I Think I Accidentally Became Rich

0:00Speaker 1:My name's Tatasha Bamblet. I'm a proud First Nations woman and I'm here to acknowledge country. Te Glenn Young Ganya Niana Kaka yah y and beIN ah Waka nian Arka in Mbini, yakarum Jar, dominyamiga Umaga Ihowaka Nile Waman damon Immalan Bumba bang Gadabomba in and now in waka ghana on yakarum jar Watanadaa. Hello, beautiful friends, we gather on the lands of the Aboriginal people. We thank acknowledge and respect the Abiginal people's land that we're gathering on today.

0:30Speaker 1: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.

0:45Speaker 2:She's on the Money. Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast that let you be favy about other people's money stories for the educational purposes of course. Welcome back to another one of our money diaries, brought to you by our friends at Skywealth, where I get the absolute privilege of sitting down with one of our incredible She's on the Money community members and talking to them all about their journey. Let's jump straight into it, because this week I got a message and it sounded exactly like this, Hi, She's on the Money. I think I might have made myself rich.

1:22Speaker 2:I'm about to hit one hundred thousand dollars in my beta shares, have above average super and I'm living well below my means. Plus I have one whole year in my emergency fund. I also bought a house, and then I unbought a house, and I think I might rent forever and I might actually be okay with that. I quit my and this was dollar dollar dollar sign consulting job and work casually now. But that is a scary thought. So I just say that I'm semi retired. Not bad for a cent a link baby. Who thought those little packet side dish pastas were a full meal for three people?

2:00Speaker 2:Money Diarist? What the heck? I am so excited you and I have been having I would say, really like, I don't know, a really fun chat before we started recording. So I'm genuinely very excited to have transitioned into doing this money diary with you. So I'm hoping that the vibes stay exactly the same. Money darist, that's really impressive. You obviously think that's really impressive.

2:26Speaker 3:I think that's unhinged, honestly.

2:28Speaker 2:Okay, good good, Because like sometimes people come on and I have to be like, hey, babe, are like that's not that relatable in the nicest possible way, and I'll be like, oh yeah, I'd be really grateful for that too, but like I love that you're like, this is sick, it's unhinged. But also here I'll give you my hacks and tips and tricks so that maybe you can do it too.

2:46Speaker 3:Yeah. It's definitely one of those things where you look at all the little steps and you're like, oh, well, if I could do it, then probably a lot of people can do it. But also, how on earth did I do this?

2:56Speaker 2:You know? Wait, I don't know, and I'm aboud to find out before we get into it. Need to ask one question. But before, before before I get into it, how old are you? I am thirty four, she's a baby, I say, at thirty five.

3:09Speaker 3:That's because we like the same age, yes, but like.

3:13Speaker 2:Sorry, that's so young, like so young to be like, oh yeah, send me retired.

3:19Speaker 3:What look not working? Yeah, quitting your job and not having something to go to sounds scary when you say it like that, but then you say, look, I'm just gonna be semi retired, and then it doesn't sound so bad.

3:30Speaker 2:No, But also the privilege of being in that position where you're like, I have a year of emergency funds, like oh, I'm just so happy for you, Like, oh, I wish that financial freedom upon everybody in my community. Before I ask you how the heck you did that money, Jarvis wal Grade, would you give your money habits if I asked you to give them a grade from A through death.

3:50Speaker 3:I'm not playing the C game, I'm not playing the B I'm not playing the B. Plus and we'll see I'm going full A. I'm going full A. I'm full A.

3:59Speaker 2:Come my show and be like I'm saying you're retired and I'm thirty four years old and be like I'm an F Like, oh my gosh.

4:06Speaker 3:Plus, I feel like everybody when they set their score, we kind of go, we sell it down a bit, and we go there's so much more to learn. But I was really thinking this through, and I thought, when you take a test, you're just assessing the knowledge that you have at this point and how well you're applying it, And so I know there'll be so much for me to go and grow on further. But right now, with the knowledge I have, I'm making great choices. I'm feeling very empowered. I'm obviously nailing stuff objectively, and so I'm like, no, this is what an a would look like if I was tested. Right now, she's on it.

4:34Speaker 2:I'm obsessed with this energy. Oh my goodness. All right, money dois? Can you tell me a bit more about your money story in the things that have impacted it?

4:41Speaker 3:Yes, I think that well, objectively, I know that we didn't grow up with a lot of money. I also think that a flip side of that was that I didn't actually know that until I was a bit older, because we just lived in like a really dodgy part of town where nobody has any money. So you're kind of looking at everyone around with your peers and it's like, Okay, well, I'm going to school in ripped clothes, but this kid's got holes in his shoes, and everyone's like got bikes that we picked up off the side of the road.

5:12Speaker 3:So it's kind of like we're all in the same Taxico system. Yeah, the same playground ecosystem. So it wasn't too bad. And then I was very lucky to get a scholarship to high school. And I realized it's because my mum didn't want me going to the local high school because it was pretty dodge and she wanted to get me out of that area, get me away from the people who went there. It was a pretty unsafe kind of neighborhood. And so I got the scholarship and and went to this private school, which obviously then put me into contact with people who did have a bit of money. And I will say, even back then, it wasn't too jarring for me to be in that environment, but only because and I don't know if this was good or bad, it just is what it is. Only because my family didn't talk about money. So I knew that other people had things I didn't have. I knew that I couldn't have those things, but I didn't know that it was money. That was the reason. It was just a thing that we didn't do it, like we don't okay, we don't get the thing. We get the secondhand uniforms. You're going to get one blazer for all of high school and it better fit you, like that

6:22Speaker 3:sort of a vibe.

6:23Speaker 2:Yeah, So I'm very interested in that because I feel like that's one of the first times on this show we've been like I didn't realize that it was money that was driving that. Tell me a bit more about what that felt like, because did that feel like, oh, like I'm not as deserving as other people, or I just don't get those opportunities, Like did you understand.

6:45Speaker 3:Why I had no idea? And I think it was when I looked at certain times when I felt and I think undeserving is a great word for it, when I felt undeserving or less than it was things like I would go to my family Christmas. My parents were separated, so I have had Christmas with each of my parents and then go to bigger family Christmas, and I would know that, you know, I woke up in the morning and I got a little present, and then I would have to go and sit through all my cousins getting heaps of gifts. But I don't know what the financial implication.

7:18Speaker 3:I didn't understand the financial situation of different people in even in my family, to know that that's why they got more and I didn't. I just knew that, but I get thistening and they get something else. It is when you look at it like that, but at the time it was just, oh.

7:30Speaker 2:No, you didn't get it. But that's just it, right, Like kids are so beautifully naive to what's going on. But like, that's why I think financial literacy from a very young age is so important because in that moment you probably couldn't have articulated it. But you're like, why do they get better than me? And like you might have been fine with it because you're like, well, maybe my sibling's got exactly what I got. Whatever, there was a narrative that you clearly accepted, but like you do go, well, if there is a social high Iraqi, I'm not higher than them, and that is not okay. Like to me, that is not okay. Like and I just want to scoop baby you up and be like it wasn't ever you babe when you said, you know, I felt less than It's not because you are. It's a feeling. But I think it's really important to validate that as well. Yeah, It's just it really upsets me that that was your narrative.

