She's On The Money - How to Get a Better Interest Rate + Should You Start a Business with Your Bestie?

Episode Date: February 20, 2025

The RBA just dropped the cash rate—so what does that mean for your mortgage? Whether you’re a homeowner, a future buyer, or just watching the market, interest rates are the hottest money topic right now. This week, we’re diving into what the rate cut could mean for you. And Victoria gives her guide on how to negotiate a better deal on your home loan at any time, because even a 1% decrease could mean thousands off your loan. And in the ultimate friendship-meets-finance dilemma, we’re asking: Should you go into business with your bestie? It sounds like a dream—built-in trust, shared excitement, and daily coffee catch-ups. But is it actually a smart move, or could it ruin both your friendship and your finances? PLUS, we’ve got some wild money wins and broke tips, and the sneaky hack that could get you free dinners just by leaving reviews! To sign up for the free Turning Side Hustles into Success Stories webinar click here (there is also more info in the link about how you can score Victoria's book The Business Bible for FREE!) Find our guide to negotiating a better here. Ready for more laughs, lessons, and unhinged money chats? Check out our oh-so-bingeable Friday Drinks playlist. Listen here. Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements. The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs.  Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708,  AFSL - 451289.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, my name is Natasha Nabanunga-Bamblett. I'm a proud Yorta Yorta, Kernai, Wolperi and Awadjeri woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on Awadjeri country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through. As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow. Let's get into it. She's on the money. She's on the money.

Hello and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast that makes personal finance fun, especially on Fridays. It's our favorite day of the week because we get our team together and we get to celebrate you, the incredible She's On The Money community. Miss Jessica Ricci is here and she's going to be sharing our favourite money wins from the community. Miss Bex Syed is here as always and she's got a number of really good broke tips for us. And we're going to be helping to answer a money dilemma.

This week it's all about how to get a better rate on your mortgage and something that you slid into our DMs about is whether you should start a side hustle with your friend. Whoa. I feel like that's going to be a good one because there are friends that I have? Yeah, definitely I would. And then there are friends that I'm like, absolutely not. Yeah. Like that would ruin our friendship. But before we dive into all of that, which I cannot wait for, how were your weeks? Jess, you go first. My week was good. You know, nothing crazy,

nothing exciting. Just, you know, an average week for me. Nothing to report. Yeah. Gorgeous. Sometimes it's nice. No news is good news. Very true. How about you? Really, really good week. I have, you know, started another one of my – V, I feel like you'd get this. You know when you just like you always have a different hobby and you just like hyper-focus? Oh, what's the new one? So obviously it was like crocheting and then pottery. I dabbled in a few other things.

Like I was like maybe I'll be into gardening. I can't personally do it. But I've gone back to pottery. So I feel like I'm cheating by hyper-fixating on something I've already been doing. And also, V, you're not going to like this very much, but I'm not going to like this as though I've ever judged you on anything you've ever done.

That's true. When have I ever been like, Bec, I don't like this? Where are you getting this from? You might not like this. I joined another gym and it is number six. Hold on, hold on, hold on. You're right, you're right. No, Bec did not lie.

I don't like this. Because share with the community because this hasn't been on the podcast. True. Let's backtrack. Miss Bec Syed, you like going to the gym. I do. Yeah, and you've been trying to find the right gym for you. Trying to find the right gym.

Yeah, and I get it. That's a journey. It can be hard. But how many gym memberships do you now have? Okay, so this will be my fifth, but I am actively cancelling three. But have you cancelled them already or is it like a pipe dream at this point? One of them I'm cancelling, but I have to like, I have to repay, like not repay, but I have to pay like the outstanding amount.

To break the contract. Okay, but tell me how many are you paying for right now? The way you're answering these questions, it's giving Belle Gibson. Okay, right now paying for three. Okay. So you've got three gym memberships. And is this your fourth gym membership? Sorry, this is my third. This is your third. So you have three active gym memberships. Three active, two just recently cancelled.

Okay, cool. Money win. You did have five. I did have five. Okay. So you had five gym memberships. You now have three. Talk to me about why we've got three active gym memberships because I don't even go to the gym once a week. Honestly, I just like, well, okay. So I hate these like fluorescent lights. Like I just want a gym that's like dark and it's got the neon lights. Anyway, I finally found one running

Are you going to try and see if they've got the right lighting or are you like checking first? Unfortunately, I did join without checking first, but it's perfect. It's right in my house. It's brand new as well. So it's like a foundational membership. It's like really cheap. Oh, that's a good deal.

Yeah. It's called Base Attack just in case anyone needs a nightclub sort of. And also I can bring a friend for free for 30 days. Oh, I love that. So if you guys want to come with me. Yeah, well, be in it to win it. But what are we doing with the other two that aren't as good? Because you've obviously joined a new one.

Well, immediately after this recording, I'm going to cancel them. Okay. If I remember. We'll ask you next week. Thank you. It's a good wiggle round. Yeah, honestly, how good. What about you?

That's a good broad tip. Canceling subscriptions you don't need. Exactly, exactly. I'm so smart, you guys. I love this. Yeah, we can reframe this into a money win. Yes, thank you. It's a positive.

And what about you? I have had a very productive week. For those of you who don't know, I don't work on Mondays anymore because I, it's like my stay at home day with Harvey. And on Monday, Harvey and I picked up a cozy coupe from Facebook marketplace. That sounds so cute. Yeah. Do you know what a cozy coupe is? You know, the like little red and yellow car that little toddlers go in and they push it with their legs, like the plastic, like little Tykes brand one. Yes. Yeah. So we picked up one of those and it cost me like 20 bucks on Facebook marketplace, which is a money win. There's so many

of them on there and I'm currently converting it into a golf cart I have painted the whole of the outside I went to Kmart and I got these they were like seven dollars for like little kids golf set and yeah I like organized his first birthday which is going to come as no surprise it's golf theme that's very cute because his dad is obsessed with golf like ever since Harvey was born so he's like When do you reckon he'll have an interest in golf? Not for at least another, like, ten years. Not for a while, but that's okay. He can't wait to, like, buy Harvey his first clubs.

