She's On The Money - Money Diaries: Rebuilding After a Friend’s Financial Betrayal

Episode Date: August 11, 2024

Imagine being blindsided by a friend who left you with their debt and a partner with a secret gambling problem. That’s exactly what happened to this week's Money Diarist. But instead of giving up, she fought back, buying a home on a tight budget, and walking away with a $300k profit. Now, she’s planning her wedding and aiming to be debt-free by 33. Be inspired by this episode’s powerful story of resilience and financial recovery! Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements. The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs.  Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708,  AFSL - 451289.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, my name is Natasha Nabanunga-Bamblett. I'm a proud Yorta Yorta, Kernai, Wolperi and Awadjeri woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on Awadjeri country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through. As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow. Let's get into it. She's on the money.

She's on the money. hello and welcome to she's on the money the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another one of our money diaries, where I get the absolute pleasure of sitting down with one of our She's On The Money community members and talking to them all about their money story. Let's jump straight into it because this week I got a message and it sounded exactly like this. Dear She's On The Money, I've always had a strong work ethic, but my poor spending habits keep me living paycheck to paycheck. Things worsened when I got an interest free finance card for some furniture while I was seeing someone with a secret gambling habit.

The debt piled up until I met my now partner who helped me develop a plan to get back on track. Despite being told we couldn't get a mortgage, we persisted and built our first house on a tight budget. We then went on to make $300,000 profit on its sale, significantly improving our financial situation. Today, we own a beautiful property on 2.7 acres and are planning our wedding. We can now put an additional $2,000 a fortnight towards our mortgage. And my goal is to be debt free by the time I turn 33. Money diarist, are you for real? I know, how exciting. That's beyond exciting. Going from being like, oh, I've got really poor spending habits. My

douchebag of a partner has a secret gambling habit to being like oh by the way I live on acreage like me for real that is so cool are you proud of yourself I'm so proud of myself I think that is the coolest can we dive in because I've got so many questions before we dive into the juicy bits I want to know if I asked you to give your money habits a grade from A through to F what would you grade them I think I'd give myself a B plus I definitely have come a long way but I so I still have a very long way to go. Okay all right I don't know what a very long way looks like to you given your plan is to be debt free by 33. I'm 33 and I'm mortgaged to my eyeballs like be for real that is a pipe dream. So let's dive further in. Myneed Iris can you tell me a

little bit more about your money story? Yes so my family have always had money but it's definitely not been something that we talk about so growing up when I got my first job I sort of didn't have any guidance they always told me to save money but I didn't have any guidance around saving so once I could work I think I got three jobs by the end of that year when I turned 15. Oh my gosh three jobs at 15. Yeah so I've basically always had three jobs and like I've always had a really good income but I've just never I just don't know where my money goes I didn't know where my money went and then I moved overseas for a little bit when I had to come home because I had no money and I didn't want to ask my parents for money you ran out of cash how annoying you're like living

your best life and then you're like oh but also that's kind of a big decision if you were in the situation where maybe you could have asked your parents for cash and then didn't like why if you were in that situation did you go no I don't want to do that because like I'm not saying that you should but I think a lot of people if they were already overseas they would have been like oh I'm just going to call up the bank of mum and dad yeah so I think my problem is is like my family have money but like I just feel a bit guilty asking them and I also don't like owing people I get that I hate owing people money and they would be fine and they would have wanted me like if I had asked for it they would have given it to me but I think as well I was just a bit overwhelmed with

how I was spending the money and then I just thought it was also time to come home because I had started studying nursing and then I took a gap year and came back to finish it as well oh okay so it's like not the worst thing that you moved home but a bit disheartening if you're over there you're like oh I hate this but also I get to go home and I get to study and I've got a whole heap waiting for me so you studied and then what next yeah so while I was studying so one of the things that set me back a bit was I had a friend and she actually asked me to go guarantor for her and at the time I didn't know what guarantor really meant she made it sound like it was going be fine she took a $10,000 loan at 40 something percent interest what yeah just to get out of

debt and she was really stressed and everything so I went guarantor for her which was fine for a few months and then things went a bit bad for her and I ended up paying it which was really yeah she blocked me off everything so I couldn't contact her um which was really awful no absolutely not but I didn't tell anyone about it because I was really embarrassed I felt like no money diarist no if I knew you then I'd be like all right sit down yeah and then yeah so with the I got a furniture loan it wasn't much it was only about $700 but I think I was able to spend $1,500 and then I was seeing a guy at the time and he just used to make me feel not make me feel guilty he made me feel sad for him because he always said he didn't have any money and then I started