8:19Speaker 3:It's definitely one of those things that I think it definitely impacted me quite a lot. But when I'm coming to those realizations and having those feelings, I'm also in like that teenage angst kind of vibe anyway, where you feel like everyone is against you and everything you know nobody has it help exactly, And so I think on the one head, I didn't have a target for like those feelings of what they're going to do and where they're coming from. But it was also just oh, well, this is my reality and this is where we live in the world. And I think that part of that was just when I started to notice that there were money opportunities that I wasn't getting. It was frustrating in the purest sense, like when you see a kid who can't process the emotion and they don't understand. So I, you know, was going to this high school and I got a place to go on a school trip to India, and I remember coming home and being like, Mum, I got it. I applied this thing. I've won a place, and the four people at my school get to go.

9:18Speaker 3:She was like, well you can't go, you obviously can't go. Yeah, And I was like, oh, okay, but I want it though, and like we have to put in the deposit and it was like I think it might have been two or three hundred dollars for the deposit, but then it was a total of like two grand that had to be paid within maybe a month or so. And she was like, well, that's simply not something that we do. We're not going to do that. We can't do that. That's not available. And it wasn't like a will fundraise, we'll do this, we'll do it. Will wasn't make it work.

9:45Speaker 2:I'm solving And that's okay. That's her money story and how she was dealing with it. But it doesn't. And this is where I sound wanky maybe Like I say that I sound a little bit pretentious when I say having a growth mindset is important because I feel like if re entrepreneur who has a podcast is talking about growth versus fixed mindset, you.

10:05Speaker 3:Know what, you're not the vibar yea.

10:07Speaker 2:Because of my background in psychology, because of money stories that I hear on the regular, Like, it is so important even if you can't afford it, to be fostering this growth mindset in your children, in my children, in us in general, because it opens us up to more opportunity. Did it mean that we could have changed you going? Probably not, but like explaining, all right, well, we don't have the resources for that right now. This is how they're budgeted. You know, what could we do to get you there? And you could have like brainstormed it out, and you know you might I don't know you, as you know a young child, you might have gone, Mum, don't worry about it. I don't want to have to do fundraising and organizing. But there could have been a solution that really helped you build. I mean to be honest, looking at your wider money story, you didn't need it.

10:56Speaker 3:So I think too it comes back to spoiler. Like I work a little bit in financial literacy with kids now, and I think it comes back to the fact that the only money story, and we ask kids, like, what if you heard about money growing up? The only statement I'd ever heard was we can't afford it. And that is a helpful objective statement, but it doesn't give context for what that means. And when you take me objectively going to a private school, it doesn't make sense that you can't afford to give me money to go overseas.

11:25Speaker 3:For a school trip, because how are you sending me to this private school. I knew I had a scholarship, but I didn't know what that financially meant. And I was old enough to start putting numbers to money. I was spending money at the canteen. I was, you know, nicking money from my dad's little coin bowl so I could get a soft serve on the weekend. Like I had a bit of a concept and I was using it. But because I had no real world application of money, someone telling me we don't have money for that didn't make sense to me when I could see what we did have money for. And it wasn't until I started to look back and put the pieces into place and have more conversations. And my mom is still very hesitant to talk about money. But I know that her boss was paying my school fees, not her. I also know now and again have context for it now. I remember when I was lodging my first tax return and I actually was like, I think I'm going to get taxed back because I've earned more money. I asked her how to do it. She said, I don't know. I've never earned over the threshold. And I was like, this is a single one with two kids, who's paying rant and

12:20Speaker 3:she's not earned over whatever it was at the time, fifteen sixteen thousand dollars. I was like, oh, oh, so that's what we were working with here. Okay, so now I understand when you say we don't have money. We didn't have money. And to the comment icon, I.

12:33Speaker 2:Know you said that you grew up not knowing you know, oh, you didn't understand the concept of not affording it. Okay, that makes a lot of sense. Like, you know, growing up, I heard a fair bit, Oh, Victoria, we can't afford that, And like we weren't on the poverty line. We definitely were like well off in comparison to a lot, but like we definitely, like I think, looking back, we're very weake to week like yeah, and that's okay. But often when my parents said we can't afford that, it was because we're prioritizing money for something else. Like we definitely didn't have the big family holidays and all of that, Like that just wasn't part of it. But when my parents said we can't afford that, I had the benefit of knowing it was because they were allocating it to something else. Yeah, whereas when your mom said she can't afford that, you didn't know the difference. She hadn't told you we actually have no cash, babe, Like there's nothing there that's just not happening.

13:27Speaker 3:And I respect that she didn't. I assume you know, you don't want to say that to your child. You don't want them to worry. Like you said, I might have been more, oh, what can I do and what can we do and how can I help? And that might have not made her feel great either, but it did mean that it didn't have the context in our family for what can't afford meant, and so I wasn't able I think at that point to understand money is a thing that can get you things. Money was just the thing we didn't have and that we probably wouldn't have, and so just go and earn some and try and survive on what you earn. And that's success, which is also not bad, but it's one of those things where like, if that's where you think the end of the road is, that's as far as you ever go.

14:08Speaker 2:Yeah, of course, of course. So tell me a little bit more about your life, like what do you do for work? How much money are you earning.

14:16Speaker 3:Currently, I have a lot of different things that I do for work.

14:21Speaker 2:So so's a diverse queen.

14:25Speaker 3:Oh, yes, I'm diversifying everything. I am the asset and I'm diversified. I basically I went to UNI because my parents are like, doesn't matter what you do, you have to go to UNIE because you're going to get a job, and that's the way to do it. And I really wanted to study theater, so I did. And I really wanted to study psychology, but I thought I would give like no, like, I hope.

14:48Speaker 2:That's not a bad thing to say, like the most positive yeah, in the most positive way ever, Like you just seem like a really fun time, thank you so much. Like she's got range as a friend. I can see it. I can see it's clearly empathetic. But you're also probably the most entertaining at a dinner party, I hope.

15:06Speaker 3:So, I hope. So because one of my jobs is entertaining. Yes, there you go. It's all covered together. I studied that. I studied behavioral science, which I really enjoyed because it was that practical behavior application of psychology. And I study education because everyone's always getting need teachers, So it was like my fallback, my backup plan, and I was very comfortable being a teacher for a little bit. Got the big girl job, got the big girl car Lee slash Loan did that, and then moved with my boyfriend to Sydney when he got his dream job, and realized that teaching is a state accredited profession and then it can take a long time to move your registration from one place to the other. So I was waiting ten months to get my registration changed, and obviously it was time. Yeah.

15:56Speaker 3:I was like, I can't casual teach, I'm not registered. What am I going to do? And I started looking for anything and I basically fell into working in schools, still doing behavioral science, doing behavior change programs for lots of different types of information, and mostly in cybersecurity and digital safety, but also financial literacy, which was fun because I was learning it along with the kids. Yes, I was like, what how do we check the award wage?

16:26Speaker 3:How do I know what I'm getting paid?

16:27Speaker 1:Like, what do you know?

16:28Speaker 2:What do you know what? One of my girlfriends is a teacher and she's just like changed where she's at and she was really stressed, and I was like, babe, you literally just need to be one lesson ahead of them, like you can learn them at the same time. Just make sure you're one lesson ahead so that when they're asking you, you have all the answers, but like, go home and learn that stuff so that the next week and you know what, you know a year after that, you're not going to have to do that again.

