She's On The Money - MONEY DIARIES: No degree, but on the way to 140k!

Episode Date: April 17, 2022

Happy Easter Monday honeys, and what a treat of a community member we have for you on this Money Diaries episode! She is a young woman working as a diesel mechanic in the male dominated mining sector, and with no degree under her belt, is already smashing her financial goals. Find out what makes her tick.This year our Money Diaries are being brought to you by the legends at Shopback! Check them out at https://app.shopback.com/aus/partner/SOTM and you'll get a cashback bonus when you sign up!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 Infocus Securities Australia Proprietary Limited ABN 47 097 797 049 AFSL - AFSL 236523.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Just before we get started, 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. 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 Shop Back Money Diary Monday, where we chat to one of our gorgeous community members to learn about them, their life, their money, their goals,

all of the deep and juicy details. Victoria, one of our favourite times of the week, I would say, wouldn't you? What are you bringing to the table this week, Jessica Rucci? Nobody's surprised that it's a good one. Our diarist wrote in. Surprise. Shocker.

Shocker. Who would have thought? Our diarist wrote in and said, I left school at 15, I have no uni degree, and I'm on my way to $140,000 at 20. I was about to be like, how old is she, like 50? Friends, this one's going to make you feel inadequate. I came from a very loving and caring family

where finances were never really spoken of. I discovered my interest for heavy diesel mechanics back in 2018 after deciding a year and a half of nursing really wasn't up my alley. Fast forward nearly four years, I'm in a stable full-time job, nearing the end of my apprenticeship and setting bigger and bigger financial goals for the years to come. I've always gone against the grain. Being a heavy diesel mechanic in a very male-dominated industry is no easy feat. While this is definitely not your average 20-year-old money story, I'm so proud of the path I have led for myself and my future. It's going to be a good one, right? Oh my gosh, Marnie Dyrus, welcome to the show. I'm here. How's it going? Oh my gosh. Hi. Did you just

wake up one day and you were like, I am so sick of caring for the elderly. I'm going to work on heavy machinery. Is that what happened? That's pretty much how it went. Hey, like. That's such a pivot. I adore it. I love that. Like, that's not a bad thing at all. It's just, you know, you often see people pivot into different things and go, yeah, I was dabbling in this. So then I decided to do it and she's like no heavy machinery is where it at well it's like people are so rude when they're sick I'm sick of it I would like to work in a really blunt industry this is it I take my hat off to nurses like I do yeah fantastic very special people but I did wake up one morning and I went to my mum and I was like I'm just not feeling it anymore she was like what

do you mean I was like I'm just not feeling nursing anymore like I love learning about the body but people are doing my head in she goes what are you gonna do and I was like mechanics Stephen mechanics she was like are you sure you were like yeah yeah I am thanks though mum I was like yeah I was like pretty much so like I did everything myself like I called up the TAFE I'd already booked my enrolled nursing course at TAFE yeah and it was about a day before the course changing cutoff. Oh, yeah. Census. Yeah. And I quickly called up and I was like, can I please change my top four courses to diesel pre-apprenticeship? And I forgot the other three, but anything to do with mechanics, pretty much. I was like, oh, pre-apprenticeships. I said,

can you change it? And then we're like, ma'am, are you sure you told us the right student number? Are you okay? Do you need counselling? No, you don't. I love that. Let's learn about you. Let's do the structured questions. I feel like we are going to talk a lot through this episode because I feel like our pre-chat was very full of energy and I loved it, but I feel like I need to keep us on track. All right, money diarist, let's start. I want to know more about your life. I want to know what your money story is like. Okay. So the money story starts as a basic, you know, had lived with mum and dad and my sister. We had our standard four by two home and then pretty much mum and dad separated when I was nine I think and dad decided to keep the house