offering him money and then I think he really used that oh yeah he did he absolutely did just like your friend abused that oh my gosh you have been through the money wars yeah so he got about two thousand five hundred and their friend got about three thousand so I'm yeah it was just really hard and then I started using it was sort of like a credit card I guess but not really well I don't know and I started using that to get by absolutely not like not from you I just I cannot believe that other people put you in this financial position it wasn't I mean when you wrote in you're like I've got a strong work ethic but my poor spending habits kept me living paycheck to paycheck no no no your poor friends yeah your friends who abused this situation kept you living

paycheck to paycheck oh my god I'm so sorry yeah it's fine I was so embarrassed to talk about it to people as well so like it was sort of my burden and then I met my partner now and yeah when we were talking about buying a house I sort of opened up about like the debt that I had with the guarantor the guy he that's just a loss for me yeah unfortunately the guarantor thing was just like that was still there and then the card as well so he helped me come up with a plan to pay off the card and then we tried our hardest to get in contact with the girl a few years later so it was three thousand she did contact me she had a partner and he helped her pay off that and then they eventually did pay me back there why did she ultimately block you and ghost you instead of

communicating like what was going on there I think she was just going through a really bad time like she was going out and I could see she was going out. That's so annoying. Yeah I think it embarrassed her that like she should have been paying her loan but I was paying it. That is insane to me that somebody would abuse your trust like that. Obviously you were trying to do the right thing and yeah you probably didn't know what guarantoring a loan meant and I feel like that's something that we can all learn from because that that is something that you know what we call shark loans do they make friends guarantor for them so that they've got somebody else to chase up when your friend who arguably has really bad credit is not able to pay their loan but you wouldn't have known

that at that point in time you thought oh of course I'll sign for you like I'll make sure that you're okay like ah for someone to take advantage of you like that it makes me so angry yeah and I in hindsight like I am really lucky in that it wasn't a significant amount it could have been a lot worse but it just it does suck that people take advantage of oh a hundred percent did you ever think of getting police involved or was that not an option like what ultimately made her get back in contact with you my partner contacted her because she had blocked me on everything she was angry at me that he had contacted her uh sorry sorry I'm blocked so I'm not able to contact you um that's actually on you babe yeah but then she obviously unblocked me to contact me to tell me

that he contacted her and then she explained that like she she just had a baby as well so oh my gosh like her lifestyle decisions and everything was baffling to me because I was like oh my it wasn't a significant payment each month but like it added up to me but it's something that she could have paid she just chose not to oh and then your boyfriend calls and she's like that's so unfair I can't believe it and you're like well well well if it isn't the consequences of your own actions. Yeah. And I think sometimes people get really defensive because they know that they're wrong. Oh, a hundred percent. I say this all the time in my personal life. I'm like, if you have blocked me, that's a reflection of you knowing that you've done the wrong thing. Like I'm an

adult. I don't need to block anybody. I do block people. I don't know if they're abusing me on the internet. I think that's a different story. But if I know you and you've chosen to block me, that's because you know that you're doing the wrong thing and you don't want me to see. Yeah. It's so salty. I'm so sorry you went through that. I completely forgot about that. And it wasn't until my fiance was telling me when I said I was going to do this interview and I was like, oh yeah, I completely forgot. And he's like, Victoria's going to love this money, you better remind her. Oh my gosh. All right. Well, let's talk about more exciting things. Your partner that you are with right now sounds like a legend. I love this. He's helped you get

out of debt. And then he's also developed a plan for you to get back on track. So did that look like budgeting and cashflow or like, what was that? Was that him, you know, showing you through your bank accounts or like doing a spreadsheet or were you doing, you know, some stuff on the back of an envelope? Like where did it start? How did it work? Yeah. So we looked at what I was spending and then obviously as well, because we, we now have like a dual income. He helped me a lot too like shared my expenses and helped pay off the rest of the card loan which was I think it was about $500 so we just paid that off and didn't have to worry about it and then I think a lot of it I was just online shopping so now I'm I do not online shop a lot

