She's On The Money - $40K Invested, a $1.7M Property at 26 and Still Scared to Spend Money

Episode Date: September 20, 2026

At 26, this week’s Money Diarist has nearly $40,000 invested, $46,000 in super and has just bought a six-bedroom home on 25 acres with her mum and younger brother. There are horses. There are stables. There’s a riding arena. Honestly, she’s doing pretty well. But the interesting part of this story isn’t actually how much she’s managed to build. It’s how difficult it still feels to spend any of it. She grew up in a financially comfortable family until her parents separated when she was 10. Her father’s financial abuse left her mum working three jobs to keep life as normal as possible for her children. There were nights when there wasn’t enough money for dinner, but her mum somehow managed to turn those moments into childhood memories of going to friends’ houses for tea. As she got older and realised what had actually been happening, money became safety. Birthday money was hidden away for a rainy day. Unplanned purchases could send her spiralling with anxiety. And even now, with an emergency fund, investments and money specifically saved for something she needs, spending it can still feel incredibly uncomfortable. Today she’s a paramedic earning around $90,000 base and almost $130,000 last year with penalties and overtime. She invests $400 a fortnight, salary sacrifices another $200 into super and has just taken on a $1.57 million mortgage with her mum and brother. She’s done an incredible job learning how to save and invest. Now she’s learning that sometimes being good with money also means giving yourself permission to actually enjoy it. SORT YOUR INSURANCE: A big thank you to our partner Skye Wealth for bringing this episode to life. If you're ready to get your insurances sorted, you can learn more about them here.We have a long standing referral partnership with Skye Wealth and only ever partner with people we trust. CHECK OUT THE SOTM INVESTING HUB: Full of our best investing freebies, resources, courses and podcast episodes here. INVESTING FOR BEGINNERS: All our best beginner's investing podcast episodes in one place here.Ready to binge more relatable, inspiring, and downright juicy money stories? Check out our ultimate Money Diaries playlist. Listen now Join our Facebook Group AKA the ultimate support network for money advice and inspiration. Ask questions, share tips, and celebrate your wins with a like-minded crew of 300,000+. And follow us on Instagram for Q&As, bite-sized tips, daily money inspo... and relatable money memes that just get you.  Acknowledgement of Country By Nartarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements. The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs.  Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708,  AFSL - 4451289See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My name is Natasha Bamblett. I'm a proud First Nations woman, and I'm here to acknowledge country. T. Glyniananganya. Neenakakakya. Neenakakana, you know bha, yankai, and imbana. Duma'uagna, Duma'uakka, Ithawakken, Nitaamuakhani,

waqa, khananakrumja, 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. She's on the money. She's on the money. Hello and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast that led you be pervy about other people's money stories for educational purposes of course. Welcome back to another one of our money diaries brought to you by our friends at SkyWalth, 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 have lived in a Scarcity mindset for as long as I can remember. Even as a child, I always set my money from gifts aside

for a rainy day or I gave it to my mum. Unplanned or spontaneous purchases sent me into a spin out of anxiety even though I could afford it numerous times over. Although it's not quite where I'd like to be, my mindset has much improved. With multiple savings account, a solid investment portfolio and a brand new mortgage, which I am in the very privileged position to share with my mum and younger brother, I feel like I finally have a grasp on my money and their team and podcast have had such a positive influence. would love to be able to share a little hope that someone else can relate and not feel so alone. Just a little bit of a heads up and a trigger warning. My early money story does involve some emotional and financial abuse. Money Darius, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me.

Oh my goodness. I'm so excited, but also just like, what do you mean? Your mortgage is shared between your family members, not like a partner or not on your own. That's such a different way of going about it. Yeah, no, we have done things a little bit differently. I'm really glad, though, like, how exciting and how exciting that you want to share that story with me for our community to learn from. So before we dive any further in, I need to know. If I asked you to give your money habits a grade from A through to F, what would it be? I think I'm sitting at a B plus or an A minus. Hey, that's pretty good. I like that out the gates. You're like, I don't know how I feel about money, but I'll say A minus maybe. I'm going to take that one.

Money, diarist, let's dig a little bit deeper. Tell me a little bit more about your money story and the things that have impacted it. All right. So as in the trigger warning, it started off pretty well. So when I was quite young, I had both parents and we were in a high middle class to almost wealthy family. So, you know, they were both quite decent income earners. They had multiple investment properties. We went on holidays. We were sort of spoiled as kids. I got into horses. My brother was into motorbike. Horses. Yeah, okay. Okay, you had money, money, girl. But also, at the time, did you know that? Was that something that you were able to identify? Were you just like, girl, this is just life? Everybody gets a horse, right? Yeah, so I knew sort of that we were loved and that mom wanted us to have what we had, but she never let it get to our heads. So when we had friends over, everything was shared, everything was sort of spread out. It wasn't like a you are privileged. Yeah. It was a you are loved and you have to share this sort of thing. You give a need to take. I love that. I feel like that's something that,

you know, I'm working really hard to instill in my kids and I'm just like, okay, like if you, we're having the daycare fight at the moment, which is like, I want to take this to daycare. And I'm like, well, if you take it to daycare, you have to share it. Like, if it's in a group setting, you have to share it. You don't get to play with your toys in front of another. kid and not share. No, no, if you take it, you share it. Everyone gets the love. Exactly. All right. Tell me a little bit more. When I was about 10, my parents split. And I didn't realize at the time or in that moment, but my father was actually quite financially abusive. So after they separated, he took a lower paying job so that he didn't have to pay as much

child support and didn't, as he put it, have to support our lifestyle. Okay. Yeah. But like what's the difference between, quote, our lifestyle and your obligations as a parent? Oh, I don't know. Don't ask me to explain his mindset. Oh, no.

