November 9, 2025 • 49 mins
Have you ever wanted to see what would happen if you actually sat down and did that budget?
This week’s Money Diarist actually did it and everything changed. After hitting rock bottom, the stress of trying to keep up finally broke her. One “yes” to a holiday with her partner she couldn’t afford turned into tears in the car and the realisation that something had to give. So she did what any of us would do, opened Google and typed “female finance book”. She came across She's on the Money, read the book and decided to put everything into action... and this is her money diary 5 years on (spoiler: she's thriving).
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Acknowledgement of Country By Nartarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements.
The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708, AFSL - 4
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
My name's Anatasha Bamblet. I'm a proud First Nations woman
and I'm here to acknowledge country t Glenn Young Ganya
nianar Kaka yah y and beIN Ahaka nian our gay
In Mbina, yakarum jar, Dominyama, Domaga Ithawakaman, damon Imlan Bomber
bang Gadabomba in and now in wakah Ghana on yak
rum jar Watnadaa. Hello, beautiful friends, we gather on the
(00:24):
lands of the Aboriginal people. We thank acknowledge and respect
the Abiginal people's land that we're gathering on today. Take
pleasure in all the land and respect all that you see.
She's on the Money podcast acknowledges culture, country, community and connections,
bringing you the tools, knowledge and resources for you to thrive.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
She's on the Money.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
She's on the Money.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
that lets you be pervy about other people's money habits
for educational purposes, of course. Welcome back to another one
of our money Darius 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 an email and it sounded exactly
like this, Dear She's on the Money, You guys completely
(01:31):
changed my life three exclamation points. Four years ago, I
was in the worst financial position I had ever been in.
My partner was super financially savvy, and I just felt
like a failure. I took it upon myself to change
my money story and get my shit together, which is
how I came across the She's on the Money podcast
and book. It was pretty overwhelming and confronting reading the
(01:53):
book and felt scary starting from scratch. However, four years later,
I am a completely different queen. I have eighteen thousand
dollars in long term savings, thirty four thousand dollars invested
in stocks, and it also started a side hustle to
earn some extra cash. Money diarist welcome to the show,
and I would say like, welcome to the community. But girl,
(02:15):
you've been here for four years.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yes I have. And that I was like, oh, that
was my email.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
You did a good job, queen.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yes, well it has changed since that email, like I
think it's grown more as well. Like listening to that,
I was like, oh cool, it's come a long.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Way, she sounds like a cool chick. But also we've
done even more than that. Let's dive into it before
we get there. I have to ask if I asked
you to give yourself a money grade from A through
to air, what grade do you think you would give
yourself today?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
I'd say probably a B plus because you know you
can always get better. Yeah, you can.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
But I've got a lot to learn from you in
this episode, so we'll see how that stacks up by
the end of it. Can we go back? I want
to know a little bit more about your money story.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yeah, yes, yes, long journey. I don't think I had
great role models growing up, so lots of debt and
gambling issues with my parents, and I guess I don't
ever remember having a conversation about money. I don't ever
remember having a conversation about savings. I don't remember having
(03:21):
a conversation about what you should do when you get
a job, or how to open a bank account, or yeah,
any of the things that I guess I realized that
I didn't know as I got older. So I think
I from the start, I never really had a great foundation,
And yeah, that's I guess how I ended up being
(03:44):
like four years ago. Yeah, having a hard look at
my accounts and being like, I think I probably need
to change some things.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
Yeah, so fair, so talk to me. You said it
in your email and you're like, oh, my partner was
super financially savvy. And I just felt like it's failure
and the like there's no definition of failure. Like I'm
a very big believer in like, you haven't failed, you're
just starting here. But what contributed to that feeling?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
I just think I was always stressed about money and
like not like necessarily paycheck to paycheck, but like almost
paycheck to paycheck, and like try and organize going on
our first international holiday and doing all of the things,
and like I was still at UNI, working like a
part time job and he was obviously working like full
(04:30):
time and you know, just very different positions, and I
guess I just felt, yeah, I was like, oh, I
don't think I can do all of the things that
he can do, and I wanted to be like equal,
you know, and contribute equally. So I guess that's why.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Yeah, yeah, that makes absolute sense. But like it's so
interesting asking that question of people, because to one person,
failure is oh well, actually I went through Drive through
this week three times, and then to other people, it's
like this feeling of like I'm behind and I'm you know,
not living paycheck to paycheck, but kind of nearly close
(05:09):
to other people, they're like, for me, I was in
forty thousand dollars worth of personal debt, and I was like,
you need to have a good, cold, hard look at
yourself Victoria divine. So it's just so interesting being like, well,
what does that mean, how does that work? Like what
does that feel like? Because it's just so different for everybody.
What was that like kick up the bumb moment where
you were like, I have to kind of get my
stuff together because I feel like we have lots of things.
(05:30):
Money is hard and like you know, if you're you know,
planning overseas holidays, you're like, oh, yeah, I'll get it
together when I get back, But like, why change?
Speaker 2 (05:37):
I think? I remember we were sitting in the car
in my garage and I had we hadn't really spoken
about finances at all, and I just said, I think
like this holiday that we're you know, booking and is
like killing me financially. And I really wanted to do it,
(05:58):
but I obviously didn't probably think about it before saying yes,
and I think I didn't want to feel like that
ever again, Like I remember crying and feeling like, oh girl,
like you're gotta get your shit together, because you know,
I want to be able to do more than just
(06:19):
scrape through, you know. So I remember that feeling and
that conversation, and we both still remember it and we
look back, like obviously that was probably nearly five years ago,
and we look back and we're like, wow, it's so
different now, and it's.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
Nice totally tell me a little bit more about like
that change, because I think a lot of people get
to that point and that's so relatable, like I need
to get it together. Where did you turn first? Because
I get that point. You probably hadn't heard of She's
on the Money, and we probably come a little bit later.
I feel like the gateway, like the gateway drug of
the finance communities Barefoot Investor. We all turned to him
(06:53):
and thanks Scottie Pape ten out of ten. But like,
what was your first experience of like trying to learn
a little bit more about financial literacy.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah, that's so funny because my friend had read The
Barefoot Investor, and I remember going over and we had
a few wines and they were telling us about how
good this book was, and they were like, you've got
to open all these accounts, and you know, we had
had had a few wines. And then next thing I
remember in the mail, I had the I G bankus
(07:22):
coffy and I was like, I haven't even read the book.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
That's fine, Like, I'm very excited that you fell into
the culture.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Oh I didn't even know. I did nothing with the accounts.
I just closed them after because I hadn't read the book.
So I was like, well, this is silly. No. I actually,
from that conversation in the car, I remember writing like
a long list of things in my life that I
wanted to change, and a lot of those things, you know,
stem from financial security. And you know, my partner had
(07:54):
read a lot of books, and I was like, I
just feel like I need to do it on my own,
Like I need to find my path it's going to
work for me.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Because yeah, your path isn't going to work for me.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, And I googled on Google at work female budgeting
tools or like female budget finance books that's literally and
you were.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
Hey, And then I came up thank you my SEO
must be working.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
And I was like, oh, okay, cool. I had a look.
I read the spiel and I was like yeah, okay,
and I started reading and then I basically just did
every single thing that you said to do in the book, yes,
from start to finish. I think I hyper fixated for
a bit.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
Good because like I structured that book in such a
way that I was like, all right, so you've never
picked up a book before, this can't be overwhelming. At
the start. I have to make friends with the reader
or right, I have to make friends with you, money dires, like,
have to gain your trust, and then I have to
be like okay, cool. And I think in the book
I still and like I wrote it so long ago,
but I like literally recommend that you need a glass
of wine for the next bit. I'm like bab strapping
(08:59):
because we're going to an audit that like I give
you the worksheet to do it. I'm not like, oh,
just go and have a look at this. I'm like, no, no, no,
you're going to fill this in and I just I
hope it and it sounds like I did. I took
you on a journey of like discovering one thing and
another thing and then like, okay, cool, that's the next step.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
And it was a definite snowball. The bank statement one
I remember like printing it at work because free printing.
I highlighted everything and I was like, oh my god,
it's really confronting, isn't it. Oh wait, I cried so hard.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, but I promise I'm
here for you. Like sometimes we have to cry because
we're just feeling overwhelmed. But at the end of the day,
it's not good or bad. It's just like, hey, did
you realize this is where your money's going? And you're
probably like no, v I didn't have a clue.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I did not. And after that, I was like, okay, so.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
Do you remember what the most confronting thing was like
seeing on your bank statement?
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Not really, because I think it was probably just like
the unnecessary spending, the shopping, like the things that I
just really didn't need, and I was like, well, that's
where my money is like sitting there and like clothes
and bedding. I have a bedding obsession.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Oh you and Jessica Icci in our team love some
good bedding, Yeah, love some linen. And I was like
I don't know if I need that much bedding. Yeah,
it's really confronting when you look through your house and go, wow,
this all used to be money.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, there's my gas bill in the cli
in the cupboard.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Yeah exactly, isn't it crazy? Well, I kind of love that.
But you have ended up in the right place, which
is a really good thing. I want to know more
about you personally though, to tell me what do you
do for work now and how much money do you earn?
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yes, I currently have true jobs, because you know why not.
In all my spare time, I work as a registered
nurse in a hospital. And I also have like a
office job that I had prior to graduating that just hey, really,
well not one hundred percent sure what I do there?
Speaker 4 (11:04):
We use bop along.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah, it's a great office job that lets you do you.
I love that because we can only work when you
first start as an urse, you can only work a
certain amount of hours. And I've obviously studied for like
three years, and I was like, well, I kind of
want to work full time. Like, I just budgeted my
ass off during this three years.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
I did not do this bank account audit to only
have this income.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yeah, and I was like, I kind of want to
be on a full time wage like as I and
I get the reasoning, like the burnout and stuff like that,
but I wasn't happy when I did my budget pre
starting with kind of what I thought it was going
to look like, and so I was going to quit
and then I decided not to and I work an
(11:50):
extra two days there.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
Oh, very cool. So if we break it down how
many days and how much pay for each job, it's really.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Hard to like with the tax and the over time
with the nursing, it's so hard to work out. I
think I think it's about one hundred grand a year,
give or take pre tax. It's probably a bit more
with the overtime. I didn't I didn't account for that
in my budget because it's so flexible and it really
(12:20):
makes me uncomfortable, like not knowing her.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
And you don't want to bank on that either. Yeah,
And I know that you read my book, so you
know that a lot of what I do is work
on your base income, work on what is contracted, like
what's in your in your contract. I think we should
be as a base and then anything above and beyond,
Like I won't say it's cream on top and you
can do what you want with it, because that's not
the point. But like anything on top, we will make
(12:43):
decisions with as it comes through, because I think a
lot of people, especially nurses, I've got a lot of
like locom teachers, people who are creatives, freelancers, Like you
just don't know what next month is going to look like,
Like you might end up doing keeps of overtime and
you're like fine with it, or you might be burnt
out and you're like, no, I can't take on any
more days. So you just don't know. But budget with
(13:03):
our base.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
I did my budgets with my base. Yeah, budget from
the base from the registered nurse job and then from
the office job. It's obviously just the same.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
Yeah okay, And what would you bring in on average
from the office job?