And, like, I'm all about a kid's birthday party. Like, that's just fun. But when they turn one, he doesn't really have any interests yet. So, like, I feel like this is the only year that Steve and I are allowed to pick the theme. Yeah. Because, like, next year he's going to be two and probably, like, bluey or something, you know?

Yeah. And that's going to navigate or tell us what theme should occur. I don't even know if he's going to get annual birthday parties, but who knows? Yeah. But this year we picked golf as the theme and his theme is hole in one. I think that's really cute. Oh, that's cute.

You've got to take advantage of these formative years. I think it's going to be really good. Like this sounds like it's a really big party. It's not. We're actually just going basically for a barbecue in the park. But he's going to have a golf cart that I've made out of a cosy coupe from a Facebook marketplace. Women's weekly golf course.

No, but we have the women's weekly cookbook and Steve and I were literally talking about it yesterday, like what one we should make. And Steve's committed. He's like, I really want to make the train. I always wanted the train as a kid. And my husband's a train kid, so we'll see. That's cute.

But can you have a train cake at a golf party? Well, that's what I'm thinking. Exactly. That's the current dilemma, which is honestly the biggest thing stressing our relationship at this point in time. Fair enough. I'm stressed, honestly, but let's get further into the show. Less about me, less about my cozy coop journey. I am sharing it all on Instagram for those of you who are interested in Victoria's

rogue DIY. Side note, I did get in trouble from my husband. The spray paint? Yeah. I looked at that and I was like, good Lord. So I took it out into the garden and I spray painted it. It's fine. Yeah, but on the grass. That's fine. No, it's not. It's like hair just grows out. Well, I told Steve, I can fix it. Babe, don't worry.

I'll just spray paint the green because we've picked green as the golf cart colour. Yeah. I'll just spray paint over all the black green. Yeah, that's a great idea. And he said that that's not going to fix it. No, that's a great idea. I thought it was good too.

But in my head, it didn't matter. It's just grass. Like you'll mow the grass and chop off all the paint bits. Yeah. Or what is it, like kill it or something? Look, I actually didn't think about it too deeply. No. But, man.

The little bugs in the grass. Oh, I didn't think about the little bugs. Neither did I until now. But the amount of people that are angry at me in my DMs as well, oh, lordy. They're like, you should have got newspaper. You should have done this on cardboard. What are you doing, Victoria?

That's so bad for the environment. I'm thinking, babe, I have ADHD. Like, I decided last minute to go get this Facebook marketplace thing and go to the shops and get spray paint. I did it so quickly that I had to make three Bunnings trips on Monday because I literally didn't have any of the stuff I needed. And it turns out you need more than one spray can of paint. At the end of it, you're like, I may as well have just bought a golf cart. Well, yeah. The paint is definitely going to cost me more than the actual golf cart. And the fact

that I then got on the internet and was like, oh, you know, like the stick on silver molding for cars yeah bought some of that yeah you got to yep you can get custom number plates oh you gotta get so I got a little it was ten dollars but like custom number plate for the back and then I'm like do you know what would be cooler if I google golf brands and then message old mate Jessica Ricci who's obsessed with her cricket which is a laser cutter is it a laser cutter kind of like a like a fine point cutter it's got a fine point cutter for vinyl that's cool and I asked her to cut out a golf sticker so we can put it on the side of the uh cozy coop yeah it's in my bag right now I'm so excited oh my god anyway I just think that that's a very fun DIY project because what

else do you get a one-year-old yeah exactly nothing it's fun it's DIY it's made with love it looks like it's made with love so I just will be taking photos of it from far away yes anyway would you guys like to hear a five-star review that we received this week Yeah, sure. We also received a one-star review this week that said that I had a receding hairline. So I'm just not going to read that one out, but I will read you the five-star one, yeah? Perfect. That's so mean.

I was like, oh, did you notice? Imagine giving someone a one-star because, sorry, I don't like your hairline. People are, yeah. How cute, right? That's wild. Anyway, so this is the five-star review. You've got a gorgeous hairline. This is from, thanks, I grew it myself.

I'm losing it myself too. This is from Tash. and Tash says seen and supported. Thanks so much to all the wonderful humans at She's on the Money for making me feel seen and supported. With this podcast, I've been able to develop some financial literacy and reframe my mindset towards money. Although this is a long work in progress, it's happening. Last year, I was in my final year of uni and for my honors project, I actually used the She's on the Money podcast as a treatment group for my experimental study. My project was on studying cockatoo dance behaviour.

Thank you to VD, Bec and Jess for your explanations, insights, vulnerability and kind words. Thank you for changing the trajectory of my money journey. Finally, thank you for being part of my uni journey. My project is in the progress of being reviewed to be published. That is so cool. Although I am just picturing cockatoos with, like, little, like, oomph, oomph headphones, like.

Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Yes. I'm sure that's not, that's not it. I think it's roughly. Did you just get cockatoos? Yeah, yeah, at a boiler room. Are you telling me I was involved, like she's on the Money podcast

as a treatment group for my experimental study. Like are you saying that I got to talk to cockatoos? That's really, that is. That's so cool. The whole thing is really nice and really sweet and thank you so much. And also that must be some actually good research as well because as someone who also did her honours year and that was stressful, it's like next level to finish your like your piece of work

work or your thesis, then you have to like apply and have it reviewed to be published. Like that's a completely different ballgame and so stressful. So congrats, because that's actually such a huge feat. That is huge. Like my receding hairline. Yes, exactly. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Let's move on because I'm excited. Jess, you said earlier that you have some pretty good community money wins to share. Let's kick it off. All right. I'm going to start off with one that I'm quite jealous of, from Nat, who said... Oh, that's what it is. Money win.