16:54Speaker 3:No, no, exactly. And so I moved up in that job, and I found that I really enjoyed talking surprise, surprise, but also teaching in that way, not so curriculum bound, but more in the conversations and listening to kids say well, this is my problem. What can I do? And me saying well, what can you do? What do you think you can do? And facilitating rather than just telling. And so I started doing more of that work and eventually went into consulting through the company that I was with, and did that at a pretty good level for a while until I got to a point where I realized, actually, I'm doing a lot of the consulting, management, planning, project stuff and not the talking and the connecting and the facilitating, which I really love and I'm really good at. And I had a really nice conversation with my employers, and I said, look, this work is here and I would love to be doing it, but because I'm doing this other stuff, I'm not doing the thing I love anymore.

17:52Speaker 3:There are people who are better equipped to the project management, people the type a's are really good at that. Let them do that, let me do the yapping. How do we make this work? And so totally agreed that actually I would quit and I would come back as a contractor or a casual it's a bit funny contract wise, but essentially a casual employee, and I would still do the workshops. So I do still do the workshops. But I also then was asked by my friend if I would marry them as their celebrant.

18:20Speaker 2:So that's so sick.

18:23Speaker 3:So I became a marriage celebrant. I've also actually done quite a few memorials and funerals, which I also actually I really love. Yes, it's such a privilege and it's such a beautiful time to chat to people, and I have found that it is a good challenge to have, but also as such an interesting thing to be doing. And then I've been doing M seeing event m seeing as well on top.

18:48Speaker 2:Of that, and so so cool.

18:52Speaker 3:Plus I can still casual teach if I need to so back up plan tick.

18:55Speaker 2:Oh my goodness, like you are a weapon. So how much money are we earning across all of these different things?

19:01Speaker 3:Well, I love that to date it a little bit. We are doing this around and a financial year time because it means that all my year to dates are looking good. And in the last year today I pulled two hundred and four thousand, five hundred and seventy eight dollars.

19:18Speaker 2:What I mean, you're just working casually, hanging out. Somehow you managed to convince your boss to fire you so that you could get hired as a consultant, and we all know they all get paid more. Like, like, I feel like you've gained the system in some way, shape or form, backtrack, backcheck. You're doing these like workshop stuff. That sounds amazing. Yeah, but you became a wedding celebrant, and like, what do you call it when you do? Like, celebration is a celebration of life, celebrant all that?

19:48Speaker 3:Yeah, I still call it a celebrate. It's still a civil celebrant. Some people say it for just memorials of funerals, but it's still a celebrant.

19:56Speaker 2:Yeah, how do you market yourself for that because I'm a assuming you're kind of like self employed in that space. You don't just go work for someone to do that.

20:05Speaker 3:Yeah, and being self employed is also a real identity shift that I haven't quite come to terms with yet. So I know that technically I am, but that feels really scary to say.

20:13Speaker 2:Which is way just call it a side hustle if you would lie.

20:17Speaker 3:Maybe. So actually, so far, how to market that is a great question. I just got business cards like a week ago. I've been doing this for like a year. But my dad was like, do you have a business card?

20:28Speaker 2:So now I do and a dad, that's very nice day. I'm not going to a conference, but.

20:35Speaker 3:He was very happy just to know that I do have one. So yeah, but I haven't actually marketed myself in that domain at all. I gave myself one job, which was to put up one Instagram post a week because I really don't like doing it and it's ripping the band aid off and there we go. And I've been able to do that and everything else because it's not my primary income. It's just something that I love that I can do. Everything else has been for friends of friends, word of mouth, people hearing about it from somebody else, which I also really love because I think that the thing that I'm really good at is taking the story and the feeling of the people that I know well and telling it. And so that's been good for the weddings of people that I know. And it's about like us loving on them, not just a stranger being like, here are your friends that you all know better than me? Are they pretty?

21:24Speaker 2:And do you know what that? From my perspective as someone who cares and loves and be like business everything right, I think that is such a brilliant way of building that business if you've got the time, Like, because a lot of people like I need to market because I need to keep clients. Great. I get that this sounds really self promotional. I promise that's not why I'm telling you. I wrote about it in my book The Business Bible, and it's about attracting the right client because they refer the right client for you, and often at the start of business. And I did this like where I would just take anyone who was kind of interested in working with me, and I'd be like, great, this is how clients work, right. You don't have to love them all like you don't have to, you know, really enjoy every single client. That's just how the cookie crumbles. And I found that even though I did a great job with those clients, those clients that I didn't love working with, they referred other clients that I didn't love working with, and then it kind of becomes a self fulfilling prophecy of filling your business with people who are maybe not

22:20Speaker 2:the target that you originally wanted. So I just love that you're like, nope, I'm doing this. Yes, I'm doing one post a week. But by doing that, you're going to attract the right people and always love what you do. And I think that's important to you. Why do I think that's important to you? The sign behind you in your office which says do what you love every day, and I think that that's so important, But like that's so aligned.

22:44Speaker 3:It definitely is, And I think that one of the prompts for leaving my full time job, which was incredibly scary as somebody who I have had a job since the beginning of time, I was working before it was legal because my mum knew the boss, you know, like when I'm yeah.

23:01Speaker 2:You do what you got and you were also anonymous, and if they called me, I happened to have lost your number. That's crazy her name.

23:10Speaker 3:But this is just a really cool dream that we had. I loved a part of the job, but not the whole job, and I saw people who loved the job, and I was like, that's the kind of people that should be doing this job, not me. And it was similar when I was teaching full time. I would look at some of the teachers that were there and just go, they are They are the teachers that you want your kids to have. And I think I was a good teacher, but I know that when I was in that full time classroom, I didn't have the passion and the drive for it that I could see other teachers did. And it was this nice, subtle thing that was just saying, you could do this when you want to and if you need to, but this is maybe not the thing that is going to get you out of bed in the morning for the next thirty years. And I didn't quite understand that at the time, because I thought any job is better than no job. And so it's taken a long time to get to a point where I could say, actually, I will quit my job. I didn't have a full year of emergency fund. Then I did have a good emergency fund and I did have the money behind me. But I think it was about like

24:07Speaker 3:explicitly saying, actually, this is what this money is for, so that you can quit and you can take your time finding something else. And I think it was a nice balance between saying there's something better and different out there for me, and it's worth me pursuing. But also I know that I have the work ethic to take anything if I need to. I'm not going to be precious about it. And I think that I previously would have thought that it was bougie or stuck up or something to go, well, no, I'm not going to do that job. But I think there's a real difference between going what's my value and where's my passion and what can I do? But knowing that I can do that because I worked really hard to get to the point to do it, and that I wouldn't not work if I needed to work. You know, I didn't want to be there doing what I like.

24:55Speaker 2:Yeah, And I think that that's really important. So tell me you clearly of what you do. And I feel like you've got a lot of clarity over the life you want to leave. So what are your big money goals? What are you currently working towards.

25:08Speaker 3:I am currently working towards seeing polar bears in the wild.

25:13Speaker 2:So love this.

25:15Speaker 3:Yeah, so I am saving to do a cruise in the Arctic.

25:19Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, that is so cool.

25:22Speaker 3:It's going to be sick. I'm so excited.

25:25Speaker 2:Which type of cruise are you going on? Because there's what so I have done research and at this stage in my life it's not feasible for me to do this cruise. But do you best believe the second my children are all over the age of eighteen, I will be going to the Arctic.

25:40Speaker 3:Oh yes. I went to the Antarctic a few years ago and that was like my biggest money goal that I had ever done. And once so cool that had happened. Yeah, I was like, okay, now I need to see a polar bear.

25:51Speaker 2:I was about to say they don't have polar bears. They don't.

25:54Speaker 3:They don't famously, So I got.

25:56Speaker 2:To think you would think that there would be polar bears there.

