She's On The Money - Bec's Investing Confessions: Her First Year in the Share Market

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

If you’ve ever told yourself investing is something you’ll get to later, when you have more money, more brain space, or a slightly more put-together life… this episode is about to ruin all of those excuses in the best way. Today, the one and only Bec Syed has volunteered to jump into the Investing Diaries seat so we can get pervy on her first year as an investor (and yes, it’s exactly as Bec-coded as you’d expect). She walks us through how she went from not really understanding what investing even was, to building an almost $1,500 investment portfolio in the background of her very normal, but very chaotic life. (Yep, we're so proud of her too!) We get into what it actually looks like to invest when you don’t have heaps of spare cash, why round-ups and automation are a game changer, and how seeing tiny wins along the way completely changed how money feels. In her lovable Bec way she's honest about the confusion, the questionable decisions, the accidental wins, and the fact that she still very much learning as she goes. It’s proof that you don't have to have it all figured out when it comes to investing, you just need to start. And if Bec can do it… honestly, so can you. 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 sttanding referal patnership with Skye Wealth and only ever partner with people we trust.  SHARESIES CODE: Sign up to Sharesies, deposit any amount and get a bonus $10 to invest, T&Cs apply.VISIT OUR INVESTING HUB: You'll find all our investing freebies, resources, courses & podcast playlists here.FREE MONEY TOOLS YOU'LL LOVE: All our best free resources in the 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 - 451289.See 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. Ti, gilinyan ganya, nianakaka yao yinbina waka, nianakai nianbina yakarumja, duminyagumiga dumiga ithawaka nirawamundamun imalan. Mumu bangada boma ininyalan waka, gaunan yakarumja, wutunarana. 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 lets you be pervy on other people's money stories for educational purposes, obviously. Welcome back to another Money Diaries episode brought to you by Sky Wealth. I am not your usual Money Diaries host, and this is not your usual Money Diaries episode. Today, I've got something very special for you. It's actually something we have had on our most requested episode list for a very long time. I am obviously Jess Rickey and today I am joined by someone who we all know and love to talk about her first year as an investor. Welcome to the Money Diaries hot seat, Bex Sayet. Hi, this is so cool. You're

so cute and excited I'm so excited I'm like when you said the most requested episode I was like sure I'm sure surely not but people that is so nice I mean sorry not most requested but like requested at all I'm stoked honestly I wouldn't be surprised if it was the most requested very highly at the very least that is crazy thank you guys I really hope I'm I make it worth it you know worth your time go leave a comment and tell me how much you love her I wouldn't hate it we Do you love it? I want to take you back to the beginning. Yes. The time before She's on the Money, pre-us, how did you feel about investing before you'd started working for the show? Honestly, I didn't know what it was. I couldn't understand. It just didn't, yeah, I think I hadn't

demystified it at that point. It was kind of just like a word that I kind of reserved for people who were a little bit richer or something like that. I kind of just, I had no idea what it was. I have to be honest. I have no idea. That's fine. We want honesty. Was anyone in your circle investing? Did anyone around you talk about it? My brother, who is like always been really good with money, but he would, he was like using these letters S and P 500. And I was like, I don't know what that is. And I didn't think I had enough money to make it worth it. So I was like, I'm not going to, I would kind of just zone out when he would talk about it. Yeah.

But he was the only one I knew. Yeah. The only person that was good with money in my world. And it was just never spoken about in a way that was at all palatable for someone who does not know about that stuff, you know? Yeah. It makes it feel really out of reach, doesn't it? Yeah.

You had been with the show for about two years, I think roughly, before you started investing. What was holding you back from starting until that point? I think I just didn't understand it. I think it's mostly about like not understanding. I don't think I was like worried or fearful or anything like that. I just kind of thought I also, you need X amount before you even start. I was like, what's the point in chucking a dollar or two in there?