I've just found out I've been picked to work in Antarctica. What? Whoa. She says she has to pass all sorts of tests and it will be very cold, but the money will be super worth it as well as the experience. Excuse me, sorry. That's so cool. Like, how cool is our community?

I know. That's so cool. I've always wanted to go to Antarctica. We've got people doing cockatoo research projects. We've got somebody going to Antarctica. Like, what? So cool. You guys are so cool.

Very tail-end. I know. I'm very, very jealous. Have a great time, Nat. Next, I've got a money win from Sophie who said she entered a competition on Instagram where you guessed a number between one and a hundred. She guessed it correctly and she won a free night's vacation. Oh, cool.

My partner and I try to do a date night once a fortnight. So we saved ourselves quite a bit of money by doing that. That's actually so cool. Yeah. And I feel like people sometimes say, do people ever win Instagram competitions? And as a company that runs them sometimes, people do win them. And it's so fun to tell them that they won them. Oh, that would be so nice.

Well, someone's got to win, right? Yeah. So you can't join though, Bec. Sorry, you work here. Yeah, I guess the rules, sadly. Next, I've got a money win from Amber who said she booked a mid-year holiday by converting flybys points to velocity points and she had flights and five nights accommodation fully covered.

They just had to pay for the additional three nights and a little bit of spending money for their trip. Oh, I love that. I have been points hacking to Hilt recently and just like doing all the maths for the behind the scenes of like what my points are worth if I like change them to velocity or if I bought gift cards or like what that looks like. I've just been trying to make the most of it because, yeah, I feel like I'm in my points hacking era.

Yep, yep, yep. And I just want to be able to points hack not just on a credit card. Yeah. And there's lots of free points. I also, side note, sorry, did you know that you can add your flybys to your Apple wallet? Yeah. Of course she knows.

Look at this. Look at this. My flybys is just on my Apple wallet. I'm going to get points every single time. You can do it with every day rewards as well. I'm going to see myself out. Next, I've got a money win from Sheridan who said money win. I found chocolate bars and chocolate blocks in the clearance section

of my local BW, so I've stashed them away for Easter. Oh, she's a genius. We've got four kids and chocolate is hella expensive this year. Side note, has anybody seen the price of Easter chocolate? I haven't. I am shocked. She is disgusted. I know.

And even like a block of chocolate, $7. Sorry, what? A big block of Cadbury dairy milk is now $8. Big, big or like regular? Like a family block is $8. Like maybe a year ago it was $5 a block. Yes. I feel like $5 in my head is what a block of chocolate costs.

Like a big one. Like that's to me a sweet treat. But $5 to $8 is a huge jump. Yes, but those regular blocks of chocolates, $7. No, illegal. I'm really sorry. That should be illegal. I know.

Also, Easter chocolate should not be subject to inflation. I'm sorry. We're in a cost of living crisis, and we all know that kids benefit from Easter chocolate as well as Jessica Ricci. 100%. And it should not cost more each year. It's crazy.

I saw someone post about it online. So you know the lint bunny rabbit? Yeah. The little small gold ones. And yes, lint is normally like a little bit more expensive. Lint bunnies are the bougie ones. Correct. On special at Coles, they were two for $25.

Whoa! On special at Coles? No, that's not on. That's not on. I couldn't believe it. But like the, you know how you get the boxed eggs? That's what my mum gets me. Are like $20.

Absolutely not. I was shocked. What's a Humpty Dumpty cost? One moment, let me tell you. Yeah, I really need to know what a Humpty Dumpty costs. A Humpty Dumpty, iconic. What about those little mini egg boxes? Oh, and also while we're on the chocolate train,

one of my favourite things, and I know one of Jessica Ricci's favourite things at Easter time, is the Malteser Bunny. Oh, I love the Malteser Bunny. At checkout, Malteser bunny. Always at checkout. It's a dollar. It's a dollar.

You get your little Malteser bunny. Jessica, it's Kit Kat. Oh. They've changed it. It's not a Malteser bunny anymore. It is a Kit Kat bunny and that should have been illegal. Yeah. Because I picked one up.

I wasn't looking. I was at checkout. I'm an impulse purchaser. So I was like, yeah, I want a Malteser bunny. I deserve this sweet treat on my drive home. Pick it up. Don't even think about it. Checkout.

I'm like eating it thinking this doesn't have the same crunch. Like there's not the crispy bits. You know, in the Malteser one, if you know, you know, like the little crunchy boil, like the ball bits. That's my favourite. I don't even care that it gets stuck in my teeth. It's my favourite. It's great when you get stuck in your teeth.

You get little bits of flavour throughout the day. This has gotten stingy. This has gotten bad to the point where I checked the wrapper and it said Kit Kat and I was like, hold up, I just got duped. I've been bamboozled. I've been bamboozled. Humpty Dumpty will run you $9.50 this year. I don't know what it was previously.

Oh, that feels like a lot. 132 grams. That's little. And look at that. That's not even – no, that's the little one. I'm sure it was $5 at some point in my lifetime. Yeah, I feel like all Easter chocolates should be $5. Yeah, I'm just really surprised by the prices this year.

So extra good win there from Sheridan to pick up something and stash it away for later. Very smart. Oh, my God, sorry, Sheridan. I forgot where we started. Oh, my goodness. Also DIYs, like Easter DIYs this year. I think are in, like finding little baskets and stuff on Facebook.