You know what? I don't want to understand his mindset because we actually, like, we want to learn to not be that, not learn more about that. But just, I'm so sorry because that would have made you feel more like an obligation. where as a child, like, you're just meant to exist. Like, you're meant to just have a nice life and the life that your parents provide for you. Like, oh, my heart. Yeah, no, I was very, very lucky in that.

Mum was amazing. She was fantastic. So she never made us feel like obligation. She worked her butt off, but tried to hide it from us as much as she could. And even though he was doing these things. and he was not looking after us or getting out of any way he could to not support us. Mum never let that sort of go on to us. And she always said it was his problem, was his thing.

She had to work three jobs to support us because he... Oh, mum, you weapon. Oh, she was. He also took all their investment properties with him. And she wouldn't have had any cash to fall back on to hire legal advice to put herself in the best possible position because I think so many times, People are like, well, if you get divorced, it gets split 50-50, not if he's financially abusive and you can't reach for support and actually argue the fact that it's meant to be yours.

No, that's exactly right. And she was too worried about, so he was worried about his finances. This just shows that goes. He was worried about his finances. She was worried about us. And she had a judge, because she was doing it on her own, she had a judge actually say to her, I could make your kids live with him if that's what I. I wanted. Excuse me. And so she basically stopped trying to fight for Annie and all of the investment

properties. Like she was just fighting for us. As soon as she knew she was getting us, she just folded her hands and said, nah, that's it. I got what I wanted. Leave me alone. I love her so much. What a good mom. Oh, she's the best. She's the best. Oh, my goodness. All right, tell me more. tell me more. Okay. So relying on mum, who worked on the three jobs, because of that, she did as much as she could to let us live as close to the lifestyle as we knew. So I was still riding my horses. I was still competing. My brother got into clay target shooting. She worked so, so hard, and there were times where it was rough, but she tried to hide it from us and sort of made them into games or like fun memories almost.

So, you know, there'd be times where she'd struggle to put dinner on our table. And so she'd phone a friend and she'd go, look, this is this situation. I don't have a meal for my kids tonight. Can we come over for dinner? And so it'd be a fun memory where we're going to Friends' houses for dinner. Talk to me. Isn't it crazy looking back being like, wow, that's not how I saw it? And now she's probably told you, oh, did you know that we went to, you know,

Sharon's house on Thursdays because things were a bit tight and Sharon really helped us out. And you're like, that's not how it felt. Like, oh, that's so beautiful. Yeah, no, that's it. I remember the first time I overheard her telling a friend. So she didn't even tell me I would have been close to my 20s at this stage. Still hadn't figured it out. And yeah, she was on a phone conversation talking to one of her new friends who was going

through a similar situation and said, oh, yeah, I used to not be able to put dinner on the table for the kids. And so we'd go to friends' houses. And so you're literally like eaves dropping on your mom's phone call being like, sorry, what? And if you're anything like me, the second your mom got off the phone, you would have been like, excuse me. That's exactly how it happened. I went, I'm sorry, what just happened? What did you just say? Because you just told her this thing, and that doesn't align with my memories.

Yeah, exactly. You did not tell us this when we were kids. Oh, my goodness. And you know why she didn't? Because she was trying to protect the magic of your childhood. That's it. That's a good mama. Oh, she was.

Oh. So what happened? You're going to Friends houses for dinner. You thought it was magic. Your mum was like, thank God I've got a good friendship circle. Oh, yeah. Yeah, no support is definitely needed. She just continued.

Things got sort of a little bit easier. We had some really good neighbours and such that helped us out. She managed to buy a property during this. We got 33 acres. We lived there and your neighbours were a really big help. 33 acres. Hold on. Does that mean you got to have your hawkses at home?

Yes, I got to have my horses at home. It was, yeah. So we had an idea that we were struggling, but not to the point where we were. She did a really good job at looking after us and hiding it from us. Totally. But 33 acres, you've got to have your horses at home. Tell me more. Yeah, no.

We got to have them at home, got to compete, got to work on the farm, do everything I needed to do, work with neighbours. And then as I got older, I was starting to clue in more and more that mum was working these three jobs. She was working very hard, very tirelessly. And even though we were doing things that we wanted to, we were going on our school excursions and such, we weren't necessarily buying the newest things, understandably. We weren't in any subscription. So in my head, things like Foxtel and Netflix and they were rich people level,

and that was like a sign of wealth. Oh, me too. Like growing up if someone had Foxtel, like, and I think it's this pivot, because you're 26, just to give the audience a little bit more context, but you're 26, I'm 35, so there's like nearly 10 years between us. But I feel like this group of like, I guess we call ourselves either like the elder millennials or the first gen Cs, we grew up with like the transition of technology. So like the more expensive technology was like, like so fancy. Like you remember the kids that had like the first iPhones and stuff? You were like, oh my God, like they're rich, rich. Like absolutely not. Whereas now every kid seems to have an iPhone.

I know it's an ongoing financial struggle for a lot of families, but like it seems normal for a kid to have an iPhone. Whereas sorry, that was not. That was not. No, that's just insane to me. Like I was so happy when I got my first flip phone. Oh yeah. And it probably was like secondhand or like or a hand me down or something. Like my first phone I got was a Nokia 3310, which is definitely before your time. And the coolest thing about it was it had snake. It didn't have a camera or anything. Absolutely not. I had snake. And it had, get this, my first year of having a mobile phone, mum and dad were like, we're giving you this in grade seven because you are catching the bus to school. There is absolutely no reason for you to be using this outside of safety. You're going to need

to make $50 credit last the entire year. Yeah, right. And I did. Yeah, well done. Because that's all, mom and dad are like, absolutely not. Like, this is a safety device. Yeah, this is not for fun. No.

