She's On The Money - MONEY DIARIES: A Savings Wizard With Wanderlust

Episode Date: March 10, 2024

This Money Diarist has had a fascinating journey, from growing up in a in a very low socioeconomic, single parent home, she learned to be very independent in life and with her finances. Now at 29, she has a degree, works as a singer-songwriter and freelancer in social media, PR, journalism, marketing and has backpacked to 44+ countries, spending on average for 4 months every year overseas! There is so much more to her story and we can;t wait for you to meet her. 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, Kurni, Wolperi and Awadjuri 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 Awadjuri 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 episodes of Money Diaries, where I get the absolute privilege of sitting down with one of our beautiful She's on the Money community members and talk to them all about their journey. Let's jump straight into it because this week I got a message and it sounded like this. Hi V, I grew up in a very low socioeconomic single parent home and always had to be very independent in life and finances. Now at 29, I have a degree, work as a singer, songwriter and freelancer in social media, PR, journalism, marketing and have backpacked to

44 plus countries, usually for four months every year. What a dream. In 2024, I'm planning more travel and to buy a house with my partner. We've been long distance for five years. I'm not perfect or rich but my number one priority is flexibility and independence and I would love to share my story. What? That's so cool. Thank you. Let's start the show as I always do. What grade would you give your money habits if I asked you to give them a grade from A through to F? I thought long and hard about this. I'm very proud of like how far I've come but I still think I've got a long way to go especially some of the goals that I've set myself in the future so I'm sitting on a C plus at the moment. Oh, a C plus. Let's learn more about that. But first, I feel like you

have a super interesting money story. So let's dive in. Can you tell me more about it? Sure. Yeah. As I said in my intro, I grew up in a really low socioeconomic country upbringing in a little tiny two bedroom house with a single mom. And, you know, it was a very basic, like no TV, no broadband, no phone reception, like really just basic living. Wowee. And how old are you now? I've just turned 30. Right. Perfect. And yeah, my mum was like an amazing mother, but she just didn't have a lot of the skills herself when it came to like mindset or finances and things like that to instill some of the things in us that I've had to learn along the way. So I think a lot of my childhood was in like that real survival mode financially. And then I guess that really pushed me to become

very independent from an early age. So I started working my first job at 11. 11? Yeah, I was just the baby. I was assembling hundreds of these little window washers for a neighbor. And then got my first like normal job at 14 when I was legally able to, and then worked my way up until I finished school, moved out really quickly at 17. As soon as I finished school and moved to the city. And then all through that, that time I'd started building on becoming a musician because that was what I wanted to do. So I started gigging professionally at around 15. And as I started to bring in a bit of income from that and also work my other job, I was able to pay for my own school fees and all of my extracurricular stuff everything that I needed to pay for was from my bank account

basically except for food and rent and stuff from my mum I actually was very lucky kind of through my life after I finished school and even towards the end of high school I had like these really close family friends of mine who were our neighbours growing up and they really instilled a lot of really different mindsets into me and they were actually the first people who took me travelling at 16 with their family and that helped me fall in love with travelling. Oh wow how cool that? Yeah, a really big step in my journey. And then, yeah, so 17, moved out of home, started working, thought I was going to like hit it big, you know, working a real big grown up job and then was on like $9.30 an hour in retail. It was so depressing. You do feel like it's big at that

point, right? You do. But like looking back, you know, 40 hours a week for $400, you just go, wow. Where are those people now who are willing to accept that? Because like we would have a bigger business if that was the case. I think everyone would. No, never. Yeah, we'd all be working hard. And then I basically had a big shake-up at 19. A lot of stuff happened in my life and that really made me like reconsider what I was doing with myself and that's when I really started going into music a lot more fully and started gigging solo, which made it a lot easier

for me to pick up a lot of gigs. And I also started studying as well. So I did a Bachelor's in Communications, majoring in Journalism and Public Relations. And I did that all online as well through Open University, so that was really easy to fit around all my other jobs that I was doing and traveling and stuff as well. How good is that? How did you find Open Universities while I was studying? There are a few people doing like the OUA stuff through the same course that I

