She's On The Money - MONEY DIARIES: Choosing to be childless & breaking stereotypes.

Episode Date: August 4, 2024

Growing up with a strong, independent mother as the breadwinner, today's diarist was inspired to embody the same strength and independence. Despite navigating poor financial decisions in her early 20s, she overcame lifestyle creep to gain control of her finances. Choosing to remain childless in a society full of opinions, she broke stereotypes in a male-dominated industry and now earns six figures without a degree. Now she aims to own a million-dollar business and retire in her 50s, and hopes to motivate others who strive to be independent, childless bosses! 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 I get the absolute privilege of talking to one of our beautiful She's On The Money community members all about their money story. Now let's jump straight into it because this week I got a message and it sounded exactly like this. Dear She's On The Money team, my mum was the breadwinner. This made me want to be as strong and independent as her. This hasn't been easy. I've gone from making poor financial decisions in my early 20s and falling victim to lifestyle creep to finally feeling somewhat in control. I've made a conscious choice not to have children which has caused questions and comments both

positive and negative I've overcome the stereotypes of being in a male-dominated industry and I've concentrated on my career for over a decade to get to where I am now with no degree I made six figures and I'm on my way to owning a million dollar business with the hope to retire in my 50s the she's on the money podcast and Facebook group has helped me so much by changing my mindset about all things money. I'm hoping I can give motivation to someone else who might be feeling the same way about being an independent, childless boss. Marnie Darris, I'm so excited for this episode. Me too, me too. I'm glad to be here. How good. Oh my gosh, I cannot wait to dive into it. But in the pervious way possible, before we get there, can you give me an idea of what you

think your money habits are if I asked you to give them a grade from A through to F? I think at this point in time, I'd probably give myself a B minus. All right. Well, let's learn a little bit more about that money, Darius. Let's dive straight in. Can you tell me a bit more about your money story? Yeah, for sure. So, as I said in my intro, mum was the breadwinner. So, she always had the full-time job, never anything too big and fancy, I guess, but dad just did odd jobs and, you know, was a bit of a labourer. So, he kind of had spells where he wasn't working. So, we were comfortable but we weren't wealthy or anything like that we never went without or had any problems that way but I definitely noticed probably it was like 11 or 12 the struggle that

was about when there was like a drought coming in there wasn't as much work around so we definitely had like a little bit of a dip in what we could do and and all of those types of things mum was really good because she pushed us to go out and get jobs when we were younger. Me and my siblings, we did work in like factories and stuff like that during the school holidays. And, you know, as like, you know, 13, 14 year old, she'd get all this money and then spend it. Yep. Great. I feel like I can resonate with that part of it. Yeah, that started really, really early, to be honest. So, obviously, I liked to spend money when I was younger and that didn't stop as I was getting older. And then as I started, you know,

finishing high school, working, started working full time. And as I started building in my career, I just obviously started earning more and more and more and more. And I absolutely got stuck with lifestyle creep. That 100%, I'll put my hand up for that one. It's so easy though. You just like slip into it. And I feel like if I explain that concept to people who haven't really spoken about their money story before, they're like, yeah, okay, whatever. Like inflation, things get more expensive over time. And I'm like, oh no, it's not just inflation getting us, it's us getting us. Yeah, absolutely. And so, I was one of those people that quite a few years ago, I did get stuck in a bit of bad debt and I had credit cards and whatnot because it was kind of so open and

available. But I did learn that that was terrible and I got a bit of anxiety with not having any money and whatnot. So, I got myself out of that. So, that was fine. And to be honest, it wasn't until I found the podcast that I really realized, God, I'm not doing a good job here. And I really need to change what I'm doing. And I have so much open to me and it's silly that I'm just wasting it all away. So, I kind of concentrated on looking at my super and making a bit of a budget and kind of understanding what I was doing there. But one thing that really got me was actually having a discussion with some friends and we're very open. I've got some really good friends that have businesses and whatnot and having them to bounce off and kind of you know

realize that if I want to be as successful as I want to be I really need to change my habits and my lifestyle a little bit. I love that so tell me a bit more about this changing my lifestyle a little bit because you dropped in your letter in you currently earn six figures and you're on your way to owning a multi-million dollar business like Like, where is that coming into your money story? Because like, we need to know. Yeah. So, obviously, I have a very good job.

