She's On The Money - How to be a savvy student

Episode Date: July 13, 2021

Are you a student that doesn’t know where to start when it comes to money? We’ve got you! Today V+G talk through their top hacks for saving as a student, how to save when you’re living out of home for the first time AND the importance of financial education from a young age. If you’re a student, or if you’re just after some tips on how to be better with your money, then this is the episode for you.The advice shared on She’s on The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She’s on The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. Victoria Devine is an Authorised Representative of Australia Pacific Funds Management Proprietary Limited ABN 34 132 463 257 - AFSL 339151.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

She's on the money. She's on the money. Hello and welcome to She's on the money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. Being a student is a tough slog. Whether you're in high school, at TAFE or at uni, juggling study, work and a social life is not an easy thing. So how on earth do we get ahead financially when we've got so much on? My name is Georgia King. I don't know why I started there a little bit. And joining me today to talk through some money-saving hacks for students is financial

advisor and ex-student herself, Victoria Devine. It's how I explain myself often. I'm an ex-student. Yeah, people will be like, oh, I'm an ex-footballer. And I'll be like, well, I'm an ex-student. Love that. It's the only way to introduce yourself. V, let's start this chat off with a little combo about how you were with money at university. Let's just throw me straight under the bus. Yeah, I thought it would be a good place to start. I love that for us. What were you like at uni with your finances and with juggling the whole thing? Terrible.

terrible absolutely terrible I think I was like let's give me some credit um I was really good at balancing working and uni at the same time mainly because I didn't have a very good social life yeah which is fine and for me who's pretty introverted I was pretty happy to study like I adore study I said on a recent podcast that there's every probability that I'll probably study again at some point in my life hopefully soon like anyway we'll get to that you've got so much free time I have no free time and you guys would genuinely try and kill me if I said I was going back to uni at this point but it's a dream of mine and to be honest it's one of those things that I get a lot of joy out of learning and having structured learning like I don't know

it's so nerdy anyway but I was terrible with money at uni that is where I ended up in personal debt that is where I made a number of bad decisions I was probably working 38 40 hours a week easy on top of full-time study. Really? And had nothing to show for it. Nothing. So if we want to talk about my workload, I was doing full-time uni, which I think was close to four days, like full-time in quotation marks. I was then working three nights in hospitality. So I'd do a Thursday night shift, a Friday night shift, and then a Saturday night shift. And then sometimes depending on my workload, I would have like a Sunday afternoon shift, but like that would depend on one, whether I could get it on two if I was working in the shoe shop. And then I was working in retail during the

day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So I would do a 10 a.m. till 6 p.m. on a Friday. Then I would do a 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on a Saturday. And then if I was lucky, I'd get the Sunday shift of 11 till 5 on a Sunday. And then I would go back to uni Monday to Thursday again. So I was working and studying a lot but at the time I just wasn't good at money management. I was probably earning like I probably wasn't earning heaps and heaps I was probably earning like the equivalent between those two jobs of maybe like 40 or 50 thousand dollars a year depending on the year and what I was doing but I genuinely had nothing to show for it. So that was happening all through my undergraduate and my honours year and that was honestly it was hard to maintain and I didn't

realize how much I was burning myself out I wasn't in any significant personal debt yet but I went into personal debt when I decided to study abroad and I just didn't have enough savings to be able to do that so I had to take out a personal loan and then obviously it kind of spiraled from there but in saying that I think even if you told me to be better at money when I was at uni I probably wouldn't have listened so it's it's kind of like catch-22 do I wish I'd done it better like in a kind of but also I think it really helped me understand my own money story now and obviously it's gotten me to here to be able to really understand people's personal debt journeys and what's happening because I've been in that situation where money has made me physically

sick I've been in that situation where I haven't been able to sleep because I didn't know how I was going to pay next month's debt repayment like I'm not someone who's up on a pedestal that goes don't go into debt I've never been in it but it just sounds terrible yeah like I've been there I've been in the trenches. I've gotten out of it. And now I want to gift you guys the tools and resources to not go through that because it's really stressful and it's really isolating. And to be honest, it just feels terrible.