was doing and I'd never heard of it before. And now I'm like the biggest fan. It's hard to say because I've never done a degree in person. So I don't know what the difference in, you know, the education part of it is. Not much as someone who went to RMIT and had people in the same class doing OUA and I was like wait it's the same yeah I guess the only thing for me was like that it is quite isolating so you know everyone has these really good relationships that they formed through uni and like experiences that they had and long holidays and stuff whereas the OUA was you know less subjects at a time but you never had any holidays so I do two subjects at a time but four semesters a year so it was just back to back to back study but you got it done got it done in the

three years yeah and then I also like all of my uni memories are like working until you know three in the morning to finish my assignment and then getting up at five to start a job at an animal shelter that I was working at at the time. Oh my gosh, an animal shelter. I thought you might like that. If nothing, I am predictable. But tell me about that because I also saw behind you, which obviously this is an audio podcast. I saw some little ears before and I wanted to interrupt to be like, who's that? But that's not appropriate sometimes. I'll tell you her name at the end. She's very cute. She's my little pride and joy dog and she's amazing. But she's from the shelter and I worked there I volunteered for a year and then I worked there for three years as

an animal attendant with mostly the dogs which was a really big part this is around 20 you know when I was reshuffling I was studying I was gigging on the weekends and I was doing this job at the animal shelter and it was like yeah an amazing transformative part of my life working there and getting to kind of know all about animal welfare and everything and so yeah she was six when I got her. How did you not take them all home? I fostered a lot again audio but you can see the pictures behind me they're my foster babies my favorites oh I wondered who they were she's got a beautiful like gallery wall of pets behind her and I was like surely they're not all hers they were at some point how sweet I urge anyone who loves animals to you know go and volunteer at an animal

shelter if they have time because it's such a rewarding part of life to go and like help animals I adore it so that was you at 20 that was me at 20 did that for a few years you know a lot of the time working in that industry, it's common to get kind of a bit of burnout. Yeah. Sometimes they call it compassion fatigue and it's also very physical. It's all those things. So I was definitely ready to have a bit of a trip. And I'd been at that point, like solo backpacking about a month at a time whenever I could, mostly to Asian countries. And I felt like I was ready when I was about 23 to go on my first big trip. So I went to Europe for four months. Oh my gosh. And yeah, it was so amazing and like definitely the cheapest budget trip ever. I was about to say,

how much did that cost you? I mean, this is why I so wanted to talk to you because I had such trouble costing up trips when I was talking to people. And I found it like really hard because some people would spend $20,000 in six weeks and some people would spend $5,000 in six weeks. And you're like, well, how am I meant to know? So I kept a really detailed list of literally every dollar I spent. And on that trip, I spent $11,500 for four months, including my flights, my travel insurance, like every dollar I spent on the trip before or after I left. Tell me, was that like a really frugal trip? Like, obviously, it's so hard to cost up. I get it. Like, any holiday I've ever been on, I'm like, trying to benchmark it, but you go against what? Like, against other people's decisions. Like, you were backpacking. Obviously, that's a budget friendly option. But like, what were you eating? What were you doing during the day? Like, how did that work? the first trip to europe i used a company called bus about which will come into the story a bit

later actually and that company is basically like a url pass almost all around europe i don't think it exists anymore after covid but you could basically hop on and off the buses all around europe and you could just hop on and off every second day to wherever you wanted so that pass was like i don't know twelve hundred dollars or whatever but that covered the whole season of travel through europe oh wow and then once you're like dropped off in a city you just do whatever you want to do but it's a good way to meet people too like because you're on the bus often with other travelers and stuff and it's pretty social so I used that half the trip I was actually couch surfing oh very cool yeah so that was a bit of a different way to do it staying with strangers

on their couches sometimes in their spare rooms sometimes on a mattress on the floor whatever and to me that's like Airbnb but free so they would kind of offer up whatever they had and they would tell you you know roughly what you'd be sleeping on and where it would be and all that kind of stuff and you could read all their reviews to make sure they felt safe and reliable and stuff I was about to say, as a young female, how did you feel comfortable couch surfing through a foreign country? Because that gives me insane amounts of anxiety. Yeah, I felt very comfortable as long as I could just read the reviews were all very positive and stuff. Like, you know, if they had hundreds of reviews saying that they were the nicest person

