, like we sort of ended the.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
You shipped him off literally, you said, bye, I got
your job, but I'm sending you into State. And this
is a good girl. So I need to know more.
I need how did this man? Was he pretending to
be employed? So yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:22):
He I when I spoke to him, he was like, oh, yeah,
I'm a photographer and I was like okay. And I
never knew. For the six months that we were dating,
every time he would pack his camera equipment, he would
just go to the library or something like that and
just like stay out for the day and then come back.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Right, yeah, I know, what's the point? Like why lie
about that exactly?
Speaker 3 (16:49):
And now when I think back about it, like now
that I'm much older, I actually I almost feel a
bit of empathy, you know, sympathy for him. I was like, Oh,
he feels like he needed to sort of like, you know,
live this lie because I think maybe in his past relationships,
you know, he was pulled up for it, you know,
and instead, like you know, when he finally confessed to
(17:10):
me that he was, you know, unemployed for two years.
You know, the first thing that came to my mind
is like, how can I get you a job? Where
can I get your job?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah? And that's it, right, Like you went to immediately, oh, okay,
well how do I help you?
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Not?
Speaker 2 (17:23):
What the hell? Like I can't believe it. I just
that's really sad as well, yeah it is.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
And you know, in the end, like the reason the
relationship did not work in the end when he moved
into state with his job was because he had this
like constant need of like, oh, I have to come
back to Sydney, and I said, no, no, just focus
on building you. We can always catch up. And eventually
we decided that it's probably best that we went our
separate ways so at least he can focus on his
(17:50):
job in a different state. Built him and I wish
him well, Like this is one relationship that I was like,
he was the sweetest guy in the toughest second Stanzas
And that's how you know the relationships are so I mean,
obviously I'm having a very interesting track record going on
here from one to the other.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Mary, how to pick him? I mean, I don't know
if I could trust someone who would lie to me
for two years like that? But you're not in that relationship,
so it doesn't matter who did you meet? Then? Who's next?
Did we meet our husband? No? Husband came a little
bit more later.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Okay, So the third guy, which was after this, it
was I would say the longest relationship I've been before
I met Hobby. So this was the one where we
were dating for ten months and after Blue he is like,
I am moving into state.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Do you want to come with me?
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Like ten months into the relationship and me being you know,
maybe there was something about in my mind, I was like,
you know what, I'm just going to go for it.
I'm just going to go with this relationship made the
wind blow and see where it is because in my
mind I was thinking, you know what, maybe it's about
time I put a bit more effort. And maybe because
he seemed to be you know, he has a job,
(19:02):
he's working his direction, you know, maybe this is it.
So I moved into state ten months in and he
turns around and decides that he wants to be a student.
And oh but this was the toughest relationship because there
was nothing wrong. We were making the relationship work. But
(19:23):
what happened was when he was a full time student
and you know, he wasn't earning an income and I
was the solebrate winner and the relationship paying the bills,
the rent or like you know, furniture or whatever that
we need. He started feeling a bit insecure. And when
I started trying to sort of like better myself by
(19:45):
doing you know, sort of post sort of graduate studies
to you know, advance in my career, there was a
lot of pushback, a lot of pushback. He was like
saying things like, oh, you're never at home, but you
know it's a sacrifice, you know. I could see he
was studying to make things better for us, for our future,
and I wanted to do the same as well. But
he was like saying, you're never at home. You're always working,
(20:08):
you're always studying. And I was like, well, I'm the
so great winner.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
What did you want from me? Like, yeah, I'm never
at home. That's the point, so that you can be.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
It got to a point where I think the tipping
skills was when I sort of committed to doing this
post grad study because I knew it would put us
ahead financially as a couple, you know, as my career
as well.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
It got to a point where he would even ask me,
did you study today? And I would sometimes go, oh, no,
I went shopping. I was like, I can'd live this lie.
He was happier that I was actually shopping than studying.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Oh wait, you were lying about shopping.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Yes, I mean I would go out to the shops
and I went to the library to study. This as
how I sneaked out. And you know, it all came
crashing down when I realized that, Okay, I've been in
this relationship for too long. It was two and a
half years now, and I was like, maybe this is
not the one. Because I went for my friend's wedding
(21:08):
back in Malaysia, and I saw how my best friend
getting married, how their interactions was one another, and it
just dawn on me and I was like, I don't
think my friend ever lied to her husband saying that
she's going to shop when she actually wants to secretly
study to better herself.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
There's no way, oh my honey, No, No, that is
not love.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
No. And when I came back, my family at that
time was visiting Malaysia, so they were called my parents
because he went back to visit his family back in Sydney.
We were staying in Queensland at that time, and I
called my parents that was back in Malaysia. I was like, Mom, Dad,
I'm breaking up.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
And I think my mom had a meltdown or was
she not happy with that? Oh she was not happy.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
I think she was like, oh my god, she's going
to die a single woman.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
This is it. She should be so lucky sometimes.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
And I remember, I don't think my parents remembered that moment,
but when my mom was, you know, obviously so upset
from hearing the news, my dad picked up the phone
and I said, Dad, I need to move back home.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
I need to move back home.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
But you know, we have shad furniture, we have shared expenses.
I've just paid the rent for the next six months.
Oh yeah, there's so much money that.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
We have to get back.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
And I think my dad one of is like I
would say, golden moments in my life and I'll never
forget the words. He picked up the phone and he
was like, don't worry, just go home, just move your
stuff home. Money can always be inn whereas your dignity,
you're just got to take it and walk away.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
I love him. Dad is a girl's girl, like oh,
and like it sounds terrible, right, but it should be
that simple, like it should always be that simple, and
I know it's not, but I just I'm so glad
that your dad was like money diarist, just go home,
it'll be fine, like when sometimes it feels so much
(23:06):
more complicated and you go, oh, but I should stay.
And it's kind of that like that fallacy of putting
good money after bad like you've already spent the money,
so you kind of try to justify it and you go, yeah,
but I've spent six months of rent, Like that's so expensive.
It was lainten granted a time. Let it be wasted.
That's so much money. What were you doing, queen?
Speaker 3 (23:28):
It was a lot of money. I think that was
like you know that was oh no, actually sixteen grand
was the whole year. So I peted down eight grand
for the rent six months in advance.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Yeah, you try to justify it, right, and you go, oh, well,
I need to keep this amount going because like I
already spent it, and otherwise it will be wasted. Sometimes
let's waste it, Like let's just waste it and it
will come back. And I know it doesn't feel good
at the time, but like it's the best for your
mental health and your physical health. And as your dad said,
(23:59):
your dignite pick it up and take it home. Micren. Yeah,
so I, you know, with my tail between my legs,
I went home. No, your tail was wagging. We wanted
this relationship. I came home.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
I moved back home with my parents at twenty eight.
I at that time, you know, it just dawned on me,
like as much as my mom was relying on my
dad and you know, he sorted out the finances, I
got to do this alone. I'm kept it on my
own ship. You know, in this part, there's no one.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Else but me. Yeah, that's crazy, but also so good. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
So when I moved home, I had a year of
studying before my exams, and during that time I kept
my head down. I sort of worked hard. I think
that's when I realized it dawned on me, and I
think it was actually another money Diaris who said it
on the podcast. She said, it is not what the
external or what you hear from other people telling you
(24:52):
what you need to do. It's only when you realize
that you really really wanted that's when you would really
go for it, and that's when I moved home.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I just realized, you know.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
What, screw it, I'm going to rely on me because
you know, no one else is going to disappoint myself.
But you know I will make sure that will not
be disappointed, you know, like I had my own back totally.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
And that's hard, right, And so many times we go, no,
I really want it, bit deep down, you don't want
it hard enough yet, so you don't change, and then
all of a sudden something dawns on you. That's all
I can think about. That's all that's going to ever happen, exactly.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
And funny enough, that same time when I moved back,
my mom slipped me a book and I've never she's
I mean, she's gifted me books over the years, and
it was actually The Barefoot Investor.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Good mom.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Yeah, And then you know they're sort of the Restles
history and that from that point onwards, because when I
started reading The Barefoot Investor, I spoke to my sister
and she was the one who introduced me to She's
on the money.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Oh thank you you tell her that. I'm very grateful and.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
I have never missed a single podcast ever since stopped
really yes, I've listened to it from the very very
first start when it was just your very first episode,
and I've been listening to it every week when it
comes out.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
I'm obsessed. Thank you for being here. That is literally
the best. Like it never gets old when people are like, oh,
I'm in the community, or I'm around or I listened
to the podcast, like it's actually so insanely exciting to
me that look how many friends I have.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Guys, Yes, if only I could tell you, you know
the changes, because like ever since I got onto the bandwagon, off,
She's on the money. Since I was twenty eight twenty nine,
I was able to took a trip to Europe for
three weeks. I took my aunt along with me. I
funded her trip because it was her retirement present from me.
(26:43):
On that year at thirtieth, that's when I bought my
first place. I also started investing in shares for the
very first time. You would be very proud of me
as I go along to tell you my story.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
I am already very proud of you. So I need
to know how did we meet our husband? Like I
know I need to ask you what you earned, but
I also need to know how you met your husband.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
So husband was because I changed apps. I went to Bumble.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Okay, all right, so we stand bumble. We love bumble,
we love bumble. Funny enough, I didn't give up on
the apps. I just went to a different app. And
I met my husband at thirty two, and that was
after I bought my house. Oh my goodness, he really
got a catch. Like imagine him. He'd be like going
home to his mates. He's like, I have met this girl.
She is a hustler. She is so kind and so beautiful.
(27:33):
She also owns her own property. Like, oh my goodness.
He won't tell me did you win as well? Or
have we got another one of the cup pasts that
you liked to have before?
Speaker 3 (27:43):
No, he was completely different. First thing is that i've
it was only with my husband. Then I realized how
supportive a partner can be in any form of way.