And then I discovered one sent text to my friends. And then it was really downhill from now. Anyway, tell me, your friends had Foxtel. Yes. So they had Foxtel. And so it was that level where I'm like, okay, we are struggling. I just built up more of an awareness. And so, you know, you had the girls that wore the fancy pants to school that weren't necessarily school uniform or the shorts or whatnot.

I wasn't going out and asking for that sort of stuff. I was very happy with the stuff that we got from the secondhand store or the cheaper shoes or whatnot. And I was saving all of like the money from gifts, from family, friends, that sort of thing. I would save it for a rainy day. and I'd pop it in my books and I'd just leave it on my bookshelf. So I knew it was there. And whether it was, yeah, for my future, I at one stage thought for a deposit for a house.

So whether it was for the deposit for the house or whether it was for something that went wrong and mum needed that money because I got sick or my brother got sick or she did, it was there and it was safe. Love. Yeah. And then one of our neighbours, she gave, mom a copy to give to me of Robert Kierzaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad. Oh yeah, I've read that. I've got a lot to say about

that whole space, but I really like the ethos of that book. Yes. I think you can see it above me as we're recording. Yeah, no, well, I like chewed through that and had the same thing. I had a couple of notes, especially coming from a single poor mum. Some of the messages he sort of shared. I didn't quite agree with, but a lot of the other ones I really liked and loved how they were so a different viewpoint to my viewpoint in regards of money and such. Yeah. And so after that, I just consumed any and all financial knowledge I could, like I went through the barefoot investor, multiple podcasts. That's how I discovered she's on the money. I absolutely binged the show from start to finish in, I think a year and a half. Oh my goodness. That's on. That's on.

steroids, but also thank you, friend. Yeah, no, I loved it and just anything and everything I could. And yeah, from there, I just started changing my mindset and my money story and just setting up what I could. My queen, I love this for you. So tell me a little bit more about adult you. What do you do for work and how much money do you earn? So I am a paramedic with a state-based service. That is very cool. Yeah. Also, you give caring vibes. So I'm glad that you're a paramedic. The story's checking out, guys. Yeah, no, I do. I love it. So it's, it's an adventure and something different every day, but I wouldn't change it. Oh, it would be. And how much does a paramedic make? I'm still fairly fresh in the game, but base pay before tax is just over 90K plus super, I believe. Yeah.

And then, of course, we get all our penalties and if you pick up overtime shifts and such. So, for example, last year I made just under 130k. Yeah, wow. Okay. And that's like with all of the like loading. So I'm interested to know how much loading was that? Like was it a big hustle to make that extra loading? Or was it like a, oh, I actually didn't notice it because I feel like in your industry, you don't get paid enough. I'm sorry. Like you should be earning way more than that. Like you're on the front line. Like you get exposed to so much. And I don't even mean like, you know, the mental health side of things, but your job puts you at risk, right, of injury. And like, you don't know what you're turning up to each time. Like, it's members of the general public.

Like, what do you mean you? And $90,000 is a lot of money. I do want to say that up front. But what do you mean you only get $90,000? To me, that's wild. Like, you deserve double to take on that risk. Thank you. Yeah, it is. I won't lie. It is a little bit of contention among the service. and we are told frequently by members of the public that we are worth more, we are worth our waiting gold. Well, I'm glad that other people are reiterating this and that you know that deeply. I have family members who are paramedics, so I know a bit about this space. And just the mental load that you carry to me is heartbreaking because the type of person

that becomes a paramedic, they are the type of person that you want to be a paramedic, right? They are caring. They've got their finger on the pulse, literally, and metaphorically. they are the type of person that you know you can trust in an emergency situation. Yet they're the ones that burn out first and then can't do their jobs. And that's just to me wildly unfair. Yeah, no. We do do our best, but I won't lie.

So among our service, let's just say the retention rate is two and a half years. Yeah. And that makes sense. Yeah. Our university degrees, three years. We spend longer at university than we do in the service. So tell me more about this overtime. Like, is it reflective of doing, you know, an extra 10 hours a week? Is it like, oh, yeah,

there's just like sometimes our shifts go over by half an hour? I know it's different everywhere, but what did that look like for you to earn, you know, nearly $40,000 more last year? So that was primarily missing, so what we call our lunch breaks because we do the 12-hour shifts, we're meant to get two half-hour breaks, which we call cribs. That was primarily through missing and then the shift having an overrun as well as your Saturday Sunday penalties. What do you mean 12 hours and you get only an hour off? We're lucky if we get the hour off. Yeah, I know you've clearly been paid because you're not getting an hour off, but like,

sorry, like. Yeah. What do you mean? The healthcare system in general is a bit overrun, a little bit outdated, but like it is what it is, unfortunately. I don't think it's fair for you to have to turn up to a. job and I just know that you would be getting jobs. It's a 12-hour shift at 11 hours and 55 minutes that then spill over for the next six hours because you have to stay with that patient,

right? Yeah, yeah. We had the day shift do that the other night, unfortunately. Oh my goodness. And like my heart, because I know if I ask you in that moment, hey girlfriend, I've got another paramedic to tap out with you, you'd be like, no, I want to see this patient through. I'm the one that like, you know, looked after them. I'm going to hold their hand all the way through the, like, oh my goodness yeah i'm just proud of you i'm just so proud that we are looked after by people like you and by you like i just i feel so lucky but also i'm always in awe because like that type of work ethic isn't that common anymore so it just i hope you're also proud of yourself thank you yeah no definitely there are like don't get me wrong there's definitely hard days but

