She's On The Money - Investing in your 20s, 30s, and 40s: Tips for Each Lifestage

Episode Date: August 18, 2026

Something we hear super often is, “How do I invest now, to prepare for a comfortable retirement later on?”. To which we say, “That depends…”  In this week’s Deep Dive, Victoria and Bec unpack what you might need to invest each month to reach $1m by the time you reach retirement. Better than that, they’ll break it down by life stage so that there are relatable and actionable things to consider for you whether you’re in your 20s, 30s, 40s and beyond.  Rather than simply telling you to earn or save more, or get better at budgeting, the team shares considerations around things like investing habits, superannuation, and salary sacrificing that scale with the characteristics of your assets.  Rather than rushing in or feeling left out, this episode is about reframing your approach to investing over a lifetime. GET YOUR FREE INVESTING CHEAT SHEET: It’s yours for the taking over at https://www.shesonthemoney.com/download-resources HIGH-INTEREST SAVINGS ACCOUNTS: We’ve compiled a list of some of Australia’s most competitive high=interest savings accounts over on the blog. Search ‘high-interest’ at www.shesonthemoney.com/blog  TUNE IN, TURN UP THE DIVIDENDS: Stream our investing playlist over at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7iWOxtjWXFzTMLU6mtru2I BROOKE'S FIRE PLAN: Learn how SOTM team member Brooke is investing to retire before 35, over at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsuXtMcFLM8 New here? Follow us on Instagram (@shesonthemoneyaus) for Q&As, bite-sized advice, daily money inspo... and relatable money memes that just get you.  Acknowledgement of Country By Nartarsha Bamblett (nartarshabamblett.com.au) The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708,  AFSL - 4451289See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

She's on the money. She's on the money. My name's Natasha Bamblett. I'm a proud First Nations woman and I'm here to acknowledge country. Hello, beautiful friends. We gather on the lands of the Aboriginal people. We thank, acknowledge and respect the Aboriginal people's land that we're gathering on today.

Take pleasure in all the land and respect all that you see. She's on the money podcast, acknowledges culture, country, community and connections, bringing you the tools, knowledge and resources for you to thrive. Hello friends and welcome to another deep dive edition of She's On The Money, the podcast that helps you feel more in control of your financial future, no matter your age or life stage. Now, because we're no strangers to investing, we're constantly on the lookout for ways to help you learn more and become more confident in your own personal investing journeys. But we're not all listeners at the same stage.

So our research and recommendations need to adapt accordingly, right? Fair call. I am Victoria Devine. Today, Bec and I will be sharing investment strategies for people in their 20s, 30s, 40s and beyond, because if we've learned anything, my friend, it's all about when you start. Miss Bec Syed, welcome back to a Deep Dive episode. Thank you so much for having me. I am just grateful to have you.

I feel like I'm just, I just love doing episodes with you because you are just, I don't know, sunshine oh VD that's so sweet you're so fun thank you that is so you are so fun no we just love each other so like we just want to do investing content together true I really do like this the idea of this episode because I think that like you know I'm in my 30s you're in your 30s like there are people that are listening that are beyond you know 40s 50s 60s and they're like oh damn it's too late but it's not necessarily too late never too late Beck it is never too late. Even if you're a year before retiring, there's always benefit in looking at your financial position and trying to better it. Absolutely. There's that saying that the best time

to plant a tree is 100 years ago. The second best time is right now. Exactly. And you would have had a really good tree if you planted it 100 years ago. Absolutely. And you're about to have a really good tree because you're planting it right now. I think you've nailed it, Bec. Thank you. And we'll soon explain exactly how you might set yourself up depending on your age bracket to show the impact of investing on your personal wealth goals. But before Bec and I do, we're going to take a really quick tea break. All right, Bec, we are back and I am excited. It is time for us to get our ducks in a row. No matter how old you are, there are actually a few things that you need to have sorted before you buy your first share. Bec, can you guess what

they might be? I have a feeling. Is it something to do with setting up an emergency fund or paying down debt maybe? Girl, it is always about paying down debt and setting up an emergency fund. I was having this conversation the other day to a friend. I was like, I feel like I am so gentle or I hope to be so gentle with the She's On The Money community because I genuinely, I don't care what your wealth goals are. I just want to make sure that you have all of the tools and all of the resources that you deserve to put yourself in the best possible position. But I also feel like recently in the middle of a cost of living crisis, watching all this SpaceX stuff happen, watching you know essentially the economy perform in a way that's not putting us all in the best

possible position I feel like I need to be more aggressive like in a positive like big sister way not in a like we're mates way but like want you to get your together so that you can be in the best possible position and like I just think that in today's economy it is so irresponsible to not have an emergency fund okay to not put yourself in the best possible position like you are literally stealing from future you like I want you to be in the best possible position it's not because I'm like that is so irresponsible like I want you to live love laugh but I also want you to have 500 bucks stashed for an emergency because you deserve that don't you like you deserve to get out of any circumstantial situation or position you don't want to be in like you don't deserve

to go into debt like yeah i need to be aggressive about this because i feel like so many people are just going i just do what i want and i'm like yeah pop off queen but like do what future you wants to and future you wants to feel secure no that's very true that's a really good um i i really like your outlook on that because it's like you could be wanting to do whatever you might just be like oh i just want to be able to buy tim tams on a friday but i get it emergency fund you will always be able to buy Tim Tams on a Friday. Exactly. And I just think that before we start investing your money anywhere, we just need to get our house in order because it can be so exciting. Like if you're listening to this episode, you're like, oh, V, this one's for me

because like I'm in my 40s. I haven't started investing yet and I really want to. But you have some personal debt. It's not sexy, is it? Like it's not. I get it. But we need to focus on getting rid of that personal debt because that's actually the best investment you can make. If you have debt, you have a high interest rate that you are guaranteed to have to pay. Getting rid of that means that you're not going to have to pay it. Getting rid of that means we're setting up savings habits that can then fold into investing habits. So that means we are consolidating any bad debt and we are tackling it head on.