even though my algorithm tempts me so much I'm quite smart with that. Girl I'm a victim of the algorithm consistently I don't know how I have the level of self-control that I do have which is dismal at this point like I'm still impressed that I'm not buying more yeah I know it's so funny how did you know that I wanted that oh it's creepy but at the same time I'm like you got me you got me yeah at that time as well was when so it was the start of COVID when they were offering the grants for building a home so we just went straight to a broker and they showed like did everything so we sort of knew where the money was going I had an after pay and a zip pay account which I had to pay you doubled down you did both I love that yeah pay and close them they said even

if it's open it looks like you still have yeah like a credit card which is wild not actually wild. It makes a lot of sense, but the way that a mortgage broker, because as you guys probably already know, I own a mortgage broking business. So the way that brokers and the banks look at it is if you say have a $10,000 credit card, they don't go, oh my gosh, money diarist, how much have you spent on your credit card? And you go $0. They go, you've got access to $10,000. So therefore we're going to max out what your $10,000 is because tomorrow you could go and spend $10,000 and that would be maxed out. So they always operate on the basis that your credit lines, so your credit card, your after pay, your zip pay is maxed out and that's how they calculate

your borrowing capacity. So they will look at it that way, which is why your broker would have been like, close those because you probably had some nice levels of credit sitting there. But even if you had literally $0 on it, the bank looks at it in a way that just goes, well, actually we will lend you less money because you've got that line of credit over there yeah it was good though because I sort of haven't used them and it's now I just buy things if I have the money good yeah so we got our pre-approval and then we put an offer on a block of land and then got a quote for the build as well but the first broker that we went to said that we weren't actually able to get the mortgage for that build just the land and I was like no I don't believe that

you're a potato of a broker any good broker would be able to find a way yeah and she was very new to her job as well ah see that's hard yeah I know I just didn't believe it I was like no I've completely changed my spending habits I know that there's money that like we can afford and at the time the loan for our house was only $1,600 a month now it's $2,800 oh my god yeah it was definitely affordable like rent was more expensive than a mortgage at the time so we went to another broker and she was amazing she was like I don't understand what that person means it looks like you'd have like $600 a month left over after all your spending yeah that's where I get really frustrated and I adore the industry, right? Like mortgage broking. I've put my heart and soul into

this, right? Like I got rid of financial advice so I could focus on this. So if that's not passion, I don't know what is. And I adore that there are so many new people entering the industry, but I'm also often confused about how they're like, I'm the best at this. Come and see me. And you're like, you've only been working in this for a year. And I totally understand that you're probably really good at basic things but when it comes to home and land packages when it comes to you know something even slightly complex they just don't have the experience and they don't have the knowledge and a lot of it is around actually knowing where to go so like I might go and look you know on the NAB website and go they don't do this but you in the back of your mind go

hold on I know that at some point NAB did xyz for this other client I know that BDM does this I'm just going to call them and see what they can do. And you need those relationships in mortgage broking because they're the ones that actually get you across the line, especially right now where everything is so much harder. So tell me once your new broker said, look, you can actually get house and land, I'll work it out for you. What was that like? Was that exciting? Yeah, it was amazing because the price of it wasn't that expensive. I think it was $440,000 and we got 45 000 from the government and we also built like a big beautiful house how exciting yeah i miss it it's it was a beautiful home but i love where we live now and then yeah so we lived

in that for two years and this house out of town became available and so my grandfather and my uncle are both real estate agents and i just asked for some advice and because it was such a run-down house and obviously needed a lot of renovations if they hadn't cleaned it up they could have made a hundred thousand dollars more than what we paid but because it was so run down we got it a lot cheaper and also because the housing market just went crazy we made a 300 and something dollar profit oh my god yeah that's one of the reasons I got my first house cheaper actually was because they didn't want to come back and like tidy it up and get rid of everything and they weren't in the country at the time and they like even had like furniture and stuff that we had to get rid of

like and it was I was like that's fine that's fine I'll take your not so good house I'll clean it up it will be perfect for us but you can save some good money that way. And also a lot of people that looked at the house because we were like there were a few um it's a lot of work so like that's a deterrent for people too but I was like I want it. Yeah how good and so then you made $300,000 on that property and then what happened? Yeah. So when we sold our house, we both had car loans. I had just taken out a $31,000 car loan, which I paid off straight away basically. And then he paid off his, he had about 10,000 left. We put 260,000 towards the house so we didn't have to pay the lmi and then we had 30 000 left over for renovations as well so we've done i

painted the house myself and my partner took down walls and did all that sort of stuff and then we paid for a new kitchen and then we're just slowly renovating the rest as we go how exciting i just did my kitchen did you say did you say yeah the cabrita one oh my gosh yes did you do your own kitchen or did you have one installed like how did that work because I'm obsessed I basically am a kitchen renovator now I like you let me know I'll design your kitchen you let me know I'll show you how to do it it's harder than I thought it would be as in like just time wise but so gratifying like people come over and I'm like I made that so we actually did want to try the caboodle kitchen but I wanted like a big farmhouse sink oh yeah it was yes specific things that I wanted that

