She's On The Money - MONEY DIARIES: Open heart surgery, unpaid leave and smashing uni

Episode Date: November 14, 2021

Happy Monday and WELCOME TO OUR 200TH EPISODE OF SOTM!! This week's money diarist hasn't had one but TWO open-heart surgeries, has spent thousands in medical bills and is smashing it at uni. We are so grateful we got to share this diarists story, and we know you'll love 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. Victoria Devine is an Authorised Representative of Australia Pacific Funds Management Proprietary Limited ABN 34 132 463 257 - AFSL 339151.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

She's on the money. She's on the money. Hello and welcome to She's on the money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. My name is Toni Lodge and joining me for another Shop Back Money Diary is Miss Victoria Devine. Hello. Hello, Miss Toni Lodge. Great to have you here again.

And of course, another great money diary for you that I've pulled out of the vault, ready to go. I've never said pulled out of the vault in my life. I thought I'd start now. I mean, we're just trying to mix it up at the start, but I think you'll find, Toni, you didn't pull this one out of the vault. A little bird told me Jess pulled this one out of the vault. handballed it straight over to you and you were like um yes let me on that and didn't share any of the information with me because i never do no and it's kind of rude like you guys were excited

about this one so jumping straight into it tony can you read out this week's money diarist's email all right here we go hi she's on the money team i have battled with health issues my whole life and missed plenty of work because of appointments and hospital stays i was born with a heart condition and spent the first three years of my life in and out of hospital with my parents not being able to work and receiving no financial assistance during this time. I had my second open heart surgery last year and had six weeks off work without pay as I'm a casual. I've recently been diagnosed with a large tumor on my spine and myself and my family have spent thousands on medical bills to get a diagnosis and preparing to pay for surgery and also preparing to take

time off work without pay again. I'm in uni full-time and on placement full-time and work casually when I can. I hope to share my story with others like myself so people know they aren't alone. That's a lot. Wow. Funny, Doris. As always, you're just hiding in the background while we read out your email. What a story. I know. Yeah. It's very, it's a lot, but you know, it's my life and it's how I've lived it and all full of twists and turns. Oh my gosh. Well, without further ado, let's jump straight into our structured questions because I don't want to get sidetracked. I have a lot of questions ready, so I won't let myself get railroaded this time. So, let's jump straight in. Money Diarist, what is your attitude towards money? So, it's quite a long one, but I'll try

and sum it up as much as I can. So my mum has always been very humble with money. She left home at 14, became financially independent at 16. Yeah. She put herself through school, through uni and work. And then my dad was more, he came from more of a wealthy family and he always had everything. And then, yeah, like I said, my mum was 23. So the age I am when she had me I can't even imagine having a baby this age you know let alone a sick baby I'm 27 and I can't imagine having a baby right now like I get it guys I'm 30 and I'm still like what people are having children like you're a child yourself like I see a real adult as someone who has a child and I am still a child yeah same but yeah no yeah so I was born with a heart condition and I spent probably

the first two years of my life traveling because I lived in Canberra traveling to Sydney for my surgeries I had my major open heart surgery at 16 months old I had to learn how to walk and sit up again and it was pretty full-on I had a lot of family support though my parents had a lot of family support and then about a year after my surgery I got really sick again and I almost died and then yeah it was really hard for my family but they were so supportive and about two my mom and my dad split up. But I lived full time with my mom and she was everything. She worked so hard for me and provided me with much. We didn't have a lot, but it was something. And then when I was five, she married my stepdad and he was in the army. So he was quite wealthy and my mom was

working as well. And we were quite well off then. And then we moved to Brisbane when I was eight. and you know I always had everything we were quite a wealthy family we went on holidays unfortunately my stepdad was quite abusive and especially financially abusive to my mum yeah so even though we had quite a lot of money my mum would put everything into the bills and the mortgage and he'd only put about 30% and he'd just spend money on cars and motorbikes and whatever he wanted and my mum had not much for herself but she was really good in finding a way to save and she was really good in that way and she always humbled me that way even though I had so much growing up you know she always humbled me I started working at 14 and I

