She's On The Money - Changing Your Financial Decisions

Episode Date: August 15, 2023

When the Victorian Premier recently cancelled the 2026 Commonwealth Games due to it going way over budget, it raised a lot of feelings from the public! But for SOTM this raises an even more important point. Why should it ever not be ok to change your financial decisions if they are going to have a negative impact on your life? On today's show we dissect why we often stick with a bad plan, how to shift our mindset, and how to look out for future you! 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 for millennials who want financial freedom. My name is Bec Syed and with me is Victoria Devine. Ahoy, ahoy. Vicky D, we are talking today about changing your financial decisions. I'm excited about this one. Yeah, I'm pretty excited about it too. And I think that maybe some of us might need it. Definitely me. That's what I know for sure. But something happened recently and it made

big news. You might have heard about it. You might have even wrote about it in your weekly age column. Oh, yeah. All right. What was it? So Dan Andrews, the Premier of Victoria, cancelled the 2026 Commonwealth Games due to be held in regional Victoria. Why did he do this? Why are you going to do this to us? I don't know. If you ask the comment section on the age, it's a bit different. Actually, no, I was really impressed with how many people were in support of me because it's so often that I post content online and mediocre middle-aged white men jump into the comment section. They're

like, what would she know about anything? And I'm like, that's fair. That's fair. People are so mean. You know what? Just keeps me humble. Keeps me humble. And I think that's really important. So mediocre, middle-aged white men, keep doing you. You are needed.

You are needed. We love you. Thank you for keeping me humble. But Danny Andrews. Yes, I love Danny Andrews. He decided, do you? Interesting choice. Moving on.

Oh, yeah. Okay. So the 2026 Commonwealth Games were meant to be a 12-day sporting event. And the original budget set for that was $2.6 billion. Okay. And it has recently been revised to be around $6 to $7 billion. So they clearly didn't use the Victoria Devine budget and cash flow system, did they? Someone's not been listening to the show.

Someone's not been listening to the show. Daddy boy, get on it. So that is basically a whopping $4.4 billion over budget. I've been like $4 over budget before. I've been $40 over budget. And you know what? In some instances, I've been $400 over budget. How anybody goes $4.4 billion over budget? Not very relatable. I've never, ever been $4.4 billion over budget. Anyway, that basically makes it an unsustainable burden on the state's economy, which to be honest, with Victoria's debt forecast currently being at $1.35.4 billion in 2024 and the expectation that it rises to $171.4 billion by 2026 to 2027, it kind of was a decision that needed to be made when it came to the games like I totally understand going back and saying you know what

this is actually going to cost so much more that it's unfeasible now and I feel like that is why I wanted to write about it in my article that's why I really wanted to talk about it because how many times have we committed to things back and been like oh great you know let's for example say we're gonna go to the snow with mates you've never been to the snow before one thing leads to another you go oh just be like accommodation get up there you know won't be too bad right and then you realize that accommodation the snow is really expensive that's starting to blow the budget you realize you have to hire a snowboard or you have to hire skis and that gets expensive wow you forgot there was a lift pass involved and like resort access and all this other stuff and it becomes

unfeasible and you might need to turn around and be like oh guys I was so pumped for this it's no longer feasible though like you guys go have fun but I can't be involved yes and I think so many times there have been situations in my life where that has happened like that exact circumstance where I'd budgeted one thing or it just expected one thing and then another thing happened and I wanted to back out a bit but I felt really bad so I thought today might be a good day to talk about how it's actually okay to change your financial decisions yes absolutely but I am I'm curious as to why so many people were quite upset about this decision. Look, a lot of people online were not very happy with Danny Boy and they were jumping up and down.

A few journalists said, we're never going to let him get away with this. And then the Commonwealth Games chief executive, his name's Craig Phillips, said that the government had, quote, jeopardised Melbourne and Victoria's standing as the sporting capital of the world, as well as, get this, Disappointing athletes, the excited host communities, First Nation Australians who were at the heart of the games and the millions of fans who would have embraced a sixth home games in Australia. I see.