It's going to go up and down. It's mainly going to go down. I didn't understand it enough, you know? And so I think when I realized that you get $10 for free with the- When you sign up to Shazzy's code, S-O-T-M-10. Yes, yes, yes. And I was like, okay, well, I'll just do that. But then also at the same time, and nothing to do with investing,

I just like, you know when you just have like a life admin task that you just keep putting off? It was just one of those things. And I think I was like, I think I was just like bored, maybe like at an airport or something. There was like a holding period. Maybe I was like waiting for the doctor to come out or something. And I was like, well, I've completely scrolled all of Instagram

and what else can I do? And then that's I think when I did it. And then, yeah, I just started with $10. And I don't even know how I knew what to put it on. but I just started with that. And then that was it. Yeah. So I had to wait till I was bored enough to get into a place where I was like, I'll let me download. Yeah. You know, how did you find, obviously, while you were working for those two years, while you were hosting the show with Victoria, intermittently, you were talking about investing, you know, probably like once a month

or so. How did you find, were you like absorbing the information or were you not really following along were you taking it in and wanting to sit with it for a while like what was that experience for you I think I didn't take it in for a while but it like I took it in enough to understand the word um I guess the same way I would understand when she says we need to do a budget for you I have no idea what that looks like I can't be like behind the word I can't see that world You don't see the value. I see the value, but I don't know what it is. Yeah.

Like I can't see behind the door, the door which is the word budget. Yeah. And because I can't see behind the door, nothing makes sense in my brain. I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I've got to do this thing. I don't know why. I don't know how. I don't know what it looks like. I don't know anything about it.

I'm just like, okay, well, people are telling me I've got to do this thing. I guess I've got to do this thing. Yeah. But I don't know why yet. You know what I mean? You've got to roll it around in your brain a little bit first. Yeah. like when you start a new job and they're like taking you through a process and you're just like

yeah cool easy i know what like this i do this after this you don't know why yet you're just kind of doing it you know that's what it feels like i suppose that's valid once you downloaded the app did you invest immediately so you sign up for the app you get ten dollars when you make your first deposit did you then immediately put that into something i think i did i think i did I must have put it in because the only reason I knew about ETFs was because of Victoria and, you know, for anyone who doesn't know, ETF is like a basket of shares so you don't have to choose one share. It's just like a basket and that felt easier for me.

It takes the pressure off a little bit. Yeah, it takes the pressure off. And I think it felt better somehow and so I was like, oh, I think I Googled ETFs, like most popular ones, And I think that that's how I decided where to put my money. And then I just put it in that and then just kind of left it. Did you have any fears or hesitations around, you know, putting your money into something?

I think for a lot of people shares feel very intangible. It's like you're sending your money out into the universe and it's gone. Did you have any concerns around that? Yeah. I think because I didn't really, it didn't feel like my own money. So I was like, I didn't really mind. But then once I started putting my own money in, there was some there's some hesitation yeah but I think that hearing Victoria say and and you know

I preface this by saying like I know that past performance is not an indicator of future performance but knowing that it's kind of a thing that you know uh ASX or S&P whatever they are whatever the big ones are they kind of have only gone up over the years and so I was like even if it goes down one day or even if it's down for like a long time, I think it's going to be okay, you know? And so, but I wasn't too scared, especially when it wasn't really my money to begin with. I was like, whatever. I feel like your, like your nature as a human is you're very like everything will work out. It's fine. Totally. I feel like that lends itself really well to investing because you're absolutely right. Like, you know, you can have peaks and troughs, but we

always say, look at it over, you know, zoom out 10 years. You're right. Historically, typically the market's on average climb, but if you're caught up in the day-to-day looking at it going, Oh, what is this? What is that? That is not ideal. Do you feel like you have a high risk appetite because of that? I think so. And I think like it really works in my favor to be so like, no offense, Victoria or anyone to be so not interested in finances is really working my favor because I'm not it does get to a point where like I kind of do check it as often as I would check like I don't know I would go on Instagram and then I'm like I'm bored of Instagram I'm gonna check my shares you know that kind of thing but but because it's not like I don't fully

understand it I don't fully understand all the words I don't you know I'm kind of just checking it to see what it's doing and then I'm leaving you know I'm not like I'm not super I'm not reading up on anything and so I think that because of that I can kind of it can kind of be out of sight out of mind. I want to ask about the first investment you made after that initial $10. So obviously you had your $10. It wasn't your own money because you got it from the signup code. Love that. Thanks for supporting. Of course. After that, you obviously had to make a conscious choice to invest more money. When was that? How long after your initial investment of that $10? Did you invest in the same thing or something different? Talk me through that whole process.

