April 30, 2023 • 34 mins
Forget everything you thought you knew, cause this Money Diarist is here to remind you that you write your own script! Growing up with a single mum with 9 credit cards, debt was normalised. She left home at 16 with nothing but the clothes on her back and lived off Centrelink and then found herself in a world of credit cards and personal loans. After spending the last decade in debt, in two years of listening to SOTM, she's been able to double her income, wipe the debt, get an emergency fund and is saving for her first home and financial freedom!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr
the Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before
we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
(00:22):
through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Let's get into it. She's on the Money.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
She's on the Money. Hello, and welcome to She's on
(00:59):
the Money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom.
Welcome back to another one of our money daries where
we get to talk with one of our incredible She's
on the Money community members all about their journey. Let's
jump straight into it because this week I got a
message and it read like this, Hi, She's on the
Money team. I wanted to share my money story as
(01:21):
listening to She's on the Money and my millennial money
has pivoted my mindset and set me up on the
path to take control of my finances. Growing up with
a single mum who had nine credit cards, I thought
it was normal to have debt. After leaving home at
sixteen with nothing but the clothes on my back. I
used centraling to survive between the ages of sixteen and eighteen,
(01:41):
and then found myself in a world of credit cards
and personal loans after spending the last decade in debt.
In two years of listening to your pod, I've been
able to double my income, become free of debt with
an emergency fund, and I'm on my way to saving
for my first home and creating natural freedom for myself.
(02:02):
I want the community members who are struggling to know
that it doesn't matter what your upbringing looked like. You
can change your mindset and your habits to achieve the
life you want. Money Diarist, This is going to be
one of my favorite diaries ever. I can already feel it.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Welcome to the show, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Oh my gosh, no, what a story. I love that
it's really mindset based and that you've gone through all
this stuff but you're like, Nope, you can do whatever
you want. I feel like that's going to be so
motivating for so many people. Before we jump into the
thick of it, which is my favorite part, I want
to know if you were to give your money habits
a grade, what would that grade be?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
At the moment, I think I'd probably be about a
B plus A B plus.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
All right, let's learn a little bit more about it,
money direst. You showed us in your letter a little
bit about your money story, but I want to know more.
So can you tell us a little bit more about
your money story?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah? Sure. So it was quite a troubled upbringing. Yeah.
As I said, raised by a single mother, and although
she provided well for us financially, emotionally and support wise,
we struggled. We didn't necessarily have a great connection, and
unfortunately sometimes it was quite abusive, so we didn't have
(03:18):
a lot of mentorship around how to handle finances. I
just knew that that's how she funded our lifestyle, so
we never went without. We had passes to theme parks,
we went on holidays quite frequently, but that was all
funded through debt. At the time, I thought it was normal,
just because obviously she was working and raising two children
(03:41):
on her own. But that obviously did have quite a
large impact on my financial story. I wanted to start
working as soon as possible because I understood them. You know,
to get the things that you want in life, you
need to have your own income. So as soon as
I turned fourteen and was able to work, I started working. Unfortunately,
I wasn't able to have access to the money that
I was working for, so I didn't have an appreciation
(04:05):
for how to save. My Mum held my key card
so I could spend when she advised me, and I
think that that was to my detriment, Whereas if I
was able to earn and spend at a young age,
I would have more of an understanding of how to
budget for certain things that I would want and avoid
having that instant gratification rather than budgeting more correctly.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Do you think that that came from her just trying
to protect you in a way, from like, you know,
running out of money or was that more a control
feature of your relationship?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah? Yeah, so everything was under control. I was quite
independent and was from quite a young age, and that
was quite a sore spot for our relationship. It wasn't
not long after that I started working that our relationship
really went downhill and led to me being kicked out
at home.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
So yeah, wow, And what did that look like? Obviously
you got your first job, where are you working? What
type of role were you doing?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Hj's as a retail.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Like that, and how often were you working? Was it
like a couple of days or a couple of just
hours on one day or what did that journey look like?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yes, I'd work both days on the weekend and working
nighttime when I could after school. But obviously school played
a massive factor in how many hours you could work.
But working for a whole eight dollars back in the day.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Oh, check that out. Do you know what at the time,
eight dollars would have sounded really good?
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Felt rich?
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Yeah? One percent eight dollars at that time is really good.
Really frustrating though that you couldn't access it. Did that
lead to lots of like arguments or did that lead
to a lot of resentment or what did that look like?
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Not necessarily so, I've always I wouldn't say be materialistic,
but I like nice things. I like living related. I'm
very proud of my home. And even back then, like
when I was fifteen, I wanted to buy a rug.
So I was able to buy myself a six hundred
dollars rug at fifteen, like.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
My gosh, eight dollars an hour that rather was worth
a lot of hours of work.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yeah, and was able to fund a snow trip through school.
So I was able to buy things with that money,
But it would have been more beneficial to my future
self if I had been able to trial an error.
Obviously I would have spent more if I had had
access to that, and may not have been able to
buy the nice things, but I would have built a
better foundation. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Wow, I feel like it's really interesting talking to people
about their money stories, especially first up, because obviously I'm
going to be like, Okay, what do you am, what
do you spend? All of those questions, But just learning
a little bit about the mindset side of things is
to me so interesting because having gone through the mindset
of having things taken off you and you're spending controlled
(06:45):
all the way through to you know, creating financial freedom
to yourself. Can we talk about the pivot point of that,
because I feel like that's a massive mindset shift from
someone controlling you to your going I can control my
entire life and create the life I deserve and the
life I How do we do that?
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Podcasts apparently in some books. Unfortunately, but also fortunately it's
only happened in the past couple of years. So between
eighteen and twenty eight, I was in a revolving door
of getting myself in debt and then out of debt.
You know, when I first turned eighteen, I was like, Okay,
I have no family, I'm living out on my own.
I was earning a decent income for my age, but
(07:25):
I just I've always lived beyond my means to that point.
So I would earn enough to cover groceries, live a
decent lifestyle, but then you know, I would want to
shout my friend's drinks or go shopping and wanted to
get a TV, these nice things for myself, and I
was like, oh, I just need a safety net. I'll
get a five hundred dollars credit card, and that was
(07:47):
the spiral. Then I went and got a TV on
Go MasterCard and it just went downhill from there. So
constantly refinancing, getting rebalanced credit cards just to try I
avoid that interest. I don't know how I was smart
enough to know that interest was bad, but debt was good,
(08:08):
Like it was okay to be in debt as long
as I kept paying it. Down so I could always
reford the repayments. I've never default on it on anything,
but I've had numerous personal loans. I wish that I
quantified it, but at least five personal loans, probably about
ten credit cards just in that eight year period, paying
them down, getting a balanced transfer, trying to avoid any
additional fees, but just constantly living beyond my means.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
I feel like that's really relatable though, Like it's part
of my money story that when I first went to
UNI and got out of UNI, I ended up in
forty thousand dollars worth of personal debt and that all
started in exactly the same position as you, with a
five hundred dollars credit card that I got because I
was like, oh my gosh, I'm going to go get this,
(08:52):
and it was my Virgin Money credit card because I
felt like Virgin was better because you were getting some points.
Like that's a good idea, right, that's money saving in
my savvy. So I got this five hundred dollars Virgin
credit card once I got out of UNI, and I
thought that's going to be my buffer, and then yeah,
it kind of just spirals out of control because this
piece of plastic enables you to live a lifestyle that
(09:14):
you didn't have access to before. You're like, well, this
is fine, Like carrying debts fine as long as I'm not,
you know, racking up a whole heap of interest. That's smart.