Kabuto couldn't do. And the price that they gave us was $14,000. Oh, that's pretty good. Yeah. The person who actually did ours was only $17,000 and we got exactly what we wanted. So. How good. And you got that big farmhouse vibe. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I love it. Are you talking like the big, I don't know if anyone else is going to care, but like the big white farmhouse, like one that kind of sticks out a little bit. Yeah. Oh my God. I love it. I have those saved on Pinterest. I do not have a house that that could fit in but one day one day yeah all right we're on the same page I love this so you put in your kitchen you've now moved in you're on 2.7 acres and you got engaged yes when did you get engaged I got engaged in April so my partner and I've been oh it's fresh

so very freshly engaged how exciting and now you're planning a wedding what's that process like Well, we sort of had already talked about it heaps anyway. So, and a few of my friends had just got married. So I had a lot of information about it. A lot of people aren't taking bookings though, because it is so far away. Oh my gosh. When are you planning on getting married? So March 26th. I love that. That's going to give you so much good lead up. Yeah. Like how good, and have you got like a little calendar reminder in your calendar for the day that the venue you want is going to start taking bookings? No. So we're just having it at a house. Oh, perfect. How cool. So what's the plan? So it's actually perfect because it means

that my partner is a landscaper. So we want to do the landscaping at our house, but it just hasn't been an urgency. Whereas now we want the house to be beautiful. Oh, you're going to have to plant now so that they're beautifully established. Yeah. I'm going to put my wedding budget into that instead. And then you get to keep it. Yeah. You guys are genius. Yeah. And obviously because we have the land I got a like found out how much flowers were and I was like no way I'm just going to grow them myself oh my god you're going to grow your own flowers yeah oh how like what's the plan what kind of flowers are we growing so oh it'll just be like uh just heaps of different ones like nothing specific but I'll grow in September and just see what blooms by March that's actually

you're so beautiful are you gonna like go out on your wedding morning and pick your bouquet oh my god that is so wholesome and talk me through the rest of the budget like are you going to be you're growing your own flowers you're building your own venue are we making our own dress like where does the line where does the line exist on this I wish my mum made her own dress but I don't think we'd be able to do it now I feel like the fabric would be equally as expensive as the dress yeah there's no real set budget for the rest we're just sort of like we're being reasonable but also like if we want something we'll get it I love it oh my gosh I'm so excited I'm going to have to get your socials after this because I'm going to need to follow all right that is genuinely so

exciting so let's jump into the next question I have for you I know you came home from overseas to study but what do you now do for work and how much money do you earn yeah so I'm a registered nurse in an emergency department. And I'm also, I have my own little business through the NDIS as a registered nurse and a support worker. Oh, that's exciting. Tell me about how much money you earn. So this year I should make between $130,000 to $150,000. I'm okay nurse. Yeah. What? I know. Which is amazing because I've cut down my hours at the hospital and doing more of my own business but I'm home more working less and earning more which is really exciting. Okay is that you just living the dream? Yeah. I love this for you can I be

really pervy what does your partner do how much money does he earn? He's a landscaper and earns about 75,000 a year. Oh okay breadwinner I love this for you that is so exciting do you sometimes reflect on where you are today and you know you're going oh between 130 and 150 which is crazy cool and there was you were like I am living paycheck to paycheck I have a finance card because I needed some furniture my dodgy friend has lumped a group like a guarantor bill on me and I now have three thousand dollars owing like and I don't know where the money is going to come do you sometimes just go life is a little bit different now yeah so I actually never reflected on it until I started listening to the money diaries episodes and I literally just always

get so inspired. I'm like, oh my gosh, that's sort of me. Oh, I love that. It is you. And now you're on the podcast. So it's legitimately you. I love this. Money Diarist, you've got a wedding coming up. You already have a big, beautiful property. What are your other big money goals? What are you currently working towards? Yeah. So obviously our main thing is we just really want to pay off our home. That's our big goal. And then we would love to get into property investment but it's not something that's urgent at the moment and we do have equity sitting there in the house that like we could start doing it but it's just not a priority at the moment yeah very cool so when you say you want to fully pay off your home by the age of 33 how old are you