was actually quite a good saver I think I saved about five grand in about four years just working oh my gosh so good through school yeah and when I was 18 my mum actually gifted me ten thousand dollars which was the best gift I could have asked for that she had saved me when I was a baby well since I was a baby. Oh my gosh. That's so special, especially having gone through everything that you've just explained to us. That's massive. Yeah. Yeah. So that was one of the best things I ever received, which is really lucky for me because six months later I was kicked out of home by my stepdad and I had to learn, you know, my whole world turned upside down. I'd never been on my own before. The only family support I had was my mom. Everyone else was in Canberra,

but my family was so supportive you know my grandma sometimes my mom my dad would give me a little bit of money when they could I was working I was full-time uni I was very lucky I was able to receive a little bit of Centrelink which was so hard to get as well because it was just my financial situation was just not great um there and quite complicated as well I guess if you had like different things going on with different family members that would have been really hard to kind of get yeah under control yeah because they recommended that I live with my dad who was in Canberra and I was in uni in Brisbane and then they suggested I drop out of uni and work full time and I wasn't going to do that you know that was that was my future and it was I was so

passionate about finishing uni that was the one thing I wanted to do and then I was living at a home for about a year and then my mom was actually saving money without my stepdad's knowledge and and she said sayonara get out yeah good get it mom sounds like your mom has got her head screwed on she she is the strongest woman i know my biggest influence in life and she couldn't stay in the house we were in we're in this beautiful big house and we moved to a house probably a tenth the size but we moved with um my brothers and even though we've got next to nothing now we've got each other and it's the most rich thing that we could ever have and my mum's so strong and she's so financially independent and I think I've learned a lot from her that way so yeah this might be a

first but it sounds like we might need to do like a mother-daughter money diary don't you think oh my god can you imagine I was gonna suggest you should probably have her on here as well maybe we should get in touch with your mama and see if she'd like to share her story too oh can you imagine Tony oh my god I'm actually emotional thinking about it not that money diarist we don't love your story but imagine hearing the other side of the story in that way wow what I've learned from definitely oh let's get on with your money diary we will be hitting you up later to talk to your mum not in a weird way not in a Stacey's mum way in a money diarist mum's way she's quite an attractive woman of course she is look at you like oh my gosh of

course she is okay now we're trying to chat up both of them yeah the apple clearly doesn't fall far from the tree all right next question before we get in trouble what do you do for work money and how much money do you earn so i work as a support worker for people with disabilities Of course she does, Tony. She's one of those special people. So I work for a company and I also work as a sole trader for just the one family. And that earns me about, I think last financial year is about $40,000. Wow. Yeah. So I was working quite a lot last year. But I, like I said in my email,

I started placement this semester and uni full time. So I've had to cut it back a bit, but no, it's good money. I also do a cashier job in a food truck. oh cool yeah it's only like 20 bucks an hour but you know it's it's paying a lot for my medical bills and for my car to get fixed as well which is great so well money diarist uh ato can't come after you because you're anonymous so exactly that's very helpful but does that help a lot to just like have something additional on the side absolutely and you know i'm not worrying about not being able to put anything in my savings and just it helps out so much which It just relieves a fair bit of pressure.

Yeah, like I don't work for it all the time, just every other weekend or something. Yeah, cool. And you said you're studying full-time and on placement. Is that doing what you're doing like at the moment as a sole trader as well, like disability support? No, so I did my undergraduate degree in psychology actually, Victoria. Oh, twins.

But I am actually doing my master's in social work. I actually want to work in the children's hospital with cardiac babies and children and their families and sort of give back to who I was once upon a time. Oh, you are so special. Wow, that's so incredible. So money diarist, we were talking about you putting money into savings just before.

What is your big money goal? So I have two at the moment. Two? Two. Over two. If you don't have enough going on, money diarist. So, I guess, oh, maybe three, actually. Oh, three.

Okay, just another one. Probably my medical bills and surgery. My family's helping a lot with that, though. I've got such good family support with that. But personally for me, so traveling is something I would love to do. I graduate middle of next year, so I'm really hoping the world's opened up and everything's safe and I can do a bit of traveling before I start working full time.