ever, whatever, I felt like very comfortable. But there was a couple that I didn't actually ever stay with, but they looked super dodgy. So you just kind of dodge those. And I think the biggest tip I have for any like solo female backpacker especially is just always have enough money that you never desperate to stay in a situation yeah so smart you know I did have one where I was about to arrive and the guy went like oh hey by the way I can't find my spare mattress all good if you sleep in my bed and I was like nope absolutely not like I'm booking the first hotel room I see that's fine no worries you're a creep that's so weird so weird you're giving me the ixa but everyone else was so nice i had people that had like center of barcelona whole guest room

my own key to come and go like it was amazing and it was free that's so wild yeah this beautiful cultural exchange too because they're doing something lovely the way that they explained it as hosts was that you're helping them travel when they can't travel themselves oh that's so sweet yeah it's like bringing the travelers to them and also getting this excitement about their own city that they don't often have unless someone is coming. Oh, that's so sweet. I was literally just thinking in the back of my head, like, I wonder what the value exchange there is. Cause like, I don't know how comfortable I would be having just random people sleeping in my spare room, but each to their own. And it makes a lot more sense when you're like, oh, they get a lot

out of it too. I was like, okay, yeah, that seems legit. Yeah. I think couch surfing maybe isn't the community it used to be. I think it's switched to another platform now that's more what couch surfing used to be. Cause I think couch surfing has turned a bit more into Tinder now. No, not ideal. So I did that. I stayed in hostels. I just traveled super cheaply, you know, walked everywhere, you know, ate out a little bit, but mostly kind of just like cooked at the hostel or whatever, but it allowed me to go for four months through 22 countries and have the best time. That is so cool. I can't believe it was only $11,500. Like, are you very kidding? So what happened after that? you get back after a four month massive trip. This is wild. So then I got back from that trip,

but as I said, it was at that travel company Busabout. I was back for a few months. Then I went to Hawaii with my partner at the time. And then I literally found out with like four weeks notice that Busabout had actually chosen me for this like worldwide competition that they'd put forward. No, they hadn't. Yeah. It was a search for four different content creators to make what they call the ultimate travel squad. So they like. And you made the squad. I made the squad. So I was put on as the blogger and then I was sent over with this company to travel for another three and a half months with three strangers a girl from America two guys from New Zealand and they sent me on this like all expenses paid trip with them to create content yeah what how much was that worth

you have to tell me well I guess it would be worth probably about 20 grand or so it was nicer than couch surfing yeah it was a bit of an upgrade for me and we got paid about 1500 US and obviously we got like a per diem of about 50 euros a day I think or 30 euros a day so 50 dollars yeah but like I'll take that to be able to travel you're like yep no worries oh and I'm getting paid yeah so that allowed me to travel again so you can imagine after I got back from that I was like so addicted to traveling and so experienced at that point of like having gone to a lot of Asian countries and a lot of Europe at that point but then I thought I might as well come back and like finally finish my degree and get into my industry that I've been studying yeah so I did a little bit

of work and I worked in PR and marketing and social media in like the music and entertainment industries because that's obviously my background. So I started working for free and then I got my foot in the door with this really great boutique agency and basically worked my way up for a few years and then COVID came. Oh yuck and that really doesn't help in that industry nor does it help you thrive traveling. Or as a singer. No no no you're out for the count. Yeah when they were saying that you felt really like disposable in multiple industries. I was like, yeah, all the industries, I feel very disposable. Yeah. Every single one of them. Yes. So COVID came, it was obviously really tough to be any of those industries. I stayed on JobKeeper with my employer so I could

at least continue working. We didn't have the same type of work, obviously there weren't any festivals or events or artists touring or anything, but we did some like online coaching and different things to keep busy. Yeah. Long story short, that kind of finished up naturally and I started my own business and I also got a bunch of like grant funding around that time too which is something I want to talk to a lot of the musicians about as well because that is definitely something that we can harness as artists and as gigs started to pick up and stuff that obviously really helped as well and there was a lot of like online gigs and things like that as well that sustained musicians through COVID which was really helpful but then yeah started my own business worked my butt off for

