She's On The Money - FRIDAY DRINKS: High Cost Of Living!

Episode Date: January 5, 2023

Join Victoria and Jess as they wrap the first week of the 2023, celebrating your money wins and discussing a Money Dilemma all about the best way to label your expenses. You can send us your Money Dilemma here. Plus they chat about something weighing heavily on all of us right now- cost of living stresses! 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. Today is Friday, my friends, which means it is time to sit back with the girls with a bev in hand to unpack our favorite moments of the week. And of course, to celebrate you, our incredible She's On The Money community. As always, we'll be sharing our favorite money wins, we're going to discuss what's making news in the finance world, and we'll be helping to answer a juicy money question, which this week is all about how to label your expenses when doing a bank account audit. But first, it is time to recap the week that was. Jess, I'm going to start with Monday's Money Diary because this week was a spicy one. We spoke to a money diarist who got arrested

because she had her identity stolen. But to add insult to injury, she's an adult. Okay, great. So the cops emailed her dad. The cops literally emailed her dad to ask about like her and her whereabouts and what's going on. And this diarist, I almost used her name, awkward, was like, um, what is this? Why are you emailing my dad? She goes down to the station. She literally got arrested, got fingerprinted, got processed. Obviously she got let go because it wasn't her. She was actually a very intelligent PhD student doing a lot in Papua New Guinea. But that is not the point of the, I guess, main part of the story. The story is the cops contacted her dad and she got arrested what the heck via email like if I got an email that said hi it's the police I'd be

like no we're investigating your daughter I actually could not believe this story because one that just seems like a gross like overstep of personal boundaries if I do something wrong as an adult I don't expect someone to call my dad yeah that's really really strange and I think like as the dad you'd also be like what is going on what's happening you would probably stress him out and if she's old enough to have, you know, done a PhD and stuff, like presuming that her dad is a little bit older. So that would be like a lot for him to come out of nowhere as well. I would think it was a scam. If the police were emailing my dad and my dad called and said, honey, look, the cops have emailed me. I'd be like, dad, sit down. The cops did not email you

as much as that child messaging you in WhatsApp is true. Like, it's just not a thing. Yeah. Don't give them your credit card details. Don't give them any credit card details. But I just think it's so wild because, Jess can you imagine someone just calling your parents to ask about you if you're in that circumstance like it's just a gross overstep of a boundary that honestly anyway I've got a lot to say about that it was a super interesting episode she's now absolutely flourishing but it was a really good insight into what happens when your identity is stolen and I feel like this past year we've really been talking about that because it's becoming more and more prevalent like I had a

friend the other day tell me that one of her parents had their identity stolen and like 80 to $100,000 worth of personal loans taken out in their name. And when they contacted the bank to be like, hey, this is fraudulent. Like there's three loans. They were like, oh yeah, someone flagged the first loan on your file as maybe not adding up, but no one looked into it. You're joking. What the heck? That's awful. And do you know what it was? It turns out it was like, just because the story is interesting, it turns out it was an ex-real estate agent who was a leasing agent and then obviously submitted all of their personal details, which were now being used to apply for personal loans.

That is wild. And obviously so illegal and literally awful. But I'm telling you, because I have applied for rental properties before, I've handed over, you know, all of my personal details to people that I thought I could trust. And it just turns out you've got to be super, super critical of where it is. And I guess it's another reason why we should all be checking our credit scores all the time and our credit reports to just make sure nothing awry comes up. Yeah. And if you want to know more about identity theft, we did an episode at the end of last year all about what to do if your identity is stolen or if you think it might be stolen. So that's a really good episode to go

back and have a listen to. Yeah, it was a good deep dive. Speaking of deep dives, Jess, what happened this week on ours segue it was real smooth until we pointed it out this week we spoke all about setting up your investment plan for the new year new year new me new investment plan seems like kind of the vibe new year new me new goals that i'm going to like forget about by the end of january is where i'm at yeah absolutely not because we spoke all about making sure it was sustainable making sure we're setting realistic goals making sure that we have the room in our budget to achieve the investing goals that we want to set in place for ourselves. So it was about setting yourself up for success in the new year and really aligning that to what you're hoping