And probably my bigger money goal is buying a house. oh exciting yeah so I'd love to buy you know something with like a little bit of land on it you know that stereotypical white picket fence have some kids get married of course that's always been a dream of mine and it's actually funny the um day I got the email from Jess to do this I actually hit a little milestone I hit 20k in my house savings deposit oh you've gone through all of that and you're still saving aggressively and you've got to 20k you're so special I love that congrats money diarist thank you thank you but yeah I couldn't have done it without my family especially my mum too oh she sounds so special she is all right

next question money diarist do you currently have any investments I don't have any I guess I did use raise for a little bit but I didn't really put enough in there so I'm I think maybe later on in life but I do have my super and as a sole trader I have to do my own tax and super so when I get paid each week I automatically before tax put 10% in my super of my pay oh cool yeah and then I leave my tax in my business account and then transfer my pay into my general account and then just yeah deposit all the savings and bills and everything that needs to be paid there's so many sole traders that don't um put their own super in so we're very happy to hear that you do as a priority as soon as you get paid very good news yeah well if it wasn't for you guys I probably

wouldn't put super up there as much I probably only put a little bit but you know this podcast has changed really and you're just putting the full whack you're like no I deserve this I'm gonna do the right thing for future me yeah absolutely like it's changed my life honestly financially it's just you know the best you are too kind all right money diarist do you currently have any debts the only debt I have is my hex debt and that's at 36 000 I think so yeah that's my undergraduate degree and the start of my master's so I'm actually started putting in about ten dollars a week it's not a lot but it's just something just to start paying it off because I haven't worked full time yet for it to start going down. So, but hopefully once I start working,

it'll go down a bit. It will. And you won't even notice it. But the cool thing about a help debt is when you said before, I think I earn about $40,000 a year. I love that you're like, no, I'm putting some money towards it because the compulsory repayment threshold for 2021 to 2022 is actually $47,014. So, if you earn anything under that, you don't actually have to pay any of it back until you, you know, go over that threshold. And once you do go over that threshold, you only have to start paying it back in incremental amounts. So, I think it's between $47,014 and $54,282. You actually only have to pay it back at 1% of your income, which is much easier to deal with than having to pay a really big lump sum back. But I love that

you're prioritizing it and paying it off when technically you don't even need to. You fall under that radar. I'm just, yeah, I just want to be really financially independent, I guess. It is obvious, my friend. It is very obvious. Next question. Do you currently use Shopback? I do. I love ShopBack. If I find something on my phone, I will purposely buy it on my laptop because I will use the extension. And I use a thing called Honey as well, which finds discounts.

And I checked my ShopBack the other day. So you can switch between the two. Yeah, definitely. It's very good. I can use both. She's a genius, Toni. And I checked my ShopBack the other day and I think I got about $80 back. $80?

Yeah, it's pretty good. Like a few of them are Dan Murphy's purchases online. We, you know, locked down. Yeah, fair. fair but like I don't get Dan Murphy's money back when I go in store maybe I should be online I didn't even think of stuff like that just click and collect it do it for your Friday drink oh my gosh you can actually click and collect as well she's a genius Tony that is very smart I like you money to be honest I wish I was that anyway moving on because turns out I didn't even know that was

an option. Money Diarist, what is your best money habit? I think probably I prioritize my savings. I always put a certain amount in each pay. I take a certain amount for my bills and I make sure because I calculate my monthly spending. So, I'll divide that by four and put it in each week, how much I need to pay for my bills. And then I'll put away a little bit each for my savings accounts. I think I've got about four savings accounts and then a little bit for my food, fuel and fun. Oh, have you potentially read my book? Maybe. It's showing, but I love that. In comparison to that, what is your worst money habit? Probably, and this was the time before COVID, spending money on concert tickets, I guess. Yeah, that hasn't been an option recently.

No, so COVID's been good in that way because I've been saving a lot of money that way. Yeah. But pre-COVID I was, you know, everyone I listened to like a lot of bands and a lot of singers and I love music. Music's a huge part of my life and I'd love to go to every concert and also if I bring a friend or my mum, I go to a lot of concerts with my mum.

