She's On The Money - How This 24 Year Old Without a Degree Earns $180k a Year (and Is on Track to Retire at 50)

Episode Date: February 8, 2026

You don’t need a uni degree to earn $180k a year. This week’s Money Diary proves it. Oh and did we mention she’s only 24?!?! So of course Victoria gets pervy about how she actually got there. The career moves that paid off. The money habits that stuck. And what earning big this young really feels like when the stakes are high. We also unpack the full story behind the two properties she owns, including the one she bought with a friend. Spoiler. It did not end well. This episode goes into what happens when the plan makes sense on paper, but the relationship falls apart, and how she handled the fallout without everything blowing up. If you want proof that there’s more than one way to build wealth, this episode is for you. SORT YOUR INSURANCE: A big thank you to our partner Skye Wealth for bringing this episode to life. If you're ready to get your insurances sorted, you can learn more about them here.We have a long standing referral partnership with Skye Wealth and only ever partner with people we trust. GET VICTORIA'S BUDGETING SYSTEM: Master your money here.NEW HERE?: Take our Money Personality Quiz and we will send you free resources based on how YOU actually manage money here. Ready to binge more relatable, inspiring, and downright juicy money stories? Check out our ultimate Money Diaries playlist. Listen now Join our Facebook Group AKA the ultimate support network for money advice and inspiration. Ask questions, share tips, and celebrate your wins with a like-minded crew of 300,000+. And follow us on Instagram for Q&As, bite-sized tips, daily money inspo... and relatable money memes that just get you.  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 - 4451289See 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. Ti, gilinyan ganya, nianakaka yao yinbina waka, nianakai nianbina yakarumja, duminyagumiga dumiga ithawaka nirawamundamun imalan. Mumu bangada boma ininyalan waka, kaanon 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 lets you be pervy about other people's money habits for educational purposes of course welcome back to another one of our money diaries brought to you by sky wealth where we get to talk with one of our incredible she's on the money community members all about their journey. Let's jump straight into it because this week I got an email and it sounded exactly like this. Literally like this. Hi, she's on the money.

I'm about to settle on my second property by myself that I bought off the plan. Four years in the making. The first property I bought was a roller coaster of buying with a friend and then having a fallout and then buying her out while the friendship was falling apart. I began my finance education and investing journey shortly after I turned 18. And while I am a relatively high income earner, it's due to this education that I am set to have $100,000 in super by the time I am 25. And I'm hoping to fund my entire retirement by the age of 50. Money diarist, what the hell? Yeah. Like so cool, but you're a baby, you're 24. You're going to have a hundred grand in super by 25? I'm 23, but yeah, this is actually my birthday tomorrow. So almost.

So you're basically 24 and then giving yourself literally 12 months from tomorrow, you're going to have a hundred grand in super. That's the plan. That is crazy. I need to know so much more about this before we get there. Backtrack, backtrack. Money Dice, if I asked you to give yourself a money grade from A3 to F, what grade would you give yourself? Oh, like a solid B at the moment. That's a B, is it? All right. Let's learn a little bit more about it. Can you tell me a little bit more about your money story. Yeah. So, I grew up in a single parent household. It was my sister, my mum and myself. And I don't really think we ever talked about money growing

up. I remember if mum got like a good tax return or a bonus, we'd always get a little treat out of that. But outside of that, we never really had any major expenses or like holidays or anything like that. It just wasn't really something we spoke about. And I didn't think we were well off or poor. I just didn't really think about it at all. It would have been my 16th or 17th birthday. I actually got given two copies of The Barefoot Investor by two different people. I love that. You're surrounded by people who want you to be financially successful, icon. Yeah. And then I remember reading it overnight and I started working at 14 and six months and I had to get mum's permission because she had to sign a form to say I was allowed to work.

Three months early, queen. Yeah. I wanted to go on a trip with school and like it was an international trip and mum was like, well, you have to pay for it yourself or pay for half of it or something like that. So I had to go get a job and I didn't end up going on the trip. But it taught you some work ethic along the way? Oh, for sure. Since then I've not been unemployed. So finished high school, didn't go to uni. Mum said, that's fine, but you have to go get a real job. Backers doesn't count. And then went into a customer service role in my current company and bounced around from there. So customer service, and you've kind of bounced around from there. Can we go back a little bit?