me mum and my sister we all moved out moved into a rental and it probably wasn't until then I was kind of like ah this house is quite small and then we moved to another rental and then we moved to another rental and I was like something's not right here like I never asked about money never spoke about money it was just like oblivious to everything like I always grew up with everything that I wanted and it was always mum that was like you will never go without like mum would be breaking down in the corner and she would just give me everything me and my sister everything like we never went without and it probably wasn't until maybe I think I was 15 that I got my first job and she was kind of like you know what boo your first paycheck spend it

this is all yours and then it wasn't till like the second one where she's like all right with every paycheck put like a b c and d away and then spend the rest it's all it's your money and then that's pretty much how it went on I went to do a few other different jobs did my pre-apprenticeship and then they did a few other ta jobs and then landed my apprenticeship how exciting I feel like that would teach you a lot at the same time as feeling like you're kind of in the dark so when you say your dad kept the house did he just live there by himself and you guys were like bouncing between rentals or like tell us a bit more about that situation yeah dad straight up kept the house which even as like a nine-year-old you're kind of like you don't need that you don't

need that like you don't need I think the house was like I think it was a four I'm pretty sure it was a four by two yeah I was like that you like you don't need that and then mum took us out and like I said we went to um I think it was three different rentals before mum bought this other unit and I was kind of like why do I have to keep moving house and the thing is like when dad would pick me up for the weekend I would go back to our old family home and it would all be exactly the same except all the rooms are empty and it's just me and dad like I would I think I slept over at my dad's place maybe three times in the whole eight years that he paid child support wow yeah and then it wasn't until he got a new missus and then a new missus and then a new missus and they

would come in they would go they would come and they would go and then yet I'm still moving from rental rental with my mom and I was like this doesn't make sense but I was nine years old and and growing obviously and I was kind of like you know it's what it is got a roof over my head I'm with my mum. I still go to school, still get to do all the sports that I want. Wow. Do you feel like that has impacted you as an adult in any way, like in terms of like where you live and how that works? Often we find that when we talk to people who, you know, have maybe bounced around a bit as a kid or have been in that situation, they really prioritise owning their own home or they really prioritise, you know, one secure location and don't like to move around a bit. Do you reckon

that's something you relate to I don't think that whole aspect of it really affects me I think it's more the relationship with my dad yeah that affected me it was more the kind of cut it out situation I was kind of like meh it is what it is but like my home now is my home I don't see it as this is my secure place and I gotta stay here and I work hard for this it's kind of like meh it's my home my relationship with my dad is more scarred than anything else yeah the home really home was just a roof over my head and uh I guess a structured support place for my emotional breakdowns half the time but um feels though feels Jess yeah relatable content for sure like I won't have an emotional breakdown at my mom's house but I'll have one at my house

yeah yeah fair it's like my safe spot whenever I'm like you know what I've just had enough of the world I can go into my bedroom or into my own bathroom and deal with my problems there but yeah the actual house aspect of my parents separation and like the moving house thing it was hard but like I've never really taken it further on in my life apart from my relationship with my dad yeah wow it's so interesting to ask questions like that because it's always so different based on who you are and what your experiences have been. Before Money Diarist, you mentioned you're a heavy diesel mechanic. I'm going to ask you the official question though, and you can tell us. Money Diarist, what do you do for work and how much money do you earn?

I am a fourth year apprentice, heavy mobile diesel mechanic, which is all your mining equipment, which is your dump trucks, your excavators, scrapers, dozers, everything think that's big and weighs like 200 tonnes. Yeah, we're not talking about the little dinghy that you can hire from Bunnings. We're talking about the trucks that are the size of two-storey houses, right? Yep. The big stuff, the stuff that digs dirt, makes us money, all that good stuff, all the stuff that is extremely, extremely heavy. Oh my gosh. So how much money do you earn? We want the nitty gritty details. You're a fourth year apprentice. What does your paycheck look like? As a fourth-year apprentice, I think I earn just under $96,000.

That is incredible. With 14% super. With 14% super. Is that included in the 96? Yeah. Oh, my gosh. No apprentice earns that. No, they don't.

