She's On The Money - Life on a Pension

Episode Date: March 2, 2023

Hey hey its Friday again so join us as we celebrate your money wins and answer a money dilemma about spending your savings, or taking out a loan to set up your small business. Plus, this week you slid into or DMs about the difficulty of living on a pension, listen back as the girls talk all about it. The gals are on the road right now and you can get your tickets to our upcoming IWD tour 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 for millennials who want financial freedom today my friends is friday which means it is time to get my little team together and celebrate you, our incredible She's On The Money community. Today, we're going to be sharing our favorite money wins of the week, or as always, Ms. Jessica Ricci, you will be sharing the favorite money wins of the week. We're going to be helping to answer a juicy money dilemma, which this week is all about whether you should be using your savings to set up your small business or not. And we're going to be unpacking something that you guys slid into our DMs about living on a pension. I feel like this is going to be a really interesting juxtaposition talking about savings

and setting up a small business versus actually living on a pension and how to budget and how to save and actually how to survive. But let's start with our little team. Bec, how was your week? Really good. It's because you saw Jess and I, right? Yes, that definitely helped that I saw you guys, of course. But also, I know that only you, Vee, might have context for this. Okay, well, this is probably really good then to share on the podcast to 1.1 million people. It will be good because no one else will know what's going on. But I applied for a job this last couple of weeks and I got it. I'm so excited you got it. I'm so excited. I mean, that doesn't mean she's leaving. She's on the money, guys. She only just arrived. It's your full-time legit job.

It means that I will be going from literally drowning every single month to being a little bit more comfortable. I'm so proud of you. You got the job. I got the job. You got the job. That's awesome. Oh my God, I'm actually so excited. I've been so much. Thank you so much. Low key, you know how you shouldn't ask people, like you shouldn't be like, oh, did you get the job? And like, obviously I knew you replied and we'd been talking about it, but like, you can't just go, oh, did you get it? Cause like, you might go, no, I didn't get it.

Like, and that's, that's a really not nice thing to bring up and you might've been upset about it. You waited until it was on the pod to share that with me. Dirty dog. I love it. Jess. I'm hoping you don't have the same news cause I'll be so, so. I love it.

She's got a job. No, no. I have nothing that could top that. Actually, no, you know what? Please don't leave me. Please. Please. I won't.

Well, I will leave you, but I'll leave with you to go to Sydney. Where are we going? Well, this week we went to Perth and Brisbane. We did. That's why we didn't know what Bec was up to. Literally. Sorry, Bec, still love you. We're in Brisbane today.

Thank you so much to everyone who spent their morning with us, and thank you so much to everyone who came out in Perth for our first time ever. I actually can't stop. All I do is cry, Bec, like when we have live events. I find it so overwhelming, and I thought this would get better over time, and it's just gotten worse. Yeah. Like it's actually so beautiful. Like you go to these events and it's full of people all on the same page, right? Like, and it's not that common that you'll go to like, I don't know, you'll go to a concert, right? And you'll be in the same room

as people who are all of Bon Iver, right? And you're kind of like, yeah, cool. But we're all eclectic and we just have this one shared like interest. We don't actually have that much in common, but I feel like when you get the She's On The Money community together, it's really, it's a very similar personality type like we all want the best for each other we all you know care about our saving and our spending we all care about similar things and often people have really beautiful personal stories that intertwine into the community and make the community even stronger and as much as I love hearing them I find them so overwhelming like if people come up and they say hey V like you know like so excited to be here and I'll be so excited too like I just wanted to let

you know, that I listened to your podcast and got out of debt because of you. Like that does not get old. Like that to me and Jess is exactly the same. Like it's overwhelming to think that our little podcasts that we, you know, do from our studio every week in our active wear and like have my dog here, like that changes people's lives. Like, and music is, you know, obviously really important, but when you look at a community like She's On The Money, you just know there are people who have gotten out of traumatic relationships because of us. They've gotten out of abusive situations. They finally have savings. They're not living paycheck to paycheck. They've saved for their first home or they've just bought their first car or they've done something that has put