Speaker 2 (13:17):
A fortnight it's after tax, like nine eighty. It's like
two days a week.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Yeah, very nice. So how many days are you doing
in the hospital, Like, if let's just pretend it's this week,
so four and then two and then you have one
day off. Yeah yeah, okay, cool, so you're still getting
a little bit of time. It's basically like you're a
real estate agent. They only get one day a week ish.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
We'll sometimes split the shifts, so if I do like
an afternoon shift at the hospital, I will work in
the morning, log on for the day at my office shop,
and then go to the hospital after. So I still
get two days off a week, which is nice.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
Are you always tired, because I feel like I would
always be tired.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Not really like I have my days Like if it's
really busy at the hospital, then yes, But honestly, the
office shop, I just sit at my desk. One day's
from home and one day's in the office, and it's
very nice.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
See that blows my mind in the nicest way possible
that there are office jobs where you're like, yep, I
just like kind of do what I'm told when I can.
But it's like pretty lax. I can't think as a
small business owner, I would actually cry if people were
doing that in my business, Like whoa, I mean, pop off.
We won't name them, I won't name you, but you
know when you're just like wholy guacamole.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Yeah, they have a lot of full time stuff and
I'm kind of like the only one that does what
I do. But I think because it's either like higher
someone new and have to train them in everything that
I've learned, you know, in the last I think I've
been there five years or so, or just keep me.
I think easier choice was just to keep me.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
So, hey, that's cute. We're going to use that for
as long as we can. So you're about one hundred
grand a year ish as an RN, and then I
would say about twenty five five thousand dollars per year
if you're nine eighty a fortnight as a office worker.
In addition, which brings you to about I would say
one twenty five per annum. And then I'm assuming you
have little top ups here and there from overtime from
(15:13):
the hospital, and we just make decisions along the way.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
I think the one hundred grand would be including over time.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Okay, yeah, yeah, that works too, So let's just call
it one twenty five money win. And that is a
great place to be in. Tell me a little bit more,
because go like four years, eighteen grand in savings, thirty
four thousand dollars in the share market. Sorry, what are
your money goals? What are we working towards? Because you're
working hard.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, I'm working hard to retire early. That is my goal.
What does that mean? That means by my deadline's kind
of forty. Oh okay, but you know, if I could
do it earlier, that would be great. But I don't
know if I would ever completely finish. More on a
personal my brain would itself if I stayed home every
(16:01):
single day, but it be in the position at forty
to be like I could just work one day a fortnight,
or I could just do a shift here and there,
and I'd be so happy with that more just for
brain stimulation purposes. But I would love to retire by
forty and that's my goal.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
And for those following along at the moment, our money
direst is twenty seven today, so that's exciting. Tell me
not today like it's not your birthday, but like as
well for recording, she's twenty seven, Happy birthday for whenever
your birthday is. That wasn't a criteria question. Twenty eight soon,
which is good, so you've got heaps of time, but
also like, at the same time, to achieve a retirement
(16:40):
by forty, you've got to be pretty aggressive. So tell
me a little bit about what that looks like. If
you've got one twenty five k coming in, what are
our investing in savings goals each week or each fortnite,
depending on how you get paid.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
So I just work on my base salary for my budget,
and I think I am first not I think I
do a thousand a fortnite.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
A thousand of Fortnite is so good.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
I'm going for aggressive at the moment I used to
do when I was still at UNI, like the minimum.
I think I did like whatever my budget could allow,
which was like thirty dollars or something I could buy
like one share per Fortnite, And I was like, you.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
Know what, but from little things, big things grow. Now
there's like thirty four thousand dollars in there, and if
you're doing one thousand dollars per Fortnite, that's like twenty
six thousand dollars a year. Be for real, Like that's
so good. Like imagine if we could go back and
tell baby you four years ago, by the way, not
only are you going to get this budget things sortaed,
you're going to be an investor and an aggressive one
and you're going to have retirement goals. You'll be like EO,
(17:40):
David Dues, Yeah, like what why would I do that
to myself?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
I know? So I think that's the goal I save.
I have a long term savings that I do. It's
like a smaller amount because I decided to go more
aggressive with the investing and a little short term save
well for like things that just I want to buy
or come up or you know, spontaneous things.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
Absolutely, I know we still budgeting for things like I
know you've got a partner. Are we budgeting for big
life events with your partner or holidays or like what
does that look like?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah, that is an interesting question because we're not really
sure what it will look like. We're both very financially savvy,
so like having a wedding, a massive wedding, or spending
something like that or doesn't really align with us. Buying
a house just doesn't seem like something that we really
want to do anytime soon. We're really happy with renting
(18:37):
in the area that we want to live in, and
any extra cash just goes straight into investing, like any
overtime that I actually make, so I know what my
base is, and then everything's automatically transferred, every pay straight
into the investment account. It comes straight out automatically invested.
(18:57):
All of it's invested into the different accounts automatically and
then any extra I see what I need that fortnite
is my short term looking a bit. You know, Hey,
how are you going?
Speaker 4 (19:10):
Oh yeah, yeah, and it can it can look a
little bit how you're going like mine does. Sometimes.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Yeah, if I've had like a few things, like you know,
events that I've had to buy gifts for or things
that I've needed, I'll top up that account with my overtime,
and then if I'm all good at that time, I'll
just chuck it straight into investing obsessed.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
I love that. All right, let's go to a really
quick break because on the flip side, I want to
know more about this investment portfolio. I'm going to make
you break down the nitty gritty, so I hope you
are ready, and then we're going to talk about your
feelings about debt and then best and worse money habits.
So guys, don't go anywhere money direst We are back,
and I am not done talking about investing with you.
(19:55):
I've gotten real pervy recently on people's investing portfolios and
want the tea. So let's rewind back to four years ago.
You probably didn't even think you'd start investing. What was
the I guess we've been talking about gateway drugs. What
was your gateway into investing? Like, why did you go?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
That's for me, So it was probably largely related to
my partner, who has invested for a long time, very savvy,
kind of introduced me to the world of investing. He
did make me do a bit of research and look
into a few things and good man, yeah, kind of
what I wanted to do. And then that's kind of
(20:38):
how I started. Really. I trusted him and he was
open and showed his portfolio and just so I could
kind of see how it works and how growth works
and what the heck everyone's talking about and they talk
about investing or yeah, so that's kind of how I started.
I have read your investing book as well. Now I
(21:00):
don't think back then.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
No, no, you wouldn't have want to pick that one up,
do you know what. I kind of remember when it
came out, if I'm being honest.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Same, Yeah, I can't remember when when it came out,
but I don't think it was out at the time
where I had maybe started.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
Yeah, probably not. I have to google my own book.
So Investing with Cheese on the Money came out in
I Believe twenty twenty three. Yes, so you definitely wouldn't
have been out yet. No, that's crazy that I had
to google my own book. One out of ten cannot
recommend my brain at the moment, so tell me a
bit more. So you had a look and you were like, Okay, cool,
(21:34):
this seems like a really good idea. How did you
purchase your first share? Did you download an investing platform first?
Did you go direct?
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Like?
Speaker 4 (21:41):
What did that journey look like?
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yes? So I went through comm Sec comb Pocket or
one of those com sec or Comsect pocket, and I
just bought my first ETF share. We always laugh about
this because EFT is my contract at nursing and ETFs interesting,
and every time I go to say it, I'm like,
(22:03):
which one am I trying to say?
Speaker 4 (22:05):
I love that. I remember way back in the day,
I was so nervous to do a speaking presentation on investing,
and I really hadn't thought enough about this. I was
so worried about like how I was presenting myself and
all of that other stuff. And then I realized when
I looked back at a clip the amount of times
I called it an EFT that's me. No, I was
meant to be the subject matter expert, and I was
calling it an EFT. So if anyone has that recording,
(22:26):
just delete it, like we're friends, Like you're meant to
have my back, Like let's bring it up again, because
I remember being mortified and being like I have to
leave the industry, Like I'm going to cancel myself. Yeah,
I quit the facts about those EFTs. Yeah they were right,
but they were about ETFs. So anyway, that's my Like
I don't have dyslexia. I have ADHD, but I'm pretty
(22:49):
sure they kind of go hand in hand. They have
to they do.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
So every time I call it that, I laugh. But
it's ETF.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
Who cares as long as you're investing, Like you know
what you meant? You know what you meant, didn't you? Yeah, exactly.
So you brought your first ETF? And why did you
pick that ETF? Was it because other people held it?
Was it because you thought it was a little bit sexy?
Like how did we pick? So my partner invests in
that ETF?
Speaker 2 (23:17):
What is it?
Speaker 4 (23:17):
Come on? Cough up?
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Oh you want to know?
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Oh yeah, of course I want to know.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
NDQ So it's like the top tech companies in America
and yeah, I had to look at kind of what
companies they held, and there's a lot of things going
on with AI and tech in our day and age
in our society, and it just felt like a good fit.
It had really good growth.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
It still does have really good growth.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Yeah, And I was just like, you know, this just
sounds good. And that's where I started. And I do
hold a bit of VHY. It's a high dividend paying
one kind of going back and forth of when I
do have kids and not working, maybe putting a chunk
of my portfolio in there to generate a bit of
an income. So I thought I'd maybe just see how
(24:04):
I feel I put a bit of money in there,
just to test the waders before I have kids.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
You know, No, I really like it, and I think
it's one of those things where I like asking you, well,
what ETF did you pick? Not because I want other
people to replicate it, but it's usually reflective of your
values and what you're looking for and how that works.
So I was just like, NDQ, I believe, don't quote
me on this is the beta shares NASDAQ one hundred ETF,
So it's got the top one hundred American tech companies
(24:33):
in it, so like literally Alphabet, Apple, all those ones
that you can think of that would be pretty stereotypical.
