She's On The Money - FRIDAY DRINKS: Black Friday, and G and Jess forgot the listener questions

Episode Date: November 25, 2021

It's Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friiiiidayyyy. It's George's first week bringing to community wins to the table, we discuss Black Friday and there's no listener question this week because Jess thought G was doing it, and G thought Jess was on the money - alas, neither were. SO if you've got a listener question you'd like us to answer please shoot us an email to [e-mail] with your voice memo and you might find yourself on the show!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 is an Authorised Representative of Australia Pacific Funds Management Proprietary Limited ABN 34 132 463 257 - AFSL 339151.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. Welcome back to another one of our Friday drinks episodes where George, Jess and I celebrate the wins from our community. As we all know, there are a million great money wins and some confessions shared in our group each and every single week. And we're not making it up. We literally talk about this day in and day out. It is one of our favorite parts of the She's On The Money community

and being able to talk about it is epic. But the fact that we have an entire episode dedicated to chatting about you guys is one of our favorite things. So, before we jump into it, this week, Georgia is going to bring the money wins from the She's On The Money community. So, Georgia, you better buckle up because we are judging how well you've picked. But before we get there, Jessica Ricci, what happened on Money Diaries this week? So, this week's diarist was a bit of the opposite of rags to riches. I don't know if riches to rags is the right thing. I see where you going with it? Yeah, you're picking up what I'm putting down. She grew up in a really privileged position and she obviously acknowledged that she had no budget. She didn't have to worry

about money at all growing up, which is fantastic. But the downfall of that is as an adult, when she went into the world by herself, she had no money or finance skills or knowledge at all. And she's found herself in a bit of a predicament where when we spoke to her about recording, she had a thousand dollars in her bank account. She said that she really struggled with keeping on top of those finances. And I guess the thing that I really took from that was the fact that no matter how privileged you are growing up, that may not do you any good. You know, if you don't get that education, if your parents aren't teaching you, it doesn't matter if you have a million dollars or a hundred, those skills are so essential because if you don't know how to manage your

money, it can disappear so quickly. Yeah. And what you said just then actually makes a lot of sense. So you said whether you have like a hundred dollars or a million dollars, to me, that's really relevant because if you can't manage a hundred dollars, you're never going to be able to manage a million dollars. So you have to learn how to budget and cashflow essentially when you don't have anything, because then when wealth grows, you know how to grow it and you know how to invest it and you know how to save it and keep it. Whereas if you're able to throw a hundred dollars out the window, I promise you, you will also throw a million dollars out the window and you laugh or might be like, Victoria, I'm not going to throw a million

dollars out the window. But do you know how many people win the lotto and then have nothing to show for it 24 months later? Like it's not actually uncommon to come into lump sums of money and then absolutely fritter it away. And in saying that, I guess it was just really interesting because so many times we hear stories in money diaries about people having gone through quite challenging childhoods and growing up below the poverty line and it being really challenging or, you know, going through significant adversity and coming out of it with different money stories that like changed their entire lives. Sometimes it happens the opposite way where you've never actually ever had to budget or cashflow or know what it's like. So, you end up in a sticky

situation. And I mean, this money diarist situation wasn't like that, but it was really interesting to say, well, I absolutely had absolutely everything and now I'm not very good at money. But she's learning and she's doing really well and I'm really proud of her. But moving on from money diaries, George, what happened on our deep dive this week? So this week, it was an exciting one. We spoke all about debt agreements. So basically what I learned is they're the step between debt consolidation and bankruptcy, essentially. So it's definitely not something that you would go into lightly in a similar way to bankruptcy. Actually, Jess, you were on the bankruptcy deep dive episode a few months ago. Do you remember?