themselves in the best possible position. And I think it's just, it's crazy. Anyway, all I do is cry. So if you saw me crying this week, sorry, not sorry. That's really amazing. Because I love you. Incredible week all round for the team, it sounds like. Yeah, it's literally my favorite thing ever. But let's get into this because this week we didn't miss a beat. We also asked about our community money wins and we always want to know what you guys are up to literally every week. So Jess, you've got a few that you've pulled out that you would like to share on the show. What are they? What have we got? I sure do. First money win this week comes from Kate who said, I'm going to Europe for the summer. Lucky duck. Hot girl. I booked an intrepid tour for Portugal

ages ago and recently saw a 25% off sale for my tour date. I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask if I could redeem the discount on my current trip. That's a lot. A lot of money. Surprisingly, they said yes and I now have a thousand extra dollars to splurge on Portuguese tarts. Oh my gosh. Amazing. Portuguese tarts are so good. There are literally about six comments underneath her comment saying, oh my God, I love Portuguese tarts. I love that that's what people got out of this. But also, if you don't ask, you don't get. I'm really impressed that they honoured it, to be honest. Good on you, Intrepid. My next money win comes from Bianca who said, life win. Settlement for my first home was last week and I'm feeling so silly proud of myself for being

able to achieve this all on my own. I'm so proud. It still feels surreal that it's mine. And there's a cute little photo of her doggo living on her front doorstep. Well, not living on her front doorstep, but sitting on her front doorstep. No, I'm sure he lives inside. But that's his house now. That's his house. Oh, that's so lovely. You bought a house so that your dog could live their best life. All by yourself. Good on you, queen. My next money win comes from Murphy, who says it's taken six years, but we are finally consumer debt free. Yes. $1,700 a month in personal loan repayments is something I never want to go back to. My partner and I were both stuck in the cycle, paying off one and taking on another. Never again. I'm so proud of you, Murphy. Murphy's

been in the community for a really long time. That name feels really familiar. Can you show me your phone? Oh my gosh, no, we do definitely know Murphy. Well done. That is so awesome. $1,700 a month. Think about what you can do with that. Yeah, now that you have an extra. You're not going to know yourselves. No, it's going to be incredible. My next money win comes from Elise, who said money win. I am terrible at sticking to budgets because of FOMO. Until now, I've had all my money in one big savings bucket and I've always dipped into it to overspend. Recently, I've split my savings into sub-accounts where I now put how much I'm willing to spend for the year on different categories like

entertainment, events, eating out, etc. And when it runs out, it's out. So far, I'm already way more conscious of my budget and I'm spending well within my means. Oh my gosh, queen behavior. We love to see it. And then my lucky last win for this week comes from Georgia who said, After almost a year off of work battling with health issues, I finally got myself a suitable job and I worked my first eight-hour day in as long as I can remember on Saturday. It's a big money win for my partner and I who have just been getting by on one income. Oh, congrats. That's sick.

How exciting. Congratulations, Georgia. And just goes to show the importance of flexible roles and roles that can, you know, offer you support or things that you need because she sounds like she's capable and she's excited to be working an eight-hour day. And I'm just so excited that you found an employer who can let you do that. I think we forget what a privilege that is, like to be able to go to work for an entire day and be able to have an uninterrupted work day because our health allows us to, like that is so special.

Let's go to a really quick break though, because as you guys know, I'm wildly passionate about small business. And the next question that is coming up after the break is about whether you should spend your savings on setting up a small business. And we're going to be discussing getting buy on a pension. So don't go anywhere, guys. Welcome back, everybody. Let's get into one of my favorite parts of the week, the money dilemma. Let's have a listen. Hi there. Have you got a money dilemma you just can't solve? The She's on the Money team is here to help. Every week we tackle your dilemmas, both big and small, to answer your most burning money, career and life questions. To get involved, simply head to our website and leave us a short

