She's On The Money - How Much Should You Actually Save Before Having a Baby? And Balancing Travel Dreams Vs Buying a Home

Episode Date: October 9, 2025

Ever feel like your money goals are at war with your life goals? Like one minute you’re saving for a house… and the next you’re convincing yourself a Euro summer is “an investment in personal growth”? This week’s DM came from someone stuck right there... her partner’s all-in on buying a home, while she’s eyeing flights. And honestly? We get it. Because trying to choose between living life and getting ahead feels like an impossible math problem. So we’re unpacking whether travel really sets you back… or if it’s just a different kind of wealth that doesn’t show up in your net worth. Victoria's breaking down how to make those big-money decisions (trips, weddings, babies, the whole lot) without losing sight of Future You, or resenting Current You for having fun. And speaking of big milestones… we’re also getting real about how to actually prep for parental leave. From test-driving life on one income to building a “sanity fund” that actually covers what you’ll really need, not just the boring stuff. Plus, it's Friday so there's all the money wins, broke tips and money goss you love.  Need the team’s take on your money dilemma? Send us a voicemail here.Or if it's more of a spicy money drama and you want the communities verdict? Slide into our DMs here.  Ready for more laughs, lessons, and unhinged money chats? Check out our oh-so-bingeable Friday Drinks playlist. Listen here. Join our 400K+ 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, gulinyan 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 are very lucky and we get our team together to celebrate you the incredible she's on the money community the only person i have here with me today is actually Miss Jessica Ricci, who is as always going to be sharing her money wins and conversions. Bec's not here, but she did leave us with some broke tips, which I will share with you guys. We're going to be helping to answer a money dilemma, which is all about how to prepare for dropping down to one income for maternity leave. And something that you slid into

our DMs about this week, is it a bad idea to prioritize travel as a money goal over buying a house. Miss Jessica Ricci, before we get there, how was your week? My week has been so good. You've seen in the office, I have been trolling the Amazon. Oh yeah, you're not even like in the office doing it. You're all over our group chat as well. Like you are trying to influence me to buy all the stuff that you're buying because you've had it in your cart for so long. Genuinely, you guys know I love Amazon. We've been working with them. The big deal days are on and I feel like it's such a good time to be buying stuff for Christmas because you know I love an early Christmas buy to put it away. 100% and an early group message. Like why are you messaging us at

7.30 with like, hey guys, did you see this? No, we didn't Jess. We haven't sat in front of our computer yet, but you are doing the work for us. Absolutely. And I've pulled out a list. I thought I could share with you a couple of the really good deals I thought people might like. Yes. I mean, I've seen them in group chat already, but share with the community. Absolutely. All right. First one, big one for anyone who knows me, Ninja Slushie. Yeah. 30% off. What's the Ninja Creamy though because I've I've decided the ninja slushy you can have at your house but you can come to my house for the creamy is on all ninja stuff it is on all ninja stuff sorry I just realized I got that wrong ninja slushy 40% off oh okay ninja creamy 30% off okay that's a good idea is the

ninja creamy swirl included in that because like I have been going down what you could say is a massive rabbit hole yeah and I need that in my house oh it looks incredible it is also on sale I don't remember the percentage of that but it was also included. A deal's a deal. 100%. What else have you got? Roborock vacuums up to 60% off. Sorry 60. I know that people are basically giving them away for free like and I shouldn't say that because I should be like put 24 hours between you and your spending but like Brooke in our team she's like the queen of robot vacuums. Like if she walked into your house I think the robot vacuum would come up to her and be like oh all hail robot vacuum queen um but like 60 is a good deal it is a really good deal and the sale is on

until the 13th so you do have the time to put 24 hours between your spending which reminder you absolutely should but like sorry are you christmas shopping already as well literally this year i just feel the pressure i don't know why why am i feeling the pressure in october to be buying christmas presents now i think it's good because you can get ready early get it done and get it on sale, save some money. Someone in my family wanted a Kindle, 18% off, done and dusted. Lego sets are 20% off if you've got kids. I'm buying Duplo this Christmas as well. Perfect. Get on there, see if it's on sale. Oh my God. I think that's genius. But then also, sorry, good reminder that a lot of sales don't happen closer to Christmas. So if you're trying