Any buy now, pay later setups, any credit cards, any high interest loans that might be interfering with your contributing power, we're caring about that. We are tackling that first. And if this is a really big thing for you, Queen, I get it. I didn't get myself into $40,000 worth of personal debt just for fun. I did it because I was just like you. And now I've pulled myself out. I'm like, oh, I can see the light. But sometimes when you're in debt, you cannot see the light. And you need a friend to be like, Bec, I promise this is a hard slog, but it gets better. But she's on the money. We have a whole heap of budget templates. We have a whole heap of

episodes on getting out of debt. We have a whole heap of resources that are free on our website because Beck, I would never charge you to help you get out of debt. I love that. But I'll make sure that I include them in the show notes for you. So it does involve you setting up an emergency fund. I don't know your circumstances. If you're in your twenties and you still live with your parents and you don't have to pay rent or board, pop off. Your emergency fund might actually just be $500 to the side because you don't have emergency expenses. But if you're in your 40s and you have two teenage kids, that's going to look a little bit different. And then what an emergency fund looks like to you is going to be a little bit healthier, right? Like you're going

to need a little bit more than $500. So I want you to set up an emergency fund so that you can still afford a decent quality of living. If you get sick or if you need to take some time off work or if you become injured or suddenly unemployed. That's happening to all our friends at the moment, Bec. Yeah, it's so true. Like so many of our friends are becoming suddenly unemployed. They didn't see it coming. It's not because of their talent.

It's not because of how smart they are. It's the nature of work at the moment. I feel like redundancies are everywhere and you just can't predict them. So true. And think about it. If you can't, Bec, afford to pay rent or buy basic groceries, maybe investing isn't actually right for you right now like and I mean that in the kindest of ways I do want you to stay for the episode I do want you to learn because the second you have your

emergency fund and the second you're able to do those things we can start investing and you don't even have to do the education part because you already did it like you're already like finger on the pulse you are ready to go like you are set up just because you're not investing doesn't mean you're not on your investing journey right like we were on the education section of the journey anyway I think it's really important that you get your baseline budget and your emergency fund going and then you and I can talk about your actual investment portfolio and what you're allowed to invest in but like yeah being your best friend like I want to be the best friend that you've got I care so deeply about you genuinely I feel like I do need to up the ante on how aggressively I

believe that you need your emergency fund yeah it's like it's not me going you're doing the wrong thing it's me going beck put future you first please she deserves that yeah for sure and you do right like if i ask you does future you deserve to be financially comfortable yeah heck yeah she does hell yeah exactly okay it doesn't feel good in the moment when you're like but i wanted to invest or i wanted to go on a holiday for sure nah queen that's not what we're doing Okay. What about things like savings? Do your savings become your investment contributions or should you divvy it up? How do you approach it? Okay. So this depends on your money goals personally. So maybe you're saving

for like a house deposit and you still really want to dabble in investing on the side. Sure. Or maybe your goal is to invest aggressively and retire really early. So depending on what your plan is, you might choose to set up automations that make contributions as soon as you get paid so that you aren't hesitating with what's left around your day-to-day expenses. So some people, and this doesn't work for everybody, but some people aim to invest 20% of their income while others only contribute what they can paycheck to paycheck. Like some months it might be like five bucks.

Some months you might be like, oh, I've got some tax back. I've got a couple of hundred bucks. So you might also want to split up all of your accounts so that savings and your contributions are separate. Now, our team has created an investing playlist to help you explore the different ways that you're able to do this as well, because there's no right or wrong answer. All right, Bec, let's say that you've got your ducks in a row and you've got your emergency fund. You know, you have a really good finger on the pulse around your budget, like you've got it

together. I'm going to give you an idea of how much each age group will need to invest every single month in order to reach an investment portfolio of $1 million. Okay, cool. I'm also going to explain how things like returns, so like the success of various shares or ETFs and inflation might impact this over time. I have picked a million dollars. It's a really round number. If you zoom out a little bit and look at Australian statistics, you do not need a million dollars to retire. I think that you would retire incredibly comfortably if you had a million dollars. And every single person in my community has the ability, I promise you, to create an investment portfolio that supports them in retirement. Yes. Okay. We have the ability

to financially put ourselves first. It does involve pulling your finger out and getting some stuff done though. Sure, sure, sure. It does. This is very motivating, I must say. So because we know that inflation affects the purchasing power of your money and that what costs a million dollars today might cost you way more in, say, a decade or so, I guess it means like $1 million now, just hypothetically, it probably changes a little bit if you are renting versus don't have to pay mortgage anymore, et cetera, et cetera. But it's a nice round number and we're going to just assume. You know, when you're like, if I peaked like $600,000,

the numbers don't become as round and easy to like kind of stick in your brain. Absolutely. And I don't want people to think, oh, my gosh, Victoria's so out of touch. She thinks I can create a million-dollar portfolio. But you can. Do you know what? You can. Like, Bec, boys have done it.

Absolutely. Don't get me wrong. there is a lot standing in your way do you think I could absolutely you could I do not Beck I do not see why you could not do that yeah like it actually comes down to you committing to it though and that is the hardest freaking thing yeah because like life happens and short-term gratification versus delayed gratification is so hard and it's something that I have had to learn the hard way But like one thing I am good at and I know is really hard, especially living in 2026, is I am good at sacrificing something smaller now because I know that I'll have a bigger, better one later. Whereas a lot of people would much prefer to go, I can't be bothered.