voice recording and you might just find yourself on the show. Now, let's take a listen to this week's Money Dilemma. Hi, she's on the money. My question is about small business. I am a sole trader and I'm moving from my home office into a commercial space that I'm turning into a clinic and office. I am having the hardest time spending my savings to set this up. I originally thought I would get a business loan, but I realized it makes a lot better sense to use my own money rather than be in debt. But I'm just having the hardest time spending my own money, my own savings. I'm not sure what's going on, but I just can't seem to part with this money. I know that investing in myself is going to bring me more money at the end of the day, but I just can't do

it. Please give me some advice. That is a really good question. And it's one that when I was setting up She's On The Money and Zella, I felt sick about. Like I would consistently not know if I was doing the right thing. From my perspective, I think you are doing the right thing spending your money that you already have instead of getting a business loan. Obviously, business loans have higher interest rates than, you know, a home loan. And at the moment with interest as high as it is, if you can do anything to avoid that, that is fantastic. It is a massive privilege to have the savings to be able to invest into a business. And I think that's really, really special. But the thing I really struggled with, guys, was actually just not having a plan. I think

when you are starting a small business, you just don't think enough. And you would think that a financial advisor or an ex-financial advisor would have thought about the budget. But like when it comes to your own house or your own like financial situation, sometimes you just don't do the maths in the way that you should. And it felt really hard to separate from the money. And let's talk about this clinic you're setting up, I'm assuming you're like, yep, I know I've got savings. Let's start setting up a clinic. Have you got a budget? Have you actually worked out what that clinic's going to cost? We're talking rent and overhead expenses. We're talking about fit out. What is it going to cost to, you know, if you need a receptionist, what's that going to look like?

Have we actually worked out what this is? How much is that business going to cost you per month to run? Like what is the minimum amount of money that you would need coming in the door for that business to make sense. And I think that once you have that structure and you can say, okay, well, actually I've worked out that, you know, hypothetically rents $1,000, my overheads are $500, you know, all of the fit out over this period of time, because a fit out can be really expensive of a facility, right? Like when it comes to setting up an office, I don't think people understand how expensive it can be. Like rent often, when you sign a lease, usually is five years as a rental period for a commercial space. Then on top of that, if it doesn't come with like

desks and chairs, and if you're setting up a clinic, you probably need something specific. We're talking $10,000, $20,000, $30,000 to set you up for success. So I can see why it's really hard to separate from that money, but what we need to do is actually create the structure. So if you go, all right, well, I'm going to spend $30,000, let's just say, on this fit out for this clinic, because obviously you've gotten to a point where your business is doing well and you want to take it to the next level, how are you paying yourself back? Let's pretend that's a loan. Let's pretend that those savings are a loan facility and that you're just borrowing them off yourself to pay back later. So if that's $30,000, let's go, all right, what period of

time feels reasonable? Are we going to pay it back over 12 months, maybe three years? What does that look like? Maybe I pay back $10,000 a year towards that. So you're going to feel a lot more comfortable because you personally aren't being put at a detriment because you're setting up this small business. And sometimes as small business owners, we forget that we need to put ourselves first. We forget to pay ourselves. We don't pay ourselves super. We don't actually do the things that we're meant to do. And sometimes that means pouring all of our savings in and pretending like it's a lost cause. I think making sure that any money you put into your business, your business pays you back. And I think that if you can start seeing it that way,

you'll be a bit more confident because you're then making an investment that's going to be paid back and then that investment is going to generate more income. So from my perspective, if you're setting up a small business and relying on your savings, pretend those savings are a loan but from yourself. We want to pay it back because I don't want you to be without that $30,000 hypothetically, right? I actually want you to be in the best position. And if you want to be a little bit cheeky, add an interest rate. Be like, all right, well, I'm also going to pay back 5%. I'm going to be in a better off position. And then also my other advice would be please set up in that budget you to pay you super and make sure that you are being put first because to bring