And I just think that financial literacy, especially in schools,
especially during our journey as a young teen, especially with
our first jobs, does us a bit of a dirty
because you just don't know what you don't know. I
(09:36):
too knew the interest was bad. I don't want to
pay money for owing money, but I'll pay you back
the money that I owe you. That didn't feel too bad.
And I think it's one of those things that once
you start learning about the flip side, you go, oh,
my gosh, this is not how I should be doing it.
This is not how the smart people are doing it,
this is not how the wealthy are doing it, and
you just go oh, and I feel like there's then
(09:56):
a really bad layer of guilt, feel awful, and you
feel a little bit ashamed of the way that you've
been managing money, especially when you start to realize other
people weren't doing the same thing.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Yeah, most definitely, I think a hard thing for me
is that everyone around. All of my close friends have
had a lot of financial support from their parents, so
I never felt like I was going without because I
was able to finance it myself. But I did feel
bad that I wasn't doing and even to this day,
like I still don't have the things that they necessarily have,
(10:28):
but I have to constantly remind myself that I'm doing
it on my own and that's okay. But it took
me a long time to come to terms with the
fact that you're never going to be at the same
pace as everyone else. Yeah, you just got to stick
in your own lane and educate yourself. I'm a massive
advocate now for educating yourself on financial literacy, and it's
such a shame that it's not taught in schools, even
(10:50):
the basic fundamentals of tax and super and these are
life altering decisions. People really need to be educated about
that in the final years of school, and it's such
a shame that it's not the case.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Oh well, it keeps the world revolving, keeps the world
in debt. I feel like that's maybe what they want
in a way. Yeah, I feel like it's so interesting
having this conversation because I immediately feel like I resonate
with you, and I guess your story. I want to
know now though, because obviously you've changed gears and you've
been like, okay, I'm going to go from maybe not
being in control to being in complete control. And our
(11:26):
producer told me that you have your dream job, so
I want to know about that. So what do you
do for work and how much money do you earn?
Speaker 2 (11:32):
So I'm an analyst in the energy industry and I
recently started my dream role late last year and with
bonuses and the base salary on one hundred and just
over one hundred and thirty. Oh my god, plus super Yeah.
I'm still pinching myself. Are you kiddy? That's incredible? Good
(11:53):
is that?
Speaker 3 (11:53):
I feel like, I don't know. You set this up.
You set me up. You were like, oh, I can't
afford the same things that my friends skin afford. I'm
not in the same position as them. Like I worked
until twenty eight and only just really what you're a
month thirty, You're going to be like running rings around
people give it ten years?
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Oh not even Yeah, So I guess the benefit of
Everything's happened in such a perfect way in the sense
of when I was twenty seven, I was earning sixty K,
and I'd outgrown that workplace. I just finished UNI, and
the boss was like, oh, you know, I understand you've
just finished UNI, but I don't think that it's suitable
to give you a raise at this point in the bin,
(12:31):
essentially saying that he didn't think that I was worth
that money at that time.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Good luck replacing me.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
But I was managing his business and a team of
six people, so that felt otherwise, and I knew it
was time to move on. So I'd always had a
dream company in mind, just really appreciative of the customer
service and the way that their staff were. So somehow
managed to reach out to a recruiter and land a
job there.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
What you just like said, oh, this is my dream company,
And the recruiter was like, yes, queen, I will make
that happen, and it happens.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Yeah, I don't know how I do again, still pinch myself.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Noah, I know how you worked hard, you knew your worth,
you knew what you wanted, and you manifested it. So
it came true, Like it makes sense to me.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Yeah, it's so great. I love it. So within two years,
I've been working at that company. I've had two promotions.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Oh my gosh, you don't get a promotion if you're
not good at your job, Babe. I don't know how
to tell you this.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
No, I think it's my attitude, like because I've wanted
it and I'm passionate about it, and I guess that
just sort of flows through. I've always had amazing work ethic.
That's probably one of the best things that I'm proud
of myself. I always find difficult to find good qualities
in myself, but my work ethic is something that's never faulted.
(13:50):
So yeah, So I had two promotions and I felt
bad late last year because i'd only been in the
role for a few months, leaving the role that I
was in but it wasn't really serving me. And when
the opportunity came up to become an analyst, I knew
that I had to do it and otherwise I'd regret it.
And everything's just fallen into place.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Oh, I'm so proud, and I can see how proud
you are of you. I wish everyone could see your
face right now, because you're glowing. You're like beaming, You're
so happy, You're smiling like, I can tell that that
means a lot to you, even more than just I
guess the remuneration of the role as well.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah, most definitely. I think last year when I chose
the role I originally took, I actually regretted it. So
I chose the role for financial purposes. It was providing
me a twenty five K increase, and I was like,
how can I pass this up?
Speaker 3 (14:42):
How can I not?
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Yeah, so I just thought I have to do it,
and I knew I was going to do well in
the role. It wasn't necessarily where I wanted to go,
but I knew I was going to do well because
that's where my career has led me to. So I
took it. But after a few months, I just it
wasn't the right fit and I did regret choosing it
because of the financial reasons. It really deviated from my values.
(15:04):
So I've let my lesson there.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Oh I'm glad you kind of went through that, especially
before finding this role, because in this role, it's kind
of like you know you're worth, you know what you're getting.
Obviously it's an epic paycheck, but at the crux of it,
you also know that that's not the only reason you're there.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Yeah, most definitely, And now this role is challenging me.
The team are incredible, and I'm getting an awesome paycheck.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Oh my gosh, financial freedom come at you. Let's talk
about your money goals. What are you working towards? What
is your big money goal at the moment.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
I'm currently saving for a house, my first time.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
How are we doing on that front?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Yeah, we're getting there. I've only got eleven K saved.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Only into the bin. My friend, I have eleven grand saved.
What a journey.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Yes, When I first started this company, I started I'd
listen to Barefoot Investor. Yeah, and then I started looking
at otherwise to help myself get more financially literate. So
I literally binge listened to every single episode of She's
on the Money.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
So you're really sick of my voice by now? I
like it.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
No, it's a routine, it's a ritual. Like even though
sometimes this stuff doesn't necessarily resonate with me or I've
outgrown it, I think it helps keep me on track
and accountable if I am ever second guessing myself.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Oh, I love that I.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Had money in savings and then I still had a
credit card debt and I was like, you know what,
Like I had a chunk of interest come through, and
I was like, I've got more money in my savings
than I have that I could pay this credit card
off and not get interests, Like what am I doing?
And so I paid that off and it was honestly
the best feeling in the world. So it's been eighteen
months now being debt free, Queen behavior, I'm so excited
(16:45):
for you, and saving about thirty five percent, trying to
get to forty percent of my salary towards saving.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
How cool.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Yeah, so being able to save for a trip for
my thirtieth to go to Europe for a few weeks.
So I'm excited for that. And yeah, now just purely
focusing on the house. But I just think that everything
happened really well in the sense of getting a job
and getting these large increases in income. I'm glad that
my mindset had shifted.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Before that happened.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yeah, Like, I can only imagine how I would have
been spending my money beforehand with this sort of money
now and going, oh, well, I'm owning all of this money,
I can I can spend more, you know, Whereas now
I'm so conscious of wanting to achieve so many goals.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
How exciting. What would happen if we went back to
twenty five year old you and said, hey, by the way,
this is what life looks like at twenty eight, twenty nine.
