She's On The Money - FRIDAY DRINKS: Big Surprises, Bank Mergers & Spending Addiction!

Episode Date: July 21, 2022

You know it's Friday when the girls get together to unpack the week that was, celebrate your money wins AND dive headlong into a Money Dilemma all about spending addiction!Plus this week, they unpack the implications of the announced merger of ANZ and Suncorp Banks. And, Jess has a BIG surprise for Victoria. What is it? You'll need to tune in to find out!Here are some links we mention in today's show:Victorian Power Saving BonusNational Debt HelplineShe's On the Money Budget TemplatePre Order Victoria's New Book! 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. Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are Authorised Representatives of Infocus Securities Australia Proprietary Limited ABN 47 097 797 049 AFSL - AFSL 236523.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. Today is Friday, my friends, which means it is time to sit back with the girls with a bevy in hand and unpack our favourite moments from the week. And of course, as always, to celebrate you, our beautiful She's On The Money community. As always, we're going to be sharing our favourite money wins or Georgia King will be, we will be chiming in intermittently, we'll discuss what's making news in the finance world, and we're going to be helping to answer a very juicy money question, which this week is about a sneaky shopping addiction, my friends.

Relatable. But first, it's time to recap the week that was. Miss Jessica Ritchie, talk to us what happened on this week's money diary. This week's diarist was really interesting because she works in the sex industry and she spoke to us a little bit about growing up and she lived in public housing and then she became a single mum and went through some challenges in terms of her finances that then she was able to mitigate at a relatively young age by entering the sex work industry. The thing that I found really interesting about that was talking to her about what it's like balancing her work with being a mum of two kids, because obviously in your head you go, those are two things that would be kind of tricky to navigate, particularly because they're

a little bit younger. And so it was really cool. She was super open with us about what that looks like and how her lifestyle roles and how it was something that she kind of found and made work for her and what she wanted to do. I think the thing that really threw me the most about that episode is just how blacklisted sex workers are from, you know, financial products and actually being able to have clean, clear bank accounts and use payment terminals and stuff like that because they're seen as being really risky industries. And that just makes no sense to me because at the end of the it's legal work here in Australia. Why wouldn't it be supported in the same way that I can go out and start, you know, a quote consulting business and generate whatever amount of money I want to

put through that consulting business and invoice clients? Like arguably, I would have thought it was important to have that because it would keep them safer, right? Like less dealing with cash, more pre-payment available. Like at this point, it just seems like that's a really fickle way to work. Someone DM'd us actually this week and said that, and I don't know that this makes it right but they said it's often because the industry is linked closely to money laundering yeah which I found super super interesting so thank you for dming us and that and sharing that but I mean ultimately to me that says that they just need more regulation in that space not necessarily being like you don't deserve payment terminals yeah exactly and as someone who does have

a lot of sex worker clients like they're making honest money like they're paying tax they have their incomes they have their investments some of them are making absolute pang as you've heard on this podcast before but it just it baffles me that people like that who you know are technically earning an income paying a lot of tax and contributing to society they are just put in this basket of like no you can't have that because of the type of work you do yeah i'd argue like we need to do that to coal mines and stuff but that's not my circus not my monkeys georgia king hello What happened on our Wednesday Deep Dive? On Wednesday, it was our travel saving hacks episode, ladies.

It was a lot of fun picking your brain, Vicky D, because obviously the two of you very recently came back from Europe. You had so many hot tips. And we shared a bunch. I had a few. Did you? Nobody but us. Oh, as in like one on the bottom.

She was on the top and I was on the bottom. Cute. I thought just top and tail. No, we didn't. We're not that cheap. We're cheap, but we're not that cheap. But turns out Jess outed me on Instagram this week as well because it turns out she knew when I was awake in the bunk bed

because I can't keep still. So I just, like, flip around and wait until everybody was awake. It was like being on a ride. Like, I was on the top, like, holding on for dear life. That is not true. But here I am thinking, like, oh, my gosh, I've woken up early because I'm usually the first one awake, right? Like, I'm that annoying friend that's like, hey, good morning.