I'm going to get into what you do for work after this. In your money diary, you said you're about to settle on your second property. Do not tell me about that yet. I actually want to know about the first one, the juicy one, the one that's probably full of gossip. Like, let's go. Yes. First property you bought was a roller coaster of buying with a friend, then having a falling out. When did you buy? How did you buy? Why did you buy with a friend? Tell us all the goss. Yeah. So it's actually kind of linked to the second one. So I put the deposit off the plan

four years ago and then it was all these delays and I expected it I'd been told about that but it was just taking a little longer than I'd liked and I was living with my sister and her partner in a rental and I was just really sick of renting and I was looking at buying a place by myself and having my friend move in with me and then the agreement was that when the second place came up I would go to that and she would stay in the first place and continue to rent off me probably get a housemate in and go from there and then her dad kind of suggested hey why don't you buy together it'll increase your borrowing capacity and you'll be able to get like a more suitable place and I was a little bit hesitant just because I had done so much self-education and I didn't know

what her kind of levels of understanding were and so I said look if you can look into everything yourself and kind of educate yourself and then we'll come back and have a conversation on what this actually entails and like what the responsibilities along all that is and she agreed and and I kind of I was already speaking to a broker about my kind of borrowing capacity and I said hey if I did this is her details what would that look like and then yeah we kind of just went from there what made you go yeah buying with a friend is a good idea because you've already told me that you were a little bit apprehensive you were like oh I could have done this on my own so like was it just the increased borrowing capacity were you like this is going to be great

like what made you go yeah great I'd actually lived with her before so I kind of I was like I know we can get along and I know we can have I guess hard conversations and all the issues that come up when you're living with someone I was like I'm pretty sure we can both be responsible just an extension of that and it was like we had started looking at places for if I was to buy by myself what was kind of in my range and it was always going to be an apartment or a unit and everything was having body corporate issues or all those kinds of things and so and then when we did find out what the increased borrowing capacity was we were looking at kind of comparing things in both ranges that they were just more suitable for one the area we wanted to be in and

the quality of life that we wanted if we both put in so you decide to go down this journey you find the house you buy the house together i'm assuming at the very start sunshine and roses you both move been together? Why did we fall out? What happened? I think it was just, we were on very different journeys and like different stages in our life. I, at the time was in training for my current role and was earning a little bit more, but not a lot. And then when I qualified, I got a significant pay rise and yeah, we just kind of started to have different values and on the friendship side of things, it kind of, I was saying, I'm very much a bedroom person and she's very much a living room person. And it was starting to get to a point where if we were

having a disagreement or whatever was happening, I wasn't comfortable in my own space. And I was like, if I'm going to own this property, I want to be comfortable being here. And so I actually tried moving out and living with my mom for a little bit. And I was like, well, this doesn't make any sense. Like I was actually paying 60% of all the expenses because it wasn't a 50-50 split. And why am I paying this if I'm not getting any benefit out of it? And we did talk about if we were to sell it or if we were going to rent it out or kind of what that looked like and we did end up listing it and it just wasn't getting the kind of interest that we needed for the amount that we still had left on the mortgage and it basically turned around to me being to her one

day being like here are your three options you can find someone to buy me out I can buy you out or we can rent it through a property manager and just have all communication through then because we can't come to an agreement on what we want to do with this and pretty much from there she was just like fine you can have it these are my terms and I was like sweet we'll get conveyances involved to go from there and so I just from my mortgage broker hat has gone straight back on right so you guys went to a mortgage broker you would have had increased buying capacity you purchased probably for more than what you could have serviced on your own income how did you afford to buy her out when we went through the process initially I was in training for my current role

and then yeah post-qualification my income pretty much doubled oh look at you go so you bought her out that is a great situation to be in then you've bought and you're about to settle on this second property that you were kind of like buying along the way but not along the way tell me about that yeah so it was meant to be my first property way back when I was 19 19 and buying a house is crazy in this economy queen I know like what is that that's iconic I'd been talking to mum about looking at property in general and we talked about building and I didn't want a full house I didn't want the responsibility of a yard and a lot of cleaning I was like I'm happy if it's just me to be in an apartment and we were looking around and I don't know how I got to off the plan