And I've never met a guy who lovest my cats
more than anyone else.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
As somebody who found an also cat guy get this money, darrest,
he let me get a second one. I know. That's
why I have true cats at the morment. I love
this for us. This is amazing. Yes, so you bought
your own house, then you met your husband. Tell me,
let's start learning about the financial side of things. What
(28:21):
do you do for work and how much money do
you earn? So I'm a veterinarian, of course you are.
I love this and because my work I do a
lot of overtime. I would say that in the year
I earned around two hundred to two hundred and fifty
grand Oh my god. You were here hustling for better,
weren't you. You were like, I need to do this
postgrad and sorry, this is what you were hiding in
(28:41):
the library for. Yes, yes, my queen, My queen. I
feel like that was not necessary. And so what does
it mean? Before you and I got on recording, you said, oh,
I do shift work and I didn't ask anything more
about it because I didn't want to know at that
point because I didn't want to ruin the show. But
tell me what does it mean to work shift work
(29:04):
but also be a vet? Like what type of vet
are you doing?
Speaker 3 (29:07):
It's more like emergency?
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Yeah, oh, my heart, is that really hard? It sounds
really hard.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
It's definitely a passion career.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
I love the work.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
I love how tough it is, but at the same time,
I love being there for the clients and for the patients.
I knew that I always wanted to be a VET
since I was young and emergency Funny enough, it tickled
my adrenaline junkie side of things. So it's fast paced,
you think on your foot, it's quite full on. But
at the same time, you know, whenever I am there
(29:39):
in those graveyard hours in the middle of the night,
two am in the morning, there's a lot of reward
as much as there is so much sometimes heartache that
comes from the job. Yeah, I would say it's definitely
a passion career. You know, if you don't love it,
it's very hard to stay in it.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Unfortunately, Oh, it absolutely would be. And I feel like
mood's already down, but I don't want to bring down
the mood. But we know that people who work as
bits experience some of the worst mental health in the country,
so I think that's worth noting as well, because obviously
it's not an easy career. And you've just said, oh,
I earn like two hundred to two hundred and fifty
(30:18):
thousand dollars and a lot of people will be like, WHOA,
that's crazy, that's so good. But also we need to
go well at what cost, Like, are you okay? Is
that going to be sustainable for you? And I think, yeah,
that's really important as well, So tell me is that
sustainable to continue earning that amount of money in the
job that you've got.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
I think it's a sacrifice. I always see it as that.
It's a sacrifice that you give up. You give up
your weekends, you give up your public holidays. It can
be quite lonely, especially if you don't have the right
support system around you. I think that's what people don't realize.
It's a real sacrifice to be able to earn that
and it's a lot of hours to put in. I've
been doing it for quite a long while already. But
(30:59):
if you're not for the burnout rate is really high
as well. So that's the unfortunate downside of my career.
It's it's good when it's going, but at the same time,
you'd be so careful to look after like, you know,
make sure you look after yourself.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
One hundred percent. And that's why I'm like, you're okay, right, Like,
let's just point this out. Yeah, so money, dirist, you
also have bought your own house before you even got
a husband, Like that is incredible, But what are your
current big money goals? What are you working towards.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
So at the moment, we are working towards starting a family.
I guess like what I'm looking for is the opportunity
of having some time off or maternity leave at least,
And because like you know, my parents were hustlers, so
Mom was very busy working most of the time. Whereas
for me, I want to change that narrative. I'm hoping
that at least I can be around, you know, with
(31:50):
my kids raising up and hopefully go down to part
time eventually. So for me, at least, one thing I
know is that I always tell myself it is not forever.
I know there's an expiry date eventually for my career
due to either the mental load, the family commitments, you know,
or even the strain it puts on the body. So
I just telling myself, you know, make haywell sunshines because
(32:11):
you never know when it's going to end.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
Yeah, absolutely, so tell me, And I want to be
a little bit pervy if you'll let me. Yeah, what
does planning for a family look like to you? Because
you mentioned you are thirty six and I'm thirty five,
So I know what that looks like from my perspective,
but you don't have any kids yet, Like, how far
down this family planning route are we? What does that
(32:33):
look like?
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Well, we only just got married last month, so so
so early. Yeah, still early, and that's why we're hoping, like,
you know, in the next set of six to twelve months,
you know, we would consider start trying for a family.
At the moment, what family planning looks like for us
is sort of like putting money aside for maternity leave.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Yeap. Cool?
Speaker 3 (32:54):
Yeah, so, and we know that children are not cheap,
so having a bit of that buffer.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
They are very expensive, but that is okay because like
from my perspective, they are definitely worth it as somebody
who has to and like, honestly, I've got to chat
to my husband three which sounds good, like I don't
know for like the more the merrier in my house,
but it is something that takes a lot of planning.
Are you just stashing away as much cash as possible
(33:20):
or are you like keeping a budget or are you
looking at like family content, like where's your head at,
you know, prior to getting pregnant yeap.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
So at the moment, we have already have a family
budget that we're very filled. So you know, we've set
of set aside like fifty grand from the maternity leave
at that time, and that will at least, you know,
cover most of the living expenses. We've also topped up
our emergency fund along at the same time, so that
is around we're hoping to at least get up to
(33:48):
at least one hundred grand. And I was about to
say that, you know, at this moment, Hobby and I,
you know, we are trying to make time false elf
still to create these kids through real Yes, yep, yep.
Timing is everything. You don't realize that until you're in
it and you're like, oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
This is not as easy as I thought it was
going to be. No, And that's why I told my husband.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
I said, look, we'll take it as it comes the
next six or twelve months, even if you know, plans change.
At least we're financially prepared for it.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
You know. Yeah, I resonate with that so much in
my head. Prior to getting pregnant, I just thought, oh,
you just like stop using contraception, right, like that's just
the rule. No, No, there's a lot of planning and
you know what, the type of planning that makes a baby,
from my perspective and from my personal experience, is not
(34:40):
that sexy. It sounds sexy, it's not very sexy. It's not.
It's a lot about clocks and ovulation tests and texting
your partner. You are home tonight, right, Yes?
Speaker 3 (34:52):
And when I heard your podcast about what you know,
your journey of getting your second one, I was like.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
I mean the early stages. I know what it feels like,
all the supplements or the estrogen tests, and you're.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Just doing the best that you can, and you're just
so stressed because you're like, I don't know what I
don't know, and every week there's something new and you're like,
I didn't know that. That's crazy exactly. So yes, I've
got all my fingers and toes crossed for you, but
I do not envy that position at all. I do
issue the best of luck. Let's go to a really
(35:25):
quick break because on the flip side, I want to
ask you about your investments. I know you're working towards
one hundred thousand dollars in your emergency fund, so I
want to talk about that, and then your best and
worst money habits, So guys don't go anywhere. All right,
money diarist, we are back. And in your entry letter
(35:47):
that you sent to me six times your annual salary
saved or invested. How the heck have you done that
in less than ten years.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
Look, I would say that it's times the original annual
sariat so that was like forty one grand, So six times. Yes,
I would say it's a combination of Well, I did
put a lot in my super in the beginning of
my years, for.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Sure, smart girl.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
And also I sort of like shuffled as much money
as I could in my shares portfolio at the same time.
So at this moment, when it comes to investing or
my investments overall, my current super is sitting around two
hundred and eighty two thousand stop.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
That's incredible.
Speaker 3 (36:31):
Yes, And at the moment, my share portfolio is sitting
around seventy grand at this stage.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
That is so cool. And told to me about your
emergency fund, how is that trucking along?
Speaker 3 (36:43):
So at the moment, it's a team effort between Hobby
and I. So at this moment, what is happening with
us is that I came with the mortgage, and the
mortgage is pretty much under control of my end. So
hobby is literally saving everything that ends.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
We love to see it. So tell me a bit
more about this. You've been married a month. Congratulations. That
is genuinely so exciting. I have a lot of wedding questions,
but first and foremost, did you manage money together before
getting married or only after?
Speaker 3 (37:13):
Well, we actually started managing money in our third year
of dating each other, so we took the slow route
to marriage. So we were dating for at least four
years before he popped the question, because I think he
was scarred as much as I was from all the
relationships that you know, he wanted to make sure it
(37:34):
was the right one before we committed. But we were
already talking about money, like in our sort of early
I would say, in our first year of dating. We
started the conversation because he's very passionate and investing, but
he invests. He has his own self managed super fund
that he contributes to. Okay, I like to keep mind
(37:54):
stock standard simple, one of those like normal generic super
funds that you see all around.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Yes. Absolutely, yeah, So I always joke with my husband.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
I say, look, we'll go to the very end and
we'll see who does better the sell managed super fun
versus the stock center super Fun.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Could you let me know, like in like what thirty
forty years, you just call me up and be like, hey,
v this one one and then I'll be able to
report back to the community. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
So a list, you know, it's like a live statistics
of self managed sip fun versus super Fun.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
Yes, one percent. That's crazy. So how did you pay
for a seventy thousand dollars wedding? Oh?
Speaker 3 (38:31):
So well, because most of the mortgage comes from from me,
My husband was I would say he left it the brunt.
Within six months we saved seventy grand together. It was
a lot of grind, a lot of hustle. I think
a lot of bloods, certain tears from both of us.
In the end, it sounds like it we eventually got there.
(38:52):
So yeah, we were actually very proud of ourselves in
the end. And that's why with my husband, especially because
we navigated through it was funny, like the timing of
things will I'm not gonna lie. So I met my
husband when I studied too, bought the house. I was like, sweet,
you know, we just need to date this guy. Find
out he's not a bad ache.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
Not a psycho.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
Not a psycho. Marry him, Happy days. And we finally,
you know, sort of spoke to each other. We moved
in together July August. He was served a notice of redundancy.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
No, you can't catch your break, no with these men
with no jobs.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
I was like, I do not know what I've done
in my past life, but holy.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
Do like you definitely got hit with that stick. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:44):
And then it was sort of six months when he
was out and I was like, Okay, we got this.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Don't worry.
Speaker 3 (39:51):
I have all my dogs lined up in a row.
