She's On The Money - How Much Does HECS Really Affect Your Borrowing Capacity? And Handling Your Parents Bad Financial Decisions

Episode Date: September 25, 2025

We’ve all heard HECS is a deal-breaker for your borrowing capacity… but is it really the villain it's made out to be? We’ve got the tea on how much your HECS actually matters when you’re trying to get a loan... and let’s just say, the maths might surprise you. And because Fridays love a little family drama, we’re also talking about the stress of parents making very questionable financial moves. Do you bite your tongue, or pull out the calculator and stage an intervention? We’ve got thoughts. Plus, the classics: money wins worth stealing, broke tips that actually deliver, and a sprinkle of financial chaos to make you feel seen. Ready for more laughs, lessons, and unhinged money chats? Check out our oh-so-bingeable Friday Drinks playlist. Listen here. Join our 300K+ She's on the Money community in our Facebook Group and on Instagram.  Acknowledgement of Country By Nartarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements. The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs.  Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708,  AFSL - 451289.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My name is Natasha Bamblett, I'm a proud First Nations woman, and I'm here to acknowledge country. Tii, gilinyan ganya, nianakaka yao yinbina waka, nianakai nianbina yakarumja, duminyagumiga dumiga ithawaka nirawamundamun imalan, mumubangada boma ininyalan waka, gaunan yakarumja, wutunarana. Hello beautiful friends. We gather on the lands of the Aboriginal people. we thank acknowledge and respect the aboriginal people's land that we're gathering on today take pleasure in all the land and respect all that you see she's on the money podcast acknowledges culture country community and connections bringing you the tools

knowledge and resources for you to thrive she's on the money she's on the money hello and welcome to she's on the money the podcast that makes personal finance fun especially on fridays it is our favorite day of the week because we get our little team together and we get to celebrate you our incredible she's on the money community miss jessica She's here and she's going to be sharing our favourite money wins of the week. Miss Bex Syed is here and she has a line up of very good broke tips to share with you. And we're going to be helping to answer a money dilemma, which is all about how your Hex debt really affects your borrowing capacity.

And something we slid into our DMs about, what do you do when you think your parents are going to make a bad money choice? I feel like it's like backwards financial advice, but like we are all finding ourselves in positions like this more recently. before we get there though guys how have your weeks been jess go first please i'm having a great week oh not just a good week wow i know different from me that's giving what's her name kylan i love kylan um i you know what you aren't chronically online like jess or i i'll show after yes there's just lots of fun exciting things happening in my life right now that i am so

happy about and i can't wait to share with everybody i know i know you already know but like we aren't telling people this secret yes yes and she's not pregnant no just to be very clear please not pregnant no not engaged no but yes anyway we'll share that really soon so that's really exciting and you know what today it's sunny i was driving and i had a really good day list on spotify oh gorgeous and i just like had you know those really simple like it's like a very ordinary life moment because like oh my god like life is worth living did you get a pay rise by chance i did you know what i was just wow you must have a really good boss that's crazy i'm live life loving my way through life right now that is so the pay rise

isn't the kicker i think she's just on an extra high i am on an extra i definitely helps yes for sure there's something to like it's so warm like it's very contagious i'm like oh my god life is worth living yeah and like summer's coming like we're out of the cold we're out of the rut like i feel like everything's looking up millhouse it really is yes my week has been gorgeous yes lovely actually more sun watering we love sun things are starting to bloom i called up your girlfriend the other day actually and she was telling me that you were painting her bin yes she really wants i don't know if you've seen that that lady that's like done the uh it looks really cool the bin painting yeah like stripes for anyone who hasn't seen it it's like

um green and red and blue and another color I can't remember and you just paint your bin this color it was really cool because I kept making all these like craft things because I will you know haven't been working for so long but Jess was like please no more but do things I actually need paint my bin and so we painted and it's just so much fun and it was like oh yeah it like really brightens up the space I bet you the bin driver loves seeing a fun bin because like you'd look at the same bins like how many bins would you see in a day so many and then you see a fun one i feel like that would be exciting totally i'm about to throw my mom under the bus here and judy adore you please don't hate me for saying this in fact turn this off but growing up