It's 5.30. What are you doing? Do you want to go out for a coffee? And Jess would be like, go away. I'm not talking to you until it's at least 8 o'clock and we've all gone out for coffee but I'd be like what are you doing but I thought I was so good I was like getting up in the morning being quote really quiet and reading my book and Jess was like no your long deep sighs told me that you wanted to be out of bed I'm like yeah I did though

yeah yeah I did want to be out of bed how good's traveling with your mates in hostels but we did we we learned many hot tips like sharing bunk beds you told us that fun story about you in a wedding dress on public transport. It wasn't a wedding. Oh, let's go with it. So yeah, there was plenty of fun packed in there and lots of hot tips. So hopefully everyone got some ideas out of it. Be more chill than I am if you're going to share a room with friends though, apparently because it annoys them or something. All right, George, let's move on from that. It's time to hear some of our budget direct money wins. What have you got to put on the table for us this week? Some pearlers as always, girlies. The first one comes from Erin. $800 money win. I took my

grandma to bingo on Saturday and we walked out with a jackpot win. Yes, Queen. I went to bingo recently. That's hard. Like I can't keep up and find the numbers. And I was like having my finger on one number while finding the next one. It was a lot. How good is that? Well, I didn't realize how quick they move. I'm like, sir, I'm not ready. Not the next number. The next win comes from Michelle. And this is kind of a PSA. It's a really smart idea. Money win. I got rid of the tap and go function on my phone. Now I have to physically carry my wallet and remove my card to pay, which means there's an extra few seconds to make sure I'm happy with my purchase decision before I make it. How clever is that? Wouldn't work for me. I'd still tap my card.

Why are you laughing? I forget my wallet on the break. Not only does she just not bring her wallet places, she just leaves it places as well. Also not good. So like that's kind of helpful because like her phone is actually an extension of her arm at this point. So we know that won't go missing. But I don't think that would work for me because like a card's just as convenient. I mean, maybe if you need the physical reminder, like getting out a wallet is more symbolic than your phone, which for a lot of people,

not just me, it's always in your hands. The thing that I found curbed my spending was actually using my phone to tap on things when I use UpBank. And it tells you what your updated like total is in that account. Oh my God, yeah, I love that. Yeah, so it's like, oh, you spent $5.

Now you have $4 left in your account, Victoria. It'd make me super aware of how much I had what I was doing with my weekly funds, right? So to me, that was helpful. I think the card actually gives me less visibility and I hate seeing what my account's going down to. So I'm much less likely to tap. Yeah. Later on in the show, we are going to be helping a person who's sent in a money dilemma all about being a shopaholic. So I'm sure we'll have some more tips then. So what else you're going to bring to the table, GK? The next win comes from Jess, money win. When I get paid on Wednesday, I'll finally be able to close my Afterpay account.

I didn't realise how little control I had over my money from being so very reliant on Afterpay. ZipPay is almost finished too. I'm so excited to be in control again. Well done. The next one comes from Katie MoneyWin. I just started shopping at Aldi based on the podcast recommendation and I am saving so much on almond milk and regular milk for my daughter.

They do not have La Mule Rosé in the US though. Oh, what? Really? Oh, we need to advocate for that, Aldi. We're not going to work with you until you actually get that in store because that's a travesty. Speaking of wine from Aldi, though, remember we did that collab with Unspoken Wines and they sent me some really nice red wines

and we're like, yeah, cool, we'll do this. You shot some beautiful content for it. They sent me a box of six. That six is now gone. I now buy that pretty religiously from Aldi because I would say that's even my favourite wine. $13 a bottle, what a money win. That's pretty good.

Honestly, I would pay for that at the wine bar. If I saw that on the list, I'd be like, yeah, well, and no one's going to enjoy it, I'd be very happy with that. But Audi, pick up your game. Get into the US. That is an untapped market. Some free business advice from BD. The next swing, guys, comes from Shalini.

Money win. For the first time ever, our bank accounts feel so lush. There's stars between. Oh, lush is a very cute word for a bank account. We used to struggle to keep any money saved and it just disappeared. But through doing all the hard mindset work and practical budgeting this past year, we now have $35,000 in our savings and a few thousand in other buckets. That's lush.