I think after that, it probably was around the same time. It was either the same day or very, very soon after where I just, it honestly was like $5 or $10, I think. And it was like right when payday came around. It was not like, you know, talk to me like three weeks or two weeks after payday and there's just no chance I'm considering that. Like I'm trying to use every, sometimes I'll send all these different cents to one account. So it turns into $2.80. And then I'm like, great. Now I can buy

7-Eleven coffee. I'm not putting that money in shares. But I started doing it. Like I had a lot of money because I just got paid. And then I think I put five or $10 in. And then I think I probably did put in the same thing just because it's like, I didn't really know anything. And then what I did was like, I don't like, this is not a recommendation or any advice at all, but I went into like ETFs and then I did, you can like sort it by, I think I did highest earning or greatest return or something like that. And then I decided like buying random things. And then, and then I would Google, and I know this is not a, this is not financial advice. It's probably very, very dumb, but I would Google say, I don't know, oak look table forecast, whatever the share name is. I

I would type that in and then write forecast and if it like came up as like a strong buy or something and not that I like I promise I'm not like a big person who just like reads and believes everything they see on the internet but I was just I kind of just kind of felt like a game and I was like who cares if I lose 10 dollars here and there I don't really care I'm just like it kind of just felt like a game and then before I knew it I had like all these different things going on all my money in all these different places but majority of it in like you know the safe ones i suppose quote unquote um yeah what kind of platforms or resources like you say you were reading somewhere that it was a recommendation strong buy recommendation what kind of websites or

platforms were you looking at to get that information from i would never use the same website and i don't know what websites are trustworthy i would literally just go to google and then you know sometimes the AI thing you'll write your summary at the top and then I would just look at that and then yeah and then skip out and be like great that's enough information for me and then go ahead and do it and it doesn't always work because that is not because AI is not always AI he does not understand yes I was just gonna say for anyone listening this is Beck's personal experience personal not necessarily what we would recommend that you do exactly but that's okay like everybody has their own journey and that is so fine. What surprised you about getting started

investing once you finally got over the, you know, the cliff and started going? Honestly, like seeing it start earning money. I was like, oh my God, I thought that was just like, I didn't think that's real. I thought it was like, you put money in. My only experience with this kind of thing, because I had just only ever done it for such a short period of time, is that I put money in and then I lose a little bit and then I take it out and that's all. Or Like I would maybe gain a tiny bit and then it would take it out and it would all go to fees or whatever. And then now that I've had it in there for so long, it's earning money.

And I just, I know that that's the point of it. You know, ideally that's the point of it. But I didn't think it would be real. And then I can see it's happening. It's doing it. It's crazy. When you say it's earning money, are you talking about the things you're investing in paying you dividends

or are you talking about the value of your shares increasing? The value of my shares increasing. Yes. But I do sometimes get dividends. Yeah. Isn't it exciting? Even if it's like 16 cents, isn't it like the most exciting thing ever? Totally.

And I've got my notifications on so it's like this thing is about to pay you a dividend and I'm like, what? That's so nice. Thank you. Do you reinvest it or do you keep the dividend? I reinvest it just because I don't want to learn how to take it out. And I feel like that's good. Yeah.

I'm purposely not figuring out how to withdraw money because then I will just do it and then before you know it, that'll be gone. I want to get a little bit nosy, if you don't mind. Please, absolutely. Can I ask, how much do you have invested now? Yeah, so just check this one second before we started talking. And so it may have changed, but it's $1,420.55. That's amazing.

Isn't that crazy? Thank you so much. Did you ever feel like it would get to that amount of money? No, when I started, I think it took me ages to get to $70. And then I was like, oh my God, it was 70 bucks in here. That's crazy. And there were times where I was like, I've completely run out of money. I'm going to have to take the $70 out.