to snag a deal, maybe now's the time to shine. Yeah. I don't want to be fighting with people in the aisles. I don't want to be stressing a week before Christmas. I'm going to get it all done now. Yeah. Genius. I'll still be stressing, but that's okay. Let's put some info in the show notes. Cause I know that people are going to be interested in that. I love this. I'm good. I'm live, laugh, loving my way into October. I will say that it has been such a chaotic period of time for us. We have sold our house. Like that's, you know, I guess old news now, but like just going through this process is just so stressful. We're talking about, okay, well now settlement's coming up soon. Like obviously not that soon, but in a month or two and I just go, I've got to get

everything out of the house? Where are we going with that? What does storage look like? And doing that with a toddler in the house? Hard, I bet. It's not just, it's the mental load, I think. Yeah. And I'm just, and I have a fantastic husband, please don't get me wrong. We're both sharing that, but I'm always like, low key, just don't want to do it. Moving's such a big thing. Yeah. And I was talking to a couple of girls in the office about it yesterday and I was like, oh yeah, it's not too hard. And then I was like, oh, the plastic drawer in my kitchen that I keep avoiding. yeah should I go through that like do you know what I mean it's like the shed you gotta clear everything out or do I like bunch everything into boxes so that when we move into a new house like

I just reopen it and go wow now I'll deal with it or just currently deal with it so that future me has a better time I'm a fan of doing it pre-move personally because less things to it feels redundant to move it and then color you know if I need it though like I don't need two can openers but we have two can openers yeah which one do you pick are you paying yeah are you paying favorites and does my husband agree with that being the nicer can opener yeah have you seen those people on tiktok they go through their mug collection they have a one-in-one out this is so funny no we're not on the same side of tiktok no and you just end up with like heaps of them for no reason they had too many they're like see that's not me i do not own enough mugs oh there

you go but they were like we need to implement a one-in-one out rule and so they make these TikToks where if they want to buy a new mug, it's like Survivor and they take turns like drafting there until there's one mug left that they get rid of and then they bring the new. As I'm explaining, I go, wow, that's very dull. Could you please send that to me? Yes, absolutely. I love it. I'm on the side of TikTok. I think it's Oregon Fishing TikTok. Oh, niche. Yes. But let me just let me pitch this to you. Again, completely niche side of TikTok, which tells me that you and I have very different tasting content. So it's not just fishing videos. In fact, this guy gets you and you're watching an Oregon fishing video before, you know, you're watching an Oregon fishing video

and then you're too far in. He actually catfishes men online who have pictures of fish in their profile pictures. Right. And it's kind of wholesome because he doesn't like do anything bad, but he, you know, lures them in by asking what their favorite fishing locations are. And then his videos are him reviewing the fishing locations oh I love that I was like this sounds like it could be a little bit nefarious but no that's brilliant and then he's just got this way of like editing the videos that you're like wow he brings back all of these like old school videos and clips that like feel nostalgic then you're watching them and then all of a sudden you're watching an Oregon fishing video again you're like damn he got me and you know when you like

watch one or two videos and then all of a sudden that's all your that's your entire feed yeah don't send it to me i don't want to be on fishing talk i'm gonna send you so many of them all right all right all right speaking of online we have an online five star review that i would love to share with you are you ready to hear it okay so this one comes from k des investing diaries keep them coming five stars i loved the episode with the and brooke going through brooke's investment portfolio and her strategy would love to hear more things like this oh okay fly that away for later That was a really good episode. Brooke did a great job. I picked that five-star review because, hi guys, if you've got an investment strategy that you're

willing to share on the podcast and we can go through with a fine-tooth comb, submit a money diary via our website because I would love to hear it. And like, there's nothing juicier than being like, what do you own, Jess? How do you own it? And Jess and I are currently in the same hole with the same biopharmaceutical stock that Brooke and I were talking about that we took a punt on. But I would say that Jess has been better at it because I invested in it and stopped and then Jess has consistently invested in it and you're not in a bad position with them anymore. I'm up a decent amount, but also I am down still. My anticipation is once they finish the trials, that's when you'll see. See, I'm still committed as well. Assuming the trial goes well,