Seeing that money is actually a bit triggering, so I do need to be careful we don't self-sabotage. Yeah, that's important. That's actually something we don't talk enough about when it comes to financial goals. Maybe we can chuck that on the list of things we talk about because I am very guilty of self-sabotage in general, ask Jess. But when it comes to finances,

I feel sometimes I get so close to a goal and then I'll do something that gets in the way of that goal and you don't mean to do it, but you're also arguably just really worried about what it means when you achieve that thing and you're just not ready for it. That has big deep dive energy, I think. Yeah, I think so. Let's do it. Jess is going to put it on the list for us. Perfect. All right. The next win comes from Bernadette, a money mindset win. This was the first year I haven't immediately spent my tax return on something I didn't need. I put it into my savings account instead. How good's that? That is the best thing I've ever heard. Right. The final win of the day, it comes from Caitlin and it is wholesome. Money lost,

but life win. I used to live five minutes away from work, which was great for my fuel, but it meant only getting five minute increments of the She's On The Money podcast in. Now I live 15 minutes away from work, which for me means more She's On The Money podcast time. Sure, there's more money spent on fuel, but hey, now there's more time being able to learn and absorb money information from the girl you. Oh, I love that. So good. That is wholesome. That's my fave. Well done, Caitlin. How cool is it that there are some people around Australia that have us in their ears when they're going to work? I know. If you're going to work, I hope you have the best day. Have a great day. Before we get to a break, usually we throw to a break here. I actually have a money win for the community that I tried to share with my family and my sister was like, yo, already knew. But I don't think everybody knows. So if you already knew, then that's fine. You're two steps ahead of me. But last year, you might have heard of the $250 power saving bonus. And that's where if you had like a concession card or you had some kind of Centrelink entitlement, you could upload one of your energy bills and get $250 towards it, which is a money win. It's not

even credit. It's actual cash that they deposit in your account, right? So that was a money win last year. Guess what? They've brought it back, but no criteria this time. All you have to be doing is be a bill payer. So Jess, have you already done it? Done it. Cash is in my bank account. Genius. $250 ruse that if you haven't gone and submitted your energy bill to the power saving bonus, which is a payment scheme for, I'm sorry if I've hyped you up and then I'm going to tell you it's Victorian households only, but it exists to help ease the cost of living pressures and encourage you guys to compare energy offers and save money, which I think is a massive money win. But George, you know my little sister Alex quite well. I certainly do. We used to live with

her. So we all know she can be a bit of a pest. Yep. I sent it to my family group chat being like, I'm going to help my sister out. I'm going to get my parents another $250. I'm going to be the favourite child this week. Sure. Send it to group chat and dad's like, yeah, great. No, no worries. Thanks so much. And my sister replies like, I already did it. Thanks for sharing with everybody else. Selfish, selfish little girl. Little sisters, they're a different breed. So it's been great celebrating some of your Budget Direct money wins and some of our own and one that is going to absolutely benefit you. So go and submit your energy bills ASAP. Budget Direct winner of Canstar's Insurer of the Year Award 2022, Budget Direct insurance solved. Now we're going to go to

a quick break, but stick around because after this, we're going to talk a little bit about the merger of Suncorp and ANZ, and we're going to be answering a money dilemma all about someone who has a sneaky little shopping addiction. Don't go anywhere. All righty, guys, there has been lots of chatter on the internet this week because, as you said before, VD, ANZ has agreed to buy Suncorp's banking business for $4.9 billion, if you don't mind. That's a lot of dollaroos. That is more dollaroos than I could ever comprehend. But lots of people talking about for different reasons. And I know you have your own thoughts on this fee. My immediate question

is why would they do this? Because to me, I mean, you're a bank, they're a bank. It doesn't make much sense for me for them to acquire them outside of the fact that they want more customers. But ultimately, that seems like a terrible thing for consumers. I mean, for the bank, it's a growth strategy, right? Like there are a few ways that you can grow as a business. Firstly, like there are lots of ways but like let's call it very simple first there's organic growth where you know word of mouth happens or you do some advertising and you get some new customers and that usually is a bit of a long slog right like you know your community slowly grows and you get more and more customers over time the second way you can grow is by acquisition which