That's heavy. That's a big call. That's a massive call to be like, you're a disappointment. Yeah. And, like, you know, it seems like it just kind of got out of hand. Like, what are you meant to do? I feel like either way we would have. Yeah, there's a lot to it.

yes there's absolutely a lot to it and I think Danny boy my friend should have been maybe a little bit better at budgeting and I totally understand the disappointment right like it's a loss to the athletes it's a loss to the community without doubt but I guess our job on this show is to look at the money side of things and why that might have been a good decision and I actually think it was a really responsible decision and I really want to I guess explore that underlying narrative of why embracing change should be seen as courageous and necessary because in this moment this isn't a political podcast it's not really about whether you like Dan Andrews or not it's not really about whether you agree with his past decisions or not it's more about that was a pretty

courageous thing to do because I don't know Beck if you're going to cancel the Commonwealth Games you know that there's going to be a wrath to follow right people are going to be pissed people aren't going to be happy. He knew that was coming. But I think the cool thing about that decision in isolation is that he was putting our community at the heart of that decision and going, I don't want our state to be in even more debt. I don't want our community to be absolutely crippled by this. And the way that he articulated it was literally, I'd prefer that money to go to teachers and nurses than go towards games. Fair enough. And I couldn't agree more.

Good on him. Honestly, I mean, it would be scary. It would be hard, right? I'm wondering, do we have a tendency as people to like stick with a plan the more we have invested in it, even if it's wiser to abandon it? Yeah, it's called the sunken cost fallacy. Ah, that's what it is. So there's actually a thing.

It's kind of like where you throw good money after bad. Like, I've already come this far. Like, we've all been there. We've all done it. The sunk cost fallacy is essentially a phenomenon. The worst word in the entire world. That is arguably the worst word. whereby a person is relatively reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because

they've already heavily invested in it even when it's clear that abandonment would be more beneficial to literally everybody involved and it is super prevalent when it comes to financial decisions i can relate to this somehow have you thrown good money after bad before i was gonna do an exhibition it was kind of one of those things you know you tell everyone about it and you feel really satisfied because you told everyone and all this money went into it and then it got very close to the date and I told every single person that I've ever met in my entire life and realised I actually couldn't afford to go along with the whole thing. So I cancelled it and it can be very, very sad and kind of embarrassing.

So I'm assuming this is kind of what... No, nothing embarrassing about that. Thank you, V. You made the right decision, right? Thank you. I believe I did. Exactly. What's embarrassing about that?

Well, this is maybe how Dan feels at the moment and... It feels embarrassing. because you're going back on what you had already spoken to be true totally and some people are like how did that go but also I think it's funny because it's also the level of conviction that you do something with your I'm going to do this exhibition it's going to be so sick you've got to come totally and then you've got to go by the way it's cancelled by the way by the way here is four hours of everyone's day back in their pocket no I think it's really important though because if you think about the circumstances let's role play it for a hot second if you told me that do

you think i'd meet you with like oh bang that's so embarrassing i know that you wouldn't but would anybody else probably not but just the person in my head would be like wow wow wow the heck we've got to remember yes she's kind of a bitch she is everywhere else is a safe space that's not that voice in your head ah don't trust her she's very mean to me yeah she's very mean to me like my one's mean I feel like everybody's voice in their head is not mean like if you wouldn't say that to your best friend why are you saying it to you true that's a very good point they're the rules but on that V I want to know because I feel like sometimes we stick with ideas that aren't good for us in order to not be flaky is that a thing yeah I think that flakiness is I don't know

I looked down upon but I don't see this as being flaky being flaky is saying oh yeah Beck let's go out for a drink tonight and then like five minutes before being like, ah, nah. Yeah. Like you can do it, but just can't be bothered anymore. You're just being a little troll. You're just wasting somebody's time. Right. Like, and I think it's about consistency as well. Right. I think a lot of the time, you know, if you think about a person who has a flaky personality, we're looking at an individual who consistently does that. Like, I don't think that I would be categorized as flaky, even if I bailed on you for something you know next week Beck I don't think you'd be like oh V's so flaky totally because that would have been the first time that that had happened and that's

okay but I think it's about also how big that decision is I think often we feel super trapped but it's really about communication so let's use that example of going out for a drink if I said oh Beck let's go out for a drink tonight and you go yeah yeah let's go let's go and then I call you later and go, I can't come. Like maybe you'd think that was flaky. Let's go back. I actually checked my bank account. I can't afford to go. Different. That's different. That's completely fine. Communication is absolutely key. And I think that often what is trapping us in these situations isn't just the money. Sometimes it's really the fear of judgment or the perception that we are changing our mind around a financial decision is embarrassing. And that's what I was saying to you

