She's On The Money - Are Christmas Bonuses Just a Festive Myth?

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

You’ve survived the year, and secretly dreaming of a little extra something in your paycheck. But then—no Christmas bonus in sight. Is it a sign you’re undervalued at work, or just the way things are these days? This week, the V, Jess and Bec dive into the great Christmas bonus debate: are they a must-have to feel appreciated, or just a festive myth. We’re also dishing out some festive cheer with budget-friendly hacks to save on decorations and gifts—because who knew tinsel could cost so much?! Plus, we’ve got your back for those awkward holiday chats, like when your mates side-eye your investment choices. Hit play for some laughs, life lessons, and a whole lot of holiday spirit as we help you stay merry and money-smart this season.  Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha 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 - 451289.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, my name is Natasha Nabanunga-Bamblett. I'm a proud Yorta Yorta, Kernai, Wolperi and Awadjeri woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on Awadjeri country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through. As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow. Let's get into it. She's on the money. She's on the money.

Hello and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast that makes personal finance fun, especially on Fridays. It is our favorite day of the week because I get to get my little team together and celebrate you, our incredible She's On The Money community. Miss Jessica Ricci, you've got some favourite money wins to share from the community. Miss Bec Syed, you better have some festive break tips for us. And we're going to be helping to answer a juicy money dilemma. This week, it's all about what do you do when your friends question the ethics of your investments? And something that you slid into our DMs about, are Christmas bonuses the festive norm or just wishful thinking it is the last friday before christmas

i love christmas such a coziness such a magical energy in the air i love it the joy oh it's just and you can like everything smells different everything looks everything it feels different it's just such a nice i like this time i really like this idea feeling in the world it's arguably better than Christmas Day the lead up that yeah the anticipation yeah it's like the decorating I don't know I feel like it becomes lots about like friends and family and like I don't like the thing well this is me being like maybe a little bit of a grinch no I don't want to catch up with you before Christmas if you've only just worked out that we haven't seen each other in six plus months being like oh my god have you got time before Christmas I don't know I actually don't

Sorry, I don't. It was already six months since you and I have seen each other. Yeah. And if it was the first six months of the year, you would have let it go another six months. So we can catch up in January or February. Is that cool? Sure, sure, sure, sure.

Anyway, that's me being the Grinch. I totally get it, but, like, I'm so busy. Everyone's so busy. I know. Calendar's bursting at the seams. I'm so busy. I'm so tired. Jess and I have been working our butts off in the lead up

to, like, going on Christmas break. Like, I just don't have time. I would love to have drinks. Can you just invite me to drinks, like, on a normal Wednesday? Yeah. Is that okay? Yeah, any other Wednesday. Normal Wednesday drinks.

Let's normalise that. I completely agree. But what's your favourite festive treat? Like, what are you making sure you're eating next week? You go first, Jess. I love a gingerbread. Oh, my goodness. Gingerbread is my favourite.

Have you made gingerbread? I have, and I do. So I do gingerbread with royal icing piped on it. So it's kind of like a royal icing cookie, but ginger, they're so good. And I make little gingerbread houses. yeah we know you do we basically cancelled jessica last christmas right so like but she's on the money girls we were like we be artsy crafty so we decided that we're all going to come to my house and we're going to make gingerbread houses so but beck we got the like pre-made gingerbread houses

you just had to decorate them and it kind of became like a competition of everyone decorating there of course there's the best right and so like i'm there messing it up i think a few ginger yeah But thank you. She doesn't mean that. I think a few people's gingerbread houses fell over before we even began. Structural integrity was not there. No, that's it. Exactly.

We're not architects. Like, the expectations were too high. I think someone made, like, a construction site out of this. They were like, this is what I'm meant to do. Ah, like after the demolition. Yeah, it was like, it's demo. Like, it's in, right? Like, ha-ha.

Yeah, that's clever. Yeah, Jess was sitting over in the corner, like, carefully piping on her bloody jersey. Make it all a structural integrity. Yeah, but like perfect flowers. Yes, of course. Literally everything was symmetrical and we were just like, cool, we'll just see ourselves out.

Ours look literally like a dog's breakfast, literally. And then Jess's looks like a little model house. So guess what we didn't do this year? No gingerbread house making. But if you're doing one with your friends, because we do a gingerbread house with our friends, I say we add the structural integrity test. Oh, yeah, okay. You've seen the TikTok.

That's why they were all construction sites because Jess shook all of our bloody houses. Is it earthquake proof? Is it flood proof? You literally just get everyone around the table. You go, oh, whose is the cutest? Whatever. Whose is the strongest?

You do a little on the table and you see whose holds. It's very fun. I would highly recommend it. All of our houses fell down except for Jessica's. This is great. I'm actually going to write this down if it's okay. Because then if creativity is not your thing, you go for solid build. Yes.

You know? And yes, the rest of our team. Had neither. And that's okay too. But we were there. We were there and we showed up and that is all that counts. That's all that counts. But it's good to know there are several different categories that you can win.

Multiple judging criteria. What's your favourite treat? Okay, so I know this is a year-round treat. You can have this whenever you want. But there's something so, like, cosy about the nutmeggy, cinnamony, cardamomy. Are you going to say eggnog? No, I'm saying custard tart. Oh, okay.

I love a custard tart. I was about to be like, ugh. Yeah, I agree. I don't understand eggnog. Like, what do you do with it? It's raw eggs. Like, you guys are insane. Yeah, but, like, where do you put it?

Like, what is it? You put it in your mouth. In your mouth. Like a drink? Yeah, it's a drink. Eggnog is a legitimate drink. From the carton? Like, you can buy it in a carton.

It comes in a carton like milk. And you just drink it. You can or you can make it. I remember I went to a Christmas party one year. It was like I was in high school and I went to this girl's house and she made eggnog and they were, like, handing it around. Jess, don't give me that face. I didn't know what it was.

and it looked cute looks like a little like yeah and she had these really cute glass tea cups and I think it was because her family did eggnog all the time and it's like the way you do it anyway she gives me this thing and I thought it was cute and it smells like a custard tart right like it smelled like that smell so delicious and I drank it and I liked it I did it did yeah it was have you tried it it's actually it's like runny custard like it's actually really nice until you realize that the eggs are raw yeah everything about it just puts me off unacceptable but if If you didn't know and I handed you a cute little milkshake in a really cute glass teacup, you're going to drink it.

You've got to have raw egg, I imagine. I'm unacceptable. Not on that boat, I'm going to be honest. Unacceptable. What's your favourite treatie? Not an eggnog, obviously. Christmas crack. Actually, so it's either the Christmas crack,

which is like my favourite sweet treat, but for me, there's two things that make Christmas, sorry, can I say three things that make Christmas Christmas? Okay, so it's fresh cherries, so like a big bowl of, like fresh cherries. I am very lucky. I grew up on the Mornington Peninsula and there's lots of cherry farms around. And so we would go to a cherry farm when we were younger and get like the box of cherries. And so that always reminds me of Christmas. And for some reason, maybe I don't know when cherry season is, but like only buy cherries at Christmas time. Yes. I was going

to say, does anyone like cherries? I love cherries. They're so expensive. So like it's like a Christmas, It is a Christmas treat. Yeah, like they're the fruity treat. Fresh mangoes. Yeah, fresh mangoes. Fresh mangoes at Christmas. And prawns. Yeah, big king prawns.