it was actually just kind of I was looking at established and off the plan and kind of really fell in love with this one and went to the display suite they had and spoke to them and I was one of the first to buy in and so I knew it was going to be a long time coming and and they were very transparent the whole way every time they did have delays they were very upfront about what was going on so I was just kind of waiting for it to be done and yeah it's done we're just in the paperwork process now put the deposit down 10 deposit at the time and then don't pay anything until settlement so I was kind of like I knew it was going to be a fair while away so I was like I of time to kind of hopefully save up the other 10% or have some kind of buffer there and go from

there. Have any spanners been put in the works because you bought another house during this process or was that always like part of your cashflow plan? I'm just so pervy. I'm so sorry. I gotta know. Oh yeah. So I actually, it was funny. We settled on the first place and within a month they'd kind of sent me an update being like, Hey, here's your new timeline. And in hindsight I'd wish I hadn't bought the first place because I've lost some of my first homeowner power to the first yeah because it would have been a new build and there would have been more entitlements for that which you know it is what it is and it's worked out how it has and I'm able to afford it but yeah just knowing knowing how everything's played out I wished that I'd

held off another month or two because I think if I got that email saying hey here's your timeline I I just would have continued renting. Yeah. But it's all worked out. It is what it is. And then, yeah, I never planned to own two properties by this stage. Eventually I will. I'm looking at renting out the existing property. So I never planned to be a landlord, but that's where we've ended up. So tell me a bit more, like you said, oh, my first property at 19. Queen, unrelatable. Unrelatable. And you said, no, I'm not going to uni. I've just had so many questions and I'm so excited for you but how did you put yourself in a position to be able to purchase your first home at 19 like what what's that about yeah well so I I knew I didn't want to go to uni because I wasn't

sure what I wanted to study and it was always like I can go back and do it later if I wanted to but I don't want to get a hextet just for the sake of doing it you're wiser than you're years and so I found it back to mum saying you know if you don't want to go to uni that's fine but you you have to go get a real job. Mac is doesn't count. And I ended up in the company that I work for doing a customer service role. And I was part-time and I remember looking at my, the first full financial year that I'd worked in that role part-time, I earned 70K. Oh, okay, queen. And in that time I'd moved out into a share house and we were paying um not a lot for rent this is uh 2020 COVID times and I'd bought a car on a loan and then paid it

out early and I was kind of like okay I've got all this income at that stage I'd paid off my car loan I didn't have any debts I was like I can well I can't travel it's COVID but I can put this money towards something or if I don't have a goal I know I'll just spend it frivolously So, I was like, if I have something in place that I'm working towards, I'll stick to it. If I don't have a goal, then I'll flitter it away. The hustle is real. I adore that you didn't have to go to uni. Now, I want to ask, what do you do for work?

How much money do you earn? Yes, I'm a train driver. Oh, that is so cool. I did not see that coming, guys. Hottest train driver I've ever met. And our base rate is about 130. but just through the nature of our job, it's shift working and penalties. So last financial year, I earned just under 180. Sorry, what? So you earned 180 and you're still a child. You are

turning 24 tomorrow. Sorry, this is a ridiculously good looking train driver. I hope you're driving my trains next time I'm on them. That is so cool. And I just love that you're making bank. And also I love that I knew this because I have had train driver clients before when I was a financial advisor. But I don't think people understand how well remunerated train drivers are because of the amount of risk you take. Yes, we are very well looked after. Good, as you should be. So tell me, this is what your money doubled. You know, you said earlier, you know, I was in training and then I wasn't and my money doubled. What did that look like? How did you get into this industry? How did you go, all right, well, I'm going to become a train driver. Yeah. Where's that come from?