before. Like what's embarrassing about putting future you first? Yeah. Yeah. True. If you can't afford it, why are you doing it? Totally. And that's an okay thing to do. Like, I don't think anybody is going to look at you and be like, oh my gosh, you didn't do that exhibition for financial reasons. Oh, the more you talk about it, the more ridiculous it seems, right? The more you go, that's absolutely insane. Like I used to have a car loan, right? And it would lord over me. It was the worst thing in the entire world. It was a car loan stacked with some personal debt. She was $883, I believe, each and every single month that made me feel sick. But what I can tell you is that toxic mindset was keeping me in that position because I didn't want

to change. I didn't want to go, oh, I'll get rid of my car. At the time, that was too embarrassing. Like, I didn't want to have to sell my car. So I stuck with the loan. If I look back on it, do you know what would have absolutely saved my butt, Bec? Possibly selling the car. Getting rid of the car. Like, get rid of the car. Either get a cheaper one, catch the train for a while. Do you know how much freer I would have felt? Like, not having that loan over my head. Oh, it would have been so freeing. But I only see that in hindsight, don't I? Because at the time, that would have been mortifying. To who though? Which one of my friends would have cared if I got rid of that car loan? Exactly. Not one of them. But I think it takes a lot of courage to

confront something that is relatively necessary. Yes. Have you ever been in that situation? Many, many a time. Other than the actual like exhibition situation, there have been so many times where my friends want to go to say an Airbnb or go away for the weekend. And I always think I have enough money or at least if I don't have enough money at that moment, then I will eventually somehow have enough money when it gets materialized, right? Yes. And I'm always in the worst position. I literally went to Sydney with a friend a few months ago, committed to everything, had to borrow $500 from her because I just, I committed to too much. It wasn't going to happen. It got to the time where we were meant to take off, buy a car. And I was like, I'm so sorry,

I have zero dollars on me. And we make it work, but it's always stressful and it shouldn't be. Just don't do it if you can't, I suppose. I think that's absolutely relatable. The amount of times historically that I have made, I wouldn't say bad financial decisions, because like you work with what you've got. And if you have different tools and resources, the outcome will be different. That's why I'm so excited to sit down with you and do your budget and cash flow. Like I'm just raring to go at the opportunity. But I think it's really important to understand that it is eroding your financial stability. And while the smartest decision on paper might be to, you know, let the cargo or not go on the trip to Sydney or, you know, you're worried sick about what other people

might think. Like I'm sure in that moment you were super worried about like, can't let my friend down. It's actually better to borrow money than cancel the trip because she'll be disappointed as well. And then you're kind of overlaying their emotions onto you and their experience. And I totally get that because I also think it's kind of important to care about other people at the same time yeah but if you only just got the car surely you can't just give it up after six months right like maybe I had mine for a little bit longer but I've spoken to people in the community before where they are crushed by debt and they're like oh but I only just got this car surely I can't give it up right now like I've only had it for three or four months you can sis you can you

can get rid of it you got the car get rid of the car get rid of it it's as easy to get rid of it as it is to get it. Exactly. Another hypothetical might be that you've been planning this really big European like summer vacay, like you're going to have hot girl summer, but in Europe. Yeah. And you've been working towards it for years and you've been planning every single moment along the way. However, life kind of changed recently. Like you might've been made redundant or you and your partner broke up or the cashflow you assumed was going to be there isn't there anymore. What do you do? Do you change your plans or do you stick to the original ones because you're super worried about what people might think well you can absolutely cancel the trip if you need to

or just like by cancel i'm literally saying like postpone for a later date that's completely fine but you know it'd kind of be like irresponsible not to if you can't financially do it anymore there's nothing stopping you from going maybe in a year so many people do that right like let's pretend they've got hot girl summer planned they're going to europe we've all wanted to do something like that at some point, right? But money's too tight and you decide, all right, well, you know what? I deserve this. You know what I'm going to do? I'm just going to get a personal loan so I can still go. You come home, you've got this massive debt to pay off that literally once you've paid it off, you don't get anything. You already had the experience. It's not

adding anything to your life. Exactly. So much better to just put the trip off and go in a financially stable position where you come home and all you've got is memories yes like you don't have debt you've just got memories and you're vibing and you're having a great time because you know what takes the shine off your hot girl europe summer coming home to absolutely crushing debt yes yes a hundred percent one out of ten cannot recommend have done it don't do it now this is a podcast for people to learn what i think they should do not do what i do learn from my mistakes friends totally do what I say or something yeah do what I say not what I do because I can't get my words right I think it's a great time for us to go to a quick break