is purchasing another business and rolling them in and therefore you get not only the customers which would be the biggest draw card but you also get the staff and the team that looks after that because one of the things you know Jess I think you'd lose your mind if I turned around and said, I bought another business to roll into She's On The Money because I keep doing that in Zella and it's already making you lose your mind. But in She's On The Money, if I did that, we just don't have the capacity to look after more things, right? Like we don't have enough staff. So the benefit of acquiring a whole other business is you don't just get the customers, but you get the talent that looks after the customers, right? But my question is, how many of those talent are going to be

negatively impacted? Because when you look at it, Suncorp has 13,000 staff across Australia. However, are you really going to need another 13,000 staff? Like ANZ would already have a marketing department. ANZ would already have a procurement department. Like do you need two of this? Do you need two CEOs? Do you need two CMOs? Like how does that work over time? If two businesses roll together and let's say mass layoffs happen, which seems pretty probable, is that a redundancy or is that yeah that would be made redundant which is essentially like saying hey Georgia like we no longer have a place in the business for your role it's not needed and what happens in that circumstance especially in a bigger company is they do their restructure

first which means they organize their organizational chart but they don't allocate individuals to that they say okay cool let's you know in a perfect world map out what this business looks like. And they might look at the accounting department and go, okay, we need a head. We need this many accountants. We need this many admin staff. We need all of this to do this amount of workload. Then they go and look at the talent that they have and they will allocate talent to that organizational chart. So they might go, oh, gee, King, you're a really good head of accounting. So we're going to pop you tentatively in that role. And then we are going to, you know, fill out all the roles. And if they have double ups, they might make people apply for it and go, oh,

and Jess, like you both might be able to do that. How about you both apply for this and we'll go through a round of interviews and see who makes it. The person who makes it keeps the job. The other person gets made redundant, which is a... That's terrifying. It is because... That's like seeing to the death. Thanks, George. Far out. For a lot of people, redundancy is terrifying, especially going into a recession, like we're headed into a period of time where securing employment is not going to be very easy. but I'm sure that there are actually a fair few people at Suncorp who are like heck yeah redundancy I've been here for 10 plus years I'm gonna make bank because you know not to make this

a good thing because I actually don't believe it's a good thing and I'll get into it in a hot second about why however when you get made redundant your redundancy is applicable for the amount of time that you were with the business at your current rate of pay so say you came in as a graduate and then you've worked your way up to you know having a hundred thousand dollar income and you're now really well off, that $100,000 income would apply to your redundancy package, not what you earned as a graduate. You might have earned $38,000 or $45,000 as a graduate, and you might go, oh, I didn't earn much back then. The benefit for most redundancies is that $100,000, if you've worked for 10 years at that company, is actually going to look like a pretty

healthy payout. So there might be some people at Suncorp, if this is going to happen, that are like, George, they're like, I want Jess to get it. Jess, you can have the job. I want the payout, and I'll go find a new job because I'm ready to move on and I'd love the extra, you know, hundred grand in my bank account. Yeah, right. So is this fee linked to the recession? Like, are we going to see more businesses doing this? Why is this important for us to understand? Look, it's not from my perspective at this point in time with the information that I have available to me, it's not linked to the recession. I think the ANZ is looking at it as a really good growth strategy to get into Queensland. Suncorp is a predominantly Queensland business. Down here in

Melbourne, you guys might have heard of it, but you probably definitely don't bank with them because it's not as accessible as it is in Queensland. Whereas in Queensland, that's the market that A&Z doesn't have as many branches. This enables them to access all of those customers. And Queensland is actually the fastest growing economy at the moment in Australia, which is kind of cool due to trade and development. And, you know, Brisbane is really picking up, whereas historically we used to always talk about the business centres of Australia being Sydney and then Melbourne. Queensland is really starting to give us all a bit of a run for our money with how much growth and economic stability they're being afforded. So I think it's a good thing when you look at it