We are very well-paid apprentices. Oh, my gosh. What could you expect to be paid once you're not an apprentice anymore? If I stay where I am, I am expected to be paid about $104,000, and that's part of my headline of on my way to 140,000, which is pretty much a base minimum for our mine site. But if I want to go up north, I can go to anywhere above 200 if I really want.

Wow. Oh, my gosh. And so is your current employer, is that on location? Do you travel? Are you like FIFO? Is it near where you live? It's near where I live, so I think it's about a 40-minute drive to and from.

Oh, that's not too bad. It's like 40 minutes there, 40 minutes back. Yeah. Lots of people. Less than a peak hour commute to the city, really. Oh, my gosh, yes. A lot less traffic. Yeah, incredible.

I can imagine. And it's so lucky that it's so close because so many people who want to get into those industries often have to be FIFO. Did you know that it was going to be that close when you started applying for jobs like this or did you go, all right, well, I'm willing to go anywhere because I feel like that's really niche. When I was looking for apprenticeships, I was kind of like apply for anything, apply for everything.

I think in the end I ended up applying for like I think it was about 26 or 27 apprenticeships and most like half were FIFO and half were like CBD half were down south kind of thing so it was anywhere and anywhere and wherever I got an apprenticeship I was like cool we're going sweet and it ended up just being close to home how good is that it worked out perfectly actually I had another apprenticeship for a FIFO gig and they didn't tell me to like, sent me the paperwork. She was like, yep, ABC, you get paid this much and apprenticeship will consist of this. And I was like, oh, where is it by any chance? And she was like, I'll send you the email. And then once you've signed it, send it back to me. And I was like,

all right, this is a bit weird. Yeah. That's so strange. And it was a FIFO job underground one week on, one week off. And I was like, underground? And she wasn't going to tell you until you signed? Yeah. She didn't tell me it was underground. The job wasn't applied for underground. And I strictly did not want underground and she sent me this paperwork and I was like hi no sir sorry to send back this reply I really don't want to work underground sorry this opportunity is not for me please give it to someone else like thanks though you think they'd disclose that and that is why friends at home you always read your contracts before you sign them and ask a million questions there's no such thing as too many questions when starting a new job or taking on an apprenticeship

like it's the first time you're quote meeting that company so you're absolutely allowed to ask a million questions. Yeah, absolutely. Money Doris, you have a very big income for your age. I want to know what is your big money goal? First of all, travel. I have wanted to travel to America. Well, both me and my partner have wanted to travel to America for three years, close to. Good luck during the pandemic or what we're calling the panini here at Cheese on the money. Yeah, the Paninis really stuffed this up for us. Another money goal is I personally want two investment properties. He, my partner, he wants investment properties on himself. We want to build a family home. Yeah. I have a goal of $40,000 in the share market, which I'm nowhere

near, but it's a goal. So we're working towards it. Oh my gosh, how exciting. That is so, I feel like you're really clear on those goals. You're like, yep, want two investment properties, want a family home, want $40,000 in the share market. That's pretty clear for a 20-year-old. Have you always had that level of clarity when it comes to goal setting and planning? Definitely not. You're like, no, I just made all of that up on the spot. I didn't really, really in my goal planning until maybe two years ago. I was kind of like, in my first year, I was like, woohoo, I got money, got a stable job. Let's just have some fun.