my mom decorated our bin with these really large stickers i mean like that sounds good in theory but why did they have to be frangipanis and because they were always in the sun they faded so i think they looked awful but like she loved them it was the effort that counts exactly she's ahead of her time. She was. She was the bin lady before TikTok. That's it. I think it's gorgeous. So no, great week. What about you BD? I'm glad. I'm just glad that the sun's coming back. Like I feel like this winter, like both Jess and I, we get SAD, which is like seasonal affective disorder, which is why we love a hatch alarm clock. We're like, we love doing, you know, lots of just different things in winter to help us feel better, but there's literally nothing

better than sunlight. And like feeling like there's a little bit of warmth in the air and like the other day and this is so lame maybe this is just a sign that I'm getting really old I was walking to the coffee shop lame but someone had just mowed their lawn and it was the smell of mowed lawn and it was like a not freezing morning and I was like life is a worth a living yeah truly it really is I love the smell of fresh cut grass yeah like it was just like and on a morning when I'm walking to the coffee shop and I wasn't wearing like my jacket and my puffer and feeling really cold like sometimes I just like slog it to the coffee machine but it just it was a good day to have a good day you know oh my god this is lovely whole episode is so sunny I love it and

it's all about not I guess spending any money I suppose like the little thing yeah it really is but speaking of like being on a high you were like oh it's so warm it's so good we have a five star review would you like to hear it please so five star review from Perthgal23 I love it I love And her title is From Dolulu to Money Queen. And that's why I picked it because I was like, same queen, same. That's where I've come from. She said, I am so happy I found this. My money story was all about spending it before somebody else spent it for me.

I have learned to trust more of myself and that saving for a rainy day is actually so much less stressful. I listen to this religiously and I'm always waiting for the next episode. Love the honesty, the tough love, and the beautiful friendships that shine through the episodes. Oh, a cherry on top of a gorgeous morning. We're just friends. We're just having a good time.

Sorry. What do you mean people gave us a podcast to yap on? Thank you so much, Perth Gal. Thanks, Perth Gal 23. Really appreciate it. Very cute. But speaking of people in our community, Miss Jessica Ricci, I believe that you have some money wins or confessions to share with the group.

I sure do. First one this week comes from Casey who said a new Pilates studio opened in her area and it had a foundational membership. Okay, good deal. Yeah, which I only recently learned what a foundational membership is. For those who don't know, it's kind of when a new gym or Pilates studio or like any type of place opens and you can get like a limited time, like long-term membership.

And so Casey now pays $44 a week for unlimited Pilates classes and 24-7 access to the gym. That's so good. She said her old studio, she was paying $30 for one class. That's actually unhinged. That is a money win. That's really good. Like, I just feel like that's a complete side note, maybe not a positive side note. So sorry

to bring down the vibes, but like, sorry, that's ridiculous. Like $30 for a Pilates class. Please don't get me wrong. Like self-care really important. I'm a Pilates girl, but I'm like, I'd say budget conscious Pilates girl. Like, as you know, Jess and I take, well, Jess and I both do Pilates, but we'll like text each other about Pilates packs and be like, oh, they're on sale. Like how good that's like nab on it 20% off. Cause then class is like $21 each money win. but like $30 a class, that's just, that's exorbitant. Yeah. It's a lot. That's so much money. I know. So very well done there to Casey. Next I have a money win and I wanted to give a little PSA from Alicia. So Alicia said her husband has been off work this week to deal with his late