from, you know, a bird's eye view and go, okay, cool, like ANZ is a big bank, they might want to grow and have this growth strategy that they're trying to implement. And one way to do it, as we said before, is acquisition. And so they've looked at a similar business and gone, all right, well, they're another bank they're smaller than us we would get access to a demographic that we don't currently have access to to them it might feel like a no-brainer and they go all right no problems let's progress this deal however Sancorp and ANZ have a bit of a history from my perspective of always putting profit before people so do we actually want these two banks to come together which results in less competition in the marketplace when it comes to things like

home loans and with inflation and home loan prices going up, do we really want less options? And is that actually putting consumers first, as you alluded to before, Jess? Yeah, that's kind of what I was going to say is, to me, I can see why, like you said, as a business growth strategy, great for them. But for the everyday person, it seems like this isn't the first bank acquisition that's happened over the last few years. It really feels like all of the little guys are being swallowed up by the big four. And ultimately, does that mean that we're not really going to have as much competition in the market as we need? And it's going to become a little bit of not quite a monopoly because there's more than one. But if ANZ owns Suncorp

and Suncorp continues to trade, but it's a subsidiary of ANZ, does that mean that really the deal that you're getting at Suncorp is not going to be that different from the deal that you get at ANZ, even though they exist in the same space? Look, it's hard to say. I think going into, you know the economic period that we're about to experience more competition is always better so it puts consumers first however often and you see this like let's use the example of when NAB acquired Eubank right they actually operate relatively independently I mean they have crossover in teams internally and like that all makes sense because why have double ups however they do have different offerings right like when you look at their mortgage products like

UBank has a more simplistic mortgage product with a lower interest rate, usually, don't quote me on that in this current market, I haven't looked at the moment, but they usually have a lower interest rate and that's because there's less bells and whistles on their mortgage products, right? So they don't have access to things like offsets at this point in time. I know they're working on it and they will build that up and, you know, have that as an offering, but often they do like having the two different products because they attract two different markets, right? Like Jess, you might be going for the lowest interest rate and you don't care about the bells and whistles. And then I might be going for a different product and my priority isn't interest rate, because to be honest,

my priority when I got my mortgage wasn't interest rate. It was having as many offset accounts as possible so I could make my money work really hard for me. So we might all have different priorities. And I think that from a business perspective, it can be quite smart having two competing products that stay relatively independent. But is that truly competition if they're owned by the same big dog? I like the idea of more flexibility and more opportunity in the marketplace, especially when it comes to being able to refinance home loans and banking and whatever you want to do at this point in time, going into a pretty tumultuous time. It just makes sense. So you mentioned earlier, V, that there's likely to be big redundancies in this

whole piece. What happens there? Well, I think it's interesting because the CEO of ANZ, Shane Elliott, has come out and said, guys, don't worry. We're not going to have any net job losses over the next three years because he's trying to make people feel really comfortable. Like, don't worry, Jay, with this merger, like we're not going to make you lose your job. But to me, that just says that you're sitting ducks for three years. And after those three years, that really means that there's basically no future for thousands of people who are currently working in Queensland after that three years it's up. So from my perspective, I think it's probably a good time for people to be a little bit critical. Like, as I said before, I Googled it, 13,000 staff,

like that's a lot of staff to in three years, potentially let's, you know, extrapolate this out and be a little bit dramatic because sometimes we have to be dramatic to find an outcome that puts you guys in the best possible position. But what happens in three years if 13,000 people lose their jobs at one bank and they all have banking experience? Where are they going? What types of jobs are you going to work in? Because arguably, you know, I use marketing as an example because I feel like I talk to marketing companies all the time. But what if you have experience in marketing? Great, no problems. You can probably move into a similar role at another bank or another corporate, your experience might be quite transferable. What if you're a private banker?