Yeah, like an Easter basket. And there's little chicks. Yes, the chicks from the reject shop. Oh, my gosh. Anyway, what else have you got, Jess? I've got a money win from Michaela who said she challenged a parking ticket and she won. She said, for the law and the law.

No $90 fine for her, she says. Well done, Michaela. Stick to the man. Oh, my gosh. I actually am going to do that this week too. The other day, Jess and I went to Pilates together and I ended up with a parking ticket, I was off it, and I just realised that it happened one minute, like, on the thing.

It happened one minute after the allocated time. Oh, my. You can just say that you're... Well, she's in the right if it's after... I mean, I was fined legally. No, but you could be like, I was getting a new ticket or whatever. Yeah, like, I just... Give it a crack.

I'm going to give it a crack because I was so salty on it Because at the time I was like, I really don't think I'd overstayed it. I didn't think it was that, like, that close. I was like, Pilates class was like an hour. The parking spot was like an hour, so yes. But I did run in late. Remember? Like, we ran down the street.

Yeah. So anyway. That's mean. I just don't want to pay it, Mum. I know. I don't like it. I think you could fight that. And lastly this month I've got a money win from Gabrielle

who said money win. Disney's price jump of $3 per month was just too much for us So we're cancelling our $18 per month subscription, which will save us $215 a year. That's actually really good. Yeah, exactly. A little rave sunshine. That's actually so good. Money win tip for people with kids.

Obviously, you can't share Netflix anymore, but you can still share Disney and you can do that with all of the other mums in Mum Goods group. Not that I would do that. Definitely not. I wouldn't do that. Also, I do want to say Netflix with ads is what I'm paying. It's like $8 a month, which is still like that was the original price and that's fine. But there's honestly not that many ads.

And also I kind of like it. It's a little like intermission. We in our team definitely would not share our logins to different platforms. We would never do that to save money. No. No. Except for Netflix, which we tried and it still doesn't work.

Can you just be travelling all the time? Yeah, I'm always travelling. But then it sends you like a code to your email and you have to log in. It's a whole thing. like not that we would have tried we definitely are paying for all of our own subscriptions absolutely um all right let's move on miss beck syed i think that was a good break tip for me but what tips are you bringing to the table snatched one right out of my hands um so i've got as always two from the community one for myself this first one comes from hannah who sent

me a reel of um it's very funny it's very up my alley this brand called 1920 they sell what looks to be like a bag that also turns into a raincoat and this bag you can like if you're traveling this is more so if you're traveling I suppose like you just chuck all your things in the bag and then when you put the raincoat on to get onto the plane or whatever so you don't have any check-in baggage the pockets are so deep but the whole thing's puffy so you wouldn't even notice if you had a whole ass laptop in one of your pockets like it just like kind of all blends in yeah I can send this I can you can you know put it wherever you like but just so people have an idea of what I'm talking about. It's a big, puffy, long, I would say, yeah, like a puffer jacket.

Because I was going to say, what do you do with the stuff that was in the bag when you go from bag to coat? Exactly. Well, that is all for your gigantic pockets. So you can either put all your clothes on or literally stuff them in the pockets and you're good to go. You'll probably be taking up a lot of real estate, but it doesn't look weird. Yeah. And then when you're on the plane, you can put it back in the bag so you don't have to wear that. Exactly, you just fold that back up into a bag. That is genius. So funny though, I was like, why would you be putting a rain,

it doesn't rain on the plane. It took me a minute. It does when you're scared and you're crying. So this next one comes from Emma who says that her and her partner do this thing called Invisible Guest, kind of like, it's kind of like. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's kind of like mystery shopping. Yes, exactly, exactly. So you sign up.

You do have to be like relatively good at writing because they do kind of like check to make sure that you're you basically go in and you have to review everything but when i say review i mean like not even just the food like the the entrance like is there like clear uh signage to the toilets like everything yeah cool so you'd be on but you could also just like wear a gopro and secretly film everyone i like that you nodded at our producer because we all know that like our producer actually does that and like that's like from her she's like very she's on the money coded oh yeah oh we rate this we rate this and the benefit is that you get invited to all these different restaurants and you get like a certain amount to spend it's not

like 30 bucks it's probably like you know within a couple of hundreds yeah yeah it's wild it is wild so i would definitely review my dinner for a free dinner absolutely i would review so what's it called invisible guest invisible guest you sign up i believe there's like a bit of a wait list but you just sign up anyway sign up right now sign up and then if you get on you get on and then you and your partner can have a free date night. Exactly. That's a good deal. And it's kind of cute because I love to reminisce and debrief after a date.

And so even if it's just literally me and my partner. You're literally just like reminiscing and you're like actually sharing that with that platform. Exactly. Well, I'm technically being paid for this in groups. And then we kissed under the moonlight. Your reviews would be so detailed. They'd be like, this actually has nothing.

Why was she sharing what she was thinking about during the next date? As I gazed into her eyes across the table, I thought, well, the ice cubes in my lemon lemon bitters were perfectly shaped. Her eyes were glistening. I would just be talking about my visceral reaction to everything. Anyway. Yeah. But yes, so I think that's really, really great.