Like big king prawns. Like you have to shell them yourselves. One year, Mum and I shelled all of the prawns before Christmas for everybody because we were like, oh, we're so nice. We're going to shell them all. Yeah, and then like next day you can just have them with Thousand Island dressing. It has to be like the Thousand Island dressing.

Anyway, 10 out of 10. Prawns, cherries, I'm sold for Christmas, and a glass of champagne. Such an Aussie Christmas thing. I love it. Oh, I don't want winter Christmas. Like, don't get me wrong. The idea, and, like, we had a Friendsgiving recently, and I did roast turkey, which, by the way, I think I slayed it.

You did a good job. I think I did a really good job because I think turkey is hard to cook because it goes really dry. But what I did was basically buff the thing in butter. Yeah. So that's probably why it tasted good. But turkey's not that good. The reason our turkey, Jess, I'm, you know, I'm not offended

if you're like, meh, turkey was okay. Yeah, it was well seasoned. Like I had lots of seasoning, lots of spices, lots of butter and salt and pepper and all of that. And I cooked it in chicken stock to make sure it was extra delicious. But turkey is not that good. Yeah, very Aussie of us. When we do our friends, like our friend Christmas,

friendsmas we call it, we do just a Woolies or a Coles roast chicken. We just get like three of those and call it a day. I would too. like it's so much easier and to be honest it's really cost effective yeah 100% and it's you don't because the tote like you had you went all in you're like a big ass show like the time and the space I wanted to impress you too you did a great job yeah and then everyone got to take home leftovers and that was kind of wholesome but I will say that like a roast chicken on Christmas you genius you know what you could do you could pull it out and put it like on a cute tray or

you could like pull it out of the bag break it up like get some kitchen scissors break it up like get the drumsticks and stuff and put them on a really nice plate reheat it in the oven with some foil over the top of it and maybe like put some you could put water over the top of it to keep it moist or like some stock and maybe some herbs or something that you you know that's a good idea liberated and it would literally perfume your house yeah it smelled like you'd done a roast chook on your own. You guys like a bubble and squeak? Oh, I love a bubble and squeak. Christmas leftovers. Yeah. That's why you always have to do extra potato. Exactly. Well, bubble and squeak. My dad does the best bubble and squeak. Yeah. It's just a big mashup of everything that's

leftover from Christmas lunch. I'm actually shocked to the core. What are you doing? So bubble and squeak traditionally is refried potatoes with whatever veggies or like roast meats that you've got. But like potatoes would be the core of it. And you kind of either use mashed potatoes like that's the elite or like whole potatoes but you like crush them a little bit and then put them together in like little patties and then fry them on the frying pan and you would often have them for breakfast the next morning after like christmas or after some big event where you have lots of like roast leftovers with maybe like poachy eggs on the top oh i never tried that oh the egg makes it because like it's a runny egg over the top yeah that's a

Great idea. Also, Kewpie Mayo. Oh. Kewpie Mayo on anything. Yeah. I can't be wrong. I can't be wrong. Five stars.

I give up. Five stars. Five stars. Speaking of five stars, Miss Jessica Ricci, would you like to hear a five-star review that we got this week? Oh, absolutely. Wow. That was incredible.

What about you, Bec? Do you want to hear it too? If that's okay. I loved this one. This one's from Carly. She gave us a five-star review and it said, changed the game. Oh, so cute. I felt so behind in my money journey before finding this podcast.

The girls are the best money cheerleaders. Jess and Bec make me feel not so alone when it comes to finance. Isn't that so cute? That's really sweet. I like that I get to read it out and then you guys get the compliments. I'm not going to lie. I love it when someone says my name. Yeah.

You're like, you know me. There's really something about it. Yeah. It's so cute. We want to be your cheerleaders. That's so fun. That's so sweet. Well, we are, which is my favorite thing ever.

But let's get into it. Miss Jessica Ricci, last one before Christmas comes. What money wins and confessions have you got from the group? All righty. This week I'm going to start off with one from Alison who said she bought a tool from Bunnings last week. It was a Christmas present. Five days later it went on a deal where you got a free battery

and charger with the purchase of the tool. The battery and the charger are worth $400. What? She's like normally I'd take the hit but $400 of value is too much to pass up. And also that, like, bumps up the present, makes it look really good. She caught up buddings and they were happy to let her just return it and rebuy it so she could get the thing that she wanted. She said, a huge win for me and my gift recipient

and never be afraid to ask your kind retail peeps. That's so great. Be kind to the retail peeps. As someone who has done about ten Christmases, be nice. Why are people so rude? I know, it's so weird. Like, what are you angry at them for? Also, it says so much more about you than it does the staff member, even if that staff

member is completely incompetent. I get it. But if you then treat someone like trash, babe, that's on you. I don't care what they did. If you can't keep your cool, if you can't get your stuff together, looks like you need some therapy. That's true. Absolutely.

Next, I've got a money win from Lisa, who said she found a handbag with all of the stuff in it in a shopping centre car park. Both the centre management and the police station were closed, so she took it home and waited for the phone, which was inside, to ring. Two hours later, a call came through from this handbag. It was someone's son. He picked up the bag and its contents and he gave her $100

for her honesty. Oh, that's so nice. Which I thought was really sweet. And as someone who has left their purse somewhere before. Brooke did that literally a couple of weeks ago from our team. She left her whole handbag on the floor at a restaurant. She went back and she was like, oh, it was fine. I'm like, how are you so chill about this?

Like I'd be losing my mind. There are good, wholesome people out there. I was at Officeworks the other day actually and I found a phone just like I was like perusing the aisles and there was just an iPhone sitting there and it's that awkward. Okay, I can see an iPhone. I can see it's somebody's. It's got like a cover on it.

If I pick this up and I walk it to like the front, is the owner of it going to see me with it and think I'm stealing it? I know. I get so scared of that too. I'm like I'm trying to do the right thing here. like, I'm not going to steal someone's iPhone. I've just found it on a shelf, but I also know I'm not going to leave it on the shelf because not everyone is honest. So I'm like, I'm going to take this to the front. So I do, I don't know if other people do this, but I do this awkward,

like swipe. No, no, no. I like pick it up, but hold it out. I'm not trying to, I'm not trying to put this in my pocket or hide this from you. Ha ha ha ha. Like in case they like came up and said, Oh, that's mine. I did it the other day at the swimming pool. I was at the pool and I'd just come out of the family changing area and someone had left their sunglasses in there. And I saw them and picked them up and was like, when you see a pair of sunglasses that are prescription sunglasses, you can immediately tell that they're prescription. And I was like, oh, someone's going to be mad. So I picked them up and like, I'm holding towels under my arm and like we carry a basket and I'm holding the sunglasses. And this woman comes around the corner and she goes, they're mine.

