She's On The Money - MONEY DIARIES: 27, 0 savings, tax debt, and $50

Episode Date: June 20, 2021

Prepare to feel empowered. This week we chat with a 27 year old woman who has been through some hard lessons in business! She's right at the beginning of her money journey but knows better things are coming and hasn't let ANYTHING stop her so far. This is the PERFECT start to your week - I promise. Love you!Our fearless leader and money queen B has written a book! You can order Victoria Devine's book right here!!!!The advice shared on She’s on The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She’s on The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. Victoria Devine is an Authorised Representative of Australia Pacific Funds Management Proprietary Limited ABN 34 132 463 257 - AFSL 339151.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

She's on the money. She's on the money. Hello and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. My name is Toni Lodge and joining me for another Money Diary is Miss Victoria Devine. Toni Lodge, how are you? I'm good. How are you? I am in such a good mood today. Same. You know how some days you wake up on the

wrong side of the bed? I have woken up on the right side of the bed. I'm in a great mood. It's terrible weather outside, but we've both got a cup of tea and we're ready to go. And I'm just really, really excited about calling our money diary. I am too. And you've been hyping this up. You're like, this is going to be a good one. You're going to love it. So I want to hear about it. Read me the email. Let's get straight into it. Here we go. I started a business at 22. It took off in under two weeks and I was so uneducated, naive, broke and loving the influx of all the money I was making that technically wasn't mine. You know, tax, get PAYG. Nope, I didn't know about any of that. I mean, you should, but I was just spending it as it came in, mostly back into the

business, but also to get myself out of the 20K debt of a car loan, credit cards, holiday debt, crazy ex-boyfriend accounts that got left in my name and that I had to pay for. In my first year of trade, I made $98,256.17 on the books, but I took a lot of it as cash. Oh my gosh. My second year was around 70,000 something. I wasn't paying any super or anything. Three years later, after loving my business and loving the freedom, I thought it best to see an accountant. Yeah, good idea. I owed $18,000 to the ATO. Oh, I mean, that's not as bad as I thought it could be. With literally a thousand dollars in my bank yeah that's actually as bad as i thought it could be i burst into tears and he was amazing i continued to trade for another two years after seeing him i still lived

week to week and now i owe over 20k to the ato have shut my business moved into state whilst putting current debts on hold paying 490 a week rent in two different states and i'm writing this now with literally 50 in my account here i am 27 zero savings zero investments and 50 but i'm not scared because better things must be coming. They must be. Let's get her on the phone. I want to have a chat. I can hear her already. We've already been talking about it. These money diarists and I, we are a vibe together. We both love dogs. She has a chihuahua. If a buck's in the background, I'm here for it. Please forgive us. It's fine. I'm probably not going to get you to edit it out because it's a vibe. Well, thank you so much for joining us, money diarists. It's lovely to have

you. I'm so glad to be here. Thank you. Honestly, I'm so impressed that you've got this story and it's not you know obviously it's not a super positive one but more often than not on she's on the money we you know kind of get the stories after people have re-found their feet right yeah and that's why i kind of really when i read the email from our money diarist i thought i like the idea of giving someone the opportunity to share their story when it's not the best and you know there's going to be a lot of people we were actually talking in the office yesterday about um a post in our facebook group um someone saying you know there's a lot of people in this group really killing it and doing a great job but is anybody struggling and it has so many comments

and so much interaction because often and it's the same with social media and everything people share the best parts of their their lives and you don't actually see the the you know the crappy parts so i thought this would be a great opportunity to share a story of someone that's just like at the beginning of their of their journey you're on the road to success though you're on the journey you've been there before there's no reason why you can't get back there again so I have so many questions I want to have a good chat but as always we have the structured questions at the start are you ready for them yes awesome all right first question is what is your attitude towards money um I think my attitude's pretty it's really bad I feel like it's really influenced by

who I'm around or what I'm currently doing, it's weird. I haven't actually really found a positive kind of attitude or outlook on it. I feel like I'm getting there now, but I always kind of had this attitude like, oh, don't worry, it can be remade or money will always find me, which it generally always does. Sometimes it all ends up working out for me, so I've always just kind of gone with that. But, yeah, I think it's time to change that attitude