26:01Speaker 3:There are not trying to them all off on one cruise unfortunately, So I'm looking at the ones that go northern Europe, so like Spalbard and up around there. But then I went down the rabbit hole.

26:10Speaker 2:It can I lay someone from Swalbard on TikTok?

26:14Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, niche, But I love this, thank you. I learned that I loved traveling once I figured out I could afford to travel. So I've really ticked off a lot a lot of travel and started doing it through work, which I think was like a nice soft way to get into it, to be like you're traveling. It doesn't feel like a waste of money, it doesn't feel like a waste of leave because it's part of the job that you're here to do or the learning that you're here to get. And then decided I really liked it and then was able to continue doing it. So I'm saving.

26:46Speaker 3:My goal is twenty grand for my Polar Bears before I'll book the cruise and everything, which I think will probably be So you're keen to thirteen grand yeap.

26:54Speaker 2:So you're just like, I have to have the money before I even do the thing. I always yeah, but that's a really positive way to manage money. And I feel like that's the pinnacle of delayed gratification, right, Like, so many people would be like, no, I'll pay for it now and I'll pay off the whole holiday before it happens, or this option which I don't like, which is people who are like, no, I'll go and have the experience and I can pay it off later because I will never get that experience back again. And I get where you're coming from, but it's just also very financially irresponsible in my not so humble opinion as a finance expert, I love hearing it, But where did you get your sense of delayed gratification? Like how did that get built? Because that's not something everybody has.

27:36Speaker 3:Yeah, I didn't think that I had it, but I do when I oil the choices I make. I think that part of it was truly from not having any other option. And I think I was lucky because I listened obviously to every single episode DAH and all the money diaries and everything, and I don't know what it was, and I was actually think about this the last couple of days. I don't know if it was a strategic thing on the banks or whatever, but I in my little friends so who growing up, especially in the places that I lived, we didn't get the credit card in the mailbox kind of thing.

28:10Speaker 2:At eighteen, I was about to say, how, given your lack of financial literacy growing up, did you not just fall into getting a credit card and you know, going crazy on it because you deserve it?

28:20Speaker 3:Kind of yes, I truly. The only thing I can think of is that I know my mum never had a credit card. It was just never modeled to me. It was said to me as something that you don't get And part of that was you don't get it because you shouldn't, but also part of it was you will not get one, like you can't get one. You're not going to be able to get one, You're not going to have the money to be qualified to get one. And so the good side about that.

28:48Speaker 2:To say, yeah, from what you've shared about your mom not being able to do a tax return, I think it would have been very challenging for her to even access a credit card.

28:58Speaker 3:I think so. And so it was one of those things where it wasn't a thing that I could have, and I didn't really see people having it. I know now they probably did, but I didn't understand the difference either between debt and credit until I had my own bank account. So it was just one of things where I saw someone TAPA card, I assumed it was their own money and was just really lucky in the fact that that didn't backfire on me then overspending and finding credit cards and doing all that sort of thing. Plus I was always very averse to debt, and I knew that credit card was debt and didn't stop me from taking on loans in different ways. But credit card was never a thing. And I was actually very hesitant to get my first credit card because I thought, to myself, I'm not a person who can be trusted with a credit card, with having what feels like unlimited funds or having just the ability to buy as I feel and not as I've planned, And so actually very hesitant.

29:53Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, rude, butter Okay.

29:57Speaker 3:Now I kept one to myself, you know, just to really marinate on that.

30:00Speaker 2:Yeah, like Victoria, I had to let you learn yourself or something.

30:03Speaker 3:Yeah, Golbill skatekeep gaza the.

30:05Speaker 2:Class appreciate it. Let's go to a really quick break. And on the flip side, I need to know what's in your Beta Shares account. I want to know about your further opinions on debt, personal insurances, and I want to know what your best and worst money habitast guys that don't go anywhere. All right, money drives. We are back and you have hit more than six figures inside your Beta shares account. How why why beta shares? Let's start there.

30:33Speaker 3:I started with a stable coin.

30:39Speaker 2:Okay, tell the community what a stable coin is?

30:43Speaker 3:Look not one thousand percent? Sure? Truly?

30:46Speaker 2:Great? All right, well find that way, but you tell me your steps.

30:50Speaker 3:So I was recommended by a friend to go to a certain platform which was having a stable coin, which my understanding was they were the ones investing essentially in cryptocurrency but not passing on I suppose the volatility of the cryptocurrency to the people investing in it, that they were giving a guaranteed rate of return. And I was like, I don't really understand this, but what you're telling me is that they're going to pay me interest daily for however long I keep my money in there, which they did.

31:20Speaker 3:The platform spoiler alert no longer exists, and did have some legal crazy conversations with some and I got out before that happened.

31:30Speaker 2:You actually did. I was about to be like, how did that go? Cause for me? Really well, okay, I love that for you specifically.

31:38Speaker 3:Yes, for me really well because what it did, and I will say not the ideal way to get into it, but what it did was I had a referral code. I got in and I saw money that essentially was given to me for free. It was a classic Chezi's code situation.

31:52Speaker 2:It was no, no, do not bring Chezels into this nine non cream. They would never, they would never. And also that platform that you're talking about, that referral code got them in a lot of trouble.

32:03Speaker 3:It did, it did, it truly did, And I essentially had this what was for me at the time free money sat there and every day I got like a dollar more money, win, money, win, And then it felt too good to be true. It felt a bit uncomfortable. Things were in the news and I was like, take my money, that's mine now, got it all paid out, not a problem at all.

32:25Speaker 2:But also terrifying. Also, I feel the need right now to like, I don't know, you know, when you like need to back yourself a little bit.

32:33Speaker 3:Yeah.

32:33Speaker 2:So the Shares's code I have, I don't make any money from my friends. So if you were to use my Shares's code, which this is a subtle plug for them, not paid, but it's SotM ten. You get ten dollars in your account. I get no dollars when you use that. And that's the way I like it, Like I don't actually want to make money from your code. Usage is just to benefit you if you want to use it. I obviously get paid by them in marketing because sometimes they spawned to the podcast, but they don't get to tell me what to say or how to say it or any of that. And I use the platform myself, so you know, unlike stable coin, where the referral you would make money if people used your referral code. And like if you guys heard about the platform where the influencers were getting in trouble for using their referral codes to promote cryptocurrency investment, that was that, and there was that. Yes, I think it's as prevalent. And that's where people, especially when they don't have the financial literacy that they deserve, get confused because they go well to say as Schares is right, so different and scary.

33:39Speaker 3:It was wild. I was asking the question, how can they do this? And that could never be explained to me in a way that I was comfortable with.

33:47Speaker 2:Yeah, why are they consistently able to give me money? Like that makes them no sense?

33:52Speaker 3:And so I was thinking this can't last. It is too good to be true, It isn't appropriate it and I didn't feel good being a part of it. So I came out of that. The thing that it did help me understand was interest and compounding interest, because I knew that I had had high interest savings accounts because my brother had been like, this is how you do it, and I was like, great, But I didn't see that. I think because I wasn't looking for the interest, I didn't quite understand how it was adding up, and because that interest was, you know, changing depending on how much was in my accounts, and so I couldn't quite equate it with the fact that it was just earning money on its own. And so seeing that daily did break it down for me to understand, actually, if I just leave it there and don't touch it, I will get more.

34:38Speaker 3:And so that helped me understand the concept. And then came out of that and was like never again. Too crazy. Then got into the she's on the money, Colt really happy to be here, thanks so much for having me him. Thank you for coming, loved it and was listening to all of the podcast as is the required reading for this session, and got the Shares's code and thank you very much, we love and put in my little ten dollars and was just like, let's just.