obviously. All investing contains risk, not financial advice. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Absolutely. Which I've learned because the past performance of this stock was amazing. And then she went down. Anyway, Miss Jessica Ricci, tell me about our community. I want to know what are your favorite money wins from the week? So firstly this week, I've got a money win from Suze who said she went to a quiz night on Friday to support her local school. She spent four bucks on raffle tickets. She won the major prize, which was two Pinnacot Wilderness Cruise tickets worth 400 bucks. Oh my God. And I don't know what a Pinnacot wilderness cruises but it sounds fun and four dollars is a bargain all i heard is that you paid

four dollars for a four hundred dollar thing and that's a money win in my eyes well done suze next i've got a money win from lisa who said it's a big day for her money win she went to the local tafe as a nail model for her friend's daughter and got a full set of acrylic nails for ten dollars and she said she did a great job she put in a little photo they look very cute very nice and And then she said money loss. She got a rejection letter for a higher role at work, unfortunately. But that's okay because you put your hat in the ring and now you might not have the job, but you have more experience, you have more confidence. And next time you know that you can go for it again, worst thing that can happen, Jess? They say no. Exactly. And now they know

you're interested, which I think is a big win. Yeah. They're like, she's not going to want to stay in this role. We're going to have to make room. Exactly right. Next, I've got a money win from Mike who said he followed our advice about negotiating your mobile phone bill. He called and went straight through to someone at retention who reduced his plan from $55 to $25. That is so good. Less than half. No hesitation on their part. He said the whole process took less than five minutes. I love that. Can I chime in with a money win from my Nana? Please. From Zella. So Zella is currently staying with my parents over from Tasmania. And my mum found out her phone bill and was like, absolutely not. In fact, mum was like, that's not a money win and marched her

down to the phone company and have switched my Nana from paying like $150 a month because phone companies just leave old people on their old contracts. No. I was $150 a month. Don't even start it. I'm about to send a very salty email because my grandpa passed away like more than 10 years ago. That's okay. Why are we still paying his phone plan? But did they know? I don't know. yeah I don't know but it didn't get used for 10 years the number's been disconnected so why are we paying for it that's crazy anyway that's another story for another day but my nana has just purchased a sim only plan for like 39 last six months so much better stop it nana like that's a good deal and she came home and she said I've got a money win for you I was like tell me tell

me I'll put it on the show don't worry nana she's never listened to my podcast I don't even know if she can access it but like I did it for you now shout out Zala if she's listening and also a good reminder for everyone check in on your grandparents and just make sure that all yeah be like excuse me is anyone taking advantage of you because that's awful they just go oh life's expensive no worries ducky no no so much money oh my goodness next I've got a money win this week from Lily who said she's six months pregnant and a week post COVID they scrubbed the hell out of their hopefully last ever bond clean and got the full bond back and she said there's nothing like telling a guy his new tv budget depends on the bond being returned which made me giggle and tvs are expensive

they are well done and then lastly this week i've got a money win from christine who said she signed up a few months back for an adopt a fruit tree program through her local council where you got a free fruit tree to be planted uh in their yard she got home today to find a baby peach tree sitting there ready to go. It's still got a bit of growing to do, but eventually it'll give her free fruit and look amazing. Stop it. A little peach tree. That's so down your alley. And local council coming through once again. Jess needs to go work for local council. I actually should. I love it. Yeah. Like I don't agree with that, but like if you quit and said, I'm going to work for Boroondara, I'd be like, you know what? I'm not even surprised. Like the story checks out.

All right. So I am lucky because while Bec is not here, I get to do broke tips. So would you like to hear them? Of course. So these have all obviously come from our community. And the first one I have got is from Hannah. She said, sign up to your local gym that has a crèche. Rather than having daycare fees, I pay 20 bucks a week and the kids go to crèche for up to two hours a day. Some days I just chill and do some reading at the gym or I do things on my laptop while they're in get some life admin kicked out. I didn't know that was a thing. Neither did I. That's so smart. So you're telling me that you can just drop your kid off. And I'm assuming that there's like rules and regulations around you probably not being allowed to leave the premise. Yeah. Like if you've got a

uni assignment and you're a mom or you've got like, you know, some life admin and want to get through your emails. Sorry, two hours is golden. Yeah. I'm just mind boggled that you could just drop them off at the creation thing. That's insane. That's elite. That is a good money win or a good broke tip, I reckon. The next one is from our friend Cassie. She says, check old loyalty apps you might not have logged into for a while. I logged into my Zassafras app after nearly three years

to see I had $15 in drink credit. And as my birthday was last month, I still had a free drink for that. Three free coffees for me. And then she said, for context, that's a New South Wales coffee chain and I moved to Victoria three years ago. Oh, I was wondering what Zassafras.