quite a while and I also got this really amazing job on a feature film working really hardcore for about a year on a big Hollywood blockbuster that was in my area um doing all the social media oh how fancy yeah that was amazing another amazing like bucket list thing that I didn't see pop up so cool yeah yeah after that I was very burnt out and I went overseas again to Europe for four months and that was a fifteen thousand dollar trip I did all the costs of that too for you oh my gosh how and that was again just like hostels and yeah just like doing overnight buses and staying with a friend of mine who's over there who I like I nannied for her child in France for a little while while I was there for a few weeks and that obviously cut out accommodation and everything

your life is so much more fun than mine I'm sorry this is a bit long but like I feel like they're all kind of stepping stones to the bits and pieces no this is the best so then that happened that was an amazing four-month trip and then I got home and I've been yeah focusing on you know music and doing a bunch of like social media freelancing work which is now what I mostly do and I've also just picked up another thing which is great as well for artists I've started doing a bit of like NDIS support work oh very cool because it is like the most flexible job out there for people who need like to work during the day because obviously a lot of musicians used to work in hospitality but that is a lot of the time on nights and weekends so that's never really worked for me

to work in and so I found this is like a really great means to an end how cool and you get to like enjoy the time and I am making a grand assumption having spoken to you for what the last 20 minutes that would nourish you a lot having come from like an animal shelter and being this really empathetic human being I just feel like you would love that role it was great I really really enjoy it and it was such a good yeah thing to find that also gets me off the computer because again that like burnout through a lot of like my own freelance work alongside this feature film job was just screens literally from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to sleep adore and that was so draining. So having this where you're like out and about in the community and it's very human

focused and it's very enriching. I really enjoy it. It's not like my forever career, but I really love it as a supplement to all the other things that I do. A hundred percent. So now you've started your own business. You're doing 6 million things. You have the most colorful life. I love it. I want to ask about your income, but I'm real pervy too. You said in your letter in that you've been long distance with your partner, which is very, very exciting. You want to buy a house together and clearly settle down. How did you meet your partner and how did you get away with all of these massive trips without them? We actually met, really cute story. We met on that trip over in Europe. I was hoping you would say something like that. Yes. He was friends with some of the people I got paired

with. So we met in Holland and yeah, our story started over there, but he's wonderful. And he, because he's in healthcare. He actually prefers to go and work regionally. So he's like the kind of only one in town rather than one of many in a city, even though he's not from Australia originally. We've been long distance mostly within Australia, but he's been in these regional areas and obviously COVID then did not help because we just couldn't see each other for like six months at a time with border closures and stuff. But yeah, so it's actually allowed me to travel a lot of Australia to be with him. Often being so regional, it was cheaper to go somewhere else, like maybe meet in Cambodia or somewhere else than go to his place. So we've done a lot of

traveling together and he's very accepting of my independence and life. Yeah. How good. I was like, how did this work? Cause like you said you had a partner, she's pointing at her engagement ring, which I obviously noticed because low key it's massive. And so now you're getting married and buying a house together. Yeah, that's the plan. How cute. So tell me, obviously we know you do some NDIS support worker stuff. You're obviously a singer songwriter and a freelancer in social media how much money are you earning for all of this okay so it's quite variable obviously because of COVID and traveling and all that kind of stuff so I broke it down as a singer-songwriter I kind of have my day job version of that which is like the typical cover gigs where I do play my original

music but it's like at bars restaurants music venues and stuff corporate stuff is quite a big money earner in that and then there's the original side which is like you know the artist side of releasing and grants and all that kind of stuff yeah the PR marketing social media side is mostly freelance and occasionally contract work like within a business. And then the disability is like $32 an hour, roughly casual. So I usually earn between 60 to a hundred thousand dollars a year. Oh, that's variable. Hey, very variable. And that's like 2021, obviously with COVID, it was like 55,000, roughly half, half music and half of my other freelance work. 21, 22 was 115,000. that was 60,000 music and then again roughly half half. I love that as a singer-songwriter