there's the days where you get the patients who have all their family members who have very similar outlooks as you and you can just see in their face the gratefulness and the relief that someone is there to hold them and it makes it worth it. I love that. All right, tell me because in your story in, you said, Victoria, I've actually got a brand new sparkly mortgage, which I'm, you know, you said I'm in a very privileged position. Yeah, of course, but like, you worked really hard to put yourself in that position. You now. You now. You know, you said, I'm in a very privileged position. you now share a mortgage with your mum and your brother, which is really exciting. We'll learn a little bit more about that later.

You already have a solid investment portfolio. Sorry, what money goals are you working towards at the moment? Because it sounds like you're just ticking them off already. Yeah, so I think the house was probably the biggest money goal. We've done that one now. In conjunction with that, we are hoping to pay it off in the next seven to ten years. Elite, love. Yeah, because mum's sort of reaching the retirement age and she's done so much.

to help us get into the property market. I don't want her to retire with a massive debt. Okay, you tell me more about this, pretty please. How did you set the goal of buying a property with your mum and your brother? Like, where did this conversation start? Well, we always knew that we wanted property. I always knew that I needed land for the horses because I want them with me. And there's no way that I would be able to afford it by myself.

And similar for my brother, there's no way that he would be able to afford it. a property by himself. So, Mom being the wonderful superstar, mother that she is, the wonderful Wonder Woman, said, I will help you. If all three of us do it together, we'll pay it off quicker, then we can purchase my brothers as well. Stop it. So what's the living situation there? She's helping you out by a house, or you all live together, or tell me? So, Mum and I live together. My brother actually lives in a different state. He's in the Air Force.

Okay. So all of her kids are overachievers. I like it. And so you and your mom have just moved into this house. Tell me about it. It's just over 25 acres. And yeah, and the house is a relatively new build. Unfortunately, fortunate for the previous couple, it was a divorce. Very fortunate for us that it was, basically it was a new build and it was the build that broke their marriage. Oh, that's really sad, but also thanks for putting all the emotional effort into that so that I don't have to. I mean, you know what? If something's going to break a marriage, I'm kind of glad it was a house, not another person, you know? That was a bit of both. Oh, great. All right. Well, maybe we can have a little bit of a gossip session after, but it looks beautiful. I'm so excited. That means that your horses are still with you. Yes. Okay, Queen. I love this. All right. We have to. go to a really quick break, but on the flip side, I want to know more about this, quote, solid investment portfolio. I want to know about the debt on the property, how you split that,

what that looks like, your personal insurance and your best and worst money habits. So guys, don't go anywhere. All right, money, diarist, we are back and I'm just so excited to be interviewing you. It sounds like you are, you're a copy paste of your mom. Like, you said, oh, mom's the powerhouse. Just this, do that. Like, I can just see that in you. Like, yes, you're only 26, but like I just can tell that this is exactly the type of person you're going to grow into. Tell me, how did you have an investment portfolio at the age of 26? And what does a solid investment portfolio mean to you? I started listening to She's on the Money and thought, I don't want to work till I'm 80 years old.

Me, the Queen. Investing seems like a pretty good way to sort of try and set myself up. So I consumed sort of all knowledge that I could. could, did as much research as I could on the different platforms and such. And then when I'm never going to feel ready, so I may as well just throw my lot in and try. And do you know what? I think you did the right thing there because like there seems to be this idea that one day you're going to feel ready and one day you'll feel well equipped and you'll set up your investment portfolio perfectly. Nah, even when I set up my first investment portfolio, get this, I set up my first investment portfolio

after I had set up a plethora of other people's very large investment portfolios because I wasn't investing yet yet I was an advisor and I still didn't feel ready. I still was like oh my goodness like what if I pick the wrong ETF to begin with what if I do this what if I do that and then I like made it so overly complicated. Isn't it funny how that happens? I should have just been doing five bucks like do you know what I mean like I should have just been doing what I now tell you guys to do so I feel like that's in the pudding that you're never really ready. Yeah, right. But it can be so different for other people.

So when my younger brother heard that I was investing, he goes, oh yeah, that seems like a good idea. Just started. Isn't that so annoying? Didn't research and investigate. Just went, oh yeah, I'll give it a go. Just threw in the money. It's so annoying in the nicest way.

You're like, but this took me a year and half of listening to every single episode of She's on the Money. And even then I was still anxious and what? You just chucked 50 bucks. I didn't even start with 50 bucks. Start with five because I was scared. Yeah, no, that's it. Brothers, though, I feel like that's such a boy thing to do.

Oh, isn't it just typical? And also, isn't that so nice that he trusted what you were doing? He's like, well, she's clearly doing the right thing. I'm just going to replicate what she's doing. So what platform did you pick? How did you make that decision? So I ended up going with steak. It was just before Sharesy sort of bloomed.

I looked at a few of the other platforms, such as superhero. I think there was CMC invest or something rather. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There were a few of them. And I just, I don't know, state just seemed quite user-friendly. For me, it seemed quite, like, I read through the platform, I could understand this layout and such. And it just, for me, it was easy to digest.

And I went, okay. Love, I guess. And once you were in the doors of an investing platform that worked for you, what was your first investment? What did you pick? I went with the banks. I think I went with Westpac to start with. because mum's very hesitant in investing, especially when I first started and she didn't know a lot about it.