father's affairs. And I did comment this already, but very sorry, sending lots of love to you and your whole family. She said his workplace gives two mental health days per year. And so he used two of those for the week that he had to take off and he was able to just then use three annual leave days oh yeah good um but i replied to alicia and a good little fyi for everybody everybody who works part-time or full-time nationally is entitled to two days of bereavement when you lose a direct relation so go to the fair work website for more information and this is per loss so god forbid if you were to lose two people close to you in one year it'd be two days per per person. So I kind of back to Alicia and I said, see if you can switch it over so he doesn't

have to use his annual leave. But a good FYI for everybody, because I don't know that all workplaces would automatically tell you that, but you're entitled to it. And you can also talk to your workplace as well about using your sick and carers leave because like, you know, sorry, I'm not well, like I'm not mentally well. I know that lots of places, and maybe this is just me with a B in my bonnet, like lots of places offer like mental health days, but like, sorry, if you need to use that, should that not be built into your sick leave? You don't need to justify to me what type of sick you are. You could have the flu. Fantastic. Or you could just like need a bedrock day so that you can shine at work the next day. Sorry. Like, anyway, I've just got

a lot of conversation about that, but carers leave should go into that because you go, okay, cool. Well, I actually have to take time off to support my family or my husband or my, you know, whatever, or my mum because like that's a lot. Absolutely so sending you and your whole family lots of love but hopefully that's a little extra win for you. Next I've got a money win from Danielle who said she finally saved three months of expenses in her emergency fund and it's all because of she's in the money. Stop it. It's taken her years but she feels so secure knowing that the money is there and she's really proud of herself for making it happen. Doesn't it legitimately blow your mind that like what we do like when we have a little yap and have a good time and we're like talking

about the sunshine and like yes we talk about other things too but people are changing their lives because of the content that we make yeah that's really cool isn't that cool congrats queen i don't know if everyone can see the little badges or if it's just us because we're admins but i think you can see the badges because i'm also in glenn james's facebook group um and i can see his badges oh there you go because it said danielle was a rising contributor so i was just like look at her go what a queen next i've got a money win from louise who said she got a smart meter for her electricity so she could show her family the cost difference each day when they were turning things off and not using them. She's my level of crazy. I love this. They've already saved $50 on their

quarterly bill and still more to go. Money win. Gorgeous. And you can lean into like the little bit of DeLulu, like measure everything. Why not? Let's go. And then lastly this week, I've got a money win from Maddie who said after listening to the Rich Girl Mindset episode, she finally bit the bullet and bought a big ticket item that she had saved for months ago, but had been too afraid to send the money on. She now has a new split system heater and cooler and can no longer see her breath at night. I love that. And coming into summer, future you's gone, thank you. Well done. Money well spent, Maddie. Absolutely. But it's hard when we've been stuck in this like scarcity mindset that even when we have the cash to make these bigger financial decisions, because

like, yes, you saved for it, but also like, what if I need it for something else? Or like, should I really be splurging on this item like I don't technically need it I could put on another pair of socks like I just think that that's a learning as well to be actually able to spend the money that you've saved because you've got a plan absolutely that's cool yeah that's really cool completely great everybody well done everyone miss beck syed yes talk to me what have you got when it comes to broke tips okay so this first one comes from francis who says my library has video games, Xbox, PlayStation and Switch. It's a good way to see which games the kids love enough to shell out $70 for. It's such a good idea. That's actually such a good deal. I didn't know

that they would. I mean, I shouldn't be surprised. Libraries have everything. They have everything. It's crazy. They have everything. Love a library. As Frances said, you know, libraries offer these video games and stuff like that. But I thought I'd mention that because of school holidays that are coming up. I don't know why I'm on top of school holidays. I actually don't even have kids. She is mother actually yes thank you I just judge it based on when I can speed through the school zone true yeah that's fair yeah yeah okay she's got her priorities exactly I just like when there's less like traffic in the morning driving to the studio really shows I have to drive through like four school zones because like in relation to where I live versus the studio like I'm not on

a freeway like I have to go through like residential areas and that's not a journey but during school holidays, I'm living. It takes me like 10 to 15 minutes to get to work. So good. I've always been curious and I don't want to like spend too much time as what do you do when you have, because I don't imagine we don't have school holidays off.

