She's On The Money - MONEY DIARIES: An Unexpected Accident

Episode Date: May 23, 2021

Our Money Diarist this week is truly resilient, and has gone through something that everyone thinks: 'That will never happen to me'. We are so grateful for you sharing your story with us this week. Our very own money wizard and fearless leader Victoria Devine has written a book! Click here to order!Love the pod but looking for a more hands-on approach to your money? Look no further. Our budgeting & cash flow masterclass is the tool you need to help overhaul your finances for good. Join Victoria as she steps you through your budgeting and cash flow with all of the smarts and none of the intimidating jargon. Finally, if you're in a money mess and need help untangling the muddle - we've got you sorted - simply record your question and send it through to us at [e-mail] and you may just end up on the podcast! 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. Surprise. My name is Toni Lodge and I am obviously here with Victoria Devine. Why is that so obvious and why is it so drawn out? Oh, I just thought that'd be cute.

Oh, thank you. We don't have to. Do you want me to start again? No, no, no. No, don't start again. I like it. Just keep this in there. Oh, okay.

This is a Money Diary episode, isn't it? I'll never do it again. Yep. We're here for a Money Diary and I really like this one. I think it's going to be a nice one. Well, I haven't seen the email just yet. All right. Do you want me to read it to you?

All right. I would love for you to read it to me. Okay. Hi there. I'm 29 and live with my partner of 10 years. Same. Oh, cute. we currently have around 800 in savings i have a full-time job a casual job and i'm also self

employed as a disability support worker oh my gosh what a queen around 18 months ago my partner was in an accident while holidaying overseas oh no as a result he has severe brain damage and will never work or drive again we currently owe his family around 90 000 for money borrowed to pay for overseas medical bills and an air evacuation any money my partner receives from the government goes to these bills which leaves him with next to nothing to live on and my income covers both of our daily living costs including rent insurance medication utilities etc thanks oh my gosh we've got our money diarist on the line we do let's have a chat and i guess we'd first like to say thank you for sharing your story with us it's like a quite intimate story

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for reaching out to us and, you know, I guess trusting us to share this. That's really special. Thank you. No, well, do you know what? In true She's on the Money, Money Diary fashion, let's get into all of the questions. I have a lot for you, but we'll get to them at the end of the podcast when we get to have a good chat. But let's kick off straight away with what is your attitude towards money? I'm very conservative. I don't like to spend money unless it's absolutely necessary. So you don't like treat yourself a lot?

You just kind of, you stick to your means and that's it? Yeah, pretty much. And where do you think that attitude towards money came from? Do you think it's, you know, something you've always had or is it recent or how's that come to fruition? I think it's something that I've always had. I grew up in a single family home. So, it was just my mom supporting the three of us kids.

Three? What a queen. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. So, as I got older, I was always aware of the value of money. Yeah. And, yeah, because, you know, we went through some really hard times when I was younger. When I have money, I don't really like to part with it.

but the recent events in my life have sort of exacerbated that I definitely don't like spending money yeah that must be so hard and we'll get into that a little bit later because I do want to be able to ask you some perfect questions that I'm sure friends and family probably haven't had the permission to ask but being a money diarist means that you're open to it which we're so grateful for but let's jump into the next question which is what do you do for work and how much do you currently earn? Okay, so my main job, my full-time job, I'm an assistant account manager

in the insurance division of a large building company. I also work casually in retail and I'm self-employed as a disability support worker. So you must do so many hours a week. What does your average work week look like? About six to seven days. Oh my gosh. yeah so I do between 48 and 58 hours a week oh my gosh that is so many hours especially because I

know and I guess I guess this is a bit different because we've read that email out and I kind of know why you do what you do and you know so many people do work 58 hours a week like I definitely would run loops around that and that's not a flex at all it's just more I run loops around that but I'm so lucky that I get to do that just because it's a choice of mine whereas yours is not coming from choice, right? Yeah, I have to. Yeah, absolutely. So next question, let's try keeping this on track because I genuinely want to have such a beautiful chat with you soon. But what is your big money goal? So my big money goal at the moment is to pay off an existing debt and save a deposit for a home. Awesome. How's that tracking? It's actually getting a little bit better.

