She's On The Money - 121026 Money Diary

Episode Date: October 11, 2026

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My name is Natasha Bamblit. I'm a proud First Nations woman and I'm here to acknowledge country. T. Glynan Ganya. Neenakakakya. Neenakakai, you know bina, yankarumiga, Duma'uakkeni to Waman Daman, Imalan. Mubangada, bama in a nyanwaka, khananakramja, Wutanana. Hello beautiful friends. We gather on the lands of the Aboriginal people. We thank, acknowledge and respect the Aboriginal 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. Oh, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast that lets you be purvy about other people's money stories, for educational purposes, of course. Welcome back to another one of our money diaries brought to you by our friends at SkyWalth, where I got the absolute privilege of sitting down with one of our incredible, credible She's on the Money community members to talk 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 only just started working full time this year after draining all my funds on exchange last year and I earn around $75,000. I have an emergency fund of $6,000 and $3,000 to cover moving out of home in September. I'm currently saving, in quote marks, rent, across moving costs, new furniture, and bulking up long-term goals, trying to reduce the shock of moving out. My big goal at the moment is a house deposit. I have $13,500 in a savings account and around $12,000 eligible for the first home super saver scheme. Currently, I'm saving $300 a fortnight. I'm trying to get into investing and I have around $3,000 invested and I'm aiming to increase it by $200 a fortnight.

on top of rent, I spend around $750 on living expenses, which I'm trying to decrease as my main expense right now is entertainment. Money diarist, you're only 23. Welcome to the show. Hi, lovely to be here. My queen. What? Like, reading through that, it just gets better and better. And also, I just want to tell our listeners something. And, like, I hope that they pick this up, but I don't ever learn about our money diarist before jumping on a money diary. And I don't mean that in a rude way, my love. I mean it in a way where I get to have a really wholesome, authentic, organic conversation with you about what you're doing, where you're at, how it works.

So like I purposefully, like my girls at work, so Kiara always puts in my calendar an invite. So it's like an event. And then in the event description is your money diary. So I don't see it until I open the diary. to literally read it out. And for me, it even gets better and better. Like, I keep being like, oh my goodness. Wait, what? She's only 23. Queen, welcome to the show. And thanks for wanting to share with us. Yeah, no, of course. I'm excited to share. So tell me, if I asked you to give yourself a money grade from A through to F, what would it be? Maybe like a B minus C plus.

Sit down. Okay. We're going to have a little fighty fight at the end of this, I fear. Now, Money Darris, my favorite part of the show. Can you tell me? me a little bit more about your money story and the things that have impacted it. Yeah, I think one thing that really impacted it was that my first little job at a cafe, my mom gave me some really good advice. And she's like, why you're at home and you don't have any bills, save at least half your income into your bank account. So I did all of that throughout high school, bought my first little car with some help from my parents, which I still have. I'm having that car until it dies. Yeah, good girl, good girl. That's what we like to hear. And then I,

kept saving, didn't know what I was really saving for. And then, yeah, I decided to go spend all my money on three international trips. Okay, but that's your money values. Like, I'm not judging. Don't laugh. Did you love them? I love them. Would not take them back for the world. Okay. So what's the problem with this? Someone is spending their money in line with their values. What? I know. It was very competing views where I was like really wanted to get into the property market, but also really wanted to like achieve all these goals that I had to let go travel, live overseas. So it was hard. And I still kind of struggle with that sometimes that that's what I picked. Okay, but let me contextualize this for a hot second. The second you have a mortgage,

there's no flexibility in that. Don't get me wrong, like a home ownership, if that is a goal of yours, like it's my entire career to get people into their first homes. Like I run a mortgage broken business. So like I should be like, money, Dyer, come and see us yesterday. But you're not going to have as much flexibility in your money as when you get a mortgage. So if you're going to do travel and stuff, why not get it out of the way first so that once you do have a mortgage, you don't feel restricted or like you're missing out on the life that you really wanted to live. Yeah. That's a good thing. It is a good thing. But yeah, and then I've come back, what, June of last year, I think I had $1,000 in my bank account. And I was like, let's get back onto the savings train,