What would twenty five year old you think already?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
She achieved it already. I feel like I definitely would
have gotten there eventually. From a young age, I always
wanted to have my own home. I definitely just feel
as though it's security for me. Yeah, one hundred percent,
something that's mine that no one can take away from me.
So I always knew by the time I was thirty
that I wanted to achieve that. It might not be
(18:04):
right on thirty, but I'm definitely going to get there.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
No, you've got that security, You've got that job, like
one hundred percent. It's crazy the pressure that we put
on ourselves to achieve things before thirty. I found a
diary entry from twenty one year old me, and I
look at it and I just go, Victoria, there's so
much more to life than what you thought you'd have
at thirty. Like, there's this diary entry, and it's in
(18:29):
this dumb diary, and it was right before I broke
up with a long term partner, and I was kind
of like, you know, journaling because I was stressed and
kind of knew what was coming and didn't know what
was there. And it's like this letter to myself and
it's kind of like, at thirty, you'll have a job
and you'll be earning at least six figures. Like that
was to me a really big For some reason in
my head, I was like, you have to do that
(18:50):
by thirty, Victoria. And now it just like makes no sense,
Like that's such a naff way of looking at life.
I also was apparently going to already have two children,
I would have already been married, I already would have
owned a house and just all this stuff that I
was like, those are milestones, yes, but that doesn't mean
I would have been happy with the life that I
(19:12):
thought I was going to create for myself. And I
just think that we put so much pressure on ourselves.
But at the same time, it's so gratifying to go, oh,
my gosh, past me would actually be really proud of
where we are, Like past me would be like, Wow,
there's a lot more to life than just earning six figures,
or there's a lot more to life than you know,
just getting a house and just doing these things. Because
(19:32):
now if you ask me what my values are in life,
I'm like, have you met my pets? Have you met
my friends? Like they're the coolest things ever. So I
just think it's such an exciting period of life, especially
when you start coming into this like world of creating
financial freedom. It opens up so much more than what
twenty one year old Victoria thought, which was designer bags
(19:54):
and shoes and you know, all of the markers of success,
but not really the excitement around it. Yeah, all right,
I want to ask you a whole heap more questions,
but I'm going to go to a really quick break
and on the flip side, we're going to talk about debts, investments.
I want to know about your best and your worst
money habits and how you've managed to avoid lifestyle groep. Alright, guys,
don't go anywhere. All right, money direst we are back.
(20:20):
You have now saved eleven grand, which is epic, towards
your first home. You're out of debt and have been
debt free for eighteen months now, which is so cool.
But I want to know are you investing If so, what.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
In Yes, I am. I started in cheersas say, she's
on the money. I have recently just transferred over to COMSEP.
I have about five thousand invested now.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Oh big dog Energy.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
So yeah, just focusing on building that up slowly.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
What's the plan there, like, what made you change platforms
and how have you chosen the investments that you've got.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
I'm really focusing on diversification. I've got a couple of
high risk lithium stocks in cheesy is that I'll just
keep there just for growth. But the main thing that
I wanted to focus on was ETFs that were going
to provide me with diversification and a little bit of
lower risk that pay a dividend. So I can just
reinvest that and just let it grow and not touch it,
(21:19):
not overthink it.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
I love it, and we already know you don't have
any debts, so I feel like that's a pretty redundant question.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
I do have hex stet.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Oh okay, what hextet have you got?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
So sitting at about thirty three K at the moment,
So looking forward to indexation in June.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Yeah, I was going to say they're talking about indexation
being at about seven percent this year which makes me
feel physically ill. And guys, don't worry. There's an entire
episode coming on how to manage that and what that
means and how that's going to work. But money dist
I want to know what are your thoughts on that
as somebody who is all over it. Are you going
(21:58):
to be paying more off? Of you not going to
be paying more off? Where is your head.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
At for the two grand I'm going to get whacked
with if it's seven percent, I'm not gonna worry about
paying it off. I'd rather have that money sit there
in my bank account ready for my home loan. Unfortunately,
having hextut does wipe off about one hundred k off
my borrowing capacity, so I did think about taking care
of it. But yeah, look, it's just going to sit
there in the background, and it's better than having, you know,
(22:23):
an interest loan paying off that. Like the education has
allowed me to get the income that I have, so
I'm happy to just write it out.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Yeah, No, that's fair, and I think that that's where
a lot of us are at. Yes, it wipes off
some borrowing capacity, but also you know what wipes borrowing
capacity is not having enough of a deposit and it's
kind of like weighing up what the difference between those
two things is actually going to look like and how
that works. And to be honest, the best thing you
can do is actually talk to a mortgage broker sooner
(22:54):
rather than later, because they're going to be able to
tell you, especially if your goal is to buy a property. Okay, well,
this is what your HEX set personally looks like. I've
thought for ages. I was like, oh my gosh. You
know what it would be really cool is a table
where I could tell you how much your borrowing capacity
is impacted by HEX. So like, if it's thirty thousand dollars, okay,
well it will be impacted by about one hundred grand,
(23:15):
or if it's more or less. But the problem is
the variable of income, and then the variable of whether
you're going to be buying with a partner or not,
and what their income is, and whether you have any
other debts or any other liabilities. And it's just it's
not a table I can create, sadly, because it's just
not going to work. But it's one of those things
that I think a lot of people stress about. And
(23:35):
if you're stressing about it, go talk to a mortgage
broker and they'll be able to tell you exactly what
your personal situation looks like, because Googling isn't going to
do that. Unfortunately.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
If it was sitting at five, I probably would on
the basis that it would give me just under one
thousand dollars a month extra in my pocket, and also
it would help me with my borrowing capacity. But given
the amount that it is, I'm just going to write
it out and not to mention it over COVID it
was so low, like twenty twenty one it was only
nine hundred dollars. Yeah, exactly. So we've just got to
(24:05):
keep in mind that, yes, okay, this is going to
be pretty high this year, and it does suck, but
in relation to the past couple of years, like if
we average it all out, we're all good.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Exactly. To people who currently are in debt and looking
at your story, going wow, how did you go from
growing up with a mum who had nine credit cards,
so then you having ten credit cards and personal loans
and cycling through that to being in the financially responsible
position you're in now? What would you say to people
who currently have debt who maybe just don't want debt anymore,
(24:36):
but don't even know where to start.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Baby steps a sessious situation, and there's so many different
ways to knock down your debt, but do things that
are going to help you hit milestone sooner so you
can get that feeling, because nothing beats it when you
pay off a credit card and you get to shut
it down. It is the best feeling.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
It actually is. I feel like someone should jump out
of like a cupboard or something with like party poppers
and pay and celebrate, because that's exactly what I expected
to happen when I paid mine.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Not for yourself, do it for yourself. No one else
is going to. But I tell you what, it's a
bloody good feeling, especially after you've been in it for
so long and it is such a hard slog to
see light at the end of the tunnel. Start with
your after pay. I think that was definitely the first
thing I got rid of, and then yeah, just paid
down that credit card. Obviously, the increases in my income
(25:24):
were a massive help to myself, and I'm not going
to discount that, you know, Like I made sure that
when I got paid extra, I wasn't spending that, I
was saving it Prior to saving it, I was paying
off my debt, so that does help, so find additional
ways to make income to get rid of that debt.