Like if your child has school holidays. Yeah, this is a conversation about money and life. You've got to work it out. That's insane to me. So many parents that I know, and this is really sad and maybe we can do a whole episode on how to budget for school holidays, you know, niche because not everyone in our community is a mum.

But interesting to know, because like we've all got a friend that's a mum. A lot of my friends are using their annual leave. Like they'll rely on some grandparents a few days, but then they might take three days of annual leave so that they can look after kids. They might do school holiday programs, which I did a lot growing up.

But like sometimes you don't want to do that. Or sometimes they're really ridiculously expensive. Family care, sometimes families who, you know, have a little bit more cash and go on holidays. That's why they plan their holidays during school holidays, not just because the kids are off school, but because they're like, well, what else are we going to do with the kids?

Like we may as well two for one. But in saying that, I would say that traveling during school holidays is a lot more expensive. As someone who's a relatively new mom, I used to always avoid the school holidays when it came to travel. Cause I was like, sorry,

I don't want to be in Queensland when every man and his dog is in Queensland. Maybe the world's going to be packed. But yeah, there's like, there's a whole logistics conversation around that. And then to add to that logistics conversation, It makes me think about this conversation I was having with a friend last week about how ridiculous work hours

versus school hours are. Yes. So like school hours, 9 till 3. Work hours, 8.30 till 5. What? Yeah. I don't like it. We're spending so much time.

Anyways. Anyway, different conversation for a different day. I think it's a good topic for an episode. Yeah. Yes. File that one away. Yes. Anyway, sorry to derail.

No, I think that's a good conversation. I think so. So this next one comes from Ashlyn. So sorry if I'm saying that wrong. the wholesale beauty supply shop will sell you 20 liters of body wash for 50 dollars what 20 liters wow what are you gonna do with 20 liters of body wash you'll get through it that's the lifetime i mean you always gotta wash your body yeah you always gotta wash your body i like that but are we taking the like big 20 liter bottle and putting it on the floor of the shower with a pump on it

like what are we doing well i guess it's like you just keep the one bottle and then you keep refilling but the Mashalyn says my kids keep making potions and such in the shower and with seven people in the house body wash in one liter bottles doesn't cut it so I yeah I can imagine that you could even like you could put that was the potions kid I think Jess might have been a potions kid too I'm still a potions kid yeah I am as well so like my favorite body washes complete side note also not that cheap are the lush body washes yeah okay the sleepy time wine and then the honey i washed the kids one and my two favorites but they're colored so in the shower i turn into a kid and i mix them i'm sorry yeah yeah she's so lovely yeah and then when my friends

come over to stay they're like your shower's so fun because you've just got like so many different like body washes and stuff the shower is used at all use it all you can make potions absolutely showering is is time for whimsy yeah i pretend i'm in movies when i'm in the shower you know Like I'm in like a, I'm in a rainstorm. A lot of people might go, I grew up in the era of the drought. So like I did as well. And like, I can just remember my dad banging on the bathroom door, get out of the shower.

It's been more than three minutes. So I carry that trauma and think about that often while I sit on the floor of my shower. Ah, of course. Wasting water, I suppose. You could turn that into whimsy as well. That is whimsy. Evil stepfather.

I don't even have one of those, but I could make up a narrative. but anyway I'm so sorry I keep derailing us but um I just want to give my bro tip which is which is actually not that great or helpful but I was watching this tiktok and um these people were like if you don't can't afford to travel bring travel to you and I was really silly it's like okay we could all that's very beck coded though definitely I love this kind of thing because like you bring the movie cinema to your house absolutely everything to your house and you just make it happen it's so magical and it's maybe more magical and way less stressful than actually traveling so um you know i and this tiktok they i think they wanted to like travel