But then I was like, oh, no, I don't know how to do it yet. And I don't want to figure it out, you know. We're going to keep it that way. You're going to keep it that way. And so I, and then before I knew it, like it just kept growing. And then when it starts growing, you're like, and it wasn't even like the value of the shares growing. It was just me putting money in.

Yeah. And that in itself was like enough to kind of be a bit addictive eventually. Yeah. Such a good feeling. It's such a good feeling. Have you ever pulled money out or have you just been adding to it the whole time? I've just been adding to it.

That, honestly, Bec, for you and like I'm saying this in a very loving way. I don't want anyone to take it that way. Oh, no. But for you and your personality type and the way that you struggle with impulse control, that's incredible. Thank you. That's so wonderful.

Thank you. That's such a good job. Thank you so much. Honestly, I'm really, really proud of you. Thank you, Jess. That's so sweet. Thank you. It really, it does not go with my story arc.

Like it's so, so far from anything I could have dreamed of for myself. Yeah. And again, like in my real life, I don't have savings because I don't have the control. So I'm like, this is the only thing. I know Victoria would suggest having an emergency fund before investing, but if that's the only thing that works for me, unfortunately I just have investments.

I don't have savings. And that's okay. I think. Yeah. If worse came to worse, I still got that. thing yeah you know the fact you're working on creating a more secure financial future for yourself in a way that works for you and I think that that's absolutely there's no right way to do money thank you the fact yeah that you're changing your habits that's just so wonderful thank you oh

my god how many different things are you invested in across that $1400 I feel like I'm gonna check really quickly while i have you here so oh i've got 18 in my wallet right now um one two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve i've invested in 36 things and you know what that's your journey and that's okay that's funny do you okay here's a question so you're invested it, you're very well potentially diversified. Are they all ETFs? Are some of those individual shares? I think some of them are individual. Do you think I should condense them? I mean, it's totally up to you and your strategy. If you hold a lot of ETFs though, it would probably be worth looking at what overlaps, I would say. Because a lot of, you know, a lot of ETFs or

index funds rather track markets and things. So you might find that depending on what you've invested, there may be a fair bit of crossover that could consolidate down. Not that there's anything wrong with holding lots of different things. It just means you're like money's more spread out. With so many of them in your portfolio, how do you decide where your money is going? So let's say you get, you know, you've got a certain amount, you've got, what did you say? $17 in your wallet right now? Yes, $18 right now. $18 in your wallet right now. How do you go, okay, well, which of these 30 plus places am I putting that money? I could probably put 50 cents in each. Is that your typical strategy? You look so stressed. I want to know more. It's such a good

question. It really stresses me out when I have money in my wallet. Cause I'm like, well, I don't, I don't want to keep it there. I want to put it somewhere, but I don't know where to put it. I don't know where to start. And so I think I should go through and figure out what's not working for me anymore but um I what I do is I I have price notifications set on some things great so when things dip under a certain price point you're notified just my go-to the one that I will the the major one that I'm going to be investing in probably forever is ASX 500 I think or S&P 500 S&P 500 S&P 500 oh it's a combination of both S&P and ASX that's like I think that's my main one I'm pretty sure and then I just like have like I put everything in there if I can't decide

yeah so you're investing in an index fund that tracks the two different ASX and S&P yeah exactly yeah so you put the bulk of your money you would say into that every time you have money there yes yeah okay incredible overall like how are you feeling about just everything that you've got going on I feel like from where you were when you started to being here you've come such a long way how does it feel thank you it does feel really really good it just feels like though because it's not fully in my day-to-day it's not accessible and it's not like I'm trying to not make it accessible as well that's intentional right yeah it does feel good to have like almost like a safety net that I don't want to touch and I don't expect to touch at any point but

my day-to-day still feels weirdly exactly the same as oh no I think I do feel a little bit better even though I am still not doing well financially like just because of my own you know I mean, I don't get paid heaps of money, but I could be way better with my money as well. You're learning still. You're learning still. So because you don't have that safety net, have you ever thought about getting personal insurances or something like that to help protect yourself? I have thought about it.