to achieve, you know, overall, as well as in your investment portfolio. Because it's so easy to get super motivated at the start of a year to then actually not achieve any of those things because the goals that you set were unrealistic or just not sustainable. Like how many times, I don't know about you, Jess, but I don't know how many times I have set the new year's resolution to get fit and be healthy. And then I've written down my goals. I go to the gym four times a week. That's just never going to happen for me. Like it's just unrealistic to expect me to do that. And the same thing happens in your investment world and in your money world. We actually just need to be really realistic about it and set goals that work out for us. Yeah, absolutely. So it's a really

good step by step to set yourself up. We're all feeling good. And like you said, really motivated at the moment. So let's harness that energy and prep ourselves for a really good 2023. Exciting. All right. Speaking of exciting, my favorite part of the show is actually talking about our community. So let's jump straight into the Budget Direct Money Wins and Confessions of the Week. Jessica Ricci, what are you bringing to the table? Starting off with a New Year's themed one from Lauren.

She said, pre-ordered the She's on the Money budget journal through Shopback. A 2023 money win. A hundred percent. And also, that's just a little good casual plug. Did you do that on purpose to remind the people that maybe don't follow us on social media that we have a budgeting journal that's come out. So exciting. It drops on the 10th of January. So, so soon. Yes. Sorry it wasn't available in time for Christmas. It turns out I didn't plan to make this until too late in the production schedule, but that's okay because you can still order it

and get on track for 2023. And I'm really excited. Absolutely. It's packed full of tips and tricks. It's a really great way to track all of your spending and again, your goals as well. There's check-ins throughout the year to help keep you on track. I feel like you did a really great job of designing it super thoughtfully in line with kind of the little tips and tricks that we've given in the past. So if you wanted a Victoria Devine in your pocket, maybe this journal would be good for you. I feel like it's everything you would expect from a she's on the money budget journal too. So it's not just like write down your budget. It's also like reflect on your goals and your money story and what's going on. Like there's all the stuff that I think is really important

to focus on as well. All right. Next money win Jess. Comes from Emma and she said money win. only bought groceries and fuel last week. I avoided the shops and deleted the incoming it's on sale emails to not tempt myself with unnecessary miscellaneous spending. Queen behavior. Absolutely. Next one comes from Kate, who said money win. I couldn't afford the $200 ticket to go to a festival to see some bands I've always wanted to see. Then I saw that they needed volunteers for a few hours. I helped out, felt good, got to see the bands I wanted, and it looks great on my resume. Oh my gosh, how good. That's actually a hot tip that I didn't know existed while I was at uni that I've only really recently discovered that you can actually

volunteer for a lot of festivals to help set up or pack down or whatever it is. And often they'll give you a ticket to the festival as payment. And tickets to festivals are so expensive as well. They are ridiculous. Well, we did the same thing last year when we did our She's on the Money International Women's Day events. We got some people in to help us to volunteer pack gift bags. Don't forget that's coming up in March. So if you haven't got your ticket, head to the She's on the money website. I'm running out the door at the moment. We have almost none left. So jump on there if you're wanting to join us and keep an eye out because if we need volunteers, we'll be putting the call out on socials just like we did last year. A hundred percent. And that means

free tickets. You love to see it. Next win comes from Nicole who said she went to an event on Friday night, got a discounted ticket for $29, pre-booked her parking for $14, then walked away with quite a few free books. Some of them are going to go to friends. One of them was autographed and others she hasn't read yet, but she's really excited to. Oh my gosh, genius. Also, what kind of event is only $29, cheap parking and free books? Like, line it up. I want to go to that event next year.