At least we're not renting this time without a job. Okay,
I've learned many relationships, so I got this. I'm well versed.
And then what happened was once he got his job,
finally after six months, I said, honey, we got to
start saving. And within twelve months he actually I got
(40:14):
to give him credit. He saved our pregnancy, fun, he
saved our wedding, every paid it he got. He was
so diligent, he'd like, you know, put it all. We
did the budget together and we set the target, and
he was such a gun. That's one thing I love
about my husband, even though when life beats him down.
When he's back up on his feet, you know, he's
(40:35):
willing to pick it up and just chug for with love.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
And that's just something that I so respect in just
human beings in general, Like it's so easy to give
up or feel like it's too much, but it just
sounds like he's got his head screwed on. I need
to know if he was able to save that so quickly,
Like come on, give us the gloss? What does he
do as a job, Like, how do you do that?
He's an engineer, he is. That's quite sexy. I like that.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
Yeah, yeah, and I would say that our pay brackets
are roughly the scene.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Yeah, okay, that's quite cool though, and like that's got
such power behind it, and like coming from like I'm
just looking at your money story like my favorite thing ever.
And you've probably noticed obviously our community don't get to
see these podcasts, like we don't record the video, but
every time we do a money diary, I get the
privilege of sitting down in my study with a money
(41:29):
diarist and a cup of tea, and I'm like sitting
here like I'm getting the gossip. I'm like I'm what next, Oh,
my god, what does your husband do? It's like the
best thing in the entire world. Like if you enjoy
listening to money diries, you best believe I have ten
times more fun recording them, Like it is so perview.
But knowing your money story and where you've come from
(41:50):
and you being like Vitoria, I grew up and I
wasn't really meant to talk about money, and like, you know,
coming from Malaysia where you literally would have had domestic
help and every single friend that you went to school
with would have had domestic help, Like that is normal. Yeah,
it's like my girlfriends who grew up in Singapore, like
it's we don't like we joke about it because I
(42:11):
obviously did not grow up in Singapore. But they're like, Victoria,
we should move home to have children, because we would
have a housekeeper, we would have a nanny, we would
have all these things and it is so normal, and
here you do it yourself, Like it's just such a
different culture.
Speaker 3 (42:28):
It is. It is like I always tell my partner,
I said, oh, it's such a different thing even like
you know, yeah, like how I said, like it's so
normal in Malaysia to have a domestic help but that
prepares all your meals. And here my husband and I
are trying to work out Marley Spoon as best as
(42:48):
we can.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
Okay, okay, but we love Marley Spoon. But that is
absolutely the case, right, Like it's exactly. It is not
easy by any stretch. So going from not being able
to talk about money, having a completely different cultural background
to being a high income household pop off, queen, I
love this for you, Thank you, thank you. What is
(43:12):
it like growing up in a family where you can't
talk about money but you're clearly stressed about money.
Speaker 3 (43:17):
It's very anxiety provoking, for sure. It's very very stressful
because you suddenly you have to read the little like
subtle signs. Sometimes, you know, you would start searching, you know,
for the little cues like oh my god, we went
from driving you know, a Toyota camera with all the
spec spells and whistles, lettuce seeds and all to Toyota Corolla,
(43:42):
which is the basic model, and suddenly you're like, oh
my god, it's fabric seats and it could be.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
As simple as that.
Speaker 3 (43:50):
And because you're not able to talk about it or
be like hey, why yeah, exactly, because it could be
as simple as you know. It's funny because now I'm
much older. I asked my mom. I said, like, what
was the goal with the cars at the time. My
mom was like, oh, yeah, we just didn't know what
car to choose in the beginning, so we decided let's
(44:11):
start the cheapest option until we figure out the local
brands and then walk your way up.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
And I was like, oh my god, that is not
what I thought was happening, mom, Like I thought we
were going to die. Yeah, I thought we were not
going to have food on the table anymore. That was
the feeling.
Speaker 3 (44:26):
And you know, yeah, I was thinking that we're not
going to have food on the table. But it's probably
just my mom's bad cooking because she has never cooked
for forty years and.
Speaker 2 (44:34):
Suddenly yeah, yeah, and now she has to cook. And
you're like, why are we having eggs every day with
barbecue sauce? I thought that was.
Speaker 3 (44:41):
Love, yes, And I remember, you know, for the first
probably like two months in Australia, we only had two
sauces in the pantry because Mom doesn't didn't do a
lot of the cooking back home, so that's why. And
here I was thinking, oh my god, we're going to
run out food.
Speaker 2 (44:59):
This is it?
Speaker 3 (45:00):
We kind of thought food anymore?
Speaker 2 (45:01):
Isn't it crazy? Because we just don't know what we
don't know? And that's what's so beautiful about financial literacy
because it's not actually just about money. It's not because
now all of a sudden you know how to do
a budget. It's because everything in life starts to make sense.
Because at the end of the day, money drives everything.
(45:22):
It's crazy money, darrested. Tell me, tell me about your debt.
How much debt do you have? What does that look like?
Speaker 3 (45:29):
So I have my mortgage at the moment, it's sitting
around six hundred and thirty five thousand, but the house
is currently valued at one point three million.
Speaker 2 (45:38):
Okay, look at you go? Yep. And what's the plan
in the future, Like are you planning on you know,
buying other houses, upgrading, changing? Like where are we at?
Speaker 3 (45:51):
Well, we are looking at maybe an investment property in
the I would say, in a bit on the distant future,
only because you know, family plan and creating a family
is our main focus right now financially, So we decided
that once we have the kids, then we can look
at building our property sort of like empire or whatever
we want to do. But I think one I always
(46:13):
tell my husband, I said, we just need one one
more and that's it.
Speaker 2 (46:17):
One step in the right direction. Let's just keep on
keeping on exactly. I love that. Alright, money diarist, talk
to me about personal insurance. You are both high income
and is please tell me you have insurance. I do, okay,
thank you, and.
Speaker 3 (46:32):
It's personal insurance outside of super okay. I took that
out as soon as I signed my contract for my mortgage.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
I'm obsessed with you. How did you know where to
go and what to do and the types of insurances
that you needed?
Speaker 1 (46:46):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (46:46):
I mean, I was consuming so much financial content at
a time, and I found out that because I still
had the money story, that there was no money or
support for my family. It just dawned on me when
I got a mortgage that if anything will happen to me,
I had no help. That's what's it. And that's when
I did my personal insurance.
Speaker 2 (47:06):
I even did a will. Good girl, I'm so proud
of you, but it's so true, right, like, if if
something happens to you, there's no one to pick up
the pieces and be like, don't worry money darist. I
will pay your mortgage in the entrant. That's not going
to happen.
Speaker 3 (47:20):
No, that's why I took out personal insurance, Life Trauma
TVD the whole bells and whistles, and I also got
a will and I even nominated my parents. I said,
if anything was to happen, this is.
Speaker 2 (47:32):
What needs to happen. Love, Now tell me a bit more.
I'm sure you have so many, but what do you
think is your best money habit.
Speaker 3 (47:40):
I would say my best money habit is that I'm
really good at looking for a bargain. So a good
example was actually my house.
Speaker 2 (47:49):
Yeah, that looked like a pretty good example.
Speaker 3 (47:52):
Yes, because it was shortly after COVID in twenty twenty
when I bought my property. It was actually and that's
the thing, I saw the household what it was. It
was probably an investment property before, so the tenants didn't
really look after it, so when they were selling it
it was s is there was it looked it was
(48:14):
dirty or stains and everything. But I think what I
saw what the house was for. What the value is
they were asking at that time was six hundred and
nineteen thousand, and I.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
Lob alled them. I was like six fifteen. Good girl.
Speaker 3 (48:30):
Now, when I look back, I was like, oh my god,
that was such a bargain at that time. You know,
I think for when I showed it to my parents,
because you know, they came from from Malaysia, their houses
were spik Span, brand new, built from scratch, and then
I showed them my house, I think my parents was like,
what have we done?
Speaker 2 (48:50):
What did you do?
Speaker 3 (48:52):
And then now when they look back, they're like, oh,
great decision, you found a bargain.
Speaker 2 (48:57):
Yes, But also, isn't it so funny that this stuff
gets so overlaid with their cultural expectations. And I find
that so many people in our community who have immigrant backgrounds,
their parents just simply don't get it. And it's not
because they don't care. It's not because they don't have
a level of financial literacy like your dad or your
(49:19):
mom could be like the best investor in the world,
but because culturally they come from somewhere different, they're not
going to see what you see. And that's okay. But like,
I'm so glad they've kind of come around and they're like,
money direst, I'm glad that you did that, even though
we thought that was really horrific. Yes, I love that.
On the flip side, what's your worst money habit?
Speaker 3 (49:40):
I would say that I can be quite impulsive, like
I'm very impatient.
Speaker 2 (49:44):
Really, I did not pick that up from you.
Speaker 3 (49:46):
Yes, I think once I've put my mind to it,
I'm like full steam ahead. So that's why, you know,
it got me to where it got me by. At
the same time, it's got me into trouble sometimes and
it comes to like, you know, impulse purchase us or
things that that you know, when I'm I'm sold about,
you know, something in particular, like for example, running shoes.
(50:09):
I love running and I'm obsessed with running shoes, and
I would just buy running shoes on a woman. Yeah, okay, yeah,
worst money hope. It very impulsive in that part.
Speaker 2 (50:18):
But that's okay. I feel like, for my sake, I
need you not to be good at everything because I
was like this woman, she's so good. But also we've
just gone through so much of your money story and
I'm just I'm so grateful because I just know, can
you imagine people listening to this in their cars. It's chaotic.
They're going to be like, this is so gretty, this
(50:39):
is so good. Also a little bit chaos, but like
that's what we're here for. But you said you were
a B plus and then you're like, oh, I bought
my house and I set up my wheel, and I
did all of my own insurances, and I'm like planning
for a baby. We're going to have one hundred grand
in savings before then. And also I'm married to an engineer. Queen,
what why can you hear yourself?