So straight out of high school, I was just applying knowing I didn't really have any qualifications applying for customer service it was funny I was actually applying for a job out at the airport at the same time ended up in this just a general customer service role which thank god it didn't work out at the airport because COVID happened shortly afterwards and then through that talk to kind of other people in the company and other roles and any driver I spoke to it's the best job in the world they'll all say that and I was like oh but like there's got to be some downsides and like there is but it's very much outweighed and so I was a part-time in customer service and I just wanted a full-time role and I'd applied for anything and everything and I

actually ended up in another department and shortly after I started in the new department the drivers came back to me and said hey like do you want to come to interview and I did and then I didn't end up getting through and then I left the company to go do admin work and I saw that they're applying for drivers again and so I put in for it out of spite more than anything I just kind of wanted to prove like you were like I can actually do this you guys are missing out yeah I was like I need to prove that I can get this role yeah and then when they did offer it to me I'd actually spoken to my manager at the job that I was in and I was like hey what's the kind of room for growth here and she's kind of like kind of capped out at the moment and so I was like well

I'm gonna go then that's kind of helpful for her to be that transparent I feel like to keep staff people will often delude you and be like oh baby you just need to spend another year in the role and then you know you'll be promoted but like thanks queen for being transparent with me so I can make decisions about my career yeah and it was funny because I was actually dating someone in the office and a week before I got the driving role we broke up and so I was like I don't want to be here I'm not hanging around you're like catcher yeah so I went to driving and did about a year of training and it's all paid training and in that year was when we bought you got paid to do the training yeah oh it's the dream so came out with a cert four and yeah they pay for all your put

you through training so working full-time through training and then I was also because I'm insane working hospitality of course you were at the same time just to top up my spending money more than anything and then good job and then yeah qualified a year later and been full-time since wow and are there any other like career trajectory things once you become a train driver like I don't know enough about once you hit that like 180 mark is that like the top because that's a lot that's a lot like we don't need more than that but like I'm just pervy yeah there are a couple opportunities if you want to get into like the training space or like the compliance space but the bulk of drivers are just kind of at that base level yeah and are you planning on doing any of

that or are you like girl I'm literally 24 earning 180 grand a year like I don't need you and I don't need any more roles, but like, what's the plan for the future? I can't sit still. I need to have something to work towards. Neither can I, like I'm a feral human being. Sorry. It's all good. I'm actually, we were suspecting a little bit of neuro spicy. I've actually got my assessment tomorrow. So nothing's confirmed, but I feel like she's on the money. We find them like everybody in my team, I think is a little bit neuro spicy. Everyone that I get along with like you, like if I start to vibe with you on a money diary, it's probably because we're on the same page. And I don't think that's a bad thing. It's good to know more about yourself, but it is

low-key kind of funny. Yes. But yeah, so ideally I would like to get into preferably training. There are requirements on like, you have to have a minimum time qualified and things like that. So there's not a lot I can do right now, but just kind of making sure I know my job really well so that when I do go for things in the future. Yeah. Oh, I love that. So you own two properties, like you're about to settle on the second one and there's no bumps in the road there. What are your other big money goals what are you currently working towards? I was on and off investing and so at the moment my goal is just to be a little bit more regular with it because I can't sit still and I do get bored there's every chance that somewhere down the line I'm gonna want to change

career paths and I'm aware that that's probably gonna take a pay cut so I want to try and set up as much passive income as I can now so that if I do decide to do something else I'm not feeling as much of a drop or if I do decide to drive forever, then yeah, trying to set that up so that I have the option to retire by 50, I should say. I think I'd get bored if I had to stop working, but knowing that... Same, but I want the option. Yeah, knowing I had the option too. I love that for you. Let's go to a really quick break because on the flip side, you've baited me. You said, oh, I was investing. You didn't give me any information about that. So I'm going to deep dive into that. I want to know how the hell at 24, you're going to have a hundred grand in your super. And then

I want to know a little bit more about these mortgages because we're going to get into the nitty-gritty. So guys, don't go anywhere. All right, Money Diarist, we are back. I want to know, tell me more about your investments. So first cab off the rank, superannuation, nearly a hundred grand, 24, how? I actually, to this stage, haven't made any additional contributions. I currently have, last I checked, it's about 70,000. And I was actually listening to the super episodes last week, but I started listening to She's On The Money when I was 18. And I just started a work out of high school. And I remember changing to a growth portfolio from 18. So that's been a couple of years in the making.