She had the mindset of investings like gambling. Of course, because like if you don't know, you don't know. And also, sorry, you just told me so much about your mum being at financial powerhouse. She's done all of this without investing. So, well, the reason I picked Westpac is because when she was younger, she is. She worked for Westpac and they offered her shares while she was working. So she's got Westpac shares. And so I went, well, if mum's got them, you don't quite trust investing,

but if you've got them and we know banks are relatively stable blue chip shares, why not? You go. And then how's it grown? What other things have you picked up along the way? So I picked up a few other banks when I was first starting out thinking that that was diversifying because they were different banks. They weren't the same one.

Realised that wasn't quite how diversification worked. No, but also you've diversified in one sense. sector. I like this for you. Still diversification if we want to be technical. But I learnt that proper diversification was across different sectors and so I went into ETF. Love. And what was your first ATF? Vass. Love. I think that's the most popular one in our community. And for good reason. She's tried. She's true. The community likes their ethos. Like a Vanguard ETF seems to be a very popular a choice. Honestly, I invest in a lot of Vanguard ETFs. I'm not recommending any of them, but like, I get it, queen. I get it. And what does your portfolio look like today? So at the moment,

there's just under $40,000. Sorry, you're 26. $40,000. You're 26 and you also just bought your first time and you didn't have to sell all of your shares to do that. I'm not going to lie. I fully expected you to be like, yep, I had everything. and then I sold it so that I could purchase my first home. What? You're a financial weapon. I refused to touch my shares. They were there if worse came to worse.

But I thought, nope, they are for my future, so they don't exist. I'm so proud of you. Oh, I love this so much. Okay, okay. So tell me 40,000. And what's the plan? How much do you contribute on a regular basis? So I try and contribute 400 every fortnight.

Okay. If I've got a little bit extra because I'm starting to pick up overtime shifts this year to try and contribute more to the mortgage, I'll also penny pick a little bit out of that extra and put it towards the shares. Okay, so $400 a fortnight. And you've been doing this for how long? I think I've been solidly investing for just over a year now. Okay, Queen, you're going to be like so rich. This is incredible. So if I just do some quick calcs, because as in a love a compound interest conversation, you've got $40,000 invested. You are 26. You have at least 40 years left in the workplace.

Like, I'm really sorry. You'll probably work to 66, 67, right? That's right. I love my job. But you're probably going to be able to retire earlier because we know that you have salary bans and you will increase those salary bans as time goes on. But we don't even want to talk about that, but your investing portfolio, you probably already know this, but for those of you playing along, if you had $40,000 today and you invested $400 a fortnight, over the next 40 years, you'll contribute about $416,000 to your investment, like just in cash that you've earned, but it will make you $2.9 million. So your investment portfolio's trajectory, if we base it on an interest rate return of 7.5%, which is pretty conservative.

It's not reflective of any ETF or any product. It's just like a pretty conservative estimate. I can almost guarantee that your ETFs have performed higher than that, haven't they? Yeah. Yeah, I think I'm averaging about 11. Yeah, but we're not going to talk about that. We're just going to be really conservative and pick seven and a half because, like, I would prefer to under promise and over deliver.

You will at some point owe me a coffee when we retired together. Oh, definitely. But your total investment portfolio, if you didn't change a thing, is going to be worth $3.41 million by the time you retire. I had not gone that far in the math. And Gopren, we haven't even talked about your property and you're probably going to have a property portfolio. We haven't even talked about your superannuation or anything else.

Oh, well. Girl, what? Go tell your mom that. That's actually very nice to hear. Like, girl, you're going to be financially fine. Isn't that so cool, though? Oh, it is. It definitely is. And do you know what? Just thinking hard work pays off.

Yeah, but like, you did it. You did it. And do you know what? I was finding really interesting recently and I feel like you've got, I can tell a similar work ethic to me. Like, I will do more because I want more. Like, I'm hearing this. Like, I will pick up some more shifts and I'll, you know, do it. Like, I have been told for the longest time, stop working so hard. Like, oh, my goodness, like you're taking on too much work.

Like, oh, aren't you burnt out? Aren't you this? I knew that. And I'm so grateful to be cared for, right? Those conversations are so kind. But now that I'm starting to, you know, my husband and I last year bought a bigger house. So I feel like that's a pretty clear indicator that, you know, we're earning a bit more money.

So it's becoming for our friends and our family and people that are close to us a little bit more obvious, right, like that we might have a little bit more money than we did historically. The conversation is going from, you work so hard, stop that to you're so lucky. Yeah, it's funny how that happens. Do you think that maybe it was because I worked hard, not because it was like? Yeah, do you think maybe that when I sort of ignored your advice and said, no, I'm going to keep working and keep doing what I'm doing? Yeah, isn't it interesting that it goes from, you work too hard, you're really like doing

too much to you're so lucky my friend it was built on the work that you said i was doing too much of this isn't luck you literally watched us build it yeah all those extra hours the blood sweat and tears they pay off i'm so proud of you i am so proud so money diarist tell me what about your superannuation So I currently have $46,000 in my super and I salary sacrifice $200 a fortnight into that too. I'm going to cry because if you are salary sacrificing $200 a fortnight and it's already at $40,000-ish, sorry, that's going to be at least, hold on, with your contribution rate, which would sit at about 10 grand based on your over $10,000 based on your over. over time or a bit more than 10 grand, girlfriend, you're going to retire with like, between superannuation and your investments outside of super about a $10 million portfolio.