I'm a bit of a nerd that way. Yeah, just spending money on that and sometimes that might be a bit more and I can't put any in savings but COVID's been good that way that I've been saving. But that's one of the things that I think is in line with your values from what I can understand. It sounds like you're a pretty good little saver. You've got your four savings accounts and you're dividing that up. You shop back. You're obviously putting money towards your hex. You sound really savvy. So I wouldn't say it's a waste or anything like that. I would just say that's what you value, those experiences and being able to take your mom.

Like that's really cool. And I really like that you know what you like and where a big chunk of your money is allocated. Because sometimes when we talk to people and we're like, oh, what is your quote worst money habit? They'll be like, oh, I don't know. Sometimes it's like Uber Eats. But you've said, all right, actually, it's this bigger thing, but I actually prioritize it. I would like to argue with you and say, I don't think that's a bad money habit. I think you've just got good values, my friend. Hopefully, I mean, you didn't tell us what concerts you go to. Hopefully, you've also got good taste in music, but that's up for debate and we can talk about that later. So money diarist, if we asked you to give yourself a money grade, what would you give

yourself? Maybe a B plus. Why would you give yourself a B plus? I think I've still got a long way to go. And I, sometimes I might spend a little too much in during the week and I might have to take a little bit out of my just in case account, which is my spare money. But I think I, once I start working full-time and learning a bit more and investing, I think that's when it might go up to an A. But I don't know. It's just, I feel like I'm not completely there yet, but I'm trying. Well, it sounds like you're setting yourself up for future success from everything I've just learned about you. But at the start of this episode, we learned some pretty special information about you. And I want to ask you a lot of questions right after this quick break.

diving straight back in money dice you have not had a smooth sailing past when it comes to medical history how have you gone through two open heart surgeries and how does that impact you financially like what does that actually look like because from my perspective I'm like I wouldn't have a clue how much that costs or what's covered on medicare or private health or even if you have I don't know what that looks like. Could you share with us how that works? Yeah, definitely. So, I had my surgery as a baby through the public system and growing up, I've always been seeing my cardiologist through the public system. With my second heart surgery, though, I did do that through the private system. I am on my mom's private health and I am so very

lucky for that because it was when COVID first started happening and lockdown was happening and they were stopping elective surgeries so I was very lucky to get in when I did. Are you telling me that a heart surgery is seen as an elective surgery? Well in my case I wasn't going into heart failure I just needed my follow-up surgery but if I was in the public system I would probably still be waiting to have it done. So there are other people currently in Australia who have had surgeries like that cancelled. I didn't know that's what that meant. And that might be showing my naivety here, but I assumed elective surgery would be like a boob job or one of those BBL butt lifts that every second influencer sounds like they're getting at the moment. I didn't

realise that elective could go into things like heart surgery that are literally life-impacting. Yeah. So unless you're actually really, really sick and really dying, then yeah, they probably, you're probably further down on the list. But I was very lucky. I went through the private system and my heart surgery was about $50,000, but private health covered that, which was amazing. And I'm so grateful for all of it, except for the painkillers. Oh, except for some painkillers. We'll send you some ibuprofen. oh I'm sure we could find somebody to hook you up with a paracetamol yeah that's all it was really and just some um blood thinners and that's all it was really so

it was just over the counter stuff and I can't believe that the whole thing was covered that's so incredible wow that's so cool I I am always so impressed at our health system and how supportive videos and that makes me so happy that I just pay tax like technically Tony we kind of helped my new diarist get heart surgery yeah it sounds like it I'll take that I'm basically a doctor yeah I mean I probably wouldn't go that far but if anybody wants a referral into Dr Tony you just see me you don't even need to go to your GP but um I guess in contrast to that so like I said in the email I have been recently diagnosed with the tumor or a schwannoma as it's called so I had some weird symptoms got it checked out I've had about six scans and a biopsy done in the last