Someone, there was a money win that mentions us for us too. And I was like, I don't know what that is. So it's a coffee chain. Oh, there you go. That makes more sense. Modern day equivalent of like finding money in a pocket of an old jacket or something. Yes, which is happening to us less and less. It's so disappointing.

The other day, I couldn't even find a $2 coin for my trolley. And I was like, is this really where we're at, Victoria? It's desperate times when you're like pulling back the car seat, really getting your hand under it. And also, I'm sorry, a shopping cart with a toddler, life changing. shopping in the supermarket without the trolley and a toddler life ruining I was at Coles and I didn't have two dollars and I said oh can I buy a token and they said we don't have any tokens and I said so how do I access a trolley then and they said don't be broke they literally were just like

you're gonna have to carry things in your hands what is this what do you mean like obviously so like I'll bring the trolley back like I'm a good citizen I just couldn't believe it do you know what this is why and like shout out to Coles in Taronga because I feel like everybody knows where I live anyway whatever like that's just my local at the moment they don't have coins on their trolleys so I go there exclusively because the Woolies down the road sorry they have coin trolleys not happening can't live like that that's not an option for me sorry get it together I just think not everybody carries a coin so like what do you do you know what we're gonna make that as merch we're gonna make those coins for your your keys yeah so that you'll never be without me

or without a coin for the trolleys just your face on a coin do you know what bitcoin or what was it yeah bitcoin or whatever we made last time um but it's actually coming to real life and it's a grocery trolley coin not bitcoin all right i have a last one this one isn't from beck it is actually i've just gone with another community one because i thought it was really good this one's from Bianca and she said, I recycle all my empty beauty and skincare containers at Sephora. In turn, I'm then given points on my beauty pass account. When you accumulate enough points, you can trade them in for rewards. If you have 500 points, you can actually get 10% off your purchase. This is life changing for me because I don't know if you know this,

I've been, I don't even know why, I've been holding onto every empty product I've used for probably the last 18 months why just it started as a like I want to see what I'm actually using and spiraled into hoarding yeah it's I have a whole shelf in my bathroom cupboard that like you open it things like Victoria bags bags of stuff just empty stuff so if I came to your house and I was like ha I'm gonna raid Jess's beauty cupboard and then I like scoop it all in take my bag home I would be sorely disappointed I'll post a photo somewhere because I have so many and you review content of stuff you used and actually liked but i probably should because i know i said can you not do you i know you don't but you need to be like these are my beauty empties because

that's the content i want to see i don't want to be like here's my brand new eyeshadow i just got i love it sorry did you actually use it is this worth the investment is this a money win i'll do that i'm gonna do that on tiktok and then i'm gonna take it to sephora and get points because i didn't know what to do with it because you can't put it in the bin to recycle it what yeah most beauty product components are not like normal recyclable you have to dispose of them which is the other reason i've been hoarding them is because i was like oh i know i need to take them to like a specific place i was like girl you're delulu turns out you're just actually a better person than me and you're basically captain planet because i could i've been just putting it in the recycling

i just put them in a bag we'll take them to sephora don't go through my bins i would not win any type of community or like council award jess would though you would you'd win captain planet. And on that note. All right. Let's go to a really quick break because on the flip side, we're going to be talking about how to prepare for dropping down to one income for maternity leave. And then something that you slid into our DMs about, is it a bad idea to prioritize travel as a money goal over purchasing a house? 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. Hi, She's On The Money. I was just wondering if you could do a segment on preparing for maternity leave. So we're planning to fall pregnant within the next 12 months. And we're kind of looking at how to manage our finances by coming back onto one income and how to just balance everything there. If you have any advice, that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Not that I've had to deal with it before, but I would say my best guess would be start living

