She's On The Money - MONEY DIARIES: Future doctor

Episode Date: February 21, 2021

How do you manage an extremely laborious degree while staying afloat financially? And how do you learn to say no when FOMO lures you in every time? Today we chat through it all. If you’re a student who is struggling with the balance of study, a social life and your savings, then this is a money diary you need to hear.Joining you on Money Diaries this week is Victoria Devine, Ryan Jon and Georgia King.Do you love the podcast SICK and want more SOTM? Course ya do. Join our Facebook page to share your money wins and money confessions, follow us on Insta for daily inspo to keep you on track and DEFINITELY subscribe to our newsletter https://www.shesonthemoney.com.au/newsletter the written recap of the pod's key takeaways, including some bonus bits you won't want to miss.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, Money Diaries. The money diaries for millennials who want financial freedom. My name is Victoria Devine and this week we speak to a 22-year-old member of our community who is using Centrelink as her main source of income while studying long and hard to become a doctor. Ryan John, can you please read out the email she sent us last week?

I'm 22 years old and currently studying at university in my fifth year of study. I've had multiple jobs over the last seven years and spent a lot of my money travelling. Haven't we all? I'm studying medicine. Look out, guys. Smarter than us. Smarty pants.

And getting into my final years, we do a whole year of practical work. so i've had to quit all my jobs and i know a lot of professions that have to do practical placements and stuff it's actually really hard because you have to quit your part-time jobs and stuff and you know yeah i've actually got a couple of friends doing it it's hectic yeah um but lucky i'm eligible for youth allowance from centrelink so that's what i'm currently living on i still live at home but next year i plan to move out uh due to location of the practical work at the hospital being three hours south in rural western australia i have a phobia of credit cards and being in debt and that's been passed on from my parents recently i've started investing which is

new to me but i've gotten a few short wins hello after pay and zip pay well done there um my income each fortnight is 559 and 20 cents and that's increased a lot because of coronavirus and doing extra hours and stuff like that and the supplements um i feel like i'm still living my previous lifestyle though of about one or two years ago when i was working two or three jobs and earning $1,000 to $1,500 a fortnight and I haven't been able to cut down my spending. Once you start living a certain life, it is really hard to get back. Lifestyle grief is real.

Alright, so that brings us up to speed. Thanks for joining us, Money Diarist. Thank you for having me. I'm really excited about this one. It sounds super interesting, but to be the boring person here, let's get through all of the constructive questions first and then we can have the

exciting conversation on the back end of the podcast. Is that okay? Yep, sounds good. Can we dive straight in? sure fabulous can you explain your relationship with money to us i feel like i have a pretty good relationship with money it has probably changed over the past sort of year where um i haven't been able to get an income um and i have been living off centrelink um before then i think because i was earning so much i was sort of living to my means and saving quite a lot as well I was able to travel quite a lot but now I'm still living the same way I was a few years ago

and it's not really sustainable anymore which is absolutely fair and I think a lot of us are guilty of that let's be honest so what do you do for work and for life like what's going on there so currently I'm a medical student I'm in my fourth year out of five years but I've been at university for five years overall because i switched in um so and for work i've worked at lots of different places i worked at an ice cream shop for like seven years and then um but during that time i worked at different burger places and umpire netball and lots of little first aid jobs and sort of things like that which is i think having multiple sources of income allowed me to sort of um have one source of income as savings and then the other sources were sort of my spending

money which worked quite well but now i've only got the center link as my source of income which is still cool like how cool are we to be in a country where we have a resource like that we're gonna get i know like how cool is that yeah i sort of feel a bit guilty sometimes because i feel like i'm i mean it obviously is there for situations like mine but i feel like i'm almost taking advantage of the system because growing up it kind of had that stigma that like if you're on centrelink you're kind of all right if you're going to be a doctor and saving our lives i think it's a good investment i think that's a great investment like if my tax dollars are going towards creating doctors i am a thousand percent here for it but i don't think that anyone who is

on centrelink actually is abusing it in any way shape or form no lots of people in our community are and to be honest i'm just super grateful that a resource like that exists for us yeah me definitely too especially for students i feel like it's quite necessary 100 being a student is so expensive and stressful like you've been doing this for five years like the hustle is real yes so getting further into it what do you earn and how much is currently sitting in your bank account right now currently um on centerlink i'm earning 550 ish dollars a fortnight and sitting in my bank account there's about four thousand dollars and then um in investments and stuff i've got um more money in there as well hey that's pretty good yeah that's pretty good i'm i'm