you're earning a good wage too like 60 grand to do what you love like oh that makes me so happy because so many times people who you know are in that space they earn nothing and they don't get the I guess credit that they deserve nor the work that they deserve and there's this expectation in that industry that you work for free right and it's ridiculous yeah don't get me wrong I have definitely done my gigs for either free or like literally silver start somewhere yeah I think that now diversifying through like the kind of day job side and then the original artist side is really important to me and a lot of artists have their own opinions on that but for me if I'm going to work a day job anyway why wouldn't it be playing a gig anyway yeah and getting some exposure getting

some more experience doing something you love like I honestly see that as paid practice and why wouldn't I just do that? You know? I love it. Okay. So 22, 23, I earned just like around 60,000, almost all that was music, but I did travel for five months. Oh yeah. That does get in the way of earning an income I've heard. Yeah. And then this year though, I've made about 35,000 in the first four months, which is when I calculated this. So I'm on track for about 90,000 this year. Oh, very nice. Yeah. So that's a bit of a mix of everything really. That was 20,000 music, 5,500 of the NDIS work and then 4,000 freelance. How good. Such a pervy breakdown as well. Thank you. I really appreciate it. I thought you'd enjoy it. I love it.

You said in your letter in, obviously you're planning to buy a house. You didn't tell me that you were engaged though. So tell me a bit more about these big money goals. What are we currently working towards? So I've got a fair bit of savings. I've got about, I don't know if you want me to go into this already but if you're willing to share what's in your savings account we are all listening so I've got about like 46 000 in savings how are you doing this you money wizard like you're doing all these trips you're earning epic income like 22 23 oh no biggie made 60 grand traveled for five months like you are living the dream well I was gonna say in my best money habits section but like I honestly just think it's about like working really really hard

when you're home and living really cheaply and then traveling really cheaply. And that's how I do it. Yeah. I mean, I am obviously lucky when it comes to loans and things. My partner is a healthcare professional working regionally. So he and I would be eligible for a higher ability to get a mortgage, I think through his opportunity. You're probably going to not have to pay LMI and you would probably get a mortgage for a 10% deposit, which is very sexy. Yes. That's what we've looked into. Obviously that's an advantage from just being with him. Although caveat he was totally broke when we got together so well you've got a thing or two to teach him we built that up together like we've built this up from the ground up for the last six years

adore so there's $46,000 of savings I've got about $3,000 kind of in my various other accounts and then I've got a tax account where I just put like 30% of any invoice that I haven't already paid tax on which through the NDIS I go through an agency so they take tax out already but everything else. I just put 30% away. Especially in a gig economy, having that account is so smart because so many of us just forget it or say we'll do it later. And then tax time comes and you're like so overwhelmed, so anxious and crippled because you're like, well, where am I going to get this money? Well, and that's the thing I never used to think about it. And so I'd kind of look at my savings and be like, wow, I've got all this money. And then I'd get my tax bill and I'd be

like, oh crap, there's $10,000 taken out already or whatever it is. Well, lucky you had it in savings. So many people don't have it in savings. They just spend it and then go, oh, now I've got a tax debt I can't pay. And that just gives me mad anxiety. I think that comes from my upbringing though. Like I'm terrified of living week to week. I live very below my means and, you know, even all the travel and stuff is very cheap and thought out. Also, while I go away, I sustain my whole life at home. So I have a dog, I have my rent that I'm still paying, my car, my phone bill, everything still gets paid for at home as well as me traveling. So I'm not like packing up and going and having nothing at home oh my gosh so you've got some savings you're planning on

purchasing a home any other big money goals yes just a trip overseas again this year I didn't see that coming from travel wow yeah because it was my 30th my partner has actually gifted me the flats so that's our big oh thank you sir what a good present he knows how to win me over for sure I like it maybe you should consider marrying him I think I say yes yeah yeah yeah okay great let's go to a really quick break. On the flip side, I want to know more about your investments, your thoughts on debt and your best and worst money habits. So don't go anywhere. All right, Money Darius, we are back and I want to know your thoughts on investing. I feel like you've got so much going on at the moment. So if you said, oh, I haven't thought about it,