And the performance on that has been very good. Was
that your first share like three or four years ago? Yeah,
three or four years ago, So you've probably seen astronomical
growth in that ETF, Like I believe if you like
zoom out, do not quote me on this, but I
know that I'm like very close to the mark. It's
(24:54):
had like one hundred percent return. So tell me what's
that share looking like in your portfolio in terms of
turn at the moment.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
It's a good, real juicy.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
It's looking pretty slick, and we're not promising that. It's
just so pervy to like get involved with what like
other people are doing, being like oh good, because you
can't replicate that. You can't go back in time and
purchase that share and get the same performance as our
money direst But like, look at her buying in line
with her values. That's so sexy because like for me
(25:22):
my first ETF, when I went into it, I wasn't
looking at a sector like you have. I was looking
at like a top five hundred because I wanted heaps
of diversification. But I want to know why people pick
these things, because these conversations drive your own narrative in
your mind of how you're then going to pick. You go, oh, interesting,
maybe I could pick a tech one. I love tech
(25:43):
like that makes me feel comfy. So anyway, thank you
for sharing that talk to me about income increases. If
you increase your income, is your plan to then just
aggressively invest more? Because at the moment, if I do
some calculations because I'm a creep, you said that you're
investing one thousand dollars per fortnite, and like, I've calculated
based on having thirty four thousand dollars today and then
(26:03):
one thousand dollars per fortnight moving forward and an average
rate of return of ten percent in twelve years. Because
you said I'm nearly twenty eight, so I was like, okay, cool,
there'll be thirty eight forty. You've got twelve years until
you quote retire. You'll have an investment portfolio worth about
seven hundred and eleven thousand dollars. What are you doing
around superannuation? Because that's good, but seven hundred and eleven
(26:25):
thousand dollars I feel like is not where you stop
when you're trying to retire.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
No, my portfolio is now nearly at fifty five thousand.
Stop it.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
So you wrote this in you said, yeap, I've got
thirty four thousand dollars and now it's fifty five thousand dollars.
I need to eat my words and do my maths again, queen.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Stop it. But Super is invested in high growth international
shares with Vanguard Super and that growth has been craikra
since I transferred it. I think it's been like a
year and it's done really good growth, which I know
it's a bit more risky because it's in the higher growth.
(27:03):
But I thought, well, you know, can't access it till
i'm sixty probably sixty eight at this rate. Yes, so
I thought, you know, in sixty eight, it's going to
ride so many waves of up and downs and we'll
see when it gets there. But I think it's got
around thirty thousand in it and that'll just keep going
up because I'm working full time now, and yeah, it's
(27:26):
a good amount that's going in. I keep an eye
on it just to make sure you know, everyone's paying
what they should be paying.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
But it's important because some people skip that and then
it gets too late.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
No, so that's not when I think about retiring. And
I don't even pencil that in because I really want
to retire a lot earlier than when they say that
you have to retire, because I don't think I'm going
to make it to sixty eight to work for the
rest of Yeah, between now and sixty.
Speaker 4 (27:52):
Eight, that is so fair. Do you and your partner
have conversations around your investing strategy and what that looks like.
Like I know that you say, oh, we don't really
have any big goals of like, you know, a wedding
or buying a house or any of that. But does
he also have the goal of retiring by the time
you're forty?
Speaker 2 (28:09):
He has the same goal as retiring early. And I
think when we think about that, we're very aligned on
our goals and what it looks like. And every time
I make a decision or I'm like, oh, you know,
when I started at the hospital and obviously my going
from like part time to like six days a week
of pay, he's my little financial advisor because I'm like,
(28:32):
you know, we're doing all the math and the budget
tools and the what does it look like if I
do X, I mean, what does it look like for
my portfolio if I go really aggressive, or if I
go middle, or if I go conservative. We did all
of the numbers and we landed on Yeah, thousand a fortnight.
There's probably still more wiggle room than I could probably do.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
But you don't want to shoot yourself in the foot.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Yeah, I want to be realistic.
Speaker 4 (28:58):
Yeah, yeah, I think that over committing means that you
would be consistently disappointed if you didn't meet the criteria,
whereas if you set something that's relatively reasonable. And you
know what, there are probably some people listening to this going, wow,
that's five hundred dollars a week that she's investing. That's
really unrelatable.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Yeah, it was unrelatable to me four years ago, but.
Speaker 4 (29:18):
Like, that's just it. And I was reading the comments,
and you know, this is she's on the money, so
I'm very honest. But I was reading the comments the
other day on one of our investing diaries, and i'd
actually had one of my team members on the show, Brooke,
who had been talking about her investing journey. And she
invests about six hundred and eighty dollars a week and
she has two full time jobs as well. She's very
(29:40):
similar to you, and that she didn't come from good
financial literacy. She didn't have a leg up, she didn't
have parents who taught her how to invest, she didn't
have any of those benefits. Yes, I think that there's
a very broad conversation about, you know, just privilege. We
live in Australia. We have access to the ability to
do these things, and that's fantastic. But I would never
want to downplay the fact that no, no, no, you guys
(30:01):
are doing this yourselves, Like you are creating this financial
freedom on your own because you have the tools and
resources and you're harnessing them. For most people who are
just starting and maybe they're listening to this money Diary,
let's remember that this money Diarres literally was in quote
four years ago, the worst financial position of her life.
Like we're not talking about people where it's like, oh yeah,
(30:22):
but she has the free cash flow. I'm sorry and
I'm not trying to downplay it at all, but like
you have two very normal jobs. You're a nurse and
you have an office job. And the reason you keep
your office job is like you love the income coming in,
you love the freedom you're creating for yourself. This isn't
like out of reach. It's unrelatable because you're not doing
it right now, but it's not unobtainable. Which I think
(30:42):
is the coolest part of it. At what point did
you realize, holy gacamole, I'm doing it myself, Like this
is actually a reality. It's not like I have four
hundred dollars in shares and like, oh, I could leave it.
Maybe at what point where you're like, hold on, hold on.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
I still log onto my APPP and I'm like, wooll
jump scar well because I'm like, there's no way that
that's mine. And I did that. So I think I'm
very grateful for how far I've come. I'm grateful really
to my partner for helping me. I'm grateful for you
guys for your book. I used to read all of
the Facebook money wins and all of the little hacks
(31:22):
the budgets. I have everything down to the dollar, you know,
Like my budget is just so every single thing that
comes out of my account is accounted for. And I
couldn't have done it without sacrifice. I had to sacrifice,
you know. I went to UNI and worked part time,
and during that time a lot of my friends bought houses,
and you know, we're working full time jobs. So you know,
(31:45):
I am a bit older as well, like you know,
at twenty eight to finish UNI, or like last year
twenty seven, and a lot of them had been working
their full time jobs for already three to four years
and are buying houses now. So you know, it took
a lot of sacrifice for me to go back to
UNI and go, yeah, to have the vision and yeah,
(32:07):
to get where I am now.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
It did stop going their bed bathroom table. Oh no,
don't do that to me. I really like bed bathroom table.
I'm my girlfriend. It's coming up to Christmas time soon,
and like their Christmas range, Oh sorry, it's a slippery slope.
So we just don't go there anymore.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
And I have really good self control. I remember you
saying I think on a podcast episode that you put
twenty four hours between you and a purchase, and I
do that sometimes where I'm like, okay, it's been three weeks.
Speaker 4 (32:36):
How good is that.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
I don't know if she meant I need to put
this much time between a purchase, but no, no, no.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
That's better, bab. But I just have a lack of
impulse control, so twenty four hours is the minimum. The
longer you can stretch it, the more you know whether
you want it or not. Three weeks queen behavior.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
Yeah. I remember I was sitting there looking at this
pair of Ugbroots and I was like, oh, I really
want some Ugbroots for winter. And I was like, I
just don't know if I can, like, you know, justify
they are kind of expensive for slippers, and I was like,
you know, I'm just gonna wait. I waited like five
weeks and then I was like, you know what, I'm
(33:11):
going to just see how I feel when I log
back onto the page. And then they were on sale. Ah.
Speaker 4 (33:16):
See, good things happened to good people.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
Baby, And I was like, see I waited and I
got the sale price. So yeah. I changed my whole
attitude on that as well, like the spending and going out,
like not that I really dined out too much, but
just yeah, my values had to shift to remember what
I want to do, and that's retire and not have
(33:38):
to work for the rest of my life. And I
remember that when I think about why I'm investing aggressively,
it's for that reason, you know. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
And it's funny because you just said you know, I'm
so grateful for my partner, and I'm so grateful for
all of these other things, but like you didn't mention
you and like, at the end of the day, you
can lead a horse to water, but you can't make
them drink. I can throw and I do. I'm so
aggressive about it. I'm like so female, financially empowered. Like
I'm just like, okay, cool, anyone can do it. Like
(34:10):
you know, you combat me and come to me and
be like, well that's unrealistic. I'm like, sit down, it's
not unobtainable. This is how we're going to do it.
Like I want you to be able to do it,
but it is uncomfortable. You have to do the work.
And you said at the start of this episode, and
like I think that this is where I'm obsessed with
this money diary. You said at the start. Look, Va,
I read your book and I did the bank account
(34:30):
order and I cried, Like it was so confronting and
so hard. I did not promise that this journey was
going to be easy, but I did promise that it
would be rewarding, and now you were reaping the rewards.
But like you got to put in the work you've
got to do it yourself. Like I can't do it
for you. I wish I could. If I could wave
a magic wand and make every female in this country
super shine. It's the right risk profile, it's perfect. I
(34:53):
could set up all your investment port voluos like in
line with your goals and your value. I would, but
I can't. You have to do the work. So I
hope you're grateful for you too, because you're the one
that did the work. Nobody else did that.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
I am yeah, Yeah, I'm glad that I did it.
And I had that kind of maybe low point where
I did feel like everything was chaotic, but now I yeah,
just you have to do it yourself, and you have
to be ready for that journey and ready for the
sacrifice because it's your money, your pay your budget. You know,
(35:26):
no one can do it for you. At the end
of the day. You have to be into it. You
have to be accountable because it's your money. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (35:33):
And it's funny because recently I've been saying a lot
of people have been like, oh, I'm not ready to invest,
I'm not ready to start, And I keep saying ready
is not a feeling, It is a decision, like you
just have to pull your finger out one day and
be like, guess I'm ready. I guess I've got to
do it today. You're not going to have the most
amount of financial literacy that you have, Like I can
(35:54):
almost guarantee that if we went back in time, Yes,
you had a lot of education with your initial sharepuot
for but there's so much stuff you'd probably change, is
that right? Yeah, I mean even just reading your investing book,
I was like, oh, that's what that is. Oh interesting,
I didn't know that.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Oh I've been doing that and I didn't know that
that's what it was. Or yeah, so there's always things
that are going to be forever changing and growing. And yeah,
I just think it's so important to start like yesterday
because I wish I could have gone back do going
to work for.