Speaker 3 (51:01):
I know, I think I just said expectations to myself
too high because in my mind.
Speaker 2 (51:06):
I'm an a when I'm retired. Okay, all right, but also,
come on, let's be a little bit kind to ourselves.
You are literally doing amazing things, Like can I just
take you back. Let's talk to twenty eight year old you,
like she just walked out of another relationship that she
thought was going to work and it didn't, and you
(51:27):
started from scratch and now you're here. Like imagine if
I laid all of this out on the table, I'd
be like, oh my god, You've got a really cool husband.
He's an engineer. I get this real job, has a
real job, and you've bought your own house. It's now
worth one point two million dollars and you're a hustler,
so you bought it for less than half. Like, imagine
me going through all of this and telling you about
(51:48):
your super and your investments and what you've done for yourself.
What would she say? What would twenty eight year old
you say you were raided?
Speaker 3 (51:57):
I think she wouldn't believe it. Less and four I
at that time I didn't think I was capable of
doing it. But at the same time, I think twenty
or or me will be very proud on how far
we come.
Speaker 2 (52:09):
Oh, she better, otherwise I need to have a little
bit of a chat with her, you know. But it's
so relatable to be in a situation where you go,
even if we backtrack, right, how do you create this
when at twenty eight you wouldn't have thought that you
were capable. How do you take yourself from that circumstance
(52:30):
where you could have gone one way and been like, well,
I'm twenty eight, what's the point? And so many people
do but you are so young? But how do you
go from there to hear like that's a success story,
my friend?
Speaker 3 (52:42):
Yes it is. I always think that if you hit
rock bottom and when you know, when everything is out
and you're really like knees deep and you're at your lowest.
I mean, the only way you know from there.
Speaker 2 (52:56):
Is really up, really one hundred percent, like what's the worst? Yeah.
Speaker 3 (53:00):
At that time, honestly, you know, twenty old me was
probably thinking, like, I'm here, I'm as low as I
can be. Anything above this is a bonus, you know,
anything above this is a win. And that's how I
think I saw and I took life, and I think
that's what inspired me so much to be where I
am because after that, everything that I did, I was like,
(53:21):
you know what, anything that was better than what I
was at twenty eight is a bonus. And I think
that's what got me to where I am because I
sort of I became a bit fearless. I just took
every challenge you know by the horns and just ran
with it.
Speaker 2 (53:36):
I love it so much. It makes me so happy,
and I'm so proud of you and just so excited
to know that you're in this circumstance and you deserve it,
like you deserve this and everything else that is to come.
And I'm just I'm so happy that I got to
meet you, but also so happy that I get to
share this story with our community, because I just know
that someone's listening and they're just like, how do I
(53:59):
do it? Away?
Speaker 3 (54:00):
Do?
Speaker 2 (54:01):
And you said it best earlier. And I don't know
if you know you said this, but you said, just
like one step, just like do one step, just do
one thing. And I think that that's the best advice ever.
And your dad had some really good advice as well,
and it was just take your dignity and go home.
That's so good. It's just so good. Yes, Money, Darist,
(54:22):
I wish we had more time, but I'm just I'm
out of time. But I am so grateful that I
got to have this chat with you, so thank you
so much, Thank you so much. That's my chatting with
you too. The advice shared on She's on the Money
is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances.
(54:43):
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 Divine and She's on the Money
are authorized representatives of Money sherper P T Y L
(55:04):
t D A B N three two one six four
nine two seven seven zero eight A F s L
four five one two eight nine
My name is Satasha Bamblet. I'm a proud First Nations
woman and I'm here to acknowledge country te glennyan Ganya,
nianar Kaka yah y and Binahaka nian Our gay In, Nimbini,
yakarum Jar, Dominyamiga, Dumaga, Ihowaka, Nile, Waman damind Imlan Bumba,
bang gadaboma In and naw In Waka Ghana and yakarrum
Jar Watanadana. Hello, beautiful friends, we gather on the lands
(00:24):
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 (00:50):
Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money in the
podcast that lets you be pervy about other people's money
stories for educational purposes of course. Welcome back to another
one of our money diaries, brought to you by our
friends at Skywealth, where I get the absolute privilege of
sitting down with one of how incredible shees on the
Money community members and talking to them all about their journey.
(01:12):
Let's jump straight into it, because this week I got
a message and it sounded exactly like this, Hi, she's
on the money. My family migrated to Australia just after
I finished high school and we went from living in
an upper middle class life to starting again with much less. Money.
Was never openly discussed in my family, especially among the women,
(01:32):
so I had to learn a lot the hard way.
After losing thousands in unhealthy relationships, I found myself single,
back at home and starting from zero at twenty eight.
Now at thirty six, I own and have renovated my home,
have six times my annual income saved and invested, and
have built a really strong superranuation fund. My husband and
(01:53):
I have also navigated redundancy, a one hundred and twenty
thousand dollars renovation, and a seventy thousand dollar wedding, and
we are now preparing to start a family money diarist.
Can we dive straight in, please, because like that sounds
like a lot, like having to restart from zero at
twenty eight and now you're thirty six, and it sounds
(02:15):
like you're an absolute weapon, Like what a one eighty
I love this for us. Yes it is.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
It's definitely a roller coaster ride on my end. And yep,
I hope you guys are prepared for the journey today.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
All right, we're strapping in. We are strapping in. I
am so ready before we get their money direst I
ask this question at the start of every episode. What
graade would you give your money habits if I asked
you to give them a grade from A through to F.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
I think I'm still B plus There's still so much
more to learn and so much more to do, and
I think my money journey is still happening and still ongoing.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
So that's where I'm at. Love it all right. Now
my favorite question, tell me a little bit more about
your money story and the things that have impacted it.
Oh man, well, oh, you just know it's going to
be a good woman. And the diary starts with you
just know. Yeah, where do I begin? All right?
Speaker 3 (03:08):
So my money story began when I would say growing up,
you know, I would say, very very early on in
my life, money was such a taboo topic in the family.
It was almost like, you know, money was associated with
you sort of being greedy, which I think that's such
a negative connotation with money. There's definitely an over arching
(03:29):
sort of like scarcy mindset. You know, there was all
the reasons are safe, but no reasons why we're saving.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
For what we are looking after? You know what was yeah, okay, yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
And then I guess what opened my eyes in the
end when it came to money was you know, realizing
that in my family, only my dad would pay the bills,
he'll do the mortgage, he would do the text returns,
and my mom didn't, even though she was working full
time herself, didn't know anything about you know, to the
(04:00):
day she retired. I don't think she even did her
own text return ever.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Oh my goodness, but that's so relatable, right, Like I
think that lots of us listening right now have parents
that are in the same situation. And it's not necessarily
a bad thing, but just the way that the world was.
But there's just so much lacking from that, right, Like,
imagine the power your mom could have had.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Oh yeah, I think that, you know, if my mom
had the same like, you know, understanding as my dad
when it comes to money, I think they would have
been a powerhouse together as a couple, you know, much
much more.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
My mom.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
She definitely always strived for the better of the family,
even though she didn't play a big hand when it
comes to money. But she was the one or she
was the reason that we actually migrated to Australia. And
even though we never spoke about money, all we knew
is saving growing up. I think my earliest week up
call when it came to money was actually coming to Australia,
(04:54):
because it can almost imagine, you know, we went from
a two income household down to a income household. We
used to have a domestic helper back home.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Where did you migrate from? To give a little bit
more context, from Malaysia. We were from Malaysia, gorgeous but
also culturally so different.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
So different, I can tell you that. And we went
from you know, having owning two cars coming to Australia
because of currency exchange, my mom being disoberate when of
the family life just had a one eighty change altogether suddenly,
and because we don't speak about money, you know, but
the signs was obvious, you know, like we went from
two cars to one car suddenly. We were shopping homebrand
(05:37):
from Coals and Wooli's, So that was a bit of
a shock. For me when I came to Australia and
because you know, you just read the signs but you
can't talk about it, you know, there was this weird
I think I had this like paranoid that there was
no more money left or we were going brooke. And
I remember in my first two years of coming to
(05:57):
Australia and.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Studying at that time.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
I'm not sure that I can even say this on
a podcast, but I was actually like I would go
to the Red Cross donate blood and actually have a
free lunch because genius.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Honestly, yeah, because I.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Was like, how can I save everything I have or
my my you know, my allowances for the week as
much as I can because I didn't know what.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Was going on. Yeah, I mean you know what, lots
of people win out of that, so like that's a
money win, but also like more blood needs to be donated,
so if that's what you're getting, like pop off Queen,
I love that.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Yeah, And I think that habit stayed even till now.
I'm still regular blood donate as a result of.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
That, so I'm not allowed to donate blood anymore. But
when I did donate blood, I was there for that
and I think they have them at every donation center.
The Nippies hot chocolate. Yes, that's what I'm there for.
I'm there for the Nippies. Oh yeah. Definitely.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
After that we graduated, I was I'm not gonna lie.
During UNI, I was very creative when it came to like,
you know, sort of trying to earn like little bits
of like ink here and then amongst the whole university
schedule that was quite hectic. But because of our visa restrictions,
we were not really the ideal candidates for people to
hire us, just because of you know, the hours that
(07:12):
we could work, what jobs we could do. So as
a result of that, I did very odd jobs. I
was like a candle hand, so I was cleaning dog
cannels in a boarding facility in UNI. I was actually
a kitchen hand, so washing dishes on UNI. And I
even dropped like the little like males, you know, the
junk meals and everyone's posting.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah. Yeah, so at six o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
It almost became a family affair because my dad would
come with me too and would be dropping.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
But also, you're a hustler. I love these, Yes, I
think I was.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
I was very creative with you know what I had
with me at that time, and then I would say that,
you know, sort of my money story sort of shaped
and developed as I graduated and I started working because
like for me doing all these like random odd jobs,
by the time I graduated and started my first job,
even for what I earned anything at that time, it
(08:08):
felt like a large amount and I suddenly felt like,
oh my god. And I think that's when I started
my first job. When I was earning at that time
forty one grand a year, I felt like a millionaire.