And I was like, oh yeah, I just found that. And I felt like I was like, I'd been called out or something but in reality I'd pulled them out to bring them to reception as I was leaving like I don't want your prescription sunglasses so I like make this awkward small chat and I'm like oh yeah I noticed that they were prescription ha ha ha like I was gonna hand them in they would have been expensive and she's like looks at me she's like yeah they were expensive and I'm thinking do you think I'm stealing these yeah what are you gonna do with prescription no but also like I wouldn't steal these totally oh anyway that just gave me a lot of anxiety so then when I found the phone. I'm like, here we go again. Yeah, all over. Handing it in, it's the right thing to do.

Those of us who leave things places appreciate all you honest people out there. But good things happen to good people. Absolutely. As Brooke from our team says, I used that on an Instagram post the other day. She's like, you copied me because it's in her Instagram bio. But good things do happen to good people. They do. Absolutely. Do good, be good. Amen. Next we've got a money win from Holly who said, it's a non-money money win for me. I love this. Since I'm now on top of my finances her brother who used to be the money whiz in the family and Holly was the money mess and his girlfriend asked her to create a budget for them because they're moving out in January. So she created a whole spreadsheet and you know said I'm up with a cash flow system and she said

a year ago I just never would have been able to do that. That's really cool. That is so cool to be able to do it for someone else. Be for real. They're spreading the good word. The disciples. They're going. They're spreading the she's not the money word. I heard that Colts worked really well for multi-level marketing business. And I thought, why reinvent the wheel? We too could have a cult, but we're not very good at it. So we actually just like telling people that they can do whatever they want with their financial freedom. We really need to create a product to keep them in the cult. We'll workshop that one. Next, I've got a money win from Emma who said it's her first time sharing a money win. She bought a walking pad treadmill for her work from home desk and

it was $120 on Facebook Marketplace. Oh, how good. It normally retails for $230. It was also her first time using Marketplace and she said she's officially converted. And bonus points, it's pink and cute. Oh, how good. She put a little photo in.

Show me, show me. That is cute. Oh, that is cute. And mine's dying, so I'm going to go look at the same one. Yeah, absolutely. It's not going to cost you $120. I know. That looks spino.

It does. Next, I got money from Alexandra who said money win. The theme for my work's Christmas party last week was errors. So obviously, I went in my money-making era. Why? She dressed as a million-dollar bill. I know, that's not where you thought I was going. She dressed as a million-

I'm actually quite disappointed with this. Which era would you have gone as? What would I have gone as? I keep hearing era. Like either the era's true or whatever that is. Sorry, what was that, Jessica? I'm thinking like, you know, like era, era, red light slashing. Oh, yeah, you're not going to make that sound again?

No. She's shy now. Well, Alexandra went in her money-making era. She dressed as a million-dollar bill because girly's trying to manifest and lo and behold, she won best dressed. Oh, my God. Not only did she get bragging rights, she won a certificate with a little $50 voucher and she said her money-making costume

really did make her money. That's actually so good. Pick of the winning costume, of course. She said it's blurry as hell, but this was when I was strutting my stuff on stage. Look at her. What a queen. Okay, I would have got to win.

I'm afraid you've got to go find a photo. You absolutely win. You absolutely win. My husband actually went to his work Christmas party last, no, not last week, a couple of weeks ago. Oh, yeah. And did you see this on social media, Bec? Yes.

So funny. The theme was legends. Yeah. So that was it. So you could go as any legend you wanted to. And my husband, obviously, wig and all, dressed up as Ray Gunn. Honestly, truly iconic. The night before his Christmas party, we were on YouTube.

He was practicing the dance moves. I love that. And he looked great. Honestly, the wig looked very real. Thank you. It was $12 on Amazon. You slayed. He didn't come home with it, though.

Someone went home with a little ponytail wig. Someone. Do you know what? Lucky them. Keep it. Yeah, you don't want that one hanging around, do you? No, absolutely not. Lastly this week, I've got a money win from Caitlin,

who said she purchased a OnePass subscription on Black Friday. Oh, don't even. I did too. Well, I read this one because you sent me a text. Because I sent it to you. Yeah, and you said, you've got to do this. So, sorry to sideline this. Go, go, go.

Like, we clearly talk about money wins on the podcast. Yes. We also just text each other all week about money wins. Yes. Like, our texts, I'm like, oh, my God, did you see? So, Jess, I'm not going to spoil it, but did you see the OnePass one? Did you see what you can get? Oh, so good.

What is OnePass? Oh, I'll explain. Sure. But we'll get there. Let me read Caitlin's weird first, then we'll come back around. So, Caitlin said she purchased the OnePass subscription on Black Friday, which means it was 50% off. Yeah, half price.

She's used it twice since she purchased it with two discounts. She said, so her Christmas shopping is officially done. parcels are on the way and she's already saved 10 bucks using the one pass in those two times so good and i think the annual membership was like was it 40 yeah so it's 40 on sale but it was like 80 full price to like join one pass right so one pass this is not sponsored by the way but i'm about to talk about it like it's an ad if anyone knows someone at one pass i am here to sell this to you right like i think it's great so one pass is like the rewards platform that the people who own Kmart and Bunnings and Officeworks and like a whole heap of other businesses

own. So it's owned by West Farmers, right? So they've created this rewards platform and they obviously want heaps of people to join. So it's in collaboration with Flybuys who are in, I want to say cahoots with West Farmers. So like, it's like a, that's why you can get Flybuys points at literally all of those stores, plus I believe Kohl's. So that's a money win to begin with. But when you sign up to OnePass, you get free shipping on like your Kmart purchases. There's like a minimum price threshold, but it's not much. So you get free shipping on your like Kmart, Target, I believe Priceline, all of these purchases, right? Which is a money win. And I've already made my money back from online purchases because like how many times do you

want to order something on kmart but like i'm not paying ten dollars for shipping on kmart when the item was ten dollars like that not happening free and my favorite part because i have decided that i am now in my points hacking era if i went to that costume party jess i would have gone as a flyby's card but you get five times points whenever you're signed into one pass so instead of just getting one point per dolly get five oh and then those points eventually yeah like you You can redeem them for money off or use them in the reward store. So, like, that's where I got my KitchenAid and my Dyson. It's actually such a good deal.

And, like, five times points, it makes no business sense. Like, in my head, like, they're losing money on this. But it's not even like a promo when you join. It's just like if you're a OnePass member, that's the bonus you get. That's it. That just happens every time. Oh, my God. So great.

Anyway, OnePass, call me. I would love to talk to you about working together in 2025. That's my pitch. I could talk about it more, but you haven't paid. Okay. That seems fair. Yeah. Is the sale still on?

No, sorry. Can't talk about it anymore. Can't. Sorry. One pass to the show. Yeah, one pass. Call me. Jess, is that all?