That is going to put you so far ahead. I'm obsessed. and I also maybe not the best decision I've made but I turned off most of my insurances at the time because I didn't feel they like they fit and it's kind of being in the role that I'm in now a lot of them I wouldn't be covered for anyway because we are considered high risk and so that's something I need to sort outside of super but yes I've set that up pretty sure I would have been 18 at the time so that's had a couple years to tick over and then I'm just kind of monitoring it over the next year. And if I do need to add a little bit to bump it up to that hundred, but at the last two financial years, they've had 20 to $25,000 just through employer contributions. So it's pretty

much set to hit it itself at this stage. That is so crazy to me, like in the best possible ways. Now I want to talk about your other investments and then I'm going to ask about personal insurances because you just touched on that. But with your other investments, you said you've dipped in and out of the market what were you doing how are you doing it why dip in and out like what what is your kind of strategy or is it a play or is it a plan I'd read the barefoot investor and I'd kind of had a rough idea of what investing was but I didn't really look into it at that stage and then the partner I had when I was 18 was very financially savvy he didn't earn a heap but was into investing had a really solid emergency fund owned his car outright all these things and

it was just something we kind of spoke about generally and so I guess my brain kind of went oh well if he can do it I can do it how hard could it be men do it all the time exactly and like I'd asked him like oh what do you invest in and I didn't invest exactly in the same things but I didn't do as much research as I should have but I ended up with two ETFs and also Qantas shares randomly which actually worked out really well for me because this was right at the start of COVID so their share prices was really low and then I held it long enough that when everything bounce back I actually got a pretty good yes very nice return on it and then yeah so kind of put in an initial amount I remember exactly what it was and then didn't touch it for six months and then

I was like oh I'll put some more in and I think I just did that for the first two years and I think overall I put maybe five grand in and then closer two years now when I when I qualified at work I was like okay I'm gonna start regularly investing and I set up a transfer of like five hundred a fortnight and then somewhere I think around the time of buying my friend out and I was kind of like oh I've got to redo my cash flow I maybe don't have the allocation for this and so I would have done the same thing yeah so I just left everything in there and and just stopped adding to it and then just recently in the last two months I've kind of restarted that she's back back adding 500 a fortnight and I've kind of added some extra ETFs in there and just letting it tick

along at this stage. I'm obsessed with that, but I know you're not going to want to hear this, but you're setting yourself up for a little argument with me at the end of this show. Like you told me you're a B. Yes. Sorry. That's not very B behavior, but we'll get there. The next question I really want to loop back on is tell me about your personal insurances. Like you said that you canceled some of them through superannuation and you don't think you can get them back. What does that look like? Have you ever seen an insurance financial advisor or like, what have you done? Yes. At this stage, I don't have any and I really should. I can fix that for you. I'll set you up with my mate, Phil. It's all good. It's all good. This is kind of where it

comes into the B of like, I know what I need to do and I just haven't got around to doing it. I also, I booked in to see a financial advisor just generally and kind of make a bit of a plan because as much as I've educated myself, I kind of want the reassurance of someone telling me I'm doing the right thing. When you have that much income, girlfriend, it's just a smart money decision. yeah and then I had like the initial appointment and then I never went back because so much had changed in my situation between like because there's such a waiting list and I was like why don't like they're going to give me advice now and then it's going to change again and so I've kind of because this second property has been so long in the making I'm like I will sort it all

out once that's settled and things are going to stop changing and so I'm kind of like oh there's these things I need to do I'll just do them later and I'm just kind of hoping nothing goes wrong doing now and then. Yeah and I know I just really want to touch on this because I actually for some reason I got when I was a financial advisor a lot of metro employees so in Melbourne metros who runs our like train system and there was this misconception between all of you that you were uninsurable and that's just not the case like we can get insurance it's just not through everyone there are a few insurers who are like hell no they're too risky but you also have like such good EAP and like benefit programs through the company that you work with because they actually

know that you need to have specific rail income protection and you know all of that but I would make that a priority because girlfriend you've got two mortgages you've worked your butt off and we're not protecting this like what do you mean I'm not happy for you to flush that down the toilet and I don't think you are either it's not like I can't afford it I can see your income right here so we are going to get our insurances sorted because that's the one thing that I think people who have listened to the show for a while and you said you've been listening since you're 18, you know how I feel about personal insurances. We're in a deep relationship. And the reason is because it puts you in the best possible position. So, if you don't want to go back and see that