I'd be like, yeah, because you've got 6 million things on. But what are your thoughts on investments? If you're investing already, what in? And if you're not investing, do you have a plan? Yeah. So that's something that I definitely marked myself down on because I think even my mindset around investing is very scaredy cat. That's okay. We all start there. I promise. Like it really does kind of terrify me to put my money into something that I could lose. Even buying a property, it's taken a lot of convincing on my partner's behalf to be like, let's just do it. So that's something that I don't have a lot of money in. Like I have my super, I don't have a lot of super. And that's another thing I marked myself down on. I've only got like 11,000.

sorry you're in the gig economy yeah but I don't pay myself super that's something that I need to get into yeah I was about to say we probably need to talk about being self-employed and paying ourselves super but also you're not that far behind lots of people are in that circumstance well I also and don't judge me for this I got some bad advice during COVID and I actually did pull out $12,000 probably didn't need to at the time like it would have probably gone a lot further had I left it in but I didn't know any better so I pulled it out at the time so that's so fine I feel like so many of us did that. And also when you're like, no judgment, I'm like, when have I ever judged people on their money behaviors? Like if I laid all mine out, you'd be like,

pot calling kettle black. No worries. I didn't do that, but I've done some money things that I'm not so proud of in hindsight. I hadn't started listening to you very much at that point, I guess. So I've got that. And then I've just got small assets, like my car, my music equipment, which is worth like several thousand dollars, but not heaps. And then I've got like little tiny bits of money. I think I put $500 into, again, crypto when someone told me to, and I think I've got like $100 in shares. And so I don't really put much thought into those things. Oh, see, you are investing. Oh, but literally nothing yet. So not consistently. Okay. But like $100 in shares is so much more than most people who say they're a scaredy cat about investing. I like that you've

taken the first step. You're on a platform. You're slowly starting to educate yourself. Those little steps, they end up being the big steps because even just like getting on a platform, putting your first dollar in, like it's massive, but like you're on the way, you'll get there when you're more comfortable. It's something that's on my mind for sure. And again, listening to all the resources and things that you put out every week, I definitely feel like I'm getting more educated and comfortable with it. So. Adore. Now question, do you have any debt? No, none. I've never had a credit card. I've never had a loan or a personal, you know, family loan or anything like that so that's something I've just again been very afraid of

I've never wanted to put myself in that position and what is your best money habit I feel like I know where we're going with this but I need to know okay I hope you don't mind but I just like would love to share a few when it comes to travel and music as well just a really specific so I think in general my best are like op shopping and secondhand first always so yeah I would say 95% of my closet and the things I own are secondhand. And I love that. Like I love secondhand shopping. I live in a share house. My rent is really, really cheap, which means I can sustain it while I'm away. Cause I don't have the option of moving home and putting stuff at home or anything. That's not like a liberty of mine. So, and then I also meal prep, I like never eat out

or get takeaway or anything. And I'm just like hustling all the time. Like I'm always just like networking and keeping an ear out for opportunities and deals and things like that. I've got quite a you for travel so one is like traveling to more affordable countries eastern Europe Asia like places that are gonna put your dollars a lot further recently I really loved signing up for the newsletters for different companies because that's the way you always find out the best deals so just to like blow your mind a little bit like I went to Bali last year for a whole week flights accommodation and breakfast included and it was $550 no it wasn't it was no you're making that up what newsletter is that jetstar okay I was about to say you cannot gatekeep and be like oh just

sign up for newsletters hopefully you'll get the deal of a lifestyle no gatekeeping all right all right onwards and upwards what was your next tip and yeah same with that I went on a cruise as well for $750 each for 10 days everything included what like it would have been like full food drink everything yeah three course sit down meals like all the four islands everything $750 each yeah oh my gosh I've never been on a cruise as somebody who you've done lots of like traveling which I feel like is really independent travel like you pick your schedule what was it like to be on a cruise ship for 10 days was it fun I didn't think I would like it yeah see I feel like I'd feel trapped yeah I didn't think I'd like it and I thought also I maybe wouldn't be the clientele