I didn't realize forty one grand in the middle of Sydney.
It was pittance at that time, especially when it comes
to rant because of living. I think it was a
(08:30):
bit of an eye opener for me. And what happened
shortly after that was, yeah, I'm just thinking about my
money story because the next stage from when I started
working was in my first relationship. So you know how
in culturally the whole idea is like study hard, put
your head down. But once you graduate, where's the boyfriend,
(08:51):
where's the husband? Why are we not married?
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I've got a Malaysian friend and her parents, like they
still live in Malaysia and she's over here and I
swear every time she talked to her parents, they're like,
you've got boyfriend. Two seconds and she's like, mom, I
was just calling to let you know, and her mom's like,
no boyfriend, no talk exactly.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
I just need to know exactly. And it's so funny, like,
you know, growing up, it was all about the studies.
But as soon as I graduated and got.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
A job, yet no talking to boys. But then once
you've got your degree, Hey, so where are the boyfriends? Exactly?
How did you expect me to have boyfriends when you
told me I wasn't allowed to talk to them?
Speaker 3 (09:28):
I know, and obviously, you know, starting so much later
in life, you know, when it comes to dating, Oh
my god, I'm in to this day. Even my sister
agrees that, you know, I really know how to pick them.
My first friend, oh gosh, never go on Tinder. I
mean look, I mean, look, I cannot complain because I've
heard amazing Tinder stories and you know, successful ones.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
You were just un lucky.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Yeah, I probably scraped the bottom of the barrel for
this one. When it came to dating.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
I mean, maybe I should thank you because I met
my husband on there, and I do not Levi's great
to the bottom of the barrel. But you know someone
had to do it, Yes, and you did that for us,
So I think that that's brought you and eye closer. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Oh, my first guy, I would say, he was such
a gadget that it was almost like a daily ritual gaslighting,
like manipulation, emotional blackmail. Like it got to a point where, like,
you know, I like the control. Like you know, initially
it was all I would say, rainbows and sunshine is
(10:29):
the first month. You know, they love bombing you so
hard you feel like, yes, this is the one, and
then suddenly, out of the blue, this, oh why did
you do that? That's so inconsiderate of you, Like, you know,
it begins as simple.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
As that, and then you're like, oh my god, I'm
so sorry. I didn't realize.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Yeah, I must be the selfish one. And then it
got to the point where because I was working and
he was still studying, and he was studying to be
a I don't even know with whatever happened to him,
but he was studying to be a lawyer. And he
mentioned to me that, oh, because I'm studying as a student,
(11:09):
dating you has set me back financially because I'm paying
then Nope, definitely not. And I didn't see it at
that time. I was like, Oh, this is how relationships are.
This is my very first one. This must be normal.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Oh honey. No, Like I want to pick you up
and hug you and be like no, honey, that's not
what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
No.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
And then it got to a point.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Where it was almost like, you're very selfish because I'm
paying all this money for our dates. This is how
much I've spent, and for me, it just did not
like the math was not mathing. I was like, I
just don't understand. And when I come to realize that
this is not what the real relationship it was actually
because it even got to a point where I couldn't
(11:53):
even go to the shops. I couldn't even go to
HNM without his permission or without him accompanying me, and
I knew that was weird. That's when I drew the line.
I was like, I've seen so many girls run to
the shops alone and they're not selfish.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
This is not normal. No, no, and we need to
call that exactly what it is. My friend. That was
financial abuse, and I think when you're in it you
don't realize because so many times financial abuse is wrapped
up in gas lighting behavior, where it's reframed to go,
(12:30):
I'm trying to help you here, and they're not trying
to help you, but they'll say that. They'll say, well,
you're really bad at this. You can't manage money, I'll
do that for you. You can't, you're not trustworthy, you
can't go out on your own, and then that external
narrative at the start you start going, wow, I didn't
even realize, like I lack self awareness, You don't, you're
(12:53):
being gas lit. But over time, that external narrative becomes
your internal monologue, and that's when that internal voice that
you've got goes. I am pretty selfish. I'm not thinking
about him. Oh, that's really awful.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
That is not it.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
You are abused, You are being manipulated. And it makes
me so mad because the way that it's wrapped means
that so many women can't see what's actually happening, even
though it's right in front of their faces. Like you
and I could see it from the outside because we
want to jump up and down and scream and shout,
but when you're in it, you just go ah. Of course,
I can't go to H and M by myself. But
(13:28):
I'm so glad you thought, hold on, other women go
to H and M and they're not selfish. I'm glad
your internal monologue was tapping on your shoulder, being like
money direst the s ain't right. This is not good. Oh.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
And what's crazy is that I only found out later
on after when I left that relationship, is that the
statistics is that normally women will attempt, you know, to
leave the relationship seven times before they're successful in that relationship.
Across six months, it was six times. It was a
sixth time I was able to leave, and that was
(14:00):
when sorry, he was picking on everything he has spent
in the relationship. And what I did was I sat down,
I did the math, and so happened. My first text
returned from my very first job, came in and every
cent went to him. And that was the wake up call.
(14:21):
I was like, I'm paying you back every cent that
you say that I owe you, and I'm walking and
I owe you nothing.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Oh good girl. But also you owe him nothing. I
know nothing. But at the same time, that was the
cost of getting out peacefully exactly. And you know, I
walked away.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
That was the strongest, Like I would say, stance that
got me out of that.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I'm so proud of you. Oh well, you haven't heard
the end of the story. I'm ready, I'm stretched. You
did say strapped in, so come on.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
I feel like everyone that's in my family was probably
strapped in because this was the first one.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Second one. Oh you did it again?
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Oh no, no, I wouldn't say the second guy, but
the second guy, I was like, Oh, he's a sweetheart.
There was no gas lighting, sweet as pie. And then
I was like, okay, so you know what do you do?
Speaker 2 (15:18):
What do you work?
Speaker 3 (15:18):
And it was only six months in the relationship I
found out he's been unemployed for two years?
Speaker 2 (15:24):
How I have?
Speaker 3 (15:26):
And and then it only struck me. I was like, oh,
that's why he always cooks eggs and we always ate
eggs with barbecue. Maybe because I came from relationship number
one thinking that that was the bare minimum and for me,
just cooking eggs and eating it for every almost every meal,
(15:47):
I thought that was the sweetest thing.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Top it. I love you so much. I think that
you are so sweet, but I want to shake you
a little bit and be like, babe, what I don't know.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
And funny enough, it was me who sort of convinced
him to actually get a job into State. And that's
how the relationship, like we sort of ended the.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
You shipped him off literally, you said, bye, I got
your job, but I'm sending you into State. And this
is a good girl. So I need to know more.
I need how did this man? Was he pretending to
be employed? So yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:22):
He I when I spoke to him, he was like, oh, yeah,
I'm a photographer and I was like okay. And I
never knew. For the six months that we were dating,
every time he would pack his camera equipment, he would
just go to the library or something like that and
just like stay out for the day and then come back.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Right, yeah, I know, what's the point? Like why lie
about that exactly?
Speaker 3 (16:49):
And now when I think back about it, like now
that I'm much older, I actually I almost feel a
bit of empathy, you know, sympathy for him. I was like, Oh,
he feels like he needed to sort of like, you know,
live this lie because I think maybe in his past relationships,
you know, he was pulled up for it, you know,
and instead, like you know, when he finally confessed to
(17:10):
me that he was, you know, unemployed for two years.
You know, the first thing that came to my mind
is like, how can I get you a job? Where
can I get your job?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah? And that's it, right, Like you went to immediately, oh, okay,
well how do I help you?
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Not?
Speaker 2 (17:23):
What the hell? Like I can't believe it. I just
that's really sad as well, yeah it is.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
And you know, in the end, like the reason the
relationship did not work in the end when he moved
into state with his job was because he had this
like constant need of like, oh, I have to come
back to Sydney, and I said, no, no, just focus
on building you. We can always catch up. And eventually
we decided that it's probably best that we went our
separate ways so at least he can focus on his
(17:50):
job in a different state. Built him and I wish
him well, Like this is one relationship that I was like,
he was the sweetest guy in the toughest second Stanzas
And that's how you know the relationships are so I mean,
obviously I'm having a very interesting track record going on
here from one to the other.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Mary, how to pick him? I mean, I don't know
if I could trust someone who would lie to me
for two years like that? But you're not in that relationship,
so it doesn't matter who did you meet? Then? Who's next?
Did we meet our husband? No? Husband came a little
bit more later.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Okay, So the third guy, which was after this, it
was I would say the longest relationship I've been before
I met Hobby. So this was the one where we
were dating for ten months and after Blue he is like,
I am moving into state.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Do you want to come with me?
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Like ten months into the relationship and me being you know,
maybe there was something about in my mind, I was like,
you know what, I'm just going to go for it.
I'm just going to go with this relationship made the
wind blow and see where it is because in my
mind I was thinking, you know what, maybe it's about
time I put a bit more effort. And maybe because
he seemed to be you know, he has a job,
(19:02):
he's working his direction, you know, maybe this is it.
So I moved into state ten months in and he
turns around and decides that he wants to be a student.
And oh but this was the toughest relationship because there
was nothing wrong. We were making the relationship work. But
(19:23):
what happened was when he was a full time student
and you know, he wasn't earning an income and I
was the solebrate winner and the relationship paying the bills,
the rent or like you know, furniture or whatever that
we need. He started feeling a bit insecure. And when
I started trying to sort of like better myself by
(19:45):
doing you know, sort of post sort of graduate studies
to you know, advance in my career, there was a
lot of pushback, a lot of pushback. He was like
saying things like, oh, you're never at home, but you
know it's a sacrifice, you know. I could see he
was studying to make things better for us, for our future,
and I wanted to do the same as well. But
he was like saying, you're never at home. You're always working,
(20:08):
you're always studying. And I was like, well, I'm the
so great winner.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
What did you want from me? Like, yeah, I'm never
at home. That's the point, so that you can be.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
It got to a point where I think the tipping
skills was when I sort of committed to doing this
post grad study because I knew it would put us
ahead financially as a couple, you know, as my career
as well.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
It got to a point where he would even ask me,
did you study today? And I would sometimes go, oh, no,
I went shopping. I was like, I can'd live this lie.