It's all like quite a complex, seems like a complex world, too complex a world for me. So I don't have insurance, but I have been thinking about maybe one day exploring that. When you do go to Phil, he did mine and like their team, they just do insurance. It's a much more affordable fee getting advice for insurance specifically rather than going and getting holistic financial advice, like significantly, significantly cheaper. And their team were amazing. They kind of like sorted it all out, presented it to me because it can be overwhelming. That is literally what I need. I kind of feel like embarrassed going to, you know, maybe like my super company or something. And they kind of deal with all these different things,

But like strictly insurance or something would be really, really helpful I imagine. So, okay. That's good to know. Thank you. Farther away for later. Even though I'm still not using it wisely, I am like things feel clearer, you know, and I can see things clearer and I can see a path

that is starting to form and all I need to do is just like walk down the path. Yeah. But I couldn't see the path before. That's amazing. You know what I mean? Absolutely. And that's the thing of it all.

I think a lot of the time as humans, we feel like we've got to have it all figured out to get started. And that, like, I'm someone who as a perfectionist that really holds me back, like across pretty much every aspect of my life, that need for things to be exactly right is often what holds me back. And so I didn't start investing until I was confident in what I was choosing. And I didn't, you know, I don't make choices until I'm like, this is the right thing. Like that's not how the world works. I know. I mean, it honestly probably is a lot more effective in terms of taking advantage of time in the market to be like you and just go well you know what I don't know what I'm really doing but I'm gonna throw some money and we're gonna

figure it out totally and you can always change it down the track I mean like you've got the 36 we can take a look after the show and go okay like what crossover is there like how can we clean this up if that's something you want to do yeah but if it's not it also isn't wrong like and there is no wrong way to do it do you know what I mean yes you're so right thank you so much Did I say something mean? No, no, no. I'm just like, I keep thinking about how I, for some reason, thought I had like eight things in there.

I kept just scrolling. You and I will sit down after this and we'll have a look. Thank you. In the meantime, let's go to a really quick break. Maybe we can pull it up, have a quick little scroll. Gorgeous. And then when we come back, I want to hear a bit more about this journey. So don't go anywhere, guys.

beck and i are back and i want to know a year on as a person who is very very honest about not having a lot of additional income what does your regular investing look like for you in shares however you're investing if you invest other ways oh i understand i understand well it shares is actually yes is the only way i invest yeah i don't actually no i and victoria probably wouldn't like this very much. I have a little bit of money in Bitcoin. There you go. Just like $40. And I'm like, well, I'll just leave it there. Cause who knows, you know, maybe you'll be like that guy who threw out the hard drive that had like $2 billion. Oh my God. Cause he bought it right at the start. That $40, you never know. You never know. You never know. So I do have that

sitting there. I forgot about that, but no, otherwise just sharesies. So I've kind of just like put auto roundups on. So I can see when I go in there that it's like, you know, there's like a tally. It is also very revealing because it's like, I'm not realizing how much or how quickly I'm spending, but every, let's say dollar is rounded up to the next dollar. So if you buy like a $2.50 coffee, you'll spend $3.50 if that goes to your Sharesies account. Exactly. Exactly. So in my Sharesies account, it will kind of be like tallying up and the rate at which I'm hitting five dollars is like superhuman you're spending a lot of money so almost every nanosecond shares these will notify me and say another five dollars another five dollars is hitting your account and

I'm like okay well and I can't even afford these five dollars anymore you know and I'm like well I need to be spending less is I think the takeaway but my brain is also kind of like I just need to turn my roundups off. No, I need to spend less, you know. Look at that mindset shift. There you go. Look at that mindset shift. That happened in real time because we had this conversation just before the mindset shift. And I was like, I need to turn my roundups off. That's not the answer. And I was like, no, no. Or yes, or like be spending the same amount, but in one transaction. yeah yeah that's true so i have roundups on i don't even remember the last time i actively went and deposited money in there so it's it really is just those roundups that are keeping me afloat