Speaker 4 (36:26):
Me, Like I'm not going to give you a cushy
office job, but you sound like you were on the
same page as me.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Yeah, I wish I could have started earlier, but grateful
that I did start when I did. And yeah, it's yeah.
I try my best to like anyone who asks me,
like in my life, my personal life or whatever, I'm like,
have you read cheese on the money. Have you?
Speaker 4 (36:47):
That's so sweet?
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Thank you? Do you invest? Do you do your Have
you got a budget? And You'll never believe how many
people tell me that they don't have a budget. And
I was like, that is wild. Do you work full time?
What do you do with your money? How does it
what happens when it hits your account?
Speaker 4 (37:03):
Does that not stress your heart? They spend it? It's crazy.
And I'm not saying it's a bad thing. It's hard. Yeah,
it's hard. But once you get on the budget train,
I think a lot of people are evasive of it
because they are so scared that a budget is going
to be restrictive and not feel good and it's going
to stop them from living their best life. But it's
actually a tool that helps you understand every single dollar
(37:25):
that comes in, every single dollar that goes out, making
sure it's in line with your values, your goals. Like
it's just making your money work hard for you, and
like you don't go to work for forty plus hours
a week so that you can be in a worse
off position.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Mary might as well just sit at home because that's
too much effort exactly. But yeah, I think the budget
is so important because it's not restrictive. It's scary, and
I think that's why a lot of people don't want
to do it. And I didn't have a budget four
years ago, which you know obviously was the problem. And
it's not restrictive because I've been on the holiday every
single year since I made that because it's important to
(38:02):
me to travel, and it hasn't been restrictive, it's been freeing.
Speaker 4 (38:07):
Yeah, tell me as well, because, like you said, I
was in the car with my partner planning this holiday
and I just realized it was financially ruining me, Like
I just couldn't do it. Tell me about the feeling
you now have when you go on holiday versus the
lead up to that holiday.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
That lead up was grim. I was very stressed and like, yeah,
I was very daunting to go. Now I'm like a
bit more savvy when we go. We you know, we
don't always have to go for the nicest thing or
the most expensive thing, not that I did before, but
you know, we're a bit more conscious, you know, because
(38:43):
we want that goal of retiring early, but we do
want to travel. So it's like, where can we meet
in the middle, and how can we do it in
the smartest way. And you know, often we don't drink alcohol,
like that first trip we did and I reckon, we
spent so much money just on drinking and we're lack
(39:05):
never again. You know, we don't do that anymore, and
it's so much nicer to have that extra money in
your account. You know, that's just something that we've decided
when we go on trips, that's one thing that we
can cut out. That makes a huge difference.
Speaker 4 (39:19):
You see. Nope, sorry, I love you, and like that
is so fantastic that that works for you.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Love an apparole, Oh my.
Speaker 4 (39:26):
God, I don't think it's a secret, queen. I love
an apparol. I love a little in the afternoon, a
little peanutolata by a pool. Oh say less.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
I definitely can relate.
Speaker 4 (39:38):
But we're just I think, but that's in my budget,
and we budget based on our values. And that's the
best part, Like mad respect that you know your budget
and I know mine. But like the best part is
once you get to this stage, we're not comparing. We're
not looking at yours and going, oh, well, she saves
more money than me on that particular thing. Like it
all comes out in the wash in the best possible ways.
(39:59):
Can I the presumptuous and assume you don't have any debt?
Speaker 2 (40:03):
No, I just have a hex debt. Yeah, no debt.
I had credit cards back in the day, which I
think was about five grand. But that felt like, oh
my god, that felt so crippling.
Speaker 4 (40:14):
And did you max out that credit card?
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Yeah? And I was like never I Once I paid
it off, I cut it up and I was like,
oh that, I'm never doing that again. So no debt,
no carloans, no after pay. I don't have an account. No,
no debt, no not after like my growing up lifestyle,
no debt for me. The HECTS is probably kind of
(40:37):
it's like around the forty grand mark hopefully with that
big index payment that we should be getting.
Speaker 4 (40:45):
Oh, we're all waiting for that, and the she's on
the money office, we're all watching out our hex debts
getting very excited.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Yeah, I'm like, oh, hopefully soon. But honestly, I'm so
comfortable with that it's going to pay itself off and
I'm not too stressed about it. I don't really make
any contributions to paying it off. I'd rather invest it
in my shares and let it grow and yeah, I
feel like that will pay itself off in good time.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
It just plods along. So now tell me, what do
you think your best money habit is. I feel like
you might have a few, like the fact that you
cut out alcohol because you were like, we looked at
how much that cost us and now we just don't
drink it. I couldn't pitch that to my husband. I'm
so sorry, just not going to work for me. But
what do you think your best money howbit is?
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Be's money habit is probably all the automatic transfers, because
that system is just so to the tea and every
dollar goes somewhere. There's no lull in my bank account,
which is nice. And the automatic investing that I've set
up on Beta Shares, it's so easy. It just comes
(41:51):
straight out of my bank, straight into the wallet and
invests automatically, and I don't have to think about a thing.
I think that would be my best money habit. The
thing that annoys me the most is that I can't
guarantee how much my overtime it's going to be every
week to automatically invest. That that peeves me off. I
have to do that manually, But that would be my best.
Speaker 4 (42:13):
But that's so good that it's automated.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
Yeah, I love it takes their emotion out of it.
You know, it doesn't leave me going, oh, should I
put this into No, it's going into investing and it's
going into long term.
Speaker 4 (42:25):
Yeah. Yeah, it's already gone. Sorry, did you mean to
make another decision? Because we already made it for you.
And I feel like, in my head, I'm like, once
it's in there, it's illegal to take it out. Like, sorry,
it's illegal. Like I've got to make a law book.
And one of the shehes on the money laws is
that you cannot take out of your investing cloud. You can,
by the way, don't feel stressed, but in my head,
(42:48):
it just feels like it's not mine anymore. And it's
a very weird concept because I obviously know that. But yeah,
I just once it's in there, I'm like, oh, I
couldn't take it out, then I'm stopping it growing never.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
I could never do that. So that would be my
hot tip. And you have to do a budget to
do that. Team just to break it to you.
Speaker 4 (43:07):
Yeah, yeah, yeah exactly. You and I are on the
same team. Do you budget and do you know what
the best part about this is it's free on my website.
Go and download it. You don't have to do anything,
and it will auto calculate at the bottom. That's very
sexy and very peachy.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
That would be my hot tip. Also, maybe, like I
every time I get like a bill and that's increasing,
Like I always like, I don't know how many times
I've canceled my insurance and resigned up, like my car insurance,
probably ten times. So every year they're like, oh, it's
going back up, and I was like, for what, I
didn't even do anything.
Speaker 4 (43:42):
Yeah, I didn't even have any bingals. What are you
talking about?
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Yeah? And they're like, oh, you know, ten percent off
for new customers. I was like, hello, I've just been
paying you for a year. How about me? So I
cancel things and resign up all the time, for anything,
phone bills, car insurance, any bill that yeah, we have.
Speaker 4 (44:02):
Any subscriptions I use as well, I threaten to cancel
even without making a phone call to cancel it. Right,
And Adobe is probably going to be mad that I'm
saying this, But I did this the other day to
my Adobe subscription. I like went on the website and
clicked cancel subscription and then it came up with a
last minute offer and it was like, oh, we hate
to see you go. Here's forty percent off the next
(44:25):
six months. And I was like, oh that's nice, thanks. Yeah, yeah, actually,
because I was going to hit cancel subscription and just
see what happened. Then I was going to resign up anyway, I.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
Fine with phone bills. If you asked to be transferred
to the cancelation team, they can always give you a
better price than even just negotiating with the people on
like the phone. You'd be like, no, I'm canceling, I'm unhappy,
and then the cancelation team have a better price that
they can offer you. So got to swindle every dollar
you know.
Speaker 4 (44:57):
Love, you are a woman from my own community. Tell me, though,
flip the narrative. What's your worst money habit? Have you
even got any at this point, I've.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
Tried really hard to think of one, and I definitely
had a few back in the day. My worst money
habit would be, God, I don't know. I would say
maybe travel, Like even if it's not.
Speaker 4 (45:22):
No, it's not, you can't because you don't even drink
when you travel. Sorry you're too savvy for this show.
But that's okay, But I have to ask a pressing
question because, like you know, at the start, I told
you we're going to loop back to this. You said, oh,
I'm a B plus. What kind of B plus person
says they don't have a bad money habit? Like a
person who says no straight out the gates. I'm an
A plus. And then if they said I don't have
any bad money habits, I'd be like, you know what,
(45:44):
I believe you, but sorry, what's the B plus for? Then?
Why not a plus if no bad money habits?
Speaker 2 (45:49):
I don't know. I do want to, like hi ball
myself and then we have this comra and I was like, oh, actually.
Speaker 4 (45:54):
Oh no, sorry. In this house, we back ourselves.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
I think there's always room to grow, which is why
I did be plus because I want to strive to
be the best. But sometimes, you know, things happen. We
can't guarantee every single thing's a sure thing for the
rest of our lives till I retire. But I love it. Yeah,
I'm probably an ade.
Speaker 4 (46:16):
Yeah, I know, I know, like I just heard your
money story, baby cakes, I know, but I do want
to ask, though, if you've not got a bad money habit?
You have to tell me what was the last thing
you impulse purchased.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
I feel like it was just yesterday because I've been
on annual leave and I'm looking for things to do
around the house, and I bought a new monitor from
Marketplace for my desk like at home. So now I
have two screens for my home office. I didn't really
need it. I had one and my laptop, but I
(46:47):
was like, oh, you know, if I'm going to work
from home for a while, I could get another one.
That's good.
Speaker 4 (46:53):
I love it. See guys, even her like Impulse purchases
are on bloody Marketplace. She is savvy, she's an a
W she's an A plus. I love it, money Dirist,
this has been a pleasure. I am just so glad
that you not only wanted to share your story, we
had a really great chat. I feel like this is
going to be a very fun episode to listen to.
But then also, you just you're so part of the community,
(47:16):
the book, the podcast, like you're investing your saving like
you're an icon. I love it. And for anyone listening
who's like that's unrelatable, No, Queen, it's not unrelatable. It's
just not currently being done, like you're just not doing it.
You can absolutely create this yourself. And I just think
that's the coolest part of this money story. You did
this yourself. I love it.
Speaker 2 (47:35):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (47:37):
I would read the book, you know, the little people's
stories when I was first reading the book, and I
was like, oh, that could just never be me because
that seems so unachievable.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
But well, here I am.