I adore my job. I love what I do. And I have been very fortunate to work with some great people and get myself into a spot where I have the ability to purchase into a business. And that's where that six figures comes from. It's a huge undertaking. And it is something that's been going on for the last couple of years, which has probably given me like the biggest smack just trying to say, I really need to be better with my money

because this is a huge commitment to take on. I love that. So tell me a bit more about this business. How do you get yourself in a position where you're earning great money and you also have been given that opportunity? Because that's not an opportunity we all get. Like so many of us get really good jobs and it's never on the table to buy into a business. Like how does that eventuate? Yeah. So, in the industry that I'm in, it basically is people own their own small business within a business basically is kind of the easiest way to work it out. Is it a bit like a franchise without being a franchise? Kind of.

So, there's like one main owner and then you get to own like a subsidiary maybe? No. So, it's more like you own your business and you're under an umbrella of something else. So, I guess I'm trying to think of if there's something similar, like probably like let's say a mortgage broker, they might work for a certain company, but they actually own their client base. Yes. Okay. So, this is where you might be like self-employed, but work for someone. Yeah, correct. And is the benefit to you, like in that circumstance, is the benefit to you that you get like the brand and the exposure and you don't have to think about that stuff,

but you get to then- And the help. And the admin help. Yeah. And then you get to kind of like own your clients and own your quote business. That's it. That's kind of cool, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. So, it's pretty full on when you look at it, to be honest, but it doesn't come up very easily and often for people, I'd say, because it basically comes around when people look to retire. Yeah. Okay. And that's kind of where it's come up for me. I worked with an absolutely wonderful person

who has recently retired and his basically plan for me is that I just look after the business at the moment and eventually I'll buy it. Okay, cool. I love that. So, let's segue into the next question. I need to know the pervy details. What do you do exactly for work and how much money do you currently earn? Yeah. So, I'm an insurance broker. That's why you knew about mortgage broking. I was like, what is she talking about? And then you went into mortgage broking and I'm like, that makes a lot of sense to me because I own a mortgage broking business, but how does she know. Okay. I was like, how do I say it without giving it away too quickly? I love that. Thank you for trying to keep the illusion going. And I earn just over $150,000 plus super and plus I get

an annual bonus. Okay. So, tell me how that $150,000 is made up of. Is that like commissions and a base or is that like just a set amount and like tell me about this bonus? I need to know all of the deets? Yeah. So, basically, that is just a pure salary. That's just my salary. I don't get any commissions or fees or anything like that at this stage. I'm purely just an employee. I would be an employee for $150,000. So, yeah, that's a good deal. Good deal. And the bonus is basically my boss now, she gives me 10% of our growth. Oh, okay. That's exciting. Does that really motivate you to keep bringing on new clients and grow the business? Absolutely. And to be honest, that's the reason why we've done it this

way. For them, it was the best idea to one, keep me on, keep me motivated and make me want to bring more people in basically. Oh, I love this. That is actually such a motivating way to kind of like build it without, I feel like in this industry, sometimes it can be seen as bad to get commissions. And I mean, that's definitely a stereotype that doesn't exist anymore. A lot of people think it's bad. But at the end of the day, it's now set fee across the industry and there's no real additional commissions like there used to be. I mean, it used to be the wild, wild west. Like you've probably been in this as long as I've been in financial advice and mortgage broking. And you hear all the stories of what all the like conferences and stuff used to be like. And you're like,

oh my Lord, that is not what life is like now. We're like so vanilla. But I find it super interesting to ask people in this industry about, I guess, what they're working towards. Talking about what we're working towards, what are your big money goals? What are you currently working towards? Yeah, well, I am hoping to buy a house soon, hopefully. And then the other big money goal is I need to put money away because buying into a business is quite a large expense and there will be a very large loan attached to that. Yeah, I was going to say, are you going to save up for that? Or are you going to get a business loan? Like, have you looked into what servicing for that might look like? Yeah, luckily we've actually had quite a few people around us

do similar. So I've got quite a few people to, you know, bounce things off of and chat to and get their opinions on how it all works and all that type of stuff. It'll be like a small chunk here and there to start with. That's the nicest way to do it. You don't have to go whole hog and I get the biggest loan ever. How good. That's so exciting. All right. Let's go to a really quick break. On the flip side, I want to talk to you about your best and worst money habits. I'm super pervy on those because I know that you've changed them since joining the She's On The Money community. And I want to know a bit more about the debt that you got yourself into when you were a little bit earlier and didn't make as great a money decision. So guys, don't go anywhere.