Yeah. Just as like, no, what's bankruptcy? Was I? Yeah. So, it's like, it's similar to bankruptcy, but not quite. What was your main takeaway, V? So, my main takeaway was really understanding what that was. Obviously, I do know what a debt agreement is. I've gone through it a lot, but main takeaway I would want other people to have is really understanding when it's necessary and when it's maybe not going to be applicable to your situation. Because in some situations, bankruptcy is the right decision. And it's a really hard decision to make, and it's not one we ever want to have to make for ourselves, but it can be really empowering. We've said this before, but when it comes to debt agreements, I think a lot of people, especially if they're in personal

debt, just don't know what their options are. They don't know what they can do. They don't know that they can actually consolidate debt together to make it a more manageable payment. But if you are over your head in debt and you actually can't pay off what you owe, a debt agreement can be a really great way of getting out of debt without having to go bankrupt and actually managing it and yeah it's it's a really good option if you're in that situation and the thing about this topic is obviously it's not going to quote apply to everybody because hopefully the majority of people aren't going through these situations but I want you all to be super educated and like know what that is so if a friend is really struggling with debt you have

the knowledge, the skills, the tools, the resources to go, hey, George, actually in this situation, you need to potentially consider X, Y, and Z. And I think that that's the really empowering part where it might not necessarily apply to your situation, but you best believe it might apply to a friend or a family members or someone that you work with situation and you can actually help them even though that's not your career. You just know which direction they need to go in to get the right advice. And I think that that's really special. 100% agree with you there, V. And I feel like that also applies to a lot of our other She's On The Money topics. Like, they might not necessarily impact you individually, but learning about them can help you help a friend or a

relative or something like that. Like, I think that's what's really cool about our podcast as well. No such thing as being overeducated. Oh, well, that's it, isn't it? Like, nobody ever turned around and was like, hey, George, you're way too smart. Like, tone it down. Like, that's not a thing. And if they do say that, just like hang up on them. We don't want to be their friend. Absolutely. So let's jump straight into the community wins this week. Every single week on a Monday, Jess will post in the community and ask you guys what you have been winning at this week. And by Friday, Georgia will have picked out the ones that she thinks are worthy of being called out on the podcast. All of them are always epic money wins. But George, what were the key

highlights this week? Oh, we've got a few. And I must say, I'm a little bit nervous jumping into leadership role in the team. So, let's go gently on me. But this is the only episode we'll go gently on you next week. It's a free for all. Okay. Fair call. Fair call. Okay. So, our first money win for the week is from Alicia. Hi, Alicia. Hi, Alicia. She crossed a third of Christmas gifts off her list during the sales this weekend and ended up saving a whopping $300. Amazing. Oh, That's actually a very good, very relevant, very hot right now money win, George. I'm liking where you're going with these selections. A good start.

Our second one is from Selena. So she used to take her dog to a groomer who charged her around $100 per groom. So expensive. Exactly. She decided to take matters into her own hands and bought a $30 dog trimming set online, which she used over the weekend and she had stunning results. I'm not sure if you guys saw the picture, but the dog, it looks legit. I did. I did. And it was really cute. And you can trim my dog because last time I took my dog

to the groomers, it was a lot more than a hundred dollars because of how big she is. And it looked significantly worse. So if you want to open a dog grooming salon, you heard it here first. She's on the porny. No, that sounds awful. I was like, you know, like poor, poor and money, but it turns out that's, that's not the type of content we want to create. We can workshop it later. Don't worry, doll. Thank you. Shall we move on to Tanika? I would love to hear Tanika's, take it away. Tanika says, money win, we are consumer debt free.

After slogging our butts off and throwing everything we had at our debts, my husband and I can officially say that all we have left now is our mortgage. Over the last two years, we've managed to pay off close to 80K worth of debt, finishing right before Christmas. What a legend. Massive. Oh, that's a massive weight off your shoulders. Like, imagine being in that much debt and then getting to celebrate being out of it.

Like, I'm celebrating you being out of it. And I can see everybody in group chat right now and their faces. We are all very much excited for you, my friend. We're smiling. Okay, Emma, this one's actually for you, J-Rick. I thought you'd enjoy this one. I feel like J-Rick always gets a money win that's directly attached to her. I love it.