because I don't think it's very sustainable you don't feel like it's serving you anymore no definitely not like especially when you stop having like um yeah an influx of money that like literally now like I can't find any so it just goes to show that it can't always be remade and I would always tell myself oh don't worry I'll just make it again or um I'll get a job or like because I freelance as well I do a lot of photography and videography I'm like I'll just book some clients and get some money it'll all be fine um so yeah I'm gonna say that it's pretty influenced by what I'm doing and I feel like it's I feel like I'm really alone with that and I felt like it was why I kind of wanted to get on here and talk about it because um yeah every

time I would be stressed about it people wouldn't I felt like people weren't really taking it seriously because they were like oh like don't worry just use some savings or whatever but like I was so week to week it was really bad and that sounds like a really stressful position to be in because I'm assuming from the outside looking in you probably looked like a really successful business owner who had these business that was killing it and so they assumed that all right well she'll have pockets of cash somewhere right exactly exactly and to talk about not doing good to your clients or on your socials was like so taboo or it was kind of like nobody really wanted to hear it and I actually wrote a blog about like the ins and outs of my business because when

people didn't rock up or people just cancelled last minute like it affected me so much but yeah like in that case because my business was service-based I just work an extra few hours to make the money that I needed or something like that so I think I'm learning a good attitude towards money I love that as much as it's not serving you right now I really genuinely love that you've got that level of reflection and you're like look that's actually not serving me anymore I need to change this but yeah it also sounds a bit like you're not sure what the next step to actually facilitate that change is and we will get there but the next question is what do you do for work and how much do you currently earn um well now I still am in the beauty industry

I work as a cosmetic tattooist, lash and brow artist, and combined with my freelance in photography, which are both casual, I probably make just under like $65 before tax. Yeah, that's not too bad, especially given you're freelance. And I'm pretty sure our friend COVID has had a little bit of an impact on people over the last 12 months. but that's just me you know especially the two particular industries you're in beauty and photography you know no weddings and you weren't allowed to touch anybody for a whole year it was so bad but I was so lucky when I lived in Adelaide um I casually worked one day a week um at a podiatry clinic just doing front of house and like nails and gel removal and they put me on JobKeeper but because I had been there for however long it was and got JobKeeper from them I actually

wasn't allowed to claim anything through my business yeah as a freelancer it's one or the other yeah yeah and I didn't know that so when the opportunity came for me to jump on the JobKeeper with um the podiatry clinic I was like yep and then I can still get what I'm yeah so I was lucky in that sense I was able to um yeah go on JobKeeper and keep me afloat throughout that time All right. What is your big money goal right now? I just want to get on top of my debt. I just want to pay all them off. As I've heard on your podcast, many a time, you don't have savings if you've got debt. So currently, I don't have any savings goals. I'm just trying to work hard, pay off my debt and just stay

ahead. I really want to have that freedom to not wake up with this big cloud of tax debt. Yeah. And that's actually really challenging because I do absolutely subscribe to the belief that if you are in debt, you don't have savings. But I also believe very passionately that even if you are in debt, you need an emergency account because I don't call those savings. Savings are things that we're going to use for the future. An emergency account is sitting to the side so that if something else should pop up, we don't end up having to go into more debt or not a credit cash yeah you've got cash so like if something happened to your dog you can actually pay for that outright and I think that a lot of people confuse what that actually is for yeah

they confuse what that's for and they'll refer to their emergency care account as savings that they have that are disposable and you're like no no no that actually needs to sit there because that's kind of your you know that's your buffer that's the thing that you're going to rely on when we don't have cash coming in. And if something happens, we can dip into that. And I think too many times people forget to prioritize themselves. And I know that while you're in debt, having an emergency account would actually afford you some level of financial freedom because you'd feel a lot more comfortable. So, I think that's something that even if you are in debt, I would always prioritize, even if it's like $100 sitting to the side, even if it's like,

you know, $500, like whatever you can afford to put aside in cash and going, nope, I'm just going to save that for a rainy day. I'm going to save that in my emergency fund. It will always make you feel a little bit more comfortable. And prioritize that over debt reduction. Yes, absolutely. Because debt reduction can take years. Debt reduction can take a really long time and feel really overwhelming. But what we can do to make that period of time while we're paying debt off less overwhelming is making sure we have something on the side to look after ourselves. We're not saying go save for a holiday because that's not what we mean. What we mean is go and put some money to the side