100%. It's such a hard time being at uni, isn't it? Compared to, I don't know, the high school kind of bubble. And then you're out in the real world and you have so much to think about. Like you've got your studies, sure. But then, you know, if you're renting, how are you going to pay for that and all your bills. Like life just becomes a whole lot more real as soon as you're out. And that's, that's not just if you're studying, that's, I guess, life after high school anywhere. Um, I certainly found

that. Yeah. No one prepares you for the difference between high school and university. And I thought university would be similar to high school. You know, you enroll in your classes and then you turn up and the teacher tells you everything you need to know, but it's actually, university is very self-guided and very much like, cool. So your lectures are here, turn up. You're like, oh okay do I have assignments yep like you were told about them in the course outline yeah oh okay no problems and also like where we don't mark you on attendance come or don't come that's such a weird thing to wrap your head around but also if you don't come you're not going to do well so good luck yeah it's so weird you don't even have to put your hand up to go to

the bathroom weird but I can imagine it would be exactly the same with TAFE like having that complete independence that you didn't have before like it's a huge step or if you're just going straight into work. Like it's a whole different ball game, but we are talking about studying today. How about we give some tips though, instead of talking about how Victoria when she was younger, definitely wasn't good at this. Let's get into it. So our first tip is to start budgeting now and not later. Talk us through it. Okay. So first tip is that because so many people just say, but I'll do it when I start earning real money. No, you're earning real money now. You have a real job right now. You might have a career later, but you definitely have a job right now

and you're definitely earning money. And we actually need to set ourselves up with the right principles and habits now so that when our income increases, we don't have to change the way we live our lives. We just go, okay, cool. Now I'm earning a lot more money. Yeah. Things are a lot more comfortable, but I already have great budgeting habits. I already have this spreadsheet. I'll just plug it all in there. I'll just do this or I'll just do that. Like we are going to set good money habits right now, even if you're not able to save as much as you'd like to. Because in my mind, even if you can only save $10 a week, cool, save $10 a week. You're not just saving $10, right? It's not actually about the balance of your savings account. It's actually

about the habit you've formed for yourself. It's about prioritizing yourself and future you. And prioritizing future you doesn't mean that future you gets this epic savings account later. It's actually that future you knows later, I already have a savings account. I have been consistently contributing to it. I'm so grateful that now I have a full-time career. I'm contributing to it weekly. Now I'm doing a hundred dollars. It's really powerful to start small. And you know, I've said it a million times on the podcast, but from little things, big things really do grow. And the little steps are what's going to make the big steps so easy. The other thing on that V is if you delay budgeting and sorting out your money now like who's to say when you get that grad job

once you finish your course um and you're on you know 50k maybe you'll just be like oh well it's not enough i'll just do it when i'm on 80k when i get that big promotion of 30 grand which would be amazing and it's not very nice no like full stop you are not being kind to yourself by doing it later like look after yourself look after future you be kind to yourself one of the best acts of self-care is looking after your finances and your budget because it is going to help you mentally it's going to help you physically it is going to help you in so many different ways and even if you're you know a lot of people message me and they say victoria i'm so embarrassed i can't save it's like why can't you save talk to me about that is it because you genuinely like

are not good at budgeting and you should technically because of the income you have be saving you know a hundred dollars a week no no i just don't have a good income i'm studying what that doesn't make you bad at saving that means that you're prioritizing for you to you by studying right now yeah that means that you're putting for you to you first like you're not bad at saving my friend you just don't have an income you could be great at saving like I meet people who have incomes of four hundred thousand dollars a year often they're bad at saving because I genuinely know that they blow it all but then if I met a uni student that was like hey V like I can't really save at the moment but I still just put five bucks in my savings every week