Always. Look, it's not directed, but it inadvertently is. So, Emma cleaned out her wardrobe during lockdown and finally it got around to listing the goods on her local Facebook buy sale page. And she's already made $500 with more sales still coming in. And that's just from the weekend gone. Oh my gosh. $500. That does not go astray at Christmas time either. What a good time to pick up some things that you're not using and sell them online. Okay. Our next one here is from Taylor. So she was booking three nights accommodation for a girl's trip in the Hunter Valley. Very nice. Very nice. She found a great place on Airbnb

Before going ahead and booking with Airbnb, she decided to look directly through the host's website instead, and she saved $500. I didn't even know it could be that significantly different. Well, that's massive, isn't it? That's really big. Yeah, what? I love that for her. Mm-hmm.

Our sixth and final money win for the week, my girls, was from the lovely Claire, who said she took advantage of our very own Black Friday sale and purchased the budgeting and cashflow masterclass for a hot bargain. I've seen a couple of people joining the community over the weekend and I'm so excited about it, honestly, to know that people are going to join and get their money stuff together. Like I genuinely, I'm a bit biased. I genuinely think right now is a really good time to do it as well because we're all thinking about shopping and we're all thinking about Black Friday sales and like the click frenzy stuff that's just happened and having to buy presents. Like what a better time to get your money together than now.

Precisely. Is it still running, Vee? Because it's Black Friday technically today, right? Yeah, it's Black Friday technically today, but I'm going to run it over the weekend as well. And we actually started last Friday because when Jess and I were talking about it, we had so many DMs from people being like, are you doing a Black Friday sale? It was kind of like, oh, is this a good idea or not? Like we're not really a Black Friday kind of promotional company, but we decided to do it anyway, but our Black Friday sale has gone on for more than a week. So that people did have time to think about whether they really wanted to do it or maybe do some more reading on it and actually make a decision that's right for them. Because I

hate the idea that someone would just buy it because they see that it's discounted and just like get on it ASAP. I mean, I would love to think you do, but the idea that you'd be pressured into it just because there's a discount, have a think about it. 24 hours between you and your spending and what kind of company would we be if we didn't give you that grace? yeah love it is it 99 off it is 99 off and low-key that discount code also works on the gift card so you could like gift it to someone for christmas we love we love genius obviously i thought of that idea myself so i'll just uh claim that genius title right here and now all right george i reckon you did a pretty good rap so good in fact we'll invite you back next

week to do the money wins that's a good result just did you agree i agree george killed it we love it. You can come to my thread anytime. More Black Friday chat right after this quick break. All right. We are back. And Georgia, this week you've been doing some pretty gnarly reading on Black Friday. Is that right? Look, I wouldn't call it gnarly reading. I thought that was a cool kid way of introducing this segment, but all right. No, I loved it. I appreciate that. Thank you for making me feel at home. So obviously today is Black Friday and I noticed in the Facebook group a few days ago, Sarah posted saying, is anyone else feeling really overwhelmed with Black Friday sales? I feel like retailers make you feel like you need to buy everything

because it's on sale. I feel like we can all relate to that. I know my EDMs, like my emails at the moment are flooded with marketing EDMs telling me that it's Black Friday and I've got it. Bye, bye, bye. And I was like, is it Black Friday? Like this was like a week ago. So it's been going on for some time, but there are also some stats on this. So for anybody who doesn't know, Black Friday is essentially the American version of Boxing Day. So it's Thanksgiving over in America. It was yesterday and today it's Black Friday. So there are sales across the board. On Monday, we'll have Cyber Monday. I did just want to rattle through a few stats before I ask you girls about your opinions in general on Black Friday. Jess and I have a lot of opinions, so

probably good people to ask. Don't we always? Exactly. So, some recent research found that 35% of Australians will be shopping today, as well as Cyber Monday. So, that's 6.8 million of us, and we will be spending $3.8 billion on clothes, beauty gadgets, and travel. like just today and and monday yeah so over the next four days i guess the sales kind of run well they they do seem to have run earlier as i said before for the last week or so until this monday but that is a lot of money look i like that they're running a bit earlier i don't know if other people are going to agree with me but i feel like i too have been bombarded with black friday sales it's all over my instagram it's all over facebook it's all in my emails like everybody