It makes such a big difference.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Once it's gone, you just feel so light, you do,
there's just not.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
A care in the world. And then having an emergency
fund finally and understanding that no matter what, I'm going
to be all good, Like if anything happens to my
dog or a medical expense, like, I'm all good, and
it's such an amazing feeling. The bear.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
I feel like you have some good money habits. So
now I want to know what do you think your
best money habit is?
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Budgeting down Yeah, I'm.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Not surprised by this at all.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
I've always been good at budgeting, you know, even when
I was in debt, I always, you know, figured out
what my monthly expenses would be and put a set
amount away each week into my bill hub. So I
don't know again where I got that information from, because
I was doing that from that age is, you know, eighteen,
But that budgeting is definitely my best money habit.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
What kind of budgeting are you doing? Are you doing
the type of budgeting where you sit down and go Okay,
cool money dice. You only get fifty dollars a week
for groceries, and you only get this, this, this, and this.
Is it like a restrictive type of budget or is
it the type of budget where you just tracking income
or what does that actually look like?
Speaker 2 (26:43):
It is definitely more strict. But I tend to be
a bit guilty with the way I spend, Like if
I take money out of my savings, I feel very
guilty now to if I'm buying something. You know, I
value lunches out, which is probably my worst money habit,
and dinners out. But yeah, so it's very strict, like
I will understand what my monthly or annual costs are
(27:06):
and then I put that into my bill hub and
then I've got my savings goals so everything's accounted for.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Yeah, awesome. I love that. I also find it so
interesting because when one person says, oh, I'm really good
at budgeting, that actually could mean something really different to
somebody else, because the way I budget is more around
tracking my spending and making sure that I'm okay with
that spend rather than setting a goal of okay, well, Victoria,
your groceries are going to be X like I don't
(27:33):
do that. I flip it around and go, okay, cool,
you're on average spending this on groceries. Are you okay
with it?
Speaker 2 (27:40):
All?
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Right? Well, if you don't want to change that, you're
going to have to change something else. And it's less
about restriction for me because I just know I'm not
going to stick to it, like it's just not going
to happen in my life. And I think that it's
interesting to learn the way that other people manage that,
because there's different forms of budgeting, and there's different flows,
and there's different diferent ways that we're all motivated. And
(28:02):
I just find it so pervy to be like, how
do you do that? What does that actually mean? Because
like one of our team members, Jess, you've probably heard
her on the podcast before if you've listened to every
single one, she has so many accounts for everything like clothes,
for shoes, she has an account for makeup, hair and beauty.
She has an account for literally everything. I could not
(28:22):
think of anything worse. Like my ADHD would not allow
me to have that many accounts and keep track of them,
so I have to have like three and we call
it a day there for you know, my average spend.
But different people do different things, and it's so interesting
to learn because you might look at somebody else's and go, oh,
my gosh, that system would work so well for me.
(28:42):
And that's why learning from other people is so important.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Most definitely, well, I think I'm still struggling. I get
paid monthly, and then it kills me. No matter how
much I try and budget, I always taking money out
of my savings and then having to replenish it the
next month if I take too much out. You know,
there's always like that little bit of a buffer. But
I always make sure that I keep myself accountable. So yeah,
(29:05):
strict budget and just constantly reviewing, Like you said, making
sure you're okay with it, groceries has killed me. I'm
constantly exceeding it every month.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
The rising cost of living is insane, Like I actually
cannot believe how people are dealing with this because it's
it's insane. Like my grocery budget has absolutely blown up,
but the stuff I'm buying is exactly the same. Like
why is it fifty dollars more perfect?
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Shop?
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Like I genuinely feel like the idea of even fifty bucks,
Like historically, to me, fifty dollars was heaps of money,
and it still is. Like I'm not gonna you know,
absolutely pooh proo that, but I feel like you don't
get that much change from fifty bucks for anything anymore. No,
like go out for lunch fifty bucks, like just I swear.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Yeah, it definitely doesn't go the same distance unfortunately. So
it's also just a matter of acknowledging that sometimes things
aren't in your control, Like you can over analyze it
a little bit, and then I think it makes you
feel guilty because you feel like you're not doing enough.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Well, speaking from experience, like that's definitely me. Like if
I look at I've overspent for the month, I sort
of try not to punish myself, but I am feeling
guilty that I've not met the budget that I set
for myself. So perhaps I need to review my strategy.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
And then that's unreasonable because then you look at your
budget and you go, well, that wasn't actually going to
work given the things I did this month, So it's crazy, right,
Like I used to do exactly the same thing, and
then you would crucify yourself over you know, spending over
but you're like, yeah, but what you didn't take into
consideration was that You've got friend's birthdates, my mum's birthday,
I've got all these other things that needed to be
(30:37):
taken into consideration in the budget. I didn't go over
I just didn't plan efficiently the first time. Yeah, yeah, definitely,
it's crazy. All right. Well, you mentioned maybe what your
worst money habit is, but I want to know what
do you think officially your worst money habit is.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Yeah, definitely over spending on eating out. Yeah, I just
I really valuing nice dinners with friends, and then yeah,
just the cheeky lunch on the weekends and things like that.
So that sort of stuff can really blow the budget
out quite quickly.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
I feel like we'd get along really well because that's
exactly where I'm spending my money too. Don't worry. All right,
we have covered a lot, and I am very conscious
of time. But now that we've talked, I feel like
I've got a good idea of who you are, and
I'm genuinely so impressed. Not only do I think that
we could probably be best friends, because everything that you're saying,
I'm like, yep, I think we're on the same page. Yep.
Oh you're like going out. Yep, me too, great one
(31:25):
hundred percent. Your dog barked before, and I was like, great,
she's a dog person. Ten out of ten love this.
But I feel like you've come so far, Like you
have this epic salary, you're already well onto the way
of saving for your first home. You're saving thirty five
percent of your salary, which is like mind blowing to me.
You're planning for forty you have a five thousand dollars
investment portfolio, You've got your emergency fund. You said really
(31:49):
interesting things before when we're talking about your investment portfolio,
like it was very well thought out. You were talking
about the importance of diversification. Then you said I've got
some high growth lithium stuff in there as well. I'm like,
this woman's clearly switched on, like she knows what she's
talking about. You've got a strategy for your hex, you've
already thought about it. But you seem to think that
you're just a B plus. Is that fair? Now we
(32:12):
reflect on things.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Or our own worst critic, I guess one hundred percent
we are maybe as I think that there's always room
for improvement, there's always.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
Room for improvement. But I was just when someone says
B plus and then they come at me with the
story that you've just told me, I'm like, nah, babe,
you're not a B plus like and I think everyone
listening to this is like, no, Victoria's right on this one.
It's not often that I'm right, but my friend, I'm
right today. But oh my gosh, I feel like this
is such a motivating story. Your mindset is so beautiful,
(32:43):
and I feel like having been able to share this
time with you and understand how you pivoted your mindset
and like, I guess what you grew up with and
what has changed. It's really a story of exactly knowing
that it doesn't matter what your upbringing looked like you
can actually create the life that you want and and
actually being your control. Like it's wild to think that
(33:04):
a little girl who grew up with a mum who
controlled her finances and lived everything on credit now ins
one hundred and thirty grand is saving for a first
home and is absolutely killing it. Like how cool?
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Thank you?
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Isn't that like the best thing ever? Anyway, I'm so
proud of you, and I know that the community is true,
So thank you so much for sharing your story with us.
I'm obsessed.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Thank you, thank you for having me, and thank you
for everything that you do for the community. Yeah, a
massive advocate for you guys.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
The advice shared on She's on the Money is general
in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's
on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should
not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision.