like always saved but never really had a goal like I was just saving for nothing kind of just like oh let's just put it away and yeah just sit there and it wasn't until maybe second or third year I was kind of like oh I could buy I could buy this I could buy that I can afford this I can do this if I put this amount away because it's a salary so I get the same pay every fortnight so I'm like I can actually plan and I never really had that when I did casual or contract work kind of thing So now it was like, oh, I think it was after my first year, I kind of pulled my head in and was like, all right, you can't just keep spending all this money. So tell us how are you going with those goals? What's your home saving deposit looking like? What's the America Fund looking

like? We want the details, my friend. If I'm going to be completely honest, there is no holiday savings. I got $10,000 in the share market. Hey, that's a fourth of the way there. That is very good. It's better. I only started investing August of 2021. So I'm pretty happy with it. That's very good. That's pretty much when I started listing your shoes on the money. That's like a grand a month at least. Look at you. It's a goal. We're getting there slowly. All things kind of got turned upside down because I bought a new, no, I didn't buy a new car. Like I bought a new car to me. New to you. And it wasn't in the plan, but it popped up and I was like, you know what, this is an opportunity and we're going to take it. And I did.

Cool work. I love that for you. I asked before, do you have any investments? And you said you have 10 grand in the share market. Is that all you have? And tell us about that 10 grand. I have my 10 grand split up in between ComSec Pocket and Spaceship Universe, I'm pretty sure. I'd love to know a bit more about how you made that decision. So you said, look, I own these things, obviously on ComSec Pocket. So for those of you who don't know ComSec Pocket, it's not a micro-investing platform. It's a proper share trading platform, but it only gives you access to a limited number of ETFs. So how did you pick those ETFs and what was, I guess, your criteria? How did you get yourself to a point where you were like, I feel confident enough to pick these and

put some money behind it? Because I feel like that's the number one hurdle that a lot of people on She's On The Money feel. They're like, okay, I picked a platform. I've downloaded it. I don't know what to pick or do. And obviously that's not what She's On The Money is for. We're never going to tell you what to pick because that's so personal and that would involve advice. But what did you do? What was your thought process? It all started really with the boys at work. See, everybody has a different strategy. And if you poke enough, the holes come out. It was the boys at work. They all talk like, when I mean the boys at work, I don't mean like 20 30 year olds I mean like the 60 70 year olds that are still working and god knows why they

were like do you invest in the stock market and I was like I'm a 20 year old female thanks for assuming I do though that's progressive yeah I was like no I don't I don't even know what stock markets are everyone's talking oh one cent here four cents here and I'm like what are you talking about like twenty dollars in my banking account I'm killing the game kind of thing I had no idea and the boys always spoke about it. Like, oh, get on ComSec Pocket, do this, do that. And I was like, no, I don't want to. And it wasn't until I randomly found shoes

on the money one day and my millennial money, shameless plug or whatever for him, I don't know. Shout out to Glenn. Shout out Glenn. He never listens to our content, so you'll never know that happened. Well, he better. Otherwise I'll message him personally.

Thank you. Thank you. I'm sure he'll take that personally. I just listen to all these podcasts and the share market just seems so interesting and everyone's making millions. in like 30, 40 years. And I was like, all right, maybe I can maybe be a millionaire

by the time and retire early at like 50, I don't know. On your income, you have absolutely every ability to do that, my friend. I did a heap of research. I think there's like seven or eight different ETF groups in ComSec Pocket. Yep, and it just felt right for you. I started off with the Aussie Top 200 because that's where

I felt most comfortable knowing most of the companies and all that. and just the other three like tech is on its way up in the world like we all we all know that it's especially in mining like we're gonna go from being diesel mechanics to sparkies in a matter of years probably so I'm just I just did my research I did my own personal research I love that and thank you for sharing that because I think so often people are like where did she get the magical ticket to know that that was the ETF to buy or that was the stock that they should purchase and more often than not there's no magical answer there's no website you go to that

says this is the best one ever it's literally you just going oh I feel pretty comfy with that and making a decision that way and I just I love learning your little investment stories and understanding how you first got a foot in the market you mentioned before you got a car I have some questions do you have any debts I sure do I have a I think it's just a bit over 20 000 at the moment which is about I think about half the car I paid just over half the car in cash with part of my savings because like I said this car was not planned kind of thing and the car that I was saving for was going to be in like the 60 70 thousand dollar range yep but yeah I saw this car pop up and it was really cheap for the current market body was in very good condition and