all right money diarist we are back and first thing off the bat i want to know for me a business is the biggest investment like that's where most of my money goes do you currently invest if so what in if not what's the plan and how does that work for you yeah i do a little bit so i have um just a small amount in some etfs so that's obviously from listening to you and I just kind of decided to jump in there a little bit, but I did put that on hold from putting more in just so I could save money for the house and do all of that type of thing. And then I've got my super, which is at about 125,000. How exciting. Tell me a bit more about this investing journey. When you started, how did you pick a platform? How did you pick

the ETFs that you wanted to invest in? I did look at, you know, spaceship and things like that, but I decided to just use the ComSec app. Yep. Perfect. Feels safe, right? Yeah. And it was quite easy and there wasn't a million choices and things to look at. It was kind of like- Is it ComSec Pocket? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, like the one that you got a little bit of a condensed list of ETFs. Yeah. Okay. I love that for someone who has analysis paralysis. So, it was good to just like kind of have a read and understand a little bit as to what they were offering and what that actually looked like to just like, you know, put my toes in the water and

see how it went. Yeah, no, I love that. That's exactly how I feel like most people start investing and I've heard really good things about ComSec Pocket because it does have that condensed list. You're like, okay, now I'm not looking at hundreds of them. I like have 10. Let's go from there. So that's super exciting. Debt. Do you currently have any? And if not, can you tell me a bit more about your debt story when you got yourself into a little bit of a lifestyle creep conundrum? Of course. Yes, I do have a car loan. I actually was listening to one of the earlier episodes and someone was talking about having a car loan with a balloon. And that really resonated with me because that seems terrifying, you know, getting to the end of a loan cycle and then having to pay

a lump sum but I actually got my car on a balloon payment scheme but I spoke with the financial guy at the car yard and I'm actually just paying extra to get it paid off quicker and like not have to have yeah yeah yeah and basically they had like a deal going on and the rate was so much cheaper if you took the balloon option yeah isn't it crazy how much they kind of incentivize you to stay in debt. Yeah, exactly. But he was so good. And he just said, if you pay this much per fortnight, whatever it is, you'll have it paid off before that date and you'll be all good and you won't have anything to pay. So that was, I thought, fantastic advice. Yeah. Like we're all going to go with a lower interest rate. Yes, please. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Does that make you

feel, I mean, we're in the middle of cost of living crisis. Does that also make you feel a little bit more secure knowing that if things hit the fan, you could lower how much you're paying on your car and still be okay? Or is that something that you haven't really thought of? Yeah, I guess it does. While I'm in the last little leg of saving money for a house, it is actually quite good because I have dropped that payment slightly just to add those extra couple of dollars into the savings account. Yeah, it's given you a bit more flexibility. Because I look at the what's owing and blah, blah, blah, work out the calculation and I'm already way ahead than what I actually need to be. So yes, it's a nice peace of mind for sure.

And how much is your car loan right now and what did you take out? So it was $48,000 and I've got $25,000 left on it. Yeah. So I think it should be paid off in about 18 months. How cool. Can I ask what type of car does a $48,000 loan get you? Well, I did also have a trade-in. Oh, you're about to tell me a bougie option. she's a fancy girl I actually yeah I drive a ute yeah cool you don't take me as a ute girly but I love this well to be honest it all fits in with my work so I do a lot of long driving and country and stuff like that so fair okay so the type of insurance broking you're in is not like life insurance for people in the CBD no it's more maybe like agricultural and farming is that right yeah

I have a lot of that. I also specialize in hard to place. Oh, cool. Yeah. So big like manufacturing, you know, basically anything that can hurt people or end in a bad way. Oh, that would be so interesting to do. Do you love it in addition to it being a really good career? Oh yeah. I mean, I say to people it's stressful quite a lot, but I absolutely love it. I don't know what it is and whether I'm just a weird person that likes things like that, but yes. No, you're not. I get it. I I get it. All right. Tell me a bit more. You've obviously changed your money habits more recently. What's your best money habit? My best money habit would probably have to be that if I decide on something,

