She's On The Money - MONEY DIARIES: A Breath of Fresh Air

Episode Date: March 5, 2023

Today's Money Diarist grew up with a single dad who worked long hours and was always burdened by debt. She navigated a 30k loan at 21, and now at 28 years old, she has bought a home, a new car, is planning her wedding, and building her wealth and finances up with her fiancé. All while processing her next career steps. She's sure to inspire you! 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 welcome back to another one of our money diaries where we get to talk to one of our beautiful She's On The Money community members all about their journey. Let's jump straight into it. This week, I got a message and it went a little bit like this. Hi, Victoria. I grew up with a single dad and worked long hours with crippling debt. I got a $30,000 loan at 21 and this year at 28, I just bought a home, a new car. I'm planning a wedding and building my wealth and finances up with my fiance while trying to figure out what I want to do with my career also.

money diarist. You sound like a really fun diarist to get on the show. Welcome. Thank you. Hearing that back is so weird. Is it actually? I feel like it would be jarring. Does it make you proud? Yeah, I think so because I don't think I've really achieved much or I'm that great or anything, but then hearing it in one sentence like that, it's like, okay, I can step back and sort of be like, yeah, I have achieved quite a lot considering where I've come from. So I'm, yeah, I'm pretty proud of that. I'm very proud of that. Let's kick off. I want to know what grade would you give your money habits

if I asked you to give yourself a grade from A through to F? I've been tossing up on this. I think maybe like a B minus, maybe B, B minus. A B, a B minus. Can you give me a little bit more insight? Why would you pick that? I think I've been able to work out my finances pretty well, but I think I still have a lot to learn. I haven't really jumped into the investing space and I'm not really ready to yet but I think I want to learn more about that and build more wealth that way as well so I think I've got good things but I think I could do better I feel like that was really well articulated I want to know before we get any further my favorite question as always is can you tell us a little bit more about your money story I'm so keen to hear so I had a single

parent my parents split when I was eight unfortunately my dad was given custody of me my brother so he worked really really crazy hours just to sort of you know earn the money he worked from 4 a.m till 6 p.m most days and I would have dinner on the table ready and I would do all the things in a house that a mother would usually do but he worked really really long hours just to sort of give us everything we needed as kids I have an older brother so his focus was just keeping us in school and keeping us happy but that came with a lot of debt he got made redundant twice in three years from jobs oh no and he got himself in 30 40 odd k worth of debt just to make the ends meet it wasn't like he was out buying flashy things or anything like that it was more so just

to keep us in school and with the things we needed it wasn't excessive spending on unnecessary things so I think growing up it's not like we didn't have things he definitely looked after us and we definitely got every weekend we do an activity like we go to time zone or we go ice skating or we go rock climbing I did a lot of rock climbing as a kid with my dad so we always did things but there wasn't you know endless flows of money we had things but it was known that we had a single parent and money was needed for our things rather than unnecessary things so I kind of grew up with the mind frame that work hard hard working and it'll pay off and and you'll get there so I think that instilled in me a lot of hard work and and you know I got my first job at 14 and I was helping

dad out with the rent from 16 onwards and I think that taught me a lot about money and sort of what I wanted for my future money wise and I guess for my family I didn't want my kids to sort of grow up like that. And I think I've worked really hard at that from seeing what my dad went through to build a little bit of a better foundation for myself. What's it like being 16 and contributing to the rent when I'm assuming a lot of your peers were probably not in a similar position? Yeah, pretty much all my friends at school, their parents were together and they'd had not an easy life, but they hadn't been through the things that I'd been through. And I'd been through a lot at this stage. It was weird, but I also, I'm very close with my dad. So I was happy to help out.

It started off as just, you know, $50 a week and gradually went up from there. But I think I was more just happy to help because I knew everything he was sacrificing for us. Totally. And I feel like if I was in a similar position, that's exactly what I would want to do, right? Like, it sounds like your dad's a legend. He is my best friend. And I can tell, like, from the way that you talk about him I'm like oh this man he must have done it so much is that something you talked about at school like is that a conversation where you know you were working and people knew that the money that you were earning as a teenager was going towards that not really a lot of my friends in my friendship group at school we actually all worked at the local McDonald's but a lot of them