Let's not think about the bigger thing. I'm going to shut that part of my brain out. I don't care. I really want the smaller thing right now because it gives me that dopamine hit. and that cycle is so freaking hard to break but you can break it you've got to want it enough though yeah like it doesn't come down to oh you need a better paying job it doesn't come down to any of that it comes down to your commitment to a goal some of my richest clients when I was a financial advisor had day-to-day jobs that were not you know arguably impressive right and I'm

not saying that in a bad way, but I think that there's this still stereotype and misconception that to have a million dollars invested, you need to be earning big dog money. You don't. You just need to be consistent. Yeah, absolutely. And if you're like listening to this and you're living paycheck to paycheck, as am I, god damn. But I was just putting $5 away and it was just like uneven intentional. So maybe not all of this right now applies, but once you get yourself into a position where you've got your emergency fund going everyone everyone can do it I just feel so like everyone can do it and I just it breaks my heart that so many people just don't have the belief in themselves that they can

or that it's for them or you know if you've grown up in a situation where generational trauma exists like and generational financial trauma exists it's really hard to get out of that it really is and if you're listening to this podcast it's because you want to break that so bad and it makes sense that you slip into old habits? Because do you know what old habits are, Bec? Old. Comfortable. Yes. Comfortable. They're like your trackies that you can just trust. Like how many times, and I don't know if you've done this, but how many times have you been shopping and you go, oh, those pants are really nice. I'm going to get so much wear out of them. You buy a new pair of pants, then you go home and you change straight into your old

daggy trackie dags that probably have a hole in them because you're comfy in them. You know how they perform the waistband it doesn't cut in yeah whereas the new ones you just don't reach for them as much they might be just as nice but they haven't been broken in have they absolutely you don't feel comfy in it no change is uncomfortable let's do it but the new pair of jeans they might be a little bit stiff right now but if you're tenacious they might become the best pair of pants you've ever worn so true hang in there hang in there right okay let's get into it all right i'm gonna start with investing in your 20s. So what is, Bec, your greatest asset compared to all other age groups if you are 20? I guess it is time. Yeah, you're young and dumb. Young and dumb. Amazing. No,

it is just time. You're not young and dumb. You're just young. Yeah. But time, time is on your side. And with things like compound interest, your investments can absolutely take off, especially Beck if you know touchy yeah okay leave it if you don't touch it sure touch it can't help you but according to the financial review based on a current average return and I love to use numbers that are a little bit lower and I also love to use inconsistent numbers to give you examples because everything that I say in this is just an example it is not a specific ETF or product or share that I'm referring to it's just an example so like I feel like I need to caveat this because I don't want to be giving you financial advice. I want you to be just getting

some information that puts you in the best possible position. But since inception of the Australian share market, the average rate of return overall has been 13%. I would never use that as an example because I prefer to under-promise, over-deliver. Yes, absolutely. I agree. And I want that for your portfolio. So we don't expect 13%. We never would because time, it just doesn't work that way. But today we're going to use the average rate of return of 7%, which feels a little bit more conservative. And if we look at all the ETFs and all of the shares on the market, that's not unrealistic as an example. So I would say that's a pretty conservative reflection of how well Australian shares or ETFs are performing adjusted for

inflation. So if, Bec, you invested $262 per month from the age of 20 years old, you would be expected to reach $1 million in your portfolio by the time you reach the age of 65. Okay. Okay. Okay. That seems doable. It's obviously hard right now, especially in the cost of living crisis. Oh, it's going to get harder. I promise. these are just examples because the older you get the less time you have which means the more money you need to contribute which is why I am so aggressive about going if you can start young and early you're going to just be able to commit to 262 dollars every month compared to someone in their 40s who is genuinely going to have to contribute more to achieve exactly the same goal

sure and that's harder right like the second you get to the age of 40 life is a bit different to being 20. I don't know about you, Bec, but when I was 20, I was at university. A good night out for me was dumplings in Chinatown, split between my mates, BYO bottle of wine. I was all for cheap thrills. Love it. I didn't have a lot of financial responsibility. I didn't have kids. I didn't have a husband. I didn't have a mortgage. I had the desire to travel, but my travel goals were backpacker vibes. Yeah. But now I'm sadly closer to 40 than I am 20. I have two kids. I have a mortgage. I have a lifestyle that I've created with my husband that I don't want to compromise. Finding an amount of money that is, you know, relatively significant in my budget is

much harder today. Like finding that money is harder. But if I got a 20 year old and don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that this is easy to just find two hundred and sixty two dollars every single month. Yeah. But I promise if you want it hard enough, you will do it. Hell yeah. You will find it. Anyway, thanks to things like compound interest, your contributions earn a profit based on the performance of the market. And then those profits continue to earn a profit the longer that you leave them there. So the money that your money makes ends up making money back. And that is sexy because that's the free money making more free money. Hell yeah. We love free money. We love free money. We really do. And of course, if you're investing in American shares or ETFs, this figure

might actually be a lot higher depending on returns, but let's just keep things local for now. Good idea. Okay. So not sure how true this is for our listeners, but when I was 20, I would be lucky to even have like 200 bucks left over at the end of the month. Totally. With the cost of rent, groceries, bills, petrol. I did have Hextet, although I didn't really ever finish anything. And then also like fun money, if I ever had any of that leftover. So what can people do to make this more achievable? There's obviously a lot in it. And as I said before, you have to want this. Yeah. Like it's not me going, oh, it just happens so easily. It doesn't. This stuff takes work. And that's why it's so hard. Like if I said to you, find $262 back every single month,

you'd be like, okay, I'm going to have to like shift a lot around. But first things first, we're going to work out our budget. How much are you spending on essentials like your rent and your bills and how much is left for saving and investing. Then I want you to assess whether there's room here to meet your personal investing goals. So maybe you don't actually care about getting a million dollars by 65, because as I said, that was just a good example. Sure. And we're defaulting to that for this episode. Maybe you're investing for other reasons in case your contributions might be like less, like you might only need a hundred or only need 50.

so if you haven't already explore your options find a high interest rate savings account the second thing i would do superannuation babe it is slept on i can guarantee that most people listening to this episode have not checked their super this month yeah and that's normal can we change that can we look at our super because do you know what that is beck it is 12 percent of your income paid into, if you're a PAYG employee, paid into a fund that is completely controllable by you, that is money put aside for your future. Bec, are you saving 12% of your income right now? I think so. Are you quite? Oh, outside of super? Outside of super? God, no. No, but you are in super and that money is invested for you for your future.