on the boat if you know what I'm saying I thought I might be the younger demographic but I did actually really enjoy it with my partner and the people in the islands were incredible like we made very close connections with some beautiful locals that was really special but my partner and I were actually like even more excited by the end of that trip because I then got to go back on that same cruise again like four weeks later because I got asked to sing with the blues band no you didn't yeah so we were like frothing these blues players that were amazing on the ship and then yeah I got up and did a few songs with them and then they're like come back for this cruise in four weeks so oh my gosh how good is that so when money diarist you say I'm always hustling always like even on

holiday she hustling yeah she hustling okay and then another one is like if you have flexibility which obviously I do and I know a lot of people in like full-time don't but Skyscanner you can just search flights to anywhere like it's called like flight roulette if you want to look up specifically how to do it I do want to look up how to specifically do that so thank you so you just basically look in like where you want to go from and then do anywhere and it will show like the cheapest places and which times of year and all that kind of stuff to go to that's always helpful if you literally have no idea. Like in Europe, when I had no plan, I would be looking up like just where's the cheapest place to get to and I'd go from there. Oh, how cool. Also really fun.

Yeah, it is pretty fun. You never know where you're going to end up. I ended up in Morocco, so it worked out well. Okay. And then overnight buses when you're traveling are great for saving on accommodation and travel and also like baggage because you don't need to pay for extra baggage. Free walking tours, I could not advocate for them enough when you're traveling. I always talk about walking tours like whenever I get to somewhere new first thing I do is a walking tour to find my feet and find what's around and like they're always such passionate locals running them and it's a great way to meet people as a solo traveler too but also get all the best tips and tricks for saving money I always carry a water bottle when I'm traveling

saves a heap of money staying in hostels or like couch surfing or whatever was great also if you're going to eat out and do a fancy meal try and do it at lunch because often you can get three courses for like $20 or $15 or whatever. This is in Europe. Oh yeah. They have their like lunchtime specials. Hey. Yeah. And at night it would be $60. So it's so good. You save so much money doing it then. And then I use Shopback on bookings.com. I've gotten quite a bit of money back with Shopback. I was just going to say again, like always have enough money to get out of a pickle because safety is the most important thing when you're traveling. I really like that you've put that in. Look, it's really, really smart. It's, you know, something that a lot of people say when they're

traveling is like oh I'm on a really strict budget like I don't have an emergency fund. If you can't afford travel insurance and you don't have an emergency fund to travel I genuinely don't think you're in the position to financially be able to travel. People don't want to hear that but I think that ultimately those are the two things that you need to kind of have as your hygiene factors like yes I have access to money to get out of any place that I don't want to be in because you never know where you'll end up and also travel insurance if you don't have that and you're not looking after yourself you cannot afford to travel from my perspective. I agree actually another thing that I didn't add in but is also have a few different cards with a few different banks as well because

you just have to have them on you and keep them in different places maybe one in the wallet you carry and one in your bag you know that's locked away because sometimes you'll get to places and your comm bank or whatever just will not work and you definitely need access and actually recently I've been using Wise it's a really good bank account for traveling so I'd recommend that for anyone wanting to travel between currencies as well how cool do you want a job at she's on the money you're always hustling I'll take it I'll take it I feel like you're full of tips and tricks like how good is this that would be fun leaving a podcast interview and then getting a job yep slay okay and just quickly with music I play solo it's obviously expensive to have a band so

playing solo is a great way to start if you're wanting to like start as an artist yeah now grants and funding are a massive thing I don't know if you want me to go into detail later but like definitely would recommend looking into that as an artist. Yeah, totally. I feel like sometimes we forget that these things are available. What's your favourite website for learning about grants and funding if you are a musician? There's a few different tiers of them. So first of all, look at your like local city council arts sector and then look at the state organisations. In Queensland, it's QMusic or Arts Queensland. Music NSW is in NSW. Music Victoria, I don't know what the other states are, but there'll be one. Yeah. As well as there's national ones as well. So like