He was happier that I was actually shopping than studying.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Oh wait, you were lying about shopping.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Yes, I mean I would go out to the shops
and I went to the library to study. This as
how I sneaked out. And you know, it all came
crashing down when I realized that, Okay, I've been in
this relationship for too long. It was two and a
half years now, and I was like, maybe this is
not the one. Because I went for my friend's wedding
(21:08):
back in Malaysia, and I saw how my best friend
getting married, how their interactions was one another, and it
just dawn on me and I was like, I don't
think my friend ever lied to her husband saying that
she's going to shop when she actually wants to secretly
study to better herself.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
There's no way, oh my honey, No, No, that is
not love.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
No. And when I came back, my family at that
time was visiting Malaysia, so they were called my parents
because he went back to visit his family back in Sydney.
We were staying in Queensland at that time, and I
called my parents that was back in Malaysia. I was like, Mom, Dad,
I'm breaking up.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
And I think my mom had a meltdown or was
she not happy with that? Oh she was not happy.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
I think she was like, oh my god, she's going
to die a single woman.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
This is it. She should be so lucky sometimes.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
And I remember, I don't think my parents remembered that moment,
but when my mom was, you know, obviously so upset
from hearing the news, my dad picked up the phone
and I said, Dad, I need to move back home.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
I need to move back home.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
But you know, we have shad furniture, we have shared expenses.
I've just paid the rent for the next six months.
Oh yeah, there's so much money that.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
We have to get back.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
And I think my dad one of is like I
would say, golden moments in my life and I'll never
forget the words. He picked up the phone and he
was like, don't worry, just go home, just move your
stuff home. Money can always be inn whereas your dignity,
you're just got to take it and walk away.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
I love him. Dad is a girl's girl, like oh,
and like it sounds terrible, right, but it should be
that simple, like it should always be that simple, and
I know it's not, but I just I'm so glad
that your dad was like money diarist, just go home,
it'll be fine, like when sometimes it feels so much
(23:06):
more complicated and you go, oh, but I should stay.
And it's kind of that like that fallacy of putting
good money after bad like you've already spent the money,
so you kind of try to justify it and you go, yeah,
but I've spent six months of rent, Like that's so expensive.
It was lainten granted a time. Let it be wasted.
That's so much money. What were you doing, queen?
Speaker 3 (23:28):
It was a lot of money. I think that was
like you know that was oh no, actually sixteen grand
was the whole year. So I peted down eight grand
for the rent six months in advance.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Yeah, you try to justify it, right, and you go, oh, well,
I need to keep this amount going because like I
already spent it, and otherwise it will be wasted. Sometimes
let's waste it, Like let's just waste it and it
will come back. And I know it doesn't feel good
at the time, but like it's the best for your
mental health and your physical health. And as your dad said,
(23:59):
your dignite pick it up and take it home. Micren. Yeah,
so I, you know, with my tail between my legs,
I went home. No, your tail was wagging. We wanted
this relationship. I came home.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
I moved back home with my parents at twenty eight.
I at that time, you know, it just dawned on me,
like as much as my mom was relying on my
dad and you know, he sorted out the finances, I
got to do this alone. I'm kept it on my
own ship. You know, in this part, there's no one.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Else but me. Yeah, that's crazy, but also so good. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
So when I moved home, I had a year of
studying before my exams, and during that time I kept
my head down. I sort of worked hard. I think
that's when I realized it dawned on me, and I
think it was actually another money Diaris who said it
on the podcast. She said, it is not what the
external or what you hear from other people telling you
(24:52):
what you need to do. It's only when you realize
that you really really wanted that's when you would really
go for it, and that's when I moved home.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I just realized, you know.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
What, screw it, I'm going to rely on me because
you know, no one else is going to disappoint myself.
But you know I will make sure that will not
be disappointed, you know, like I had my own back totally.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
And that's hard, right, And so many times we go, no,
I really want it, bit deep down, you don't want
it hard enough yet, so you don't change, and then
all of a sudden something dawns on you. That's all
I can think about. That's all that's going to ever happen, exactly.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
And funny enough, that same time when I moved back,
my mom slipped me a book and I've never she's
I mean, she's gifted me books over the years, and
it was actually The Barefoot Investor.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Good mom.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Yeah, And then you know they're sort of the Restles
history and that from that point onwards, because when I
started reading The Barefoot Investor, I spoke to my sister
and she was the one who introduced me to She's
on the money.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Oh thank you you tell her that. I'm very grateful and.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
I have never missed a single podcast ever since stopped
really yes, I've listened to it from the very very
first start when it was just your very first episode,
and I've been listening to it every week when it
comes out.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
I'm obsessed. Thank you for being here. That is literally
the best. Like it never gets old when people are like, oh,
I'm in the community, or I'm around or I listened
to the podcast, like it's actually so insanely exciting to
me that look how many friends I have.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Guys, Yes, if only I could tell you, you know
the changes, because like ever since I got onto the bandwagon, off,
She's on the money. Since I was twenty eight twenty nine,
I was able to took a trip to Europe for
three weeks. I took my aunt along with me. I
funded her trip because it was her retirement present from me.
(26:43):
On that year at thirtieth, that's when I bought my
first place. I also started investing in shares for the
very first time. You would be very proud of me
as I go along to tell you my story.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
I am already very proud of you. So I need
to know how did we meet our husband? Like I
know I need to ask you what you earned, but
I also need to know how you met your husband.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
So husband was because I changed apps. I went to Bumble.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Okay, all right, so we stand bumble. We love bumble,
we love bumble. Funny enough, I didn't give up on
the apps. I just went to a different app. And
I met my husband at thirty two, and that was
after I bought my house. Oh my goodness, he really
got a catch. Like imagine him. He'd be like going
home to his mates. He's like, I have met this girl.
She is a hustler. She is so kind and so beautiful.
(27:33):
She also owns her own property. Like, oh my goodness.
He won't tell me did you win as well? Or
have we got another one of the cup pasts that
you liked to have before?
Speaker 3 (27:43):
No, he was completely different. First thing is that i've
it was only with my husband. Then I realized how
supportive a partner can be in any form of way.
And I've never met a guy who lovest my cats
more than anyone else.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
As somebody who found an also cat guy get this money, darrest,
he let me get a second one. I know. That's
why I have true cats at the morment. I love
this for us. This is amazing. Yes, so you bought
your own house, then you met your husband. Tell me,
let's start learning about the financial side of things. What
(28:21):
do you do for work and how much money do
you earn? So I'm a veterinarian, of course you are.
I love this and because my work I do a
lot of overtime. I would say that in the year
I earned around two hundred to two hundred and fifty
grand Oh my god. You were here hustling for better,
weren't you. You were like, I need to do this
postgrad and sorry, this is what you were hiding in
(28:41):
the library for. Yes, yes, my queen, My queen. I
feel like that was not necessary. And so what does
it mean? Before you and I got on recording, you said, oh,
I do shift work and I didn't ask anything more
about it because I didn't want to know at that
point because I didn't want to ruin the show. But
tell me what does it mean to work shift work
(29:04):
but also be a vet? Like what type of vet
are you doing?
Speaker 3 (29:07):
It's more like emergency?
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Yeah, oh, my heart, is that really hard? It sounds
really hard.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
It's definitely a passion career.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
I love the work.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
I love how tough it is, but at the same time,
I love being there for the clients and for the patients.
I knew that I always wanted to be a VET
since I was young and emergency Funny enough, it tickled
my adrenaline junkie side of things. So it's fast paced,
you think on your foot, it's quite full on. But
at the same time, you know, whenever I am there
(29:39):
in those graveyard hours in the middle of the night,
two am in the morning, there's a lot of reward
as much as there is so much sometimes heartache that
comes from the job. Yeah, I would say it's definitely
a passion career. You know, if you don't love it,
it's very hard to stay in it.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Unfortunately, Oh, it absolutely would be. And I feel like
mood's already down, but I don't want to bring down
the mood. But we know that people who work as
bits experience some of the worst mental health in the country,
so I think that's worth noting as well, because obviously
it's not an easy career. And you've just said, oh,
I earn like two hundred to two hundred and fifty
(30:18):
thousand dollars and a lot of people will be like, WHOA,
that's crazy, that's so good. But also we need to
go well at what cost, Like, are you okay? Is
that going to be sustainable for you? And I think, yeah,
that's really important as well, So tell me is that
sustainable to continue earning that amount of money in the
job that you've got.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
I think it's a sacrifice. I always see it as that.
It's a sacrifice that you give up. You give up
your weekends, you give up your public holidays. It can
be quite lonely, especially if you don't have the right
support system around you. I think that's what people don't realize.
It's a real sacrifice to be able to earn that
and it's a lot of hours to put in. I've
been doing it for quite a long while already. But
(30:59):
if you're not for the burnout rate is really high
as well. So that's the unfortunate downside of my career.
It's it's good when it's going, but at the same time,
you'd be so careful to look after like, you know,
make sure you look after yourself.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
One hundred percent. And that's why I'm like, you're okay, right, Like,
let's just point this out. Yeah, so money, dirist, you
also have bought your own house before you even got
a husband, Like that is incredible, But what are your
current big money goals? What are you working towards.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
So at the moment, we are working towards starting a family.
I guess like what I'm looking for is the opportunity
of having some time off or maternity leave at least,
And because like you know, my parents were hustlers, so
Mom was very busy working most of the time. Whereas
for me, I want to change that narrative. I'm hoping
that at least I can be around, you know, with
(31:50):
my kids raising up and hopefully go down to part
time eventually. So for me, at least, one thing I
know is that I always tell myself it is not forever.