to italy and then they brought italy to them so it was just like go out and like do a whole italy themed day is this from my instagram stories by chance because i was talking about it like a few weeks ago on my stories about like you can be in italy by cooking this italy meal that i got on marley's food and you could be in france by cooking some wagyu steak like tomorrow we're in mexico because we're having tacos that's actually very very similar to yeah we're on the same page but it was more we're bringing it to us yes exactly exactly expensive i would even argue i would like i would i would go as far as to say you can like decorate your house in that like that so that's my broke tip which is not very helpful i'm so sorry but i really do i really do like a

themed date or day or whatever because it's cheaper it is still expensive but it's cheaper than traveling and so magical i love that all right let's go to a really quick break because on the flip side we get to have a chat about how your hex or your help debt for those of you who are actually younger than me and don't call it hex anymore um really affects your borrowing capacity if you're thinking about purchasing a house and something that you slid into our dms about this week we're talking about what do you do when you think your parents are going to make a bad money decision because i don't know anyway guys don't go anywhere welcome back everybody let's take a listen to this week's money dilemma

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. Hey, she's on the money. I am in the process of saving to buy my first home and I'm trying to grow a deposit. I have a question about hex debt. I have about $23,000 remaining on my hex. I'm working full time and I'm wondering if it's better for me to pay down my HECS debt with additional contributions or if it would be better to funnel that money

towards my deposit instead. I'm just wondering about the HECS debt and how it's going to impact my capacity to borrow. Any advice on this topic would be great. Thank you so much. I feel like surely you just take this one away. You just want me to take it away? Yeah, I'm happy with that. All right. So the team are being lazy today. Talk to a mortgage broker because that's a fantastic question, but more often than not, it's actually not about how much hex debt you have. It's about how much savings you have and what that looks like. And there's actually a lot of changes coming

in with some banks recently. And it's all different across the board, but a few banks are starting to not even look at your hex debt. So if you go and pay off your hex debt, because you go, you know, I should be completely out of debt before I purchased this house, because do you know what, that feels logical. And then you go to your mortgage broker and they go, oh, you didn't need to pay that off. We could have had an extra 20 grand sitting in your savings account and you would have avoided LMI. I know what situation I would have preferred to be in. So from the perspective of someone who literally works in the industry, I own a mortgage broking business called Zella Money. Go and talk to them and say, hey, this is the sitch I want to be in. And you

might actually find yourself closer to the end goal than you thought you were before. Sometimes we do have our clients pay off a little bit of their hex debt, but I would say most of the time, if I'm just broad brush speaking about the average, we often say, please don't do that because that actually doesn't benefit your situation. Look to your situation. We might get you to, I don't know, close a credit card or like close a line of credit, like an afterpay or a zip pay debt and go get rid of that. Turn that off. Like, so it's not even about paying it down. You might have a credit card that has a $2,000 limit and we go, okay, cool. Bank doesn't love that. Just close that. And then we can talk about your mortgage and you'll go, what about my HECS?

And we'll be like, do you know what? It doesn't even factor into it because at the end of the day, yes. And I don't want you to think RV. So banks don't even look at HECS. Most of them will look at your HECS debt, but they just look at it as a payment that you make. So, you know, your HECS, every salary, let's pretend is a hundred dollars. The bank isn't going to go, oh, they've got a debt of 20 X thousand dollars and you really should get rid of it. They're like, okay, cool. Like she just has a hundred dollars less every month that she could contribute towards this loan. And more often than not, when we do the maths, I'd actually prefer you to pay off that a hundred dollars a month or a hundred dollars a week or whatever it ends up being, then pay off your