now what does that kind of plan look like yeah so I'm 26 at the moment I'm putting an extra two thousand dollars a fortnight into a fortnight yeah okay someone doesn't understand that we're in the middle of a cost of living crisis it must be nice yeah that is no shade by the way that is just so impressive I just love that you know especially right now when so many people are struggling there are beautiful stories of people doing really well like and at the moment especially post COVID I think everyone can agree that who do we want to do really well our frontline workers are nurses like that's exactly who I want to see shine yeah my partner and I sat down that like we like to just evaluate like everything like every month or two I think it makes both

of us feel better when we can see where our money's going as well we were able to cut down a lot of unnecessary spending and all of our um disposable income like we can see where everything's going and I know we don't really have silly spending or anything like that either so oh good yeah we know too that like I went and spoke to an accountant about everything initially we did have different savings accounts that we were putting the money into. But our accountant sort of said, like, if you want to pay off your house, you're literally better just putting all your money into your mortgage. And if you need it, you can take it back out. All right. I have a question about that. Do you have a redraw facility or an offset facility on your mortgage? Yes. So I have

a redraw because we had such a good interest rate when we got our mortgage. So it's only 5.99%. Okay. She's just flexing left, right and center today. That must be nice. Mine is a little bit higher than that. Yeah. But we did talk to a broker about an offset account and she said that they offered 6.14. That's not worth it at this point for you. Yeah. Like we would never take any small amount out, but it was only $25 for you to take something out. So it was just easier to keep the redraw. Yeah. No, that makes sense. I ask because there's always like a pro and a con for both. And I kind of was expecting you to say, oh, well, we have a redraw because the offset was more expensive. And that depends on when you get your mortgage and how it works,

because my mortgage is cheaper with the offset, but it's very different for very different people. It's just good to be educated. And it sounds like you are very savvy. Like it sounds like you're on top of this now. Like I think past you is going to be shocked at who future you has become. Let's go to a really quick break. On the flip side, I have a lot of questions for you. I want to know more about getting out of debt by 33. I want to know about your investments and I want to know about your best and worst money habits. So guys, don't go anywhere. Money Diarist, we are back and I am so excited about this Money Diary because I feel like you have flipped your narrative entirely. And I just love this idea that you've just done it yourself,

like you and your partner have worked so hard. And I know that at the start of the episode, you said you know my parents do have money and you mentioned before that some of your family members are in real estate so they obviously know what they're talking about but you're like I don't want to rely on them I want to do this myself and I just I have so much respect for that like that is just so cool so I want to know apart from the house that you live in do you have any investments if so what are they I only have a raise account that I put $15 a week into not only I have a raise account and I am investing currently in the share market Victoria is what I heard yes my partner and I do like we love the idea of investing but you could talk to so many people and so many people

tell you different things and it's like it can be really overwhelming it's almost that's why I exist it's crazy isn't it you get analysis paralysis so last year was really busy for us I was studying my postgrad and my final studying business as well so it was something that we sort of put on the back burner I guess and it is something that we like want to look into it's just yeah there's just so much information out there and we just need to find what works for us as well. I love that how much have you got in raise? I've got 1,100. Okay so she's sitting at four figures and she's like oh I only have raise like sorry do you know how many people aren't investing and I mean all of your cash right now is going to the property that you're living in because you've

got this goal of paying it off and like that makes so much sense I actually expected you to be like no we're not focusing on that like our focus is somewhere else the other thing you didn't mention is your superannuation my friend that is a tax vehicle but inside that tax vehicle you are invested. So, what's your super looking like? So, my super is about $50,000 at the moment. Okay, at $26,000? Yeah. That's definitely worthy of mention here. So, with nursing, they pay, I think it's 15% at the moment. And with my business, I should be putting super away. However, I did speak to my accountant and he said, as long as you're paying

super with nursing and you want to pay off your house just put all that money into the house and then once you pay off the house you can start putting the money into super yeah I am obviously wildly passionate about small business and I'm always talking to people about making sure that they're looking after their super and that's something that when I started my business I was really bad at I didn't pay myself super because let's be honest I didn't have the cash to like if I wanted my business to grow and my super to grow like something was going to have to give. So I don't want people thinking, oh, Victoria's a bit de lulu. Like she thinks that we have all this money in our small business. We don't. But often when you see people who have