It sure is. I love that. All right, Bec, what have you got to bring to the table? Any festive broke tips? I do have some festive broke tips. So I like to say that all of these are festive. So first I'm going to go with one from Beck, great name, who says this will be applicable for any parents who have heaps of toys for their kids, likely gifted by other people or just ones you have lying around the house. So when kids are young, they tend to gravitate toward the same toys and all of the toys get forgotten about.

My sister-in-law took the toys they've never played with, girls two and five, and re-wrapped them for their birthday and they don't remember because they're kids and they loved the toys and now they're playing with it because honestly, they have so many toys, it reduces waste and money. And I think it's really cool. I think it's a great idea if you do that for Christmases for other kids or if you – yeah, I feel like if you've got kids yourself and you have like – and they're just not touching all these other toys. They're not going to notice they're gone. It's actually low-key genius. And then you wrap them up.

You give them to other kids in the family or friends or whatever. I just think it's a great idea. One of my girlfriends for her kid's first birthday, you know those ride-on cars? Got him one of those. Cute. It was so cute. It was this like fake, obviously, a Mercedes G-Wagon.

So cute. He cried because he was one. He thought it was really scary. He didn't like it. So they put it back in the box and gave it to him when he turned two and he loved it. That's so funny. Genius.

I think that's so smart. It's so smart. Literally so smart. They were like, oh, we thought he'd really like it, but he didn't, so we're just going to give it to him next year. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's really clever. And it's reducing waste.

Yeah, which we love. A hundred percent. I really like that. This next one comes from Emma, and it does lead me into my own, but you'll see why. So Emma messaged me to say that she saw some cute little houses at Kmart and didn't buy them at the time. Then on the weekend realised she could make them

from polystyrene foam that had come with a package that she had bought, just like a random other package. So she'd used that, she'd used the blocks and corners and glued them together with a hot glue gun and then for the real broke tip, she got some mist tint paint from Bunnings, $4 for a sample pot, got some baking powder, different to Bicarb, about $3 from Kohl's,

added some of the baking powder to the paint, which is like some chemical reaction. Oh, it gives it the texture. It looks like render kind of. Exactly, exactly. And so basically she made these like little houses and they look ceramic. I think ceramic is maybe the vibe she was going for.

She did send us photos and she also sent us a photo of this wreath that she made just literally from going for a walk around the neighbourhood. A foraged wreath. So this is the wreath. Oh, that's really cute. Do you want me to, can I put this anywhere? can yeah we'll put it in the facebook group and then the little houses oh those are really

cute and a fun little diy project absolutely and why that leads me to my own bro tip is it's very i feel like christmas decorations of course gifts and stuff can be diy but i'm speaking decorations because i didn't realize how they just add up because like you you buy i don't know like you buy like a ten dollar like string of fairy lights here you buy like a four dollar pack of baubles here it's like it really starts adding up very quickly anyway i'm going to be doing a craft tonight with my partner and her sister and we're going to just be like making baubles from scratch like that's so fun i did make one yesterday that was like a love heart with like you know when you like put little papers to make it look 3d oh yeah yeah yeah just one of those a little bauble just

get like string I don't know how much string is like five cents I don't know I don't think I don't know what you're buying just always is anything in this world still five cents I don't think so what do we use five cents is for yeah good question I can't even buy lollies at the shop anymore yeah I know it's disgusting what is this maybe go into my money tin five cents by five cents one day they'll be 30 cents yeah one day one day but it will never happen I'm sorry I don't know I don't have time to explain the concept of inflation but that won't happen sorry bye It's a real shame. But anyway, even tinsel, you know, you get like long, you just like cut it out.

Tinsel is unnecessarily expensive. It is. Why has it got to be so expensive? I don't know. But you could make pom-pom ones. Yeah, very cute. Yes, you could make pom-pom ones. Oh, so cute.

So arguably in like, you know, there's a little like straw cleaners. Is that what they call it? Oh, pipe cleaners. Pipe cleaners, sorry. Make a star out of that. I think the entire tree and also we're not looking at it up close. We're just seeing the vibe of the tree most of the time. Oh, sorry.

The vibe of the tree is high because everything on it was handmade. Handmade, exactly. Can I give you a couple more? Please, please, please. Paper chains are really cute. Paper chains. Like in primary school, you cut them into like the long and you loop them together because you can do any colour in paper.

Also, if you want to make your own little ornaments, it's really good. You just do, look it up on the internet, but like flower water salt, like a basic kind of Play-Doh air dry clay texture, roll it out cookie cutters and then you can paint them or you can leave them plain. Oh, that's cute. Also very cute because then you can have fun shapes. You could do like pet paw prints.

Pet paw prints, baby hands. The fingerprints in Love Hearts. Yeah. Also really good. Yes. And if you have kids, I feel like it's a fantastic way to get them to – because I remember when I was a kid, it's exciting putting the Christmas tree up, but it's also like after like an hour of meticulously – it's just like it can be boring.

So it's exciting if you tell the kids we're going to make them. I don't know. It's a whole fun night. My sister-in-law does that and gets the kids to do the wrapping paper. So she buys big rolls of butcher's paper and then the kids decorate it or like walk across it with their feet and paint and like it's very exciting. cute it's really sweet I love that anyway that's it for me DIY decorations DIY it's full of love are you feeling like everywhere on socials and even in my friendship groups I feel like everybody's

reverting to more of a traditional Christmas aesthetic like we're not going for the big shiny tree anymore we're going for like the thoughtful handmade tree yes yes am I I feel like I'm the only one really noticing this and maybe it's because like I'm very into economics but this is maybe overlay, sidestep. Did you know that during times of economic uncertainty, this is just me being a little bit of a nerd, people will revert back to traditional ways of doing things because it feels stable? Yeah, that's really interesting TikTok about the rise of the trad wife and like the Nara Smith of it all and how that was potentially tied back to it, which is so interesting. Yeah, like we're all just looking for a little bit of stability

when we want something a little bit more wholesome, a little bit more stable. And I was like, oh, okay. I feel called out because I literally was like, oh, I love my tree, but is it meaningful enough? Should we be doing more like homemade, handmade stuff on here? But anyway, that's just- For me and someone too, it's meaningful. Thank you. Thank you. Let's go to a really quick break because I want to get into the flip side of this episode really quickly, because we're going to be talking about what do you do if your friend questions the ethics of your investments? Imagine if you just had the pub back, having your nice soda water and someone's like um are your investments ethical awkward awkward but how

do you have that conversation and you slid into our dms this week we're going to be talking about are christmas bonuses the festive norm or are they just wishful thinking so don't go anywhere welcome back everyone let's take a listen to this week's money dilemma hi there have you got a money dilemma you just can't solve the she's on the money team is here to help every week we tackle your dilemmas both big and small to answer your most burning money career and life questions to get involved simply head to our website and leave us a short voice recording and you might just find yourself on the show now let's take a listen to this week's money dilemma hi she's on the money team i've been on my investing journey for a while now i dove in