35:10Speaker 2:Oh, so you're on Shares's. You're not direct to ah. I was.

35:16Speaker 3:Such a windy answer. Yes, basically I got on them. I had a spaceship. I did the whole like put a little bit everywhere and see what you like and see what works for you. And so I had liked the spaceship portfolio situation where I could just pick one easy choice out of three or whatever it was and if we go. Then managed to get into Shares's with the code love the platform got back onto that I had to raise at some point as well to suss that out. And then when I was in my big dog consulting job, I went to a financial advisor and they looked at the things I picked and they said, you've actually picked Beta Shares and you can just do it with their own platform and you won't have fees and it will look like a bit more consolidated for you.

35:56Speaker 3:That seems to be the way that your profile has already leant towards you just lit across two different platforms at the time, and I was like, oh, okay, let's just consolidate.

36:03Speaker 2:Interesting, okay, okay, cool?

36:05Speaker 3:Love? Yeah it was how fun?

36:07Speaker 2:And how often are you investing? What does that journey look like currently?

36:12Speaker 3:Because I know that I'm making bank at the moment, and I know that I'm living under my means, I'm trying to invest what looks like spare on my beautiful she's on the money budget spreadheet, and so currently my bank transfer automatically without me having to pay attention two thousand dollars.

36:29Speaker 2:A week, sorry, two thousand dollars a week a week a week a week a week okay, sorry, just had to check a week, Like you have two thousand dollars post tax a week. Okay. So like, just to confirm your you're investing about one hundred grand a year.

36:49Speaker 3:Look, I will say that number has gone up and up and up. I started. We love this.

36:55Speaker 2:I'm assessed with this, Like I just found hinged so cool. You're not unhint see see people are like that's unrealistic, and I go, okay, why someone doing it?

37:06Speaker 3:Then? Yeah, how did we get here?

37:09Speaker 2:Like if she can do it, it's actually not that unrealistic. Like unrealistic things are things that nobody's ever done before. But right now you're role modeling that for us and showing us exactly how you did it. It might not work for some people, and I get that, and that sometimes doesn't feel good, Like sometimes I'm like, oh, I wish I could do that as well. And I'm not saying that this is comparable, but it's a good analogy. It's like you saying, I'm planning an Arctic trip that is just not gonna work for me. I have two kids under two. I am on a different life journey than you right now, and that is okay. But for me to go to the Arctic right now is incredibly unrealistic.

37:46Speaker 2:For some people in my community to invest even one hundred dollars a week is unrealistic, And that is okay. But how cool is it that we get to learn about what people are doing so that when you have the re sources, you've already got the education.

38:01Speaker 3:It's the habit that made it possible. Though. To your point is that, and I know you say it every episode at least somewhere, is that you get into just the habit of doing it, and it's going to keep going. And being the behavioral science background, I know that habits matter. I know the environment matters. I set up the environment to invest, and the amount is the thing that changes. So I've been putting in a weekly amount for a few years now, and that was like ten dollars and that was it. And so when I had a bit of extra income, it wasn't oh, well, now I am someone who invests more money. It was just, well, I'll just put it in a bit more this week. So I went back through my transactions to see how much I had been investing over the last couple of years, because I thought that, like I say it out loud, two thousand dollars a week, and that is just like easteract exactly. But I look back through it and I go, okay, well, actually this time last year I was doing a couple hundred bucks a week. And then because I was earning more money and I didn't want to spend it on something else, I just said, okay, well, I'll just put

39:02Speaker 3:a bit more into my investment for now, knowing that I can take it and stop it whenever I want. And because I do work a bit casually, a bit contract. I work in schools. There's not a lot of work over December January. So I stopped investing in December January because I was like, yeah, I need that money to live. I need to keep it here ready to go, and then when I'm ready to turn it back on, it'll go back on. And so it was more just turning it and it felt flexible.

39:24Speaker 2:It's the best example of what I try to literally preach every day, and that's from little things big things grow. And that feels really flippant, like it can feel like sure Victoria, and I always say, just set it up, set it up today, even if you can only invest a dollar, And people go, yeah, but that's not worth it Victoria, and I go, yeah, but it's not the dollar today, it's the dollar tomorrow, like, because if you've already got the habit, you just turn the habit up a little bit, and that's so much easier than starting because it's terrified. So say you start investing with a dollar this week, A lot of people are going to go, that's not worth it. And I go, so you could afford to lose a dollar And they go yeah, Like my coffee costs small, and I go, great, start with something that you're not stressed about losing, because if you've just saved your first thousand dollars and you're trying to make a decision on that entire sum of money, it's terrifying.

40:19Speaker 3:Sucks.

40:20Speaker 2:I don't want to lose one thousand dollars and you're not going to lose it. But like, that's how it feels when you start your investing journey. So why don't we just start small and then go, oh my gosh, I'm so silly, Like a dollar a week, what was I doing? I could have done morals just being conservative. So you double it and then you double it again, and very quickly that money becomes I mean not for everybody, because again adore you, but unrealistic for most people. But that for you has become two thousand dollars a week.

40:47Speaker 2:But had you waited until you had that cash flow, I promise you would have found something else for that cash flow. You would have been like, oh no, like I'm just going on my art dic trip earlier. And like life has a very sneaky way of absorbing money. We need to put a system in place for ourselves.

41:04Speaker 3:As somebody who has been very hesitant to spend. It's a nice way of feeling like I am saving because it's for future me than just putting in a savings account and knowing that it's not going to do as well, and that obviously, I will say it came with a lot of the learning of my own mindset and my own risk profile and my own way of living, as well as the comfort of going, okay, well, you can earn money and you do know the difference, and you are taking a calculated decision between high interest savings account and what you invest in and what that looks like.

41:39Speaker 3:And I think part of that too is knowing that that two thousand dollars, that's what I have put in for the last few weeks, and I'll probably will for a few more weeks, and then if things change, then I will put it down and I will still be an investor, and I will still have the portfolio, and I will still be contributing, and it won't be any worse than what I was doing right now, and it's still going to feel good. So that it was a really nice rollercoaster to know that it's also not failure when I turn it down. And in my head, I'm saying, when I turn it down, I know this isn't how much I will sustainably invest forever, because it's mad. And so I'm going to make hay while the sun is shining for this exactly.

42:12Speaker 2:And I say that all the time, like, baby, make hay, well the sun is shining. Yes, let's go. And yeah, that's how you've set yourself up. So tell me you've done the same thing for you superannuation.

42:23Speaker 3:Yes, I again, this was very nice advice for my brother. When I first started working. He said, when I got my yeah, my be full time job. I know a man good advice. Can you believe he gave me that? And he said, please put in just a little bit extra, and literally it was twenty bucks every pay and kept going, kept going. I realized that I technically then had been contributing to the first home super Safe scheme when housing was on my mind.

42:49Speaker 2:So that an accident, a happy accident.

42:52Speaker 3:It was so good. And so now my super is at two hundred and eighteen thousand dollars.

42:58Speaker 2:At thirty four. Huh, okay, she's going to be like real rich by the time you're retiring. That compounds. You're retiring with what, oh like at least two million dollars in super, if not more so if you didn't contribute anymore. But I'm assuming you're not going to stop your contributions because that would be silly. Do you know what?