as I like to call it. And yeah, I wasn't working as I finished up my uni degree and then got a part-time job just in a warehouse before I started, yeah, full-time work in February of this year. And I've just been, yeah, trugging along. I love this. So talk to me about why when your mum said set yourself up when you had your first cafe job. Why did you take that advice? I'm not saying it's bad advice. It's fantastic advice. But like, my dad gave me similar advice when I got my first cafe. job and do you think I listened to him? I'm always someone that likes a good plan. So from this, I was like, yep, I have wanted to always own my own home from like a very young age. So I was like, yeah, I want to start saving all my money, making sure it was getting good interest and like going

with that. And then I tried, some of my investments are quite old, actually. You got me into investing a couple years ago. Stop here. But then I had my traveling took priority. I had good returns. I think I was at a 100% return at one point. Excuse me. In what? Sorry, sorry, sorry. You can't be like, oh, I think I got a 100% return and then just like walk away from that conversation. Sorry, it was in NASDAQ. It's like a better shares in tech. Oh, the NASDAQ. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay. I'll get into that after. We've got an investing question coming out. Then I got really into like looking into certain schemes because I was like, what else can I do with my money. I had a loss in cryptocurrency, so I got scared of investing. And that's how I fell onto

the first homeowners super saver scheme and put some money in there because you get the returns as well. And I saw that as a very low risk way of investing. I was like, it's still growing. I don't have to make any decisions about this. And I get some tax benefits as well. Yes. And it's like free money. Yeah. Like I love free money. And it's funny because so many people will ride into the show or ask questions and I can never give advice. Like I don't know if that scheme is going to work for you in your personal situation. So if someone messages in, hey, V, should I do this? Well, it's like, I don't know, like, in the nicest possible way. But what I can share with you is that most first homeowners coming through my mortgage-broking business, Zella, are using the first home super saver scheme

because it kind of just makes sense for their situation to put money into super and then pull it out for their first home and get some tax benefits along the way. Like, that's kind of sexy. Yeah, it was very, very attractive when I was looking into it. So I put some lump sums and now I save regularly into it and keep track of it. Good girl. Oh, my goodness. You're only 23, but you're setting yourself up.

So why are you so aggressive at 23 to set yourself up for your first home? Like, sorry, lots of 23-year-olds. They're like, no, I'm going to wait until I'm in my 30s to care about this stuff. Like, where's this mindset coming from? It honestly came from my mom and my step. dad. They're very open about money with me and we've talked about it quite often. And I see what they've done where they've bought properties and done slight renovations and then sold it out of good profit. So just seeing what they've done, I've been really inspired and I'm like, I really want to own my own

property. And they've also helped me along the way with like what I should be doing and like what, like my mum's the one that really got me into like looking for schemes and stuff like that. So icon. I love this. All right. So tell me, money drives. What you? you do for work and how much money do you earn? So I work as a law graduate and I earn about $75,000 plus super. Oh, that's good for a grad role at 23. Like very nice. All right. So tell me, right now, you've said, look, V, I'm saving for a first time. But is that your big money goal? Is anything else you're working towards at this point in time? Yeah, well, I'm moving out at the end of next month. So I've just been saving. I've kind of restricted myself where the amount that I'd pay for

towards rent, I'm storing away so I can't touch it, so I'm kind of like preparing myself because I'm going to buy some new furniture. I have to pay the bonds. So I've just been preparing for that. But other than that, yeah, just to buy house. So tell me about moving out of home. Is this your first time moving out of home? Yes, I lived overseas temporarily while I was on exchange, but yeah, this is my first time moving out of home. I'm quite nervous. What are you nervous about? I don't know. I'm moving it with some housemates and I know. I think just I'm scared about like having so many fixed costs that I've never had before. Yeah, and that's why I said it's good that you traveled before you're like even thinking about a mortgage. Can I be

real pervy and ask if you're 23 and you're moving out with housemates? Firstly, why are you moving out? And secondly, how did you find your housemates? Like, is this like a group of friends going out on their own or like, mm-hmm. So I moved out mainly just because my, where I live is a little bit far from my work. It takes me about an hour to get in. So, and I just want to be closer to like where all my friends are living and work. I just feel like I spend a lot of my time commuting and also like spending money on fuel. And then I met them on housemates, flatmates, sorry, just like a website. Yeah, cool. And do you just, I've never done that. So I've always had the privilege of moving in with like a girlfriend and for a very long time I lived with my best friend. And you know what,