And then the next one is, because it's, you know, it's kind of like I'm clinging on to Valentine's Day, I don't know about you guys, but I always want to preface this by saying like, I never mention these things, like give myself like a pat on the back or a round of applause or whatever. I literally just – I literally don't think that you do. Okay, good. I literally just want to tell people that it doesn't – I want to know what you did on your Valentine's Day and how it worked

and your tips and tricks because I booked a beautiful dinner for my husband and I, and then I had gastro. So that was my Valentine's, yes. That's so sad. Well, you know – So tell me, what did you do? So I'll just give you one because I don't want to bore the people. So I –

At what point are we bored? We're like, oh, what next? Oh, you guys. so we decided not to buy anything which we're just going to make stuff and so I got um literally I'm not joking also if anyone doesn't know this you can get free cardboard boxes from Bunnings um like moving boxes so I went and got cardboard boxes from Bunnings I got some fabric glue some fabric from Spotlight um duct tape you buy the fabric from Spotlight she's circumventing the rules here I think I know that's true but it wasn't that much money you're not gonna tell

Jess it's okay exactly so you just get some cheap fabric whatever color you like um and what I did was I, like, built this, like, not built, I'm saying, like, oh, my God, I'm so, anyway, I made this old-school chocolate box. You know those, like, you know, the kind of come. Oh, the love heart-shaped ones. The love heart-shaped chocolate box. Yeah, yeah. Literally just cardboard and paper, duct tape, and fabric glue.

Yeah, and then covered it in fabric. And then if you are ever at a point where you can afford a Ferrero Rocher, then maybe you can chuck those in. A Ferrero Rocher is bougie. That's actually Jess's favourite chocolate. Yes. And they're a gift-only chocolate. A gift-only, you never buy them for yourself, which I respect,

but I think you're allowed to. I think you're allowed to, but I just don't think that they would taste as good. No, they wouldn't taste as good. That's so true. Yeah, I just, I feel like the flavor would be off. But they taste just as good if you're buying them for someone else and you're eating them. Like I, yeah, absolutely. I also feel like I'm convinced if you purchased them for yourself and took them home, you'd

open the Ferrero Rocher and I can almost guarantee it would be one of those ones with the little white spots on them. Yeah, that's true. You'd get got. You'd get got. You would. And that would be karma. Yeah.

For buying your own Ferrero Rochers. The universe says no. Exactly. Not allowed. But yeah, and then you can fill that with whatever the hell you want. You can do little notes. You can make little chocolates at home. Do it cheap.

Get some Aldi chocolate. Aldi chocolate's good. Aldi chocolate is elite. Yes. But yeah, so that's my gift broke tip is make, make, make. I love that. And also free cardboard boxes at Bunnings for your crafts. Yeah, true.

I guess that's the main thing. That's a good one. That's a good one. All right, guys, let's go to a really quick break because I am chomping at the bit to get into what we're talking about this week. A money dilemma all about how to get a better rate on your mortgage, which you guys know I'm wildly passionate about. But on the flip side, then we get to have a chat about something that you slid into our DMs about and we're chatting whether you should start a side hustle with a friend. 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, girls. I'm just looking to decrease my interest rate with my bank loan. I'm not wanting to do a full refinance. as that's a lot right now. I don't have the energy, but I was just wondering how do I go about calling up my own bank and just seeing if I can get a lower interest rate. I'm currently on

about 6.14 and I've seen online that they've got ones available for, you know, 5.9 or something like that and I know it's not a huge difference but I still would like to take advantage of that is there a certain amount of times that you can do this is there a limit I've just got heaps of questions about it and I really just need like a full overview of that thanks this is a really good question first off you said oh I don't want to refinance at the moment like that's too hard if you go and see a good mortgage broker, they do all the work. Like you don't have to do anything and you could probably get an even better rate. But you've asked basically, how do I get a better rate with my current bank? You negotiate. Jess, on our website, we have a free template of how

to negotiate a better deal. And you can use it for like your car insurance. You could use it for your gas and electricity. You could use it to call your bank and say, I want a better rate. But what I would do is just pick up the phone and have a chat to them and say, hey, like I just want to talk to the right people about getting a better rate on my home loan. And not just taking the first no as a no, because they're going to go, oh no, sorry, that's for new customers only. Or that's for, you know, a limited period of time or whatnot. But there is not an issue with you saying, oh no, like if you can't help me, can I please speak to someone who can? It's like whenever we are trying to negotiate something, the most important thing to do is always maintain your cool. Like we aren't

angry. We are super kind. I promise you, lose your temper, lose your opportunity. Like you are not going to be getting a single thing from anyone, whether that is, you know, a girl that you're asking about a refund policy in a retail store or the person that you're calling on the phone when talking to the bank. I promise you in the background, they're in the lunchroom being like, this woman was so rude to me. I was absolutely not going to help her. Like I can't be bothered with that energy. Not today, Satan. Also, you could ruin someone's day. Which is also just not nice. Oh, 100%. Like just be kind. But then we are asking for a better rate and articulating what you've seen online. So sometimes banks actually have policies to say,

no, sorry, like I don't actually have a better rate available for you. But if you mention the rate that is advertised, they actually have to do something about it. The same is actually true for your phone plan. So if you called up your phone provider, a lot of them are like, hey, cool, no, sorry, we can't help, we can't help. But if you mentioned a competitor's pricing and said, oh, well, this other network is actually $39 a month, they go, oh, okay, let me put you through to our retention team because you've like triggered something in their process. So what I would do is I'd be really clear and have some research in front of you so you can without doubt say, well, actually on your website, it is advertised at 4.84. So I'm just wondering if I could get that.