were working to just sort of buy themselves stuff or just to have money where I yeah I guess I was working to help with bills and I was paying off my own phone and I was I saved for my very first car and every car I've had I've bought purely myself I've never had help so I think I don't think I really spoke about it in that sense with my friends at the time no it wasn't really a conversation that where's your money going or what what are you saving for or contributing to so not really something I think when you're a teenager you just assume it's on going to the movies and, you know, going to Macca's after school. And it's funny you say that because I grew up in a, I don't want to say more regional area. I grew up on the Mornington Peninsula

and so many of my friends worked at either one of the two McDonald's down there. It was honestly such a good job, I feel, because it's so structured and provides so much leadership training. Did you love that? I did. I think it was a great place for me to start. I spent five years there I got a job I think I was 14 and three months and I worked my way up I started management but I didn't finish it I wanted to sort of move on but I think it instilled a lot in me and I think it's a really great starting point for children that age or you know teenagers that age I think it teaches you a lot when I started there I was the shyest person you'd ever meet like my dad laughs about it now how shy I was like I wouldn't even go up to a checkout person and ask

a question. And people that know me now would know me that I'm a foghorn. I make friends everywhere. You found yourself. Honestly, I don't have issues making friends and I'm not a shy person at all. But I think I learned a lot. I grew a lot and learned a lot of leadership and business sort of skills from that job. I think it's a great starting point for sure. Yeah, that is so cool. I want to know what you do now, though. So what do you do for work? How much money do you learn? I work as an accounts clerk, sort of accounts and admin clerk. My salary is 56 plus super, but I do also get monthly overtime. And I did start doing Uber Eats last year at the end of the year. Yeah, just to pay off my wedding. What a little hustler. I love this. Yep. So all my Uber

Eats income goes straight to the wedding. And then my normal salary covers all the mortgage and that sort of stuff. So I don't really have an estimated amount with Uber, but my normal salary is the 56 plus and then overtime each month as well. I want to ask about overtime because when you said I'm an accounts clerk, that's not usually a role where you would get overtime. How's that happen? Yeah. So I work in the automotive industry. So we work on a monthly basis and my role is monthly based. So at the end of each month, we have to get everything entered into the system. so generally the last two days of the month we work sort of 12 to 13 hour days oh my gosh to get everything in so end of month is always really work heavy and the start of the month's quiet but

I'm always happy to do it because every hour we work overtime at end of month is paid yeah 100% I am there for the overtime yeah I use my overtime funds to go to a wedding dress account yeah awesome so I have all my overtime sort of works for me I always use my overtime to pay for something I want that's on top of my normal salary. It's going towards the above and beyond. Exactly. Not coming out of my normal salary, not digging into my normal bills. So yeah, every, every end of month I get maybe four to $500 of overtime that, you know, goes into those accounts. So that's a nice little bonus on top of my normal salary. That's actually so cool that you have that structure where you're like, I don't want it

coming out of my normal account. If I do overtime, it's the above and beyond. Tell me, you mentioned a wedding dress account. As somebody who got married last year, I'm still so obsessed with weddings. It is my entire TikTok feed. I am in love. I know, I watch your... I've just got my wedding video back, guys. I am obsessed. The wedding content is going to be making a comeback. But what I want to know is like, how did this wedding dress account come up? How did you set a budget? What are we working towards? So originally that account, I always changed the name of what that account is for what my goal is. I have a tattoo sleeve and I use all my overtime fund for that. And that's expensive. Yeah, it's so expensive. So I use that account.

I changed the name of it to whatever we're doing. We went to New Zealand last year. So it was my New Zealand funds account. Then once the holiday was over, we'd just gotten engaged before the holiday. So I changed it to wedding dress. And I kind of look at my wedding dress as one of my main expenses of a wedding, not my partner's in a sense. So I am saving for that separately to allow you know my wedding dress fund and for my bridesmaids sort of fund I've sort of set a budget for my dress I kind of don't want to spend more than about two and a half on the dress that's still a significant amount of money like they're so expensive weddings are crazy it's huge I've set a very strict budget for the wedding I'm well on track I've run the numbers multiple times and