you're better than those people at saving like stop comparing yourself to what you think you should be doing and more around the habits that you've formed and the way that you treat yourself that is so much more important than the balance of your accounts at this point in your life 100% and be very careful about the stories that you tell yourself right exactly okay our next tip PR is to make the most of student discounts and concessions of which there are many I miss my student card I miss being able to whip it out at the movies I miss being able to get discount my keys like what is this maybe that's why I'm going back to study then I'll have a student card technique I don't think that when you do postgraduate you're allowed to student card

as someone currently doing her master's I don't think you do but also I haven't really checked because i'm lazy what's the point georgia king are you saying you're a student right now and you're not making the most of your student discounts well hey i'm learning today that's why i'm listening to the pod i'm gonna pick up some tips all right along the way you really should be better than this by now georgia i love you dearly but your student card is like it's like a power flex it is how often do you have like a 20 off coupon just in your wallet for everything all the time. It is handy. Exactly. All right. I'll check after this if I do have that. But it extends to like so many things. You've got your MyKey, fashion retailers. There's that Uniday's

website, which like lists all of them, right? Uniday's is great. You sign up for it. Again, not sponsored. Isn't it weird that we've gotten to this point where we have to tell people it's not sponsored? Like I'm so proud of us, George. It's pretty cool. But Uniday's is a website that is dedicated to student discounts. And if you haven't already, you need to check it out, sign up and then you can apply it to things like I know you get a discount on like ASOS and I'm pretty sure you get one on the iconic it's just it's a money win for all my friends stunning and always like ask if you're if you are buying something that is significant like a laptop or phone or you know I can't think of anything else but but seriously they usually have student

discounts and small flex I maybe I'm outing myself here your phone provider will often have a student discount as well. So if you're a student and you don't have a student discount on your phone plan right now, call them up and ask for it because I had someone add it to mine when I was in uni and it's still on my account. Stop. I get 5% off every month. Get out of town. Yeah, money win. Luckily, no one listens to this podcast, so you'll never get found out. Please don't call me by phone. I love you. Okay, so that is a hot tip there. Our next one is to consider a side hustle to make some extra coin on the side. We know that's a hard one though, right?

Like we know you're already pressed for time. Yeah, so don't put pressure on yourself. Exactly. And I think people put too much pressure on themselves to perform. But a side hustle, great idea, Jay. What ideas have you got for the crew? Okay, so perhaps this sounds funny,

but like if you're good at illustrating, you could maybe monetize that. You absolutely could though. Yeah, you could. You could sell them at a market. You could set up like an Etsy page or like an Instagram page, flog your wares on there. But also simple things like babysitting, nannying, dog walking.

Dog walking is a massive one. In fact, I recently – and it's still a thing, all right? So I don't know if people remember this, but do you remember when you were at the supermarket with your mum when you were like 10 and you'd be waiting at the checkouts for her board? Or you would be in a mad panic because she'd gone to get some extra biscuits and you were worried that the checkout person would ask you to pay even though you were 10 years old. That is the most anxiety inducing situation you could put a

kid in. Anyway, I remember sitting at the end of the checkout, staring at that big pin board that had people who were doing babysitting or dog walking. That's still a thing in most supermarkets. Put up a little sign. Say you'll do some dog walking. I think that's genius. Like if you have a few extra hours and you want to start walking someone's dog, make up a little piece of paper chuck it on there they'll rip off your number and go hey Georgia um yeah I'd love you to walk my dog Lucy once a week for 20 bucks good for your mental health good for your cash flow good for the world good for that dog yeah money win two birds one stone or like multiple birds one stone yeah and I think that I think that there's a lot of pressure at the moment when

people like oh my gosh do you have a side hustle I think there's a lot of pressure being put on people to be talented and like oh my gosh Georgia wow you do this talent or you're an illustrator like I could never like if you would like a stick figure please DM me I will draw you custom stick figures I'll charge you through the nose for it but I'll draw custom stick figures you might not notice them as stick figures but it's not the point but you don't need to be talented or have a hidden talent or some kind of artistic ability to have a good side hustle like you could do dog walking or even house sitting is a really good one that you can have some cash coming in while you're still going to work and you're still you know going to uni yeah most uni students don't