off of one income now while you don't have to. That's a good recommendation. You've got the luxury of knowing that you've got the money that you can fall back on because I think it's like a double win, right? You will figure out how much you actually do need to leave. So like redo your budget, you know, on the assumption that this is how much we've got coming in from the one income. Try your best to live off that. There's probably going to be some teething where you go, oh, we thought we could spend 50 bucks a week on takeaway. Turns out it's actually more like 70. Make your adjustments. But then all the money that you save, put aside so that you can then maybe pay some of that into, you know, top up your super if there's a gap

between the government payment or, you know, just as an emergency fund or for things for baby or whatever you need. Like it kind of gives you those extra savings too. But honestly, I don't really know what that looks like. I'd be reviewing your contracts. So like right now you're in, I would say a pretty powerful position. You're not pregnant, which means you've got all this planning time. And you said we're planning on getting pregnant in the next 12 months. And I just want to address, you know, I guess the elephant that exists when you talk about planning pregnancy is that it might not be smooth, but like, let's pretend it is. We're hoping it will be. Yeah, we are manifesting that energy that when you get pregnant, it was because that was the time you

wanted to, and it was all smooth and sunshine and roses. But I think good suggestion going back to one income or even just trying to budget and save as much as possible. I also want you to do a maternity leave budget because I think so many of us go oh well we will you know just be really frugal during that time but I would say the fourth trimester so like you have three trimesters where you're pregnant and then you have the first 12 weeks of having a baby at home and that is for some people glorious for others really rough and I was a mix of both like your hormones are surging everything is so hard I cried so much like and sometimes my husband would be like why are you crying and it'd be like I'm now crying because you don't know why I'm crying

and it was just a chaos period right but something that I learned really quickly and thankfully as a financial advisor have always allocated for my clients is like have I got money in the bank that I can go for a morning walk and get a coffee comfortably you do not need the guilts at that period of time where you're like oof we're on one income I don't want to be going to the cafe and quote, wasting money. To me, that was like a massive achievement. If I got out of the house, especially once my husband had gone back to work, if I got out of the house and got myself a coffee or a little sweet treat, do you know what? That was worth it. So like, what does that budget potentially look like? If you don't use it, money win. If you do use it, mental health win.

Everybody wins in this situation. So we're not just looking at like, what are your life expenses or your rent or your mortgage? Like, are there additional things that you want to be doing? Like, are your electricity bills going to increase? Because, you know, maybe you do know what month your baby is going to be born in its middle of winter. And like, for me, that was something that I didn't anticipate. I'm now home 24 seven. And unlike Jess, who is very good with the electricity, I think you would change too if you had a baby. Because you have to keep it a certain temperature. Yeah. Like all of a sudden, all I cared about was making sure that my house was perfect 21, 22 degrees for this baby because that's what I'd been told and like historically if I was just home

alone I'd just have the heating off until my husband got home yeah put some socks on grab a jumper you you don't do that with a baby you know what are your electricity costs likely to look like also on the flip side if it's the middle of summer are you using your air con a lot so just having these little conversations about what that would mean also budgeting for baby it's going to be so different for everybody and like everybody's got an opinion on how this works we've done an episode on budgeting for baby. We're going to do another one soon now that I've especially had a baby, but some of us have a lot of support. Some of us have an older sibling who gives you the cot, the hand-me-down outfits, you're doing cloth nappies, and you're a perfect breastfeeder.

It's not going to cost you a lot. You also go through the public system. Or on the flip side, it could be like myself. Thankfully, I had the financial privilege to fund this, but we decided to go through the private system. I don't have any siblings or older friends who had cots and lots of hammy downs. So all of the stuff that I was acquiring was new. So my budget obviously had to be a little bit bigger when it came to setting up for a baby, but there's still going to be those costs that you can't avoid. So what do they look like? How's that going to work? But the idea that you would not only have an emergency fund, but also a maternity fund, I think is really good. and we're looking back at the conversation I was having before at your contracts. So, you know,