wants me to buy. But I think because it started so early this year, I've been a little bit more wary of it. It wasn't like previous years and maybe I've just got my head in the sand about this, but it wasn't like previous years where I woke up and I'm like, oh my gosh, it's Black Friday. You're right. I should check out the deals. Like people have been coming out with them earlier. So I've been like, oh, what do I need to buy for Christmas? Or, oh, what do I need to organize for XYZ? Which I've found really helpful, but I can also see that extending for people who maybe aren't as good at budgeting cash flow into an entire week of shopping and making sure they didn't miss out on things like it's like good and bad at the same time hey yeah I feel like

the upside of it is it gives you the opportunity to obviously snag a deal which we all love and I feel like it's towing that fine line of making sure that you are making purchases that align either with your values or are aligned with the gifts that you were planning on giving so if you can avoid being sucked into the temptation of oh my gosh it's 30% off so I might as well just buy it it's a really great way to save some money on your Christmas shopping because we're you know it's that time of year we're thinking about our gifts you should have your list and have checked it twice and be ready to like get some bargains oh that was really funny thank you I really tried Yeah, I like that. No, but I think it can be really a really fantastic tool if you are able

to avoid, I guess, that mentality. And I think that's a really smart thing to say, because hopefully you're listening to this on Friday morning. It is the morning of Black Friday and all of the creatures. No, that's that's the other like morning of Christmas. Apologies. I thought I was going to be really funny there and I'm not. I really need to just stop trying to be funny. But it's the morning of Black Friday and you guys are waking up. Hopefully, you're now going, actually, I'm going to put my smart hat on. Do I need to buy anything? Like, do I need to get Jess a birthday present or a Christmas present soon that I could, you know, actually just get now and save some money on? I think it's about being smart, but just because it's on sale doesn't

mean it's a good deal. Absolutely. I think we need to have that mantra going throughout this entire sale period because we're also going to be bombarded really soon with the Boxing Day sales. And they nowadays extend way past Boxing Day, or I found them too. So, from my point of view, I think we really need to be putting our thinking hats on and going, all right, how do I use this to my advantage? How do I plan instead of putting ourselves in positions where we're like, oh my God, I bought it because it was cheap and I didn't even need it. So, if you're one of those trigger happy people that does that, can you please do me a favor and double check the returns policies during the sale period? If it cannot be returned, triple think

that purchase. And if it can be, go, okay, why am I checking the returns policy? Is it because I don't need it? Definitely. Hey, which generation are we guys? Because I've got a breakdown of who spends what. Are we Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z? So we're millennials. You're not Gen X. If you were a Gen X, George, you would have been born between the 60s and the 80s, which I guarantee you, you are not. Millennials are born up until, I think it was the 2000s. And then anything after the 2000s is gen z and they're the cool kids like they're the ones that run tiktok okay so wait wait we're gen y we are gen y okay so just clarifying for the eighth time um okay so a little breakdown of who is spending what so the baby boomers yeah are they our grandparents the baby boomers were born

between the 1940s and the 1960s so yeah okay my parents apologies eric and judy Yeah. So, they're spending $290, which is quite a bit. Do we know what they're spending it on? We do. And I'm going to get to that. Don't you worry. Okay. Sorry. Sorry. I'm jumping ahead. So, the Gen Xs are spending $457. So, a big jump up. They've got more money than us as well, George. That's true. That's true. Yeah. That makes sense.

Gen Y. So, that is us. We're spending $421. It's a little bit less. It's because we have less money. I like it. Yeah. Gen Z, the techno kids. Oh, God. They're spending $339. So, I don't know if that's interesting or not. I don't know if it's interesting, but I feel like they're good stats. But, G, how much would you spend during Black Friday sales? Well, I won't be spending anything on myself, but if I am wise, I'll get my act together and make the purchases for my family that I'm planning. But I'm not, I don't feel that organized this year. I have not been taking my own advice. So, I need to like sit down and