I am pretty good at getting it done. So if I sat down one day and said, I need to change, I need to stop spending and save a bit more, I will do it. Like if I put a goal, then I'll cut corners and do what I need to do to make sure I get there. So that's probably my best one. That's actually a fantastic habit. Like doing what I said I was going to do is something I am not that great at. I'm always like, oh, I'll be better at X or I'll be better at Y at some point in the future. And then I don't do it. Like if that was my money habit, I'd be so proud of myself. Yeah. Well, I mean, once I get to the end, I am. And to be honest, I'm not perfect. So I do

sometimes stutter on these things, but it definitely is something that I'm glad that I can do if I need to. I love that. Can we flip the narrative? What are you not so good at? What's your worst money habit? I'm just a spendy gal. Oh, girl, same. What are we spendy on though? I'm an absolute yes man. I will say yes to absolutely anything. So if that's a dinner, a night out, an activity, I'm one of those people like I recharge with others. So I'm always out about doing things. And even if you just go out for breakfast, it's an expensive thing these days to go out for breakfast. Why is it so expensive? My husband and I went out on the weekend and he had like this fancy eggs Benedict thing that looked really good. I'm so basic. I always get

two poached eggs on toast. Like I can't be changed. Two coffees. It was like $60. Be for real. Be for real. Like, do you remember back in the day it used to be like $15 for breakfast and maybe a coffee, a push it close to 20, but it wasn't. Exactly. And that's, you add that and then you kind of go, all right, well, I'm also going out for dinner that night or, you know, going out with the girls for drinks or whatever it might be. That's usually my kryptonite. I don't like to say no. It adds up. Hey, like I just, I can't get over it. And like, I'm very privileged in that I'm still able to afford to do that. Like we, we put it into our budget and we make it happen. And that's something that we really value, but it's so tough at the moment. Cause

I look at that and I go historically for me I don't know about you dinner and breakfast like they used to be two different price points like breakfast used to be like the hey girlfriend let's go out for brekkie because it's like cheaper and you know we can go for a walk after and like it's not the expensive option and now I feel like I'm spending exactly what I would at brunch on dinner like be for real I can't deal with that that's not fair yeah and I think that probably leads onto my second worst habit is I don't know where all my money goes. So, I have like it set up that I know that, you know, when I get paid, all my money goes to my bills and this and this and this and they all sit in their own accounts. But then I just have, you know, my spending money and then

I look at that and it just, and I don't know where it goes in the end. Why do you think that is? I just, I've just never been a person to keep track of it. I've not ever been that person that hasn't been able to pay something or have got to that point where I've had an issue. Been forced into it. And that's probably what's come from having this higher income is that I kind of sit there and I probably give myself too much money to play with. And I don't need to see where it's all going or see what's happening with it. Albeit, I did just change that, made a decision on Sunday that I do need to cut down on my spending, et cetera, et cetera, because I'm getting so close to the

buying the house situation that I really need to cull that down. Yeah. And I feel like the second you get the house, the spending just increases. And even if you have a fully furnished house right now, you will always find things that you need to purchase in this new house above and beyond all of the actual property costs. You're like, oh my gosh, well, actually there's a spare corner here. I need a side table. You might be buying it on marketplace, but that's still money going out the door. It is wild how that compounds. I'm going to help you out. I'm going to gift you our money masterclass so that you can kind of get on top of it, mainly because I'm really proud of it. I just want everyone to have it. And I think that that'll give you really good insight into

where your money is going. And I think the best thing is that it's all automated. So it's like really low effort. So put all your income in, put what you're spending in there, and it will spit out like what bank accounts things need to go to and like the percentages you're spending on, which you don't need to adhere to percentages. If you know me well enough, you know that I don't like budgeting on percentages, but I do love knowing what percentage of my income is going to rent or what percentage of my income am I able to save? Not so that I can benchmark it against other people. I just like being comfy with my own numbers. Absolutely. We will love numbers. So we will set you up with that. But what I'm hearing right now is that you're pretty