Yeah. Bec, you're investing every single month more than $262, are you not? oh oh my god but you're not checking on it no that's crazy my queen what yeah that's wild like we need to care about this like we need to care about our money like also from july 2026 so like literally right now um employers legally had to make sure that your superannuation hits your account within seven days of your paycheck rather than quarterly that's great yeah more money more often means it's getting into the market more consistently which means you're going to get better returns. Money win for everyone. Then you need to confirm how your super is being invested. Are you in a high growth option? You might not know. If you don't know, go and check, my friend.

Is it aligned to your wealth goals? Do you actually like the fund that you're in? If not, change it. And the next thing we could do is salary sacrificing. So you could potentially be making contributions on top of your employer's mandatory 12%. And arguably, that is the biggest tax hack in Australia and the closest thing to a tax haven. Because the tax rate inside superannuation, it sits at 15%. And the average She's On The Money listener is paying 30% in tax. Yes, yes. So immediately, you're getting 15% back if you used super. Yes, okay.

I'm not saying that that's a good idea, but because you're only taxed 15% on contributions versus your marginal tax bracket, you might get better returns inside your superannuation than you would if you were to invest it on your platform. That is a great piece of advice. Being careful though, because you know that if you contribute to superannuation, you can't touch it until retirement. And then there's that conversation around, like for me personally, my wealth goals, Bec, I want to retire early yeah I want to retire before 65 like girl if I'm not ready to retire

by the age of 50 I have gone wrong I have done something wrong but to be able to retire at 50 I need an investment portfolio outside of my superannuation to be able to do that because I've got to carry 15 years where I can't access my super yeah yeah so like for me it's it's a balance and maybe for you it's a balance maybe for our community it's a balance but that's something i just want to be like sounds great but you can't touchy yeah so for me i'm obviously contributing to it because i like know in the future i will have access to it but we'll just be careful yeah okay got you the next thing investing yes if you have a little extra cash or like a few coins outside your essential outgoings maybe consider signing up for a

platform like Sharesies where there's no minimum investment so like you can invest for as little as one cent to get started and then you can do things like roundups and you can invest like a few dollars here and there so instead of having to commit to a monthly amount you could be like okay cool when I purchase a coffee I know I'll invest an additional dollar yeah because obviously roundups are like small change that heads in the right direction and maybe you won't notice it and maybe that's what makes sense for you. And then earnings, like, sorry, we're here to back ourselves. If you're listening to an episode on how to invest, I'm assuming you want to get rich. Yeah.

I want money. I want to be comfortable. One of those things is looking at your role, you know, looking at your earnings and whether there's any room within your industry to grow your take-home pay. Now, I know that in particular industries like nursing, you don't have control over that. You can't go to your unit manager and be like, hey, babe, so I was thinking, can I have a pay rise? It's just not going to happen. You're in a band, you get paid a certain amount that is non-negotiable, like the government sets it. I get it. This is not a tip for every single person. But what I do want you to do is look at the market and do not be afraid to ask your colleagues and your peers what they earn to make sure that you are being paid competitively.

completely agree. Beck, I know you worked for a place where you earned a certain amount and then somebody got hired in the same role as you and got paid more. Yes. Yes. That's cooked. I know. And that's why I pay secrecy. I never agreed with it. Never liked it. Now it's gone. Exactly. Asking. But you would never have known that if you weren't nosy and you never would have gotten a pay rise if you didn't have conversations about this. It can be uncomfortable. Yeah. Yeah. But if I share my, like, if I was a PAYG salaried employee, I feel like I would be happy to share with you, you know, like, I don't know, money can still be weird. So I get when people are like, oh, I don't really want to share it. I get it. And I don't share back what I earn on

the podcast because I am not comparable to the average employee. Not because I think I'm better, but because you knowing my salary does not help you build yours yeah but if I was a nurse I would tell you my salary if I had a PAYG job I would make sure that my colleagues knew what I was on you know maybe it's not a consistent conversation but I'd be like oh if you want to know what I'm like I'll share you can have a look at my payslip yeah because I want what you've got and you want what I've got and we want equality and I think that that is fair but maybe it's time maybe it's time for you to push for that pay rise what's the worst thing that could happen they say no yeah that's fine chat with your direct report about your professional or your career goals

so that you can work together so that you can achieve them maybe consider a side hustle to support your income yeah sometimes and people aren't gonna like this sometimes if you want more you've got to do more you can't just sit at home and be like oh I wish I could do that i get it i do i want more so i do more it might not be what you want to do and i get that you don't have to but i want you to know that that's an option and i want you to know that you are completely in control of what that looks like that's very true and there are like other things for you know different abilities and stuff like that there are things you can do from home and like ways you can it does suck that we had to have a side hustle to like make more than you know it

Yeah, like to put ourselves ahead and to put ourselves in a position that our parents got with their 9 to 5 Monday to Friday jobs. Exactly. It is bullshit, Bec. It is. I'm not saying, oh, do this because you have to. I'm saying do this because I want what's best for you. And sometimes short-term pain is long-term gain.