HECS debt in its entirety. Because having that cold, hard cash in your hand is a lot more powerful towards your borrowing capacity than not having a hundred dollar payment come out every single month. It is treated very differently to what I categorize as bad debt. So bad debt is lines of credit, car loans, things that actually don't help your wealth. But when you have a hex debt, if we just look at probability, you're more likely to have a higher paying job. You're more likely to have consistent gainful employment. That's not saying that you have to go to university or anything like that, but banks and people who are assessing your credit risk are often like putting you in buckets because that's their job to work out should we lend to this person or not

they're gonna put you in some buckets and that's not the worst one to be in um so do you need to pay off all of your hex debt the answer is talk to a broker to get the best possible outcome because there's no right or wrong and it varies person to person bank to bank right which is why you need someone to kind of look at your holistic exactly because i might go oh yeah actually with your situation just extinguish it because i don't know she didn't tell us how much of a house deposit that she has. So I don't know, are you sitting on 600 grand? And you know, that's actually a drop in the ocean in comparison, which point I might be like, okay, let's do some financial planning. And then we do, and it turns out that, yeah, let's just extinguish that and never think about

it again. But like most of us, I would say are really trying to make the most of every thousand dollars that we have. Totally. And that can make a really big impact. Yeah. Get advice. And you know what? A broker is going to do that for free for you. We love that. Money win. Should we get into this week's juicy dilemma? I can't wait. Hi, She's On The Money. I'd love for this question to be answered on the podcast. My mum is a disability support worker who uses her car to get to and from clients. This financial year, she wasn't able to claim back as much tax on her car as it had depreciated. She's adamant this means she should take out a car loan to buy a new car so that she can claim more on tax next year. She's looking to retire in the next five or so years. How do I

explain to her that a car loan at this point in her life is a terrible idea and spending all of that money on a car to try and then save some money on tax doesn't actually come out well in the wash. Are my assumptions even correct or am I mistaken? Hmm. I assume she's not talking about a novated lease in no no and like okay just even if it was a novated lease arguably yes buying a brand new massive asset to save some money on tax yeah rarely comes out in the wash no well financially but like we all love the idea of saving tax and getting tax back but like what does that even mean in the long term I would think if it's like purely for tax reasons surely she knows that spending like $20,000 over the year and saving maybe like a few thousand dollars at

tax time or getting a few thousand extra dollars at tax time. Surely she knows like that's silly. That doesn't make sense. It's not, you know, but maybe she's just like, I want a new car. You know, that's the vibe I'm getting because I can't imagine if the math is very clearly like you're losing this much. The math is not mathing. The math is not mathing. The math does not math out. i know this is not very helpful especially because you're not asking me for this kind of advice but i would just like find the root of this because there's a part of me that where are you getting this from mommy you're just trying to justify a new car because you want one different story in which case pop off girl give us a new car you know it's been a long life she's almost probably

not a good choice for her she's about to retire let her live you're spending all your life working get some new car just pop off right before your retirement just go into a little bit more debt it was such a good idea i know but maybe she's like maybe she's got the money for it maybe she's got the dolulu maybe she's got the dolulu who knows jess i would just say do the math to me okay well don't be out here using logic against us i'm saying the math is not mathing i feel like if you put in front of her and say okay like totally understand if you were to purchase this new car at you know the tax depreciation etc this is what your current like if you kept your current car this is how the math for that would work out versus like if you were to buy the new car

you have obviously the cost of the new car plus the interest on the loan of that car presumably and then factor in whatever she would say new cars aren't cheap like you're not spending ten thousand dollars i don't know i feel like so many people justify new purchases because they go i can claim it on tax yeah which is like you it's like that thing what is it that's a write-off like that's not how that works people you don't you don't write off the whole purchase price you write off some of the tax payable and for most people in Australia their tax rate is 30 percent so only 30 percent of that asset is quote write-offable and even with like depreciation you're not getting that full amount back in the first year it takes a while yeah like let's like make an example of

this right i would say that an average brand new car is probably what 40 grand so forty thousand dollars your mom's going to go out and she's like really want the tax deduction like and let's pretend it's got nothing to do with like any other reason like it's not because she wants a new car because she's worked her whole life it's not because she like doesn't feel safe like we're not having those conversations she just wants it for the tax write-off let's pretend she has a 30 tax rate like most people in australia she might get what 12 grand back at tax time you're still up for $28,000 out of pocket. Like that's cash you're going to have to come up with. If you've got the cash, cool. We probably could have done a little bit more with that, especially right