pretty impressed with that do you feel confident when making decisions about money um yes i feel like i never really say no to myself which i feel is partly because growing up mum and dad never really said no to much even though it was probably out of their price range so they've never really said no so then I sort of let myself have a treat probably a little bit too often and go on a few too many holidays to Bali, Europe etc but I feel like it's okay. Which is fair I think we all feel a little bit guilty about our money situation for one reason or another. So what happens to the money after it gets deposited into your account? So I've recently changed this.

So when I started going on Centrelink about two months ago, I sort of had to be a bit more stringent with where my money was going. So I should set up automatic payments, which I've heard so many of the money diarists do, but currently I just automatically, I mean, not automatically, just deposit it into my savings. So I think I do about 200 in savings, but then I always end up taking more usually.

And then about 150 is for groceries and 150 is just for vending. And then the extra bit that goes into a raise account. I love that you're on Centrelink and like making the most of it. You're still making sure you're using apps like Raise to make sure that you're rounding up additional things. I actually really love it. It's really savvy. So can you tell us a little bit about your investment journey? so i feel a little bit lucky that when i started looking into investment was

right around coronavirus last year when the market fully crashed so i was able to get in when everything was really really cheap yes yeah i bought stocks in afterpay and zip pay and quantus and basically was buying them and then within three weeks i was when the market was going up i was selling them and then buying other ones and then selling those ones So she's a share trader. Yeah, I managed to make about $5,000 off that.

What? Just casually on the side while I'm studying, if you don't mind. Far out. But I felt like for the amount of time I was sort of like checking up on everything and sort of almost neglecting my studies a little bit because I was so sort of in luck. That's exciting, right? Yeah, in these very quick wins.

That's epic. Yeah, it was good, but then now the market is a little bit more stable, So I'm sort of looking more at ETFs and which I have, I probably, I think I have about five grand in ETFs at the moment, which is basically what I made from my wins, from the short wins. And then I have about four grand in just like other different accounts, different sort of investments as well. That is actually epic. I'm really impressed. I feel like obviously we can't recommend that strategy because it is incredibly risky. but yes it's kind of cool but it worked for us so power to yeah yeah exactly we always have the best advice in hindsight right like if i could if i could do what you did but like at the same time

that would have been great yeah i also would have bought bitcoin 12 months ago yes exactly it was very lucky timing and i feel i i almost i know how lucky it was now looking back at the stocks i invested in and how often they fluctuate up and down i'm really impressed i'm not gonna lie so it was a lot of luck totally but do you have any debts of any kind and if so what are they so i have no credit card debt or anything like that um i do use after pay but i use it in the way that victoria has sort of said it's okay which is um buying you don't need my permission to live your life my friend buying something off uh off the site and buying a few items maybe like the same um item but in different sizes and then end up sending stuff back most of the time

honestly if you can use it as a tool that helps you you know actually make a better financial decision i'm all about that yeah and then i've obviously got a lot of hex debt when i finish i think it will be sitting at about 60 or 70 000 that's pretty good that's pretty good i think i've said this on the podcast before but uh my hex debt is still sitting at six figures guys and you ain't a doctor either no i don't even get to call myself a doctor how disappointing honestly all right so do you have any good money habits that you are especially proud of um i think i'm i'm sort of proud of my past self more than my current self i used to be very very tight with my money I used to bring packed lunch every day and I was really on the ball with

dating money and everything sort of changed a little bit we were going out for dinners a lot and sort of splitting everything and so that also has been a change in the sort of like past two years that sort of changed everything a little bit as well but I sort of say it's sort of worth it I love that actually I feel like so many people are really harsh on past like their past selves but I don't know it's one of those things like I can see that you've obviously come from a really good past self but when people say oh my gosh like I can't believe I used to do that I was the worst I hate myself for that or they you know really grill past selves I feel like it's so detrimental because like at that time we were just dealing with the tools and resources that we had access