That's very true. And if you earn less than $37,000, there's actually a very cool thing that the Australian government does. It's called co-contributions, and they will pay, get this, 50 cents. that doesn't sound impressive, but wait for the rest of the sentence. They will pay 50 cents for every $1 you contribute after tax to super. Okay. Up to $500 per year from the government for free. Yeah. Okay. Don't leave that on the table. No, true. That's a 50% return. Hell yeah. Be so for real. Take it. Then let's touch on property. Sure. If you're in a position to buy

you want to be buying and you haven't looked at the first-time super saver scheme because maybe it's too much of a mouthful for you. I get that, but you can potentially contribute. And I have to say you can potentially contribute because I'm not giving advice, but go look at this scheme and see if it aligns to your values. You can potentially contribute $15,000 a year into your superannuation up to $50,000 and then you can withdraw it for your first home deposit at a lower tax rate, which is a tax discount on saving for your first home. That means that if you are on a 30% tax rate, and let me do some quick numbers in my head, and you contribute $50,000, maybe over five years, you've like done 10 grand a year into your first home super saver scheme, one person to

follow and look at this, who has done this and is publicly sharing her journey is Ms. Jessica Ricci from the show. She did this. But if you contributed that 10 grand per year, you would approximately be $9,500 better off. Oh, amazing. True. Because you get the 15% tax back every time you put it into your super. You get a tax return and then interest and then you pull it out and you're in a better financial position. Incredible. That is sick. Yeah, it's actually great. Okay. So if you're satisfied, I'm happy to jump straight into 30s if you want to. That's for us, Bec. Okay. That's for you. Sit down, strap in. I saw something on TikTok. All right. Get your fist and put it on your right shoulder. Yeah. Now pull it down and put it on your left hip. You've buckled in. You're

ready to go. Okay. All right. I didn't know Steve was here. Based on a current average return of seven percent yeah so that's the growth adjusted for inflation that we picked before you'd need to invest 552 each and every single month from the age of 30 to have a million dollars by the time you reach 65 well tell you what but see how 300 yes but see how that number has jumped yes it's now 552 each and every single month until you're 65 compared to when you're 20 and you're investing $262 per month. Sure. You now need to find more than double. Okay. Okay. Okay. And I'm not trying to bring the mood down. No. But I'm trying to show you that if you started at 20 and you were investing $262 per month by the age of 65, you would achieve an investment portfolio of a million

dollars. You will achieve the same goal at 65 if you start when you're 30 with a higher contribution per month okay and which is cool because it's still achievable technically technically and that is um 18 a day yeah like if we reframe it it's not that bad beck it's like i absolutely i'm spending 18 bucks a day on coffee i know and this is why i have decided that i want to be slightly more aggressive in being your best friend yeah because like i'm just like beck i want what's best for you. Can you imagine how many lattes you could buy when you're retired? Bec, there's going to be a period of your life where if you knuckle down today, you don't have to go to work. You don't have to earn an income. Your investment portfolio is going to pay your income. And you

just have latte every day. Incredible. And it's not going to micromanage me. No alarms in the morning. No one's going to micromanage you. No one's going to tell you to get out of bed because you did the hard yards early. You just do whatever you want from that point, guys. It's so incredible. That's the point. And I mean, don't get me wrong. Like for me, there's like the fire movement, which you've heard of, which is financial independence, retire early, where people are investing like 80 or 90% of their incomes to retire early and get that lifestyle by the time they're like 35 or 40. And that's wild. And that's crazy. And that's amazing. And Brooke from our team does that. She's incredible. She's incredible. And she's going to achieve that,

Beck, she's going to be able to retire by the time she's 35. And we did a whole podcast with her on her plan and what she's investing in and how that's going to happen. And I'll link it in the show notes. But like different people have different goals. She's incredible. I could never do that. As much as I'm like, yes, I'm very good at delayed ratification. I'm not nearly as good at it as she is. And I kind of want to enjoy the journey a bit more. I love a Mont Blanc coffee. that stuff costs me $11. You know what I mean? Oh, it's so good, but I'm not going to say no. So like, it's about finding the balance that works for you. Anyway, back to this $552 per month, while median income and net worth has risen. So it's now $77,000 as a median income and $250,000

as a net worth respectively. So too have your financial obligations. Yeah. At this age, We see mortgage interest rate pressures. We see maybe you've possibly got a child and, you know, family care duties and costs, as well as an unfortunately widening gender pay gap. Widening? It gets worse. The older you get, the worse it gets back. Oh my God. And I know, don't even get me started, but here are some things to consider. So we're going to touch on budget really quick. Add to everything I've told you about being in your 20s. you're going to do that plus you might earn more now that you're in your 30s than you did in your 20s it's a generalization but for a lot of people that generalization might be true your outgoings

might also have crept up and we're talking about you know lifestyle creep but we're also talking about now you actually have responsibilities so annoying beck like you now have rent a mortgage and maybe you're paying for child care or other costs um you've probably got some more insurances that you're paying for groceries you're probably being an adult and not just having me goring every single meal anymore are there subscriptions that you have or non-essential payments going out on the regular could you you know maybe pare back a discretionary spend or adjust purchase habits or just look for better deals on everything yeah like sometimes we just need to hustle and we're like not hustling to get a new job we're just hustling with the bills we've already got to

make sure we're getting the best possible discount. Yeah. Like, can you direct 15 or 20% of your paycheck towards saving and investing if it's possible? And can you automate any payments so that your bases are covered before you have a chance to spend again? Right. Like, I know that right now, Bec, you're in a situation where you're living paycheck to paycheck. Yeah. And that's okay. Like, it really is. But what if I just took some money off you at the start of every month? yeah I'm pretty sure you're good at living paycheck to paycheck yeah that's true so like what if I just made your paycheck slightly smaller I'm not saying this is going to work for everybody sure sure but like I kind of know on average what you earn and I kind of know how

you spend so I kind of can almost guarantee if I took a hundred bucks off you on payday you're as an individual in your particular situation you might not notice it yeah yeah Because you've now got less money to spend. Yeah, I'll adjust accordingly. Yeah, you'll adjust. Yeah, true. And I don't think that you'll feel like you're missing out as much because you're like, oh, that's not mine. Yeah.