I recently started a new role, which came with a hefty wage increase. Oh, yes, Queen. Congrats. Yes. So really excited about that. So at the moment, we're just smashing out repayments on a loan. And then once we're in a more comfortable position, we will start saving for a house deposit.

How exciting. So we haven't started that yet. That is so good. So do you currently have any investments? um i do use raise yes yes so i did i had probably about five hundred dollars in there it was very recent um but when i changed jobs i actually had to go uh four weeks without any income oh ouch so i yeah so i had to use up my emergency fund and draw on my raise account in order so excited to hear that you had an emergency fund though how good is that

But it's really good and it did get us through that entire four weeks. Oh, good. I'm so glad. All right. Next question is, do you currently have any debts? If so, what are they? Yes. So, we now have about $67,800 owing to my partner's grandparents for the loan we got

for his air evacuation. I have about $16,000 in HECS and a $1,200 tax bill. It sounds like you've made a pretty big dent in the money you owe to your partner's family. That's amazing. Yeah, so we did organise a GoFundMe and the donations from that put a hefty dent into the debt. That's amazing. And I think in the last 18 months, we've paid down about $10,000 to $15,000. Oh, that's so good.

That's so much money that you guys have. Okay, sorry. No, no, no. Next question. All right. So what is one of your best money habits? I'm always saving. So I use Up, thanks.

Yes, we love Up. Yes. And so I get paid monthly. So I have my little side account for weeks two, three, and four. And I split up my wages into different weeks. And then I also have one of my jobs, everything gets paid into the emergency fund account. So it's automatically transferred. and then I do also have a car account where another one of my jobs

gets paid directly into my car account. So that is actually really good and I'm so glad to hear that you're on top of your money story because when something traumatic like what you've been through happens, often people do bury their heads even further into the sand when it comes to money, but it sounds like you guys are absolutely on top of it. So to contrast that a little bit, what is your worst money habit? I think that my worst money habit would be, I want to say, food.

It's the such a common answer. It's so easy. So in the last week, I think I've cooked once. And if I go to the supermarket for one thing, I come out with 10 things and especially Tupperware. Oh, my gosh. Same girl. same I come out with so much Tupperware and take I get like takeaway coffee cups from the supermarket so I have like 15 or 20 in my cupboard and I just keep buying them it's like an addiction

I always walk past the Tupperware section and look at it and I'm always like is it on sale oh 50% off great jumping back into the questions with you my friend last question before we get to have a chat with you properly is what grade would you give yourself if I forced you to give yourself a grade? I think maybe like a seven and a half I think because I feel like we're still recovering. You totally are. We're not quite there yet but we're getting there. I'm going to give you a nine. I feel like you're doing so well given the situation and I'm sure after the chat all of our listeners will absolutely agree. So we'll be back in just a minute to have a really good chat with you. Okay, let's jump straight back into the questions. This is such a special story to

be sharing. Money Diarist, I think the best place to start is actually, can you give us a little bit of a backstory? Like what happened? Tell me a little bit about your partner and what he did before the accident yeah so my partner was a painter like a house painter and has been for a really really long time we were scheduled to get married in September of 2019 and a week before he went on his box party in Bali and that's where he had his accident so he replied emergency surgery and that was $35,000, and we had to make that payment before they would operate. So essentially he was just laying in a room.

Oh, my God. And you weren't even there. No. So I was at home, and it was exactly seven days before the wedding. So the following day I got on a plane and went straight to Bali, and we spent a week there. Yeah. Oh, my God.

That must have been so incredibly traumatic. I'm so sorry to hear that. It was. We did manage to get together enough money in time. We had like an 18-hour window to have that surgery done and we managed to pull it together just in time. So he had an emergency. It's called a decompressive craniotomy because he had bleeding

and swelling on his brain. and then he spent, he was on life support for a week in a coma before we were able to medivac him back to Australia. So he did have insurance and he took out insurance to be riding a scooter but he did not have an international driver's license so the insurance company denied our claim. What? See, even when you think you've done everything right.