Speaker 4 (47:49):
I guess it's small steps in the right direction. And
I think that all the time we get so overwhelmed
and like, social media does not help, because social media
definitely shoves down now through narratives of people who are
genuinely unrelatable. Like, don't get me wrong, not all of
us are going to become multimillion dollar tech founders and
you see their stories like, yeah, I get why that's unrelatable,
(48:11):
but sorry, we have a twenty seven year old from
Melbourne who didn't come from wealth, who is creating it herself.
That is iconic.
Speaker 2 (48:18):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 4 (48:20):
I love it all right. I wish we had more
time together, but alas we do not. Thank you so much.
I just can't wait for their community to get their
little hands on this episode because they're going to love it.
As much as I did.
Speaker 2 (48:30):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 6 (48:38):
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the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not
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(00:24):
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Speaker 2 (00:44):
She's on the Money.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
She's on the Money.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
that lets you be pervy about other people's money habits
for educational purposes, of course. Welcome back to another one
of our money Darius 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 an email and it sounded exactly
like this, Dear She's on the Money, You guys completely
(01:31):
changed my life three exclamation points. Four years ago, I
was in the worst financial position I had ever been in.
My partner was super financially savvy, and I just felt
like a failure. I took it upon myself to change
my money story and get my shit together, which is
how I came across the She's on the Money podcast
and book. It was pretty overwhelming and confronting reading the
(01:53):
book and felt scary starting from scratch. However, four years later,
I am a completely different queen. I have eighteen thousand
dollars in long term savings, thirty four thousand dollars invested
in stocks, and it also started a side hustle to
earn some extra cash. Money diarist welcome to the show,
and I would say like, welcome to the community. But girl,
(02:15):
you've been here for four years.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yes I have. And that I was like, oh, that
was my email.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
You did a good job, queen.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yes, well it has changed since that email, like I
think it's grown more as well. Like listening to that,
I was like, oh cool, it's come a long.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Way, she sounds like a cool chick. But also we've
done even more than that. Let's dive into it before
we get there. I have to ask if I asked
you to give yourself a money grade from A through
to air, what grade do you think you would give
yourself today?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
I'd say probably a B plus because you know you
can always get better. Yeah, you can.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
But I've got a lot to learn from you in
this episode, so we'll see how that stacks up by
the end of it. Can we go back? I want
to know a little bit more about your money story.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yeah, yes, yes, long journey. I don't think I had
great role models growing up, so lots of debt and
gambling issues with my parents, and I guess I don't
ever remember having a conversation about money. I don't ever
remember having a conversation about savings. I don't remember having
(03:21):
a conversation about what you should do when you get
a job, or how to open a bank account, or yeah,
any of the things that I guess I realized that
I didn't know as I got older. So I think
I from the start, I never really had a great foundation,
And yeah, that's I guess how I ended up being
(03:44):
like four years ago. Yeah, having a hard look at
my accounts and being like, I think I probably need
to change some things.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
Yeah, so fair, so talk to me. You said it
in your email and you're like, oh, my partner was
super financially savvy. And I just felt like it's failure
and the like there's no definition of failure. Like I'm
a very big believer in like, you haven't failed, you're
just starting here. But what contributed to that feeling?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
I just think I was always stressed about money and
like not like necessarily paycheck to paycheck, but like almost
paycheck to paycheck, and like try and organize going on
our first international holiday and doing all of the things,
and like I was still at UNI, working like a
part time job and he was obviously working like full
(04:30):
time and you know, just very different positions, and I
guess I just felt, yeah, I was like, oh, I
don't think I can do all of the things that
he can do, and I wanted to be like equal,
you know, and contribute equally. So I guess that's why.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Yeah, yeah, that makes absolute sense. But like it's so
interesting asking that question of people, because to one person,
failure is oh well, actually I went through Drive through
this week three times, and then to other people, it's
like this feeling of like I'm behind and I'm you know,
not living paycheck to paycheck, but kind of nearly close
(05:09):
to other people, they're like, for me, I was in
forty thousand dollars worth of personal debt, and I was like,
you need to have a good, cold, hard look at
yourself Victoria divine. So it's just so interesting being like, well,
what does that mean, how does that work? Like what
does that feel like? Because it's just so different for everybody.
What was that like kick up the bumb moment where
you were like, I have to kind of get my
stuff together because I feel like we have lots of things.
(05:30):
Money is hard and like you know, if you're you know,
planning overseas holidays, you're like, oh, yeah, I'll get it
together when I get back, But like, why change?
Speaker 2 (05:37):
I think? I remember we were sitting in the car
in my garage and I had we hadn't really spoken
about finances at all, and I just said, I think
like this holiday that we're you know, booking and is
like killing me financially. And I really wanted to do it,
(05:58):
but I obviously didn't probably think about it before saying yes,
and I think I didn't want to feel like that
ever again, Like I remember crying and feeling like, oh girl,
like you're gotta get your shit together, because you know,
I want to be able to do more than just
(06:19):
scrape through, you know. So I remember that feeling and
that conversation, and we both still remember it and we
look back, like obviously that was probably nearly five years ago,
and we look back and we're like, wow, it's so
different now, and it's.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
Nice totally tell me a little bit more about like
that change, because I think a lot of people get
to that point and that's so relatable, like I need
to get it together. Where did you turn first? Because
I get that point. You probably hadn't heard of She's
on the Money, and we probably come a little bit later.
I feel like the gateway, like the gateway drug of
the finance communities Barefoot Investor. We all turned to him
(06:53):
and thanks Scottie Pape ten out of ten. But like,
what was your first experience of like trying to learn
a little bit more about financial literacy.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah, that's so funny because my friend had read The
Barefoot Investor, and I remember going over and we had
a few wines and they were telling us about how
good this book was, and they were like, you've got
to open all these accounts, and you know, we had
had had a few wines. And then next thing I
remember in the mail, I had the I G bankus
(07:22):
coffy and I was like, I haven't even read the book.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
That's fine, Like, I'm very excited that you fell into
the culture.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Oh I didn't even know. I did nothing with the accounts.
I just closed them after because I hadn't read the book.
So I was like, well, this is silly. No. I actually,
from that conversation in the car, I remember writing like
a long list of things in my life that I
wanted to change, and a lot of those things, you know,
stem from financial security. And you know, my partner had
(07:54):
read a lot of books, and I was like, I
just feel like I need to do it on my own,
Like I need to find my path it's going to
work for me.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Because yeah, your path isn't going to work for me.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, And I googled on Google at work female budgeting
tools or like female budget finance books that's literally and
you were.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
Hey, And then I came up thank you my SEO
must be working.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
And I was like, oh, okay, cool. I had a look.
I read the spiel and I was like yeah, okay,
and I started reading and then I basically just did
every single thing that you said to do in the book, yes,
from start to finish. I think I hyper fixated for
a bit.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
Good because like I structured that book in such a
way that I was like, all right, so you've never
picked up a book before, this can't be overwhelming. At
the start. I have to make friends with the reader
or right, I have to make friends with you, money dires, like,
have to gain your trust, and then I have to
be like okay, cool. And I think in the book
I still and like I wrote it so long ago,
but I like literally recommend that you need a glass
of wine for the next bit. I'm like bab strapping
(08:59):
because we're going to an audit that like I give
you the worksheet to do it. I'm not like, oh,
just go and have a look at this. I'm like, no, no, no,
you're going to fill this in and I just I
hope it and it sounds like I did. I took
you on a journey of like discovering one thing and
another thing and then like, okay, cool, that's the next step.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
And it was a definite snowball. The bank statement one
I remember like printing it at work because free printing.
I highlighted everything and I was like, oh my god,
it's really confronting, isn't it. Oh wait, I cried so hard.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, but I promise I'm
here for you. Like sometimes we have to cry because
we're just feeling overwhelmed. But at the end of the day,
it's not good or bad. It's just like, hey, did
you realize this is where your money's going? And you're
probably like no, v I didn't have a clue.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I did not. And after that, I was like, okay, so.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
Do you remember what the most confronting thing was like
seeing on your bank statement?
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Not really, because I think it was probably just like
the unnecessary spending, the shopping, like the things that I
just really didn't need, and I was like, well, that's
where my money is like sitting there and like clothes
and bedding. I have a bedding obsession.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Oh you and Jessica Icci in our team love some
good bedding, Yeah, love some linen. And I was like
I don't know if I need that much bedding. Yeah,
it's really confronting when you look through your house and go, wow,
this all used to be money.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, there's my gas bill in the cli
in the cupboard.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Yeah exactly, isn't it crazy? Well, I kind of love that.
But you have ended up in the right place, which
is a really good thing. I want to know more
about you personally though, to tell me what do you
do for work now and how much money do you earn?
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yes, I currently have true jobs, because you know why not.
In all my spare time, I work as a registered
nurse in a hospital. And I also have like a
office job that I had prior to graduating that just hey, really,
well not one hundred percent sure what I do there?
Speaker 4 (11:04):
We use bop along.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah, it's a great office job that lets you do you.
I love that because we can only work when you
first start as an urse, you can only work a
certain amount of hours. And I've obviously studied for like
three years, and I was like, well, I kind of
want to work full time. Like, I just budgeted my
ass off during this three years.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
I did not do this bank account audit to only
have this income.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yeah, and I was like, I kind of want to
be on a full time wage like as I and
I get the reasoning, like the burnout and stuff like that,
but I wasn't happy when I did my budget pre
starting with kind of what I thought it was going
to look like, and so I was going to quit
and then I decided not to and I work an
(11:50):
extra two days there.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
Oh, very cool. So if we break it down how
many days and how much pay for each job, it's really.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Hard to like with the tax and the over time
with the nursing, it's so hard to work out. I
think I think it's about one hundred grand a year,
give or take pre tax. It's probably a bit more
with the overtime. I didn't I didn't account for that
in my budget because it's so flexible and it really
(12:20):
makes me uncomfortable, like not knowing her.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
And you don't want to bank on that either. Yeah,
And I know that you read my book, so you
know that a lot of what I do is work
on your base income, work on what is contracted, like
what's in your in your contract. I think we should
be as a base and then anything above and beyond,
Like I won't say it's cream on top and you
can do what you want with it, because that's not
the point. But like anything on top, we will make
(12:43):
decisions with as it comes through, because I think a
lot of people, especially nurses, I've got a lot of
like locom teachers, people who are creatives, freelancers, Like you
just don't know what next month is going to look like,
Like you might end up doing keeps of overtime and
you're like fine with it, or you might be burnt
out and you're like, no, I can't take on any
more days. So you just don't know. But budget with
(13:03):
our base.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
I did my budgets with my base. Yeah, budget from
the base from the registered nurse job and then from
the office job. It's obviously just the same.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
Yeah okay, And what would you bring in on average
from the office job?