I might, let's say, Jess, you and I, we're having a baby together. I might look at your leave contract and be like, okay, well, this is what your workplace gives you for maternity leave. What's the parental leave policy at my husband's job? Like, what do those things look like? Because for even my husband and I, when planning that, I was like, oh, you actually have a really good parental leave policy that we could definitely lean on a bit more. Are you planning on taking time, and my husband always wanted to do this, but are you planning on taking some time off? If so, how do we make the most of that? At what point is the best time for you to take off? Is it from me going on maternity leave? Is it when the baby comes? Is it, you know, you take

a month now and then later down the track, you might take some more time? Like how's that? Lots of options. Exactly. How's that going to work for you guys? And what does that balance look like? but then also when are you planning on going back to work so like maternity leave yes you're planning for not having any any second income you're on one income which I'm assuming you know you're like how do I budget for this for that period because I'm assuming that you're planning on returning to work what does return to work costs look like have you looked at daycares do you know what daycare in your area looks like what subsidies are you able to access what type

of family support can you can you not like be reliant on so maybe not having those conversations because you don't want to bring up to your mum that you're trying to have a baby but what would that look like because your whole budget once you have kids changes and that can look very different for different people um and I don't want you to just focus on that you know first 12 weeks or first six months or first 12 months when your budget in general is going to significantly change yeah and then I guess you're probably once the baby's born or even before they're born start contributing or if you can putting money aside for like future school fees or future like it's chaos isn't it yeah there's a lot to think about but there's probably some really good budgets out

there that account for those things absolutely like the free one on the she's on the money website that you could just download that has a whole kids section amazing exactly I wish I'd thought of that myself exactly right but yeah very exciting congratulations it's a really exciting time budget I think is the outcome and also communicate with your partner what are their expectations how are you going to be managing money something that comes up as well and I'm just yapping on is actually you feeling if you're the person going on maternity leave like that you're spending your partner's money it's not it's a household income like you're taking a sacrifice also can we please talk about superannuation what's that gonna look like how

are we going to be making sure that if I'm taking a year of maternity leave I'm not completely off because the government doesn't actually provide maternity leave cover for that period of time. But sexy, they do now give you superannuation on your mat leave pay from the government. We love that. We love to see it, but it might not be at your salary expectations. Yeah. So what do you need to do to make up the gap? Well, we could salary split. That's crazy, partner. Lots of conversations to have. Keep an eye out for that baby episode coming soon.

Would you like to hear a cheeky DM we got? Absolutely. All right. Hi, she's on the money. I have a money dilemma and would love some advice. My partner wants to buy a house or apartment together next year. I want this too, in brackets, eventually, but travel is so important to me. I know traveling will be incredibly difficult once we are locked into a mortgage. My question is traveling while having a mortgage a bad idea? I know financially I should probably just throw everything we have at it financially, but I also want to see the world while I'm young.

am i stupid for wanting my cake and to be able to eat it too i would love your tips i think it's so dependent on your personal financial situation because if you're earning fifty thousand dollars a year paying a mortgage and traveling might be a little bit tricky but if you're earning 150 000 a year it's probably something that's a lot more achievable yeah it also really depends on i know that you've said you want to see the world so to me that kind of implies international travel and it really depends on where you want to go you know countries closer to Australia versus countries further away first world versus third world like there's lots of factors that are going to impact how expensive it will be for you to travel I would say that if that's something

that you want to prioritize that's totally okay but you need to talk to your partner about it because it sounds like they're operating on the assumption that you're doing this together like purchasing this home together and it sounds like you're not quite there yet it's you said you it's something you want to do eventually but you don't want to do it now and it sounds like maybe your partner is pushing to get it done sooner than later which is totally fine that you both have different priorities but if your partner's operating on the assumption that you'll be doing it together in the next five years for example like they've probably built their long-term plan around that and if that's not something you want to commit to you've kind of got to let them know

because that's going to impact what their plans are how soon they can do it all those types of things. So it's definitely not a bad thing. Like you're allowed to want to prioritize whatever you want. You know, whatever is important to you is good and okay. But you just, I think, need to be conscious of the way that that will then impact your partner. And it is totally doable. Like you can absolutely travel and pay a mortgage. But again, it comes down to like, what are your lifestyle expenses? Like if travel is something you want to prioritize, does that mean that you would not be able to afford eating out with friends or buying new clothes or you know like there's lots of ways that you can juggle your budget we've spoken before about how everybody

has different priorities and different things that they care about and there's no right or wrong way to organize all of that but you need to do some reflection figure out like is it achievable for you with what you earn with what you want to do and with the lifestyle sacrifices that you may or may not have to make yeah I agree the other thing I would be doing is talking to a mortgage broker about what these scenarios actually look like. Because a lot of the time I speak to people literally weekly and they're like, we want to buy next year. And then we find that that's actually not feasible. Pipe dream. So fantastic. You thought you could buy, but you know, the deposit that you've saved is simply not enough for, you know, you're actually not on the same