so if the proverbial hits the fan again, we're not going into more debt. We're not relying on other sources of debt to service that because it then becomes a spiral and it spirals out of control. Yeah, but that's why we're here. Yeah, that's why we hang out and we talk about money all the time. Literally, I love the podcast. And you know what, you're so right because the other day, um I have another dog I went took her to the dog park and she got bit and like I had to go

yeah she's okay I had to take her to the vet and I was texting my boyfriend I'm like babe like all I've got is my current pay like that'll just that means I won't be able to pay rent and like he is honestly such an angel like he he paid for it he also paid my tax debt so that I didn't have to pay interest and now I pay him back oh that is so sweet I'm so glad you have that oh my god he is the total opposite of me and like he yeah he's been um a really great influence I guess in me wanting to get better as well and with yeah so like when you say that like I got paid and then that happened I'm like shit I've got nothing aside for this anymore so uh yeah but they do say opposites attract so that makes sense to me well that's what he said he's like yin yang baby

I love him yeah he is so sweet he's the best all right next question is do you currently have any investments I don't know and I've always been so interested I went and actually saw a financial advisor because I this is like I think last year um when I when COVID happened and I was like oh my god I just need to speak to somebody and I thought I thought financial advisors um so funny I thought that they were just there to kind of, like, talk to you about your money, which you guys are, help you. And I just, I honestly was looking for somebody to get me out of the trouble that I was in by, like, telling me what I need to do or, like, consolidating them all and hooking me up, like, with a really good debt payment plan. And he was good at explaining, you know, what I need to pay off first, but then also just jumped straight into wanting to do super and investments. and I felt really overwhelmed.

Yeah, you're like, this is too much too soon. This is not what I signed up for. Yeah, so I just wanted to talk to somebody because I was, like, so scared about how to get out of this pickle. And, you know, I have my family, my brother, he invests and his friends invest and they make money off investing, you know, like this is something that we need to do but I need to kind of get out of the debt that I'm in.

Yeah, absolutely. And I wish I could sit everybody in that situation down and say, hey you don't actually need a financial advisor you actually need to call our friends at the national debt helpline and you need to be connected with a free financial counsellor so that they can tell you all right debt reduction strategy this is what it is and get you in contact with the people that could help you consolidate that debt or you know talk to those um debts that you have to negotiate them down and it just they make all the tough calls that you don't like can't make because you're scared and you're really vulnerable and they'll make it easier and like

don't get me wrong I've done exactly the same thing for clients and like it's something that you know if someone came to me and said hey I really need your help with this of course I would and I do know what I'm doing but these guys literally do it day in day out and it's free and then you're not going to have that added pressure of them going okay but how can I commercialize this how can I you know make money from this interaction I didn't know that yeah it's free so stick with us money tirist we'll show you the way we're on it anyway let's move on with the questions next question i feel like we've already addressed it but it is do you have any debts any or so how much debt are you in i do so um i am eighteen

thousand dollars is that right um three zeros yeah eighteen thousand yep yeah imagine if it was four zeros and it was 180 000 that would be so sickening oh yikes um yeah so i've been paying off my tax debt to my boyfriend um currently currently i pay him 20 a week because he's the best and then i've got that lovely lombard account that we all have i don't know not all of us but you know when you go to go on a holiday and they're like oh well you can just put it on a $10,000 credit card yeah so I've got $1,500 on that and then I've got a gem visa with $2,700 on there um slowly chipping away at them um but yeah that's that's my debt I don't have a car debt I don't have um any student debt just just tax just tax and a little bit of personal

debt yes yeah but it sounds like you're on the right track yeah totally like i for years it's like for years i just ignored it because i didn't want to face it and i actually didn't realize how accommodating companies are if you just call them and tell them your situation that is so true rather than just keeping getting dishonored payments they'd actually prefer if you call them and go yeah hey i'm actually in a bit of a pickle do you mind yeah like i had no idea as well yeah yeah and when one of them i've had since i was 21 and i remember when i called i spoke to this really great guy and he was like look we don't want to put you in any more debt so we'll give you yeah i know and like that was the best i actually like the feedback with the comedy because

i was so i was crying i was like so stressed because i was ignoring it ignoring it ignoring it um and then yeah if you just like even with electricity bills like if i'm ever gonna be late I just call them that hey can we please extend this I'm like yeah no worries like they literally don't care they actually want you to communicate with them they actually want you to just be honest about it because at the end of the day if you communicate they're going to get paid whereas if it's a disordered payment they're like well are we ever going to get paid like what's the deal so I know I think that's actually a really important point to point out and that's stop bearing if you're in debt stop burying your head in the sand and start just going you know what