obviously being a mechanic myself, I can fix all the issues that it has with it. I know nothing. I knew nothing about four years ago either. It's amazing what investing yourself for four years in education does. It's wild. It's bloody insane. I'll tell you what. How exciting. So you've got 20-ish grand as a car loan. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. And is that it? Do you have any heck step from when you did nursing,

like anything else dwindling in the background? No, just the $20,000 car loan, which will be paid off before the end of the year. Before the end of the year? Probably. Oh my gosh. Probably, yeah, most likely be done before the end of the year. Got my partner's name is under the home loan, but we are looking to refinance and my name is on it.

But the home loan was $475,000. So we both pay half of the mortgage towards that. So I technically say I have ABC mortgage above my head. Yeah, of course. and like that's literally how it is so how much does your mortgage end up costing you every month for what was that 475 yeah I think it's just under two grand a month something like that very cool and I have no hex debt because when I was going to TAFE I was still in the well age the school age kind of thing yeah so all my courses were insanely cheap mum was like

why didn't you go to TAFE earlier this is way cheaper than school so our mum paid all of that the absolute angel that she is so oh how cool next question a very left field question compared to debt do you use shop back I love shop back do you actually the diversity of people on this we've got people who are like me who are like yep I love shopping online and a diesel fitter who's like yeah sweet like I am definitely here for this what are you buy and shop back, my friend. I just got an email this morning saying your shop back has been confirmed from like two or three months ago for some car parts I bought. And you were like, thank God that came through because that was a good one. I feel like that's actually a really good idea

because I'm assuming, I mean, I know literally nothing about car parts, but I'm assuming they're pretty expensive if my like normal mechanics bill is of anything to go by. So if you can get some money back on that, I imagine that would be looking pretty nice. It's great. Like I just bought two filters for my car which were in addition to like the oil and fuel filters and they were like 800 bucks oh what for a filter I can get a Brita filter at a supermarket for much cheaper let me know if you want me to pick one up next time I go to Coles it was like a kit so it comes as a kit and they charge just like the bracket the hose is like all up this thing this whole kit I reckon would have cost like maybe $200 you bought everything individually and made

shit yourself but I don't do that yeah that's so expensive I don't do mechanics at home because that's my job and I don't like doing it at home a lot so yeah yeah that's fair so I reckon that might play into your worst money habit but I'm gonna ask you what your best money habit is first my friend I don't think I can call it like a money habit but with ing you have the the roundup yeah you can have a roundup feature so say if I spend like a dollar it will rounded up to near as $5 and debit another $4 to another bank account. And all my roundup money goes into my bills account. So I think I got an email like early Feb and from the start of the financial year to Feb, I had saved like $927 in roundup. Wow. Oh my gosh. How good. I saw this

email and it was like you in like the past whatever months you have saved $927 in roundup. And I was like, what? None of that. Oh, my gosh. It's fun to, like, reflect on that data, though. I really like it when businesses do that. Up does, like, how much you spent this year and it breaks it down. Oh, I did not like that.

Well, yeah. I felt personally attacked. Knowing what you saved is arguably much more encouraging than knowing what you spent. But I think it's really cool to be able to look at that and be like, oh, like, it's actually working. Because you wouldn't be thinking about your roundups, but it's just ticking away in the background. It's like the Spotify roundup of the year. Yes. this is what your top spending habit was. I reckon we should do one for She's On The Money

where we can all fill it out and be like, yeah, this is what I spent the most on this year and share it so that I don't feel so bad about my own situation, Jess. So let's put that on for late November. Flipping back, what is your worst money habit? Can I have two? You can have as many as you like, albeit we probably want to minimise them in general. Well, I only have two, but the first one is spending way too much money on sugar-free Coke. It's ridiculous. It tastes like dirt. No, it doesn't. I polled this on my Instagram the other day. I don't know where my can went. There was one on the desk. I think Annalisa has been very kind and took it away. You did. She's nodding. She took my can. They make big 500ml cans of it. Really? Oh, so good.