Like if I took it off you and put it somewhere else, at the end of the month, you might be like, oh, I'm cutting it fine, V. But I can almost guarantee that you'd also have been cutting it fine had you had the extra hundred. Yes, so true. Because you would have already spent that too. For sure. And that's not me being mean. No. That's me going, I think that more is possible.

Yeah. than what you think is possible for you yeah for sure and that's a good thing right yeah because we love opportunity again I'm going to touch on superannuation what's your super looking like are you looking at it please do like is it coming in when it's supposed to is it being invested in the correct growth option to support your wealth goals like are your insurances switched on or activated or will they offer the cover that you need if not why not let's change that stuff up because we had Phil on the show recently from Sky Wealth, and he was saying that he's changing people often out of their insurances inside superannuation to other insurances inside their superannuation and saving

them money. Yeah, okay. So we can save money there as well. Hell yeah. We can talk about salary sacrificing at this age. If you have the ability to do it, it might be strongly recommended. Sure. Especially if your marginal tax rate is starting to creep up, because again, generalization. If you are earning more money, you're paying more tax. And I mean, that's a privilege, but it doesn't mean it feels nice. So if you had an $80,000 salary, contributing 10K a year saves you between $1,750 to $2,200 in taxes annually. And that's a lot of money. And you can contribute up to $32,500 per year from July 1, 2026. And there's also this thing called a carry forward concessional cap, where essentially it's a limit to how much you can

contribute to your super over a few years. So if your balance is under $500,000, which for most people in their thirties, it will be, and you haven't maxed out your contributions in previous years, you could potentially contribute more than $32,500 this year if you wanted to. Yeah, okay. Which is kind of cool to know. It's kind of a tax win. Great. And then investing, if you aren't already investing outside your super, now, my friend, is the time to have a think about it. A platform like Sharesies or like Perla can help you get

started without a minimum investment amount. If it's early days and the research is overwhelming and intimidating, let's look out for low-cost diversified ETFs so that you get a bunch of exposure to a bundle of shares and it becomes a little bit easier than you trying to time and pick particular shares that you think are going to perform. I would resist the urge to respond emotionally when markets are dipping. Harder done than said, but it is all part of the process. Time in the market, Beck, beats timing the market. Yes, true. Okay. Earnings. We're not playing small here, I want to earn as much money as possible and I'm pretty sure you do too. This is the bracket with the highest earning potential of income. This is the period where if you are going to

have significant income growth, it's probably going to happen in your 30s. It is also the highest return on investments period. So for example, if you are 33 and you get a $10,000 pay rise, and you consistently invest over 35 years at an 8% growth rate, approximately, that's $186,000 added to your portfolio. Okay. That's a lot of money. I want you to look at the market and don't be afraid to ask colleagues or peers what they earn to make sure that you are being competitive.

We had this conversation already, so I won't recap it, but ask, what's the worst thing that could happen? Well, that's it. What's the worst thing that could happen? They say no. That's fine. That's not that bad. Push for a pay rise.

Girl, you deserve it. And if you're taking parental leave, maybe consider making voluntary super contributions before the 30th of June to offset the gap in contributions while you are on leave. Okay. If your income is lower in the year you return, you also might be eligible for the government co-contribution. So look at that. We told you about that before. Like, you can still access that in your 30s money win. Great.

property, if you have a mortgage with an offset account, my friend, treat it as an investment vehicle. Yes, rising interest rates suck. They really do. But they also work in your favor with your offset. So with every dollar earning at that rate, completely tax-free. If it's in your offset, you're not actually earning money. You're offsetting interest that is payable. And if you don't earn it and you just saved it, you don't owe the government anything. But if you put it in a high interest savings account and earn interest on it, you would have to pay tax on that interest because you earn money. Yes. I see. Okay. I see what you're saying. Right. And I would think carefully at this period of your life, right? If you are in your first home, if you've been in

your first home for five years, you might be having to think about upgrading. You might be like, oh, I want a bigger family home. Queen, I get it. I did it. Like, do as I say, not as I do, you know but have a think about what that looks like because this just locks your equity into a non-income producing asset and resets your mortgage another 30 like it goes back to 30 years again yeah and that money could potentially be compounding in your portfolio so like do you prioritize bigger house or financial freedom like what are those decisions that you're making at this age and make sure you really understand this conversation about like the real negative gearing implications of investment properties if this is something that you're considering

because that capital could be generating stronger returns in ETFs or in your superannuation with a whole lot less hassle. Okay. Like so many people are like this is the best way to create wealth and recently I wrote an article in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age about let's just not be polite anymore about property. Sure. If you have access to property, you are in a significantly better financial position than anybody else. Yeah. Very, very true. Like every mortgage repayment that you're making, Bec, it's going towards your future wealth. I know that rent is necessary. I know you need to put a roof over your head, but it is really freaking hard to pay rent and save for a first home at the same time. Agreed. Like that's not easy. Yeah. And we don't need to be polite

about that but also if you have a first home yeah like I own property I don't need to downplay it yeah but let's not ignore the privilege that went into that and the fact that because I'm in the property market now I'm in a significantly better financial position than someone who hasn't gotten into the market yet sure like I think the goal is to you know not turn a blind eye yeah but the goal is to make sure that we're not pulling the ladder up after us yeah so that you too can climb it it's gorgeous analogy is it yeah I like that well let's take a quick break because I could go on and on about this like I've got a whole heap to say on equity but when we get back Beck you and I are going to cover investing in your 40s don't go anywhere welcome back everyone V I've heard that