Big Flex didn't ruin our relationship. We still are best friends. So how did you decide, all right, I'm going to move out with some housemates that I've never met before? Because that, no, low-key, gives me so much anxiety. It was a bit of like, I didn't really have any friends that were looking to move out at the same time. They were all quite comfortable in their leases. And I was just a bit like, I really want to move out right now. And I live by the motto that I just need to make myself happy. So I just do whatever I want.

Cool. Oh, I love that. And so you've found these housemates and is it a pre-existing house and you're just moving into like a room? Moving into just like the room, which is good. Made sure I protected myself like proper lease agreement, bond to the RTA. So kind of set myself. Yeah, legit. But tell me, what do you pay per week in rent? What's that going to look like? Um, $320 a week plus bills. Mostly because I have the master bedroom. So you got the nice room. Did you get a little onsweet? Yeah. Oh, she's living. Walking robe. I was like, if I'm paying all this.

money to live out of home. I'm going to enjoy it. 100%. I'm surprised that if you're moving into a pre-existing house, they let you have the master bedroom. Like, I would gatekeep that. I think because it's a bit more expensive than what they're paying. Yeah, they're smart. They're like, we don't want this. We've lived out of home for a while and it is not worth it. But you live love laugh. Money, Darius, let's go to a quick break on the flip side. I want to ask you more about your investments, about your thoughts on debt, personal insurances at 23 and what your best and worst money habits are so guys don't go anywhere. All right, Money Darius, we are back.

And you're like a young little pocket rocket. I can just tell that you're like you, obviously, our community can't see you, but like you're beaming. Like you just look like sunshine. Like you're the type of person that people want to know. So aside from all of that and me arguably just stroking your ego, can you tell me about how you made your first investment and why? So I made my first investment through a platform called Steak.

And you very much inspired me. I was listening to your podcast. I read your books and I was a bit like, I was very scared, but I made it. I kind of just had to make a little bit of a jump of faith. Leap of faith, that's better. I was a bit nervous because I lost some money, not very much, in cryptocurrency. And I just did a lot of research into like what was going to have high opportunity growth. So I went with some ETFs.

So I mentioned it before, but I invested in mostly better shares. So like NASDAQ, and then I just invested in F100, which is a relatively new ETF, which is like top. I think it's in British stocks. And then I have one meta stock, which is in the US market, unsure as to what motivated me towards that one. But you thought it was a good idea. Can I be pervy and ask more about this crypto decision? Yes. So you're 23.

I'm assuming you were much younger when you bought the crypto. Yeah. What possesses a quite young person to make their first investment into cryptocurrency? Because that's like, if we look at the risk return chart and like I know that that's probably not what your brain was at the moment. Like we look at the risk return chart and it kind of goes cashes down the bottom and then it kind of gets a little bit further up and it might go fixed interest and bonds and then it will go property and then it will go Australian shares and then international shares. And then off the top of the chart is cryptocurrency. And a lot of people would go, Avi, I'm not comfortable with a bond. I'm not comfortable with like fixed. Do you know what?

We're going to do crypto. What happened? How did you, how did you make that decision? Honestly, my stepdad was dabbling in it a little bit. And I was like, I think I can do this. I didn't put a, I think I only lost like $300. Yeah. Okay. So like an investing education cost. Yeah, and I didn't do much research. I was like 18. I just picked ones with fun names. And for a while, it was doing quite well. And then I just watched it plummet.