If you do choose to buy a financial product, read
the PDS TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards
(33:56):
your needs. Victoria Divine and She's on the Money are
authorized representatives of money sirper P T Y L 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
Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr
the Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before
we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
(00:22):
through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Let's get into it. She's on the Money.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
She's on the Money. Hello, and welcome to She's on
(00:59):
the Money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom.
Welcome back to another one of our money daries where
we get to talk with one of our incredible She's
on the Money community members all about their journey. Let's
jump straight into it because this week I got a
message and it read like this, Hi, She's on the
Money team. I wanted to share my money story as
(01:21):
listening to She's on the Money and my millennial money
has pivoted my mindset and set me up on the
path to take control of my finances. Growing up with
a single mum who had nine credit cards, I thought
it was normal to have debt. After leaving home at
sixteen with nothing but the clothes on my back. I
used centraling to survive between the ages of sixteen and eighteen,
(01:41):
and then found myself in a world of credit cards
and personal loans after spending the last decade in debt.
In two years of listening to your pod, I've been
able to double my income, become free of debt with
an emergency fund, and I'm on my way to saving
for my first home and creating natural freedom for myself.
(02:02):
I want the community members who are struggling to know
that it doesn't matter what your upbringing looked like. You
can change your mindset and your habits to achieve the
life you want. Money Diarist, This is going to be
one of my favorite diaries ever. I can already feel it.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Welcome to the show, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Oh my gosh, no, what a story. I love that
it's really mindset based and that you've gone through all
this stuff but you're like, Nope, you can do whatever
you want. I feel like that's going to be so
motivating for so many people. Before we jump into the
thick of it, which is my favorite part, I want
to know if you were to give your money habits
a grade, what would that grade be?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
At the moment, I think I'd probably be about a
B plus A B plus.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
All right, let's learn a little bit more about it,
money direst. You showed us in your letter a little
bit about your money story, but I want to know more.
So can you tell us a little bit more about
your money story?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah? Sure. So it was quite a troubled upbringing. Yeah.
As I said, raised by a single mother, and although
she provided well for us financially, emotionally and support wise,
we struggled. We didn't necessarily have a great connection, and
unfortunately sometimes it was quite abusive, so we didn't have
(03:18):
a lot of mentorship around how to handle finances. I
just knew that that's how she funded our lifestyle, so
we never went without. We had passes to theme parks,
we went on holidays quite frequently, but that was all
funded through debt. At the time, I thought it was normal,
just because obviously she was working and raising two children
(03:41):
on her own. But that obviously did have quite a
large impact on my financial story. I wanted to start
working as soon as possible because I understood them. You know,
to get the things that you want in life, you
need to have your own income. So as soon as
I turned fourteen and was able to work, I started working. Unfortunately,
I wasn't able to have access to the money that
I was working for, so I didn't have an appreciation
(04:05):
for how to save. My Mum held my key card
so I could spend when she advised me, and I
think that that was to my detriment, Whereas if I
was able to earn and spend at a young age,
I would have more of an understanding of how to
budget for certain things that I would want and avoid
having that instant gratification rather than budgeting more correctly.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Do you think that that came from her just trying
to protect you in a way, from like, you know,
running out of money or was that more a control
feature of your relationship?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah? Yeah, so everything was under control. I was quite
independent and was from quite a young age, and that
was quite a sore spot for our relationship. It wasn't
not long after that I started working that our relationship
really went downhill and led to me being kicked out
at home.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
So yeah, wow, And what did that look like? Obviously
you got your first job, where are you working? What
type of role were you doing?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Hj's as a retail.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Like that, and how often were you working? Was it
like a couple of days or a couple of just
hours on one day or what did that journey look like?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yes, I'd work both days on the weekend and working
nighttime when I could after school. But obviously school played
a massive factor in how many hours you could work.
But working for a whole eight dollars back in the day.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Oh, check that out. Do you know what at the time,
eight dollars would have sounded really good?
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Felt rich?
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Yeah? One percent eight dollars at that time is really good.
Really frustrating though that you couldn't access it. Did that
lead to lots of like arguments or did that lead
to a lot of resentment or what did that look like?
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Not necessarily so, I've always I wouldn't say be materialistic,
but I like nice things. I like living related. I'm
very proud of my home. And even back then, like
when I was fifteen, I wanted to buy a rug.
So I was able to buy myself a six hundred
dollars rug at fifteen, like.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
My gosh, eight dollars an hour that rather was worth
a lot of hours of work.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yeah, and was able to fund a snow trip through school.
So I was able to buy things with that money,
But it would have been more beneficial to my future
self if I had been able to trial an error.
Obviously I would have spent more if I had had
access to that, and may not have been able to
buy the nice things, but I would have built a
better foundation. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Wow, I feel like it's really interesting talking to people
about their money stories, especially first up, because obviously I'm
going to be like, Okay, what do you am, what
do you spend? All of those questions, But just learning
a little bit about the mindset side of things is
to me so interesting because having gone through the mindset
of having things taken off you and you're spending controlled
(06:45):
all the way through to you know, creating financial freedom
to yourself. Can we talk about the pivot point of that,
because I feel like that's a massive mindset shift from
someone controlling you to your going I can control my
entire life and create the life I deserve and the
life I How do we do that?
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Podcasts apparently in some books. Unfortunately, but also fortunately it's
only happened in the past couple of years. So between
eighteen and twenty eight, I was in a revolving door
of getting myself in debt and then out of debt.
You know, when I first turned eighteen, I was like, Okay,
I have no family, I'm living out on my own.
I was earning a decent income for my age, but
(07:25):
I just I've always lived beyond my means to that point.
So I would earn enough to cover groceries, live a
decent lifestyle, but then you know, I would want to
shout my friend's drinks or go shopping and wanted to
get a TV, these nice things for myself, and I
was like, oh, I just need a safety net. I'll
get a five hundred dollars credit card, and that was
(07:47):
the spiral. Then I went and got a TV on
Go MasterCard and it just went downhill from there. So
constantly refinancing, getting rebalanced credit cards just to try I
avoid that interest. I don't know how I was smart
enough to know that interest was bad, but debt was good,
(08:08):
Like it was okay to be in debt as long
as I kept paying it. Down so I could always
reford the repayments. I've never default on it on anything,
but I've had numerous personal loans. I wish that I
quantified it, but at least five personal loans, probably about
ten credit cards just in that eight year period, paying
them down, getting a balanced transfer, trying to avoid any
additional fees, but just constantly living beyond my means.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
I feel like that's really relatable though, Like it's part
of my money story that when I first went to
UNI and got out of UNI, I ended up in
forty thousand dollars worth of personal debt and that all
started in exactly the same position as you, with a
five hundred dollars credit card that I got because I
was like, oh my gosh, I'm going to go get this,
(08:52):
and it was my Virgin Money credit card because I
felt like Virgin was better because you were getting some points.
Like that's a good idea, right, that's money saving in
my savvy. So I got this five hundred dollars Virgin
credit card once I got out of UNI, and I
thought that's going to be my buffer, and then yeah,
it kind of just spirals out of control because this
piece of plastic enables you to live a lifestyle that
(09:14):
you didn't have access to before. You're like, well, this
is fine, Like carrying debts fine as long as I'm not,
you know, racking up a whole heap of interest. That's smart.