What? You're 26. Isn't that so cool? Yeah, that I'm a little bit gobsmacked at the moment. I'm not going to lie because I just didn't do the math. I'll be honest. So that's really cool, right? And you're already investing and clearly prioritizing it.

But like one thing that I want people to do is go, what are my contributions actually working towards? Because like you clearly have the hat on of investing for my future is important. But like at some point life's going to get a little bit hard. Life's going to, you know, be a bit rocky and you be like, oh, should I be putting that 400 bucks into my super or not? Or should I, you know, really be investing outside of super? I can't see the big picture. Like this is why we need to draw the big picture for ourselves because what you're doing right now, is a compromise. Like, and I know it is in the nicest way possible. You are like way above so many of

your peers because so many of your peers aren't able to put aside the instant gratification. Like, there are so many things that I know you're missing out on in quotation marks because you're investing. Because if you had that cash, like you could definitely spend it on heaps of stuff. Like on going out, you could spend it on clothes or shoes or horses and they're really expensive. Oh, tell me about it. I know, but you're not. So you need to remember what that bigger picture looks like so that one day when the decisions that you're making are tested or the decisions that you are working towards maybe feel like a bit too much.

You can zoom out and be like, no, I might tweak it because right now it's not feasible, but I do understand why I'm still here and I do see the bigger picture of what I'm working towards. And we haven't even added in your property or what that might look like or the power that you could have there. Like, this is crazy to me. Yeah, I also just really love doing that. I will be the first to admit, I do not. So my plan was to sort of, oh, yeah, I think these numbers work and they'll set me up nicely for the future, but I had never done the maths and followed through. Just call me up. Just call me up. I was so ready. Like, and we haven't even paused. Like, I've just

been doing them as we're talking. I'm like, oh, that plus that equals that. And like, I do have my little like compound interest calculator here as well, because I'm not going to. like just pull compound interest numbers out of my head as easily. Like I can do the basic ones, but I can't add it all up that quick. My God, I am so excited for you. Thank you. Now that I actually have the bigger picture in my head, I am quite as well. I'm sitting here feeling quite crap. You go tell your mum, be like, by the way, we are entering into our generational wealth era. Yeah, we are setting up for the future and future generations, which is a very nice thought. Love. So tell me about this property. How long did it take you guys to save? How did you make the decision? When did you purchase? I want all of it.

So we have known for quite a few years and we've saved up for quite a few years because initially we were first going to buy an investment property together. But the way our service works is that you do your probationary period at one station and then you're shifted to another station. When I was shifted, I was moved. to a major city. I knew I did not want to live there. I knew I would not survive. My mental health would go down the toilet. You're a country gal. Yes. And so we knew that we would then have to buy a property and I would have to move. And so we thought instead of saving for this investment property, we'll instead continue saving until I can move to a station I want to stay at. and we will buy our house close to that station with a bigger deposit. So overall, I think we were saving up for the deposit for three years or four years.

Yeah, very cool. And so how did you split it between yourself, your mum and your brother? Because you were saying before, like your mum clearly had purchased property before. So does she still maintain those properties and she's just bought into a new one? Like, what's the situation there for her? Yeah. So she still owns our childhood property that we grew up in. Yeah.

And the plan is once we finish paying off this, she will sell that and use the income from that to buy my brother's house. Wow. Okay. Love. And then you just saved aggressively. How did you split the deposit? Was it 50-50? Were you less?

Were you more? So, mum, put in the... greatest share of the deposit. I think she put in almost double my brother and I, but then my brother and I were equally now deposit. Yeah, okay. And what the plan is that you own it based on the percentage, or do you guys own it 50, 50? Like, what does the split look like? We just all own a third of it. So, mum, I'll admit, my brother gets a little bit of the better end of the deal in this regard. Because he's living away from us and he's paying his own rent and stuff. We understand that. So he just sort of puts in the minimum repayments that he has to put in.

Mum and I put in extra. Okay. All right. But this is something that you guys are really comfortable with because you're like, this is just our situation. And, you know, what comes and goes is that kind of it? Like at some point it might change. Yeah.

Or it's, we're happy with how it is at the moment because for him, this isn't where he's going to live. This is always sort of like an investment property for him. As long as he was making up. the difference that mum and I couldn't necessarily cover. Yeah. That's what mattered to us. So mum and I will put in the extra and then we've also got the rental income from

mum's property to cover extra that she's putting in as well. Okay, that's really cool. And I think that whilst you're saying, oh, it doesn't feel equitable, you're also getting primary use of the property. Like he doesn't get use of the property. So it kind of makes sense to me in that aspect that you guys might pay a little bit more. and I've seen it split that way before. So I'm not too, like, worried or, like, concerned about that.

No, it always worked out. We always knew it was going to be my property because, like, it's set up for the horses and everything as well. So it came with stables. He's like, I don't want that responsibility. It came with stables. It came with a riding arena. So we always knew it was going to be mine.

I always knew I'd have to put in the extra anyway. And to me, that was a fair trade. Like, I keep this property. Sorry. Take what you want. But this is mine. Sell me the property. property. Tell me, what is it? Like, obviously don't tell me the location, but like, what is it? How big is the

house? What are the features? So it is a six bedroom house. Yeah, three bathrooms. It's got a butler's kitchen. It's got two lounge room. It is a massive house. Oh my goodness. And you got a riding arena? Yeah. You got stables. Sorry, now you spill. How much does a property like this cost? So it was pricey. It was 1.775. Mm-hmm. So we put down a 220 deposit on it, I think.