Speaker 2 (13:17):
A fortnight it's after tax, like nine eighty. It's like
two days a week.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Yeah, very nice. So how many days are you doing
in the hospital, Like, if let's just pretend it's this week,
so four and then two and then you have one
day off. Yeah yeah, okay, cool, so you're still getting
a little bit of time. It's basically like you're a
real estate agent. They only get one day a week ish.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
We'll sometimes split the shifts, so if I do like
an afternoon shift at the hospital, I will work in
the morning, log on for the day at my office shop,
and then go to the hospital after. So I still
get two days off a week, which is nice.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
Are you always tired, because I feel like I would
always be tired.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Not really like I have my days Like if it's
really busy at the hospital, then yes, But honestly, the
office shop, I just sit at my desk. One day's
from home and one day's in the office, and it's
very nice.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
See that blows my mind in the nicest way possible
that there are office jobs where you're like, yep, I
just like kind of do what I'm told when I can.
But it's like pretty lax. I can't think as a
small business owner, I would actually cry if people were
doing that in my business, Like whoa, I mean, pop off.
We won't name them, I won't name you, but you
know when you're just like wholy guacamole.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Yeah, they have a lot of full time stuff and
I'm kind of like the only one that does what
I do. But I think because it's either like higher
someone new and have to train them in everything that
I've learned, you know, in the last I think I've
been there five years or so, or just keep me.
I think easier choice was just to keep me.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
So, hey, that's cute. We're going to use that for
as long as we can. So you're about one hundred
grand a year ish as an RN, and then I
would say about twenty five five thousand dollars per year
if you're nine eighty a fortnight as a office worker.
In addition, which brings you to about I would say
one twenty five per annum. And then I'm assuming you
have little top ups here and there from overtime from
(15:13):
the hospital, and we just make decisions along the way.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
I think the one hundred grand would be including over time.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Okay, yeah, yeah, that works too, So let's just call
it one twenty five money win. And that is a
great place to be in. Tell me a little bit more,
because go like four years, eighteen grand in savings, thirty
four thousand dollars in the share market. Sorry, what are
your money goals? What are we working towards? Because you're
working hard.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, I'm working hard to retire early. That is my goal.
What does that mean? That means by my deadline's kind
of forty. Oh okay, but you know, if I could
do it earlier, that would be great. But I don't
know if I would ever completely finish. More on a
personal my brain would itself if I stayed home every
(16:01):
single day, but it be in the position at forty
to be like I could just work one day a fortnight,
or I could just do a shift here and there,
and I'd be so happy with that more just for
brain stimulation purposes. But I would love to retire by
forty and that's my goal.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
And for those following along at the moment, our money
direst is twenty seven today, so that's exciting. Tell me
not today like it's not your birthday, but like as
well for recording, she's twenty seven, Happy birthday for whenever
your birthday is. That wasn't a criteria question. Twenty eight soon,
which is good, so you've got heaps of time, but
also like, at the same time, to achieve a retirement
(16:40):
by forty, you've got to be pretty aggressive. So tell
me a little bit about what that looks like. If
you've got one twenty five k coming in, what are
our investing in savings goals each week or each fortnite,
depending on how you get paid.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
So I just work on my base salary for my budget,
and I think I am first not I think I
do a thousand a fortnite.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
A thousand of Fortnite is so good.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
I'm going for aggressive at the moment I used to
do when I was still at UNI, like the minimum.
I think I did like whatever my budget could allow,
which was like thirty dollars or something I could buy
like one share per Fortnite, And I was like, you.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
Know what, but from little things, big things grow. Now
there's like thirty four thousand dollars in there, and if
you're doing one thousand dollars per Fortnite, that's like twenty
six thousand dollars a year. Be for real, Like that's
so good. Like imagine if we could go back and
tell baby you four years ago, by the way, not
only are you going to get this budget things sortaed,
you're going to be an investor and an aggressive one
and you're going to have retirement goals. You'll be like EO,
(17:40):
David Dues, Yeah, like what why would I do that
to myself?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
I know? So I think that's the goal I save.
I have a long term savings that I do. It's
like a smaller amount because I decided to go more
aggressive with the investing and a little short term save
well for like things that just I want to buy
or come up or you know, spontaneous things.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
Absolutely, I know we still budgeting for things like I
know you've got a partner. Are we budgeting for big
life events with your partner or holidays or like what
does that look like?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah, that is an interesting question because we're not really
sure what it will look like. We're both very financially savvy,
so like having a wedding, a massive wedding, or spending
something like that or doesn't really align with us. Buying
a house just doesn't seem like something that we really
want to do anytime soon. We're really happy with renting
(18:37):
in the area that we want to live in, and
any extra cash just goes straight into investing, like any
overtime that I actually make, so I know what my
base is, and then everything's automatically transferred, every pay straight
into the investment account. It comes straight out automatically invested.
(18:57):
All of it's invested into the different accounts automatically and
then any extra I see what I need that fortnite
is my short term looking a bit. You know, Hey,
how are you going?
Speaker 4 (19:10):
Oh yeah, yeah, and it can it can look a
little bit how you're going like mine does. Sometimes.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Yeah, if I've had like a few things, like you know,
events that I've had to buy gifts for or things
that I've needed, I'll top up that account with my overtime,
and then if I'm all good at that time, I'll
just chuck it straight into investing obsessed.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
I love that. All right, let's go to a really
quick break because on the flip side, I want to
know more about this investment portfolio. I'm going to make
you break down the nitty gritty, so I hope you
are ready, and then we're going to talk about your
feelings about debt and then best and worse money habits.
So guys, don't go anywhere money direst We are back,
and I am not done talking about investing with you.
(19:55):
I've gotten real pervy recently on people's investing portfolios and
want the tea. So let's rewind back to four years ago.
You probably didn't even think you'd start investing. What was
the I guess we've been talking about gateway drugs. What
was your gateway into investing? Like, why did you go?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
That's for me, So it was probably largely related to
my partner, who has invested for a long time, very savvy,
kind of introduced me to the world of investing. He
did make me do a bit of research and look
into a few things and good man, yeah, kind of
what I wanted to do. And then that's kind of
(20:38):
how I started. Really. I trusted him and he was
open and showed his portfolio and just so I could
kind of see how it works and how growth works
and what the heck everyone's talking about and they talk
about investing or yeah, so that's kind of how I started.
I have read your investing book as well. Now I
(21:00):
don't think back then.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
No, no, you wouldn't have want to pick that one up,
do you know what. I kind of remember when it
came out, if I'm being honest.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Same, Yeah, I can't remember when when it came out,
but I don't think it was out at the time
where I had maybe started.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
Yeah, probably not. I have to google my own book.
So Investing with Cheese on the Money came out in
I Believe twenty twenty three. Yes, so you definitely wouldn't
have been out yet. No, that's crazy that I had
to google my own book. One out of ten cannot
recommend my brain at the moment, so tell me a
bit more. So you had a look and you were like, Okay, cool,
(21:34):
this seems like a really good idea. How did you
purchase your first share? Did you download an investing platform first?
Did you go direct?
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Like?
Speaker 4 (21:41):
What did that journey look like?
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yes? So I went through comm Sec comb Pocket or
one of those com sec or Comsect pocket, and I
just bought my first ETF share. We always laugh about
this because EFT is my contract at nursing and ETFs interesting,
and every time I go to say it, I'm like,
(22:03):
which one am I trying to say?
Speaker 4 (22:05):
I love that. I remember way back in the day,
I was so nervous to do a speaking presentation on investing,
and I really hadn't thought enough about this. I was
so worried about like how I was presenting myself and
all of that other stuff. And then I realized when
I looked back at a clip the amount of times
I called it an EFT that's me. No, I was
meant to be the subject matter expert, and I was
calling it an EFT. So if anyone has that recording,
(22:26):
just delete it, like we're friends, Like you're meant to
have my back, Like let's bring it up again, because
I remember being mortified and being like I have to
leave the industry, Like I'm going to cancel myself. Yeah,
I quit the facts about those EFTs. Yeah they were right,
but they were about ETFs. So anyway, that's my Like
I don't have dyslexia. I have ADHD, but I'm pretty
(22:49):
sure they kind of go hand in hand. They have
to they do.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
So every time I call it that, I laugh. But
it's ETF.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
Who cares as long as you're investing, Like you know
what you meant? You know what you meant, didn't you? Yeah, exactly.
So you brought your first ETF? And why did you
pick that ETF? Was it because other people held it?
Was it because you thought it was a little bit sexy?
Like how did we pick? So my partner invests in
that ETF?
Speaker 2 (23:17):
What is it?
Speaker 4 (23:17):
Come on? Cough up?
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Oh you want to know?
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Oh yeah, of course I want to know.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
NDQ So it's like the top tech companies in America
and yeah, I had to look at kind of what
companies they held, and there's a lot of things going
on with AI and tech in our day and age
in our society, and it just felt like a good fit.
It had really good growth.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
It still does have really good growth.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Yeah, And I was just like, you know, this just
sounds good. And that's where I started. And I do
hold a bit of VHY. It's a high dividend paying
one kind of going back and forth of when I
do have kids and not working, maybe putting a chunk
of my portfolio in there to generate a bit of
an income. So I thought I'd maybe just see how
(24:04):
I feel I put a bit of money in there,
just to test the waders before I have kids.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
You know, No, I really like it, and I think
it's one of those things where I like asking you, well,
what ETF did you pick? Not because I want other
people to replicate it, but it's usually reflective of your
values and what you're looking for and how that works.
So I was just like, NDQ, I believe, don't quote
me on this is the beta shares NASDAQ one hundred ETF,
So it's got the top one hundred American tech companies
(24:33):
in it, so like literally Alphabet, Apple, all those ones
that you can think of that would be pretty stereotypical.
And the performance on that has been very good. Was
that your first share like three or four years ago? Yeah,
three or four years ago, So you've probably seen astronomical
growth in that ETF, Like I believe if you like
zoom out, do not quote me on this, but I
know that I'm like very close to the mark. It's
(24:54):
had like one hundred percent return. So tell me what's
that share looking like in your portfolio in terms of
turn at the moment.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
It's a good, real juicy.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
It's looking pretty slick, and we're not promising that. It's
just so pervy to like get involved with what like
other people are doing, being like oh good, because you
can't replicate that. You can't go back in time and
purchase that share and get the same performance as our
money direst But like, look at her buying in line
with her values. That's so sexy because like for me
(25:22):
my first ETF, when I went into it, I wasn't
looking at a sector like you have. I was looking
at like a top five hundred because I wanted heaps
of diversification. But I want to know why people pick
these things, because these conversations drive your own narrative in
your mind of how you're then going to pick. You go, oh, interesting,
maybe I could pick a tech one. I love tech
(25:43):
like that makes me feel comfy. So anyway, thank you
for sharing that talk to me about income increases. If
you increase your income, is your plan to then just
aggressively invest more? Because at the moment, if I do
some calculations because I'm a creep, you said that you're
investing one thousand dollars per fortnite, and like, I've calculated
based on having thirty four thousand dollars today and then
(26:03):
one thousand dollars per fortnight moving forward and an average
rate of return of ten percent in twelve years. Because
you said I'm nearly twenty eight, so I was like, okay, cool,
there'll be thirty eight forty. You've got twelve years until
you quote retire. You'll have an investment portfolio worth about
seven hundred and eleven thousand dollars. What are you doing
around superannuation? Because that's good, but seven hundred and eleven
(26:25):
thousand dollars I feel like is not where you stop
when you're trying to retire.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
No, my portfolio is now nearly at fifty five thousand.