these people probably care about me as well because I guarantee you they do give them a call is it a bank loan is it a car loan is it a credit card give them a call and say hey guys I'm in a bit of a pickle what can we do and more often than not they're going to be willing to work with you because they want to eventually get paid and if that means they agree on a lower term so that you can pay it off over a longer period of time they're more likely to agree to that to say you know what you're right we don't want you in more debt and ultimately we just want this paid back but if we put you in so much financial stress that you can't there's every option that you'll default and just not pay it back at all yeah i had no idea so that was something um that i just

wish i did earlier on because i definitely would be in the situation that i'm in now and it would have taken a fair bit of stress off as well just knowing oh that's actually you know not as overwhelming as I thought it was going to be yeah and I called them and that's done and that leads into another question that is one of my favorite questions to ask and that is what is your best money habit oh my god do you know what the I I don't think I have one like no no no I could totally reframe this my friend it is facing your debts your best money habit is what I recently learned and it is owning up to the fact that you have debt and you want to get it done and you want and get it paid down and you're willing to put your hand up

and go, no, this is overwhelming, I can't deal with that and you're calling people. Like, just before you said you have the confidence to call the electricity company if you can't make the debt. Yeah. Like, I don't even know if I could do that because picking up the phone can feel really overwhelming. Yeah, and having the shame of just being like, you know,

because they kind of sometimes make you feel a little bit like, oh, what, so you can't pay that today? And I'm literally like, no, I can't. I'm so sorry. but that's okay because what we need to remember is the people on the phone are usually just like us like you're calling them and they're at their job they know what a credit card is like some of them are probably going to be in debt themselves like they don't own agl they don't have any ulterior motives oh nah yeah you're not calling the ceo like you're not like hey ceo you earn

like hundreds of millions of dollars um just wondering it's actually you calling someone who's probably in the same situation as you earns a very similar amount and potentially has either grappled with this themselves or has friends and family who have grappled with this and again if we start to contextualize what these things look like and humanize it you go you know what it's not actually that weird to pick up the phone and just chat with somebody because you know inherently people are kind and inherently people are nice and want the best for you and I think that you're learning this and it's something that I want the entire community to learn and that's that if you just put your hand up I guarantee you there are more people around

who want to help you than not yeah yeah and like that was really why I decided to submit my money diary because when I decided to close my business like I didn't have to like I was so busy but I just couldn't grow and get ahead if you know what I mean like it was like the money was coming in but then it was going straight back out. But I was still booked and busy every day. Sometimes people's lives aren't always what you think. It seems. Yeah.

And if anybody, I guess, was, you know, thinking about starting a business or they're owning a business and they're, say, like, not doing the things that I was doing, like, you know, not taking out any super or any tax, like it, yeah, I just really hoped this could help somebody. Because I felt so alone and I still do feel really alone. And, like, being with a partner who's so great at money and has always been so great with money, you just feel really upset,

I guess, in a little bit. Not worthless, but you just don't understand. I don't know. It's just always hard to kind of know, like, how did I get here and how can I get out? And I just wanted somebody out there to, like, know they're not alone. Oh, you are so kind. But there's a Victoria Devine special quote,

which I'm going to rattle off here. Oh, what is it? And it's, you don't know what you don't know. Oh, I do say that a lot. Yeah. So you can't look back on yourself and judge yourself for not paying your tax or taking super or whatever because you didn't know that you had to do that.

I know, how silly. But no, it's not silly because you didn't know. And I'm so excited for your future because like as much as you're in debt right now, like think about all the knowledge you have now if you go, you know what, business was for me but this time I'm going to do it right. I guarantee you, you would go to your accountant first and set up your banking structures to make sure that that never happens again and so often you

see successful people they're not actually the ones that just got up in the morning and were like you know what I'm going to create a business they're the ones that got up when they were pushed down or they were in debt and they had businesses failing and then they tried again and I think you start looking into people who have genuinely been successful their key differentiating factor from my perspective I've obviously got this like just idea that I know what I'm talking about it's actually their grit and grit is something that I you know I see in other people and it's probably the one trait that I genuinely look at and I go oh my gosh like I want to be more like them what is it I can't put my finger on it it's their grit you get back up every time they get