think about it and I'll try and spend a little bit. But how about you guys? What do you think you'll spend? I feel like talking to the She's On The Money team is like the worst idea when it comes to like, how are you planning on spending your money? Because we all have spreadsheets. We all have budgets. We're all like, oh, so what's your cash flow look like this week? Like, I'm not intending on purchasing anything for myself. Hopefully again, I can pick up a few more presents. But the thing with presents and I is that I've got everything I can think of at the moment for people. And then there's a few outstanding people that I'm still like, what do I get them? So even though the sales are on, I have literally no idea what I'm going to order

them. So I want to make use of the sales, but I also don't want to like pressure buy something that isn't going to be the right present. So rock and a hard place for me. Exactly. how are you managing the sales good i have there's a few things that i've been wanting to purchase for the last like month or so that i've held off on in the hopes that they will go on sale um don't know that they will or not but i just kind of figured knowing that black friday was coming i might as well wait and hope for the best so i reckon i will probably be pretty close to our area just because there's a couple of tech items that i want to pick up and then i have a few Christmas presents. Tech items? You sound like a Gen Zer. Yeah. I wish I was as cool as Gen Z. I'm

definitely not. But yeah, there's just a few bits and pieces that I have been wanting for me or for gifts to other people. Like I've compiled my list and I've had it for a very long time and I've just kind of been waiting to see what the best deal I can get is. And I plan on kind of shopping around on a few different sites, using my shop back, doing all those things to make sure that I'm getting the biggest saving that I possibly can because I am both poor and cheap. Yeah. Okay. That's really good. Did you know that Black Friday actually only started to exist in 1996 when we were, or when I was five years old? That doesn't surprise me at all. Well, it's like a tech to bring tech back into it. It's like a tech related thing, isn't it? Like it's an internet

sale. No, it's an in-store. Have you seen it started in the US and so they do it, they all sit down after like they have their dinner and then the shops open at like midnight so it's like an overnight sale and it used to be overnight yeah overnight it's like hectic there's these videos on youtube if anyone ever went through the beauty vlogger days on youtube people would literally have their dinner with their families and then film them going black friday shopping and they post these videos at like 6 a.m with these huge bags because these shopping centers are packed with people who have been whipped into a buying group. Oh, I think I've seen this on YouTube and they're like carrying TVs out and stuff.

Is that right? It's crazy. Like people pushing people out of the way. And I guess now that we've got COVID safe practices and stuff, it might look quite different this year. I think it looks different. But it doesn't surprise me that it started so recently because from what I can see, it's genuinely just aimed at generating revenue and encouraging people to buy.

And I think particularly in the US, it's like these one day sales, like you can only get it on this one day. And so it's kind of nice that here those sales have extended because it allows people to shop a little bit more mindfully rather than getting caught up in that frenzy. I agree. The idea of frenzied shopping genuinely makes me feel really icky. Like the idea that people would go out not knowing what they're going to come home with or not knowing what they're going to purchase really just makes me stressed that they don't have good cash flow systems in place. And I'm not saying don't buy stuff. Like, please don't get me wrong. Someone the other day messaged me on Instagram and they're like, I bet you never buy anything new. And I was

like, no, totally I do. Like, ask Jess. Like, we get packages in the office all the time. But if I'm ordering something or buying something, it's literally because I've planned it. It's in my budget. It's a part of my cashflow. It's not me going, oh, I'm trigger happy, or I'm just going to go shopping. I'll head to Chadston and I'll have spent three or $400. Like to me, that's not what I do. I work out what I want to purchase. And I might go, hey Jess, do you want to go shopping? Like I really want a new linen shirt and I'm going for a particular item, but I don't go with no intention, if that makes any sense. But I feel like historically that wasn't my mentality at all. Like I remember when I was much, much younger, Boxing Day sales were so cool. Like when