advisor, I can obviously set you up with one, but I definitely would be, even if you don't want proper full financial advice, go see an insurance financial advisor like, you know, I talk about Phil on the show all the time, like Phil. So, he can just set that up and then you can do the finance, fund, cashflow, budget stuff later, but like your income is your income and we need to protect that. And I'm just, you don't get to be 24 and have $180,000 coming in and we're not looking after that. I want to shake you and hug you at the same time. Cause I'm proud and also like let's protect this. Yes. It's definitely on the list. You can have a B for that. That's fine. I will agree with that. So tell me more about debt. I want to know the nitty gritty. You've got

one mortgage, but you're about to have two full mortgages. Tell me about how much did you purchase? let's pretend it's called the first home because you haven't like settled on the second one yet but house one that you bought with your friend how much did you buy it for 520 520 and how much is it worth today I haven't had it valued recently it's about the same actually when we went to try and sell it between the two of us it had gone down slightly just because it is an apartment and they're a bit harder so I'd probably say it's worth about the same and I owe last I checked 470 on it. Okay. That's pretty good. And have you been actively making additional contributions to that or is that just ticking away? It's just ticking away. I've just got

pretty much all of my funds in an offset at the moment trying to help a little bit, but I knew with the second one coming up that I wanted access to everything. So I just wasn't pro-priority. Yeah. Fair. So let's talk through the second one, which was technically the first one, but it'll be the second one to settle. When you purchased it off the plan, did you purchase the land and now you're doing the build or is it all one package or how did that work? Yeah. So, it's another apartment. So, it's all included. I had a contract price of 601 and I just actually got the values through last week. We got multiple banks through. Two of them said it was about the same sitting at that 602 and then one of them came back and

said it was 680. All right. We'll take that valuation. That would be nice. A little bit of equity never goes far. Exactly. So just working through at the moment, who are we going to go with and what that looks like. If I can get a lower rate because they think it's worth more, I'm happy with that. Get money win. And I mean, a little bit of equity gives you a bit of wiggle room. We don't have to use it. Is it fair for me to assume that you're working directly with a mortgage broker on that? And they're kind of like the ones that are getting the banks through and making sure that we're getting a number of different valuations and getting the best possible outcome for you? Yes. Yeah. I've got my broker dealing with all of that because it's far too much for me to handle.

genius honestly it's a lot and I feel like people don't realize you go oh just buy a house that's fine and then I'll go down to the bank but like you're even finding just before settlement that like how important was it to get three different valuations you would have been like oh I didn't even think of that but now there's the potential we might not take it but there's the potential of having one of the banks basically let you have 80 grand in equity from the get-go yes which we might not use but it's nice to have as wiggle room and how are you managing those repayments because that's like more than a million dollars worth of debt that you're going to be in at 24, which is honestly not that concerning when your income sits at about 180 grand. But like,

what does that feel like? Because it feels like your mortgage repayments are going to be a lot, especially because it's like the first year of having two full mortgages, right? Yeah. It's scary to say when like, and I have said like, oh, by the end of the year, I'll be in a million dollars worth of debt and that terrifying. But when I actually sit down and look at the math it's all right in that for the first property I have like spoken to a property manager and checked what the rental yield will be and it will be slightly negatively geared but I also currently have and will have in the new property as well my sister living with me oh very cool and so she's helping me out a little bit and like paying her rent or board or however you want

to look at it and I've worked it out that the shortfall that I'll have is pretty much perfectly covered by her rent. So in my brain, she's paying that and I'm just fully paying the second one by myself. Okay, cool. I love that. I feel like that makes a lot of sense and it's nice to be able to justify it in that way too. It sounds like you're all pretty on top of your numbers. How are you doing? Do you have a budget spreadsheet? Are you writing this on the back of an envelope? Are you just making it up in your brain? How do you do all of your cash flow? I do have an Excel document that I'm constantly updating because we are paid hourly. So pretty much every fortnight, my pay can change slightly so I'm always double checking if I have extra money making sure it's