If the person on the phone says no, again, we're being super kind and saying, thanks so much. I can see that you can't help me. Is there someone that this could be escalated to that I could discuss this with? And they might say, oh no, sorry, like the buck stops with me. At which point you can say you've tried, but if it gets escalated, you can have that conversation again and be like, hey, call the person before you couldn't help. And I'm just wondering if this could be escalated. I'd really like to be able to get a better rate on my mortgage X, Y, Z for whatever reason, you don't even have to justify it. You can just ask for a better rate. And if that doesn't work, something that can often be quite helpful is saying, okay, no worries. I have

been thinking of leaving if I didn't get a better rate. Yes. You don't have to leave. They're not going to cancel your mortgage if you say that. And banks are going to hate me for saying this. But if you say that you are potentially going to leave, you are very likely going to be put through to what they call their retention team, which want to give people better deals so they don't leave. So calling them up and saying like, hey, cool. Well, actually, I don't know, maybe I'll leave. Can you send me the release forms? Because them just sending some forms doesn't mean you're signing them and sending them back. But it does tell them, no, like seriously, I would consider other options and you will lose my mortgage. Very likely to be put through to the

retention team. Yes. I was going to say, like, is that a thing if you call up and say, hey, you guys, I'm thinking of refinancing, but I just wanted to see. Yeah, absolutely. You can say it however you would like there's six million different ways you could do it but like you could say hey i've been looking at refinancing but i wanted to give you guys the opportunity first to give me a better rate like that might be a really good way to go about it um you could blame me and be like oh i've been listening to this podcast and the woman on it keeps saying that we need to refinance excitingly we had the first cash rate drop so the rba announced this week first cash rate drop since 2020, which is so exciting. And that means that the cash rate has now dropped to

4.10. And that is going to bring up a lot of questions for other people who are thinking about refinancing. So side quest conversation. If you have been thinking about refinancing, yes, now is a time to think about it. In saying that, right now the RBA has said the cash rate has dropped. That doesn't mean that the rate discounts have been passed on by your bank yet either. So I actually have some dates. So for NAB, ANZ, CBA and Bank West, all of those are going to be articulating their rate discounts on the 28th of February. On the 27th of February, UBank is going to be articulating theirs. And then the Bank of Melbourne, WBC, ING, those three banks are going to be announcing it on the 4th of March. So if you've been thinking

about refinancing, the best thing to do is actually have a chat with a broker now, but not looking for a better rate until after the 4th of March, when basically all the banks have put on the table what their discount is going to be so that your broker is able to get the best possible rate. It's like in my business at the moment, we're actually, you know, where possible, pushing clients off a little bit and saying, hey, Bec, I know that we want to like get you pre-approval right now. Can you wait till the 4th of March so we can get the best possible deal? because if it's issued today, you'll get a good deal, but it won't be including the new RBA rate discount. Does that make sense? So like if you're thinking about refiing, now's actually a really

good time. In fact, because the RBA has dropped the cash rate, that is going to mentally trigger a lot of people to go and go, oh, I can refi now, the cash rate's dropped. Like that hasn't happened since 2020. So brokers are going to be busy. We are really busy, but like we are so excited to refire so many people's loans and get them better deals because I've been chomping at the bit because it's just been going up and up like it's felt like we've got no release and this community member who's sent us a really sweet voicemail she said oh it's not much actually it is like that amount even though it's like less than a percent different is actually going to mean tens of thousands of dollars of savings in the long term for you so even though you might go um like

it doesn't actually matter the difference between a 6.84 interest rate and a 6.24 interest rate is actually significant you might not go oh well it starts with six so they're both the same like I get it and like in the bigger picture for you maybe like things are fluctuating but like I'm just so keen to save so many clients heaps of cash and it's going to be we we're keeping a tracker in the office I'm just so excited about it yes how much should we save clients this week Does that mean mortgages will go down? Mortgages are going to go down. Rent?

Not rent. It does mean actually a cash rate drop. Side note, cash rate drop actually means that your savings account is going to see a decrease in the interest rate that's applied. So when a cash rate drop happens, it's actually saying that our economy is stabilizing. It's a really good thing. But that means that property prices are probably going to increase, which is not that sexy. But it does mean you'll increase your serviceability.

So you'll be able to borrow more money because when cash is cheap, you're able to borrow more and it does mean that your savings account is going to start decreasing. So I feel like over the last four or five years, we've had really good savings rates. So we've been able to, sorry, this is like a complete finance side note, but I'm hoping it's semi-interesting. We have had really great interest rates on our savings accounts because our economy has been a little bit tumultuous and like during times of economic stress, which, you know, we've been talking, You've probably heard it around the traps. People are saying like, oh, we're headed for a recession and all of that stuff. Thankfully, it didn't happen in Australia, but people stop investing

as harshly. People stop purchasing as many houses. People stop transacting as much and they want to keep all their money in a savings account because the interest rate is a little bit higher and it feels really cozy. But now is the time that you actually need to start considering what your investment plan is. Because if the interest rates are coming down and the cash rate is coming down, your savings aren't going to be getting as many interest rates and the economy is going to start coming back up. So now's the time. If you haven't been investing or you have been thinking about investing and you're just not sure, like I would say, can you just get in now? I'm not saying that there's ever a good time or a bad time to invest because from my perspective, the best time to

invest is when you are personally ready. I don't care because we're dollar cost averaging, but just come on. Come on. Just do it. Just consider what your investment plans are. Have a look at your super, make sure it's invested. Anyway, I've just got lots to say about investing. I'm probably excited because I was talking to the girls in the team, the She's on the Money team yesterday, because we're re-releasing our investing masterclass. And like, we're talking about like, what bonus content can we do? How do we redo this? How do we make it even better? And I'm really excited about that. Anyway, sorry, sorry. Let's move on to the DM we got this week, because I'm pretty sure you're sick of my cash rate chat.