So at the moment, our mortgage is 1.569. And that obviously is a large number. But also, I would have swallowed triple that. it just obviously is because you're a bit more regional, that that's a bit more accessible, which is quite cool. Because, sorry, I've got girlfriends spending $1.8 million on townhomes in Richmond at the moment. Like, that's not unfeasible in the current economy or the current climate.

So, like, yes, it's a lot of money, but also, you're not just buying a house with sorry, six bedrooms I'm coming to stay. Yeah. You got a whole riding arena. Yeah. And I live close to the beach now too. And it's got a horse-friendly beach. Sorry, you're allowed to take your horses to the beach.

I know. I've not been able to do that. Queen, you are living the dream. Have you already taken them to the beach? Or is this like? Not yet. That is. Not yet.

So in the plan. It is very new. Oh, I'm so excited for you. All right. So how much is currently sitting on the mortgage? So on the mortgage at the moment is 1,500. $169,598.28.28. That 28 cents is very important. Tell me, do you have any other debts? I just have a hex debt. Yeah. And what does that look like for a paramedic?

Well, I actually have done two degrees. So it's, she has. She's a hustler, guys. We should have expected it. It's currently sitting at $37,663. Very cool. I just feel like if you're to become a paramedic, that should be free. Oh, I wish. Like, I think if you want to become a nurse, if you want to become a doctor, if you want to become a paramedic, like, I think that should be free. Anything in healthcare, free. We would really appreciate it.

Like, does that not make sense? Like, I wanted to go do business to build a business. I feel like I should have paid for that. You wanted to go and care for our community. That should have been paid for by my tax dollars. They're starting to pay for placements now, so that's something. as they should have already. Sorry, I know that you said that.

Like, oh, that's exciting. They're starting. To me, that's the bare minimum. Like, what do you mean? We accepted that unpaid placements were just part of the gig. Like, hey, I want to care for the community. Also, I will pay for that privilege. What?

Yeah, I don't know. I think that was just a pill that we just swallowed because we just wanted to do it. Queen, we got gas lit by the government. That's what happened. That's what happened. All right. Tell me if you're in the She's on the Money ecosystem, you know how important personal insurance is to me.

So tell me, do you have it? If so, what is it if you do not? Why not, my friend? I do. Before we brought the house, I had a very nice sit down with Skywell. Did you actually? I did. You're the cult.

I am. I remember some of the first episodes of the insurances. And then we were looking at the property and we were looking how much it was going to cost us and I went, that's significant. I need my income. That's something I want to protect. 100%, especially, like obviously in all circumstances, but like looking at your circumstance specifically, you've worked it out between yourself, your mum and your brother, what your incomes can provide to purchase this house altogether. And if we then didn't have your income, obviously that would be

awful because something would have happened to you. Maybe you needed a paramedic. And then you wouldn't have been able to contribute to the household, putting financial pressure on your mom, putting financial pressure on your brother, changing even their financial goals. Income protection could absolutely help from that happening. Like, that's crazy cool. Yeah, that was the biggest thing. As I said, we want to pay it off early. So mom's not in debt when she retires.

Yeah, fair. And so the biggest thing was, I need to protect my family. I love that. But also just smart money decisions all around. So I feel like you have some really good money habits. And one that I've already identified is that I don't think you succumb to instant gratification as much as other people like me do. You're probably about the long game.

But you've always been about the long game, haven't you? Like even as a kid, you were like putting money aside. Hey, question, if you were given a sticker sheet when you were six years old, did you use the stickers? I used the dodgy stickers. Yeah, but you saved the good ones? Yeah, the good ones were saved. Yeah, but like what were we saving them for?

gratification. The other day I went to my parents' house. So nice, except, do you know what my mom did that was very rude? She sent me home with a box of stuff from my old room. I was like, you need to take this stuff. I don't know what it is. It's yours. I don't want more junk in my house, mom. You keep it. And she's like, but it's yours. And there was a sheet of stickers in there. And they were these like Japanese stickers of these little panders. Maybe I'll post a picture of them on my Instagram story because they're so cute. But they are now more than 25 years old. And they still haven't been used because I was like, these stickers are too good to use. You know the scratch and sniff stickers?

You've still got those? No, they lost their smell. But you still got the sticker. Or I did, but mum decided that because they lost their smell, she'd chuck them in the bin. No, rude. So I had them. Yeah, right. I kept them.

I wanted to keep them. I was saving them. I was going to use them. Yeah, she goes, what for you are 20 years old, then taken up space? We're getting rid of them. I am 35 years old. I still put all of my books in color-coded order. I still have stickers. I still love a really nice highlighter and gel pen. Elite. You don't grow out of that, mom. No. Anyway, tell me what, apart from

scratch and sniff stickers is your best money habit. Apart from my few little vices, like my pets, gifts for others, and I love reading. So my books, probably my biggest money hack, as you've guessed, is my budget. Yeah, you're good. Once I set it up and, it's there. Like I don't impulse purchase. Every dollar has a job and once it's there working, I forget about it. It doesn't exist. I love that. And how did you become like that? Is that recent since you've started consuming finance content? Or is that something where you're like, V, I've actually always had a budget. I've just not been doing it. The budget was probably in the last four or five years when I started trying to save up for the house. Love. I've never been a big impulse

purchaser. So it was always putting money aside and saving it and leaving it in a savings account, basically. And then listening to the content, I was like, oh, it could be, yes, it's earning interest, but it could be earning this over here. It could be earning that over there. They can have different jobs. I love that. And giving money a job is one of my favorite things to do and favorite things to talk about, to be honest. Flipping the narrative, though, what's your worst money habit? And you're not allowed to say horses. No, no, they might not be the best financial, but they are the best investment in my mental health. 100%. Like you would have instant horse therapy. I'm so envious. Yeah. So because of that, they are a good financial investment in my head. My worst money habit is probably actually my mindset,

to be honest, because as I said when I was like saving up when I was younger, two stories. come to mind in separate occasions. One was there was some sunglasses that were on sale. Another was I needed a new phone and there was a phone deal with like you purchase and you get free headsets or something. I could have afforded this multiple times over. But when my family said, oh, you need a new phone. You should get it while it's on special. The unplanned purchase set me into a tailspin and I can remember sort of sitting there, I kid you not, in tears, rocking back and forth going, I haven't planned to spend this money, it's in the account. And now it's going to have to go.