The ultimate finance event. Next win I've got for you comes from Catherine, who said she's been saving her virtual spare change every day and has just about saved enough to pay for her holiday accommodation this month. $550 saved since August, so it adds up really fast. Oh, when you said virtual money, I was like, what are you talking about? virtual money? Is it like pretend money? Is it like the money I used to make on Neopets from doing games? Where are we at with this? And when you said, oh, it's actual money, I was like,

that's actually even better than Neopets money. I feel like it's like roundups, but maybe manually if her bank doesn't offer it or something like that. Yeah, no, that word just threw me. That is very impressive. Also, 500 bucks, that's a lot of money. I'm going to go recheck my roundups because I feel like I could be doing more. Brilliant. And the last one I have today comes from Alyssa who said, I had a bookcase, TV unit, and two coffee tables that I needed to get rid of. After no bites on Marketplace, I found out that Ikea does buy back their furniture. That's right. A quick trip to Ikea on Saturday, and now I've got $630 in my back pocket.

What the hell? How good is that? It wasn't selling on Marketplace, so you just dragged it to Ikea and they bought their stuff back. And I feel like every person on the planet has at least one piece of Ikea furniture. I have a Calix bookshelf that I don't need anymore. And to be honest, I'd be embarrassed to sell it to somebody else because it's just really well loved to Jessica. I'm going to drag it back to Ikea. Get you some money back. 10 out of 10 idea. All right, let's go to a really quick break. And then after the break, I'm going to talk about the rising cost of living. And we're

going to talk about how to label your expenses when we're talking budget and cashflow. Don't go anywhere. All right, everybody, welcome back. As you said before the break, the cost of living pressure is really dominating everyone's worries. I know that I have seen it. I've had to expand my budget for my groceries, for my utilities, for my petrol. It feels like everything is just getting so much more expensive and it's really stressful. Turns out I'm not alone. Apparently, 59% of people who were recently surveyed were concerned about the skyrocketing cost of grocery and electricity prices, soaring cost of rent and the rising interest rates for 2023. It gives me the ick, but it absolutely makes sense that in 2023, this is what people are

worried about. Like, I just feel like one, it's not fair, but two, it sparks a really good conversation in our podcast, but also just in our business in general, Jess, when we're talking about content and how we can actually have the biggest impact on our listeners this year, because I just feel like for the last 12 months, we've really focused on interest rates and investing, but it really seems that the crux of people's issues aren't just in being able to afford to invest. It's really about bringing down our grocery budgets and how to be as savvy as possible with electricity and those costs that we can't actually as easily control. And I feel like it's so easy to go, oh, Jess, we just won't go out for dinner as much. But when the grocery bill

is exorbitant. Like, where are we meant to turn? What are we meant to do? So I just think it's so interesting to understand, I guess, what's going on. And obviously interest rate pressure is insane. And in December, Jess, I think I've already told you this. I'm shocked and I'm happy to share this with the community. Everybody knows I own a property. My partner and I have a mortgage and I want to be super transparent about that. We probably have about $950,000 on that mortgage, right? I have calculated, maybe I need to go see Kate from Zella money, because if she listens to this, she's going to be horrified. But I calculated that from January 2022 to December 2022, my interest payments on my mortgage, we're paying

principal and interest at the moment, my interest component of our mortgage has increased by $2,100. That is so much money. $2,100 on my mortgage, which, let's be honest, is actually a very normal mortgage amount here in Melbourne. Like the average property price is more than a million dollars these days in Melbourne. It's even higher than that in Sydney. So it's actually a really normal amount of money for somebody who lives in the inner suburbs of Melbourne to have, you know, taken on, especially with a partner. But the idea that we are now under $2,100 more financial stress than we were, please don't get me wrong. I acknowledge our privilege in even being able to access a mortgage and being in that position. But it has really changed the way that we're

investing and saving and setting financial goals because that's $2,100 a month that has to come from somewhere else in our budget to be allocated to the interest payments. Because from my perspective, I just want to be smashing down my home loan as much as possible as I can. But where is that coming from? How is that going to work? And thankfully, as I said before, acknowledging all the privilege that I have in being able to pay it. But oh my gosh, the pressure that I feel right now knowing that, I just can't see how our community is as level-headed as they are at the moment. I would be losing my mind as well as them. Yeah. And it really is coming back to that conversation around setting yourself up for success and being realistic with what you can do,

because this article said that just putting food on the table is the number one worry of people for the upcoming year and you go, okay, well, if you can barely afford to feed, you know, your family of four or your family of two or whatever that might be, how can you then be thinking about investing? And I think it's really easy to then fall down that slippery slope of feeling like you're not doing enough and feeling really stressed. And it's important to remember that we are in a really tumultuous economic time, I think, and we're really looking forward to making sure that we as a team do everything that we can to support you guys this year with content that really helps to set you up so that you can feel confident and hopefully not quite so stressed.