43:16Speaker 3:And this is also spoiler alert unhinged, unrelatable content. I looked at my paceley at firstly places everyone should. It's like the first thing we teach kids as well, look at it, see what it is, understand what the words mean. And I had a super refund and I thought, hang on, what's going on here? Don't love this? And that is how I learned that actually there is a cap that your super can get every quarter. And because I had had a really good quarter, my employer had paid me too much SUPER and had had to take it back like forty bucks or something. And I remember calling my brother and going, oh no, they've taken my super. What's going on? And he's like, there's no way you would have hit the cap and he had looking and he goes, oh, yeah, okay, you're doing well. That's like great. So it was one of my strategic choices when I quit my big dog job.

43:56Speaker 3:I stopped contributing voluntarily to SUPER, I still obviously was getting paid SUPER, and it is a nice thing in the fact that I am technically a casual employee, is that my SUPER is paid for me and I don't need to be keeping on top of that from like a contractor self employed side of things.

44:13Speaker 2:Yeah, so you're already at ahead so and exactly not like you're not investing at all, Like you're going, I am going to be able to access this sooner. Have you thought about the difference between investing inside and outside of SUPER? Is that's just what's happened, Like, that's why you have the strategy that you have.

44:31Speaker 3:Yeah, it has happened quite I would say accidentally, but through the gaining of education over the last few years and the choices that I've made, right, it's how I've obviously ended up here. I definitely have seen that I'm in a very privileged position in that I've had super fer all of my working life, which I know, you know, we talk about my mom and some of my older friends have not had and so I know that it's there and I want it to be really healthy for retiring.

44:59Speaker 3:And then only in the last couple of years have I looked at my investments outside of super and gone, oh, hold on a sec I could be on track to do the whole retire early investments, take myself up to the super age and then go on from there. And so it's only in the last five or six months that I've gone, okay, well, what do those numbers look like in what I'm aiming for? Because before that, the goal, as I think we all do, we set you know, the next achievable goal. My next achievable goal was hit one hundred grand in my benches and that will happen hopefully in the next couple of weeks. And then the next one from that is okay, well, now what are the numbers that I'm chasing for? What are retirement early might look like? And that's the next thing when we talk about, you know, giving yourself an a on what.

45:45Speaker 2:You know so far.

45:46Speaker 3:That'll be my next chunk of learning.

45:48Speaker 2:Yeah, and so to talk a little bit about the house thing, you said, I bought a house and then on board it. What does that mean?

45:56Speaker 3:Oh my goodness. So because obviously I have been doing well at work and I had this saving because I thought, what do you do when you have savings, you try and buy a.

46:04Speaker 2:House that's very stereotypical of you exactly.

46:07Speaker 3:And I thought that that's what I needed to do because that was a lot of the conversation. And I saw people around me really trying to buy their houses, and I thought, you.

46:14Speaker 2:Know, I can be in on this too. I've got some cash.

46:17Speaker 3:Yeah, I thought I could actually do this. I looked and I thought, you know, I've got this first home super saver that's been taken away that I didn't realize I had. I have access to this, and maybe I do want to because I don't want to rent forever. So my partner, I looked at a few places, put in a few offers, didn't get anything. Had a wonderful Zella mortgage broker, obsessed, Yes.

46:39Speaker 2:Who did you have? Georgia Gorge, Gorge. That was going to be my answer defending one who Yeah, whoever it was they were. I loved them all, but I just I like knowing.

46:49Speaker 3:Yeah, I truly did. And she was very helpful in helping us understand what was available to us and how to do it. And we were looking for something where it would be compared able to paying rents, so we weren't going to the top of what we could borrow. We were keeping it very achievable. We wanted to pay it off early. We wanted to have it be a smart decision and not just a panic by kind of a moment. Everyone was talking about interest rates had gone a bit lower. This was like maybe end of twenty twenty four, maybe twenty twenty five, and it felt achievable.

47:20Speaker 3:So we looked around. We found a few places. We found a place that was technically knew no one had lived there before, but it wasn't actually off the plan because it was old enough. Also yeah okay, yeah, and we liked it. It would have been a bit more of a drive. It was smaller than where we lived. But at the place that we were renting was really really bad, like they've had to tear it down bad since we moved out kind of thing. So we were sick of the rental life. We've done sharehouses, we've done small places. We were like, okay, this is our starter house.

47:49Speaker 3:Off we go and we signed all the paperwork, got it all going, and then the building and pest came back and it was a bad build. There were so many things that had to be fixed. They all could have been fixed. But we said, well, we're not buying a fixer upper. We're not that couple who are buying something to renovate and flip it.

48:09Speaker 2:We want somebody that's comfortable.

48:11Speaker 3:Yeah, it's not for us. And so we had to go through a lot of back and forth with the real estate because they were not accepting us with drawing even though we had the condition of the contract. We were within our right to do so. The building and pest was written perfectly, our conveyed.

48:26Speaker 2:It was fun to member this.

48:28Speaker 3:It's me yeah, oh yeah you it's the Mojo Dojokrsa house.

48:33Speaker 2:It is the Mojo dojah Krza house. Just for everybody playing along at home. I was like, what is going on? This gorgeous couple sent us a box of treats that said like the Mojo Jojo Kasa house on it, and you sent Georgia the cutest letter being like, thank you for helping us to buy our Mojo Jojo Krza house. And then Georgia a couple of weeks ago it is like they no longer own the Mojo Jojo Karsa house.

49:01Speaker 3:It's gone. And it was a nice way to think about it and we'll say for people like get.

49:04Speaker 2:It really did turn into Ken's house.

49:06Speaker 3:Huh, it was bad horses everything.

49:08Speaker 2:But also I'm just so glad that you had the ability in your contract to have subject to building and pest and subject of finance, because when people don't put those in and they're just really optimistic, they're like, it'll be fine. Like sometimes it's not time. And as you experienced, sometimes even when it's in your contract, people are still like, oh no, like you can make it work. Money diarist, you should make it work. You should do X or Y or z, and you just go, don't bully me into this. This is not what I signed up for.

49:42Speaker 2:And like you would have got all your deposit back because of that clause.

49:45Speaker 3:Right, absolutely, absolutely we got it all back. And they were really stringing out and the only thing that actually.

49:51Speaker 2:Yeah, because they knew that there wouldn't be another buyer. They knew that once you were lost, trying to convince somebody else to purchase that house was just not gonna.

50:02Speaker 3:And they were still they really knew that we were first home buyers. They were really putting the pressure on us that it had to happen, that we'd already agreed. The only thing that got it backed out at the time was that the real estate agent accidentally ceased our conveyancer on an email where he basically admitted, this place is bad. What am I going to tell these people to get to sign the contract?

50:23Speaker 2:Yeah I didn't know that part. That is diabolical in the best way.

50:27Speaker 3:Yeah. It was awesome. And our conveys us she was such a boss, so she was just like, oh, I guarantee you your money will be back by the end of the week after this, and it was that.

50:37Speaker 2:No, we had a separate car, we had a separate conveyancer, but also still an icon. I just Laylor, who was my conveyancer, would have loved every second of that. And I'm sure your conveyancer was just like, no, no, no, this is why I get to do what I do.

50:51Speaker 3:She had called me that morning and said, you're going to need to get a lawyer because they're not going to let it drop. We're going to have to take it to court. And then two hours later she called me and said, check your emails. You won't believe what they've done.

51:00Speaker 2:Oh I love live, Oh yes, and you know what I say, good things having to good people.