I've gotten quotes for everything and I have everything structured so yeah I kind of came up with two and a half because I think that's a reasonable amount. It's still quite a lot and there's still a lot of dresses that are so much more than that. But I think for me, it's a very reasonable amount because I've set a very strict budget and I don't want to be too excessive. Yeah, that's absolutely fair. Can I be really pervy and ask about the rest of the wedding? Like what's the overall budget? How did you work that out with your partner? I feel like it's such a fickle conversation. It really is. My partner, if I turned around tomorrow and said let's just have a party he'd be so happy with that he definitely wants a wedding

but he finds the cost of them just insane and we aren't made of money so he's like we can have a wedding but we're not going to be able to have all the bells and whistles or you know we need to be smart about it I don't think spending x amount of money when we could go overseas or this or that is smart so I sort of came up with a budget and we looked at venues and stuff and sort of worked out what we'd be looking at and we came to a number of 25k so I'm actually well on target for that at the moment I think I'm sitting a little bit under it actually at the moment and we've set a date and we've booked the venue so yeah I kind of I can accept that amount as sort of reasonable but I think when it gets a little bit over that just for our personal goals that's when

it's a bit too much. So I sort of work down what our goals are and what's reasonable. Yeah, no, 100%. I love to hear how clear you guys are on it and you know your partner's values versus your values. Like for me, that was really important when it came to planning the wedding as well. My partner just wanted a massive party and I'm quite, in real life, guys, I'm actually really introverted. I like my small group of friends. I don't like really big crowds of people. I find them really overwhelming. So that was a fun compromise to make. My partner's exactly the same. His social battery wears out quite quickly where I'm the opposite. So we sort of came to that compromise. We are having a very small wedding. It's only about 40 people, just close friends

and family. And I think that's plenty for us and where we're at. And he's, yeah, very, he likes the social thing, but he gets, his social battery gets full very quickly. So. I'm the same. I think I slept for the entire week after our wedding because I was just exhausted from everything that had happened. Elated, so excited. Best day of my life. I need a nap is basically where I was at. Before we move on to more of the structured questions, I have another spicy wedding question based on content that I have been producing recently on TikTok. I know exactly what question is coming. Are you paying for your bridesmaids? if so why if not why not well to be honest your recent post through a spanner and not a spanner

in the works sorry made me question things no no don't be sorry I've obviously never had a wedding and I've never been in a bridal party so you know it's kind of working out what works for us I was always planning hair and makeup fully paid by me I was never gonna ask that the dresses I'm looking out of a not too expensive $100 or less and I was originally thinking of getting my bridesmaids to purchase their own dress but I think I might end up paying for them shoes and things like that if they have shoes that fit the color scheme then happy for them to wear what they have but I'd love to be able to afford to pay for everything and and I think if the way I'm working things now I think I will be able to. So I definitely at least half, if not all, is what I'm working for.

I love this conversation because I think as somebody who has been a bride, I just really hadn't thought about it before. And I had been a bridesmaid and to, you know, check my own privilege, I've always been in a position where if I've been asked to be a bridesmaid, I was at an age where I had the free cash flow. So I didn't mind. I was just so excited to be a bridesmaid. I didn't mind that I had to pay for the dress. I didn't mind to be a part of it. But then once it came to me having my own wedding, I was just overwhelmed with this idea that my tastes would then dictate how my bridesmaids would have to budget. And I hated the idea that I would put them out with decisions that I was making. I don't think it's a secret that sometimes I do

have quite expensive taste. And I just fell in love with a specific pair of shoes that I really wanted my bridesmaids to have it. And I was just like, there's no way I could ever ask them to pay for that. All of them were obsessed. And I was like, let's just make this one of their wedding presents, like a present for me, like they can wear them a million times after. I know they will because they were all obsessed. But it's one of those things where I had not comprehended the financial impacts of that, even though they've surrounded me for a really long time. I just went, wow, like I would hate to put my friends and family out. And I think it's a different story, money diarist when you're like oh it's about a hundred dollars and that's you know where it is

I was always going to cover everything else I feel like that might be different than okay well I expect them to pay for my hands party and then a pair of shoes a specific pair of shoes a specific dress I want them to pay for my hair or their own hair and makeup and it all just ends up adding up and it's just at what cost and it's not yours anymore it becomes maybe they can't go on their friend trip to Bali anymore because they've spent you know seven or eight hundred dollars going to your wedding or maybe they can't do something for their mum or they can't do something for their own budget and that just blows my mind and I think a lot of us and you sound like you're in the same ship as me we just hadn't thought about it before until your post honestly I hadn't thought about

it and then I put myself in those shoes that I'm like do I if I was asked to be a bridesmaid today have the funds to go and spend that amount with my money goals at the moment would that be a priority for me and I you know that's where I put myself in that shoes and I was like okay I don't want my wedding to be someone else's financial burden yeah that's so fair and I'd never thought of it that way before so I think that definitely reworked when you posted that reel I messaged a few of my friends one of my bridesmaids it was actually in a wedding not long ago and I just asked her the question you know what was the situation you know and then I both my sister-in-laws two of my sister-in-laws are also getting married in the next year and I asked them like what they're