And I was like, oh, okay, I'll just take the loss and do this again for a while. I feel like that's fair. But also like, if you're going to have a strategy, one with fun names when it's crypto, like, fine. Fine. So how did you pivot from crypto and feeling that sense of loss? because you would have been like, oh my goodness, like I've lost money in this. Like, that's not good. Why was your mindset I'm going to go invest in something else as opposed to investing is bad? I just did a lot more research and was looking at like realizing how risky cryptocurrency was.

And I was really into looking at my like superannuation. And I was going, well, if super invests in a lot of stocks, they must be a lot more stabbler. So I was just doing a lot of research. And from that, that's how I ended on like, ETS because I was like, for what I'm wanting, this seems to be the most stable option. Yeah, totally understand. So I kind of just like, rewired my brain into going, I kind of made a bit of a silly mistake and did very high risk and that's why I got burnt. But if I do it this way, it will be better, hopefully. Okay, so she's smarter than the average bear guys. Like, listen to that. That is words coming out of a 23 year old. Like, be so for real. If I was on money diaries at 23, firstly I wouldn't have been on money diaries at 23

not because I wouldn't have been invited but because I would never have ever wanted to talk about my money circumstance because at that age I was still lying to my housemates about being in debt. Like my housemates thought I wasn't in debt and I was in significant debt. So that was really sexy for me

but hearing that coming out of you, I'm like you are set up for success, my queen. Tell me with that in mind, do you have any debts? I only have my hextet. That's it about but 74,000. And part of that was when I went on exchange,

I took a loan out against my hex as well. So totally worth it. No, no, no. I did the same thing because I started in France for a while there, which was like the time of my life. Oh, I went to France too. We're in France for you. I was in Greno.

I was in Paris. Ah, so cute. I loved it. I was like down south, which was really cool because I'm a very big snow bunny. So I got to go to the snow every weekend. I will say it was probably not as like sexy as Paris. It was a little bit more like study town because in Grenobe, it's like,

there's like a lot of universities and like if you don't speak fluent French, which I'm only okay at French, like they pretend they don't understand you there. Whereas I think in Paris they're a little bit more like, oh, here you go, we'll help you out a little bit. I went over speaking no French. Oh, that's so good. Did you pick it up quickly? little bit. Like I can I could order. That was that highlight of my achievements. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I can order a pan of chocolate. That's all good. That's all I need. And a cafe lard because I like,

I remember when I first got there and it'd be like, yeah, like, this is going to be easy. I'll just order a latte. And then I got a cup of hot milk. And I was like, oh, you need to order the cafe part, which is coffee bill. Whoops. Anyway, money diarist. Have you got a plan to smash down your hex or are you on the train of like out of sight, out of mind, I've got bigger goals? At the moment, I'm kind of just letting it do its thing. I think it'll be more of a decision because this year will be my first year actually starting to make repayments on it. So I at least want to pay the indexation down each year. So I might top it up if the government amount isn't enough for that, if that makes sense. Yeah, very fair. I feel like that makes sense.

But then also I'm like even if it does grow a little bit like the cash rate. is so high right now. I don't know. Like there's pros and cons. I've been re-reviewing whether I pay mine down because everything has changed. And I've been like, yeah, you know what? No, like I'd prefer it to go into my mortgage offset and offset that mortgage. But, you know, I feel like I'm always revisiting it being like, I don't like that there's debt still sitting there. Ew. No, thank you. All right. Money, Darius. Tell me, you're 23. Have you considered personal insurance? I have personal insurances. Okay. In my superannuation, as of this week. As of this week. Oh, you were like, I'm going on money, Dari's. I better get my stuff together. Is that what's happening here?

No, I just couldn't figure out how to do it for ages and then I finally figured out how to do it inside my super. Just because I'm young, I don't think I need, and I was quite happy with the coverage within my super just to go with that one, especially because my work puts extra contributions. higher than the 12%. Okay, that's very nice. Thank you, workplace. Yeah, so I'm a bit like, well, that extra percent can cover my insurances. I love that. So I was a bit like making my money work a little bit better for me.