I know there's an expiry date eventually for my career
due to either the mental load, the family commitments, you know,
or even the strain it puts on the body. So
I just telling myself, you know, make haywell sunshines because
(32:11):
you never know when it's going to end.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
Yeah, absolutely, so tell me, And I want to be
a little bit pervy if you'll let me. Yeah, what
does planning for a family look like to you? Because
you mentioned you are thirty six and I'm thirty five,
So I know what that looks like from my perspective,
but you don't have any kids yet, Like, how far
down this family planning route are we? What does that
(32:33):
look like?
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Well, we only just got married last month, so so
so early. Yeah, still early, and that's why we're hoping, like,
you know, in the next set of six to twelve months,
you know, we would consider start trying for a family.
At the moment, what family planning looks like for us
is sort of like putting money aside for maternity leave.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Yeap. Cool?
Speaker 3 (32:54):
Yeah, so, and we know that children are not cheap,
so having a bit of that buffer.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
They are very expensive, but that is okay because like
from my perspective, they are definitely worth it as somebody
who has to and like, honestly, I've got to chat
to my husband three which sounds good, like I don't
know for like the more the merrier in my house,
but it is something that takes a lot of planning.
Are you just stashing away as much cash as possible
(33:20):
or are you like keeping a budget or are you
looking at like family content, like where's your head at,
you know, prior to getting pregnant yeap.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
So at the moment, we have already have a family
budget that we're very filled. So you know, we've set
of set aside like fifty grand from the maternity leave
at that time, and that will at least, you know,
cover most of the living expenses. We've also topped up
our emergency fund along at the same time, so that
is around we're hoping to at least get up to
(33:48):
at least one hundred grand. And I was about to
say that, you know, at this moment, Hobby and I,
you know, we are trying to make time false elf
still to create these kids through real Yes, yep, yep.
Timing is everything. You don't realize that until you're in
it and you're like, oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
This is not as easy as I thought it was
going to be. No, And that's why I told my husband.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
I said, look, we'll take it as it comes the
next six or twelve months, even if you know, plans change.
At least we're financially prepared for it.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
You know. Yeah, I resonate with that so much in
my head. Prior to getting pregnant, I just thought, oh,
you just like stop using contraception, right, like that's just
the rule. No, No, there's a lot of planning and
you know what, the type of planning that makes a baby,
from my perspective and from my personal experience, is not
(34:40):
that sexy. It sounds sexy, it's not very sexy. It's not.
It's a lot about clocks and ovulation tests and texting
your partner. You are home tonight, right, Yes?
Speaker 3 (34:52):
And when I heard your podcast about what you know,
your journey of getting your second one, I was like.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
I mean the early stages. I know what it feels like,
all the supplements or the estrogen tests, and you're.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Just doing the best that you can, and you're just
so stressed because you're like, I don't know what I
don't know, and every week there's something new and you're like,
I didn't know that. That's crazy exactly. So yes, I've
got all my fingers and toes crossed for you, but
I do not envy that position at all. I do
issue the best of luck. Let's go to a really
(35:25):
quick break because on the flip side, I want to
ask you about your investments. I know you're working towards
one hundred thousand dollars in your emergency fund, so I
want to talk about that, and then your best and
worst money habits, So guys don't go anywhere. All right,
money diarist, we are back. And in your entry letter
(35:47):
that you sent to me six times your annual salary
saved or invested. How the heck have you done that
in less than ten years.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
Look, I would say that it's times the original annual
sariat so that was like forty one grand, So six times. Yes,
I would say it's a combination of Well, I did
put a lot in my super in the beginning of
my years, for.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Sure, smart girl.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
And also I sort of like shuffled as much money
as I could in my shares portfolio at the same time.
So at this moment, when it comes to investing or
my investments overall, my current super is sitting around two
hundred and eighty two thousand stop.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
That's incredible.
Speaker 3 (36:31):
Yes, And at the moment, my share portfolio is sitting
around seventy grand at this stage.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
That is so cool. And told to me about your
emergency fund, how is that trucking along?
Speaker 3 (36:43):
So at the moment, it's a team effort between Hobby
and I. So at this moment, what is happening with
us is that I came with the mortgage, and the
mortgage is pretty much under control of my end. So
hobby is literally saving everything that ends.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
We love to see it. So tell me a bit
more about this. You've been married a month. Congratulations. That
is genuinely so exciting. I have a lot of wedding questions,
but first and foremost, did you manage money together before
getting married or only after?
Speaker 3 (37:13):
Well, we actually started managing money in our third year
of dating each other, so we took the slow route
to marriage. So we were dating for at least four
years before he popped the question, because I think he
was scarred as much as I was from all the
relationships that you know, he wanted to make sure it
(37:34):
was the right one before we committed. But we were
already talking about money, like in our sort of early
I would say, in our first year of dating. We
started the conversation because he's very passionate and investing, but
he invests. He has his own self managed super fund
that he contributes to. Okay, I like to keep mind
(37:54):
stock standard simple, one of those like normal generic super
funds that you see all around.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Yes. Absolutely, yeah, So I always joke with my husband.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
I say, look, we'll go to the very end and
we'll see who does better the sell managed super fun
versus the stock center super Fun.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Could you let me know, like in like what thirty
forty years, you just call me up and be like, hey,
v this one one and then I'll be able to
report back to the community. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
So a list, you know, it's like a live statistics
of self managed sip fun versus super Fun.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
Yes, one percent. That's crazy. So how did you pay
for a seventy thousand dollars wedding? Oh?
Speaker 3 (38:31):
So well, because most of the mortgage comes from from me,
My husband was I would say he left it the brunt.
Within six months we saved seventy grand together. It was
a lot of grind, a lot of hustle. I think
a lot of bloods, certain tears from both of us.
In the end, it sounds like it we eventually got there.
(38:52):
So yeah, we were actually very proud of ourselves in
the end. And that's why with my husband, especially because
we navigated through it was funny, like the timing of
things will I'm not gonna lie. So I met my
husband when I studied too, bought the house. I was like, sweet,
you know, we just need to date this guy. Find
out he's not a bad ache.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
Not a psycho.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
Not a psycho. Marry him, Happy days. And we finally,
you know, sort of spoke to each other. We moved
in together July August. He was served a notice of redundancy.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
No, you can't catch your break, no with these men
with no jobs.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
I was like, I do not know what I've done
in my past life, but holy.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
Do like you definitely got hit with that stick. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:44):
And then it was sort of six months when he
was out and I was like, Okay, we got this.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Don't worry.
Speaker 3 (39:51):
I have all my dogs lined up in a row.
At least we're not renting this time without a job. Okay,
I've learned many relationships, so I got this. I'm well versed.
And then what happened was once he got his job,
finally after six months, I said, honey, we got to
start saving. And within twelve months he actually I got
(40:14):
to give him credit. He saved our pregnancy, fun, he
saved our wedding, every paid it he got. He was
so diligent, he'd like, you know, put it all. We
did the budget together and we set the target, and
he was such a gun. That's one thing I love
about my husband, even though when life beats him down.
When he's back up on his feet, you know, he's
(40:35):
willing to pick it up and just chug for with love.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
And that's just something that I so respect in just
human beings in general, Like it's so easy to give
up or feel like it's too much, but it just
sounds like he's got his head screwed on. I need
to know if he was able to save that so quickly,
Like come on, give us the gloss? What does he
do as a job, Like, how do you do that?
He's an engineer, he is. That's quite sexy. I like that.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
Yeah, yeah, and I would say that our pay brackets
are roughly the scene.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Yeah, okay, that's quite cool though, and like that's got
such power behind it, and like coming from like I'm
just looking at your money story like my favorite thing ever.
And you've probably noticed obviously our community don't get to
see these podcasts, like we don't record the video, but
every time we do a money diary, I get the
privilege of sitting down in my study with a money
(41:29):
diarist and a cup of tea, and I'm like sitting
here like I'm getting the gossip. I'm like I'm what next, Oh,
my god, what does your husband do? It's like the
best thing in the entire world. Like if you enjoy
listening to money diries, you best believe I have ten
times more fun recording them, Like it is so perview.
But knowing your money story and where you've come from
(41:50):
and you being like Vitoria, I grew up and I
wasn't really meant to talk about money, and like, you know,
coming from Malaysia where you literally would have had domestic
help and every single friend that you went to school
with would have had domestic help, Like that is normal. Yeah,
it's like my girlfriends who grew up in Singapore, like
it's we don't like we joke about it because I
(42:11):
obviously did not grow up in Singapore. But they're like, Victoria,
we should move home to have children, because we would
have a housekeeper, we would have a nanny, we would
have all these things and it is so normal, and
here you do it yourself, Like it's just such a
different culture.
Speaker 3 (42:28):
It is. It is like I always tell my partner,
I said, oh, it's such a different thing even like
you know, yeah, like how I said, like it's so
normal in Malaysia to have a domestic help but that
prepares all your meals. And here my husband and I
are trying to work out Marley Spoon as best as
(42:48):
we can.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
Okay, okay, but we love Marley Spoon. But that is
absolutely the case, right, Like it's exactly. It is not
easy by any stretch. So going from not being able
to talk about money, having a completely different cultural background
to being a high income household pop off, queen, I
love this for you, Thank you, thank you. What is
(43:12):
it like growing up in a family where you can't
talk about money but you're clearly stressed about money.
Speaker 3 (43:17):
It's very anxiety provoking, for sure. It's very very stressful
because you suddenly you have to read the little like
subtle signs. Sometimes, you know, you would start searching, you know,
for the little cues like oh my god, we went
from driving you know, a Toyota camera with all the
spec spells and whistles, lettuce seeds and all to Toyota Corolla,
(43:42):
which is the basic model, and suddenly you're like, oh
my god, it's fabric seats and it could be.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
As simple as that.