What if you're a broker? What if you have specific bank experience that doesn't easily translate to another industry? What's going to happen? There's going to be a heap of competition for all these other jobs and a whole heap of people who can't get jobs. So I think that makes me feel a little bit icky and makes me go, all right, well, I know he said three years and that's nice of him, but that also means that we've got a timeline of three years to work out where you want to be and whether your role is still going to exist. For a lot of people, that would be really, really stressful. And, you know, making some grand assumptions, often in banking, you have a higher tenure. So people are more likely to stick around. You know, I know millennials

have an average tenure these days of about 18 months in a role. However, in banking, that's closer to five years. Like you usually stick in a job five years, if not 10, if not 20. Like you often see people who have career jobs at banks and, you know, again, making a grand assumption in Queensland, that could be even more true because there's less job opportunities or there were less job opportunities, you know, 10, 20 years ago. So maybe people have stuck that out. What are they going to do about their roles? What are we going to do about the branches, you know, in more remote locations that then are completely redundant? What are those people doing? So I think it makes me a little bit stressed and it doesn't make me so excited about it.

Like I just think it's bad for jobs. It's bad for competition. I don't think it's a good thing in the long term and it just makes me wonder like what's going on. But the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has actually come out and said that he is going to call on the ACCC to reject the deal because he just thinks it's such a bad thing that it shouldn't go through and ANZ should not be able to incorporate with Suncorp because he thinks it puts consumers in that bad of a position. So it's not just me going, hey,

I don't think this is right, like just from what I've been reading and how I see it. Like our literal treasurer, he's turning around and going, nah, ACCC, put a stop to this. I don't think it's kosher. How big of a deal is that? Like how often would the treasurer step in and make a comment like that? That's pretty big because as much as both of those companies, so ANZ and Suncorp Bank are both listed companies on the ASX, like how often does the Australian treasurer get involved in business dealings? Like, how does that work? Like, what if L'Oreal wanted to acquire another makeup business and you were like, oh, they test on animals. Like, are you going to turn around and have the treasurer stop that? Like, obviously, he's

assuming that there will be some pretty big economic impacts if that does happen. Otherwise, why would he try and bar it? It'll be interesting to see if the ACCC responds and if they do put a stop to it or if they put limitations on it or what that ends up looking like. I think it'll be an interesting one to follow. And I'm glad you brought it up for today because I think a lot of people in our community would be like, I don't care about understanding like this ANZ Suncorp thing. It doesn't make sense. But when you get into the nitty gritty of it, you're like, wow, this could really impact our community. Like this could really impact a lot of jobs in Queensland. It could really impact a lot of people our age. And I just think it's so important to discuss

these topics in a way that doesn't feel as formal as when I read it on the financial review, right? like Jess you're not going to go be like oh I can't wait to read about this like it just sounds like a bland topic until we start breaking it down and going well George this is what it means and this is how it works good chat ladies little bland not gonna lie about it do you know what's not planned money dilemmas let's have a listen 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 quick voice recording and you may just find yourself

on the show. Now, let's take a listen to today's Money Dilemma. Hi, guys. So my name is Erin and I am definitely a shopaholic. I have always been really bad with my money in that I get very tempted with clothing and I really like buying clothes and using things like Afterpay. I was just wondering what would be your biggest tip to help me stop this like addiction of online shopping and using Afterpay because I feel like it's getting a little bit silly and I don't want to be in debt for the rest of my life. I would say firstly if it is like if it's genuinely at the point where it's impacting your life super significantly call our friends at the National with our helpline. Of course, they're a free service. They have really great financial

counsellors. They have people who will be able to help you sort things out. But more broadly, I feel like we've all probably got some good little tips for you if you are having trouble reining your spending in. I would say something that I see people doing actually in the Facebook group a lot when you do use these Buy Now, Pay Later services is adding up your lifetime amount. I think you might actually be able to actually see it in the app somewhere, depending on what platform you use. But the reason that these platforms are so addictive is because you don't really fully feel the impact of what you're spending. And sometimes we need a little bit of a kick up the tush to get us going in the right direction. And seeing that you've spent