I love a break I love that let's go to a break we deserve it we deserve it we deserve it okay we are back so V we are talking about changing your financial decisions and I feel like generally we tend to shy away from change, clinging to the comfort of predictability. But this means that we might find ourselves trapped in bad financial situations that limit our growth and happiness. I feel like that's absolutely true. Good summary of where we're at. Thank you. Yeah, genius. Maybe we can use this cancelling of the games from our friend Danny Boy as an inspiration. Like I think it is relatively inspiring to, you know, be able to make a decision and then go back on it, it doesn't matter whether you're 20 or 40 or 60, no financial

decision is too soon to make. Like whether you have just made it and you've decided it's not good or you've been doing the same thing for the last 30 years, like no decision is too soon to reassess, I don't think. And I think that it's actually really intelligent and shows how, you know, financially savvy you are to be like, you know what, this might not be serving me. I don't care how soon it was, I think we should embrace the empowerment that comes with taking charge of our destiny and, I guess, releasing ourselves from this idea of crushing debt or unsustainable commitments as we assume we need to keep them because, oh, well, the decision's already been made, Bec. Like, oh, I already got it. Like, can't go back now. Like, it would be rude to, right?

I think it's probably as good a time as any because something big has happened. Daddy Andrews, I shouldn't say that, right? No, you can say that. Can I say that? Absolutely. Okay. You can call him Danny Andrews. Imagine if one of his kids sends him this podcast.

I know. And he's just like, who are these women who think that they know stuff? Yeah, and maybe that's really bad to say. Nice to meet you, Danny boy. I'm Victoria. This is Beck. And we are really smart. We are very smart.

And you are very much our father. That's not what you meant by Danny, though, is that? I did. I'm very sorry to everyone listening. But I did just want to say, you know when someone does something really bad and you kind of want to do something like that, not bad, it's not bad, but the public seat is bad. So him cancelling the Commonwealth Games, this is a perfect time for you

to be like, oh, okay, he did this. Oh, but Danny, he cancelled the Commonwealth Games. I just got rid of my car loan. Yeah, this is nowhere near as bad as that. So I'm just going to go ahead and cancel this thing, cancel this trip, cancel this car loan, whatever. It's like a little bit of permission. Exactly.

This is the perfect time to do so. Not that any time is not a good time, but take advantage. I think at any time is a good time to reassess the position you're in. If it's not making you happy or if it's not serving you or if it's not actually working out in the way that you thought it might. Yes. Like I know so many times I've done things and thought, you know what, this is going to change my life.

I'm so excited. Like Beck, if you were working towards getting a brand new car, you're going to be like, this is going to be spanking brand new. I'm so excited, right? And then what? You get it and you're like, I don't even keep it clean. like it's always running out of fuel yeah all i do is get parking tickets with this piece of junk sounds completely accurate so far yeah i know this is a hypothetical but i'm like this is my life

yes exactly i was actually just explaining my life so maybe maybe we're just too busy i think so but so many times we just assume that when we buy something these materialistic things are going to make our lives better and they're not no material things don't actually make you happy they might represent something to you like getting a car loan might represent freedom and actually saving up a deposit and you know being in a stable enough position to be granted that loan like that is really exciting yeah yeah then you get it and it's not as shiny or exciting as you thought it was going to be and your mind goes on to the next thing and you go well I've got that new car, I really should save for X, Y or Z, or I really should do

this, that or the other. And you're not actually in a better or happier position at all. Yeah, absolutely. But we do see this in our community a lot of the time, don't we? It makes me insanely proud. Like, I adore that people are changing their lives and taking charge instead of being held back by the assumption that they've already dug their own graves and, you know, they have to live with the consequences of their own actions. Like, I mean, if you murdered someone, yeah, you probably have to live with the consequences of your own actions but like if you've got a car loan you can just get rid of that that's not criminal you know yeah like if it's not criminal we can fix it that's a good life motto very good