planning on doing so it's been a very strong conversation between us sister-in-laws as well on what we're gonna do and what suits us so I think that definitely sparked a lot of more thoughts and questions that I hadn't thought of before and I think it did that for a lot of people so I love but also stop dming me telling me that I'm the devil thank you yeah exactly you're not the devil not at all you're just thinking about financial freedom all right I want to know you've obviously got the wedding coming up but what is your big money goal currently? So obviously the wedding and then we really want to build an emergency funds account. We've got one in our bank named emergency funds but it's yet to have money put in it so I think that's the big goal

for us building up a bit of an emergency funds and a buffer in our mortgage repayment account is also our goal because we do want to start a family after we get married so we want to build a little bit of a buffer in there just to help with the mortgage repayments and things like that once I go on maternity leave. Yeah, how exciting. I like how clear you've been on all of these goals and what you're planning to achieve. It blows my mind that it's so exciting. It may also help to know my auntie is a mortgage broker. Queen. She looks over my finances 24-7 and since I was 14, asked those questions. So I think she's really helped guide me finance-wise making big decisions or the way I should structure things.

So that kind of helps as well. I love that. All right. I have so many more questions for you and we're going to go to a really quick break and then we'll get back to all of those in a hot minute. Don't go anywhere. All right, Money Diarist, we are back and I have a question.

I want to talk more about your aunt because one question I wrote down earlier when you were telling me all about these accounts that you have and you've got your wedding dress fund and that fund name changes depending on what your money goal is. I was like, how on earth did you manage to learn how to manage money in this way? Because it sounds like you have really clear goals and really clear ideas of cash flow and budgeting.

Where did this come from? How did you learn about money? It definitely came from a combination of my dad and my auntie seeing my dad struggle and then my auntie be in the finance industry my whole life. We had a lot of strong conversations about that. and from the day I got my first job I used to write out just on a notepad how much I got paid each week and what my bills were or what my expenses were that week so since the day I got my very first paycheck I've had a written budget and to this day I still have a written budget I

like pen to paper I like seeing things written so I still to this day have a written out budget that I work from and I think my Arnie definitely helped with navigating how I work my finances and how I navigate those things because from day one like I paid for my very first car at 17 and that was something I had to budget for as a 16 year old working so I've always had money goals or something I was saving for and I knew the only way to save or get there was to budget for it. Yeah amazing and is this something that your aunt just sat you down when you were young and said this is stuff you need to know or were you tenacious and asking these questions or how do these conversations come up especially with an aunt because I feel like that isn't going to

happen for everybody no I think my auntie really stepped into a little bit of a mother role when my parents split my auntie doesn't have children of her own so I think and and when my parents split actually we lived with my auntie for a bit of time we it was not a great split so we weren't allowed to be at the house at the time so we did live with my auntie for a little period of time there so I think she really stepped into you need a figure in your life that's a mother and she took that on and we had a lot of conversations about that and I could always ask her anything and you know as a teenager sometimes that got uncomfortable or there was things I didn't want to tell her because you know teenagers of course you've got to have some level of privacy

as a 16 year old definitely but I think yeah we spoke a lot and we had a little tradition back then where we used to when I was still in school it was a breakfast every week she used to take me and my brother just down to Macca's for breakfast. And when we finished school, it was Sunday didn'ts. I'd have dinner with her every Sunday, just me and her. And we'd talk about a lot of those things or what my goals were and what I was working towards. So I think it was a bit of both me asking questions and her giving advice. I mean, when I got my first $30,000 loan, I didn't tell her and she was not impressed. As a mortgage broker, she would have been a little bit salty on you, my friend. I got in a lot of trouble for that. But yeah, I think I go to her

with anything when it comes to money or big decisions to make. And also when it came to buying the house, it was a given that she was very, very involved in that and helped us immensely. And I couldn't thank her enough for that. So I think that definitely helped in navigating where I wanted to go with my finances from a very young age. It sounds like you are surrounded by some very beautiful people. I really am. I'm very blessed. I love it. All right. I want to know next question is, do you have any investments? If so, what are they? If not, what do you want to do? Okay. So super. Yes, of course. I have about 42 and a half thousand. Hey, that's pretty good for your age. Yeah. I did take 10,000 out during COVID. Knowing what I know now, I wish I didn't.