have pets or those types of commitments go house sit someone's house and feed their cat while they're on holiday huge genius study while you're at it exactly and there's like those little surveys that you can do air tasker like there are there are options out there if you do want to make an extra buck air tasker is a good one as well yeah again don't feel pressure but there are a lot of things you can do that don't need talent. They just need tenacity and someone to turn up and do it. Okay. Our next point here is to up your education now, which I feel like everyone listening to this podcast is doing anyway, but like read, read the money books. We know one that has recently come out written by one of us at the table. I can't think of the name of it

though, but we'll get to that later. But listen to podcasts. Again, we know a good one, but we also love my millennial money. And our pals over at Equity Mates. There are a lot of money podcasts to go listen to. Yep. If you can't stand us, do go elsewhere. But establishing an understanding of the power of investing, compound interest, effective budgeting strategies, like mastering all of that now is a really good, not even mastering it, just having an understanding of it will help you for down the line. You're going to put yourself in a position of power because most people when they do get their grad jobs and do actually end up in employment don't know that like I know people who are in their 60s who don't know that like get your education now

understand it now and it's not so overwhelming like understand the foundations but then also go back and listen to all of our podcasts on knowing your worth as well because while you're in uni people seem to like taking advantage of uni students and not paying them what they're meant to be paid or you know you might be freelancing and you just go wow like I know I'm at uni but like 20 bucks an hour is just not enough for what I'm doing like know what you are worth and demand that because studying doesn't make you less of a human studying doesn't mean that you're cheap or oh we'll just get a uni student to do it like studying just means that you're increasing your education and it's probably an indicator of your intelligence

so go and demand exactly what you are worth for any type of employment and I think another suggestion which is often not as obtainable and I know a little bit harder but definitely worth it is look for a job that kind of aligns to what your career in the future will be so it's so easy to just go okay cool and I did this I'll work in hospitality and retail while you know at uni and I'll work it all out later like is there like a part-time job where you could be a receptionist at a company that you want to work at so you can start getting some of that face-to-face interaction that. Exactly. So go and if you want to be in media, if they're a small media company that you could do, you know, some admin for or, you know, some running around, I think it's really

important to see what is in your industry because it'll also give you some experience about, oh my gosh, I do want to do this or, oh my gosh, this is not what I thought it would be. And you kind of get your foot in the door before you're actually in the door. Yeah. Well, and you're making connections with people, especially if you do work in that reception role, like you are the face of that company you're talking to people every day genius and yeah it's a really it's a smart move your network is equal to your net worth that's not actually true it's just some linkedin quote i saw the other day love linkedin you're welcome do you love linkedin no i don't love linkedin it's a weird little part of the you know what i feel very weird about linkedin so i've

got a love hate relationship with it i don't love the people that contact me on linkedin because they're usually middle-aged white men sliding into my DMs to let me know that I'm not doing my job properly. But on the flip side, I love LinkedIn for its networking abilities. And I've met a lot of people through LinkedIn who are now, I would say, friends and part of my professional squad. So if you're not on LinkedIn and you're at uni, get on LinkedIn and slide into people's DMs and start learning about them and what their career projections looked like and how they did that. And if there's a company that you're desperate to work for, go connect with that company follow them follow the people there and even put your hand up and be like hey um i know

you haven't met me my name is georgia but i'm currently studying media and journalism i'm obsessed with your company i've been following it for years if anything comes up in that space love to hear about it okay wow that's initiative i would hands down hire someone like that before i went to market our last point here is to avoid credit where you can yes boss i know you'll have a thing or 22 to say about this. No, I think you've been well-versed enough. Why should people avoid credit uni? Well, I think it's a slippery slope. And when you're at uni and you are a little strapped for cash, I can see that, you know, brands like Afterpay, they do target these younger gents. Oh, they make it so easy. In saying that, Afterpay says they don't target