Yeah. And I just feel like investing content as much as it is super exciting. And please don't think it's going anywhere. In fact, I have a whole investing course planned for this year. So please don't think that we're going to reel back on that in any way, shape or form, but there will be so much more relatable content when it comes to savings and groceries and everyday living expenses and budgeting and debt reduction and what to do. Because Jess, another thing that has come to light over the last 12 months, because obviously research has been done, the year is over, we now can look at it in reflection, debt rates for Australians have increased by 10%. So in 2021, 29% of Australians had some type of personal debt that was not a

mortgage. And then in 2022, that went up to 39%. And with the rising cost of groceries and putting food on the table and electricity and fuel, I feel like it is never ending. And I cannot see that going down this year. I can only see it increasing. And I don't think that there's any shame in that because at the end of the day, if our community is going into debt, I know they're educated enough to know why they are going into debt and how they are going to get out of it on the flip side. but it's just really upsetting that in the world we live in, people just are needing to rely on things like that. And as I said, absolutely no shame in it. What we want to do though is make the most educated decisions for our circumstance. And sometimes to put food on the table, put your

kids through school and put you in a position to actually thrive in the future, sometimes you do need to take a step backwards. And I think that it is a really privileged thing to say, just don't go into debt because that's just not an option for a lot of people. So I think it's important to acknowledge that, that if it's gone up in 2022 and then in 2023, as you said before, Jess, our number one concern is groceries and fuel and energy. It's just going to increase even more, which is sad, but we've got this. We've got you. We're going to support you. And maybe we'll pop a thread up in the Facebook group this week and go ahead and leave a comment. Let us know what's stressing you out. What topics do you want us to cover this year? Because I mean, we're really here

to help you guys. And it makes our job really easy if you just tell us what to do. Ten out of ten. We don't even need a producer. Annalisa, yeet. No, we keep Annalisa. We love her. We love her. All right, let's move on. We have a listener question this week, which is all about budget and cash flow. So I feel like it's really relevant. 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 short voice recording and you might just find yourself on the show. Now, let's take a listen to this week's Money Dilemma.

Hi, my name is Vanessa. I'm reading your book and I'm on the bank account audit. And I have a question. We have two kids and we have swimming classes, basketball, soccer, gymnastics. Those expenses, where do I put them? On fixed, like necessary, or discretionary? Some of them we think are necessary, like streaming classes. We could agree the other ones are discretionary, but I'm not sure how do I put them or where do I put them. Thank you, and your book has been very helpful. Thank you. That was the sweetest message ever. Hi, Vanessa. I'm really excited that you're asking this question because it actually opens up a conversation of values and beliefs. And there's actually not one actual answer to this because a lot of things that you're

asking about, and I'm really grateful that your kids can do them, are a privilege for a lot of other families that is not accessible. And as much as it for you is a non-negotiable. And you know what, growing up, swimming lessons for us were non-negotiable. My parents did not let us get out of them, regardless of how much we didn't want to do it. I grew to love it. It was one of those circumstances. But growing up in Australia beside the beach, my parents were like, there's absolutely no way you are not going to learn to swim. So I get that that question of, is it a, you know, a necessary thing or not, is really actually up to you and your family values. I think what you really need to do in this circumstance is step backwards out of the