but there's a new like five dollars every at least once a day i would say um wow which is crazy and also feels like if someone asked me this to save what is that seven times five thirty $25 a week, I'd be like, I can try, but I probably won't do that. I saved $20 for two weeks and then immediately took it out again. You know what I mean? But $30 a week in my shares, I'm not noticing and I can't take it out. And that's the nice thing about automating. I think, especially for someone like you, you've got ADHD, impulse control is a big thing. I think that having it automated means you don't have to think about it. It's that out of sight, out of mind, which I know that obviously when you're investing, you know, make sure your hands are on, make sure you're looking at

everything, but having that little bit of, I guess, removing the barrier, like it just happens without you. And you know what I mean? So you're not conscious of it. You don't notice the 50 cents disappearing on top of your $2.50 coffee necessarily. But then when you have $5 to invest, you're, oh, that's actually like quite a lot of money. Yeah, exactly. And then it kind of gets really exciting. Like, I mean, I don't recommend having 36 different things that you are investing in but going through and like i don't know see what's coming up what's hot right now you know it's kind of fun and like even if you if you end up like playing with that five dollars and you lose it or it kind of goes down and up and whatever it's like you know it's yeah it's five

dollars and it was fun and you learned something i suppose so it's all worth it at the end of the day incredible yeah and i think like the other thing i would say is uh once it starts getting rewarding you might think like oh it's gonna take like a year to get to 1400 but like and you know maybe it took me that long. Maybe it took longer than that. I think it took longer than that. But it starts being rewarding and addictive the second you start. It's like from $15 onward, it is so addictive. So you don't need to be like, oh, in a year, then I'll have enough and then it'll be rewarding. Like, no, it's like rewarding. It's like addictive immediately. Yeah. Incredible. You're someone who's really driven by your values. You have very clear,

I think like, yeah, very clear moral lines. How does that play into your investing and what you're choosing to invest in? It's a great question. And what I do is, I mean, Google's my best friend with this kind of thing, which I think is ironic because, you know, I'm using still AI, even though I don't use chat GPT, but it's still kind of is using the same energy, I think. But I have a lot of friends that are, that have the same mentality as me, but they're a little bit more, they're more disciplined and they're more going to like look into what they're doing and they're doing the research they're doing the research and they're going to sit down and like take the time to and so I surround myself with people who are pretty like-minded and have similar goals and

also the same values and morals and things like that and so if I'm sure I'll kind of like chat with them make sure I'm doing the right thing but it is a big part of my brain but it's not currently something I'm like big into I like basically I could go through my thing right now my shares is right now I can't say with all confidence that I'm not investing in something completely morally corrupt you haven't overlaid that into the way that you're making your choice yeah but I also wouldn't be able to ignore it if I knew so if there's something that I know for sure is I'm investing in something really bad or investing in you know the wrong areas or something I would not be able to ignore it but not knowing right now is a good strategy for me so like you

wouldn't invest in like a gun company directly yes you also wouldn't know if an ETF you hold might do that exactly exactly actually yeah that's wow I need to look into that sorry not to send you that's good to know and yeah that's exactly right you were saying you talk to your friends you when we were talking at the start of your journey um you were saying no one around you except for your brother was talking about investing or finance doing that stuff is that different now to more of your friends invest or talk about money more openly or things like that it's probably more about like the in not so much the money thing in the room the investing thing more about like the companies or you know like areas in which like if i say i'm investing in asx whatever a friend

somewhere might know oh that do you know that they invest in this or you know so I have randomly friends with random bits of knowledge not that they're into investing or finances in that way but they they're fully across who we should be boycotting right now and who's investing in really bad things and who funds really bad things like they're all completely across like the political side of investing yeah not that they are necessarily investing you know what I mean yeah that makes sense yeah do you know which of your investments has the best return just out of curiosity yes gene dx holdings i have no idea what that is can you tell me more i can it is uh let me quickly open it because i remember victoria told me once that warren buffett said if you don't