page about what you're purchasing. And then having a good conversation with a broker is going to do two things, right? You're going to work out what your borrowing capacity is. And like, let's just pretend between you and your partner and just for clean numbers sake, both of you together, you can borrow a million dollars. Fantastic. Very sexy. Very nice. What are the repayments on that million dollars looking like each and every single month? And how does that impact your lifestyle? And what does that then look like for the rest of the lifestyle that you want to achieve? So are we talking to our partner about not maybe pushing off, like let's pretend your partner is reasonable in saying we can afford to buy next year, Jessica. And you go, yes,

no worries. What does life look like to them? Have you had a bit of a brainstorm together about, well, you know, what are we happy to sacrifice? What are we not happy to sacrifice? Like I remember when my husband and I were buying, we had a borrowing capacity above what we actually purchased for because like both of us were like, oh, we still want to eat out. We still want to have travel. We still want to have all of these things. So we lowered what we borrowed and what our quote limit was, not because that's what the bank said we could borrow, but that's what we said we could borrow based on the lifestyle we wanted to achieve. And so I think that's really important as well. So what does your partner think? Like, are they planning on purchasing and they just

still think travel's going to be slotting in there absolutely fine? Or are they like, oh my goodness, Jess, I never actually thought about this. You're right. Like we'll be living on rice and beans for the rest of our life if we take on that mortgage. And maybe the decision is to save for a little bit longer. So you have more deposit, or maybe it is to reset expectations around the type of property that you purchase. So you can absolutely have your cake and eat it too. But when it comes to finances, everything is about compromise. So like, yes, you could travel the entire world and go on luxury cruises and only travel to first world countries for the rest of your life. But that is going to come at a cost, but you could also reasonably go, okay, well, we really want to travel together as

a couple. It's a value of ours. We also really want to buy a house. How do we buy a house but also still have the cash flow to afford an $8,000 to $10,000 holiday every year? Okay, well, maybe that doesn't work. How do we have the $8,000 to $10,000 holiday every two years? Is that what you're happy to commit to? Like, what does that look like? Also, let's take a step back. What's your earning potential into the future? Is that going to change? Is your lifestyle going to change? Are you factoring in inflation? Are you factoring in any of the life choices that you make? Like babies aren't for everybody, but if that's a part of your lifestyle decision, maybe that's why you're like, I really want to see the world while I'm young, because I can't think of anything worse

than a toddler in Europe. You know, like I just want to experience that on my own. So I think it's all about open communication, which is hilarious because that's what we always talk about. But if your partner's like, really want to purchase next year. And you're like, oh, I do really want that, but I also have this other value. Let's bring it up. Let's have a wine. Let's have a date night. Yeah. And now's a good time to talk about it because you haven't committed to anything. So it's like, let's nut it all out now before you start making big choices. And you can get a budget together now. So like you can Google mortgage calculator and basically every single bank and credit union has a free one on their website and you can put in what your loan

would be, what your deposit is looking like. And it will tell you what your average monthly your repayments on that kind of look like. Please don't take that stuff as gospel. It's just for conversation beforehand because every loan is going to look different based on the interest rate, based on like the loan term, based on so much stuff, whether you have LMI, no LMI, whatever. But use those as kind of guides. Be like, oh, okay, well, I didn't realize that would cost us $6,000 a month. Yeah. Did your partner know that? Do you know what I mean? Like sometimes these things are so aspirational and we're so excited that we forget to get into the semantics and then that's where we shoot ourselves in the foot. So Google it, work it out.