before retirement. If you don't have the cash, that's a $28,000 loan on what type of interest rate, like usually a lot more. So yeah, you get a deduction, but it's not a magic free car that you can just claim. And I think another way that you could put this is like, what if I told you, give me ten dollars Jess I'll give you three dollars back is that a good deal I mean it's not the best you probably wouldn't do it right but that's how tax deductions work yeah you Beck you give me ten bucks I'll give you three dollars okay is that a good deal I'll do it you would you too you too kind you too kind I'm just kidding no I would three three dollars like no you're losing money like you only get to save or keep a fraction of what you've spent

and like just because you're getting a discount doesn't make it a good deal yeah like that's how marketing works yeah i oh sorry you go you i don't know who needs to hear this and i could be completely wrong but for like an average person let's say me let's say i'm earning i'm definitely not earning 100k but that's just a number that works well for me in my brain if you buy i love round numbers when doing examples yes yeah so what i think when people say like oh that's a ride off or whatever if you buy a forty thousand dollar car and you can claim all of that on tax that means that your tax the amount payable for that year is sixty thousand dollars now that's the amount you're paying tax on is that how that works yes but it's not as clean because you can't

claim generally the whole cost of the car can you no you can't but hypothetically if you could so it doesn't mean you can't even so even with your math even if it made sense yeah i got you got you got you okay like let's pretend your mom is earning enough to be in a thirty thousand tax bracket let's call it like eighty thousand dollars right and then your mom goes out and buys a forty thousand dollar car like she's gonna have to cough up in her after tax money twenty eight thousand dollars for a forty thousand dollar car because you can only claim thirty percent of that car's value which is twelve thousand dollars right so like that math doesn't math like and a lot of people will justify it oh it's tax deductible whatever like there's another

like side of the coin and some people will be like well I got a new car because I have a and you know what there's always the like yeah but what people you see them on TikTok you see them on Instagram you see them like in the comments section they've always got something to say about the situation but it's like not the situation there's an exception to every there's an exception to every rule because like personally I'm young well I think I'm still young I'm 34 Yes, queen. I'm young. Do you know what? Aging is a privilege. I'm trying to cut out this conversation and be like, I'm getting so old. Shut up, Victoria. That's a good thing. Anyway, I am young. So like in my business, I have my car and that's a part of like my big cashflow

situation. And I talked to my accountant and do you know what? More recently, obviously there were a number of other reasons. I had a baby, so I needed a bigger car. Turns out a two-door coupe was not ideal for a car seat but I got a new car and part of that is being able to claim it on tax and he said okay like after about six years we're probably going to want to swap that car out anyway because we'll no longer be able to claim the depreciation and like it just becomes an asset that's kind of not claimable it's not as good which from a business perspective kind of makes sense but I'm not at the end stage of my career where I'm talking about retirement and you know, I've got five years of planning and like $28,000 is a very big difference, right?

So for some people, it's going to work out. And for some people, they're going to go, oh, well, it makes a lot of sense to do that for me. We're not talking about you baby cakes. We're talking about this specific situation where it's probably a bad deal. Probably a bad idea. Just do the math. I feel like that's the simplest. I mean, that sounds simple, Jess, but how many people actually do the math? Like, and please don't get me wrong like doing the math sounds really good but lots of us just don't want to do it because it actually doesn't lean into our narrative like it doesn't like she might just want a new bloody car maybe like saving saving saving toward end exactly so it doesn't mean that