well jess thinks it tastes like dirt water if anybody follows her on her personal instagram she rallies for this and is very vocal in this space team pepsi watch we're gonna get hate mail for that i do like a bit of vanilla pepsi max as well i'm a bit diverse give me a break we love that we love vanilla pepsi max i didn't even know they did that have a mango pepsi max your life will be changed. A mango? I've never in my life. I've never even heard of these things. Where do you purchase such delicacies? Coles. I'm on it. I'm on it. I'm going to Google mango Pepsi Max after this. So mango Pepsi Max. Do you have creamy soda Pepsi Max? No. What? I think you're making this up now. There's creamy soda Pepsi Max, mango and vanilla. No, there's absolutely not. That is

not a thing. I'm not going to fight with you. I'm going to ask you not. Raspberry, I can see how that would work. That would work really well. What's your other worst money habit? It's either all or nothing. Like it's either, you know what girl, treat yourself, go spend every single bit of your money on anything you want. Or it's, you know what, put everything you own into the stock market and then say you're poor for the next two weeks. Balance is important. I feel like you might have a little bit to learn, but that is okay. Doesn't happen every paycheck. No, but it's good to know that about yourself as well. Cause I'm a bit all or nothing. Like if I decide I'm doing something and Jess, you've worked with me long enough to attest to this. If I've decided we're

doing it, we're doing it. Like it's happening that week, that month, whatever that day, it's going to like, we're going to organize something for that. So I feel like I'm a bit all or nothing. And then sometimes Jess will be like, are we going to do that thing? And I'll be like, no, Not happening. Not doing it. So I feel like I'm very like that. I'm also really impulsive. So for me, having worked out my banking and cash flow and how I manage my money has been really important to kind of stop that. Have you found that you've had to do that as well? Like stop myself from spending? Yeah, just having a good banking structure. And you said before you had your savings account, your bills account and stuff. Is that so that you're not so naughty

with money yeah pretty much like it like I said it doesn't like the all or nothing thing doesn't happen every paycheck but it's like I put a certain amount into savings shares bills whatever and then sometimes I'm like oh shit like it's all gone but oh well it's what it is we'll get on the bandwagon next paycheck and then it just it just happened like it doesn't happen again but I go on the process it happens like maybe every three or four months just one random paycheck it's like bang it's gone I'm like okay but as long as you're paying your bills like you have a mortgage I think as long as you're doing those things you also can't necessarily penalize yourself from I mean I'm not saying it's a great habit to spend all of your money by any stretch of the imagination

no she's on the money no but I think like if you're saying it's only happening every three or four months that's very different from you doing it every week and blowing it out and not being able to make your commitments yeah all my bills always get paid like I always pay myself defend my bills first and then whatever money I have left over I'm like oh my car needs something new this week let's just slap it on there instead yeah oh it's not even that bad of a money that's not even that bad all right if we forced you to give yourself a money grade what would you give yourself my friend maybe a c why I'm really young I have so much to learn is what it is Maybe like a C plus.

We'll go with that, hey? All right. Let's chat about that in a bit more depth straight after this break. All right. We are back. Money Diaries, before we went to the break, you rated yourself a C plus. However, you're an accomplished apprentice. You have an incredibly good income.