40 is the new 30 how does this play out when it comes to investing yeah look I'm really hoping that that's true i think it is because i'm actually closer to 40 than i am 30 now well now you're closer to the new 30 exactly yeah so you got plenty of time thanks i'm glad something and things unfortunately like i want it to be more like my 30s but things just become more expensive the later you start but not unfeasible so based on a current average return of seven percent that We've been using this entire episode. Hold your breath, Bec. Okay.

You need to invest $1,227 per month from the age of 40 to reach an investment of $1 million by the age of 65. Okay. $40 a day. That's not too bad. I mean, it's still a lot of money. Where are you finding $40 a day? Like, if you're in your 40s, like, life is expensive. I get it.

But again, we're using this as an example to show the power of compounding interest because you're in your 20s, you are investing $262 per month to achieve the same goal that someone who's starting in their 40s is investing $1,227 per month to achieve. And that feels trash. I get it. But it doesn't need to be trash. But you can still definitely reach your wealth goals, I promise. but this bracket might experience a little bit of a plateau when it comes to earnings.

So the median earnings for someone in their 40s is $77,000 and their net worth medium is $480,000. So wealth, it needs to shift. So coming from assets versus income, but there are also, I guess, mounting costs accrued. Like if you have children in your 40s, it gets really expensive. maybe you've got aging parents that you're supporting or maybe you've got both with less time to recover from poor choices if you're starting in your 40s the key here is making wiser investment choices you still have so much power you really do so when it comes to budgeting while you might earn more you're also probably spending more I'd be reassessing my budget like looking at my outgoings and my commitments so that lifestyle creep is not consuming you

like salary increases tend to slow down here so you might need to consider how to make your assets work for you like not simply rely on your wages a good goal is to have approximately three times your annual salary saved across all your assets in this bracket so across your super your equity your investments your savings and if you aren't there that's fine you've got heaps of time to hustle. But this is just general advice only. This is not saying you have to. And I feel like some people are going to go, well, that's ridiculous. I get it. It might feel ridiculous for you. And I get that. But we're talking about the average, right? When it comes to superannuation, go review where your super is and how it is invested. I cannot yell this from the rooftops

louder. Many funds automatically update this based on your lifestyle as well. So it really does pay to check to make sure they haven't shifted it on you prematurely like for example they might take your high growth portfolio and drop it down to growth or they might take a growth portfolio and change it to balance so always have your finger on the pulse and if you come into a healthy inheritance which is not the reality for everybody but in the next five years beck we are going to see the biggest transfer of intergenerational wealth that the world's ever seen Really? Yeah. And I mean, it's a bit morbid. Lots of people are going to die. It is very morbid. But that's how it's going to happen.

Yeah. If you come into a healthy inheritance or a bonus or, you know, sale proceeds from an asset, consider placing them in your superannuation. Yeah. So a non-concessional, so after tax, contribution of up to $120,000 will only be taxed at 15% or 0% during retirement. Okay. we're talking about salary sacrificing. So please max out your carry forward cap on your concessional contributions. Make and take advantage of what the government allows you to take advantage of. If your super is under 500 grand and you haven't used your full cap in prior years, you might be able to make the most of this. So this is arguably the biggest

tax hack. Again, a privileged one, Bec, because you need the cash to be able to actually do this. But especially at this age bracket, if it goes straight into your superannuation, it goes straight to retirement. So for example, on a $100,000 salary, contributing $18,000 per year actually saves you $5,400 in income tax annually. So you can contribute up to $32,500 per year from the 1st of July, 2026. Oh, okay. That's good to know. I know. We're in the middle of a cost of living crisis. There are going to be lots of people listening that are like, Victoria, what the hell? $18,000 a year. Where am I getting that from? Yeah. These are examples.

For sure. You might have a spare $1,000. You are still going to get taxed back on that. You might have a spare $100. Something is better than nothing. For sure. I'm not saying that that is the best outcome. I'm giving you a healthy example that we can go, wow, that's cool. Just because it's cool doesn't mean it applies to you though. Investing, if you are aiming, and again, example, but if you aim to invest approximately $2,000 to $3,000 outside of your super in a diversified ETF, example again, in your early 40s, you have the potential, get this, to add up to $700,000 to your portfolio over the next 20

years. Oh, my God. So if you had that amount of money on a monthly basis and you could invest it, you might put yourself in a better position of $700,000 by the time you retire. Okay, that's really good to know. And this is also the time to really consider maybe adding some income generating ETFs to the fold so that you have some money coming in to supplement your salary if you decide to wind down later. What's it called? Dividends. Dividends.

Pay me. Yeah, exactly. So I would also, again, resist the urge to respond emotionally when the market is dipping. Back over your lifetime, you're going to see the market dip or crash seven times. Okay. Okay. I need you to resist selling your portfolio every single time that happens because that will be a very bad financial decision for you.

Got you. But you'll want to because you'll be like, oh my God, I'm so scared. Just like, what do I do? Don't be scared. Don't be scared. It's fine. Hold on for those long-term recoveries. Okay.