the younger generation. Eat my shorts, Afterpay. That's fake news. Yeah, literally, right? They're like no no we're only advertising to demographics that actually it fits with and you know they're responsible we definitely don't want people getting into debt oh come on if you've got a full-time job you're going to be less interested in after pay totally anyway i'll get on a rant about that another time about marketing and branding and targeted yeah that's that's definitely a big episode but i would just be careful and we spoke about the damage that having a bad credit score can do in last week's episode so just be careful and don't just sign up to you know a $10,000 credit card willy-nilly. Don't grab a personal loan if you can avoid it because it can

go south quite quickly. And I think it's so easy while you're at uni to try and keep up with your friends and, you know, go out consistently and, you know, have a good time because you're uni, right? You're only at uni once and it's just so easy to get in debt while you're there or make bad financial decisions, but you never have full visibility of what other people are doing. Like, you might be like I was at uni like working your butt off renting in an area that was relatively expensive I had some housemates so it made it a bit more palatable but you know I was living that big city life but I went to uni with people who were still living at home and worked about the same as I did but I was going out with those people and you know they were the ones that

got beautiful new back at uni sass and bide dresses were the thing really yeah the thing anyway my 21st dress was assassin by dress and I saved up for so long for that dress and now it just makes me cringe thinking how much I spent on that knowing what my income was like Victoria Devine that is not a good money decision but it's so easy to get swept up when everyone else is doing it and you want to fit in exactly and it just didn't make sense for my financial situation so I think the real point here is stop comparing yourself to other people stop looking at university as like, oh, I'll fix it later and start looking at it as you really building habits for the future. Like right now you're learning so that you can get into your career. Learn finance as well so

that once you're in your career, you can make the most of it. Anyway, time for a break. Time for a break. Okay, V, back to it. Should students be investing? No. Yes. No. Maybe. Maybe. Depending on what they want. End of the podcast. Fabulous. That is a really hard question to answer, G. And the reason is because I don't know your personal situation. Are you living at home and you're working 40 hours a week and you need to make hay while the sun is shiny because you're not paying rent great investing might be a really good option for you are you living out of home paying a whole heap of rent going to university every day not being able to afford anything and putting too much pressure on yourself to be investing because you listen to the she's on the money podcast and

you're worried about missing out no you shouldn't be investing yeah like let's take the pressure off I'm giving you the tools and resources, but it doesn't mean that you're ready to use them. It doesn't mean that you have to start now. Like stop putting the pressure on yourself and start working out what works for you and at what time that will be feasible. Like I think too many people are like, oh my God, I need to be investing and I'm not. My friend, you can't even save $10 a week. Like it is okay to not invest yet. Put your mental health first and take the pressure off. Say, okay, no problems. Like I can't invest yet, but it's a goal of mine. Yeah, great. I understand it. Yeah, I understand it. One day, I'm definitely

going to do it. But when I do it, I'm going to be in the right headspace. I'm going to be in the right financial space. I'm going to be ready. I'm so ready. I have all my research. Good. You don't need to be doing anything right now. But if you're at uni and you want to be investing some spare change, jump on a micro investing platform. Check those out. Have a look at what works for you. You can invest, you know, our friends at Sharesies. I just think that there are so many tools and resources now it's 2021 like if you want to invest but you're at uni start small start strong it goes back to what we're saying before the break just set the habit up so in the future it can grow instead of in the future you having to re-establish new habits brilliant okay that takes the pressure

off for sure um okay so for a lot of people studying means moving out of home for the very first time let's talk through some tips and tricks to saving at that time of your life because it can be very expensive as we spoke about earlier it's a lot of change at once a lot of responsibility did you know how expensive like dishwasher tablets were when you moved out no they are still shocks me i can't even and the arguments used to have i don't know maybe you still have them with the harps uh about who has to buy toilet paper and paper towel next yeah that happened in my house well it adds up and if you're living in a share house maybe you're living in a share house with your partner i used to have this housemate right not gonna name names thankfully