You have a mortgage. You said that you bought a car and, you know, had half the savings and now you've got a car loan and you seem to be relatively good at money management. Talk us through where you think the C plus has come through so we can understand a little bit about why you would grade yourself a C plus. Because I know that there are so many people going, oh my gosh, if I earned what you earned, I would be an A because people value their quote money grade when they grade themselves so differently. So talk us through why you think you're a C plus. I never really have thought about my money habits in like an A, B, C or D way kind of thing like I don't have that grading approach to to money like I don't think it matters

that I'm now sorry 21 years old and earn 96 000 like the the cost of how much I earn doesn't really matter I don't know I think I could put more of my money to good use I think I could make more of my money work for me instead of me being like cool we're just gonna save it away like I could have put more into the stock market and I didn't hindsight's always 2020 though you can always look back and be like oh if I bought Microsoft shares 50 years ago I would be really rich not gonna do any good now though yeah I kind of see it as like a I don't know like I think I've done well like I paid my last car off as well which I'm proud of that I did at like 18 I had my first loan ever kind of thing in my first year and it was a 20 grand loan again and

I paid it off within my entire first year because I prioritized paying that debt off and I did and I invested in the stock market and then I owned that car for a bit and I dabbled with a bit of fun and then dabbled in the stock market and then more of the stock market and then back to saving I'm just like I'm not consistent on where I am consistent like a set amount of money goes to different to the same bank accounts, but I feel like the percentages of how much of my money could be more utilised to work for me, maybe. Yeah, no, that makes absolute sense. I think it's just interesting when you start to hear somebody going, oh, I think this could change or this could change, you kind of get inside their head a little bit and you go, oh, that

makes sense for them. Why do you think you're so comfortable, I guess, at that income range for your age? Why do you think you're so comfortable just being like, you know what, I'll wing it and I'll work it out is it just because you've got a consistently relatively large paycheck coming in every month I can probably yeah assume so I don't want to say but like I kind of had that mentality towards like everything in my life like I'm just so easygoing like I don't see money as like the be-all and the end-all I'm like oh it's here and I utilize it like really really well but I'm so cruisy with everything that goes on in my life that I'm like, okay, I work hard for my money. I work so damn hard for my money that when it comes

in, I'm like, cool, it's there. Cool. Let's go back to work. Yeah. I love that. I work hard for it and it comes in and then I'm like, oh, cool. Let's just, let's just do life. That's fair. That's absolutely fair. What questions have you got, Jess? I can see you looking at your notes. I was going to say, I want to talk to you a little bit more about your job because I would imagine that your industry would be very heavily skewed, Mabel. What is that like? Did you find, particularly because you are on the younger side, to be going into a workforce where you said before, you know, some of the guys are 50, 60 years old. Have you come up against so far any of that kind of, she's a bit young or, you know, what would you know? Because you get that in all industries,

but I imagine when you're working around machinery and it's a bit of a bloke's industry, it might be quite prevalent has that been the case yeah I've had my fair share of men come and put me down before I got my apprenticeship I worked at a different industry in like the shipbuilding industry and I was the only female out of the entire engineering department out of like 150 men oh my god I was joking and I was 17 years old like I just got my license and I was this little 17 year old walking into a massive shipbuilding company and I luckily I had like two two blokes out of the whole company that were kind of like not my backbone they were like if you ever have an issue come to us and we'll do a b c and d and you know you just by the time I

was like three months into the job I knew what I was doing when I was head down ass up and like people just come up to you and be like you know you don't belong here like what you know what you're doing do you know how to do your job it's just the industry yeah that's such a old school mentality that you know it is a very because you're a woman you couldn't possibly know anything about machines not as if you've done the same if not more study than some people what were you doing at 17 because it was probably this yeah so that apart from that job didn't last very long because it was also a very terrible company I did not have a good time just the way I was treated and by other even the men were treated it was terrible oh I'm so sorry that sucks so much

it sucked a little bit very character building gives me the backbone that I definitely have today but now that my apprenticeship has been an absolute breeze like I think I started when I was 17 and like sometimes being a young female in the industry can be a bit like half and half like oh we got a young female apprentice or it's like oh we got a young female apprentice yeah it's like it's either half and half kind of thing I haven't had too much issue with my apprenticeship apart from the odd one or two people that like to talk down to you but I'm like you know what you're going to talk down to me I'm going to talk down back to you and I'll stand my ground and if you're rude to me I'm rude to you so I love that you have so much conviction that I could not I