But we all learn. And to be honest, I feel like sometimes we really needed to. Yeah. I had a little bit of debt at the time and I knew it would help get rid of that. So I had about six grand left on my debt and I paid that off. And then I put the remaining towards our account that we knew we were already starting to save for a house. So it kind of helped with that. I didn't use it to go and spend on silly things. Hey, lots of people bought flat screen TVs. So you are totally working towards the right financial goals here, my love. Did not do that. So my, yeah, 42 and a half in that and my Arnie looks over my super to make sure it's invested to get the best return. Sharesies, I at this point have only put $5 in.

I want to work on being more consistent at putting a little bit in each week or each fortnight. But that's leaps and bounds in front of everybody else because I feel like so many times people just don't even take the step of picking a platform or even putting their first few dollars on that platform and it it feels like a small step you might go oh that's not much but that's massive that's the step that everybody struggles with I think I actually had a little bit of a money win there too when I signed up I forgot to use the she's on the money code no and then I heard it on one of the podcasts like the next day and so I emailed them and they added manually added the credit to my book they're angels they're amazing so that was a little bit of a money win oh how

good. Yeah. So that's purely just from listening to the podcast on Sharesies. Yeah. See free money. That's a good return on your investment. Free money. I'm here for free money. Always. I love it. So what are you planning to do with your Sharesies account? I don't know enough yet. I want to buy the second she's on the money book, obviously to learn some more. And it is a conversation my partner and I've been having. He wants to sort of get into the investment space a little bit more as well. So I think just dipping my toes in and just showing me a little bit more and learning a little bit more about it is where I'm at at this stage. Yeah, love.

All right, I want to know, we've already spoken about how you had a debt and then you mentioned earlier that you paid it off with money from your super. But I want to know, do you have any debts? If so, what are they? So we have the mortgage, obviously, which is about $430,000. We only bought the place six months ago, so we've only just been here six months and interest rate rises have not been fun. But your aunt's a mortgage broker, so I'm sure that she is all over that for you.

She definitely is. We were very lucky. We had a guarantor as well when we bought our place. My partner's parents offered to go guarantor to help us out, which was really amazing. How good is that? Yeah, we're very, very lucky for them. And we probably wouldn't be in the position we're in without them because we wouldn't have had enough for a deposit. So we were very lucky there. And that allowed us to have a little bit of a smaller deposit so we could spend money on furniture and setting ourselves up. So that's sitting at about $430,000. In October, we also bought a brand new car, which we financed at about $60,000 owing. I want to know what car that is. $60,000. What

are you spending that on? It's an Isuzu D-Max, top of the line. It's beautiful. We absolutely love it. A big dog car. Big dog car. However, we did just put it up for sale last night. Why did you choose to do that? Wasn't planned. My partner changed jobs recently where we took a little bit well quite a significant pay cut for a long-term gain it's gonna be once he gets off probation he's gonna be earning commissions oh how exciting which will significantly put us in a better place but for the time being we're taking a little bit of a hit and we sort of sat down and worked out what expenses can we minimize and what are our goals and having that car at the moment just doesn't really align with our goals we should have you know thought about that six

months ago when we were just about to get it but we didn't really think that far ahead we just got caught up in the moment of you know we're getting our first ever brand new car off the showroom floor that we didn't forecast what would happen so we made that decision this week that it's the best thing for us to minimize that so we actually listed it last night and with the market at the moment we can actually make a little bit of money or break even with it because it holds its value quite well. So we've got someone coming to look already. Already. It went up last night. Yeah, we put it up last night and they're coming this week and they're pretty keen. So if we sell that, we'll get rid of that debt straight away. Yeah. Do you know what? I find that to be a really

mature decision to be making as well, because I think a lot of people, especially because the car's only six months old, would be so emotionally invested in that vehicle that they'd be like, no, can't get rid of it. It's too new. It's too this. It's too that. I feel like that's such a good financial decision where you're taking the holistic picture into consideration. And I feel like too often we get too caught up in our egos, like, oh, well, what might people think if they see us buying a car and then selling it within six months? Like, I just think it's so smart and so mature. And I really respect that. I think when I first started mentioning it to a few of my friends this week that knew how excited we were when we got the car, to be honest,

I was a little bit embarrassed. I had a moment that I was like, oh my God. But then when I step back and look at the bigger picture I'm not embarrassed because we're putting us first we're making the best financial decision for us and our goals and having that car isn't doing anything to contribute to our goals right now so what is the point of spending the amount we're spending each week to run this car when our goals are a wedding and to build emergency funds and to start a family in the next two years so it just doesn't really align with where we're at right now And that was where we made that decision. And I was embarrassed for a moment. And then I stood back and thought, I don't really care what people think. This is for us. Yes. I love this. Yeah.