really good incomes and then a small business on the side, they don't pay additional super because it goes somewhere else. It goes in line with their values. It might go to a separate investment account. It might go to their mortgage. It might go to the bills and groceries, or it might even just go into paying down something so that they can become debt free. So I think it's just important to look at it, analyze what's going to work for you and then make a decision instead of, I think too many of us bury our heads in the sand, especially when it comes to super. Money Diarist, sorry about that rant. I'm just very passionate about investing. Talk me through debt. Before you mentioned that your mortgage was sitting at historically

1600 bucks a month, which was really palatable. And now it's what, $2,800 a month. How much of a mortgage and how much debt do you have and what do those repayments look like? Yes. So our mortgage is actually our only debt. So we pay fortnightly for that, which is $1,300 a fortnight, I think, which my partner and I don't share an account. So we do have that account together. We do have some savings accounts together, but we do have our own money together as well. His income, he pays for the mortgage and then my income will pay for everything else and the savings. Oh, how cool. I like that you've split it that way. Tell me a bit more about, was that a conscious decision or was that something that just kind of fell into place?

You're like, oh, you pay the mortgage. That's one payment. I'll deal with the rest of it because I'm the one that always goes to the shops. Or like, was this something that you sat down and spoke about or just something that happened like I'm so pervy on finances in relationships so let me know I'm pretty sure it was a conversation about whether we should just put all our money into one account and then we sort of decided not to because it is a lot easier having our own money as well and then when we worked out how much money we were actually getting between us we sort of just worked out like what to do. And it was just easier if he paid the mortgage and then I would pay for everything else because like all that stuff was already coming out of

my accounts anyway. Yeah. Okay. That makes sense. So how much is left on your mortgage? we have 434 000 and we the house was 685 plus stamp duty so about 720 000 oh my gosh doesn't stamp duty make you feel sick like when you realize how much you're like that is so much money yeah and like we're in victoria so it was uh 40 000 but if you're in new south wales it was like fifteen thousand dollars don't talk to me about it I bought in Melbourne and yes I do not want to talk about it I'm still triggered do you know what stamp duty is though because I find it wild so way back in the day they used to to transfer land titles you would have to go to the council you'd have to go you know to a government body and you would have to go in

with all your papers and the other person to like do the swap and they would put a stamp on it from that council and say, hey, all right, this has gone from money diarist to Victoria or from Victoria to money diarist. And it was their like admin processing fee. So it used to be small. That is now the admin processing fee for us to transfer properties. Be for real. That's like a government fee or a state fee, sorry, that they charge for us to just transfer it. There's actually not a lot of work involved. In fact, I would argue there is less work today than the days where you used to go in and get a legitimate stamp on a property deed be for real yeah it's so crazy too because like when you look at buying a house if it's not your first home you sort of at first you

don't really think about that and ours had a price range so the highest one was 720 so if it had been a battle and we paid 720 we would have paid 760 000 yeah it's wild isn't it yeah oh my gosh all right well I'm excited that you're in a good financial position and it sounds like because you only have $434,000 left on a property that arguably cost you nearly $700,000 you've got some nice equity which is very attractive which is probably going to get you a lot closer to that goal of getting into property investing with your partner tell me now what do you think your best money habit is I feel like you've learned a few over the last few years yeah I think I'm very conscious with our like with budgeting and everything just we don't really even budget

it's just that we're always looking at where our spendings are and what we can cut it down and I'm also not impulsive like if we were to ever make a big purchase we actually talk about it a lot and think if it's worth it and especially with renovating a house it can be like it can be a bit exciting and you want to do things all at once but even though we have the money there, it's like sometimes just not the best time to do it. So I think that's a good money habit that we're quite smart with our spending. I feel like you guys sound like you've got good delayed gratification. Like you're able to go, no, no, no, like we don't need that today because we're going to get a bigger, better something down the road. I'm really bad at that.