headfirst before I even knew what an ETF was and bought shares in a few different things, including a mining company and some banks, because I saw them as safe bets. I'm now a bit wiser and transitioning to ETFs, but I'm also considering purchasing an investment property in the near future. When I try to talk about investing with my friends, they look at me as though I'm a horrible person. They think it's unethical to be investing this way, especially regarding an investment a property. And while I understand where they're coming from, I personally disagree. I've worked insanely hard and made a lot of sacrifices to get where I am financially. But am I wrong for my investment choices? Do you have any advice for discussing investments with people who give you a

hard time because they don't agree with your level of ethical tolerance? That is an awkward one. It is. I talk about this all the time on the podcast because I get messages and people going, V. What's a good ethical investment? And ethical to you, Bec, might be very different to what ethical to Jess is. And unfortunately, in Australia, it's not like organic. And I've said this before, but like you can go to the shops, right, Bec? And you could go to the organic section if you really want to spend an arm and a leg. So you're going to go to the organic section and you'll see that things are certified organic, which means they had to go through this rigorous testing process of like, do they do this, this, this and this? And then if they pass all of those

tests, they get a big tick and they get to put the sticker of I'm a certified organic product on there, right? That does not exist for ethical in Australia. Ethical is just a word. Like I could call it ethical and you go, V, it's a tobacco company. And I go, yeah, but like, have you seen their pay structure? They really look after their team. Like, okay, that might be your level of ethical. So it's an interesting conversation to have with people because what you accept is very different to what I might accept, which is very different to what Jess might accept. That's cool. That's why we actually love having these conversations because we are so diverse. But Jess, what would you do if I turned around and maybe not me, because I feel like you'd be like,

what? Sit down. Shut up, Bea. What if you were at brunch and one of your friends was like, oh, you want to buy an investment property, Jess? Yeah. That's unethical. I think investment properties specifically are very polarizing as an investment. Like I think it's less so, I can see that, you know, mining and things might also be somewhat controversial, but I think of the things that our listener listed, the property, the investment property is probably the most, you know, talked about one in the group. Because I think that people are very divided on this. like we've seen it in our comments. We've seen it in other groups and other places. People feel very strongly one way or the other. And it really does come down to your personal compass. I think

like my perspective on it is I'm a renter. If people didn't have investment properties to rent out, I would be homeless. Do you know what I mean? So on some level, I think that it's ethical. I guess the discussion that a lot of people have is around people who have 10 properties are then, you know, driving up housing prices, driving, you know, people like you and me back out of the property market because they've driven the prices up so high we can't afford them because maybe they're using their equity or blah, blah, blah. And I do kind of agree with that side of the argument. I think, God, I don't want to get too much into the politics of it all, but I think there's more regulation to be done, particularly around like overseas investment and properties

that don't have anybody living in them and things like that. I think like as a whole, we need people to invest in property because tenants need to be able to live somewhere. Like that's the case for me. And I think it's hard because if someone does have a portfolio of 10 properties, at the same time, I want to acknowledge that they've obviously, hopefully worked really hard to get them and like put themselves in what they think is a good financial position. And I don't really want to be like, you're a bad person either, because if that was me, I'm sure I'd feel a lot of pride and joy in the fact that I'd done that. Yeah. I think the ethical issue doesn't necessarily, the responsibility of it doesn't necessarily come down to the individual investor. And maybe that's

a naive opinion, but I think like my perspective on the ethics of it is it needs to be more regulated from a government point of view. Agreed. I think it's a very complex web of ethical and economic circumstances that come together to have this conversation. And maybe we've done an episode on this before and we can link it in the show notes so that you can deep dive into it more. But I think it's actually a bigger, broader conversation. So there's obviously a number of different arguments. And like, I would hope that as she's on the money, we talk about them pragmatically. I am a property investor and I don't see that as unethical for me to engage in, but I also think it comes back to my own morals and my own ethics

and the way that I run my life, right? I think that there are a lot of people in this world who are like me, but then there are a lot of people who put the onus on the tenant and that to me is not ethical. So like if I'm going to lease out my property, I think we need to go back to the basics of why we're investing in the first place, right? We're investing to create wealth. But at the crux of it, we need to remember that there is a risk and reward chart. And to take risk to get reward, that risk has to be acknowledged. And one of those risks of investing in investment properties is that you're not just going to be able to purchase an apartment off the plan and lease it out and automatically get a 7% yield on your rental return. And it's

all sunshine and roses and you paid your deposit, but don't worry, all of your tenants' rent coming in is paying the mortgage. Like, yes, that is a golden opportunity and some people are in that situation ethically, but then I also believe some people are in that situation inethically or unethically because they're overcharging their tenants for what I believe is a basic human right. Do I think if I own an inner city apartment that I can charge a premium on that? I don't own one, but I do think that's the case because to me, rent is also a lifestyle expense. So, there is the basic human need to have a roof over my head for a reasonable amount of money. And I think that's up to the government to legislate. And I think it's up to the government

to make sure that we are able to access that and have not a housing crisis, which we are currently in. But at the same time, I think that if I'm going to buy a property and it's a lifestyle property and it's not going to help, you know, the cost of living crisis or people in those situations, yeah, you can charge a premium for your location or your view or whatever, like you're not taking the mickey, but you are taking the mickey if you are trying to increase your tenant's rent because your mortgage repayments increased. That is not your tenant's responsibility. In fact, let's pretend you know nothing about their financial situation. Potentially, they chose to rent because they wanted the stability of a consistent payment

each month and they didn't want that financial responsibility. If your mortgage repayments increase, that's a you problem, not a tenant problem. And like, I just think that that's where things get a little bit unethical. And there's also the flip side argument where people think that Beck, for example, you're not allowed to own multiple properties until everyone in Australia owns one property. So everyone can be on the property ladder. And to that, I would say, no, that's not how our economic situation works, right? Like we don't actually live in a communist society. Things aren't pulled together and then shared out equally in our society. Like we are very lucky to live in Australia where we have a really good social system. I'm not saying it is

perfect. I'm not saying that there aren't things that need fixing. There absolutely are. But we live in a society where people who can't get by are given resources to get by. But people who go above and beyond and try to make businesses and take big risks are rewarded for that. And I don't think it is fair to say that every single person should be able to buy a property. is it a situation where I think everybody should be able to purchase a property? I want to say yes, because I would want that, but also economically, no. Like we are in a, and this is probably a much larger conversation and I'm going to do a whole podcast on this at some point soon, but we are in a situation in Australia where our country has only been

colonized for 200-ish years, meaning that property was so much more accessible historically. Owning property internationally is not the norm. You look at places like Germany and Sweden and nobody owns, I think it's like only 40% of their communities are homeowners because the norm is to rent. And I actually think that instead of trying to make property more accessible at this point, because with inflation, with things increasing, with the cost of living crisis that we're going through. I think the solution, and I'm not saying there is a perfect solution, but one of the solutions is actually changing our rental laws and changing tenancy agreements. Like overseas, very normal to sign a 10-year lease agreement. Very normal to sign a 10-year lease agreement