$10,000 over the course of two years would arguably do that for you, in my opinion. 100%. I would add to that and say, unfollowing brands on social media and influencers who influence you would be a really good idea. If you can't see it, you don't want it. unsubscribing to marketing emails, all of that jazz. Except she's on the money always. Exactly. Keep that email there. But also I would say actually dedicating money in your budget, set up a budget and understand your cashflow if you don't already, and then dedicate money in your spending to put towards frivolous spends or shopping or whatever it may be. So then you don't feel that guilt. And even like, so you don't restrict yourself and then end up binging or

whatever it may be. I feel like that could be a really good idea too. In my actual budget, it, I have an allocation for both clothing and beauty because I like to break my spending down, as we've discussed, into 13 different savers accounts. But those are like 13. I couldn't not keep track of that. So I have my food, fuel and fun account and that is it. And we function on a daily basis from that. And then I have like my savings accounts. But holy moly, 13, I'd be like, I could not go and like pull money out of my beauty account to spend. I'd be useless. My overall spending system is the She's On The Money budget and cash flow system, which is where those four bank accounts come in. If you haven't checked it out,

we'll have a link in the show notes because it is incredible if I do say so myself. But for me, because I am a really visual person, breaking those accounts down into actual categories and going, okay, I'm not comfortable spending more than X amount of dollars a month on clothing because anything more than that feels ridiculous for me. So actually breaking the budget it down incrementally beyond those four accounts into what I do allow, I guess, myself to spend really made me super accountable. And that's something that I have found has worked really well. I'll take your advice. You've saved for a house. So I think that's pretty much all right. You both have saved for houses, basically. I'm very impressed. I think from my side of the table,

I'd really be going back and you guys are going to have seen this advice coming a mile off, but I'd go back to your values and your goals. Like often during the times when I'm spending the most and being really frivolous and not really planning my spending. And maybe historically when I was spending beyond my means, it was because I didn't have really clear goals and values or understand where I wanted to go. In fact, I would say that during those periods of time, I really didn't know what I wanted out of life either. Like I didn't know what I wanted to do with my career. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my relationships or my jobs, like literally everything I was a bit like bare about. And so spending was that one thing that made me feel

really good. And often when you are a bit of an overspender, there's usually a reason for it because spending gives you dopamine and dopamine makes you feel really good. And it gives you that instant burst of like excitement and award essentially. So it might be replacing something else that's going on. So I'd have a sit down and be like, well, why do I feel like I need to do this? Because obviously you've articulated that it's not a good idea and it's a bit silly and you don't want to be doing it for you personally so I'd be really sitting down and going well when am I spending the most is it when I'm feeling a little bit bad is it when I'm having a bad day at work is it me because I'm anxious in the evening so I'm jumping on the iconic and buying

some stuff to distract myself like let's learn a little bit more about ourselves and our personal circumstances to kind of like hopefully read into the why because there's always a why it's not just like oh it just happens like it doesn't just happen there's a reason behind everything then I would really want to be clear on my goals and my financial goals would be obviously front of mind and setting goals and going like all right well I want to save or I want to invest or I want to pay off my debt and this is how I'm going to do it but from someone who is incredibly impulsive the other thing I would say is automate it I am so good at my budget and cash flow on a day-to-day basis and I think a lot of people look at me and go wow like she's so good at money like I am

because it's automated like I have ADHD if things aren't automated it's not happening like if it's in my account and it's within my reach I am going to spend it because I don't think about the other incidental things that might exist like last month I completely forgot that my income protection was due and it's okay like I have budgeted for it it's in my cash flow like I've got the money put aside because I've automated it. But I got that bill and I was like, oh, where'd that come from? Didn't see that coming. That's wild. And had I not automated my process, I would have felt like that was a really big hit. So I think it's important to just really make a system that works for you. And, you know, Jess, 13 accounts works. I couldn't keep track of that. That would

drive me insane. I just need to know. And that's why I was talking about earlier about my UpBank card. I love to know instant feedback, what amount of money is left in my account so I can make decisions on it. And then I really like having a structure where every other goal is being attended to before I get to that cash that I'm allowed to spend. So regardless of whether that's, you know, $100 or $3 for a coffee, like I think that we need to be really clear with ourselves about our goals and our values and not harsh. Like I don't want to go, all right, well, Jess, you've only got 50 bucks for groceries. Like you might go, V, that's not aligned to my goals. It's not about being restrictive. It's about understanding it. I think once you understand

it, you'll feel far more in control. So that would be my advice. I love that. Before we wrap the episode, I have something exciting to share with you, Victoria, that you don't know about. Oh. Can you close your eyes for one second? Yeah. Stop looking at me. Give me a second. Yeah, George doesn't know either. I'm the only one who knows. What is it? Just wait. I'm not telling you. It's a surprise. Is it? Well, obviously. Nobody else knows except me. I have.