Speaker 3 (43:50):
And because you're not able to talk about it or
be like hey, why yeah, exactly, because it could be
as simple as you know. It's funny because now I'm
much older. I asked my mom. I said, like, what
was the goal with the cars at the time. My
mom was like, oh, yeah, we just didn't know what
car to choose in the beginning, so we decided let's
(44:11):
start the cheapest option until we figure out the local
brands and then walk your way up.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
And I was like, oh my god, that is not
what I thought was happening, mom, Like I thought we
were going to die. Yeah, I thought we were not
going to have food on the table anymore. That was
the feeling.
Speaker 3 (44:26):
And you know, yeah, I was thinking that we're not
going to have food on the table. But it's probably
just my mom's bad cooking because she has never cooked
for forty years and.
Speaker 2 (44:34):
Suddenly yeah, yeah, and now she has to cook. And
you're like, why are we having eggs every day with
barbecue sauce? I thought that was.
Speaker 3 (44:41):
Love, yes, And I remember, you know, for the first
probably like two months in Australia, we only had two
sauces in the pantry because Mom doesn't didn't do a
lot of the cooking back home, so that's why. And
here I was thinking, oh my god, we're going to
run out food.
Speaker 2 (44:59):
This is it?
Speaker 3 (45:00):
We kind of thought food anymore?
Speaker 2 (45:01):
Isn't it crazy? Because we just don't know what we
don't know? And that's what's so beautiful about financial literacy
because it's not actually just about money. It's not because
now all of a sudden you know how to do
a budget. It's because everything in life starts to make sense.
Because at the end of the day, money drives everything.
(45:22):
It's crazy money, darrested. Tell me, tell me about your debt.
How much debt do you have? What does that look like?
Speaker 3 (45:29):
So I have my mortgage at the moment, it's sitting
around six hundred and thirty five thousand, but the house
is currently valued at one point three million.
Speaker 2 (45:38):
Okay, look at you go? Yep. And what's the plan
in the future, Like are you planning on you know,
buying other houses, upgrading, changing? Like where are we at?
Speaker 3 (45:51):
Well, we are looking at maybe an investment property in
the I would say, in a bit on the distant future,
only because you know, family plan and creating a family
is our main focus right now financially, So we decided
that once we have the kids, then we can look
at building our property sort of like empire or whatever
we want to do. But I think one I always
(46:13):
tell my husband, I said, we just need one one
more and that's it.
Speaker 2 (46:17):
One step in the right direction. Let's just keep on
keeping on exactly. I love that. Alright, money diarist, talk
to me about personal insurance. You are both high income
and is please tell me you have insurance. I do, okay,
thank you, and.
Speaker 3 (46:32):
It's personal insurance outside of super okay. I took that
out as soon as I signed my contract for my mortgage.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
I'm obsessed with you. How did you know where to
go and what to do and the types of insurances
that you needed?
Speaker 1 (46:46):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (46:46):
I mean, I was consuming so much financial content at
a time, and I found out that because I still
had the money story, that there was no money or
support for my family. It just dawned on me when
I got a mortgage that if anything will happen to me,
I had no help. That's what's it. And that's when
I did my personal insurance.
Speaker 2 (47:06):
I even did a will. Good girl, I'm so proud
of you, but it's so true, right, like, if if
something happens to you, there's no one to pick up
the pieces and be like, don't worry money darist. I
will pay your mortgage in the entrant. That's not going
to happen.
Speaker 3 (47:20):
No, that's why I took out personal insurance, Life Trauma
TVD the whole bells and whistles, and I also got
a will and I even nominated my parents. I said,
if anything was to happen, this is.
Speaker 2 (47:32):
What needs to happen. Love, Now tell me a bit more.
I'm sure you have so many, but what do you
think is your best money habit.
Speaker 3 (47:40):
I would say my best money habit is that I'm
really good at looking for a bargain. So a good
example was actually my house.
Speaker 2 (47:49):
Yeah, that looked like a pretty good example.
Speaker 3 (47:52):
Yes, because it was shortly after COVID in twenty twenty
when I bought my property. It was actually and that's
the thing, I saw the household what it was. It
was probably an investment property before, so the tenants didn't
really look after it, so when they were selling it
it was s is there was it looked it was
(48:14):
dirty or stains and everything. But I think what I
saw what the house was for. What the value is
they were asking at that time was six hundred and
nineteen thousand, and I.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
Lob alled them. I was like six fifteen. Good girl.
Speaker 3 (48:30):
Now, when I look back, I was like, oh my god,
that was such a bargain at that time. You know,
I think for when I showed it to my parents,
because you know, they came from from Malaysia, their houses
were spik Span, brand new, built from scratch, and then
I showed them my house, I think my parents was like,
what have we done?
Speaker 2 (48:50):
What did you do?
Speaker 3 (48:52):
And then now when they look back, they're like, oh,
great decision, you found a bargain.
Speaker 2 (48:57):
Yes, But also, isn't it so funny that this stuff
gets so overlaid with their cultural expectations. And I find
that so many people in our community who have immigrant backgrounds,
their parents just simply don't get it. And it's not
because they don't care. It's not because they don't have
a level of financial literacy like your dad or your
(49:19):
mom could be like the best investor in the world,
but because culturally they come from somewhere different, they're not
going to see what you see. And that's okay. But like,
I'm so glad they've kind of come around and they're like,
money direst, I'm glad that you did that, even though
we thought that was really horrific. Yes, I love that.
On the flip side, what's your worst money habit?
Speaker 3 (49:40):
I would say that I can be quite impulsive, like
I'm very impatient.
Speaker 2 (49:44):
Really, I did not pick that up from you.
Speaker 3 (49:46):
Yes, I think once I've put my mind to it,
I'm like full steam ahead. So that's why, you know,
it got me to where it got me by. At
the same time, it's got me into trouble sometimes and
it comes to like, you know, impulse purchase us or
things that that you know, when I'm I'm sold about,
you know, something in particular, like for example, running shoes.
(50:09):
I love running and I'm obsessed with running shoes, and
I would just buy running shoes on a woman. Yeah, okay, yeah,
worst money hope. It very impulsive in that part.
Speaker 2 (50:18):
But that's okay. I feel like, for my sake, I
need you not to be good at everything because I
was like this woman, she's so good. But also we've
just gone through so much of your money story and
I'm just I'm so grateful because I just know, can
you imagine people listening to this in their cars. It's chaotic.
They're going to be like, this is so gretty, this
(50:39):
is so good. Also a little bit chaos, but like
that's what we're here for. But you said you were
a B plus and then you're like, oh, I bought
my house and I set up my wheel, and I
did all of my own insurances, and I'm like planning
for a baby. We're going to have one hundred grand
in savings before then. And also I'm married to an engineer. Queen,
what why can you hear yourself?
Speaker 3 (51:01):
I know, I think I just said expectations to myself
too high because in my mind.
Speaker 2 (51:06):
I'm an a when I'm retired. Okay, all right, but also,
come on, let's be a little bit kind to ourselves.
You are literally doing amazing things, Like can I just
take you back. Let's talk to twenty eight year old you,
like she just walked out of another relationship that she
thought was going to work and it didn't, and you
(51:27):
started from scratch and now you're here. Like imagine if
I laid all of this out on the table, I'd
be like, oh my god, You've got a really cool husband.
He's an engineer. I get this real job, has a
real job, and you've bought your own house. It's now
worth one point two million dollars and you're a hustler,
so you bought it for less than half. Like, imagine
me going through all of this and telling you about
(51:48):
your super and your investments and what you've done for yourself.
What would she say? What would twenty eight year old
you say you were raided?
Speaker 3 (51:57):
I think she wouldn't believe it. Less and four I
at that time I didn't think I was capable of
doing it. But at the same time, I think twenty
or or me will be very proud on how far
we come.
Speaker 2 (52:09):
Oh, she better, otherwise I need to have a little
bit of a chat with her, you know. But it's
so relatable to be in a situation where you go,
even if we backtrack, right, how do you create this
when at twenty eight you wouldn't have thought that you
were capable. How do you take yourself from that circumstance
(52:30):
where you could have gone one way and been like, well,
I'm twenty eight, what's the point? And so many people
do but you are so young? But how do you
go from there to hear like that's a success story,
my friend?
Speaker 3 (52:42):
Yes it is. I always think that if you hit
rock bottom and when you know, when everything is out
and you're really like knees deep and you're at your lowest.
I mean, the only way you know from there.
Speaker 2 (52:56):
Is really up, really one hundred percent, like what's the worst? Yeah.
Speaker 3 (53:00):
At that time, honestly, you know, twenty old me was
probably thinking, like, I'm here, I'm as low as I
can be. Anything above this is a bonus, you know,
anything above this is a win. And that's how I
think I saw and I took life, and I think
that's what inspired me so much to be where I
am because after that, everything that I did, I was like,
(53:21):
you know what, anything that was better than what I
was at twenty eight is a bonus. And I think
that's what got me to where I am because I
sort of I became a bit fearless. I just took
every challenge you know by the horns and just ran
with it.
Speaker 2 (53:36):
I love it so much. It makes me so happy,
and I'm so proud of you and just so excited
to know that you're in this circumstance and you deserve it,
like you deserve this and everything else that is to come.
And I'm just I'm so happy that I got to
meet you, but also so happy that I get to
share this story with our community, because I just know
that someone's listening and they're just like, how do I
(53:59):
do it? Away?
Speaker 3 (54:00):
Do?
Speaker 2 (54:01):
And you said it best earlier. And I don't know
if you know you said this, but you said, just
like one step, just like do one step, just do
one thing. And I think that that's the best advice ever.
And your dad had some really good advice as well,
and it was just take your dignity and go home.
That's so good. It's just so good. Yes, Money, Darist,
(54:22):
I wish we had more time, but I'm just I'm
out of time. But I am so grateful that I
got to have this chat with you, so thank you
so much, Thank you so much. That's my chatting with
you too. The advice shared on She's on the Money
is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances.
(54:43):
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 Divine and She's on the Money
are authorized representatives of Money sherper P T Y L
(55:04):
t D A B N three two one six four
nine two seven seven zero eight A F s L
four five one two eight nine
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