allocated and not just hanging out just want to know yeah so I'm constantly checking and if my energy bill comes in more or less than I expected I make sure to update that because it's all averages at the moment and I do all my transfers manually just because it makes my brain feel like I've done more but very religiously like to the day I'm checking it every fortnight I am obsessed can I be really pervy about personal life do you have a partner are you seeing anyone what does that look like sorry you're going to be in a million dollars worth of debt which is sexy but you also got assets and you've got a nice amount of super what are you doing so I am seeing someone at the moment everything is completely separate he also has his own assets good girl in that regard

we're fairly equal so you're going to be like a rich power couple both retiring at 50 yeah yeah the goal is dinks for life yeah love yeah at this stage everything's really separate we kind of have had early conversations about if we were to combine what would that look like but it's very much agreed that what we've come into this with is separate and then anything we build together is fairly equal and do you live together yet or is that part of the plan no not yet will that be something that you consider are you like no sorry stay out yeah we kind of have had the conversation. And at this stage, the plan would be that I would move in with him because he has a dog and it is not an apartment suitable dog. So he's a guy with assets and a dog. You are

selling the dream. Yeah. It'll be a dog and four cats. Oh my God. Do you have the cats or does he have the cats? I have two and he has two. Oh, this is my dream man. So sorry. There's a dude out there who was single and had a dog and two cats. I love him already for you. One of the cats actually just showed up at his house last week and he's like checked with all the neighbors and he's getting it vet checked and he's like if nobody claims that I'm keeping it and the first cat did the same thing sorry so he's like the snow white of the suburbs like and cats both of his cats showed up one day pets just know good people don't they they just turn up and they're like you is good people can I live here that would be nice we can be good people together oh my god I'm

obsessed all right moving on from talking about your personal life thank you for giving me that Grace. I want to know about any further debt. We know about the mortgages. That's fine. That's good debt. You mentioned that you've had a car loan before. Do you have any other personal loans, personal debts, debts of any kind? My car that I have now is currently on a novated lease, but no credit cards or anything like that. I did have a credit card and I paid it out when I went to buy it out and I just never reopened. Awesome. Love to hear it. Tell me a little bit more about the novated lease because I get asked about novated leases all the time. Why did it work for you as someone who I know has a crazy spreadsheet and would have made a good decision?

It worked for me for a number of reasons. I have a fully electric vehicle and I was able to take advantage of my entire novated lease payment as pre-tax rather than normally it's half pre, half post. And also just because I work so much overtime and so many penalties, I'm kind of, I can fall right on the cusp of a tax bracket. And so I was like, if anything, to kind of keep that lower. I like knowing that what comes into my account, I don't have to think about car expenses like they're all covered but also because of my age my insurance premiums can be quite high and because it's basically company insurance it works out a lot cheaper than if I had to go get my own that's so interesting I am so glad I asked and at the end of your novated lease plan what's

the plan are you paying for the car outright are you getting a new car like what would be the plan there I'm not 100% sure at this stage if because it is electric if the charging facilities and if I can install a charger at home because currently I can't so I am relying on public charging and the charger I have at mum's thanks mum but yeah if my access to charging is a lot more readily available I'd potentially look at buying it out and keeping it if it's still not where I want it to be infrastructure wise I would give it back and look at getting a second hand probably a hybrid because by that stage my insurance should be more reasonable yeah because you'll be over the age of 25 which is nice I think that what you're doing is so genuinely

impressive even the fact that I was like tell me about your novated lease and you're like well I'm on the tax cusp and I'm doing this and I'm doing that and also I have a fully electric vehicle and I can claim 100% like who are you this is literally so sexy I love it what do you think your best money habit is best would probably be I'm pretty good at like once money is allocated so say if I run out of all my fun money if there's something that I want I'm like well it can wait like I'm not going to go dipping into other buckets or I don't have a credit card, but like I wouldn't put it on any line of finance. I'm like, if I want it, I'm still going to want it by next payday. And if I don't, then I didn't need it in the first place. Okay. Love that take and feel like

that's actually harder to grasp than most people comprehend. Do you even have bad money habits at this point? Yeah, this one, this one, this one hurts. This one hurts. I'm sorry in advance. Because I have such a good understanding of, I guess, like my general position. And I know that like if I were to get something, I know roughly what I can afford without speaking to brokers or finance or whoever. So I'll kind of have half a thought of like that I want something and I tend to make quite large financial decisions without doing as much research as I should. So I'll kind of like start looking into it. And then if the opportunity presents itself, I just, that's kind of how I ended up with my car. I won't be honest. What kind of car did you pick? I have a Tesla.