I was like, oh, I've got a bit more money in there. I'll just get them to take it out of there for me. Thank you very much. I love this. You're a smart cookie. All right. Now, I feel like, I feel like we have to have an argument after this because you didn't give yourself a very good money grade in comparison to where I think you are. for your age, but let's learn a little bit more. So tell me, off the top of your head,

what do you think is your best money habit? Oh, I think just making my money work for me. I'm always changing my bank accounts to have like the highest interest. And I'm trying to get into micro investing at the moment. So using like the everyday roundup feature in my bank accounts and putting that into some micro investing. I also put all my 10 cents from all my cans in there as well. Oh, smart. So it's actually like not just going to waste. Like it's, you've made money out of literally rubbish and then it's made you money and that money at some point will make you money. Oh, love. Yeah. Just try to make every couple cents count, I guess. I think that's really smart. I've been thinking recently because my son is only two, right? And I'm like, how am I going to teach this

kid about money in a way that aligns to my values and aligns to, you know, him actually being able to value money? I'm thinking maybe we can do the like can collect thing and then he can invest that money or like, but how do you even make it sexy? Do you enjoy that? I, what I do is, well, I take a can of soft drink every day into work to have with my lunch and I just bring it home with me. And then I just have like a container in the garage where I store it all. And then the place where I do, I don't even have to sort it. Like I literally just drop off the bag and they count it for me.

Excuse me? That's so good. So it's really easy. And like the last time I went, I think I got like $26. So I just store them until I got a car ride full. Yeah, money win. Love. All right.

Money, guys. Let's flip the script. What's your worst money habit? I'm really bad at being able to justify purchases. Like, because I go, oh, but I don't buy a lot. So then I just spend money on frivolous things that are like quite small amounts. And like that's what I was saying in my like my little thing I sent through that like entertainment is one of my worst expenses because I like going out with my friends and seeing shows.

So I just justify it. Because I'm like, yeah, but I need to enjoy my life. I mean, I think that's a really good justification. I want to know a little bit more about what entertainment means to you. Because like, we were talking about this in my team the other day. And one of the girls was like, yeah, I go to the movies. And then we were talking about how expensive the movies is becoming. But then I was also like, but girl, you're doing that once a month.

Like, who cares? Like, you're still catching up with your mates and you don't even go out for brunch ever, what would your total entertainment look like? So at the moment, it sits at about $350 for things like eating out. A week or a month? A fortnight. Okay, a fortnight. Sorry, just asking for context. No, that's okay. And so yeah, it covers like mostly like eating out, hanging out with my friends, stuff like that. But then I also spend, I think it's $150 a fortnight. I put into like bigger things. And that's more like a savings account. So it's like if I want to go see a $200 concert, that'll come out of that one.

So you've planned for those bigger expenses. Yeah. So I don't have to touch my savings accounts. Hold on. So make me make this make sense. You said my worst habit is entertainment. And then we dive further in. You're like, but I budget for it.

It goes into a separate account. It's something that's in line with my values. Tell me why this is making you feel so guilty when you have such a a good little strategy and plan around it and you're not eating into any of your savings to do these things. I don't know. I think just because I say for it, I let myself buy things that I don't need. Very short term gratification. If that makes sense. I'll buy something for $7 that I don't actually want, but I'm like, but I have the money there. But then I use it once and then I never touch it again. So what would be the perfect outcome here is that you just don't spend money or is it you maybe putting

some time between you and that purchase? Because I feel like you're, good with money. So these little purchases, I think, if they're things that you go, Navi, I love it, it sparks joy. But am I hearing that it's not sparking any joy? And you're like, it sparks short-term joy. I have the item. I'm like, yes, I love it. The next day, I'm like, why did I do that? Yeah, okay, okay. Like, I bought the other day, it was $7, like, to use this app. I have not used since. I used it for 10 minutes. Go cancel it right now, right now. You go cancel that, ASAP, but I already have. Yeah, okay, Quinn. I feel like this is really relatable as well because it's like, I want to have