six weeks which has cost about just over a thousand dollars that's so much money through privately I'm very lucky that my still again my mom my family have helped me out a lot I've paid for a little bit as well but you know being still in uni and not being able to work as much it's just yeah I couldn't do it on my own I'd still be waiting and again I'm gonna need to have surgery for that as well to remove that tumor and that again an elective surgery so it was either watch and wait for it to grow maybe cause more damage or just get it removed so wow so what does that mean for you I'm sorry again showing my naivety but you said that it's not a tumor it's called something different which I can't oh it's a schwannoma which is a tumor yeah does that mean

that you're going to have to go through just having it removed or is there some kind of like radiation or like chemo or something that is is related to this or is this benign well it is benign which I'm very lucky about because I was after I had my first scan I was at prac and I got a call from the doctor I missed it because I didn't answer it and then I left a voicemail I said oh can you come in just to talk about your results and I went in and the doctor said oh it could be lymphoma which is cancer which was very scary and then I got you know I had those six weeks of tests basically and then they found out it wasn't cancer which was a you know a relief but it was still there and I was actually preparing for the worst you know the cost of chemo um you know who's going

to look after me how my mum's gonna be able to look after me and pay the bills and you know I was ready to get a will ready. That's so stressful to even have to go through. Yeah so it was it was full-on for a while but I know now that it's still there and it's still you know not good but I'm so lucky that it wasn't anything nasty so. Oh I'm so grateful that it isn't anything too nasty but after two open heart surgeries, you would have really thought that you had been done with stuff like that. Oh, I know. And then I was talking to the neurosurgeon and I laugh about it and people ask me why I laugh about it. And I said, well, if you can't laugh about it, then what can you do? But the neuros said he's going to have to remove it from my back and go through my spine, but he's

going to have to remove a rib as well. So it's going to be a bit of a full on surgery and I'm preparing not to work again for about six weeks and just preparing my finances that way. Oh my gosh. Wow. You're going to have to remove a rib to help fix your back. I wouldn't have even thought that that was something that was necessary, but it obviously makes sense. And that's the safest and best way to do it. So get it done. But my gosh, you have been through the wars. So when it comes to not being able to work, I am in a position where I've, I know a lot of people who have chronic illnesses, like I would say you do, which is something that is ongoing and consistent within your life. It's not just that six weeks it impacts though, is it? Like

you're taking that off fully. How else does this impact your work and your ability to generate an income for yourself? Yeah. So like I said, six weeks, but it could be more. It just depends on how well I heal. If there's any complications, which probably won't happen, but you know, it does happen and if i do return back to work it's very stressful work i guess you know you might get a client that isn't very capable looking after themselves so you have to lift them or you have to help them so i've got to think about that as well and who i'm going to work with what clients and then i'm also starting placement again next year so missing work from that as well but i've got such good family support which is the best thing and a lot of people don't have that and

they go through similar stuff as well. So I'm very lucky and I'm very privileged to have the family support that I do. But it's still a pretty big load to carry at the end of the day because money diarist, how old are you? I'm 23. You're 23 and you've still got to go through all of that and that's obviously significantly impacting your ability to work and study and do all of those things. What do you think that looks like long term? So obviously this is your second heart surgery and that was planned it's not something that just popped out of nowhere is that going to be your final one are there others that you're going to have to go through or even ongoing medications you need to be paying for so i'm very lucky so i had my open heart and then for my next

heart surgery it will be by a catheter oh wow yeah so the big um actually healing process with heart surgery is your sternum because i saw that in half and that's got to fuse together and yeah sorry it's a bit graphic but it's not actually well your heart has to be careful but it's your sternum that you know you can't drive for six weeks in case if you get into a car accident you can break it again um so that's your big recovery so um but yeah so that won't be for another 10 years or 15 years and then after that another 10 to 15 years and then I probably won't have another open heart till about 50 or so which is amazing like the back when I was a baby it was very complicated I was very very sick I was in ICU for nine days and whereas this time it was

only two days so my mum was I think she was very stressed leading up to it but this time it was just smooth sailing a bit easier for everybody to deal with yeah yeah and I have um I actually have a cow valve so that's the interesting thing I don't have to have medication for that um which is very lucky whereas some people need to go on warfarin if they have to have an artificial valve yeah wow and so they were able to make one out of a cow's heart for you yeah how cool is that I know I know and I actually got a cow tattoo in honor of my little cow that saved my life that is such a cute cow as well oh my gosh money dice I feel like you've been through a lot and it's genuinely so interesting to know what that looks like