Never. No. Jess is like, never. I've been hearing it for the last week. Sit down. Also, by the way, our She's On The Money content team predicted the actual cash rate at 4.1 and they were so confident that it was going to be 4.1 after all of their research. They made the Instagram post and then live streamed the RBA meeting because we're that

cool. And then when the cash rate was announced at 4.1, they literally hit post so that we got to be the first people to announce it. Not that anybody else noticed that, but we were having a really big party. I did say yesterday, wow, they're on the pulse. We are, we are, right? We're on the money. Absolutely. All right. So our DM this week, hiya, I need some advice. So I spent summer holidays with a good friend and we came up with this great business idea. She's still so keen and ready to go, but now it's time to actually put money in and I am freaking out. We said we'd both put in 5k, but now I'm just staring at my bank account like, do I really want to risk this? What

if it flops? She keeps saying it's just money and we need to take risks to make money, but it's not just money to me. It's my emergency fund and my safety net. I can already tell she's getting a bit over it. Like I'm holding us back and I hate feeling like the bad guy. I also don't want to let her down but also what if this ruins our friendship am I actually being smart or am I just totally overthinking this please help I guess it's like I mean I know I probably already know what the right thing to do would be and that is like don't be spending your emergency fine on something that's not an emergency and something that's so risky so such high risk isn't it like you could like that this could flop or it could go really well it's possible to say I would say

the disposable, if you have any savings that are like, oh, I'm saving for a holiday or I'm saving for a, I don't know, fancy night out or something like that kind of money, sure, chuck it in there. That could be wrong, but I wouldn't be touching the emergency fund. Is there any way maybe you could like put in less and your friend could put in more? At the end of the day, though, if your friend is like, hey, give me all your money, every single thing you've ever worked for, or I'll not be your friend anymore, then well, I think that's probably not a good friend. If they're not worried about you and your literal life, like if something actually does happen, touch wood, and you're like, oh, wait a second, all my money is tied up in this business or this little side hustle or whatever it is, then yeah, you'll be kind of screwed. so I would say see if you can put in a tiny bit less or just like maybe a little bit to start with

or or at least just maybe push this back and start saving for that and have like that intention in mind like I'm saving for this amount for this side hustle and we'll do it by this date so you kind of have the motivation and you can save and then when you get to it it doesn't feel like so like oh my god I'm giving away so much money it'll feel like oh yeah I saved this money for this and here, here you go. So if you can do that, but yeah, if your friend is not happy with you giving away your life savings, then that's probably not a very nice friend or person. Also, we're not needed here anymore, Jess. Beck can just run the show. You're all over. True. And see you guys on Monday. Jess, what are your thoughts on this? Yeah, I agree. I think there's like several

components within this message. I think you're fully right, Beck. Like you shouldn't be putting your emergency fund into anything that is not an emergency, in my opinion, if it can be avoided. Yeah, that's not spending money. That money shouldn't have even been part of the conversation. It's not an option on the table. So I think that that in itself, for me, it's a pretty clear like, no, you shouldn't be putting that money into it. When it comes to the risk of a business, I think you have to look at it as an investment. And like any investment, there are risks. Have you really done your research for the business? And if you're not sure what to look at, we've done some really great business Bible episodes. I'd go back and look at, have you done your

customer avatar have you checked competitors are you feeling a gap in the market like is it just a good idea have you actually done your research yeah also have you done a budget yeah like where's this five grand coming from why do you need ten thousand dollars to start this business I don't have enough insight because it might be like oh well actually we've done a budget and we need to register our business and that costs this and then the the equipment we're buying is eight and a half thousand dollars perfect otherwise we can't start yeah like oh okay then that makes sense but where's this coming from? Yeah, totally. So I think like, have you like set yourself up theoretically when you're going into business, you should have a relatively good idea of like

who you're selling to what you're selling. Like you should have done all that background work. Like I think we've all kind of sat around a table with friends and gone, Oh my God, imagine if we started this cool thing, but to get from A to B successfully, you really need to have set yourself up with a plan. And that includes as VD said, a budget and cashflow, like a strategy, like you've done all of your research like if you've done all those things I think you probably would be feeling a little bit more confident in what you're doing and also hopefully you and your partner or your business partner would be a little bit more on the same page about things because if you're seeing cracks now I would say that that's a very big red flag to me because

right now you're in the easy part of business like you're not in the trenches easy yeah yeah it gets a lot harder and a lot more challenging the longer you're in it. And so if you're already not quite on the same page, I can only imagine that that would amplify. It'll get worse. I did like, yeah, it's a slippery slope. Yeah. And I think a poor business partnership, because you can be a really great friend with somebody, but not be made to work well together or not be right to be business partners together. And no matter how... You're preaching to the converted over here, Jessica. No matter how good of... My accountant has banned me from other business partners. Yes. Yes. I'm fully on board with that. Like no matter how much you love them or how much

you get along, if you're not going to be good business partners, it's not going to be a good experience for either of you. So I would, the whole thing, I would say proceed with caution. Yeah. Yeah. And then on the flip side, I'm like, okay, cool. I totally get that. But also if you're entrepreneurial, you're like, well, I am willing to risk my emergency fund. I am willing to put every single dollar into it. Like I look back on my business journey. I didn't have an emergency fund when I was starting my business. Terrible idea. Like absolutely terrible. Like I would never tell people to do things in the same way that I did. I didn't pay my super for years. I didn't do all of these things that, you know, I have a business podcast and I do now have two multi-million

dollar businesses. So like I'm walking the walk, but I can't sit here and say that I was a gold star business journey to look at. I know how you should do it now and I can help you along that journey, but I cannot say that I did it. So like at the same time as you, like I'm listening to you guys say, yeah, this is, this is right. And that's the advice I have as well. But on the flip side, like I get it. If you've got a good idea and you're wildly passionate about it and you're like, I'm so ready for this. Like I would put all my dollars into this. Like girl, I get it. But on the flip side, you've said that you're freaking out. So I want you to like sit down and maybe write a letter to yourself about why you're freaking out. Is it because you're taking