balance, but then also when I go to do it, maybe we need to, even though the money is there, go, if I still want it tomorrow, I can have it. Like implementing like another buffer that's not stopping you from having it because I think that if we become too restrictive, that actually really weighs on our mental health. But putting 24 hours between you and your spending on that account could work. Be like, if I want this $7 item, maybe I can just go and buy it tomorrow. And then most of the time, you won't be bothered because you'll be like, oh, I'm not coming back for Kama tomorrow. Like, I was here today. No, I've definitely been in the situation where I've been too restrictive of my money. So I think that's why I get so frustrated because I used to be so good

at it, restricting it and trying, I'm struggling to find a balance between being restrictive, but also letting myself have things. And that's why I call it a bad habit, because I'm like, I've been on both sides and I'm trying to find a middle ground. Oh my goodness. Oh, okay. So let's just recap. Your money story is quite positive. You've had some really great saving habits. You invested in crypto but somehow learnt from it instead of just being scared off the share market completely. You're saving for your first home whilst also planning to move out. You're 23, so you've got incredible like amounts to fall back on if something did happen. You do invest. You've got to plan around your hex debt, but you don't have any other debt at all.

Again, I need to remind people, 23 and has her personal insurances set up what the heck. Tell me about that grade that you gave yourself at the start. Like, I'm listening back to this person. Do you think that that's a fair grade to put on them? Probably not. I'm just really critical of myself. Exactly. But like, why can't we start talking to ourselves in the same way we would talk to somebody else in our community or talk to a friend?

Like, would you ever be like to your friend? Oh my goodness, you're doing all of this cool stuff. Bad money grade. Probably not. I told me, oh my gosh, you go, go wrong. Thank you. So what type of grade would this person, if it wasn't, you get? I'd be like a B plus. Okay. Why a B plus? What would it take to get this person from a B plus all the way up to an A? Not an A plus, just an A. Probably be a little bit more aggressive in investing.

I'm still a little bit scared. I have learnt from it, but I still am a little bit scared. Like, I'll let money sit in there for quite a while before I invest it because I get really nervous. That seems fair. And, yeah, trying to keep down some of the frivolous things that I spend my money on. I'm just so proud of you, my queen. I am so excited that you're in our community, so excited that you're starting so young.

Like, you are off to a racing start and you're going to be, I don't know, by 40, like which for you right now you're like V that's like literally double my age but like do you know what's terrifying I am closer to 40 than I am 30 today and that is low key terrifying but also I'm not mad um age is a privilege denied to many people so I'm not mad but also like it just feels like life is starting to get away from me so quickly but you're going to be 40 and just like set like my goodness is that something that you think about that you're like I'm working towards my future or are you just like in the moment a bit more where you're like these are just things I want and I'm working towards them like what's your like overarching mindset on this? It's a bit of both. I'm very

big on like planning for the future like you never know what's going to happen tomorrow. But I'm very big on like trying to plan myself up to success. I'd really like to not have to work all the way until I'm like 65. I'd like to retire a little bit earlier. Oh you will with this planning like you absolutely are going to like I have no doubt. I don't see why that wouldn't be completely possible for you. Yeah. Or even if not just I like working. So even just like working part time after a early age would be nice. But then also, yeah, I'm just big on planning for my life. I don't like surprises and I'm really scared of debt. I absolutely terrified of it. So I'm really big on like planning for everything that could possibly happen. So I don't have to go into a debt.

Money Jarrist. You are phenomenal. I am obsessed. Thank you so much for sharing your story and being so open and so cheerful, like at the same time as obviously wanting to protect your anonymity. I wish people could see you because like you're beaming. You just look so friendly and nice and I hope that at some point you and I get to cross paths in real life. But it's been a privilege spending this time with you and getting your money story and just learning a bit more about you. So thank you so much for sharing. No, thank you so much for having me. It's been so far. I'm glad. The advice shared on She's on the Money is generally 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 Sherper Pty-LTD, ABN-649-27708, AFSL 451-289.