with stepped increments over a period of time. So normal to be given permission to repaint the entire inside of a home, make changes, you know, update a kitchen if you want to, as long as you're adding value. I couldn't even in Australia when I rented, put a painting on a wall when I requested permission because they didn't want me to ruin it. Like we don't feel in Australia, like rental properties are our own homes. Whereas internationally, that's actually the norm. People will rent a place and live there for 30, 40 years. Like that is the norm. So I think there's a very big, sorry, that's like a complete sideline, but I think there's a very big conversation to be had here and it would be interesting to unpack why your friends are saying that your ethical

investments aren't ethical. Are they saying that because they are really against mining? Are they saying that because investing inherently is something that they're uncomfortable with? If so, why? Because at the end of the day, the only way for an individual to create wealth if they did not come from wealth is to invest. Whether you are investing in the share market, whether you are investing in creating your own business, you are never going to create wealth in a salary and PAYG job without doing something with the income that you earn. It's just the reality of the situation. It's not nice. It's not fun. But are you saying that not investing in general is the most ethical thing and therefore you're suffering because of the lack of investing that

you're doing? I don't want people to be in that position. I want you to have that education and that choice so I feel like that's more of a reflection of them than a reflection of you I have friends that sound very similar to this and I'm I'm probably more on that end too but not in a way that's like you know I don't want to ever be shoving my opinions down anyone's throats but I have a whole podcast that's what I do every day so go ham angel go ham yeah well I just think it's all every everyone's in a unique situation like you can't like put a blanket rule on on literally everyone but i think that if you're leaning more on the spectrum of like wanting to make sure that your purchases every day are ethical and like i don't know like taking a keep cup and like doing

your part in the world to like not leave quite as big an impact it's like we are doing all these things we are trying to like look into companies before we buy from them and all these in like you know the same with shares and stuff looking into where your money's going before you invest and i think some people can do it really really well and and they've covered everything off but there are some people that just like like our listener who we're referring to here firstly i just want to say like yeah with the with the investment property i think if if our listener knows that it is a risk it is an investment and if you have like a share and the the share price goes dramatically down and you lose money that was the risk the risk that's the risk you lost money

sorry that's it and if you understand that you're putting someone in a house you have an investment property, someone's renting it out and the, I don't know, I actually understand. Interest rates increase, you have to pay more. That's not the tenant's fault. That's the risk. That's the risk. So just keep that in mind. If you want to buy an investment property and you're going to do it that ethically, you're fine. But yes, I- Exactly. What if the tenants move out and you haven't found a new tenant? That's your problem.

That's your problem. That is your cost to carry. That is why you have an emergency fund. That is why you have to have so much cash in surplus to own property because there are things that are going to pop up. Totally, totally. But just in regards to the investment thing, last weekend I was at a friend's birthday thing and it was kind of funny because, like, I only drink soda waters, as you guys know,

and I should have a soda stream, but I like to buy myself glass bottles of soda water when I'm out. So I just, like, yeah, just so I feel like I'm, you know, everyone's grabbing their beers and they're, like, popping their thing off and I'm like, I just want to be part of that. Everyone's like, ah, Becky, she'd use this. There's water in the tap.

And I'm like, hey, guys, it's big corporate, you know. You've got to worry about big corporate. Me as an individual. You've got to support big corporate. You've got to support. That's why you're buying their water. I just think there's only so much we as individuals can do on the ground. But from little things, big things grow, right?

I know. And it's like that saying, like, oh, it's only one plastic straw. It says four million people. You know what I mean? So, like, I understand where they're coming from, but it's also probably an issue that's bigger than you. And exactly as you're saying, Vidi, if you are wanting to grow your money, I don't know, I just think it's the investment part, it's honestly, it's okay. If you are comfortable investing in these places, that's okay. If there's something wrong inherently with the places that you're investing in, maybe that's a government thing.

And if you're buying an investment property, just make sure you do it ethically. But we're not all perfect, right? We've all got different values. It's like the vegetarian who still uses plastic straws or like the person who's using plastic straws but also, you know, actually reinvests in really ethical things on the flip side. It's, I don't know, the girl who uses plastic bags is still going to rallies on the weekend about things that she's really passionate about. Like we're all just doing our best in line with our values. And if your values don't align, I think it's a really awesome opportunity to have a conversation about, well, what does that mean? Like why are you so passionate about that?

why do you think this instead of going, oh my God, Bec, that's so unethical. And you're going, oh, that's awkward. Oh, why do you think that? Like we can have educated conversations. We don't have to have the same opinion, but we can have respectful conversations about what that means. And I think so many times if, you know, Jess said, I like X and I'd be like, oh, like if Jess said, I love the color pink, I'm not going to reply. Ew, I don't like pink. What about pink do you like? like we can have conversations with people about things that we don't enjoy so that we get a better understanding of them and their values i agree amen anyway should we do the money dilemma oh i can't wait yes i've got so much to say about bloody landlords that i just need to be kicked

off the mic at this point we'll do a whole episode oh we will we will so let's get into our dms this week hey team i've got a christmas bonus dilemma i've always worked freelance or contract so i've never really had bonuses or gifts from work. It's just not something I expect. My partner though is used to getting them and sees them as a sign of being valued. At his last company he didn't get a bonus at all and he took it really personally. It started this spiral of feeling undervalued and negative about his job which eventually led to him leaving. Now he's already talking about what his current company's bonus might look like this year and I'm worried it's going to be the same cycle all over again. To me, a bonus is just that, a bonus. It's not guaranteed. Am I out of

touch here? How do I help him see the bigger picture without dismissing how he feels? I've only had one bonus ever in my entire life. I didn't realize that anyone in the world thought they were just the norm. So I've been missing out, it seems like. I feel like it's a real corporate thing yeah it's super corporate like my husband for example gets bonuses as a part of his remuneration structure but it is outlined in his employment contract that if you know his team and the business reach x level of profitability then this whole complex calculation comes into play and then if he gets a five-star rating it's literally like reading a multi-level marketing contract like it's insane what it takes to to achieve it right and then his bonus will be

capped at a certain amount and then he will have a calculated percentage of x y it's crazy but some people i.e my husband just to be honest transparent and like i guess a little bit relatable that's part of his remuneration structure and he like never knows what his bonus is going to be because he's like it's too complex for me to work an outsider just wait until work tell me oh this what the bonus is this year but for me I've never received a bonus and I won't incorporate but then also I feel like small business they don't do bonuses no I just think maybe like bonuses are for the top dogs who maybe don't need it but uh I can understand that that bonuses are there for like people to work towards something throughout the year so they have this you know incentive at

the end of the year I feel like it just feels kind of unfair for those on the ground who don't actually have those things to work toward if you're just like if you're a receptionist and it's like you're not technically directly making money for the company so you don't there's no way for you to get an incentive to get the bonus so it's like but you probably need it more than anyone else in the goddamn company you know what I mean so I just feel like a bonus should be a nice if at all a nice little I know it's not what this discussion is nice little surprise the end of the year like everyone's worked very hard you all get the exact same amount of money and that's all but But did this person say that he's changed companies and he didn't get a bonus?