i've had a number of housemates so you'll never know which one it was um but it's chloe i never lived with a chloe oh damn so let's call them chloe so chloe would refuse to buy anything like no shared commodities but would use everybody else's stuff and like i would buy this bougie like garlic infused olive oil and then she'd use it all and not replace it and then I'd be like hey Chloe like can you stop that and she'd be like no like oils for the house and I'd be like oh yeah but like you don't ever give anything to the house anyway really fun time been there done that yeah would I have a housemate again yeah probably well I mean having housemates is one of our tips because it does help keep the costs down like it's almost impossible to rent a place out by yourself when

you're 18 oh absolutely and it's really unrealistic to go you know what I'm going to live my dream life and get my own apartment in the CBD and I'm going to live on my own and have a cute studio like sorry it's really expensive like if you can afford that fantastic I'm really happy for you like and for a lot of people that's a necessary cost because their mental health is at a point where they couldn't have housemates like I get it I really do but it's just not feasible for most people and living in a share house can actually be a wild time like I now live with my partner I'm in my 30s ah terrifying but I live with my partner and my pets and like you know I'll never be in that situation again but you know I kind of miss it like it was so fun having house

mates and I made friends that are now my friends for life and you know you have you do definitely have moments where you rub people up the wrong way or fight over garlic infused olive oil or who's going to buy the next roll of toilet paper but it's all part of the fun it's all part of the journey you go through it you learn you grow and to be honest it's a it's a fun time it is a fun time um okay so in terms of other tips in keeping the cost down the next tip there is budget budget before you move out and while you've moved out so guys there is a free downloadable budget on our website there certainly is go get that key in what you think your rent electricity internet etc is going to cost and that will help you work out how much it's going to be to move out of home

start budgeting as though you live out of home before you do it to set yourself up for success but when you are out of home make sure that you keep a budget so that you know when expenses are coming in so that you're never left with a flaky housemate who didn't pay the rent on time and you didn't have enough to cover it and then you get kicked out of your apartment like I'm not saying that you need to cover for someone but having an emergency account while being a housemate is really helpful and I promise you will make you stress a whole heap less. 100%. The other helpful thing when you have housemates is using apps like Splitwise, which I used to do. They're so good. So it just takes the awkwardness out of like having to ask for money because it's all in the app.

It's free to download and it just tells you like you plug in if you bought the $6 toilet paper and then, you know, everyone owes a certain amount at the end of the month. So it's smart, does the maths for you and splitwise again not sponsored just good and an app that we both use I use it on holidays still so if we go on group holidays we just key in like oh cool I'll just get dinner I chuck it on splitwise so that there's no awkward like splitting up payments can be just challenging and so we chuck it on there and then at the end of the month it tells you what you owe each other but gee if you bought the six dollar toilet paper and then I bought you know some four dollar dip or something at the end of the month it would tell me that I only owe you two dollars or whatever it

because it comes out as okay well what's the even what's the difference as opposed to adding up the cost and then yeah it's actually really cool smart app and again makes it less awkward because you just go hey housemate like let's have this do you want to have like a split wise and you can just tell me at the end of the month what I owe you like cool you can put whatever on there and there's no like hey do you remember that groceries I bought like do you remember that can we do that oh do you have the receipt bite me bite me 100 um okay and the last point here is if you can stay at home oh my gosh don't be afraid to not move out straight away oh my gosh yes it's so romantic to move out right like you're like oh my gosh when i'm 18 i'm gonna move out oh my gosh if