back up every time like they're never down about what people are saying about them they you know take every every opportunity that comes in their stride as a learning opportunity and you just go wow like I wish I was more like that it's not somebody who was an overnight success because you go well that that kind of comes down to luck like you know they were just lucky that they had the right advice and they were lucky that then you know what you don't want to put it down to luck but I think that we just really don't award the people that we see who are successful after getting up so many times as much as we should because that's really impressive and from the sound of it you sound like that person you're just halfway through that journey yeah yeah just deciding to shut it

and to close and to move back to Queensland where my family was I guess I wasn't scared because I can see the end goal like I can see how good things will be and everything like it's already all in the stars like I'm just going with it because I know that the whole journey is already literally planned out I just have to do what I'm currently doing and just know that yeah I guess everything will be okay as long as I yeah even at the bottom of your email you said better things are coming like I'm positive there's not a lot of people that have been through what you've been through and at where you're at now that have that outlook you know and it definitely makes me think that your best money habit is that you feel comfortable talking about it even though it's

not great at the moment and you're on your way to making it better oh my gosh yeah oh I'm so poetic you are you are a poet and you didn't even know it we're geniuses oh my god a career in comedy is on the cards for both of us yes for you Tony not for you all right I'm gonna ask the last question before we jump to a quick break I'm not gonna ask you what your worst money habit is because I just don't want to bring the vibe of this conversation down so what grade would you give yourself if I forced you to give yourself a money grade um I would probably give myself a C I like that that's fair that's a fair grade I don't run anymore and I prioritize what my money goes to I like that um and I know that we've definitely gotten off track through the structured

well I say structured in quotation marks but we're going to take a really really quick break right now and then keep asking some pervy questions so do not go anywhere there's so many questions so jumping straight back into it obviously all of this is a lot to take in for you as well as for us but I also just I'm so excited about this story but you said before making the decision to close your business and move home was something that was hard to do but it wasn't because your business was a failure so can you talk us through that decision making process and I guess what led you to go you know what I'm done with this I'm gonna move home you know I need to get my affairs in order yeah yeah what was I guess the straw that broke the camel's back there um it's gonna

sounds so cheesy too but it was becoming an auntie as well oh cute yes she likes dogs and babies she is my people Tony yeah yeah we are my older sister it's the first child like out of our four kids that's very special yeah that happened um I guess like with having the business I was from home in the beginning and then I moved commercial because I did tattooing and you can't or you can but I didn't want to be that person that operated illegally yeah yeah that's it's quite don't pay my taxes but I would yeah I don't pay my taxes but I'm absolutely not going to be doing I've got a shop. Yeah.

Don't be silly. It's all the front. I might edit that out. No, don't. I like it. I like it. I, yeah, so I was paying, obviously, yeah, renting commercially, constantly just buying, just staying afloat with the business.

And it was a client that broke the straw on the camel's back. my client asked me how I was and I was she was a cosmetic tattooing client as well so like she's going to need me for the next year every single year for her brows to stay alive but she said to me she was like I think that it's really important as people that we constantly re-evaluate what we're doing because what serves you five years ago might not serve you now she's Gandhi yep she's she knows and five years ago I was single and I would just work I would grind just work work work I was so work and then I met my partner and he's from the UK and he's just breezy and chill and slow and I really needed that and he slowed me down a lot and I it kind of got me thinking that

having like I had this goal to have this really big salon and to do everything and be that one place that does everything perfectly and I knew that it was going to be really hard to get there and I was you know willing to put somebody on the following year and I was going to get myself out of the rut that I was in but then I couldn't slow down so we would go away we'd go camping and I'd have no reception and I'd be having panic attacks with Michael somebody's going to have some weird reaction or oh my god if a client needs to talk to me I'm unavailable and I kind of just changed um yeah the direction that I wanted my life to go in I realized that I kind of didn't want to I wanted to be able to turn off yeah I wanted to be able to turn off and um just slow

down and another one of my photography clients he's a jeweler he said to me he's like you can't have both he's like you can't go and travel for a whole year and then come back to a business like for what I do because I'm so service-based and I kind of thought for a long time or do I want this business or do I want to travel like what do I want and when I thought about closing and moving back home just to take some time and to not do anything that just felt really good to me and I am less stressed like I'm not worried anymore about having rent paid on time and if a whole day canceled it was so tragic to me because it would have it would just affect everything I wasn't in a position I guess to be able to grow without having to really be at the