money savvy. And I mean, you're clearly being offered an epic opportunity, like the fact that you'll be able to own a million dollar business and potentially retire in your fifties. Like that is elite. One thing we didn't get onto that you mentioned in your money story, because, you know, like we're here to talk about money, but this is more of a personal thing. You said, I've made the conscious choice to not have children, which has caused questions and comments, both positive and negative. I'd love to touch on this because I feel like it's such a fickle space. Like, and I honestly, and I do apologize, I forgot to ask about it because it's not important to me whether you have kids or not, but I feel like it is really important to a lot

of other people. Often they'll go, oh, what's your name? Oh, what do you do for work? Oh, do you have kids? Like it's the next question. So tell me about that decision and how hard it was to make or like how that's impacted your life. To be honest, it's probably been a decision that I made a long, long time ago. You know, it's not, it's not been in the last few years or whatever that might be. And I've been pretty steadfast in it. You know, when you just know something's not for you. You're like, it's not for me. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, don't get me wrong. Like I love my niece and I've got, you know, there's lots of people around me with babies and I love them, but it's just not my future I just don't see it I love that for you like I just love that you've

made the decision and it works for you although and I guess this isn't on you I just think it's really frustrating when I'm having a conversation like this and when anyone's having a conversation like this you're probably going to agree with me here and you know you say oh I just don't want to have kids often we feel the need to then justify it and go oh but I do love my nieces and I do love my nephews and I really love all the other kids in my life. Like, of course you do. Like there are other humans in your life. Like, oh, it's like my friends who are like, oh yeah, I just don't like men. Like I like seeing women, but it doesn't mean I hate men. It doesn't mean like we don't have to justify it. You don't have to have kids. You don't need to do this. You've made this

conscious decision and it's in your best interests. And I just think it's so wild that we automatically default to feeling the need to justify our own decisions as though we owe somebody else an explanation and I'm not meaning to call you out on that but I'm more saying like we all do it and I just look at it and go babe like of course you do like you seem like a really kind nice human and just because you're choosing not to have children doesn't mean you don't like them no and I mean this will this will probably um you know hit you a little bit but for me I did make the conscious decision to tell my employer that I wasn't going to be doing that and in all honesty I think that is one of the main reasons why I was able to get where I am oh my god that's so pervy

and that pisses me off yeah because there wasn't that you know weird thought process that oh she'll just go off and have kids at some stage so you know we better not put too much you know on them and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Whereas you've just been really clear with them. Like, by the way, this isn't for me because I feel like I shouldn't have to. But at the same time, I feel like if I didn't, then I could have looked a bit different. If that makes sense. Isn't it sad that that's the case? Like, I'm so glad that you've used that to your own advantage. And I think that women should be using every opportunity like this to their advantage. Like, yeah, it sucks. No, I don't want to be in this position and be put behind because of that choice. But also we use

what we've got to use and make it work for us, right? Like get it. Yeah. And I mean, let's be honest, if ever you decided to change your mind and had a kid, you could be like, oh my gosh, miracle baby. Like who saw this coming? Whoops. Yeah, exactly. Oh, this is meant to be. The stars have aligned and it's none of their bloody business. Exactly. But I guess that's probably, you know, as I mentioned in my story, you know, it is a very male dominated industry because the way we service our clients, having that, you know, say nine to 12 months off after you've had a baby is extremely hard to handle from our kind of position, if that makes sense. No, I get it. As someone in finance, the way people side-eye me because I have had a baby

And even the way people have side-eyed me because I say, oh yeah, no, no, no, I dropped Harvey off to daycare so I could come into recording. They're like, Victoria, he's five months old. And I'm like, yep, because like I have a career and a life and like, this is what I've chosen. And just because I'm parenting different to you doesn't make me a lesser parent. And I just feel like I'm probably in a situation like you where I'm immediately defending my decisions, even though I know they're the right ones for me and my family. Like be for real. Yeah, it is. It's frustrating when you do have to kind of defend it in some way. Yet, if I, you know, didn't have a career or something, someone would be judging me for that. Like, you know, it's just a never-ending

cycle. Not everything is for everybody. You don't want a career? Slay, I'm glad you know that you don't want a career. You don't want to work and you want to be a stay-at-home mom? Like, I hope that that is the most fulfilling job you ever have because that's all you've ever wanted. Like, I don't care what you do as long as you have the tools and the resources to make educated decisions about your life and it is a choice not something you're forced into I could not care less yeah absolutely like be for real anyway I'm glad that I asked you about that because I feel like there are a lot of people who would be going or how she do that like what are the negative comments that people are making because you mentioned here that there are like positive and negative and I feel