she's making a wrong decision but if she told you that the reason the decision is being made is taxed yes I would say that's not a good decision we also asked the community obviously we said what do you think of her mum's tax strategy? Unsurprisingly, 69% of you said the math ain't mathing. 22% said that's pretty risky, close to retirement. And 8% of you need a little bit of a reality check. I'm sorry, this is where tough love Victoria comes in because 8% of you said, makes sense if she needs a new car. Where is the sense? You're losing dollars. Very nice pun from you. Well done. oh my god I didn't mean a pun anyway so same thing yeah sorry yeah thank you um it also went over my head and it came out of my mouth so the next thing we said was how would you handle your parent

making a big financial decision that you don't particularly agree with 75% of you said I would try and educate them with the numbers 14% of you said not my circus not my monkeys I would respect their choice. 9% of you said, be blunt, don't let it go. That's me. It doesn't always work out that way. Don't just always be blunt. Not everybody loves that. And 1% said, I actually avoid money talk in any circumstance. Oh, yeah. Okay. We then asked, what is your two cents? And I would say this is my favorite question to ask the community. So I've got a little roundup. First person said, go see a financial advisor. I think that's a good suggestion close to retirement if you're also making big money decisions like that's true probably like if there's a fair few things going

on you're like well I'm planning for retirement do I want a new car like have I paid off my mortgage like that's probably a good time to like set things up and there's no such thing as being too late like literally five years before retirement you could be in such a better financial position when that day comes so that is actually extrapolating that out a bit a really good decision or a really good suggestion someone else said I actually had a similar chat with my mum a month ago regarding a car loan at 65. I think it's really tough and she didn't really like it. Oh, I guess it's hard when you like reverse the role, right? Like I feel like as a parent, you go, well, my role is to educate my children. So to have that narrative flipped

probably would be kind of confronting for some people. Another person said, we actually just need to get better education on tax and what that means. So many people get attached to this idea of getting money back on tax, but it's actually already their money. That's your favourite thing to say yeah I mean that and like from little things big things grow and I also say a lot not my circus not my monkeys uh-huh you do you do have a few if you're a doll you'd have a couple of catch phrases like you press the button and oh my god I want to miss Rachel doll but it's Victoria's doll and when you press the button it goes slay yes I feel like everyone would die because no one likes me saying slay I say we hear it up in real life I don't I don't even like

saying slay it just falls out of my mouth I know there are certain words like I yes queen comes out of my mouth a lot as well yes yes there's some things that just fall out and we have been trying to um teach my son queen um I've been like say yes queen he only says queen that's so oh my god so we'll get there because like I want to be like when you see a really pretty person what do you say say queen if I were a pastor kid and they said that to me I would die I just feel like that's anyway anyway someone said retirement is way too close it is not worth a couple of dollars back in tax another person said i really feel like this is the generation my mom is almost 60 and she keeps talking about taking out another car loan what is what's with the people they want

to party i mean i guess yeah i do get what you were saying before about how like they've saved for so long like maybe they do want to live a life but yeah they're probably gonna make that money i totally get that there was a lot of commentary so i won't get into like every single response but there was genuinely a lot of commentary just people saying look there seems to be so many like people who have misconceptions about getting money back on tax and I couldn't agree more like I go on and on and on about it and then someone else said I think she just wants a new car and might be using this as her excuse tbh um and that's probably a really good place to leave it because like everyone's kind of all on the same train of like it's really hard to have

money conversations with people who maybe aren't ready to hear them also it's really hard to talk about debt with people who really want an asset play your cards right you're the only person that's going to know how your mom's going to receive that and like how to have that conversation because like even conversing about this if you two had this idea and I was like not so keen on it the way I'd approach Beck and the way I approach Jess are very different right so it's going to be an each to their own situation but yeah I agree with most people in the comments we all seem to think that getting money back on tax is like the best thing ever, but like saving money is actually better. Yeah. And then the last comment I'll leave you with, someone said,

you should get her to listen to this podcast. So true. Exactly. So that's a really great place to leave it. We have had a very fun time recording this episode for you guys, and we will see you bright and early on Monday morning for Money Diaries. Have a good weekend. Bye guys. 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.