51:08Speaker 3:Look, it cost us in all the things that it costs you to buy a house, right in paying the fees to get it all sussed out. It cost me in that I didn't know and I know now that once you withdraw for the first time, super save a scheme. If you give it back, firstly you can withdraw it and hold it for a little while. It's like a year, and then extension if you want, if you want to buy again, if you decide you're not going to buy and you put it back, you can never withdraw it. Yes, so I have put it back since okay, which means I can never withdraw it. But basically, going through that whole process taught us that we could buy a house if we want it. And again, it sounds very boogie, but it's one of those things where I think that we needed to know that it was possible, to know that it was something we didn't want to do, and when we were going through the whole process and really understanding what buying a house looks like, but then also what having a house looks like and the ongoing costs.

51:55Speaker 3:But also for us, we're both people who like to travel, We like to move around a lot we're currently in, but we might not stay here forever. For us, it wasn't the freedom that we needed in our lives, even though it did have the potential for financial freedom down the track. And instead it was nice to sit down and go, well, actually, do you want to do this again? And my partent was like, I don't think I do, And I said I don't think I do either. This is really isn't what we want. And yes, that was colored by the fact that it was a really bad day, like.

52:24Speaker 2:Yeah, brilliant, it's help for me to be able to say, let's not do this again.

52:30Speaker 3:Yeah, And that really helped me with actually my investing goals because I went, Babe, you're not going to have a house. How are you going to pay for accommodation when you're older? What are you going to do? So that's what are we going to do here? So yeah, oh I love that.

52:42Speaker 2:Yeah, all right, that's obviously something that you can't ensure for. This is going to be a great segue through that meanful thank you. It's also far more effective when you don't point out that you're trying to segue but do you have personal insurances? If so, what are they? How does that work?

52:59Speaker 3:Yes, I have seen how Bessie is at sky Wealth. Oh you have time, because I have.

53:06Speaker 2:Do you know what? At some point someone's going to go Victoria. I am convinced that you only pick people who have seen sigh wealth like money dost did we ask you?

53:15Speaker 3:You absolutely did not. You absolutely did not know.

53:17Speaker 2:Like it just happens to be that our people all have great days.

53:21Speaker 3:I do feel like it's almost like being in the Girl Scouts where you start listening and you get your first badge where you just like, oh, get your Shares's code, and then you get your next badge where you've gone to like sky Wealth, and then you get a badge when you've gone to Zella and collecting the badges.

53:33Speaker 2:Do you know what? I should start making badges. I'm going to stand out badges. Thank you. I love that. I'm also going to start selling cookies.

53:41Speaker 3:I'm like both, I've got the Sweet Tree Provider, so I'll hook you upe exactly.

53:45Speaker 2:I love this. I love this. So all of that is sorted and settled. And how was that a priority to you? Because I feel like so many people they want their badge, but they always put off getting their badge, it was I think.

53:59Speaker 3:I have like a really nice motivational moment basically because I reached out to a financial advisor and sky Wealth in the same kind of week. I really took that hyper focus and just ran with it and sort of said what can we get done? And was really helpful because I had been talking about at the time, I was still full time employed, but I had been talking about going to contract or casual and so they were really helpful when I had transitioned. I had started the process with them when I was in my full time job, and then as I transitioned, they were able to change the quote for me, and so I have life insurance with them. And I also because of the way that I was working, and I will be coming up for my yearly review, so it'd be nice to go over it with them again. Because of the way I was working, I didn't qualify for income protection because my income was it was about to fix. Yeah. Yeah, so they explained to me, which I think was really nice. The education piece of it all. They helped me understand I have trauma insurance, so when different things happen, I'm entitled to different payouts depending on what things happen.

54:58Speaker 2:And they probably bumped your trauma up because you have no income protection and kind of made sure that you had policies like your life insurance policy. They've probably ensured that you can potentially claim on it for terminal diagnosis as well, which obviously is not something we want to have to talk about. But that's why it's important to not just take the first answer, and because so many people might have been in your situation and been like, I can do it myself, and you go, yeah, great, like you're a smart individual. I have no doubt you could go through this process yourself. But so many of us just stop when we get a decline that says, oh no, sorry, you can't have income protection. And then you go, right, well, I'm absolutely up the creek without a paddle, and there are just so many things that we can do that put you in the best possible position. Still, I mean, your advisor probably would have said, money Diarist, we would love for you to have income protection, and if your circumstances change, please call us some more try and implement that. But he's what we're going to do instead.

55:54Speaker 2:I love that they've done that, money Diarist, that's a good money habit. What's your best money?

55:59Speaker 3:Haveit my best money habit? I think it's just looking at my money. And I know this is a slippery slope, Okay, So I don't want to look at it too much. I don't want to become fixated on it. But the more I see it, the more I like it, and the more I care about it. And it's just understanding. As somebody who wanted to avoid money a lot, it's just becoming more familiar with it. And I think too, because I know my money in that you know, I know how much I pay for rent, I know how much I pay for bills, I know how much it costs me to exist. Because I know that number, it means that when I'm looking to buy something new, I'm already thinking about is this more expensive than last time?

56:39Speaker 3:How can I get this cheap out? What can I do? And so then everything else flows on from there, So the comparative shopping, the shop backs, the points, hacking, like the everything that.

56:47Speaker 2:Leads you to be clear. Like I always had in my head that you know, when I'm out of debt, I won't have to you know, shop on Facebook, Marketplace, or when I'm out of debt, and I have money, I won't have to always look for things on sale, and like I remember just like telling myself this narrative of like, you know, when I'm in a better financial position, this is what my life will look like, my queen, I'm not paying full price? Still, Have I got the money in the bank at the moment, Yes, And I'm so grateful I do. And that's actually where I would like it to stay. I am not paying full price if I don't have to. Like it's now instead of being something I have to do, it's something I get to do. And it's like a game. It just got better, I.

57:30Speaker 3:Think because I know it, and because I'm a crossee. It's knowing what all the dollars. And I think one of the things that stuck with me from listening to the podcast when I was starting to get on top of my money, it was the whole giving every dollar a job, because it felt really scary, firstly to spend money, but also saving money. I was like, what's it for? I don't know, And so when it was for a house it made sense. When now it's when it's for investing, it makes sense. Even now when I'm hesitant to spend I'm a buckets person. I have my bucket and that's the job of the dollars. So when I have to spend for something, you know might all have been wondering around.

57:58Speaker 3:Here is my greatest liability. So when it's time to buy him things, he has his little college fund and that's what the money is for. So it feels okay to spend that. Yeah, we call it the college fund. I'm obsess So that's been really helpful and knowing that as well. The other thing I think that is actually really really helpful is that my partner and I have very separate finances, Like we don't grocery shop together. Everything is sep Yeah.

58:19Speaker 2:And you live together. Yes, how do you not grocery shop together if you live together? Like, who's buying the olive oil?

58:26Speaker 3:Well, I've lucked out because he's been doing it lately. That is a money win for me.

58:30Speaker 2:That's the biggest money we ever.

58:33Speaker 3:Yeah, we don't cook together. We kind of share food, but not really. And it's actually really nice because one we have different like dietary preferences. Two, it's one lesson to worry about in your day. You don't have to check in with someone or go you're home for dinner, so I make leftovers. What I do, what I have to take care of. And I think that already is a money win because it means that we don't get into the habit of going, well, I can't be bother cooking, but it's my turn, so I'm going to buy something.

58:56Speaker 3:And it means that we go halves on takeaway when we do want takeaway. And it means that if I'm having a cheap week, I can eat Ramen three days in a row and no one's going to tell me off.

59:04Speaker 2:So it's really I'm really happy for you, really nice.