like a lot of the positive are going to be like, oh, you can focus on your career and oh my gosh, I'm glad you're doing the right thing for you and get it. But like, are people really that brazen that they're so negative still? Yeah, people can be. And I guess that was the reason why I wanted to put it in the story was because there are probably a lot of people out there who do feel this way. And to be honest, it took my mum a long time to understand that that was kind of where I was going. But I'm like, I've got siblings, I've got cousins, it's fine. There's babies around, you'll be all right. But the negative comments that come out of it, always the same, you'll change your mind. Why would I change my mind?

Always the same. And I'm like, okay, cool. Maybe I do. But it's always said with that malice of, you know, with that kind of thought process, like you're just being selfish. You know, you're not bringing a child into this world. So you're being selfish or, you know, this isn't what you're meant to do or how could you do that? It is really odd how pressed someone else gets about your personal situation. And unfortunately, it's always usually comes from women. Yes, I've noticed that. I find it wild when people think that the decision to not have kids is selfish when it's probably one of the most selfless things you can do. Like I've put me first. We are already in a world that is arguably overpopulated. Who knows where the

world is going? It was a conundrum that I had when my husband and I were choosing to have kids. I was like, is this the world that we want to bring a child into? Like, is this what we want to do? And if we are, we have to commit fully to that. Like, I don't want to be a half parent. I don't want to be a parent that then decides, oh, this probably wasn't for me. Like I wanted to be boots and all in and I am, and I'm so glad because that's aligned to my values. But like, I think having become a parent, it's made me realize now that the decision to not be a parent, if you were even erring on the side of caution is a really powerful one because it's not for the weak. It is not for the weak. No, not with all the, not with all that. Oh,

oh really? You know, you get from people, it's actually, it gets a bit tiring at that time. So usually I just don't say anything. I just say, no, I don't have kids. You just look back at them and be like, oh, and you chose to have kids with those genetics? Like be for real. All right. I want to know now, we've had a really good chat and I feel like you are one of these people that just knows themselves and I love that like you know where you're going you know what you want out of life like you graded yourself a B minus but you have a really good grasp on what your money story was and you're earning great money and you know the one thing that you did say was oh you know I'm a bit of a yes man I'm a spendy gal but also

my second worst habit is that I don't know where my money goes and like that's so easily fixable what would it take to get you to an A plus? To be honest, probably just being more aware of where my money goes and what I'm actually spending on to see if it's just things that I can change. Whether I don't get a coffee every day and I just, I could make them at home. I don't need a morning coffee every day, things like that. But to be honest, I think I really need to probably speak to, like a financial advisor or something like that, just for the future planning. Yeah. I've got one for you. I will set you up off air. I feel like that's a really good idea, especially because you have such clarity in your career and what you're doing. And like,

let's be honest, the biggest financial burden is kids. You already know you're not going to have that. Okay. Well, how are we making ourselves wealthy? Yeah. And that's it. Because I do look at it and I say, you know, I do have quite a high income. I should be doing more with it, if that makes sense, whether that's investing, whether that's putting it in my super or whatnot. I've obviously had the savings for a house being the main priority, but once that's done, I really need to probably branch out and think about it a bit more. I love that. All right. Well, it doesn't seem like you're that far off an A plus. Money Dyrus, I have loved this conversation. I feel like it's been an empowering chat. I hope that

everyone listening is kind of like, yeah, I love this for you. And they kind of see that choice to not have children slightly differently. And maybe if everyone in the She's On The Money community goes, you know what, we're going to actively never have a thing to say about anybody who chooses not to have children, because you also don't know if it's a choice. Like I have a few girlfriends who have their hand has kind of been forced because of fertility issues. And now they will say, yeah, yeah, yeah, we're choosing a child-free life. And it's a choice, but it wasn't really a choice. And I feel like that's none of your damn business. Yeah, absolutely. And that's the hardest, the hardest part. But do we need to stop having that? When are you having kids

conversation? Because it is, it can be really triggering. Get in the bin. All right. Well, thank you so much. It has been an absolute pleasure. And I know that our community is going to eat this one up. So I really appreciate your willingness to share. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. 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 321 649 27708 AFSL 451 289.