the mood down for a hot second, most small businesses don't make it to 10 years and I don't want you in 10 years time to be behind the eight ball when it comes to being able to retire. I want every small business owner that goes into business to be able to, you know, if it's not working out, step away and not have been negatively impacted by that experience. Because it happens, right? Small businesses might not work out, might not be what you thought it was going to be. At least then you can go, all right, just going to go get a salary and wage earning job. This definitely wasn't for me. But you're not behind because you always put yourself first. There's a really good book. I've talked about it on the podcast before, and I've also talked about it

on the Business Bible, which is our business podcast. And it's called Profit First. And if you are a small business owner, I really recommend reading that because it's really about reverse engineering, how profit is distributed in a business to make sure that you are financially okay. Because I think that there's this really toxic mentality of, all right, you've got to be really hard and you've got to struggle for the first 10 years and every single dollar needs to be reinvested into your business. And if it's not, you're not going to have a successful business. I don't believe that to be true because there needs to be work-life balance. And if I'm burning you out for the next 10 years because you're sacrificing everything, you're not going to

want the business in 10 years. So let's make it sustainable. But back to the original question, I think that you're probably doing the right thing. You just don't have enough structure around how to implement that strategy and a budget literally going to be your best friend. And you'd want to be making sure as well that if you're pulling money out of your savings, like your personal savings, that you're leaving yourself, one, your own personal emergency fund. But would we also be wanting to implement an emergency fund for the business as well so that if the business has a little bit of a crisis, you don't have to rely on your personal emergency fund. Very good. Very true. And Jess knows this well because she

does know the back end of She's On The Money and She's On The Money does have an emergency fund. And it makes me feel very confident when we make business decisions that I know that I can pay my team regardless of whether we get paid next month or not. And I wouldn't want that to be coming out of my personal income, not because I'm selfish, but because I think it gives me peace of mind knowing that the business is now self-sufficient. I mean, we can't go on forever and ever and ever. And if something happens, I know, right? Sucks. We can't go on forever. But if something does happen, I know that we've got the cash as a backup. And I think that a lot of small business owners forget to do that as well. And you should really treat your business in the same way that

we do a budget. Go, all right, well, what does three months worth of expenses look like? How would I make sure that if, you know, one month, what if invoices don't come in? Because that's People don't pay on time. They just don't. They just don't, right? Like, and having run a small business for the last seven years, that statement could not be more true. People do not pay their invoices on time.

It doesn't matter how big that company is. And you would be surprised at the people that poor Jess has had to chase up historically. Coming from a place of truth. It is embarrassing. It's wild. Is there, like, a benefit to, like, paying late or something? Like, why do people?

No, we started adding interest. Yeah. Ooh. Yeah. Pay on time. If you're a small business owner, always have that clause at the bottom of the invoice that says if this is not paid on time, late fees will be incurred. And if it has to go to a debt collector, which sometimes that actually does happen, those fees will be added on top. Because

if that's not on your invoice, that's coming out of the profit that you will make. So if that's not outlined clearly on the invoice that you gave to your client, you actually can't make them pay those fees if they are late. You can't just turn around and be like, oh, you've been late for ages, I'm going to start charging interest. No, no, no. It has to be in the terms and conditions. So we learned that the hard way. Yes, we did. We learned that the hard way, even though I knew that that was a thing the whole time. Don't trust yourself. No. Don't trust yourself. Moral of this whole story is don't trust anyone. Don't trust yourself. Yeah, but also like back yourself, right? So like in a business, if you genuinely believe in that, create the structure so that

you can see it down on paper and it just makes sense. And you go, yeah, of course I'm going to put my money into that. Often we're a little bit apprehensive when there's a lack of clarity And I think by giving yourself that clarity, you'll find a bit more peace. Very interesting. So this week we got a message about living on the disability pension, and I feel like this is a really interesting one. So they said, Hi V, I'm currently on a disability pension and I anticipate that I will be on this for the rest of my life.