Stop it.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
So you wrote this in you said, yeap, I've got
thirty four thousand dollars and now it's fifty five thousand dollars.
I need to eat my words and do my maths again, queen.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Stop it. But Super is invested in high growth international
shares with Vanguard Super and that growth has been craikra
since I transferred it. I think it's been like a
year and it's done really good growth, which I know
it's a bit more risky because it's in the higher growth.
(27:03):
But I thought, well, you know, can't access it till
i'm sixty probably sixty eight at this rate. Yes, so
I thought, you know, in sixty eight, it's going to
ride so many waves of up and downs and we'll
see when it gets there. But I think it's got
around thirty thousand in it and that'll just keep going
up because I'm working full time now, and yeah, it's
(27:26):
a good amount that's going in. I keep an eye
on it just to make sure you know, everyone's paying
what they should be paying.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
But it's important because some people skip that and then
it gets too late.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
No, so that's not when I think about retiring. And
I don't even pencil that in because I really want
to retire a lot earlier than when they say that
you have to retire, because I don't think I'm going
to make it to sixty eight to work for the
rest of Yeah, between now and sixty.
Speaker 4 (27:52):
Eight, that is so fair. Do you and your partner
have conversations around your investing strategy and what that looks like.
Like I know that you say, oh, we don't really
have any big goals of like, you know, a wedding
or buying a house or any of that. But does
he also have the goal of retiring by the time
you're forty?
Speaker 2 (28:09):
He has the same goal as retiring early. And I
think when we think about that, we're very aligned on
our goals and what it looks like. And every time
I make a decision or I'm like, oh, you know,
when I started at the hospital and obviously my going
from like part time to like six days a week
of pay, he's my little financial advisor because I'm like,
(28:32):
you know, we're doing all the math and the budget
tools and the what does it look like if I
do X, I mean, what does it look like for
my portfolio if I go really aggressive, or if I
go middle, or if I go conservative. We did all
of the numbers and we landed on Yeah, thousand a fortnight.
There's probably still more wiggle room than I could probably do.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
But you don't want to shoot yourself in the foot.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Yeah, I want to be realistic.
Speaker 4 (28:58):
Yeah, yeah, I think that over committing means that you
would be consistently disappointed if you didn't meet the criteria,
whereas if you set something that's relatively reasonable. And you
know what, there are probably some people listening to this going, wow,
that's five hundred dollars a week that she's investing. That's
really unrelatable.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Yeah, it was unrelatable to me four years ago, but.
Speaker 4 (29:18):
Like, that's just it. And I was reading the comments,
and you know, this is she's on the money, so
I'm very honest. But I was reading the comments the
other day on one of our investing diaries, and i'd
actually had one of my team members on the show, Brooke,
who had been talking about her investing journey. And she
invests about six hundred and eighty dollars a week and
she has two full time jobs as well. She's very
(29:40):
similar to you, and that she didn't come from good
financial literacy. She didn't have a leg up, she didn't
have parents who taught her how to invest, she didn't
have any of those benefits. Yes, I think that there's
a very broad conversation about, you know, just privilege. We
live in Australia. We have access to the ability to
do these things, and that's fantastic. But I would never
want to downplay the fact that no, no, no, you guys
(30:01):
are doing this yourselves, Like you are creating this financial
freedom on your own because you have the tools and
resources and you're harnessing them. For most people who are
just starting and maybe they're listening to this money Diary,
let's remember that this money Diarres literally was in quote
four years ago, the worst financial position of her life.
Like we're not talking about people where it's like, oh yeah,
(30:22):
but she has the free cash flow. I'm sorry and
I'm not trying to downplay it at all, but like
you have two very normal jobs. You're a nurse and
you have an office job. And the reason you keep
your office job is like you love the income coming in,
you love the freedom you're creating for yourself. This isn't
like out of reach. It's unrelatable because you're not doing
it right now, but it's not unobtainable. Which I think
(30:42):
is the coolest part of it. At what point did
you realize, holy gacamole, I'm doing it myself, Like this
is actually a reality. It's not like I have four
hundred dollars in shares and like, oh, I could leave it.
Maybe at what point where you're like, hold on, hold on.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
I still log onto my APPP and I'm like, wooll
jump scar well because I'm like, there's no way that
that's mine. And I did that. So I think I'm
very grateful for how far I've come. I'm grateful really
to my partner for helping me. I'm grateful for you
guys for your book. I used to read all of
the Facebook money wins and all of the little hacks
(31:22):
the budgets. I have everything down to the dollar, you know,
Like my budget is just so every single thing that
comes out of my account is accounted for. And I
couldn't have done it without sacrifice. I had to sacrifice,
you know. I went to UNI and worked part time,
and during that time a lot of my friends bought houses,
and you know, we're working full time jobs. So you know,
(31:45):
I am a bit older as well, like you know,
at twenty eight to finish UNI, or like last year
twenty seven, and a lot of them had been working
their full time jobs for already three to four years
and are buying houses now. So you know, it took
a lot of sacrifice for me to go back to
UNI and go, yeah, to have the vision and yeah,
(32:07):
to get where I am now.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
It did stop going their bed bathroom table. Oh no,
don't do that to me. I really like bed bathroom table.
I'm my girlfriend. It's coming up to Christmas time soon,
and like their Christmas range, Oh sorry, it's a slippery slope.
So we just don't go there anymore.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
And I have really good self control. I remember you
saying I think on a podcast episode that you put
twenty four hours between you and a purchase, and I
do that sometimes where I'm like, okay, it's been three weeks.
Speaker 4 (32:36):
How good is that.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
I don't know if she meant I need to put
this much time between a purchase, but no, no, no.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
That's better, bab. But I just have a lack of
impulse control, so twenty four hours is the minimum. The
longer you can stretch it, the more you know whether
you want it or not. Three weeks queen behavior.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
Yeah. I remember I was sitting there looking at this
pair of Ugbroots and I was like, oh, I really
want some Ugbroots for winter. And I was like, I
just don't know if I can, like, you know, justify
they are kind of expensive for slippers, and I was like,
you know, I'm just gonna wait. I waited like five
weeks and then I was like, you know what, I'm
(33:11):
going to just see how I feel when I log
back onto the page. And then they were on sale. Ah.
Speaker 4 (33:16):
See, good things happened to good people.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
Baby, And I was like, see I waited and I
got the sale price. So yeah. I changed my whole
attitude on that as well, like the spending and going out,
like not that I really dined out too much, but
just yeah, my values had to shift to remember what
I want to do, and that's retire and not have
(33:38):
to work for the rest of my life. And I
remember that when I think about why I'm investing aggressively,
it's for that reason, you know. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
And it's funny because you just said you know, I'm
so grateful for my partner, and I'm so grateful for
all of these other things, but like you didn't mention
you and like, at the end of the day, you
can lead a horse to water, but you can't make
them drink. I can throw and I do. I'm so
aggressive about it. I'm like so female, financially empowered. Like
I'm just like, okay, cool, anyone can do it. Like
(34:10):
you know, you combat me and come to me and
be like, well that's unrealistic. I'm like, sit down, it's
not unobtainable. This is how we're going to do it.
Like I want you to be able to do it,
but it is uncomfortable. You have to do the work.
And you said at the start of this episode, and
like I think that this is where I'm obsessed with
this money diary. You said at the start. Look, Va,
I read your book and I did the bank account
(34:30):
order and I cried, Like it was so confronting and
so hard. I did not promise that this journey was
going to be easy, but I did promise that it
would be rewarding, and now you were reaping the rewards.
But like you got to put in the work you've
got to do it yourself. Like I can't do it
for you. I wish I could. If I could wave
a magic wand and make every female in this country
super shine. It's the right risk profile, it's perfect. I
(34:53):
could set up all your investment port voluos like in
line with your goals and your value. I would, but
I can't. You have to do the work. So I
hope you're grateful for you too, because you're the one
that did the work. Nobody else did that.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
I am yeah, Yeah, I'm glad that I did it.
And I had that kind of maybe low point where
I did feel like everything was chaotic, but now I yeah,
just you have to do it yourself, and you have
to be ready for that journey and ready for the
sacrifice because it's your money, your pay your budget. You know,
(35:26):
no one can do it for you. At the end
of the day. You have to be into it. You
have to be accountable because it's your money. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (35:33):
And it's funny because recently I've been saying a lot
of people have been like, oh, I'm not ready to invest,
I'm not ready to start, And I keep saying ready
is not a feeling, It is a decision, like you
just have to pull your finger out one day and
be like, guess I'm ready. I guess I've got to
do it today. You're not going to have the most
amount of financial literacy that you have, Like I can
(35:54):
almost guarantee that if we went back in time, Yes,
you had a lot of education with your initial sharepuot
for but there's so much stuff you'd probably change, is
that right? Yeah, I mean even just reading your investing book,
I was like, oh, that's what that is. Oh interesting,
I didn't know that.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Oh I've been doing that and I didn't know that
that's what it was. Or yeah, so there's always things
that are going to be forever changing and growing. And yeah,
I just think it's so important to start like yesterday
because I wish I could have gone back do going
to work for.
Speaker 4 (36:26):
Me, Like I'm not going to give you a cushy
office job, but you sound like you were on the
same page as me.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Yeah, I wish I could have started earlier, but grateful
that I did start when I did. And yeah, it's yeah.
I try my best to like anyone who asks me,
like in my life, my personal life or whatever, I'm like,
have you read cheese on the money. Have you?
Speaker 4 (36:47):
That's so sweet?
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Thank you? Do you invest? Do you do your Have
you got a budget? And You'll never believe how many
people tell me that they don't have a budget. And
I was like, that is wild. Do you work full time?
What do you do with your money? How does it
what happens when it hits your account?
Speaker 4 (37:03):
Does that not stress your heart? They spend it? It's crazy.