too and kind of just doing the best that we could at that time yeah you might know more now or do something different now but I just feel like the past made us who we are today and that's kind of cool and we should be celebrating that rather than going oh my gosh I can't believe I did that like that's not healthy that's not helpful let's not do that yeah I definitely think that my past self was definitely a lot better and I probably want to um get her back but that's okay that's okay I just think lots of people are negative about it so it's so nice to be like yeah actually past selfless are real smart yeah and had a real good time yeah and I feel like maybe the next question I've got for you um is going to be more a current self thing given the feedback you've

just given us and that is what is your worst money habit I'm very much a homo person if my friends are going out I'm going to go whether it's a detriment to sort of my money or to my studies i never really say no um holidays i'll go with every friend that wants to go every time someone wants to go out for dinner or anything like that i'm always keen um which is definitely one of my values at the same time is sort of spending time with like the people that i love but i think i need to sort of balance it a little bit better or find ways that i can um sort of spend time with people without spending money it's good to have that level of reflection though because I think a lot of people would not say oh my gosh I'm so bad at FOMO

because that takes a lot of level of introspection from my perspective. So money diarist what are you currently saving for? Do you currently have a big money goal at the moment? Currently no I've sort of the next sort of goal is like a house but I'm still only 22 but I kind of just want to get those big goals out of the way early and my only other big thing would be I really want to just keep investing lots and lots of money when I'm young so that when I get to like 35 45 55 it's going to be a lot easier as well guys she's going to be a doctor she's gone she's gonna be all right she's gonna be all right so baby doctor if I forced you to rate yourself and give yourself a financial rating what would you give yourself I probably would say about a seven and a half maybe

but um I think I'm pretty good but there's definitely ways I can improve but I do know how I can get there I just need to stop overthinking and stop going to every single thing I can possibly go to and make better decisions in that way I'm not gonna lie at 22 I feel like you've got it pretty sorted, much more sorted than 22-year-old me had. Also, who's got the energy to go out every night when you get older? You know what I mean? I mean, that will take care of itself. I definitely don't.

But we'll have a chat about that right after we have a little message from our friends of the show this week. i am so grateful for you sharing your money diary today thank you so so much for that can we talk a little bit more about the pervy stuff though sure talk to me about medicine how hard is it how far are you through it is it exactly what you thought it was going to be um it is now so the first sort three years were all pre-clinical so it was all basically in a classroom learning which i feel like i'm a much more hands-on person so this year um when i'm down south it's been much more hands on i've been able to do a lot more things and i feel like i'm learning a lot more and faster so

that's really good but yeah it is very hard when do you have to specialize like do you like is that after graduating and stuff or do you start specializing within your course like how technical do you need to get and make decisions about your future already uh not too technical yet so so i'm still in my fourth year and then i'll have fifth year next year in med school as well and then you do an intern year where you kind of try out every sort of place that you want to try um and then after that you sort of choose your residency so i've got about three more years minimum i can i can sort of keep stretching that out as far as you want to really and once i've finished the next two years i'll be getting paid as well so it doesn't really matter to me if i

take an extra year when i'm sort of an intern because the intern wage isn't um it's a pretty good straight out of uni wage as well so yeah um i won't really be struggling or anything i can take my time a little bit yeah and i mean no one goes into medicine assuming it's going to be quick and, you know, a breeze, but it sounds like a massive commitment when you talk about seven or eight years and then you get an internship and stuff. Did you have to kind of give yourself a pep talk or, you know, am I really doing this kind of chat before you committed to it?

Every day. Yeah, there's definitely moments that come up, especially things with money. I felt like I was going to really struggle this year, but I think, thank God for all of the coronavirus supplements and they're really going to help with everything, which it's not even the coronavirus that's really affected me, but it's just sort of a good thing that's come out of it in terms of money.