And then your earnings, your base salary might have slowed down, but there's still room to earn supplementary income through other kinds of roles. You might not want to hear this, but you have the ability. Well, able-bodied people have the ability. And I feel like sometimes I want to be like, you can do this. And then people go, well, I can't. Yeah, I know. I'm not dumb. I'm not silly and don't understand that there are lots of different people in the world. I'm talking to the able-bodied people that have the ability and the time and the energy to be able to do these things. I'm not talking to people who are stuck in a rut and in a situation they can't get out of. I see you. I know that this happens and that's why I create content specifically for you two as well. For sure. Exactly. So maybe just more the supplementary income might not exactly like yeah there's still room for sure so like could you do

some side consulting like a lot of people if they work corporately are looking for roles on boards or advisories or they might want to do some contracting or seek out opportunities to complement your primary gig I have a neighbor down the road he works in consulting and every Saturday I only learned about this recently because I only moved into the area recently every saturday he gets out for four hours and has gone up and down the streets and asked people hey i mow nature strips that's it i don't know your backyard i just know your nature strip would you like me to for a set fee every week mow your nature strip that's great everyone pays him cash that's great he just walks out his driveway with his lawnmower goes up all the houses does

the entire freaking street that's amazing and it's just nature gets paid yep gets paid cash by everybody does like three or four hours on a saturday he makes a whole heap of supplementary income like he works a fancy consulting job like we're not talking about somebody you know who's like oh working gardening so i've got a heap of like you know experience and no he's just like oh i could do that yeah and he put himself out there and now he makes literally hundreds of dollars on a Saturday morning because every nature strip adds up. Yeah, hell yeah. Gorgeous. I'll pay you $25 to mow my nature strip. How long does it take to mow a nature strip? Oh, about 10 minutes. Right? Yeah, I reckon. Do that, next house. Do that, next house. Get four houses, you've got

what? $100. That's so true. I'm going to start doing that, I think. Isn't that crazy? Yeah, that's great. Anyway, there's just so much that you could potentially do and I'm not saying that it's going to work for everybody. For sure. But there are options out there. Absolutely. As I like to, well, I've been really big on Tarot Talk recently. And as I always say, and as they always say, take what resonates, leave what doesn't. So if anything is like, you know, oh, I couldn't do that, then take what does work for you. Take what resonates, leave what doesn't. I love that. Don't you like that? I like that one. No, I love that because I just feel like sometimes there's so much pressure literally on me to create content that is applicable to all yes yes and i go i don't

want people to feel left out i don't want people to feel like less than because i'm giving advice to invest and create a portfolio of a million dollars when that's actually not going to be the reality of their situation and i don't want you know to only give advice for our friends who use centrelink because then that's not applicable for you know my other friends in the she's on the money community who are like, V, I actually do have $500 a month that I want to invest and I want advice on that. Do you know what I mean? I feel like I'm in this rock and hard place where sometimes I think that other people think that I don't respect their situations as much because I'm creating content for one particular narrative. I'm like, no, that's why we've got more than a

thousand episodes. There's so much I've got to cover. Yeah, I agree. I completely agree. And I think it's a really good, you can definitely slide into any one of our DMs and give your specific situation but exactly yeah and that's why we create free content so it's accessible take what resonates leave what doesn't i love that beck thank you that's made my day anyway also property in your 40s yes if you have a mortgage resist the urge to refinance it for your lifestyle spending like being really brutal you do not need to refinance your house to go on a Europe trip. Sure. You don't. Sure. You don't. And if you can't afford to go on the Europe trip, well, that's the nature of the situation, isn't it? Okay. Okay. We're not putting our future

selves at risk for that. Like every single dollar of equity freed is better directed towards income generating investments. Yeah. To putting you in a better financial position. Yep. Okay. We're not doing this. No, this is great. Thank you so much, VD. I feel like we're getting towards the end, but Bec, I feel like I've ranted at you a lot, so I do apologize, but I am just wildly passionate about these things. But after everything that we've chatted about today, what have we learned? So first of all, it's never too late. Also, if you're listening in your 50s, 60s, 70s, et cetera, et cetera.

Oh girl, we just didn't have enough time this episode, but I'm glad you're here too. Let me get to that at some point. Also, really nice plug for our friends, Glenn James and Vince Scully. They have a podcast together called Retire Right, where they have, it's so niche. It's literally a podcast about retiring correctly. Go and check that out. It is actually incredible. Glenn James is obviously a good friend of mine, ex-financial advisor, gives really good advice. And Vince Scully is also a financial advisor but he's also my licensee so like he's the one that holds me accountable but his podcast that him and Glenn put together it's just so informative and for that demographic like if you're looking to retire in the next 10 even 15 years like my friend that

is for you oh that's amazing and there is a website money smart where you can like type in your own digits and you know your age and stuff and like figure out what you would need so I think yeah we've so we've learned that timing is everything um but also there is it's never too late uh there are clever things you can do throughout your lifetime to help put you in a better position financially but honestly starting now starting yesterday as long as you're starting exactly and just because you didn't buy like afterpay or microsoft it doesn't mean that you are out of the share market there are so many different ways that you can take control of your wealth, even if you can't control the market or the economy. I wish we could. Bec, I've said it

a million times on the show. If we could, I would, and I'd be so filthy rich. Absolutely. We wouldn't be here, would we? We wouldn't be here, would we? All right, friends, that is unfortunately all we have time for today. I hope you've taken something out of this episode, if not for today, for future you, my friends. So we will make sure that we include all of the helpful links and references we've made along the way in our show notes. But if you have any follow-up questions, please hit us up we are literally we respond to every dm we want to chat with you we hope that we've inspired you to maybe make a little bit of a money move or a big money move but take care of yourselves and of each other and we'll catch you later in the week for friday drinks bye guys

the advice shared on she's on the money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances she's on the money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN 321 649 27708 AFSL 451 289.