Of course she does. She's a hot girl driving a Tesla at 24 earning 180 grand, like beef. So for real, these people are legit and really my community. Like I actually can't believe it. Like, are you joking? Like you're just a baller driving around in a hot girl Tesla. Stop it. And then you're like, that was a bad money decision, but you already told me about your novated lease situation. So like, was it that bad? I've been very fortunate that all these spontaneous decisions that I've made have worked out for me so far. I think one day it's going to catch up with me but I'd been thinking about getting a new car and I wasn't sure what I want I was originally looking just for hybrids and then I saw an email through the no vetted lease

company that Metro worked with and they were talking about electric vehicles and like I think I got like three grand cash back on it and all these other things if you order it by a certain day and then I was talking to my mum I remember it being a Sunday and I was talking to mum about it and she's like why don't we go car shopping and I was like it's a Sunday all the dealerships are closed and we're like Tesla's not and I knew a couple people with them and I was like by I've never driven one like we'll just we'll just go test drive it we'll see and she was so like anti-electric vehicle just because it's new technology and she wasn't sure about it and we took it for a test drive and we've come back and even she was like I absolutely love it oh no mom's

not helping no and I ordered it that day and then was like I'll just figure it out later I'll do the math before it arrives and it'll be fine did you do the math I did do the math I'm gonna be really pervy and this is just for my own personal gain not even to share with the community you said that you're doing your neuro spicy test you you message me when you have a response because I think I know what it's gone big because you sound a lot like me and that's not a bad thing but like everything's worked out thus far can't be that hard as you said before yeah then do it yeah and I mean even with like purchasing the properties was kind of I had a rough idea I knew what I could afford and and if I'd thought about it or did a little bit more research yeah I may not have made the same

decisions, but it's worked out so far. So we're just running with it. So far, so good. I love that for you. Now, if hypothetically I played this money diary back to you and we went through this money diary and it's not you, it's someone else. And I said, look, she's this 24 year old or she's 24 tomorrow. She lives in Melbourne. She's a train driver, made 180 grand last year. She owns two properties, like, you know, is quite savvy with her money, good at saving, really good at Excel spreadsheets. Actually, she had this situation with a friend she bought and she was able to buy her friend out of this property and she got to keep it herself. And whilst it's not increased significantly in value, like it's still ticking along and has pretty good rental yield. So she's

not mad. She's about to settle on her second apartment and that's pretty slay. She drives a Tesla, ridiculously good looking. What would you think that that money diary would grade themselves. Would you go, oh, she's probably a B. That's not that impressive. I mean, that does sound pretty good. It sounds very good. So tell me if you're going to grade yourself a B, what the hell is an A? Yeah. I think it's more, I know what I need to put in place that I haven't yet. Personal insurance. That's what it is. And so like, if I didn't know that, if I didn't know I needed insurance and I didn't know I need to kind of have that plan in place, I'd be like, yeah, cool. Sounds, sounds really good. She's doing amazing. Yeah. I think it's just a little

with a self-doubt when I know I should do something and I haven't is probably where I'm coming yeah okay all right I'll let you have that but it turns out if you just had an appointment at Sky Wealth you'd be in a like that that's a pretty easy fix yeah I think that would push it over the edge yeah all right I think between you and I we could make that happen you reckon yeah oh my goodness it has been an absolute pleasure getting to know you I feel like you were a little bit nervous at the start and now we're friends so now you're like no no this is a fun experience so I'm glad that we fell into it because this has been literally so fun getting to know about you your jobs how you've been creating wealth all before 25 like you haven't even hit a quarter of a century and you're going to

have a hundred grand in super you are going to be really financially secure somehow you've met a man who has two cats and a dog like money win life win I'm just I'm really excited about your journey and where you're going and I just know that our community would have loved listening to this so thank you for sharing thank you for having me appreciate it and also a very huge thank you to sky wealth for making this episode possible i'll chuck a whole heap of information about them how to get in contact what they do how they do it in the show notes for you to check out 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 divine and she's on the money are authorized representatives of money sherpa pty ltd abn 321-649-27708 afsl 451-289 you