And I think for most people, they'd be in sort of a similar situation. I've got a question for Victoria, or maybe both of you guys. Hello, yes, this is not my money diary. Ask me the questions. I think, and I guess we don't want to set the bar too low, but i think if you're studying i remember reading the group someone goes i'm studying so i'm struggling to save and i want to invest and i just think if you're studying you're investing in your future and if all you can do is break even and finish your study oh my gosh yes then more you've done more than enough and that's a really great place to be and so it's part of

your journey like your journey isn't going to be investing all the time there is no way i could have afforded to invest or even save as much as i you know see other people in the community doing at that age when i was at uni i was literally breaking even and for those of you who know a little bit about my money story i was in debt i did take out a personal loan to study overseas i was going backwards like and i think that that can be part of your journey and shouldn't bash yourself over it yeah so future doctor um which is what i'm calling you now apparently Obviously you're quite driven and where you are is quite impressive, but do you give yourself permission to go, Hey,

I'm studying if all I do is break even this year, then that's more than okay. Cause I feel like you're putting a fair bit of pressure on yourself. I can feel it. I feel like I don't, but I know I should. My boyfriend's also like a medical student in the exact same scenario. Check this out. Yeah.

They're going to have a really nice house around. Yeah. I can see it. I can already picture it. I'm coming to visit. Let's hope so. But he definitely does give that to himself. And it's something I'm quite jealous of him,

that he doesn't care at the moment because he knows that in a few years he'll be okay. But for me, not having that security right now and also seeing, because my degree is so much longer than the rest of my friends, and seeing Ben right now graduated in full-time jobs, Well, I'm still sort of in that uni, ramen lifestyle. It is a little bit frustrating seeing myself and thinking I'm behind. You're going to be a doctor, mate.

You're going to be a doctor. I actually have a lot of clients who are maybe doctors. I don't know how this is eventuated, but I have a number of them. They're going to be listening, being like, yes, this is exactly what you said to us. I'm going to turn the podcast off. I've heard everything. But I feel like doctors are a little bit like slingshots. they like feel like they're going a little bit further backwards they can see their friends

ahead of them but once the slingshot is like go off they're like miles ahead because of the groundwork that they've done and put in and like as you said before the grad salary for a doctor is pretty good out of uni I think I don't know where you are studying or like the location and we don't have to disclose that but I know in Melbourne a grad salary for a doctor starts at about 70 000 a year which is really good in my opinion um and I think it's one of those things that you actually end up further ahead in the long term because you've got this grounding and you've spent the time doing the groundwork to actually sustain yourself and create that future and I feel like so many people get down about it and it's like no no no don't worry keep eating

your ramen because it is going to be spaghetti linguine really soon yeah I feel like that's something i definitely need a sort of conversation i'll remind you it's okay just call me whenever um i'll let you know i can't eat spaghetti linguine but if i could i would eat it with you um now this might not be as big a problem for you as it might be for some others considering you know the end of the slingshot firing is coming that wasn't a great no that was perfect thank you that was great um i when you said oh i want to invest more and i want to invest you know lots and lots but i also want to buy a house the first thing that came to mind was you might need to choose or at least prioritize one of those things over the other it might be hard to do both maybe

not slingshot hashtag slingshot um but where do you think you'll if you had to kind of choose or prioritize what's more important for you uh right now probably investing and the the house goal is i don't know whether i just want it because everyone else sort of has it or whether it's actually something that I want which is something I sort of need to sort of sit down and sort of think about or sort of ponder over it for the next sort of five ten years but um you've got more time my friend yeah I think sort of I like that I've sort of come to terms with like money isn't about being so young because I know a few of my friends sort of um still don't really like talking about money whereas I'm very open and I love like talking about what are you guys investing in and

everything but yeah I have a few friends where money's sort of like a bit of a taboo topic which I think is sort of a little bit of a bad thing to have when you're so young because you can sort of get acquainted to everything so early and learn about investing and make mistakes early so that later on you'll totally agree with that and I actually find it really funny because you're mentioning that you've got some friends who you know money's a bit taboo and if you're listening to this podcast you probably don't feel the same way but you might have friends that are similar but i am so used to talking about money now and like i talk about money with my team all the time and i talk about it with my family and my friends and you know it's great i love just walking

into elks go oh what's that for you what'd you pay for that yeah literally but like we talk about it so openly and i'm not going to be quiet about something i'll be like oh yeah this cost x or this is what this is and you know I am very open and honest about it I'm always a little bit jarred when I come up against somebody who maybe doesn't want to have that conversation because I'll be like oh money xyz and they'll be like yeah roadblock and I'll be like oh wait hold on um sorry I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable with that because you know obviously we are she's on money and it's such a central topic to what we do and we live it and we breathe it so when you come up against other people i'm like oh wait what other people don't other people don't

share this what do you mean i earn x amount so it's um i think it's really cool to be surrounded by like-minded people but at the same time totally respect the boundaries of other people if they're not ready to share it that is totally okay can i just add though if you do a similar job or work at the same company it's actually in your interest to chat with people so when you're negotiating your salary you go well i'm doing this job same as that person they're getting five grand more Is there any reason for that or can I have the same pay? A hundred percent. We need to normalize that.