59:07Speaker 3:Never work in my household, never, But that's like, that's the beauty of our circumstance in that, you know, we work, travel a lot with separate individual people who like can make that work. We don't have kids, and so it's really nice to just I think we understand our lifestyle so much that we can optimize our money in the love it.

59:24Speaker 2:I love it and like, yeah, when I say, oh my gosh, that would never work for me, like it's just so cool that it works for you. That's I promise, not coming from judgment. It's good. But like I feel like as time goes on, and like life changes and should you decide to change your life circumstances or like you had children, like it obviously changes again because I'm consistently thinking, Okay, what's for dinner? And I think that's why I am so obsessed with Marley Spoon, because it's taken that mental load away. But I'm also just thinking about the next meal I have to cook because I have a kid who eats food now and it needs to be or from my perspective, I want it to be purposeful. I want it to be nourishing. I don't want him to live the way I was living before I had him, which is I will just eat toast again.

1:00:09Speaker 2:Like and that's not because I couldn't afford it, don't get me wrong, but I'm just such a creature of convenience, and like I get so distracted by work and so distracted by what I do that like food was never the priority. Yeah, and like even now my husband and I think it's such a win. And I think that you would like this, such a win when there's leftovers in the fridge, not for us, but oh my goodness, we can feed the leftovers to the kid. He's got a good meal, Steve and I will eat toast like we got out of jail for free. Like that's a win sometimes when we're really busy, but also like budget win, like we don't do that, Like even when we were younger, it's your night to cook. Oh, you have to go pick something up, Like we'd both be like, well, what are you feeling? What's in the fridge? Like we were happy to kind of eat whatever's there. Don't get me wrong, I love it uber eats, love it, but it was never the default. Like the default was what's quick and how do I get it cooked and done and on the table in record time?

1:01:09Speaker 3:For me looking back as well, I didn't cook a lot or have very good food growing up, so it was never a priority. But what it's meant now is that because I'm the one who cooks for myself, it's like, well that's something I think I'm gonna like, I'm gonna have a go at cooking it. I cook a lot more than I used to. I'm happy to try something new and it doesn't matter because no one else Like if I'm cooking and he's around, I'll be like, hey, do you want some of this? To you want to try its? He's like yeah, he's like no, if we're doing different appetite, so trying to eat in a different way for a little while, or you know, we'll cycle through the meal boxes sometimes and he'll have leftovers from his Miley spoon and he'll be like, do you want a bit of this? No worries. So it's nice to feel like we're making our own decision in that regard too, and then being able to like enjoy the extra bits together.

1:01:50Speaker 2:Oh totally. And like just talking about food still, if I want to change my diet, it's like a whole house conversation because like, well, if I don't want to eat those things for dinner, or I want to do something else. And this was really bad when I was going through a period of time where I had heaps of intolerances and my gut was really unhealthy and really unhappy, and I was like, oh, I'm cutting out gluten, which then impacted what I was cooking for my husband like that. Yeah, that's just a lot of mental energy that you don't have.

1:02:18Speaker 3:Yeah, don't need it.

1:02:20Speaker 2:So what are you not so good at? What is your worst money habit?

1:02:22Speaker 3:My worst money habit I think it is still being hesitant to spend on things that really just just spend it and be done with it. A little bit. Yeah, Okay, it frustrates me, which I think is why it's a bad habit, because it don't make me feel good. It's not like a bad one where I'm like, I'll go to Mandey breathes, but I still feel kind of good about it a little bit. This is like a really frustrating one. So for example, you know, I had a friend come over. We were going to do a little movie day, and I was like, cool, we'll look for the film. It wasn't on a streaming platform and we could buy it on Prime. It's like five bucks. And clearly, as we've established it this money diary, I can afford five bucks. But I was like, oh, but that's like why would I do that? And how Dad and I got really frustrated about having to spend that and spoiler a lot. I should have just looked harder because it was on YouTube for free, but I had to like, it's not the point, thank you. I had to tell myself, like, this is a very normal thing to pay for. This is a very nice afternoon. You're going to have and this is not something that you need to worry about.

1:03:19Speaker 3:It's five dollars and it's okay.

1:03:20Speaker 2:It wasn't you in your home on your own. God, I just want to watch this movie. And then you're just like individually like buying heaps of movies. Yeah, that way, Like I get that, I really do get that. And I think that goes back to your money story, where you don't feel like that's acceptable.

1:03:37Speaker 3:Actually, that's a really good point. That's a great connection. I hadn't quite gone as like full into and I think that's exactly it. It's those little things where I sometimes have the tendency to feel disappointed that I spent it, but then I look at it and I'm like, no, it's okay. This is why I think giving a dollar job helped, because it was in your budget for your entertainment for the month, it was in your budget for spending time with your friends. It was in all these things you were allowed to do that enjoy it and move on.

1:04:00Speaker 2:Yeah, And I think that that's where we do sometimes need to go, Oh, this small thing, it's so annoying, like and you don't second guess it. Those small things are usually the things that are coming from your money story, because the bigger things are the things that you've actively tackled, because like you probably haven't sat down and be like, oh, the little like incidental things are the things that are actually getting me wound up the most? Where's that coming from?

1:04:23Speaker 2:What's going on? And like too many times I've seen it come back and people say exactly that, And then I go, hey, when you're growing up and you didn't have much money, did your mum maybe yell at you because like it's not just five dollars money diarist, it adds up and they go, wow, how do you even get the tone right? And like it really does come from the little voice in your head that's probably crucifying you for something that now is so easy and not a problem, but used to be a really big problem. Yeah, definitely, I've loved this. Thank you so much. I would ask you, you know, now that we've spoken today, what grade would you give your money habits? But at the start you gave yourself an A and I just don't think we could go from there. And you really justified it well, you said, because I'm making good decisions and doing what I can, and I will still learn but like, I'm doing literally everything that I can, and I just I think that's so beautiful. What would it look like if you were an A plus today? Though?

1:05:22Speaker 3:I think it would be a little bit of a clear next goal. So, like I said, I'm about to hit my investment goal, so then it's understanding what is the next one and planning for that so I don't have a little limbo in the middle where I'm like, what is this for? What's going on? I think that it would be nice to have a bit more of a plan timeline wise, and that's what I'm starting to come around to, to go, Okay, what does this look like in terms of you know, if we are talking about retirement, which is wild, what does that look like?

1:05:56Speaker 3:And how do I break that down into a more manageable timeline to do that?

1:06:00Speaker 2:Yeah?

1:06:01Speaker 3:And what else do I want to achieve as well? Because I think that a lot of those milestones like marriaging kids and buying a house, taking a few of those off my plate is very nice and going this isn't align with the things that I want, but that also leaves space for like, well, what do I want on my plate instead?

1:06:19Speaker 2:Now there are some more possibilities. Yeah, there's space on the plate for another side. Which one are we're going to pick up?

1:06:24Speaker 3:Exactly?

1:06:25Speaker 2:That's so exciting, money Dirist. I have loved this money story and just getting to know you, and you are clearly very vibrant, very bright, very switched on, Like I'm obsessed, and I'm just so grateful that you're in my community and that I got to chat with you and share this journey with our community, because as unrealistic as two thousand dollars a week is for so many people, like how motivating. Yeah, thank you for giving us that.

1:06:50Speaker 3:Thank you for helping me get it obsessed.

1:06:53Speaker 2:Oh I wish we had more time today, but thank you so much. It has been an absolute privilege.

1:06:58Speaker 3:Thank you.

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