And I just think that financial literacy, especially in schools,
especially during our journey as a young teen, especially with
our first jobs, does us a bit of a dirty
because you just don't know what you don't know. I
(09:36):
too knew the interest was bad. I don't want to
pay money for owing money, but I'll pay you back
the money that I owe you. That didn't feel too bad.
And I think it's one of those things that once
you start learning about the flip side, you go, oh,
my gosh, this is not how I should be doing it.
This is not how the smart people are doing it,
this is not how the wealthy are doing it, and
you just go oh, and I feel like there's then
(09:56):
a really bad layer of guilt, feel awful, and you
feel a little bit ashamed of the way that you've
been managing money, especially when you start to realize other
people weren't doing the same thing.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Yeah, most definitely, I think a hard thing for me
is that everyone around. All of my close friends have
had a lot of financial support from their parents, so
I never felt like I was going without because I
was able to finance it myself. But I did feel
bad that I wasn't doing and even to this day,
like I still don't have the things that they necessarily have,
(10:28):
but I have to constantly remind myself that I'm doing
it on my own and that's okay. But it took
me a long time to come to terms with the
fact that you're never going to be at the same
pace as everyone else. Yeah, you just got to stick
in your own lane and educate yourself. I'm a massive
advocate now for educating yourself on financial literacy, and it's
such a shame that it's not taught in schools, even
(10:50):
the basic fundamentals of tax and super and these are
life altering decisions. People really need to be educated about
that in the final years of school, and it's such
a shame that it's not the case.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Oh well, it keeps the world revolving, keeps the world
in debt. I feel like that's maybe what they want
in a way. Yeah, I feel like it's so interesting
having this conversation because I immediately feel like I resonate
with you, and I guess your story. I want to
know now though, because obviously you've changed gears and you've
been like, okay, I'm going to go from maybe not
being in control to being in complete control. And our
(11:26):
producer told me that you have your dream job, so
I want to know about that. So what do you
do for work and how much money do you earn?
Speaker 2 (11:32):
So I'm an analyst in the energy industry and I
recently started my dream role late last year and with
bonuses and the base salary on one hundred and just
over one hundred and thirty. Oh my god, plus super Yeah.
I'm still pinching myself. Are you kiddy? That's incredible? Good
(11:53):
is that?
Speaker 3 (11:53):
I feel like, I don't know. You set this up.
You set me up. You were like, oh, I can't
afford the same things that my friends skin afford. I'm
not in the same position as them. Like I worked
until twenty eight and only just really what you're a
month thirty, You're going to be like running rings around
people give it ten years?
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Oh not even Yeah, So I guess the benefit of
Everything's happened in such a perfect way in the sense
of when I was twenty seven, I was earning sixty K,
and I'd outgrown that workplace. I just finished UNI, and
the boss was like, oh, you know, I understand you've
just finished UNI, but I don't think that it's suitable
to give you a raise at this point in the bin,
(12:31):
essentially saying that he didn't think that I was worth
that money at that time.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Good luck replacing me.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
But I was managing his business and a team of
six people, so that felt otherwise, and I knew it
was time to move on. So I'd always had a
dream company in mind, just really appreciative of the customer
service and the way that their staff were. So somehow
managed to reach out to a recruiter and land a
job there.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
What you just like said, oh, this is my dream company,
And the recruiter was like, yes, queen, I will make
that happen, and it happens.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Yeah, I don't know how I do again, still pinch myself.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Noah, I know how you worked hard, you knew your worth,
you knew what you wanted, and you manifested it. So
it came true, Like it makes sense to me.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Yeah, it's so great. I love it. So within two years,
I've been working at that company. I've had two promotions.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Oh my gosh, you don't get a promotion if you're
not good at your job, Babe. I don't know how
to tell you this.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
No, I think it's my attitude, like because I've wanted
it and I'm passionate about it, and I guess that
just sort of flows through. I've always had amazing work ethic.
That's probably one of the best things that I'm proud
of myself. I always find difficult to find good qualities
in myself, but my work ethic is something that's never faulted.
(13:50):
So yeah, So I had two promotions and I felt
bad late last year because i'd only been in the
role for a few months, leaving the role that I
was in but it wasn't really serving me. And when
the opportunity came up to become an analyst, I knew
that I had to do it and otherwise I'd regret it.
And everything's just fallen into place.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Oh, I'm so proud, and I can see how proud
you are of you. I wish everyone could see your
face right now, because you're glowing. You're like beaming, You're
so happy, You're smiling like, I can tell that that
means a lot to you, even more than just I
guess the remuneration of the role as well.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah, most definitely. I think last year when I chose
the role I originally took, I actually regretted it. So
I chose the role for financial purposes. It was providing
me a twenty five K increase, and I was like,
how can I pass this up?
Speaker 3 (14:42):
How can I not?
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Yeah, so I just thought I have to do it,
and I knew I was going to do well in
the role. It wasn't necessarily where I wanted to go,
but I knew I was going to do well because
that's where my career has led me to. So I
took it. But after a few months, I just it
wasn't the right fit and I did regret choosing it
because of the financial reasons. It really deviated from my values.
(15:04):
So I've let my lesson there.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Oh I'm glad you kind of went through that, especially
before finding this role, because in this role, it's kind
of like you know you're worth, you know what you're getting.
Obviously it's an epic paycheck, but at the crux of it,
you also know that that's not the only reason you're there.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Yeah, most definitely, And now this role is challenging me.
The team are incredible, and I'm getting an awesome paycheck.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Oh my gosh, financial freedom come at you. Let's talk
about your money goals. What are you working towards? What
is your big money goal at the moment.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
I'm currently saving for a house, my first time.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
How are we doing on that front?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Yeah, we're getting there. I've only got eleven K saved.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Only into the bin. My friend, I have eleven grand saved.
What a journey.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Yes, When I first started this company, I started I'd
listen to Barefoot Investor. Yeah, and then I started looking
at otherwise to help myself get more financially literate. So
I literally binge listened to every single episode of She's
on the Money.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
So you're really sick of my voice by now? I
like it.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
No, it's a routine, it's a ritual. Like even though
sometimes this stuff doesn't necessarily resonate with me or I've
outgrown it, I think it helps keep me on track
and accountable if I am ever second guessing myself.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Oh, I love that I.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Had money in savings and then I still had a
credit card debt and I was like, you know what,
Like I had a chunk of interest come through, and
I was like, I've got more money in my savings
than I have that I could pay this credit card
off and not get interests, Like what am I doing?
And so I paid that off and it was honestly
the best feeling in the world. So it's been eighteen
months now being debt free, Queen behavior, I'm so excited
(16:45):
for you, and saving about thirty five percent, trying to
get to forty percent of my salary towards saving.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
How cool.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Yeah, so being able to save for a trip for
my thirtieth to go to Europe for a few weeks.
So I'm excited for that. And yeah, now just purely
focusing on the house. But I just think that everything
happened really well in the sense of getting a job
and getting these large increases in income. I'm glad that
my mindset had shifted.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Before that happened.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yeah, Like, I can only imagine how I would have
been spending my money beforehand with this sort of money
now and going, oh, well, I'm owning all of this money,
I can I can spend more, you know, Whereas now
I'm so conscious of wanting to achieve so many goals.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
How exciting. What would happen if we went back to
twenty five year old you and said, hey, by the way,
this is what life looks like at twenty eight, twenty nine.
What would twenty five year old you think already?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
She achieved it already. I feel like I definitely would
have gotten there eventually. From a young age, I always
wanted to have my own home. I definitely just feel
as though it's security for me. Yeah, one hundred percent,
something that's mine that no one can take away from me.