Yeah, he left because he didn't feel valued. But before he left, he'd been in the same company, got a bonus, and then didn't get a bonus. No, no, it was a new company and then he didn't feel valued by that new company, so he left. I just think, like, if there was no discussion about why there was no bonus, then you might not even know. Maybe it's just not something that they do or maybe it's not.

It's probably got nothing to do with the worker at all. In fact, it's probably so many different things, cost of living, anything else. But I can understand that. if you're used to it and then it just kind of doesn't happen. I've got so many opinions and I don't want to like put them in here because I want to ask my actual employee what she thinks about bonuses before I tell you my thought process on them. My experience, similar to yours, it's when I was –

We don't repay bonuses. No, but we're sources. But my experience with bonuses was always corporate, similar to your husband. It's outlined as a part of your remuneration scheme and there's clear markers. Like it's not like, oh, like you've been a nice person this year so you get a bonus.

A $5 roof. like it was always very clear KPIs to achieve so and in my experience it was everyone within the company was eligible for bonus so awesome I've received bonuses at two different companies and in both of those places it was like they were very achievable and so it wasn't like a if you do a crazy thing this year you get it was always like hey like if you've done your job well for the uh you know KPIs everyone's eligible for a bonus I do believe it was tiered based I think it was akin to your your salary so I think like people who are percentage based or something yeah like more senior people who are earning more did get bigger bonuses but then

arguably those people were taking on larger workloads or larger responsibilities or whatever so like that's how that worked but like everybody knew like you knew if you were gonna get your bonus or not effectively and you knew that it was because it was something that you sure was agreed upon like when you were hired I think like in terms of him leaving I don't know because obviously we're hearing this from our listeners point of view and the way that she's interpreted it I don't think a bonus and not getting a bonus is enough for somebody to leave a company yeah but I feel like there would be more going on correct I think that maybe it's a it's symptomatic of like the straw that broke the camel's back so to speak like if you're feeling undervalued if you're not

feeling a part of the team if you're not feeling like your work's being recognized if you're not feeling like xyz and then you were hanging in there and you're like oh at least at the end of the year I'm going to get my bonus and you didn't get a bonus. I can see how that would maybe push somebody over the edge, but I think that it would probably be stacking on top of a heap of other things. Exactly right. I do think that when you're being hired, it is kind of your responsibility to figure out those things. I don't think you should just expect that every company does a bonus structure because it looks different everywhere in the same way that compensation broadly looks different at every company. So I do kind of think that your partner probably should have looked into

that or spoken to their manager or kind of sussed it out because I don't think you can just expect everywhere to use a bonus structure or to do it the same way as your previous employers. But yeah, I think that them leaving was probably a result of a number of things, not simply not getting a Christmas bonus would be my thoughts. Yeah. I guess this is flipping to the other side as the employer. I don't do Christmas bonuses. I don't do bonuses at all because as a small business, you kind of like when you're structuring your business, you step back and go, okay, cool. Like how much can I afford to pay these people? What can I do? And I would much prefer to max out what I can pay people annually than like withhold a certain amount of their remuneration for the rest

of like, I don't know. It just made me uncomfortable. Like looking at the different business structures. Like when you hire one employee and Jess was my first in She's On The Money. And I remember having already run a company and had employees. I remember going, all right, well, this is actually a whole new entity. I should look into the type of remuneration structure I should offer because, you know, prior to Jess, I had only hired financial advisors and mortgage brokers and I'd never really had somebody in a content role. And I was like, well, what does that look like and I remember looking into like the different remuneration structures and talking to a recruitment person about what would be the best and talking to my employment lawyer and being

like you know what are other businesses in this space doing and getting a heap of advice and ultimately I felt the most comfortable with going okay cool I can afford to pay Jess the salary that she really wants instead of going oh well actually Jess it's actually 10 grand below what you are asking for. But if you're really good and you work really hard, you can get another 10 grand at Christmas. Like I, in my head, just didn't like that anticipation of like, I don't know, the idea that Jess or even any employee would be really waiting until Christmas to be able to afford something or really waiting until a bonus to make something happen. Like I just, I like the clarity of clean numbers. That doesn't mean that Christmas isn't a generous time for our business

though like I feel like at Christmas time we still have a really beautiful party have a you know presents all of that fun stuff but I feel like that's then again back to what you were saying like a surprise it's not expected it's an enjoyable experience but then I've also been talking to someone recently where they're like yeah we had our work Christmas party like everyone was told only have one drink because that's all the tab cover and it just feels so stingy and that's what would make me feel like my business didn't value me like I would hate for and this is again complete personal opinion everybody runs their businesses differently like I cannot wait for our work Christmas party sit down with everybody Beck bloody she's busy

rude but like no sit down with everybody for a really nice lunch also can we just talk about how we always pick a lunch because I don't want after work hours to be a part of your expected work period of time. We will be doing that during workouts. I mean, it'll probably kick on, let's be honest. Like every year, Jess, everyone's gone out for drinks afterwards and had a really fun time. But like, I just hate the idea at Christmas time, I would expect one of your evenings. We're already busy. Anyway, I feel like there's, you know, give and take, but then other small business owners would be like, oh, absolutely not. We don't do a Christmas party. We just buy everybody a Christmas hamper and send them on their way on, you know, the 23rd of December.

And I just, I don't know, we've all got our own way of doing things, but I feel like a bonus is not reflective of how valued you are. There would have to be other things at play. Yeah, I agree. I agree. What did everyone else say? Oh, that was so juicy. So we said, have you ever scored a Christmas bonus? Only 9% of you said, yeah, I get one every year. I'm shocked by that. 22% of you said occasionally, but it's definitely not the norm. And then 69% of you said, no, never had a bonus. Wow.

Okay. We said, do you think Christmas bonuses should be performance-based or given equally? 60% of you said performance-based and 40% of you said given equally to everybody. What are your thoughts? I think this is the problem. Like if She's On The Money was giving bonuses, is it equal?

Is it performance-based? Well, I think that the risk is like here what we're hearing now is that this guy literally left his company because he felt really disenchanted, really undervalued. This is the negative effect that bonuses can have if not given to everyone. But also it's like if you perceive that you have worked hard all year, but your co-worker hasn't or your stats haven't lined up with that, but you've been burnt to the crisp. You are burnt out. You've worked so hard. You're really loyal to the company. but because on paper your stats might not show that you don't get a bonus sorry you know what

i mean it's just like i feel like performance some people are really not you know they just come into the bare minimum that's fine if they've kept their job then they're just they're doing their job and that's okay i don't think we need to always be like striving for extra extra extra if you're doing your job that's plenty that's what you've been hired for you're doing good yeah i just think the risk that people will feel undervalued and actually be working hard and not ever be seen is higher than just giving everyone the same and someone benefits even if they've just kind of walked in, they come in late all the time.