I'm making just over $1,000 each and every single fortnight, but it's not hitting the sites. What can I do to be a little bit more financially independent when it comes to a very strict income? I feel like this is really relatable and the amount, so I've looked it up to make sure that we're all on the same page. So if you've got the maximum amount of a disability pension here in Australia, every single fortnight, your maximum base rate plus your maximum pension supplement plus your energy supplement comes out to $1,026.50 each and every single fortnight,

which if we times that by 26 and then divide that by 12 so that we get the amount per month, because I feel like sometimes we all just function better on a month-to-month basis, that's $2,224 each and every single month as a total income. So little money. It's total income and I feel like that's a really relevant question because so many people are in this situation and, I mean, we've spoken about it off air.

This conversation is really about how do you make the most of the money that you have and live the life that you want when you're quite restricted because you don't have the ability to go and earn additional income. You don't have the ability. And I mean, you can, like, let's be honest, I know of people who have been on disability pensions and they have a little cash job that they can do for three hours once a month. And to be honest, I think that's great. Like I'm for that because I just think that's not much money. And I don't think, you know, being really, let's just be a little bit spicy. I really don't think our government does nearly enough to look after people in those situations. And if you are on

a disability pension, there's going to be a really good reason for it because it's really hard to get on a disability pension. Like we're not talking about being on Centrelink here. We're not talking about people who maybe are taking advantage of the system. Let's admit, yes, those people exist. That's not who we're talking to in this community. And you know what? I really don't think that there are people in the She's On The Money community that are doing that because you're not going to care about your budget and your cashflow and making the most of things if that's your mentality. If you're someone who takes advantage of things, I just don't think that's a She's On The Money listener. You know, like I just think that the people that listen to our content are the types

that just want the best for themselves and the situation that they're in. So I feel like that's not much money, but what can we actually do with it? So do you guys have any suggestions before I dive in? I feel like we should ask my mum about this because she did this. She's a mother of four children and there was a time where she was definitely on Centrelink, not the disability pension necessarily. And I don't actually know what it was, but I feel like I was like one second old. Not really, I was 18 or something. But she was really lucky and we were really lucky because we were in a situation where we were on a waiting list for a community housing place. And that wait list can be five, ten years long. Like you have to wait for so long. We were in a position

where I was like, you know, a bit more prioritised, a little bit more of an emergency. So we got a place maybe after a year. We're very, very lucky. And so the rent in that situation, I think it's like 25% of your total income. So if you're making like 50 bucks, like it's really not that much money. So I think in that scenario, it's a little bit better, but I'm not too sure if our community member is in a fixed lease or if they're in a community housing house, but it wouldn't hurt to put your name down for something like that. 100%. And just, and I know it sucks, but if that's like, you know, something you haven't done

yet, put your name down. You don't know, like you could get a house really quickly. You could be waiting 10 years. As long as your name is on the list. You've got to be in it to win it, right? You've got to be a part of it. Yeah, you've got to be in it. And that will just take a little bit of pressure off, just that rent part of the equation.

But there's all these other things as well. Even in, do you say 25%? I think it was. Oh my gosh, that feels so much. I could be wrong. In this scenario, that would leave you $1,500 for a month. And then you've got to obviously consider, you know, your bills, which conservatively maybe if you were just by yourself would be at least, what, $200 a month, I would say, at a minimum for gas, electricity and water. And that's, I would say, being conservative.

It's not leaving you with much. Like you're making, like if we talk about it on an annual basis, which I think really drives home what's going on, that income that we're talking about is $26,600 a year. And if you were paying 25% of your income towards rent, that's $6,664 per year, which leaves you with about $19,000 to spend on absolutely everything else. That's not much at all. That's not much, especially, oh my gosh, your mum sounds like a wizard. Four kids. She really is a wizard.