bottom of the barrel and like I've done it before and I don't I'm like that weirdo that kind of really thrives when things are rough like give me a hard situation and I find it horny like I love eating two minute noodles and sleeping out of my car like I love the feeling that this is really bad but it's for the best you know what I mean like so I guess I just didn't want to struggle anymore as well and I love that because that's a hard decision to make but it sounds like you were making it for yourself and your mental health and the future that you wanted to create not necessarily the future that you know you were working towards five years ago and that's such an important point because five years ago had you said to Tony do you think this is where you're

going to be sitting I'm sure she would say absolutely not yeah same with me and too many times we stick to the plans that we made for ourselves when we didn't have a view of what the future looks like and and beat your head against the wall trying to make it work when actually we're humans we can be more dynamic we can look at this and go actually this is what I really wanted but right now it's just not for me but it doesn't mean that in a year five years 20 years you couldn't open another salon doesn't mean that you couldn't do that again but just for right now it's like you know what I need a break I want to enjoy my family and that's really special not a lot of people have the foresight to be able to go like this can happen again it's just not for

me right now and I think some of us are just too stubborn we go no I've been working for this like for the last five years and you go yeah you have but it might not be serving you anymore whether that is a relationship a business a friendship you know a job like you don't just have to stay because of tenure you don't have to just stay because well I've been here for five years like that'll be a waste and but it's not all right no it's not because you learn so much and you are put into situations that you can't plan you can't orchestrate the things that you're going to learn in those situations but you can go all right you know what I know that I've been studying to be an equestrian nurse for 20 years but like now I don't want to do that doesn't

mean that you forget everything you knew about horses very random example I don't think I've But it doesn't mean that you forget what a horse looks like just because you decide that you want to open an ice cream shop. Like that would be a career pivot and a half, wouldn't it, Tony? Where does that come from? I really like it, but I think it's, I think it's the same. And I feel like this transcends, you know, not just money, but also interrelationships. And, you know, we've all got that friend that, you know, you kind of go, you probably should break up with your partner because they're not that positive for you or they're a bit toxic or, you know, you're not your best version of you with them and they say oh yeah but I've been with them forever

yeah exactly and it is one of those things that you just go but like it's not a waste you've learned so much about you and they're like yeah they're only 30 and I'd have to go find a new boyfriend oh the sunk cost fallacy oh what is that it's like where you stay with something because you feel like you owe it from the time that you've put into it like yeah we've all been in positions like that we definitely have been but like it doesn't matter who you are or how old you are or you know what stage you're in you don't owe anyone anything no cut it yeah yeah live your best life oh look at us being inspirational money diarist do you think you'll ever open another business um I do I definitely do um doing what though I'm

not entirely sure like with my photography I've got like four weddings book and I've only ever done one um that's amazing that is so cool and we all know that weddings are expensive so hopefully hopefully you're getting a nice little payday out of that as well yes and um and GST yeah I definitely think so like probably in photography though I love beauty but I remember I just I feel like we don't just have to do one thing with our life and I don't believe on falling back like I don't think oh well at least I can just fall back on beauty like if I'm going to do something it's going to still be like going forward so if I were to fall forward I guess it would be in a in something to do with beauty and the skills that I've learned but might not

necessarily be like I don't know on the tools or anything but I definitely do like the idea of for having a business and if I were to do it again, it would be done really well and I would so not be anxious and I would take all those things that you learn and be able to implement them, which is so powerful. And again, it shows that the things that we go through are learnt and we don't forget what we've been through. We don't go through things, we grow through things.

Oh, my gosh. Are we the second coming? This podcast is the second coming? Yes, absolutely. Just call me Oprah, guys. I feel like I could go and do anything right now. Honestly, I really love this. And there was something that you just said

that really resonated with me. Like, I don't want to fall back on something. I want to fall forward. Why have I not thought of that before? How am I going to fall forward into the next thing that I'm going to do? And how am I going to lean into that? And yeah, I really like that.