So I'm very envious. Tell me what's your worst habit? Surely you've got one. You can't be this good at money I do think that because like I have been in positions where I don't have money and now that I do have money I can be a little bit scared to spend it like we have holiday accounts and everything and the money's there to be spent on holiday accounts but I don't like spending like I'll spend money that I have elsewhere like I don't like seeing the money get too low which is I think because I'm so scared of like not having the money. Yeah, no, I get that. I feel like that's part of your money story. Like that's part of you having gone through situations where you were probably so stressed. And honestly, at the start of this episode, you were saying, I didn't even

tell people that my friend had blocked me and ghosted me because I was embarrassed that I owed this money on her behalf. Like, I feel like current you would not do that. But also if you've been through circumstances like that they've created a bit of trauma and now that still exists when it comes to money pressure is that something that you're like oh I totally get that or is that something that you're like oh I'm getting through it like it's not as bad as it used to be or like where are you sitting on that fence yeah I don't know I think it's all very subconscious like I honestly forget about a lot of things and like it's not until I actually think like deeply into it I'm like oh maybe that's why. So normal. Yeah like my mum is well off now but my parents had

got divorced when I was a bit younger and she was working in like a retail store that she just didn't earn enough money and like had a ridiculous rent and it was quite stressful for her and I think like I have seen that version of her as well and like I just want to make sure that I don't have to have that life either. Yeah it's so stressful and seeing a parent go through something like that you want to be able to help them and you want to be able to support them but at the same time you're learning along the way that maybe that's not a path you want to take like it's a very expensive gift your mum gave you yeah so talk me through this because at the start of the episode I was like all right give us your money great and you were like look V I think I'm

a B plus and I was like all right no worries and then we started getting into it you were like look my friend took me for a ride you know got this credit card all made sense you used to have zip pay used to have after pay there's a little bit of room for growth but your zip pay and after pay are closed you don't have that debt anymore you've you know wiped out this debt that your friend gave you you've always had three jobs since you were 15 like be for real that's a lot of jobs you're now a registered nurse you mentioned before you not only are you a registered nurse you've also done your grad dip like you've gone back and done post-grad studies not only that you have your own business on the side you're earning between 130 and 150 grand like sorry fact check just for

everybody listening she's 26 like you to me are a child like you are still a baby and that's not me being rude or mean like I just look at someone who's 26 and go they have their entire life ahead of them. Like the fact that you're so well set up, you're so financially savvy that you're having your wedding at home and you're growing your own flowers when you saw the cost of flowers. Like that is iconic. Like not only is it iconic, but like how beautiful you're going to have these flowers that bloom the year after your wedding in your garden that were your wedding flowers. Like, oh, I just think the sentimental value there outweighs the financial benefit. You were smart about seeing a broker. You knew when to push back on a broker to make sure that you were getting

what you needed. You were like, no, you're pretty good at this. But also you're not giving me the outcome I need. I'm going to get a second opinion. And that second opinion led you to getting a property that you got to sell for $300,000 more. You got a 300 grand profit, which got you into your family home now. I have a lot to go through. I'm going to stop there though, because I think that you're getting a sense of where I'm going with this my friend if you're really a B plus tell me what it would take to get you to an A plus if you've listened to this and you're like maybe I'm not a B plus where are we sitting after this conversation my friend maybe I'm a bit more than a B plus oh really I did not see that coming I am shocked and horrified I wouldn't say that I'm

an A plus or anything. I think that even though like I want to pay off my house and stuff, I still think that it would like be beneficial for me to invest or do property investing just for like the future as well. So I think that would be, yeah, that would be what it takes to get to an A plus. But what is in the way, like I need to understand what is in the way of you becoming a property investor? Because right now, all of your ducks are in a perfect line to put you there. You right now just need a bit more time. Is that right? So you're telling me that time is the thing that is going to change you from a B plus to an A plus because your plan's perfect. Yeah. Okay. All right. Brag about it. I'm very envious, but also so in awe that you set yourself

up like this. Money Diarist, I am so impressed and I'm just so glad that I get to share your story with our community. I'm so excited that you were a Money Diary listener and now you've become a money diarist like that's the coolest thing ever and to me knowing that you know the content that we create motivates you like isn't that cool like I don't know I have to pinch myself sometimes because often the podcast is just it's you and me we're currently sitting online doing a zoom just having a chat as friends and I've got this set of questions that I ask all of my friends that come on the show and it doesn't feel like so many people listen and then you realize the impacting you like this is cool this is changing people's money stories for the better so I'm so

glad that we've spoken and I've gotten to share your story with the community unfortunately this has been a long one so we have run out of time for today but I'm really grateful that you joined us so thank you and I know our community is going to love this story as much as I have thank you so much for having me oh my gosh of course 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.

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