life motto if it's not criminal we can probably get ourselves out of it yes right and I know you can change your life for the better and while it might be a little bit uncomfortable to make that decision you don't want to get rid of the car and I guess the car is just an analogy right like it might be the exhibition it might be the trip to Sydney it might be a trip to Bali with your girlfriends. It might be literally anything, right? I think that it is uncomfortable to make that decision. And you might, honestly, you might annoy a few people. That's all right. Because they're only going to be annoyed for a little bit of time, but that alone would have lasted. If they are true friends, they might be like, oh, I really wanted to do that thing. I

really wanted to go on XYZ with Beck. But that makes sense. She's putting herself in the best possible position. And because I'm her friend, that's what I want for her too. Yes. And if they don't, trash brands need new ones. Exactly. This is a really good way to weed out those who maybe don't care about your financial well-being. 100%. And I think future you is absolutely thanking you for how comfortable they're going to be once that decision starts to pay its little dividends, right? And Danny Boy, his choice to, is it rude to call him Danny Boy? Danny Boy, I think is okay. I mean, you called him Daddy, so I feel like it's probably a little bit. That's Much, much worse.

I think so. I think Danny's fine. Dan Andrews' decision, I think, was actually really, really good because it prioritised healthcare and the wellbeing of Victorians over the Commonwealth Games. And I think it should be commended, not condemned, in exactly the same way that I think your personal financial decisions should be if you're putting future you first. Like, that's real sexy. I didn't ever think that I'd use the word sexy and Dan Andrews in the same sentence,

yet here we are, Bec. I could have seen it coming, but I've got a very different taste. Yeah, look, honestly, not your vibe. I mean, I thought maybe he could have been when you were like, hey, daddy. I was like, wow, where is this going? I'm mainly gay, but I have a very special place for Dan Andrews, that's for sure. Oh, that's so kind. I'm sure he does not want to know that.

He did. He did. He did. He's so lucky. He's a lucky man. But I think it's so important to understand that embracing change, which is really uncomfortable, right? Change makes us feel icky because humans at the center of it, we don't like change.

Change is uncomfortable and change makes us feel like, oh, this is pushing me out of my comfort zone and that's normal. But change and embracing it is this powerful act of personal growth and empowerment and that, Bec, is very sexy. So I think challenging this toxic culture that shames us for making really necessary adjustments to create a brighter and more sustainable future, everyone should be jumping up and down and being like, heck yeah, this is so good. But because we don't like change and other people don't like change, like it doesn't feel as good as it should. And I think that you

need to remember at the core of it, that your financial wellbeing is in your hands and your hands solely. Nobody is going to come and save you. And I think that that is this idea that if you're in a lot of debt or if you have things that aren't working out for you, sometimes we just throw our hands in the air and be like, someone else is going to fix it. Right. No one else is coming to fix it, Bec. You've got to fix it yourself. And I mean, I'll hold your hand the whole way, but like I can hold your hand the whole way and you might not make one single change, in which case I'm just wasting my time. But I think you need to understand that you're the one that needs to make the change. It's like when people write into the show, right? It's my

favorite thing in the entire world. Please don't stop. It's my favorite. But people will say, oh, thanks, Beck and Victoria. You've changed my life. I'm out of debt. I'm this, I'm that. I didn't do that. You did that. Do you know how many people listen to our content and don't make change? Do you know how many people listen to our content and go, that's too hard or that's too uncomfortable and they never pick our podcast up again? But you pick up the podcast or you pick up our content or you pick up the tools and resources that we've directed you to and you used them like that's on you don't thank me like I'm just putting the information out there and I think it's so important to give yourself that credit because your financial well-being it's

not in my hands I might have introduced you to it but like lots of people could have introduced you to it you might not have been ready to hear it but I was just in the right place at the right time with you but it was totally up to you and you need to give yourself credit for that and it's totally okay to change your mind to put yourself in a better position and I think that is so sexy but it's also it's not me it's you you did it so like if you're gonna make change you need to give yourself the credit for that that is powerful and so true v i think it's a great place to i think it's a fantastic place to leave it because i've run out of inspirational things to say today that's a real shame because i will need some after this but that's okay we'll work

on it i'll come up with your own set list thank you so much no worries have a good day guys we'll see you next week bye 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 divine and she's on the money are authorized representatives of money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN 321 649 27708 AFSL 451 289.