i could live at home i would yeah do you know how good my mom's cooking is great 10 out of 10 like can you imagine being able to stay at home as long as possible oh it would have been a dream it is the best why my sister's moved home so many times oh and you know so have i um so no judgment from me um okay so my next question here v there are tips for you all hope they're helpful um to some of you in lots of industries unpaid placements and internships are just part of our degrees and courses which is rough but you know necessary rude you have a friend at the moment that's having to do this like unpaid nursing internship it does my head in the idea that you don't get paid for work that you're genuinely doing like in my head one look into it because sometimes now I'm not naming

names but there are some industries that will be like okay cool it's an unpaid internship like you're not technically meant to be doing a heap of work on an unpaid internship you're meant to just be there to learn and to grow and you know to give a bit of a helping hand like you're not meant to be handed over a job description and like okay cool now you manage a b c d e and f like that's actually a job not an internship and there are some industries that really take advantage of that i know media does yeah i was gonna say so pr and media are really good at that so make sure that you're not just getting caught up in the brand name and going but they're such a big company and like it'd be so good on my resume you know what else is good on your resume

paid work yeah paid work that you got paid to do and in saying that I'm not saying that unpaid internships are bad I just think that people aren't respecting that we need income and that if you want me to come and work for your business like I will but I need to be remunerated for that and so for me if you are in that situation where you do have to do an unpaid internship plan for it in advance if you know that in third year for the last semester you're going to have this unpaid internship but it's now like the end of first year start a little savings account put money aside so that you're not stressed about groceries or rent during that period of time or take on some more shifts over the Christmas holidays I know that at uni I was useless with

this like I could not for the life of me save over Christmas holidays because I would make hay while the sun is shining yeah by going out extra at Christmas time because well one it was uni break we were having a good time all my friends were together we could do a whole heap more stuff because I had more cash flow and I wasn't saving the money that I was making in addition to what I usually would make over that break so if you are going through you know a uni break or a period where you're like cool I can actually work full-time this week put some money aside for future you so that future you doesn't have to be stressed about study or internships or you know taking a few days off to study because you've got exams in you know a couple of weeks

and you're really stressed about it. Like, look after yourself. That is why we're being afforded these opportunities. And I wish that I had done that. Like, I remember too many times I was just stressed coming up to exam time and I was like, oh my gosh, but I have to work, but I can't call in sick because if I call in sick, I am not going to have money for rent. And it was really self-perpetuating and really stressful. Can you imagine if I'd actually saved some money over Christmas break? So I went, you know what? I know that when September comes, exams are going to be wild. I'm just going to save up, you know, maybe half of this month's rent so that I can take off a few shifts so that I can just study and everything will be so much easier. We did a

whole episode on variable incomes and those unpaid periods as well. So, go back and have a little listen. What I'm saying is not new. Sorry, guys. No, well, it's good. It drills it in. But it's true, right? And we just want to make sure that we are leaning on savings so that when we have a period of unpaid internship or, you know, we've got something stressful that we want to take off work we can do that for ourselves like we're not saying save up thousands so that you pay your rent six months in advance but like maybe save up a week's worth of expenses so that when September rolls around you can comfortably say hey um work I need a few shifts off I'm gonna study um and your groceries are covered and your transport is covered like we're not saying save up heaps so

you can live your best life during that week but like how much more comfortable would it be if I said to you gee you don't have to work this week it's not going to be an issue like you've got more than enough money for groceries for this week and next like it's going to be good you're like oh my gosh okay I'll stay at home I'll go for some nice walks in the morning and then I'll just study all of those days and you're going to just have a more relaxed period like it's just going to be better for you for your mental health for your uni experience like I promise you it's a good idea well this leads me to my last question V which is that obviously at uni at TAFE when we're studying we've got a lot on and it is so stressful. Like juggling so much is hard. So I'm kind of in the

market from you. You're in the market for what? I'm in the market for a motivational little speech from BD. Less about finance and more just about how you can stay positive during this time, which can be really, really hard for a lot of people. Was this episode not good enough? Well, I think it was, but I just want some of your analogies. But it is hard, right? Like it is really hard to study and work and have a lot of pressure put on ourselves and I think we just need to relieve that and I don't think enough of us put our mental health first during uni like I look back on uni and I go yeah it was really fun and then I sit down and I start really deeply thinking about my uni experience and I wasn't happy a lot of the time because I was stressed