Right thing. And that was actually going to be my next question. Like, how does that work? And did he have insurance? And my financial advisor brain goes straight back to, okay, what coverage did he have? How did that work? And what did that mean? So how old is your partner now? So he is, he turned 34 last week. And how has he recovered thus far? so he spent once we got him back to australia um i think we got him back to australia on the 6th of september 2019 um i flew with him on a medivac to perth um and then once we actually arrived he was assessed by the trauma team and he had to undergo emergency surgery again and then he spent another week in ICU in a coma and then after that he was sort of transferred

to a brain injury ward for a week or two and then he spent four months in a rehabilitation facility where he learnt to walk and talk and eat and all the rest of it again. Wow, that is so traumatic for both of you. So I guess that's such a special story and I'm just in awe that you're so willing to share this with, you know, Tony and I but also our entire She's On The Money community to learn from.

Is he himself now or what's his capability and capacity like? Yeah, so, you know, we've seen neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuropsychs, occupational therapists, anything you can think of, we have seen them. So he is able to walk and talk. he spent like he can be home alone during the day but he does have a severe memory impairment so he has short-term memory loss and he has left side weakness as well so he it's like somebody who's had a stroke they sometimes lose function in one side of their body and it's quite similar for him

he did have a stroke during one of his surgeries but it didn't do anything further it's just the the impact of the brain injury means that he's got reduced dexterity in his left hand he is also now epileptic and he's hearing impaired as well. Oh my heart that is such a hard story to one go through but also just to hear and go you know what that must be so traumatic how are you my friend I am actually okay um so it's been just over 18 months now to be two years in August and you don't really have any other option except to keep going you can't stop um so you know we live together I'm his main support and so you can't stop you just And nobody is going to do it for us, so we need to do it for ourselves

and we've got to keep going. So we have access to NDIS, which means that he has a support team and they are absolutely incredible. He now goes to the gym a couple of times a week with a personal trainer. He volunteers with other people with disabilities and we're hoping that in the future he can advocate for people that have been in his position but he still does have a bit of recovery to go

before we can sort of start looking at that. Yeah, wow. That is such a special story. I'm just in awe and to be honest, don't know where to go next but my financial advisor brain is ticking over to personal insurances. Did he, because he's young, personal insurance isn't something that a lot of young people think they need. we always say things about situations like yours where it'll never happen to me or you know I know

a friend of a friend and that's really awful and then there's no real call to action we don't set it up I know you said he didn't have travel insurance but did he have any like trauma or TPD or other insurances he could have come back to like income protection yeah so he didn't have the travel insurance it just didn't pay um but he was a contractor yeah and worked under his own avn and i nagged and nagged about personal accident and illness insurance um and all those sorts of things and he just did not set it up they never listen do they they don't um he we are in the middle of lodging a claim with his super for a total permanent disability claim.

Unfortunately, the super company that he is with, and they're probably one of the only ones that do it, they pay out in instalments over a period of five to six years rather than in a lump sum. So the only situation where they will pay out in a lump sum is if you have lost 25% of your cognitive function or if you've lost a limb or permanently blind, that sort of thing. So we are hoping that we will be able to get by

on the loss of 25% of cognitive function because if they do the instalment, you have to go through and provide medical evidence and reports every year before they'll make the next installment which is which is hard right and it's something that people don't understand yeah and that is why and you know back to my financial advisor hat I'm so sorry I keep bringing this up but you know at the end of the day this is a money podcast and this is such a good learning for our community that this is why it's so important to understand the terms and conditions of the policy that you do take out and a lot of the time you know as an

advisor I will recommend a policy that's slightly more expensive than the cheapest one and the reason is often the claims process is a lot smoother and it's you know better payout sums because at the time you sign a policy you just don't care you're like whatever if it gets paid over a certain period of time it doesn't really matter but if shit hits the fan like it has with you like having a lump sum of money because you're currently in debt and actually need it to you know pay for physio and pay for all of the therapies he's having is essential right and it does make a world of difference um it does and it prompted me i was with the same superannuation company and i actually changed mine last week and i called and i made sure that they paid out in