I feel like I brought that up because I was like, I feel like so many people would be in that position where their ego might be a little bit more than what, yeah, what they can handle. And I just feel like hearing that might give people permission to go, you know what, it doesn't actually matter what other people think. How good is it that we're putting us first or we're doing the right thing for what we need to do. I just think that's, yeah, just, I love it. I love it. It makes me so happy. It sounds like you have some really good money habits. So I want to know, what do you think your best money habit is? I'm very rugal in a way. Like I buy, we buy what we want when we want. We're not, you know, you can't have it, but I shop a lot when things are on sale

or I shop around. I also have car insurance with Woolworths. So it gets me 10% off one shop a month, as well as the Everyday Extra program, which I heard about on your podcast, actually. Which we got from the community. I can't take any credit for this. I feel like you guys have all the good ideas. Even the idea that you get 10% off once a month by having Woolworths insurance, like that's pretty cool. Yeah. So I sort of, I look around, I get, you know, discounts on the, on the shopping, things like that. Always, you know, if I need pet food, I'll look around at where it might be on sale. I try not to pay, you know, the highest price for things. I budget that way. I also do some online surveys every now and then to get money to go towards like fuel or

groceries. I think that's my best money habit. I'm frugal. I, you know, when we get bills, I will look over them. And if something doesn't look right, I'll question it. I like to always know where my money's going and that my money's working for me in the best ways possible. Love, I don't even know if the right word there is frugal. It sounds like you're just super resourceful. You're like, I'm going to find the right deal. I'm going to get the best bang for my buck. I'm going to put myself in the best position. Like that's not being frugal. Not at all. I feel like that's just being super resourceful and smart with your money. And we all should be doing that. I mean, we work hard for our money. Why are we throwing it

away without question? 100%. All right. To flip that on its head, I feel like you are super resourceful. I want to know what's your worst money habit? When it comes to other people, I will just spend I'm you know birthdays Christmases presents just because I don't ever really second guess or second question myself on spending money on others and transferring out of my personal savings I need to get a little bit better at when I put money in there it's you know my little buffer but that doesn't just mean I can you know I want a coffee and there's you know not much money left in my account I'll just transfer out so I think that's probably my worst habit is putting money in my personal savings and then just being like, oh, I'll just transfer it back

out. Yeah. I feel like a lot of us are guilty of that. And it seems to be a consistent she's on the money community member trait to always spend a lot of money on other people. I feel like we are all very similar peas in a very similar pod in that case. Yeah. I'm a giver. I'll spend money on other people without question, but I will always question it if I'm going to buy something for myself. I kind of love it. We all care about everybody else, which is really sweet, but we need to care more about ourselves and our own financial futures sometimes too. We do. We do. All right. I want to wrap back around to the very start of this episode. You told me that you think that maybe you've got a money grade of like a B or a B minus,

but you've just told me all of this awesome stuff. Like you're an accounts clerk, you are working overtime, you are doing Uber Eats, you are doing online surveys to bring in more income. You have 42 grand in superannuation. You've got a mortgage. You are always on top of it. You've just started investing. Like you are selling a car because you're literally like, I don't even care about my ego. I'm going to put that aside and put our financial futures first. My friend, do you really think that you're a B or a B minus after having this conversation? I mean, maybe not. What do you think is maybe a little bit more accurate? Maybe like an A minus. Yeah, that feels a little bit more comfortable for me too. Yeah. I just feel like you are killing it. Like knowing

how you learned to manage money and that your dad and your aunt are so supportive and that you know even though you grew up in a relatively low income family and you learned about debt really early I feel like you've just got these great money habits and you're you know growing that and putting yourself in a position where you've got this home and you're planning your dream wedding and you're planning on starting a family like that's all so exciting and usually very very financially taxing but you seem to be taking it all in your stride like I feel like so many people are going to listen to this and be like, oh, she's exactly who we want to be. Like, what a queen. Thank you. I love it. Well, unfortunately, that is all we have time for today. Thank you so much

for joining us and sharing your money story with us, Money Diarist. I have adored this and adored this chat. I feel like we're best friends now. I'm not mad about it at all. Thank you so much. It's been amazing. Of course. 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

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