or I was overwhelmed or I didn't think I was doing well enough and it will come as absolutely no surprise to anybody that I put a lot of pressure on myself. And so, you know, if I didn't get the score I thought I'd get on an assignment, like I'd be upset and I'd ruminate on it and go, well, maybe I'll never be a good psychologist. Turns out I wasn't ever going to be a good psychologist. But I think it's really important to just remember the bigger picture. It's really important to be kind to yourself and, you know, seek help if you need it. And remember that mental health is a really big component of our physical health. Like if you're not well mentally, you're going to feel sick. You're not going to be well. Like it impacts your digestion. It impacts

literally everything. Like I talk to people and they're like, oh, I'm really like intolerant to a food at the moment. I'm like, is it that or are you distressed, babe? Like is your body just not reacting well to the fact that you are literally overwhelmed? You haven't put your mental health first. And I think that it's interesting how mental health historically has been seen as something that's always like okay cool like are you seeing a psychologist you'd immediately think that someone was mentally unwell whereas now it's like oh you're seeing a psychologist great like keep that in check like it's a good thing to talk to people but also don't forget it's okay to sometimes tap out it is okay to go you know what I just can't this weekend I'm not gonna go out

I'm gonna just stay home I'm gonna sleep in and go for a walk like there is something so special about being able to give yourself an entire Sunday like it can be really hard at uni because sometimes you're working and then you are studying and then you're working and there's never this off period give yourself a day sleep in have a big jug of water in the morning and go for a walk and put your phone on silent and leave it in a drawer like I know that those are little things but your mental health it doesn't have to cost thousands you don't need to go do fancy pilates classes or yoga classes you can jump on yoga with adrian on youtube and do a free one in your lounge room and i promise you just moving your body especially while you are stressed is going to make you less stressed yeah

anyway i hope that was helpful that was good that was motivational yeah so no just like i didn't ever think i'd become this person that people come to for motivational speeches but like it is hard and we need to put future us first but like future us is important great we're trying to put them first. But current you is also important. And I say this all the time, like you just need to look after you because you only have one body, treat it right. And taking a day off here or there, like that's a really positive thing to do to help your mental health and to help you perform efficiently and effectively. Exactly. And if you can't do that, that's also okay. Don't put the pressure on yourself to take off a day when you're like, Victoria, I really can't do that. But how

about have a think about the things that are adding to your mental load? How do you take some of those things off. Like are you coming straight home from work even if it is like 9pm and playing on your phone until you go to bed? How about have a bath when you get home from work? Light a nice candle, put a cute playlist on on Spotify and sit in the bath for half an hour. Like that is going to disconnect you from the day that was to having a really good sleep. Like I find that social media and just having your phone on you and a screen on you 24-7 really weighs on you in a way that I don't think people understand. It also makes you feel a bit icky after a while. Like if I've been looking at my phone for too long, I'm like, ugh, like I need, I just need to like look at a

tree for a while. Yeah, literally. But like come home, 9pm's not too late. I know you're probably not going to sleep well because you haven't switched off anyway. Do a quick stretch session from a free yoga video on YouTube. Like do something for you. I don't care what it is, even if it's a cup of tea on the couch, even if it's cat videos on YouTube, like I don't mind but what are you going to do for you today and I think that that's probably a great place to leave it 100% be well said thank you but just before we head off we'd like to acknowledge and pay respect to Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples they're the traditional custodians of the lands the waterways and the skies all across Australia we thank you for

sharing and for caring for the land on which we are able to learn we pay our respects to elders past and present and we share our friendship and our kindness and remember guys that the advice shared on she's on the money is 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 a financial decision and we promise victoria divine is an authorized representative of australia pacific funds management proprietary limited abn 34132463257afsl339151 until next week guys see you soon Thank you.