So I always knew by the time I was thirty
that I wanted to achieve that. It might not be
(18:04):
right on thirty, but I'm definitely going to get there.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
No, you've got that security, You've got that job, like
one hundred percent. It's crazy the pressure that we put
on ourselves to achieve things before thirty. I found a
diary entry from twenty one year old me, and I
look at it and I just go, Victoria, there's so
much more to life than what you thought you'd have
at thirty. Like, there's this diary entry, and it's in
(18:29):
this dumb diary, and it was right before I broke
up with a long term partner, and I was kind
of like, you know, journaling because I was stressed and
kind of knew what was coming and didn't know what
was there. And it's like this letter to myself and
it's kind of like, at thirty, you'll have a job
and you'll be earning at least six figures. Like that
was to me a really big For some reason in
my head, I was like, you have to do that
(18:50):
by thirty, Victoria. And now it just like makes no sense,
Like that's such a naff way of looking at life.
I also was apparently going to already have two children,
I would have already been married, I already would have
owned a house and just all this stuff that I
was like, those are milestones, yes, but that doesn't mean
I would have been happy with the life that I
(19:12):
thought I was going to create for myself. And I
just think that we put so much pressure on ourselves.
But at the same time, it's so gratifying to go, oh,
my gosh, past me would actually be really proud of
where we are, Like past me would be like, Wow,
there's a lot more to life than just earning six figures,
or there's a lot more to life than you know,
just getting a house and just doing these things. Because
(19:32):
now if you ask me what my values are in life,
I'm like, have you met my pets? Have you met
my friends? Like they're the coolest things ever. So I
just think it's such an exciting period of life, especially
when you start coming into this like world of creating
financial freedom. It opens up so much more than what
twenty one year old Victoria thought, which was designer bags
(19:54):
and shoes and you know, all of the markers of success,
but not really the excitement around it. Yeah, all right,
I want to ask you a whole heap more questions,
but I'm going to go to a really quick break
and on the flip side, we're going to talk about debts, investments.
I want to know about your best and your worst
money habits and how you've managed to avoid lifestyle groep. Alright, guys,
don't go anywhere. All right, money direst we are back.
(20:20):
You have now saved eleven grand, which is epic, towards
your first home. You're out of debt and have been
debt free for eighteen months now, which is so cool.
But I want to know are you investing If so, what.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
In Yes, I am. I started in cheersas say, she's
on the money. I have recently just transferred over to COMSEP.
I have about five thousand invested now.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Oh big dog Energy.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
So yeah, just focusing on building that up slowly.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
What's the plan there, like, what made you change platforms
and how have you chosen the investments that you've got.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
I'm really focusing on diversification. I've got a couple of
high risk lithium stocks in cheesy is that I'll just
keep there just for growth. But the main thing that
I wanted to focus on was ETFs that were going
to provide me with diversification and a little bit of
lower risk that pay a dividend. So I can just
reinvest that and just let it grow and not touch it,
(21:19):
not overthink it.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
I love it, and we already know you don't have
any debts, so I feel like that's a pretty redundant question.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
I do have hex stet.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Oh okay, what hextet have you got?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
So sitting at about thirty three K at the moment,
So looking forward to indexation in June.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Yeah, I was going to say they're talking about indexation
being at about seven percent this year which makes me
feel physically ill. And guys, don't worry. There's an entire
episode coming on how to manage that and what that
means and how that's going to work. But money dist
I want to know what are your thoughts on that
as somebody who is all over it. Are you going
(21:58):
to be paying more off? Of you not going to
be paying more off? Where is your head.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
At for the two grand I'm going to get whacked
with if it's seven percent, I'm not gonna worry about
paying it off. I'd rather have that money sit there
in my bank account ready for my home loan. Unfortunately,
having hextut does wipe off about one hundred k off
my borrowing capacity, so I did think about taking care
of it. But yeah, look, it's just going to sit
there in the background, and it's better than having, you know,
(22:23):
an interest loan paying off that. Like the education has
allowed me to get the income that I have, so
I'm happy to just write it out.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Yeah, No, that's fair, and I think that that's where
a lot of us are at. Yes, it wipes off
some borrowing capacity, but also you know what wipes borrowing
capacity is not having enough of a deposit and it's
kind of like weighing up what the difference between those
two things is actually going to look like and how
that works. And to be honest, the best thing you
can do is actually talk to a mortgage broker sooner
(22:54):
rather than later, because they're going to be able to
tell you, especially if your goal is to buy a property. Okay, well,
this is what your HEX set personally looks like. I've
thought for ages. I was like, oh my gosh. You
know what it would be really cool is a table
where I could tell you how much your borrowing capacity
is impacted by HEX. So like, if it's thirty thousand dollars, okay,
well it will be impacted by about one hundred grand,
(23:15):
or if it's more or less. But the problem is
the variable of income, and then the variable of whether
you're going to be buying with a partner or not,
and what their income is, and whether you have any
other debts or any other liabilities. And it's just it's
not a table I can create, sadly, because it's just
not going to work. But it's one of those things
that I think a lot of people stress about. And
(23:35):
if you're stressing about it, go talk to a mortgage
broker and they'll be able to tell you exactly what
your personal situation looks like, because Googling isn't going to
do that. Unfortunately.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
If it was sitting at five, I probably would on
the basis that it would give me just under one
thousand dollars a month extra in my pocket, and also
it would help me with my borrowing capacity. But given
the amount that it is, I'm just going to write
it out and not to mention it over COVID it
was so low, like twenty twenty one it was only
nine hundred dollars. Yeah, exactly. So we've just got to
(24:05):
keep in mind that, yes, okay, this is going to
be pretty high this year, and it does suck, but
in relation to the past couple of years, like if
we average it all out, we're all good.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Exactly. To people who currently are in debt and looking
at your story, going wow, how did you go from
growing up with a mum who had nine credit cards,
so then you having ten credit cards and personal loans
and cycling through that to being in the financially responsible
position you're in now? What would you say to people
who currently have debt who maybe just don't want debt anymore,
(24:36):
but don't even know where to start.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Baby steps a sessious situation, and there's so many different
ways to knock down your debt, but do things that
are going to help you hit milestone sooner so you
can get that feeling, because nothing beats it when you
pay off a credit card and you get to shut
it down. It is the best feeling.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
It actually is. I feel like someone should jump out
of like a cupboard or something with like party poppers
and pay and celebrate, because that's exactly what I expected
to happen when I paid mine.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Not for yourself, do it for yourself. No one else
is going to. But I tell you what, it's a
bloody good feeling, especially after you've been in it for
so long and it is such a hard slog to
see light at the end of the tunnel. Start with
your after pay. I think that was definitely the first
thing I got rid of, and then yeah, just paid
down that credit card. Obviously, the increases in my income
(25:24):
were a massive help to myself, and I'm not going
to discount that, you know, Like I made sure that
when I got paid extra, I wasn't spending that, I
was saving it Prior to saving it, I was paying
off my debt, so that does help, so find additional
ways to make income to get rid of that debt.
It makes such a big difference.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Once it's gone, you just feel so light, you do,
there's just not.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
A care in the world. And then having an emergency
fund finally and understanding that no matter what, I'm going
to be all good, Like if anything happens to my
dog or a medical expense, like, I'm all good, and
it's such an amazing feeling. The bear.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
I feel like you have some good money habits. So
now I want to know what do you think your
best money habit is?