I really like this conversation. And it just is, for me, a really great mindset shift around being in debt and knowing that you don't have to be ruled by your debt you can still have a life and you can still you know enjoy things and dream about what the future looks like and create and I just think that so many people think that their debt defines them have you ever felt like your debt has defined you absolutely it's definitely like controlled my entire 20s and it like it made me feel like I was a person that had constantly lived outside my means which I was and I I guess I tried to see where that stemmed from and it was

definitely like growing up we we weren't like a super wealthy family but we kind of got everything without question like every there was four of us kids and whenever we needed something you know we got it and um we always you know got everything that we wanted for Christmas and we always worked and money was never a topic at home and when a brand new car would come never know how we kind got it like it was but it all just ticked along somehow yeah yeah and then come when my parents broke up and I was in with my dad and there was all this debt and was all this drama I was like oh my god and you know like he in saying that though like I probably wouldn't have been able to still be in debt and travel the country and run a business if I didn't have my dad

like say dad would pay for my website you know dad bought me a car dad saved me saved my ass so many times throughout my entire 20s if I didn't have that I probably would be even more in debt but at the same time it was kind of like oh here's the money fix your problem not okay well how can we stop you from getting here again it was kind of like there was no good at putting yeah it was just a band-aid here's some cash pay for you pay for your website or here's some money do this supposed to which in a whim I guess some people could see that and go wow that's entitled but But I don't believe it is like I just, you know, our parents often, you know, unfortunately, this isn't the case for everybody, but our parents often want the best for us. And they often want, you know, to just gift you things and fix things and give a bandaid to you when in reality, like, you know, paying it off could have been very helpful in that moment or paying for a new website would obviously really helped.

But also saying to you, all right, you know what, money diarist, I was about to use your name, which I'm not allowed to. we're going to not only pay this off and get you out of it but we're going to stop you from doing it again and i guess that's why she's on the money exists it's that conversation around how do we stop you from doing it again because you're not in trouble for doing it like you're not a bad person we're not judging you for getting into this situation in fact if we put ourselves in your shoes we could probably see exactly how that came to be because with your experiences and the knowledge that you had like we're all just doing the best we can and trying to figure it out yeah we're just trying to figure it out and like some of us still haven't figured it out like I think

everybody puts me personally on a bit of a pedestal and says well she must have it figured out I'm like no like sometimes I have to take my own advice and my friends it is hard it is I don't want to listen to Victoria she's crazy it's easier to give advice than it is to take it yeah do as we say not as we do but like that's just it right like sometimes we just need to step back and realize that it's not the situation controlling us it's us and we can actually reframe that situation into anything and it sounds like you my friend have done a really beautiful job of kind of reframing it so that you're in a position of power as opposed to being the power that controls you yeah yeah I love that I love that we don't have heaps of time but I have a question

and I think that you know it might be a good place to leave it a lot of other people in our community are currently in this position of struggle they're in debt and things feel like there's no light at the end of the tunnel what is your best piece of advice that you could leave them with that you know is not going to make people feel like we are on our own I think I've got two and these are two that really help to ground me and make me feel like I had it together even when I didn't but the first one is just to take each moment at a time with your debt not necessarily each day or each step but literally each moment getting you to where you need to be and I guess facing them and then your gut is always right as well like with anything

like if I was feeling like funny I guess about like a situation that involves money and I knew I didn't have the money but I commit to it anyway like I knew I shouldn't have done that so I guess just really listening you know to your gut and yeah just taking each moment at a time and seeing an accountant finding a really really good accountant and before you even think about opening a business just ask what you need to do beforehand because yeah yeah it's just what you need to do beforehand I guess um and listen to she's on the money because great guys are so work but nah just um yeah making sure that you see an accountant first absolutely I wish I did that not after I hope that people will listen to this and feel really empowered because I

definitely do me too yeah like leaving leaving this here and feeling that that way that you know it doesn't matter where you're at tomorrow can always be better absolutely there's just always better things coming and i i love your attitude and it sounds like you've been through a really crazy journey up until now but like you said you're 27 better things are coming and you've got a girlfriend thank you i love that i'm so sad that's all we have time for but oh you're amazing thank you thank you for having me ladies no of course but just before we head off we'd like to acknowledge and pay respect to Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples the traditional custodians of the lands the waterways and the skies all across Australia

we thank you for sharing and for caring for the land on which we are able to learn we pay our respects to elders past and present and we share our friendship and our kindness the advice shared on she's on the money is generally 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 and we promise victoria divine is an authorized representative of australia pacific funds management proprietary limited abn 34132463257 afsl 339151 and thank you tony for cutting this episode together anytime yeah you're a you're a legend i've got nothing else on so i might as well do you know what i mean so kind of you yeah

that's fine all right see you next week for another money diary guys Thanks for watching!