And I'm not saying it's a bad thing. It's hard. Yeah,
it's hard. But once you get on the budget train,
I think a lot of people are evasive of it
because they are so scared that a budget is going
to be restrictive and not feel good and it's going
to stop them from living their best life. But it's
actually a tool that helps you understand every single dollar
(37:25):
that comes in, every single dollar that goes out, making
sure it's in line with your values, your goals. Like
it's just making your money work hard for you, and
like you don't go to work for forty plus hours
a week so that you can be in a worse
off position.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Mary might as well just sit at home because that's
too much effort exactly. But yeah, I think the budget
is so important because it's not restrictive. It's scary, and
I think that's why a lot of people don't want
to do it. And I didn't have a budget four
years ago, which you know obviously was the problem. And
it's not restrictive because I've been on the holiday every
single year since I made that because it's important to
(38:02):
me to travel, and it hasn't been restrictive, it's been freeing.
Speaker 4 (38:07):
Yeah, tell me as well, because, like you said, I
was in the car with my partner planning this holiday
and I just realized it was financially ruining me, Like
I just couldn't do it. Tell me about the feeling
you now have when you go on holiday versus the
lead up to that holiday.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
That lead up was grim. I was very stressed and like, yeah,
I was very daunting to go. Now I'm like a
bit more savvy when we go. We you know, we
don't always have to go for the nicest thing or
the most expensive thing, not that I did before, but
you know, we're a bit more conscious, you know, because
(38:43):
we want that goal of retiring early, but we do
want to travel. So it's like, where can we meet
in the middle, and how can we do it in
the smartest way. And you know, often we don't drink alcohol,
like that first trip we did and I reckon, we
spent so much money just on drinking and we're lack
(39:05):
never again. You know, we don't do that anymore, and
it's so much nicer to have that extra money in
your account. You know, that's just something that we've decided
when we go on trips, that's one thing that we
can cut out. That makes a huge difference.
Speaker 4 (39:19):
You see. Nope, sorry, I love you, and like that
is so fantastic that that works for you.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Love an apparole, Oh my.
Speaker 4 (39:26):
God, I don't think it's a secret, queen. I love
an apparol. I love a little in the afternoon, a
little peanutolata by a pool. Oh say less.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
I definitely can relate.
Speaker 4 (39:38):
But we're just I think, but that's in my budget,
and we budget based on our values. And that's the
best part, Like mad respect that you know your budget
and I know mine. But like the best part is
once you get to this stage, we're not comparing. We're
not looking at yours and going, oh, well, she saves
more money than me on that particular thing. Like it
all comes out in the wash in the best possible ways.
(39:59):
Can I the presumptuous and assume you don't have any debt?
Speaker 2 (40:03):
No, I just have a hex debt. Yeah, no debt.
I had credit cards back in the day, which I
think was about five grand. But that felt like, oh
my god, that felt so crippling.
Speaker 4 (40:14):
And did you max out that credit card?
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Yeah? And I was like never I Once I paid
it off, I cut it up and I was like,
oh that, I'm never doing that again. So no debt,
no carloans, no after pay. I don't have an account. No,
no debt, no not after like my growing up lifestyle,
no debt for me. The HECTS is probably kind of
(40:37):
it's like around the forty grand mark hopefully with that
big index payment that we should be getting.
Speaker 4 (40:45):
Oh, we're all waiting for that, and the she's on
the money office, we're all watching out our hex debts
getting very excited.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Yeah, I'm like, oh, hopefully soon. But honestly, I'm so
comfortable with that it's going to pay itself off and
I'm not too stressed about it. I don't really make
any contributions to paying it off. I'd rather invest it
in my shares and let it grow and yeah, I
feel like that will pay itself off in good time.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
It just plods along. So now tell me, what do
you think your best money habit is. I feel like
you might have a few, like the fact that you
cut out alcohol because you were like, we looked at
how much that cost us and now we just don't
drink it. I couldn't pitch that to my husband. I'm
so sorry, just not going to work for me. But
what do you think your best money howbit is?
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Be's money habit is probably all the automatic transfers, because
that system is just so to the tea and every
dollar goes somewhere. There's no lull in my bank account,
which is nice. And the automatic investing that I've set
up on Beta Shares, it's so easy. It just comes
(41:51):
straight out of my bank, straight into the wallet and
invests automatically, and I don't have to think about a thing.
I think that would be my best money habit. The
thing that annoys me the most is that I can't
guarantee how much my overtime it's going to be every
week to automatically invest. That that peeves me off. I
have to do that manually, But that would be my best.
Speaker 4 (42:13):
But that's so good that it's automated.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
Yeah, I love it takes their emotion out of it.
You know, it doesn't leave me going, oh, should I
put this into No, it's going into investing and it's
going into long term.
Speaker 4 (42:25):
Yeah. Yeah, it's already gone. Sorry, did you mean to
make another decision? Because we already made it for you.
And I feel like, in my head, I'm like, once
it's in there, it's illegal to take it out. Like, sorry,
it's illegal. Like I've got to make a law book.
And one of the shehes on the money laws is
that you cannot take out of your investing cloud. You can,
by the way, don't feel stressed, but in my head,
(42:48):
it just feels like it's not mine anymore. And it's
a very weird concept because I obviously know that. But yeah,
I just once it's in there, I'm like, oh, I
couldn't take it out, then I'm stopping it growing never.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
I could never do that. So that would be my
hot tip. And you have to do a budget to
do that. Team just to break it to you.
Speaker 4 (43:07):
Yeah, yeah, yeah exactly. You and I are on the
same team. Do you budget and do you know what
the best part about this is it's free on my website.
Go and download it. You don't have to do anything,
and it will auto calculate at the bottom. That's very
sexy and very peachy.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
That would be my hot tip. Also, maybe, like I
every time I get like a bill and that's increasing,
Like I always like, I don't know how many times
I've canceled my insurance and resigned up, like my car insurance,
probably ten times. So every year they're like, oh, it's
going back up, and I was like, for what, I
didn't even do anything.
Speaker 4 (43:42):
Yeah, I didn't even have any bingals. What are you
talking about?
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Yeah? And they're like, oh, you know, ten percent off
for new customers. I was like, hello, I've just been
paying you for a year. How about me? So I
cancel things and resign up all the time, for anything,
phone bills, car insurance, any bill that yeah, we have.
Speaker 4 (44:02):
Any subscriptions I use as well, I threaten to cancel
even without making a phone call to cancel it. Right,
And Adobe is probably going to be mad that I'm
saying this, But I did this the other day to
my Adobe subscription. I like went on the website and
clicked cancel subscription and then it came up with a
last minute offer and it was like, oh, we hate
to see you go. Here's forty percent off the next
(44:25):
six months. And I was like, oh that's nice, thanks. Yeah, yeah, actually,
because I was going to hit cancel subscription and just
see what happened. Then I was going to resign up anyway, I.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
Fine with phone bills. If you asked to be transferred
to the cancelation team, they can always give you a
better price than even just negotiating with the people on
like the phone. You'd be like, no, I'm canceling, I'm unhappy,
and then the cancelation team have a better price that
they can offer you. So got to swindle every dollar
you know.
Speaker 4 (44:57):
Love, you are a woman from my own community. Tell me, though,
flip the narrative. What's your worst money habit? Have you
even got any at this point, I've.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
Tried really hard to think of one, and I definitely
had a few back in the day. My worst money
habit would be, God, I don't know. I would say
maybe travel, Like even if it's not.
Speaker 4 (45:22):
No, it's not, you can't because you don't even drink
when you travel. Sorry you're too savvy for this show.
But that's okay, But I have to ask a pressing
question because, like you know, at the start, I told
you we're going to loop back to this. You said, oh,
I'm a B plus. What kind of B plus person
says they don't have a bad money habit? Like a
person who says no straight out the gates. I'm an
A plus. And then if they said I don't have
any bad money habits, I'd be like, you know what,
(45:44):
I believe you, but sorry, what's the B plus for? Then?
Why not a plus if no bad money habits?
Speaker 2 (45:49):
I don't know. I do want to, like hi ball
myself and then we have this comra and I was like, oh, actually.
Speaker 4 (45:54):
Oh no, sorry. In this house, we back ourselves.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
I think there's always room to grow, which is why
I did be plus because I want to strive to
be the best. But sometimes, you know, things happen. We
can't guarantee every single thing's a sure thing for the
rest of our lives till I retire. But I love it. Yeah,
I'm probably an ade.
Speaker 4 (46:16):
Yeah, I know, I know, like I just heard your
money story, baby cakes, I know, but I do want
to ask, though, if you've not got a bad money habit?
You have to tell me what was the last thing
you impulse purchased.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
I feel like it was just yesterday because I've been
on annual leave and I'm looking for things to do
around the house, and I bought a new monitor from
Marketplace for my desk like at home. So now I
have two screens for my home office. I didn't really
need it. I had one and my laptop, but I
(46:47):
was like, oh, you know, if I'm going to work
from home for a while, I could get another one.
That's good.
Speaker 4 (46:53):
I love it. See guys, even her like Impulse purchases
are on bloody Marketplace. She is savvy, she's an a
W she's an A plus. I love it, money Dirist,
this has been a pleasure. I am just so glad
that you not only wanted to share your story, we
had a really great chat. I feel like this is
going to be a very fun episode to listen to.
But then also, you just you're so part of the community,
(47:16):
the book, the podcast, like you're investing your saving like
you're an icon. I love it. And for anyone listening
who's like that's unrelatable, No, Queen, it's not unrelatable. It's
just not currently being done, like you're just not doing it.
You can absolutely create this yourself. And I just think
that's the coolest part of this money story. You did
this yourself. I love it.
Speaker 2 (47:35):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (47:37):
I would read the book, you know, the little people's
stories when I was first reading the book, and I
was like, oh, that could just never be me because
that seems so unachievable.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
But well, here I am.
Speaker 4 (47:49):
I guess it's small steps in the right direction. And
I think that all the time we get so overwhelmed
and like, social media does not help, because social media
definitely shoves down now through narratives of people who are
genuinely unrelatable. Like, don't get me wrong, not all of
us are going to become multimillion dollar tech founders and
you see their stories like, yeah, I get why that's unrelatable,
(48:11):
but sorry, we have a twenty seven year old from
Melbourne who didn't come from wealth, who is creating it herself.
That is iconic.
Speaker 2 (48:18):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 4 (48:20):
I love it all right. I wish we had more
time together, but alas we do not. Thank you so much.
I just can't wait for their community to get their
little hands on this episode because they're going to love it.
As much as I did.
Speaker 2 (48:30):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 6 (48:38):
The advice shared on She's on the Money is generally
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