Creative Australia or Australian Arts Council I think they're the same thing now oh so there's heaps and APRA AMCOS Support Act ABC Triple J they offer things too so all of those are different like funding bodies that you can find different like yeah grants competitions all sorts of things yeah how cool oh my gosh all right do you even have a bad money habit to share heaps oh no all right let's go so I would say shopping when I'm overseas like and baggage fees are bad not being organized with tax every year is my biggest gripe for sure and I would say that something that's really changed for me is like a working with a tax accountant that specializes in entertainment and gig economy because that actually saved me about twenty thousand dollars in tax

yeah last financial year because they did a tax averaging scheme with me yes which is really great for people in the gig economy and that means that you can like you know not work for a year and earn a million dollars the next year and they average out over the two years rather than you being charged all that tax in one year 100 and then putting yeah 30 of every invoice into my tax account I never used to do that and it was just like a shock but now you are that's not a bad habit it's a bad habit that you solved so yeah tax is still my thing that annoys me also probably the biggest thing is being scared to invest and also just like not paying myself super and not putting into things that are going to set me up for success in the future and that's where my

partner has been very good for like being like no let's just buy the house like it's not going to go downhill from there like let's do it I like his mindset I think it's really good yeah he's good he balances me well in saying that being in a long distance relationship is also probably a bad money habit because that was an expensive venture we're about to change that though you're about to buy a house together we'll work out how that works yeah you're finally settling down I can see the ring on your finger like life is maybe about to get a little less hectic a little less yeah at the start of the show you said to me I'm a c-plus and I was like oh okay no worries but then you told this beautiful story of like, oh, I grew up in a really low socioeconomic household. Like I've

always been really independent. Like you are basically the queen of travel. Like I cannot believe how cheaply you are doing it and really enjoying it still. Cause I feel like sometimes when people say, yeah, it was really cheap, but I wish I'd spent a bit more. Like I didn't have a best time. Like that's not you at all. You've got all these tips and tricks. Like I have never met anyone on a money diary who's like, all right, sit down. Like here's a rollercoaster of really good tips and tricks that I want to implement all of them. You still have like $46,000 in savings. You guys are going to buy a house this year. Like you've lived on a variable income. Like I know you said that tax was your downfall, but it sounds like it's actually not anymore because you have

a really good tax accountant and you have a whole account to deal with tax now moving forward. Do you really think that you're a C plus? Like, again, I'm proud of where I came from and how like hard it was growing up with money and the mindset shifts I've made but I still feel like there's yeah a lot of like future building I want to do and I think probably the biggest thing is like setting up more income streams that I can use when I'm away as well as when I'm home hustling because that's something that kind of lets me down every year is if I want to travel I'm not working for like four months and that's obviously really affecting my income so I think that still needs to be done and setting myself up with those investments would definitely help me

feel like I'm more confident as like a, maybe a B minus. I don't know. Yeah. Okay. I was like, maybe be a little bit kinder. The C plus doesn't feel that reflective. You're like, I've never had any debt. Like I don't have any, like this mortgage will be the first thing, but that's like good debt. I don't know. I feel like you need to go home and have a good hard think my friend, because you're being quite harsh on yourself, but that is okay. I feel like it's good to have it pointed out sometimes. Thank you. Unfortunately, sadly, this is all we have time for today, but oh my gosh, this has been so fun

chatting to you. I feel like obviously I'm not going to be able to go on a big overseas Euro trip anytime soon, but you've motivated me to want to. And I think that that's either a good or a bad thing. Not sure. Start looking for the deals now. That's the way to do it. That's all right. My husband and I have every intention of taking our baby overseas at like four months and making that work. Everyone thinks that we're insane, but I'm like, YOLO this will be fine we will get there but oh my gosh this has been such a fun money diary I really appreciate you sharing so much with the community and I know that they're going to love you and your story just as much as I have. Oh thank you I hope it motivates people who are in

a different way of living you know really based on flexibility and the arts and travel and things like that to not feel hopeless and to like know that there's things that you can implement to still keep up with everybody else and do what you love because there are ways of keeping your values intact and also doing yeah doing kind of what you need to do to stay independent and flourishing so yeah thank you so much for having me i'm obsessed 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 MoneySherpa PTY LTD ABN 321 649 27708 AFSL 451 289. Thank you.