because from my perspective wouldn't they just fix your heart and you were fixed what does it mean to have one every you said 10 to 15 years why do they need to do them is it maintaining it is it switching it like what does that mean yeah so my diagnosis is congenital heart defect and that is the broad spectrum that every baby or kid is diagnosed with if they have a heart condition and it can never be fixed ever it's just maintained some people don't even need to have surgery some need routine surgery every five years there's some severe cases where some kids might need a heart transplant which is when their heart just is not capable of getting fixed at all yeah i'll never be fixed and i'll always have to go to hospital every year to um get scans and

everything to see if my heart's okay but that's my whole life but i've been very lucky my mom's always raised me like any other kid she's never treated me any different because of my condition she's always you know she said you know you play sport if you want to i wasn't the fastest kid i was always slow but you know the point but it was I think that really humbled me a lot too and it made me realize that even though I am gone through a lot I'm very lucky I'm able to walk talk breathe on my own I'm able to live my life how I want to I can travel I can live my own life have a family and unfortunately some people can't have that and I think that that really resonates with me that I am one of the lucky ones in that way and because obviously aside from all the parts

of your life that are that are a bit different you know you have to go and have surgery every however often and like unfortunately you do have to pay for those things but like it's really cool that you've had such a normal what normal life I guess is no normal but that you were able to be like a regular kid and run around and yell and scream and get dirty and stuff because imagine if you hadn't been able to have that. And it's just, it's so lovely that you have such an amazing outlook on everything. Yeah. You're so positive. I find it really interesting that everybody that we have spoken to, Tony, that has been through something as significant as this is usually one of the most positive people that we come across. They're always so grateful for everything that

they have. And they've just got this outlook on life that you go, why can't I be more like that? Like sometimes I just know that I need to take a leaf out of our money diarist books because I'm like, how are they so positive and laughing about something like, you know, open heart surgery, like what? I'm removing a rib. And you're like, yep, school just takes six weeks off work, get it done. And I'm like, oh, okay. And you're like, it's just how I heal.

You know, we'll see. I'm like, I would be losing my mind. Yeah. Like I definitely take so much for granted and it's such an eye-opening chat to be able to talk to you and hear you go no but it's just it is the way that it is and I'm so lucky in so many other ways like wow what a like oh just such a pleasure to chat to you because what an amazing insight into your life and your outlook agreed so agreed I'm so grateful that you wanted to share your money diary with us and I'm sure that there are people listening to this that are like oh my

gosh that story's me like that's happened to me and I'm a casual and I'm at uni and I'm not the only one and yeah it's a lot but I'm so grateful that you genuinely want to share your money diary with us well thank you um yeah it's just you know if you can't laugh about it then you know what can you do you can cry that's the opposite like and I've done that don't worry yeah of course and I wouldn't expect anything less but it's one thing to cry about it and then you know continue to be down and flat about it because we all know that happens some people are just that way inclined but you've gotten up dusted yourself off you're like it is what it is let's get on with life I've got stuff to do I'm going to uni I'm going to do a master's I've got you know a life

to live and if that means I have a surgery every 15 years technology is advancing that's fine it's getting easier every time like what a legend Tony it's very cool I think yeah my mum's always been my biggest supporter and I think you know I've come this far you know she's fought this hard for me you know she she could have left me as a kid but you know she stuck through and you know she she stayed and she was my biggest support of my whole life and she still is so I do everything for her what a legend you didn't come this far to only come this far my friend but unfortunately I do think that is all we have time for today so as always just before we head off we'd like to acknowledge and pay respect to Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

they're the traditional custodians of the lands the waterways and the skies all across australia we thank you for sharing and for caring for the land on which we are able to learn we pay our respects to elders past and present and we share our friendship and our kindness the advice shared on 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 any financial decision. And we promise that Victoria Devine is an authorised representative of Australia Pacific Funds Management, Proprietary Limited, ABM 34132463257, AFSL 339151. See you next week, guys. See ya, bye.

Thanks for watching!