She needs all the credit. I know. She really is a wizard. Like looking back, I actually don't know how she did it because we didn't feel like we were struggling, but she just made it work, you know? Oh, I love her. I feel like I do want to have a conversation. That would be such a good money diarist. I want somebody like your mom on the podcast. If that's you, please reach out. So there are a few things that you can do, right? Like obviously if you're on a disability support

pension, the idea that you can work might be elusive. Like it might be something that's just not an option. Like it just might not be something that you can do because it's just not going to work. But if you can work, you can actually have paid work up to 29 hours per week, which is like it just a little bit over part time. And you can do this without losing your disability support payment. And I think it's really important to talk about this too, because as much as that is income tested, so they'll make sure like, obviously, if you're earning a hundred grand from those 25 hours, they're going to be like, you don't get this. They're going to make sure that you're in the best possible position, but you also need to do the maths because sometimes

it just doesn't work out. If you're on a disability support pension and you're actually quite stressed about it. Is that compromise worth it? Is working 29 hours a week going to actually put you in your mental health first and put you in the best possible position? Like we actually need to weigh out the pros and cons. And I think it's one of those things where you just never know. So when it comes to surviving on a low income, obviously all of the basics still apply. I think the first thing we need to acknowledge though, is you're not going to be able to budget yourself out of poverty if you feel like you're in that circumstance. Like unfortunately, the services that exist here in Australia as much as we are very, very fortunate to have them because not

every country supports their community in the same way that Australia does. And I mean, there's going to be a lot of hot conversation around this because a lot of people think that, you know, Australia doesn't do enough and like that's a different conversation, right? Like that's not what we're talking about now. But I think it's really about talking about the fact that one in five Australians actually living on the disability support pension. That's a lot of people. How do we budget? How do we save? And I think the first thing to do is actually, again, pull our heads out of the sand. If you feel like it's a terrible situation, wipe that out. It is not helping you. How good is it that full stop, end of story, we have an income that we can work with?

What does that look like? How much money is coming in? What are your overhead expenses? How can we reduce those? What support can you reach out to? As you were saying before, Bec, that might not be your favorite thing. And I feel like ego comes into it a lot. Like when I talk to people in these situations. They're like, oh, I didn't want to do it because I felt too bad. Or there were people in worse off situations than me. Push that to a side. If you need help, you need help. Full stop. End of story. I don't want you to be suffering because you think somebody else has it worse or you think that you're not eligible, but you haven't checked. Please do. Please go and check and don't feel ashamed to access these services. These services have such

high barriers to entry that if you actually get through them, I promise you, you deserve it. like I promise you that's the position you are meant to be in so see what you can do there but then also get savvy so when it comes to budgeting there are going to be things that we can't change like accommodation costs like we don't have a lot of control over those but how do we get a little bit creative with food we could look at our budget for that and as much as you're probably already being super savvy are we able to like think about the concept of bulk cooking like if we're going to cook can we rely on what's on special this week maybe we can backtrack what we're actually working on this where you can go, all right, well, I was probably going to do tacos, but actually this

other thing is on sale. What can I do with this? What meals can I make that are under five bucks? What can I actually do? And I feel like it's not the sexiest conversation to have because I feel like a broken record and everyone's heard it before, right? They're like, cool, here comes Victoria who thinks she knows everything about finance and she's going to tell us to budget and scrimp and save. But I actually think it's also about taking the pressure off yourself because like you said it doesn't feel good like you don't want to be in those circumstances you don't want to talk about it but like I'm proud of you for reaching out for help I'm proud of you that you've gone through this process and I'm proud that you are living in a country where that's accessible

to you that's hot as hell absolutely that's really cool and I think that we need to look at it more as a pragmatic thing rather than a reflection of your value and I think so often we tie our self-worth to the income that we generate and you assume, it's incorrect, but you assume that the money you earn is reflective of how valuable you are as a human being and that is not the case at all. In fact, it couldn't be further from the case. Like I would prefer to surround myself with people who have absolutely no income and are super kind and conscientious and they're the type of people that are super empathetic than having really rich friends that have heaps of money and no empathy. Any day of the week. Get in the bin. Get in the bin. Like it's never been the type of

person that I have gravitated towards. It's one of those things that think about your circle around you. You probably have a beautiful circle. Think about the community that you're already in and the company that you keep. Like there are so many ways to illuminate your life that don't necessarily mean spending more money. Like I know that that sounds really flippant, but like how grateful are we for our health? How grateful are we that the sun is shining? I mean, I'm not that grateful that the air conditioner is not working in the podcast studio today. But like, what can you do? Can you implement some routine in your life that feels a little bit better? You might be making a cup of tea and going for a walk in the mornings instead of staying at home.