What did everybody else say? So we asked a few questions before I asked them for their two cents. First question was, what would you prioritize in this situation? So 58% of you said travel lightly while paying the mortgage. 33% said delay the house, go see the world. And 10% of you said house first, travel later. Interesting. And then we asked, what would you do if your timeline for financial goals was different to your partners and a whopping 88% of you said I would find a compromise. I kind of love that because it's like. For a second I thought you were going to say they were going to say breakup. My heart dropped. Oh my god. I don't know why I thought that. With financial advice not like relationship advice maybe I should. So there's this like content creator online that I

send a lot of videos to you of. His name's Caleb. Yep. So his name's Caleb Hammer and if you haven't looked him up on TikTok do because he's everything I've always wanted to be but like also I would never he's so aggressive with so he does a podcast called financial audit and maybe one day somehow we could manifest getting him on our show that would be cool but he does like unhinged money diaries basically he does these like audits of people's finances and he'll be like what the hell are you doing Jess and like I cannot get enough of these people that are going on his show and putting their hands up and being like, I'd love to be non-anonymously. Like I'll put my name to this on your show. And then she's in $40,000 worth of debt because she bought Labubu's.

They're volunteering to be roasted. They are volunteering. Exactly. And it just, I go, what the hell? Or like, they'll be like, yeah, my husband like does all of these terrible financial things and he's like, divorce him. And I'm like, oh my God, can you imagine saying that to someone? Anyway, it is so unhinged that I can't get enough of it. I think my other favorite one was this girl being like well I shouldn't have to work I'm beautiful and I was like what is going on like what is going on anyway clearly not she's on the money coded um but like when it comes to like finance content I love it because he's so savage he says I feel like he's like the little voice in your head you

know like I'm sure that I've shown especially in the early days like said or shown some things to you where like your internal monologue was probably like girl get it together like what are you doing but like I say that in a kind way though I'll be like oh do you really think that that's really helping you or whatever. But like, he says the thoughts, he's like, what the F, what are you doing? Like there was a couple on the show the other day and he was like, why are you two together? He's awful. Or like this other girl was on the show and to the husband, he literally said in the three years of doing this podcast, I've never met someone more dislikable. What do you like about this woman? And I was like, I would die. I would cry anyway. So that's clearly not what our show

was about, but I'm glad that most of our community would find a compromise, not break up with their partner, Jess. 7% said that they would pause the goal until you're both ready. And 5% said, no, I'm sticking to my own plan. There you go. Live, love, laugh queens. We then said, guys, what is your two cents? First person, and I've just got like a little selection as always. First person said, you can definitely travel with a mortgage. I do, just don't borrow more than you can manage icon it can be done next person said extending trips would allow for renting out the home whilst paying the mortgage oh that's clever you could airbnb it out exactly i didn't even think of that next person said start a side gig so that you can pay for your travel i mean why not

hustle queen next person you will never regret traveling and making memories and then i have another one we had buckets for travel house deposit and wedding we ticked all of our goals off. We just had to make adjustments along the way. Yeah, that's exactly what you were saying. Another person said, I'm 51 and missed traveling the world due to a mortgage. Please travel now, mortgage later. Oh, there you go. Some insight from someone who's lived it. Yep. And then I've got a two-parter. So this person said, I bought a house three years ago now on a single income. It took a little while before I could afford a trip again, but I kept saving. And this year I went to Canada for four weeks. Oh, that's so exciting. I know, right? So like, I think it's

just about communicating either with yourself or with your partner like what's the goal here can we still do these things it's like yes we can do everything we just can't do everything at once be realistic and I have two more for you before I wrap it up this one says I just broke up with my boyfriend over this actually oh we couldn't come to a compromise well I mean if your goals don't align financially like that's a pretty big thing that's massive and also know your worth yeah and know what you want and I'm like you know don't just break up with somebody over one thing i'm not caleb hammer i can't just say that but i also think that there's probably some more deep rooted issues there and like these things where you can't compromise or like i can't want you to

achieve your goals yeah bye boy yeah absolutely and the last one i've got is whatever you do travel before the kids come along it's so much cheaper when you're only planning for two hashtag money hack oh there you go oh my god it actually is like as somebody who's just gotten back from Bali with a kid who's 18 months old. I loved it. But my husband and I were talking about what are we going to do when we have to buy him his own plane seat? Yeah, expensive little things. Once they're two, they become a full adult when it comes to flying. So anyway. Enjoy it while they're young. We can. All right. That is all from us this week. I feel like this has been a good wrap up. We miss Beck, but she'll be back soon. Guys, don't worry. Until then, we will have a bright

an early money diary for you on Monday. See you. Bye guys. 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 MoneySherpa PTY LTD ABN 321 649 27708 AFSL 451 289.