I was like in late primary school, early secondary school, I just feel like, I feel like they've potentially changed and become less exciting. Is that me getting old or is that actually true, guys? I feel like the sales have also potentially declined. I don't know, again, if that's because I was younger and my perception of them was different, but like now the Boxing Day sales really don't seem like they're anything crazy. And they don't seem any more unique than what we see at Black Friday or in the lead up to Christmas. It just doesn't seem like it's worth the effort. No. I think as well, like who can actually be bothered going to the stores anymore? Especially on Boxing Day, you're hung over from a big Chrissy. Like it's usually

sweltering outside. It's like 40 degrees. We're not going to the stores. We're just doing that online. Like it's just not a big deal anymore. Yeah. And I feel like online you can always find a better deal anyway if you're looking for something in particular because we now have access I guess to the globe as opposed to just Chadston or just you know Bondi Junction it's not as though we're just going to go head down to our local mire and hope that Miss shops on sale whereas that's what I was doing at 13 and I was so excited like I remember we would go shopping and mum will be like okay cool like we need to get you some summer stuff anyway like let's do it today and it would always be so fun but yeah it's definitely not the same anymore the other thing

I'm noticing about sales in comparison to what they used to be is for us, Boxing Day was like the sale. Whereas now we've got like Halloween sales and Black Friday sales. And I genuinely feel like American culture is starting to infiltrate the way that we buy in Australia, which is awesome because I always used to think that I missed out on Halloween. But also like, why are we adopting these things that they're doing? Is it just sales? Is it, you know, companies going, this is a really great marketing strategy? Or do you think we're just becoming more global? I'm really skeptical, but I'm going to go the second option. I think it's all about the profit for businesses, especially off the back of COVID with shops being closed

for months at a time. I think that they really just want to get people in their doors spending their money. Yeah, I agree. I just feel like all of these things are not really ours, if that makes sense. Like we've got Boxing Day. Let us have Boxing Day sales. Like why do we need Black Friday, Cyber Monday all of these other sales I feel like I'm going down a negative pathway but I'm not I just really like understanding the psychology behind how everybody works and what drives marketing and what drives consumer decisions and why we make decisions around our money the way we make them but I'm not Black Friday is actually I guess from our perspective really exciting because it means that we can probably get some Chrissy presents on sale or prepare ourselves or

I know I'm going to be buying some new knickers because they're going to all be on sale and I refuse to pay full price for bonds, guys. Just refuse. Like flat out, it's not happening. They go on sale. It's happening. So, I think the main call to action for us is actually to just be prepared. And we've done episodes historically on how to prepare for sales and what that actually means and how to spend in line with your values and what your actual goals are. So, I think just being really clear on how you want to spend and what you want to spend is fine and not going, oh, I hate sale periods. Like that's not the case at all. We just need to know how to tackle them and have the right tools and resources at our disposal

to make sure that we're making the most of them, not being made fools by them. I completely agree. And if you do need a little bit of help prepping yourself mentally for the sales, you guys did a really great ep around this time last year on navigating sales like a pro, which is well worth a listen.

But I think it's time to wrap up because George, you and I may have stuffed up slightly. You may have just stuffed up. Where's our listener question? A little bit of a miscommunication on the listener question. We didn't call out for one and also didn't find one. So in the future, so I don't look like an incompetent moron,

please send your listener questions as an audio recording to podcast at she's on the money.com.au. We love answering them. I think this was a really fun thing to bring back. It gives me very nostalgic OG SOTM vibes. I don't know if anyone else feels the same way. I love that, guys. I'm really into it.

But also, come on. You could have at least made one up, yet here we are. You're both like, sorry, we're live on the pod. We also don't have that. instead of being like oh um shmishmo said this like come on guys anyway well schmictoria this one's from shmishica and she says how do i buy things but i think that that's a good place to leave it if you guys haven't done the rest of your jobs so as always just before we head off we'd like to acknowledge and pay respect to australia's aboriginal and torres strait islander

peoples they're the traditional custodians of the lands the waterways and the skies all across australia we thank you for sharing and for caring for the land on which we are able to learn we pay respects to elders past and present and we share our friendship and our kindness and remember guys that the advice shared on she's on the money is generally 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 is an authorized representative of Australia Pacific Funds Management, Proprietary Limited, ABN 34132463257 AFSL 339151. Fun. See you next week, guys. Bye. Bye, guys.

Thanks for watching!