Like none of these things need to be expensive. None of these things need to really impact your budget. But how do we create the life that you deserve on the income that you actually have? Sure. I don't know if this community member is in Victoria, but I know that there are, You know, for example, near my house, there's a outdoor pantry. I don't know who put it there, but it's always stocked with food. So there are things like that around cheaper by miles. I'm not too sure if you've heard of it, but it's all this stuff that's either not not safe to eat, but it's kind of, you know, on its last legs. It's like NQR.

Yeah. Like NQR is great. It's NQR. And some things are so in date, but just haven't sold for whatever reason. Yeah. Going to places like that where things are so cheap, going to, you know, communal pantries and things like that when you need to will be a really, really big help as well. And accessing concession cards as well.

If you're on disability, you probably would qualify for a concession and you would be surprised how many businesses, big and small, offer some kind of concession or pension deal to help you out. And honestly, I know this is really bad, probably bad advice, but I would say it is very, very exhausting living like this. And I would even prioritize if you can every now and then doing something really nice for yourself, whatever that guilty pleasure is, if you can try and find a way to do that to keep your head above water and just kind of make you feel good because it is very exhausting living on such low income for so long. So just try and remember to do that every now and then. I could not agree with that any more than, oh, I actually love that because I think that a lot

of the time people assume that the advice coming from my side of the table would be like, well, if you have some spare income, you better save it. Like sometimes that's actually not the best thing for your mental health. And I think that there's this balance when it comes to life. I also think one thing that you should prioritize is an emergency fund, which again, very privileged, you might not have the cashflow to support that or even establish that. But even if it's $1 a month, $1 a week, whatever it is that you have to the side. Maybe you got a rebate that you didn't know was coming. Is there a way that you could put that to the side? Because I promise once you start building up a little bit of a buffer, regardless of what your income is, the knowledge that an

unexpected bill or maybe you needed to top up your MyKey or your public transport card and you just completely forgot. I just think it's one of those things that a lot of us don't realize the financial freedom that can come from that. And financial freedom to me is not necessarily, you know, you might've heard, oh, millennials who want financial freedom, like, and you assume everyone wants to be really rich. Yeah, of course people want to be rich. Like that'd be great. But that's not actually what we're about. It's about creating financial freedom in the life that we have. And sometimes that is just having an extra hundred bucks to the side. That means that you sleep well at night knowing that if your kid goes to school tomorrow and something pops up and you

need $10, it's there and you can do that. And that's a financial freedom that I promise a lot of people would be like, oh my gosh, I wish I had that. So I feel like it's just, yeah, consensus of this is actually take the pressure off and create some structure. So create some structure in your budget, create some structure in what you can do. Really look at it pragmatically. What can you do? And brainstorm out those things instead of just dismissing them. So I think sometimes you'd go, Victoria, I can't change my budget for my food. It's just not happening. I've done it a million times. Have a think about it again. Maybe look at it from a different perspective. What would happen if you did one more meat-free dish per week? What does that look like? How could

that work? And I know that they might not be the sexiest or the options that you immediately gravitate towards because like, fuck, lentils can get boring, but they can be really cool. And I think that it's one of those things that, you know, have a look at all options from all viable sides of that equation and you'll be in a better position but also take the pressure off yourself because you are worth so much more than the income that comes into your bank account and that does not dictate who you are as a person or how kind you are or how smart you are or how important you are it means nothing amen yeah couldn't say it better all right well i think that's all we've got time for today because jess and i need to go do some planning because we have

a whole extra week of events next week so we need to run but beck congrats on your job we are so Proud of you. Thank you so much. Guys, we'll see you next week. Have the best weekend. Bye, guys. Bye. The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature

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Thank you.