So it's a surprise for everybody? It's a surprise for everyone. I have in my hot little hands. Yeah. Can I look at it? Yes. Something you've been waiting to see. Open your eyes.

Give me that. Are you joking? That's a good reaction. Right? For everyone playing at home, I just handed her the first. My second book. Well, the first copy of the second book. And it's not even officially the final thing.

No, it doesn't have the gold on it. Yeah. but it's the very first look that we've had at what it actually looks like in person. Do you love it? I love it. I did also bring, for effect, the first book so you could put them next to each other.

So I can put them together. Are you joking? They look stunning, if I do say so. Nice. How does everybody feel? Oh, it feels so weird. It feels so weird. Are you joking?

Isn't she beautiful? We had a lot of, there has been, you guys, so much back and forth on getting this cover right because I think the first time you have a book the world is your oyster really but then when you have a second book you go well I want it to work with the first book but I want it to have its own personality so we have spent a lot of time. How did you get your hands on this? I know a guy who knows a guy. I haven't even been able to sign off on this are you joking? Oh my god this is sick. So if you have missed the memo if you're not in our Facebook group are following us on Instagram. The second book, Investing with She's on the Money, is coming

out this September, which is much sooner than I thought it was. September the 20th. Correct. And it is available for pre-order. We had a massive outpouring of support because it went on sale on Amazon Prime Day. Definitely check if it is still, it was 42% off. And the day we're recording this, that deal is still available. So check if it is when this episode goes up. But I don't think you guys realize how much pre-orders help us out because if there is interest and excitement around the book that is what gives us opportunities to do things like book tours or to do things like media because we I guess we have to kind of prove ourselves that people are interested and so when you sign up and pre-order the book you're not just supporting us by doing that but you're also

enabling us to hopefully get out to see you and hug you in person come to a city near you or you know, for Victoria to get on TV and be able to spread her message of financial literacy even further. So thank you so much. It's actually wild to think that you guys pushed it to number one on Amazon. And I think you guys, yeah, as Jess was saying, you just don't realize how much that means like for the success of a book, right? Because it's already given me the opportunity. I'm going to Sydney to talk at the DIMX conference. And like, that'll be super fun to be able to talk to actual booksellers about my book writing process. And we're already talking to a few people about potential events. And originally when we launched the first book, obviously the

first book, they've got to see how you go, but we weren't able to have an event and it wasn't something that was on the cards because COVID and then we really wanted to, and it just never eventuated. But now we're talking about potentially having events in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and that would be just so special to think that that would happen. And it only happens if you have good pre-sales because otherwise they look at it and go well you know how are we going to know that people will turn up to these events for this book if the book isn't even pre-selling so it's just it's honestly so special and to know you guys support us in that way like it's wild to think that you're willing to buy a book you can't even see the chapters of yeah like it's so special

and if you can't pre-order because we have had a few people message and say oh my gosh I want to support you but it's just not in budget right now girl we get it you can support us in so many other ways, sharing the book to your stories, sharing She's on the Money in general to your stories or with your friends and family. Libraries as well do this thing where you can essentially request an upcoming title. So if you want to borrow She's on the Money from your local library, get in touch, send them an email and say, hey, I really want this book. Do you have a plan to bring it in? Some libraries have a pre-order. It's not really an order, but you can pre-put yourself on a list to borrow it as well. Yeah, it's so cool.

Every little step like that really counts. And for our little business to be able to be having the impact that we're having, it's all thanks to you guys. And we're just so grateful. All right. Well, I think that is a very special place to leave it. Thank you so much for surprising me with that, Jess. That is so flipping cool.

But unfortunately, that is all we have time for today. So, Miss Georgia King, could you please put down the second book and wrap the boring but important stuff? Absolutely, I can. Alrighty, guys, please remember that 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 a financial decision. And we promise Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of In Focus Securities Australia, Proprietary Limited, ABN 47097797049, AFSL 236523. See you next week, guys.

Bye, guys. I'll see you next time.