understand the investment then you should not be invested in it that's good advice that is good advice and i don't fully understand the investment but gene dx holdings corp is a genomics company genomics company the company operates through its subsidiary sorry i'm not gonna read all that it's focused on exome and genome tests that translate complex genomic genomic data into clinical answers that unlock personalized health plans cool so it's um like data research yes health genome stuff i think is linked to like disease prevention yes all that sort of stuff I believe so and like I I thought it was like something like genetic testing but I could be completely wrong I'm not too sure yeah um but something like that for some reason it's doing so well and I wish what percentage

you up just out of curiosity oh yes okay this is gonna blow your tits clean off I only have small ones i need what i've got they're gonna be god after this episode so price change 110 percent wow upward i put 77 in and i've got a return of 54 so i've got 126 in this thing and so there wasn't that long ago and and well as a few months ago but it just keeps going up and up and up there you go and i i am just hoping that it stays that way so it's not advice because it's do your own research make sure it's right for you exactly all investing contains risk exactly and I unfortunately I feel like it's gone to its peak well yes there is the the idea of but it depends everything if you could predict it we'd all be rich yes well that's it have you

invested in anything that you wish that you hadn't I did invest in no offense to this company I don't understand this company but basically my partner was really cross with me because I kept buying her gifts and so I was like well instead of that I'm going to buy shares for you and so I just like the only one that I could find that had like a cute name was love a love company loves group or something like that and I put on love I have no idea what love group is I didn't look into it I just thought love is a cute word and that's what I'm looking for and or I was like baby something but I could look if I was baby bunting and I was like I don't think that's the right vibe so I just went with love group and then I put my money in there and and then it's just gone down and down

and down and uh that's the only thing I kind of regret but it's still kind of cute you're Being your investment is the way I would pick like a racehorse based on the name and the jockey's outfit. Exactly, exactly. But I think it's coming back. It's coming back. So I feel like sometimes your gut or the name of a company, if it's cute, you've got to just go for it.

It's going to pay off probably. Do your own research. Do your own research. We just had a quick – producer Emma just did a quick Google for us. It's a dating platform. That is so cute. There you go. Oh, my God.

That kind of works. I mean it does what you wanted it to do it's got the cute name it's got the cute name so it's been a year now that you've been investing do you feel or think differently about it as a whole I think there's a part of me that's like cute all well and good I'm gonna keep the money's gonna grow but I think because it's like oh it's a long-term investment you're not really meant to take shares out I'm like when do you take shares out you know what I mean like will I be like 70 and be like it's I've hit it's not making sense in my brain yet like I like I know that, I think it's the same with savings and stuff. I'm like, you save, you save, you save.

And then when do you spend? Well, it depends on your strategy. So for a lot of people, the idea is that you reach a point of investment, that you have enough funds invested, that the dividends that you're paid is what you would live off of. So you would, you know, it's the math of it all going, okay, well to live comfortably every year, I need X amount of dollars. They explained this. We did, Victoria did an investing diary with one of our other team members, Brooke, who's doing FIRE, financial independence retire early. And she spoke about this. It's you work out what would you comfortably live off of? You're okay. I need $70,000 a year to live. And then you do the math backwards and go, okay, well to earn dividends of around $70,000,

because obviously it's subject to market conditions, I would need to have X amount of dollars invested. And so that's their goal is to hit a point where you would have enough invested that you are basically paid a salary or an equivalent of by your dividends. But for some people they are investing with the purpose of you know selling it down for a profit and using that to pay for something for you know it everybody's strategy is different okay gotcha gotcha oh okay because I'm thinking you're like I'm pulling it out next year yeah I'm like okay well then you make like x amount and then you pull it all out and then you I understand now you don't do that you can't it totally depends on your strategy but I think for someone like you it's it's a really

good exercise in like discipline and so if anything I would be saying no we don't want to pull it out like we want to see how far can you push it like do you want to see how big can it get yeah I kind of do want to see yourself a huge goal something is what feels like what would that amount be like if you could go oh if I could have any amount invested I would want it to be this what would that be for you probably like a hundred thousand dollars that's a great goal okay so that's your goal probably like in I'm thinking like 20 30 years absolutely but I'm not whatever time frame works for you but like that's a great goal to have and you go like that do you know I mean now every time you go oh I want to pull my money out but think but I want to get to a thousand