budget categorization mode and actually into a conversation with your partner about values and what is discretionary and what isn't, not necessarily what do your kids do right now, but what is a necessary expense versus how do we personally categorize something that's disposable? Because, you know, swimming lessons and tennis lessons and all of those extracurricular activities you could argue are not necessary. But in some families you might go, no, absolutely, this is a necessary expense in our household, that goes in that column. And I totally get that. But again, it's quite personal. However, if you're in a position where you are trying to cut back and work out what is going on, maybe it is time to have a look at, well, how many discretionary

things do the kids get to do? Do we allocate a specific budget to them to spend on, you know, if they want swimming lessons and horse riding lessons and whatever else they're doing, Maybe we allocate a certain amount per week and the kids get to decide how that is made up of. Yeah. Or I just think there's a few things. What do you reckon, Jess? How would you categorize it? I personally would probably put them in discretionary. However, that being said, I think the thing that's worth kind of keeping in mind here is that you can come back to this budget as many times as you want throughout the year. And, you know, we're talking about how

things are potentially going to get a little bit tougher as the year goes on. if you put something into necessity now and in six months time you're oh my gosh we need to find an extra $200 in the budget every month you can come back to your budget and go oh you know what maybe we pop the swimming lessons on hold for six months until we kind of are back on our feet and things hopefully stabilize a little bit and we can bring them back in or maybe we go from two lessons a week to one lesson a week and so you can always come back and that's something that I do I obviously use the budget and cash flow masterclass plan for my budgeting and I review it every I would say at a minimum two months just to come back and make sure that it's all still working

for me so pop it wherever feels right to you now but know that if you know as you go along it's not quite working out you can change that there's no rule that says that you can't and it's really fluid like personal finance is just that right I say this all the time it's personal so it's up to you. But when it comes to budget, it is actually quite fluid. So as you said before, Jess, if you need to find an extra 200 bucks in the budget, what could you move from, you know, essential over to discretionary and back and forth? Because it's kind of like, and I don't want to be too trivial about this, but I've got friends that I'm talking to at the moment that are saving up for like Europe trips or saving up for a car purchase. And I'm like, well, why don't you just put your,

TV subscriptions on hold until you achieve that goal. Because it might not be forever. And I think often when we're cancelling something or putting something on the back burner, you just assume that's a finite decision. Like that's it. Like, all right, well, I've cancelled my stand membership, therefore it's gone. No, why not cancel it for three months, achieve your financial goal and then get it back in line with the values that you hold? Because from little things, they really do add up. Like we say it on the pod, we've said it for years on the pod, from little things, big things grow. And I think you're right. Maybe it's time to go, all right, well, are we doing two classes a week? Could we drop down to one? What is necessary? But it's all about discussing

it with family as well. And I think that that's probably a really good place to even get your kids involved in the budgeting process, because I'm a big believer in kids being more involved in financial decisions as a family. But I also think it's too much of a burden to lump the entire budget on children and go, oh, this is how our entire family works in our budget and our rent and our mortgage and this and this. Because sometimes it's just a bit overwhelming, but that could be a really good gateway of, hey guys, mum and dad have done the budget. We have X amount to spend. Here's what this costs, this costs, this costs. What do you think? How do you think we should manage this? And it could actually be a really empowering way to get the kids involved,

but each to their own and personal finance is just that. It's personal. So there's not a right or wrong in this circumstance. Oh my gosh, I love that. And if you're listening to this going, what is this amazing budgeting course? Obviously, it's the best budgeting cash flow course you've ever seen in your entire life. Absolutely. Head to the She's on the Money website. It's the She's on the Money Budget and Cash Flow Masterclass. And given it's the new year and everybody's working on getting their finances sorted, should we give them a cheeky discount code to help them out? Absolutely. What's the code you're going to make, Jess? Plug in POD50 and that will give you $50 off. We'll keep that valid right through to the end of the month for you. So get in and hopefully

that will help you tear everything up and get really organized so you can get yourself sorted for 2023. 10 out of 10 idea. All right. I think that is all we have time for today. Jessica Ricci, have a beautiful weekend and She's On The Money listeners. I love you. See you soon. 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 Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money

Sherpa PTY LTD ABN 321 649 27708 AFSL 451 289. Thank you.