And why do you think that was so traumatic? I think after growing up, once I've realized how sort of dire straight we were, it was always that money needs to stay there for a rainy day. Just in case something goes wrong or just to protect us. I feel like that's really relatable for a lot of. people, do you think that that's something that you still kind of carry? Because I'm like looking at you going, you're really good at money. You're really good at money. But I don't think you're giving yourself very much credit for that either. So I've definitely improved it. I've definitely

worked on it. But there are still times where I catch myself, for example, I need a new pair of running shoes. I've saved up for this pair of running shoes. The money has been in my account for about five months because I've just been sitting there and I'm like, I'm not in tears over it, but I'm like, I'll wait for the next sale so I can get the best deal. And so it's not necessarily sending me into the spin out, but it's, I'll get to it later. I'll spend it later. But what do you think is triggering that? So obviously it's like Victoria, I get anxiety. But like, what if today you went and bought those runners and let's say they weren't even on sale, what would happen if you didn't have that money in your account?

Oh, in today, nothing because I've got a really healthy emergency fund. I've got spare money in my expenses account just in case as well. It's just this little hill. And it doesn't always happen. Sometimes I'm really good with spending. It's certain things. I just find myself falling back into old habits and an old mindset. Yeah.

And I feel like you are very self-aware in that you've identified this. But I do think that there's maybe a little bit more behind it where you're like, that's maybe a more expensive purchase for me and maybe there's some guilt sitting around that because you're like, oh, but what if my mum needs this or what if my brother needs this? So I feel like maybe that's something you could work on, but like how self-aware to be able to identify that as your bad money habit? If I asked you about that B plus A-minus, what would it take for you to say, Victoria, I am an A-plus. Is it more around the mindset because I feel like everything else is structured cleanly or is there something else I haven't identified?

No, definitely. I'll admit I do want to sort of revamp my share portfolio at the moment and just rebalance it. But my main thing would be my money mindset because I am very happy with the work I've done. I'm really proud of what I've achieved. I do know I've got a little bit way to go. and I would like to be able to realize the position I am in where I can make that purchase because I have worked hard. I have saved up for it. So now I can reap the rewards of that hard work.

Totally. And you're really like making me think a million different things because I think I've mentioned a million times on this show that I have a money master class and I do touch on mindset in there and I'm actually going to give it to you so that you can go and like do the whole course and like watch all the videos on mindset and make sure that, like maybe they would help but I'm thinking oh my goodness like what if I did a whole series on like not anything to do with budgeting like we don't even flow into managing your money but like what if I did a whole psychological series on money mindset and married that with like I think there's a

big piece around self-confidence and like really backing yourself and like being able to go no no no I am worth that I do deserve this I do and like that can be so hard to say like Like, I even struggle with it now by, you know, putting my hand up and being like, actually, like, I do deserve this. Like, sorry. It's just, especially for women, something that we, I think, inherently struggle with and that then impacts our money. And that's not fair.

Oh, definitely. Those shoes that I need to, like the running shoes that I need to purchase, for four or five months, I'm happy to say, no, it's okay. I can wait for a sale. Yeah. If mum or my brother needs that, I'll go out and get them tomorrow. Not a problem. I will do that for you.

Yeah. And you'll spend the money on them. on them from the same damn account. And you'd be like, yeah, but you deserve that, mum. Like, how do we talk to ourselves in the same way that we talk to our best friend? Like, if my best friend was talking any trash about herself, I would be like, you sit down right now, that is not acceptable. You need to love yourself because I loved you and all of this and you're like the hottest

and the smartest and the best person ever. And why can't you see yourself the way I see you? Exactly. And why can't I see me the way that my friends see me? Like, oh. Question of the century, that one, I think. No, do you know what? The world couldn't handle the ego I'd have.

Money, Doris, it has been an absolute pleasure getting to know you, sharing your story. Oh my goodness. I just feel like there's so many relatable bits in there, like, especially around, you know, having money, anxiety and, you know, going through so much change as a child and spending habits that maybe send you into a little bit of a spin. But then, sorry, unrelatable. Oh, I bought a house with stables and a show ring. Like, that's so cool, though.

And I think that there's something to say about, like, is it really unrealistic for other people if it's being role-modeled by people in our community who have normal jobs, who have, like, really good normal incomes? Like, money dice, you're a paramedic who's just changing her financial trajectory. If it's possible for you, it's possible for so many. And that makes me so excited. but I won't lie. I don't want to show rank at my house.

That sounds like a lot of meanings. No, fair enough. It's therapy for some and nightmare for others. Oh, like I'm coming over to borrow yours, but I don't want to have to regularly maintain stables. Like that's not my journey. So anyway, it has been a pleasure. Thank you so much.

I have absolutely adored this. Thank you so much for having me. It's been amazing. The advice shared on She's on the Money is generally, in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Devine and She's on the Money are authorised representatives

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