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Budgeting down Yeah, I'm.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Not surprised by this at all.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
I've always been good at budgeting, you know, even when
I was in debt, I always, you know, figured out
what my monthly expenses would be and put a set
amount away each week into my bill hub. So I
don't know again where I got that information from, because
I was doing that from that age is, you know, eighteen,
But that budgeting is definitely my best money habit.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
What kind of budgeting are you doing? Are you doing
the type of budgeting where you sit down and go Okay,
cool money dice. You only get fifty dollars a week
for groceries, and you only get this, this, this, and this.
Is it like a restrictive type of budget or is
it the type of budget where you just tracking income
or what does that actually look like?
Speaker 2 (26:43):
It is definitely more strict. But I tend to be
a bit guilty with the way I spend, Like if
I take money out of my savings, I feel very
guilty now to if I'm buying something. You know, I
value lunches out, which is probably my worst money habit,
and dinners out. But yeah, so it's very strict, like
I will understand what my monthly or annual costs are
(27:06):
and then I put that into my bill hub and
then I've got my savings goals so everything's accounted for.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Yeah, awesome. I love that. I also find it so
interesting because when one person says, oh, I'm really good
at budgeting, that actually could mean something really different to
somebody else, because the way I budget is more around
tracking my spending and making sure that I'm okay with
that spend rather than setting a goal of okay, well, Victoria,
your groceries are going to be X like I don't
(27:33):
do that. I flip it around and go, okay, cool,
you're on average spending this on groceries. Are you okay
with it?
Speaker 2 (27:40):
All?
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Right? Well, if you don't want to change that, you're
going to have to change something else. And it's less
about restriction for me because I just know I'm not
going to stick to it, like it's just not going
to happen in my life. And I think that it's
interesting to learn the way that other people manage that,
because there's different forms of budgeting, and there's different flows,
and there's different diferent ways that we're all motivated. And
(28:02):
I just find it so pervy to be like, how
do you do that? What does that actually mean? Because
like one of our team members, Jess, you've probably heard
her on the podcast before if you've listened to every
single one, she has so many accounts for everything like clothes,
for shoes, she has an account for makeup, hair and beauty.
She has an account for literally everything. I could not
(28:22):
think of anything worse. Like my ADHD would not allow
me to have that many accounts and keep track of them,
so I have to have like three and we call
it a day there for you know, my average spend.
But different people do different things, and it's so interesting
to learn because you might look at somebody else's and go, oh,
my gosh, that system would work so well for me.
(28:42):
And that's why learning from other people is so important.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Most definitely, well, I think I'm still struggling. I get
paid monthly, and then it kills me. No matter how
much I try and budget, I always taking money out
of my savings and then having to replenish it the
next month if I take too much out. You know,
there's always like that little bit of a buffer. But
I always make sure that I keep myself accountable. So yeah,
(29:05):
strict budget and just constantly reviewing, Like you said, making
sure you're okay with it, groceries has killed me. I'm
constantly exceeding it every month.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
The rising cost of living is insane, Like I actually
cannot believe how people are dealing with this because it's
it's insane. Like my grocery budget has absolutely blown up,
but the stuff I'm buying is exactly the same. Like
why is it fifty dollars more perfect?
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Shop?
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Like I genuinely feel like the idea of even fifty bucks,
Like historically, to me, fifty dollars was heaps of money,
and it still is. Like I'm not gonna you know,
absolutely pooh proo that, but I feel like you don't
get that much change from fifty bucks for anything anymore. No,
like go out for lunch fifty bucks, like just I swear.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Yeah, it definitely doesn't go the same distance unfortunately. So
it's also just a matter of acknowledging that sometimes things
aren't in your control, Like you can over analyze it
a little bit, and then I think it makes you
feel guilty because you feel like you're not doing enough.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Well, speaking from experience, like that's definitely me. Like if
I look at I've overspent for the month, I sort
of try not to punish myself, but I am feeling
guilty that I've not met the budget that I set
for myself. So perhaps I need to review my strategy.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
And then that's unreasonable because then you look at your
budget and you go, well, that wasn't actually going to
work given the things I did this month, So it's crazy, right,
Like I used to do exactly the same thing, and
then you would crucify yourself over you know, spending over
but you're like, yeah, but what you didn't take into
consideration was that You've got friend's birthdates, my mum's birthday,
I've got all these other things that needed to be
(30:37):
taken into consideration in the budget. I didn't go over
I just didn't plan efficiently the first time. Yeah, yeah, definitely,
it's crazy. All right. Well, you mentioned maybe what your
worst money habit is, but I want to know what
do you think officially your worst money habit is.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Yeah, definitely over spending on eating out. Yeah, I just
I really valuing nice dinners with friends, and then yeah,
just the cheeky lunch on the weekends and things like that.
So that sort of stuff can really blow the budget
out quite quickly.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
I feel like we'd get along really well because that's
exactly where I'm spending my money too. Don't worry. All right,
we have covered a lot, and I am very conscious
of time. But now that we've talked, I feel like
I've got a good idea of who you are, and
I'm genuinely so impressed. Not only do I think that
we could probably be best friends, because everything that you're saying,
I'm like, yep, I think we're on the same page. Yep.
Oh you're like going out. Yep, me too, great one
(31:25):
hundred percent. Your dog barked before, and I was like, great,
she's a dog person. Ten out of ten love this.
But I feel like you've come so far, Like you
have this epic salary, you're already well onto the way
of saving for your first home. You're saving thirty five
percent of your salary, which is like mind blowing to me.
You're planning for forty you have a five thousand dollars
investment portfolio, You've got your emergency fund. You said really
(31:49):
interesting things before when we're talking about your investment portfolio,
like it was very well thought out. You were talking
about the importance of diversification. Then you said I've got
some high growth lithium stuff in there as well. I'm like,
this woman's clearly switched on, like she knows what she's
talking about. You've got a strategy for your hex, you've
already thought about it. But you seem to think that
you're just a B plus. Is that fair? Now we
(32:12):
reflect on things.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Or our own worst critic, I guess one hundred percent
we are maybe as I think that there's always room
for improvement, there's always.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
Room for improvement. But I was just when someone says
B plus and then they come at me with the
story that you've just told me, I'm like, nah, babe,
you're not a B plus like and I think everyone
listening to this is like, no, Victoria's right on this one.
It's not often that I'm right, but my friend, I'm
right today. But oh my gosh, I feel like this
is such a motivating story. Your mindset is so beautiful,
(32:43):
and I feel like having been able to share this
time with you and understand how you pivoted your mindset
and like, I guess what you grew up with and
what has changed. It's really a story of exactly knowing
that it doesn't matter what your upbringing looked like you
can actually create the life that you want and and
actually being your control. Like it's wild to think that
(33:04):
a little girl who grew up with a mum who
controlled her finances and lived everything on credit now ins
one hundred and thirty grand is saving for a first
home and is absolutely killing it. Like how cool?
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Thank you?
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Isn't that like the best thing ever? Anyway, I'm so
proud of you, and I know that the community is true,
So thank you so much for sharing your story with us.
I'm obsessed.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Thank you, thank you for having me, and thank you
for everything that you do for the community. Yeah, a
massive advocate for you guys.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
The advice shared on She's on the Money is general
in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's
on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should
not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision.
If you do choose to buy a financial product, read
the PDS TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards
(33:56):
your needs. Victoria Divine and She's on the Money are
authorized representatives of money sirper P T Y L 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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