Do you know how many people are like, oh, sorry, you're not meant to talk about our salaries with your peers? The bosses say that and you're like, well, good for you, mate. I'm going to. Yeah, but some people have it in their contracts. I've got a prickly question. Oh, what is it? I feel like this topic has reared its head a few times in this episode,

so I'm just going to put it on the table and I'm not meaning to be rude. This is coming as much of a shock to you as it is to I, my new Darius friend. Money Diarist, is it possible that we have a slight bit of FOMO issues to work through? Because I feel like you've mentioned a few times my friends are doing this. She literally said she had FOMO issues.

Are you listening? That's why I'm following up. Yeah, but, like, it's not prickly. She mentioned it. I'm just trying to ease the burden of what's an awkward question for you. Sorry, Money Diarist. I'm on your team, FYI. But, Money Diarist, as you have previously mentioned,

is that something you've kind of gone oh I've noticed this about me like and that not that you have to like fix it but just being aware of FOMO often you know helps you kind of go oh it's not a huge deal if I miss out on a few things yes but then I also feel like when I don't go to things I sort of regret it more and I look at my friends on Instagram and like seeing them all together and everything that makes me feel worse than if I went and spent like a hundred dollars on his drinks out or something. Girl, you've got to delete Instagram. Georgia deleted Instagram.

That's why she's never tagged in anything. I love that. I would get rid of my FOMO, but I just want to go to the parties. I also really like that that's been Georgia's only comment in this money diary. She sat back, listened, and then... I hate to drink red, but that stood out to me. I have words of wisdom.

What's the opposite of FOMO? I have this fear of going to a party and it being crap. Fear of going out. I believe it's called JOMO. It's Joy of Missing Out. Joy of Missing Out, yeah. I have that. I am genuinely so introverted.

Obviously, I'm quite extroverted in this situation because it's just me, a microphone, and people I really know. But if you go, hey, Victoria, do you want to go to this big party? I'm like, ha-ha, no. And then I see it on Instagram and I'm like, glad I didn't go to that. Could you imagine Victoria Devine at a music festival? No, definitely not. It's literally not me.

I'd be like, can we go now? Like, I get antsy and need to leave. I'm just the exact opposite of everybody. Far out. I'm the fun police. Sorry that Money Diary, we've just hijacked you, Money Diary. When I worked with Tanya Hennessy back in the day, we went to Groove in the Mood.

Guess what time she left? What time? 3.30 in the afternoon. I'm on her team. I reckon we would have gotten along really well. You guys would have gone, oh, a bit busy, you want to take off? Let's see a couple of things. I reckon there's time for a wine and a cheese plate.

Somewhere else other than where other people are. So, hey, Money Diarist, good luck with the rest of your studies. Thank you for joining us today on the Money Diary. Thank you for having me. Oh, quick question. What kind of doctor do you want to be? I don't know. I get asked this, like, every day.

No, I assumed you might have, and you know what? You don't have to choose yet. You get to do all of your rounds. Yeah, I think. I'm not sure. I really like obstetrics and gynecology at the moment, so that's sort of where I'm leaning, but also haven't really made my mind up at the same time.

You do not have to make your mind up. I'm just pervy and want to know all the answers to all the questions but thank you so so much for joining us today I'm genuinely so grateful that people want to share their money diaries with us because we get to learn and I think it's just so so special so thank you um and I think that's all we have time for for today thank you so much just before we head off we'd like to acknowledge and pay respects to Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples the traditional custodians of the lands the waterways and the skies all across australia we thank you for sharing and for caring on the land which we are able to learn we pay our respects to elders past and present and

we share our friendship and our kindness now the advice shared on she's on the money is general in nature 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 a financial decision and now we do promise i am an authorized representative of australia pacific funds Management Proprietary Limited, ABN 34132463257, AFSL 339151. And thank you as always to our dream team, Ryan and Bec, for pulling this shiny episode together. Thank you.