could never like I just someone would say something mean I'd be like oh sorry you should see me I'm I'm an angry crier an angry crier I'm an angry crier like when I get so worked up and so angry I'll just burst out into tears this one of the bosses at work he just he rubbed me up the wrong way and I snapped I snapped and I swore at him and I walked out and I cried one of the blokes come up to me he was like whoa whoa whoa what's the matter and I said a many amount of words that I won't repeat here. And he just started laughing at me. He goes, go sit down, go have a Milo or something. Go have a Milo. That's so sweet. I need a Milo when I've had a bad day. That's pretty wholesome advice. It's either a Milo or Nescafe 43 blend

poverty coffees. Yeah. The high class coffee. Very, very nice. That sounds like staff cafeteria vibes. Does your partner work in the same industry as you? Yeah, he sure does. incredible did you guys meet at work we sure did so cute it was like the first day like i've come into the workshop they're like you go work with this person you work with this person and they're like you can go work with this person i walked up and i was like oh i got the young hot chody i will snap you up hello and then we ended up getting closer and closer and now he's stuck with me so now you have house together oh my gosh how good is that that's really special together what kind of dog do you have a chihuahua cross jet russell stop oh my god so cute it's not a

terror it's been trained very well I know it's very biased of me but oh I think Lucy's been trained well too and then she's like rude sometimes I'm like nah that's not how I brought you up yeah before we head off do you have any advice for women wanting to get into an industry like yours that is really heavily skewed male that are maybe worried about facing you know those same kind of comments or that same level of discrimination yeah it's I'm not gonna lie it's it's a tough industry like it's a it's a very tough industry not only to work with the men but it's just a physically demanding job yeah it would be some days I come home from work and I am I am so sore and I am so tired I've got cuts and bruises all up my arm or I've been covered in

hydraulic oil head to toe or I'm covered in diesel like you know sometimes I've been covered in that much oil that I've had to have a shower at work oh my god I can't go home in my clothes because I wear clothes under my overalls I'm drenched like I'm physically I'm drenched in oil oh so it's not for the faint-hearted it's not for the faint of heart it's not and it's not as well like like people can give you snarky comments like I do field service by myself and I've gone out and I've been with like a one of my fitters and then one day I've been out by myself and I went up to the same bloke whose machine's broken down again he goes oh so when's your fitter coming I'm like I am the fitter like move out the way I'll fix your machine like you have to be you

have to be stern you have to be like do you want me to fix your effing machine or what yeah and then you and if not you just walk away if they're going to be rude to you I don't fix it I just turn around yeah oh the confidence you've got to have to do that though I don't know if I would have that in me yeah you can't be sensitive yeah you really can't like it's just I hate to say like it is what it is it shouldn't be but it is but it's also so much fun like you've got what it takes to be a female in the industry be physically strong and mentally strong and have the backbone anything's possible like it's such a rewarding industry it's so great I love that I love that you love your job and I think that that's all we can hope that everybody

has right to find a career that they're just so excited about and I mean I'm not up for being covered in oil by the end of the day like I'd be like um no thank you but if I loved my job that much I'd be like yeah that's fine that's just part and parcel of the role like that's absolutely fine because I think that so many people would say the same thing about finance they're like absolutely not like that is not my forte I could not do your job sitting in an office all day I couldn't I physically couldn't do it I would drive myself absolutely batty well lucky we spent most of our day in the studio now Jess but thank you so so much for joining us I am so grateful to hear your story and know that you're in our community just bopping along doing

you like you are such a cool human and i feel like the energy that you've brought to the podcast has been so infectious like jess and i like yes let's do it like i love this so thank you so much for joining us but unfortunately that is all we have time for this monday and don't forget guys the advice shared on she's on the money is generally 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 a financial decision and we promise victoria divine is an Authorised Representative of Infocus Securities, Australia Pty Ltd, ABN 47097797049, AFSL 236523. See you soon, guys.

Bye.