dollars I'm so close yeah yeah totally 50 more years to go 50 more years and 99 thousand dollars more but it's achievable every little bit every little bit counts exactly what has this last year investing taught you? It's taught me that it actually, I can kind of see that this whole investing thing does generate something. And I can understand now why Victoria says, if you want to access your savings, don't put it in shares because there is ups and downs and that money I'm now not actually going to touch. Like I think before I used to think like I'm going to put it in there and in a year I'm going to hopefully double it, take it out,

and then spend it on Christmas or something. But now I'm like, okay, it takes some time and I'm going to leave it for a while. I'm proud of you. Thank you. If you could talk to 2024 back before she invested, what would you say? What would I tell her? Don't put your money on love.

I say don't put your money on love. I would say you are probably going to think this is going to make you more financially literate, but your life outside of investing and shares is going to be exactly the same. But you're going to have a safety blanket and it's going to feel good. And live, love, laugh as you always do and as you always will. Oh, brings a tear to the eye. Do you see your investing changing at all in 2026?

Well, now I'm thinking I want to like condense it down a little bit because it is, I could tell you it's stressful having 36 different things I could put my money in. Now you've seen it, you can't unsee it. I can't unsee it. And it makes sense because I would be like, why is, like it would just sit in my wallet for a long time and I'd be like, I don't know where to put it.

I'm like, why do I struggle so much with this like analysis paralysis? But I'm like, okay, it makes sense now. There's so many things there. Hundreds of thousands of things in the world too. Oh, well, that's so true. You know, where do you start? So I think I'm just going to like, I'm going to like narrow it down, but also explore. And so maybe I'll end up with more things that I'm investing in.

But I think I just want to like, I'm just going to keep putting money in. I'm not going to put too much focus on it because then I might, I might end up like putting all my money in there and then be like, oh, I actually need that money. And then figuring out how to withdraw and then withdrawing all the time and then end up with nothing. So I'm going to, it's going to be a slow and steady for me. Yeah, I think so. Incredible.

And then before we go, I have one last question. It's a fun one and I feel like the answer might be a little bit broke. What is the weirdest or funniest thing that you have Googled when it comes to investing? I think it's a lot of like, it's a lot of what is, you know? And honestly, probably just like really silly things. Like my Google history is really crazy.

Like the, I don't want to, I don't want anyone to see. You know, for example, like I Googled how, and I think I mentioned on the show, like how does a pool ball know that the ball is white? You know, things like, things that I'm just like so curious about that have nothing to do with like kind of adding value to my life or adding value to my shares or adding value to anything. I'm pretty sure I Googled like how do you double your money in, you know, things that are really silly, that are really unrealistic, that are really like. Just gotta make sure. you just gotta make sure because i think that a lot of us just want to put money in something and then have it double yeah um but i've done a lot of googling on i've gone on reddit like what's about to blow up you know what's the next biggest thing yeah and they haven't all come back with

anyone can give advice on the internet which is very ironic coming from me in this current position but here we are exactly exactly but uh and no that's not true you're you're in the perfect position to be okay well thank you beck for volunteering to share your investing journey in the hot seat today it's been very fun it's been very true to you and I think that for a lot of people you know it is sometimes you're just jumping in with two feet and a lot of hope and maybe not that much idea what you're doing and that's okay because look at how much progress you've made over the past year like you've done so much you've come so far I'm so proud of you thank you so much it's incredible and I'm sure there are lots of people listening who are going

to feel really empowered to know that they can do it too because of you oh my god that's so sweet thank you, Jess. I really like, I'm so grateful. I feel like I've taken up a whole episode. I feel very grateful for that. So, but hopefully we can have a whole Jess episode talking about all the same things, plus your new house, et cetera, et cetera. Oh, you'll be sick of me by the time I'm done talking about all that. But thank you everybody for tuning in. Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And thank you so much to Sky Wealth as always for making this episode possible. And we will be back with our regular Money Diaries programming next week. Bye guys. Bye.

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