risk? Is it because you're not sure if it's a good idea? Is it an oversaturated market? Where's this freaking out coming from? Because I'm not saying spend your emergency fund, but I am saying do a little bit more research and also write up a budget. What research have you done? And I preach this on the business Bible all the time. You can do an entire budget and plan the entire business without spending a cent. You can look up how much it's going to cost to register. You can look up all of the like things that might, you know, if there's any compliance, you can, you know, if let's say you're selling candles online, you can look up suppliers for your candle jars online. You can send inquiries. You can understand how much that's going to cost, what shipping is going to cost,

what shipping insurance is going to cost. You can look at, you know, what your products are going to look like, where you're going to source them, labels, all of that. And you can create a comprehensive budget. You can work out what your sale price per unit would be. I'm telling you right now all of that will go out the window because things change and develop and you might get your sample jars and be like oh my god that supply is terrible but like you've got a really comprehensive idea of what this is going to cost you and I can almost guarantee if you have that you're going to be very confident in spending the money so what I'm hearing is that you're freaking out a little bit and often that's happening because of a lack of planning and

a lack of clarity so that's where I'm at and I'd also be honest with your friend like pick up the phone and say, hey, I know that we're at this point. Why am I freaking out? Like, oh, I feel so nervous. And they'll go, oh my God, I know. Maybe they don't know it's your last five grand and they've got like 30 in the bank and they're just taking five of that. Do you know what I mean? Maybe they're in a different situation. Surprisingly, communication is the key, Jessica. Oh, who would have thought? What did everybody else say? So we asked the community, what would you do if you were in this situation? 26% of you said, I'd just trust that it would be successful. 35% of you said, try to put in less money. And 39% of you said, I'd back out

before I was involved. Interesting. Next question we asked was, would you ever start a business with a friend? 3% said, yep, we're friends for a reason. 66% of you said, depends on the friend. Yeah. And 31% of you said, no way, business and friends don't mix. Fair. I'm in that boat. I had to learn the hard way, the really hard way. And then we obviously said, guys, what is your two cents? Someone said in very big capital letters. Oh, scary. And there's a hashtag and an at sign in the word that starts with F and ends in K.

Ah, yes, yes, yes. So it says, don't F with your emergency fund. Amen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's nice. Loud and clear. We hear you. Someone else said, I think you have to be 110% committed to the cause in order to have a

successful business. Amen. Someone else said, if it's not a heck yes, it is a heck no, trust your gut. True. Another person said, accountant here, they need to get on the same page first in relation to their intentions, risk profile plans. Like, yes. But I also do want to acknowledge that like lots of businesses, we just go rogue. I'm not saying it's the right thing to do, but like sometimes it's 3am, you have a great name and then whoops, you've accidentally registered a business name. But there's lots of things that they can do without investing too. Like they can build the social media, they can register things, like all of those things that don't necessarily require an upfront $10,000 investment that you can still use to test the waters and

start getting things going. And what does that actually look like? So like if you're both putting $5,000 each in, I'm assuming that you're operating this business equally. So you get 50%, I get 50%. But then who's working in the business? Like, are we relying more on one person's skill set over another? Like, is one person going to work every single day in this business and you've got a full-time job that can only help on the weekends? Like, what type of labor is going to be involved? I've just got lots of questions. I love small business. Another person said, a man wouldn't bat an eyelid, back yourself, you've got this. Yeah, fair point. Yeah, but I also think that like there's a reason women are better investors you know yes there's a reason

men die earlier than women we're so positive I love us another person said are there other ways you can get involved in the business that aren't financial someone else said do you really believe in this business idea if you don't don't do it if yes then do a lot more research and someone else said if you can't communicate openly right now with each other this is probably a really good reason to not be in a partnership. That's a great point. Yeah. And then the last person said, maybe you could negotiate who does more of the business admin or financial organization. Yes. Last one I'll share and then I'll give you a tip from my dad. So last one is the best business partner is yourself. And my dad told me a long time ago, and I didn't listen until recently,

that the best number of business partner is an odd number of less than three. Wow, what a riddle. Yeah. Thanks, dad. if you are a small business owner though and you've got questions vd you've got a a little webinar coming up soon though people might want to do it might be handy this is a really good plug this is not a paid for plug i'm just sharing it on the pod because i feel like if you listen to all that business chat and you're like yeah i want to learn more i'm running a free webinar with my friends from constant contact online it's actually quite soon so you'll have to RSVP, but it's on Thursday. What is it Jess? Thursday, the 27th of February. And then it's at

11am. And the coolest thing, or I think the coolest thing is Constant Contact are so excited about this. They said that anyone who attends and then signs up to Constant Contact, which is like an email marketing platform that is honestly really cool. They're actually going to send you a copy of my book, The Business Bible for free. Like you don't have to spend a dollar. All you have to do is come to my webinar, but obviously T's and C's apply, whatever. I'm just going to disclaim that. But Jess, we can put all of the information in the show notes, but I think that that will be really cool because it's like a marketer's meetup and we're going to just talk about like marketing and branding and like, you know, how to take your business to the next level

and like really own it yourself as opposed to just being on socials. So I just think I'm wildly passionate about this. And if you are a business person as well, maybe that's of interest. Also free book money win we love that's very cool you can't make it live i believe there will be a replay so still put your information in so we have your email because we'll send it out to anyone who attended a hundred percent i love this i also feel like maybe they've bitten off more than they can chew and they don't realize the power of the she's on the money community so like you said free book we love a money win we sure do like this could work out well for them this could also be an admin nightmare because like they're gonna have to fulfill these books individually poor

team posting out the books i can only imagine yeah we might have to give them a hand but anyway i think that is all we've got time for today guys have a beautiful weekend and we will see you bright and early on monday for a money diary 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 authorized representatives of Money

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