lump sums yeah and i also made sure that they had a smaller waiting period on their income protection section as well. And I changed mine over because I am our main income earner. And if something would happen to me, there's nothing. There's nothing. And that's what's so hard. It's not just the responsibility is on you, it's financially on you as well. And that's a massive point of stress for a lot of people. It's human nature to just think that's not going to happen to me and that's why these things happen because we just think that's not going to happen to me and you don't look into all these insurances you don't know how they're going to impact us and yeah those kinds of things yeah and that's right and that was his attitude as well

yeah that's what nothing just nothing bad happens to me and all the rest of it and now we like with I've seen the worst that can happen um and I yes that's not happening again no absolutely not and And I think that it's so special that you're willing to share this story with our community. But also, can we just take a second to give some props to you? You deserve it. You deserve it. But also, like, how lucky is he to be so loved? Like, so many partners would, you know, put that responsibility on their parents or, you

know, their family members, and it might be too much. And I've seen it as someone who goes through insurance claims and actually deals with this stuff a fair bit. It's shit. Yeah. Like it's actually terrible. It is and it does suck and, you know, situations like this as well, you do really find out the sort of people that you need in your life

and the people that you don't need. But there was never a question of being there for him. It was not something I thought about. It was just something that I did. Well, I've got a really insignificant question, but are you guys still planning on getting married? yeah are you what does it look like so yes we definitely still will get married um he is absolutely on my back about it all the time he's like I've got to lock this woman down she's the

best thing in the entire world she does everything for me yeah so my wedding dress is still in the covered um I hope he hasn't seen it yet no he hasn't um we've been engaged for it'll be six years in July so it's yeah it's been a really really long time um but he wants I'm happy to go to the courthouse and sign the papers and whatnot but he wants a wedding he wants a party he does he doesn't care if it's in the backyard or if it's a fancy one that he just wants to party but I mean it sounds like he just really wants to celebrate you and that is so so special to have someone that you obviously love him so much you know and he feels the same way about you yeah he is so sweet and he is so kind and he appreciates everything oh I just love love I

love when people are in love and they're just caring and look after each other and yeah it's it's crazy so what does the future look like for you guys obviously we want to get married and then what what next um so we yeah definitely do want to get married um he definitely wants to start having children yesterday i love that i hear about it every day um because he's getting a little bit he's a few years older than me um so he's like I don't want to be 40 and have a one-year-old and all the rest of it so that's definitely something that he wants to do but I'm very very career driven yeah and there would be more responsibility as well on you to you know be a carer for him as well as be a carer for those children and I think that that's a really

big step to take but an exciting one all the same yes yep so I'm the last one left of my siblings to have a child so there's a little bit of pressure eight years younger than me and she's already started oh no oh well she can just prop that up then hey you can share you can share you can just be the cool aunt that's what I thought and I have a dog so oh my gosh that's child that's a fur child yeah she's a baby so it's really nice that he hasn't lost his like lust for life he sounds like a really happy person sounds like you guys make each other really really happy and that even though you've gone through you know a really crazy life even you've been together for 10 years you've been through all these ups and downs that you still

share the same goals and he's happy to trust you with your finances and you know you run all of that stuff it's just sounds like you've got a really really incredible relationship and I kind of feel like we're part of it yeah like I love it I'm so grateful for it a little peek into your life it's like so special yeah thank you so much for sharing this story um yeah it's so it's so great to learn about everybody's diverse experiences and what they've been through but also you know this is kind of a little bit of a call to action to make sure that your insurances are set up properly and they actually do understand what that claims process looks like because at the end of the day that if it had been set up properly would have

taken a lot of that pressure off yeah a lot of pressure off a situation that is already so stressful yeah a hundred percent well it can happen you know it does you know these things can happen to anyone you know yeah yeah well thank you so much for joining us today money diarist i think that's all you have time for today thank you very much no problem and as always just before we head off we'd like to acknowledge and pay respect to australia's aboriginal and torres strait islander peoples they're 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 cheese on the money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances cheese 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 if you haven't had enough of us which arguably we've had enough of us you can also find us on instagram you can find us on facebook and we hang out on tiktok we're at she's on the money aus we'll see you next week for another money diary friends bye