That's rarer, I think. Yeah, that's fair. The metrics are hard too because generally like you have people doing such different things. Like in my job, like I'm directly linked to like revenue being generated. I was about to say that. But somebody like our graphic designer, like what she's doing

is absolutely generating revenue but it's not as direct. Do you know what I mean? Like I could sit down and I was about to be like, I think it's given equally, but that goes back to a bigger conversation about accountability, performance management and stuff. So I know in my She's All The Money team, I'm proud of you guys. So that's why I always gloat. But like everyone in my team works frigging hard. If you don't work hard, it's not the environment for you. It's going to be very obvious.

Like I would say I'm not a micromanager. micromanager like I'm not sitting there being like what are you doing Jess but it will be obvious if Jess wasn't doing her job same with literally anybody else in the team but you know we've got our graphic designer she can't put a number on what her work brings in but if you didn't have a graphic designer Jess what no content's going out what content is going out what am I selling you know we've got a podcast producer yeah and she's fantastic but Jess what are you selling if our broadcast producer doesn't do her job well like you can't it's so hard because I think and especially if you look at like a larger company you go oh like an admin assistant for example

versus someone in a sales team the sales team on paper is bringing in money but like i'm sorry the admin assistant is making sure that they can do their job running ragged to make it happen so it's it's hard because i think you're not comparing like for lack for like when you do it exactly i do like the idea of it as much as i understand what you're saying back about how some people might coast and some people might go above and beyond i do kind of like the idea of it being applied equally yes again I'm the same I'm saying everyone is equally valued yes I agree but I mean there's arguments that go both ways right yeah but like I know yeah but I think in this situation they're saying it's because he doesn't feel valued and it's like well to me that's an all or nothing

kind of statement like that's not uh oh I don't feel valued because I generated an extra xyz than, you know, Jess over in sales. Like, what are you expecting? Like, I don't know. I just don't like the idea that one team member would get preferential treatment to another because they had sales targets. Anyway, it's become so complex. Look how complex we're making it.

We did ask the community for some opinions. Would you like to hear them? Absolutely. I thought you might. So first person said, my dad used to get a Christmas ham and a slab of beer. I've never had anything from work. Do you know what?

My dad's work used to give away a Christmas ham. I was fancy. I used to get Christmas ham. I was just vegetarian too. I was like, thanks for this leg. That's really bad. That's really terrible. That is terrible.

Well, it's probably on me. I wasn't making a song and dance. I should have. Someone else said, I get it as vouchers, not big bonuses. But last year, they just gave it to me in my pay. But then I got extra tax. Of course. That's what they did.

Yeah, so if I am giving cash to a team member like for some reason or like a bonus or a Christmas present, not bonus, you know what I mean, like if there's some reason I'm gifting them something, it will come as a Visa gift card most of the time. That's lovely, gorgeous. Because I'm literally like, okay, cool, I don't want to be like, oh, here's a Mecca gift card if, I don't know, your financial situation, maybe like $100 at Mecca,

Slay, I know Jess would love that, so I don't think there'd be any complaints. But maybe, Bec, you'd be like, what the hell, like I would prefer a hundred bucks in my bank account for groceries. Like a Visa gift card couldn't do that. So if you're an employer and you've never done it and you're thinking about Christmas this year and you're like, oh, I don't know what to get people. You've probably already done it because today's the last Friday before Christmas, but. File is away for next year. File is away for next year. Visa gift cards are, I would say, employees' favorite type of gift

cards because they can be used anywhere. True, true, true. Someone else said no bonuses when you work for the government. If you think you add that much value, you should be asking for a raise. Also a relevant point. Well, that's a good point, yes. You think you deserve more? Ask for it. Huh. That's a really good point.

A bit humbling. I like it. Yeah. Someone else said, I've always received a gift card reflective of my role, level, and workload that year in three roles now. Cool. I didn't realize gift cards were so prominent. Yeah.

I like this, Picasso. Someone else said, in this climate, reality is most businesses can't afford bonuses. It doesn't mean they don't value you. Someone else said a bonus is a bonus and it shouldn't be expected because it's a bonus. Which kind of contradicts the fact that it gets put into a lot of remuneration schemes. Yeah, I feel like we are confusing the terminology. So like, obviously, if it's in your remuneration structure, a bonus is a bonus if you meet a certain amount of KPIs and there's like a whole structure to it.

It sounds like this person didn't have, like going back to the listener question, they didn't have that in their pay structure. it's not like, oh, it was in his contract and he never got paid it. It's like a little Christmas treat. It's a little Christmas treat he was expecting, but didn't get. Yeah. So if it's in your pay structure, I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. It's just so varied, isn't it? Someone else said, I worked exceptionally hard one year only for everyone to get the same bonus. I can see how that would. Yes. That's going back to what you were saying. Yeah. I can see what. Whereas from an employer's perspective, I kind of look at it and go, yep, because I'm pretty sure when I look

at my business as a whole as team effort. Totally. Yeah. And honestly, like sometimes it's being like, hey, you actually did a great job this year. Like that's plenty. That feels really good. And I'll have personal conversations about that, you know, discuss it and talk about salary and talk about all of those things separately because I don't want people to not feel valued. But like a little gift on the side isn't why you're valued. Yeah, exactly. Someone else said we always get a bonus of a $200 Woolies gift card, which is great, but I never rely on them. Oh, yeah, that's a great gift around Christmas.

Someone else said, try working in health. Don't even get a day off at this time of year, let alone a bonus. Oh, and you have to shell out of your own pocket for the work Christmas party. What? Yeah, I wouldn't be doing that. Oh, I remember I worked at a university one time and they made the biggest deal about this work Christmas party.

I was like, oh, okay, no worries. And, like, the university I worked at was not in the Melbourne CBD and they had picked a Melbourne CBD location for the Christmas party. and I'm thinking oh this is great the work's putting this on official work invitation all of that and then an email went around and they were like oh make sure you bring at least a hundred dollars in cash I remember being like what sorry sorry no dude and then I asked like my direct manager about it thankfully I liked her and I was like um what's this about like why would we bring a hundred dollars cash and she's like oh because like it's just so much easier at the end of the

night you know the set menu that we're paying for is like sixty nine dollars a head and then drink so it will be at least $100 a head. And I was like, I will actually not be attending. I was kind of taken aback by it because I was like, oh, like already I was feeling a little bit awkward because, spoiler, I didn't like the rest of the team. That's why that job never worked out for me. Didn't want to go.

Was taking my partner, so like awkward conversation of being like, so does that mean like $200? Like what's covered, what's not? And they're like, oh, none of it's covered. We've just organised it as a team to go out. And I was like, cool. but it was just the most awkward situation in the entire world I went because I felt awkward shittest night of my life literally and then you're like I've had a bad time I hate everyone

here and I'm a hundred dollars poorer like this is the worst I ever and everyone was rude to my now husband like they were just so rude and I remember being like I'm on the way home I'm like I'm so sorry Steve and he was like well that was terrible I was like yep anyway that's what the community had to say i feel like that's a good place to leave it is i'm excited we have a bonus episode coming out on christmas day so don't worry we're not done with the festivities yet but if we don't speak to you before then have the best festive season merry christmas merry christmas happy holidays my friends hope you have a good period we love you and we'll see you soon bye guys The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your

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