She's On The Money - MONEY DIARIES: The 19 year old super saver

Episode Date: February 7, 2021

This week’s money diarist is a great example of someone who took their money story and a tough start in life and turned it into some really great habits. Some of us in the office definitely wish we���d had our ish together like this gal at 18, but sadly dropped our money out the window on random spenno things instead.Joining you on Money Diaries this week is Victoria Devine, Ryan Jon and Georgia King.Do you love the podcast SICK and want more SOTM? Course ya do. Join our Facebook page to share your money wins and money confessions, follow us on Insta for daily inspo to keep you on track and DEFINITELY subscribe to our newsletter, the written recap of the pod's key takeaways, including some bonus bits you won't want to miss.Finally, if you're in a money mess and need help untangling the muddle - we've got you sorted - simply record your question and send it through to us at [e-mail] and you may just end up on the podcast!The advice shared on She’s on The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She’s on The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. Victoria Devine is an Authorised Representative of Australia Pacific Funds Management Proprietary Limited ABN 34 132 463 257 - AFSL 339151.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

She's on the money. She's on the money. Hello and welcome to She's on the money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. This week on Money Diaries, we speak to a 19-year-old super saver who has a very, very exciting money goal. So let's jump straight in. Our family was financially well off in my childhood, but in 2009, my mum got a redundancy and then Cyclone Yazzie hit Queensland.

Does that sound right, Yazzie? Yeah, I think that's right. Yeah, and it wiped out our family's investment properties, leaving us in $700,000 of debt. Oh my God. Yeah, the parents had to sell the family home. We had the big Australian dream house, you know, with the pool out the back and that sort of thing,

living the sort of happily ever after, if you will. And they had to sell that and move into a place that had three bedrooms and there was five of them in the family. They had to move schools to the public school and stuff. So their life just really changed all of a sudden and it really just changed her sort of whole mindset on everything, really. Her mum is unwell also, so she's not able to keep working and earning money. Oh, how awful.

But she says, now on the good news, I was planning to go to Europe last year, but COVID got in the way. But because I had all this money saved up, I wanted the money to kind of start doing well for me. So I started listening to She's All The Money. Yay! Get some advice and stuff like that. Since then, I now have a $3,000 emergency fund.

Yes, queen. I'm on track to have $30,000 for 2022 when I go on exchange to Europe with the university. Oh my gosh, you'll be great. I'm sitting at $12,000 right now, so she's already ahead. But the biggest achievement was when she bossed up big time, and this is her words. Bossed up big time.

She bossed up big time and left my insanely toxic and exploitive workplace. And she stood up to her ex-boss and was brutally honest. She said, usually I don't want to burn a bridge, but I was really being taken advantage of. I was a student. I was young. They knew that. So she got a new job in September and she was promoted within a month.

The family is still in considerable debt, but I feel good knowing that I'm not contributing to it as much. And then next year I can actually lend a bit of a hand and help out. She says, PS, congratulations on the smartest podcast award. Congratulations to Victoria's new baby, Lucy. She knows there's a dog, right? Yeah, like, I mean, questionable whether she's a dog. Yeah, congratulations, Ryan, on the kiss job.

Well, what a lovely lady. A lot's happened in her life. She's still 18 years old. She's only 18, about to turn 19. Can we get her on the phone? Let's give her a bell. Hello, Kat speaking. Hi, Kat.

This is Ryan, Victoria and Georgia. How are you doing? Good. How are you guys? Good. Sorry, we're a little bit late calling. That is all that I've actually watched, Victoria. And congrats, girlfriend.

Oh, thanks. I agree. What's the congrats? Are you engaged? No, I'm not engaged. So awkward to bring that up. You keep bringing it up. It's now weird.

Kat, just to let you know, Victoria just got back from holidays with her partner and they're not engaged. All right, let's jump straight in. What's your relationship with money been like in the past? so for me i a big thing for me was having a bit of independence through money i didn't like relying on my parents so i actually got my first job i guess you could say at 13 doing the local newspaper run um gave me a whopping 15 a week i respect that only 15 a week that's heaps when you're 13 though that's heaps when you're 13 but like can we please remember that sorry i'm pretty sure you're only 18

so it wasn't that long ago oh yeah true i know it's a little bit of slave labor just a little but like it's fine i would have expected at least 20 bucks i know but like what can you do it's the grind apologies that's me jumping in there unnecessarily again so yeah from there i got my first proper job at 15 just working at a supermarket and then from there till i sort of graduated high school it was mostly just week to week i think i had at any given time maybe like 700 bucks in my account to save for my wonderful school trip um and then it was blown what do you do for work now obviously you don't still have your paper route job and how much do you earn and how much is currently in your bank account so at the moment

um at the moment i work as a junior project coordinator at like a management consulting firm so it's part-time because I'll be starting uni this year and I'm on a 55k salary plus super and we heard it's a new job and you got promoted with a month so feel like you don't have to be we'll celebrate for you yeah we'll tell everybody what a queen thanks guys that is epic though because yeah we'll get into it after I just think it's epic I'll ask you the next question So how much is currently sitting in your bank account right now? At the moment, I have around 19K saved, which includes a 3K emergency fund that I don't touch.

So, so, so good. So what's your attitude to money and what's currently your big money goal? So my attitude at the moment is probably just to save as much as I possibly can while I'm living at home and I don't really have any overhead. I like to definitely have a plan in place to budget and to know what I'm going to save and invest each month. And my big money goal is actually to go to the UK on exchange in 2023. That is a really big money goal.

How much will that money goal cost you in total, do you think? I'm hoping to have about $30,000 saved for it. I think I will. I'm actually very lucky to have citizenship over there, so I can work there and it's not too big of an issue but um yeah I'm gonna have hopefully 30k and then whatever else I can scrape up before I leave. So what's your attitude towards investing do you currently have any investments? I do I currently have a share portfolio worth about four and a half grand. Is that in addition to your savings? That is in addition. Oh my gosh

and you're only 18 yes i was super excited to get started i did read like the entire comsec website um from head to toe before i turned 18 i really like their content if you are looking for info on it i feel like they break it down in a really great way they essentially write in a very blog style yeah it's really easy to understand yeah yeah so if you want a recommendation obviously not paid by ComSec, although if they want to pay me, I wouldn't say no, I'll take the cash. But yeah, the ComSec website, if you want to learn more about investing, is a really great place to head. I'm not sure if you do have debts, but what debts do you currently have? I have no debts at the moment, but obviously I will accrue a hex debt at the end of my

university degree. Absolutely. And what is your best money habit? I think just having a budget and a system to it. So I sort of go by a bit of the barefoot regime. Having separate cards for my expenses and entertainment works really well for me. Awesome. And what would your worst money habit be? I struggle to spend money on myself. So I kind of feel guilty if I buy clothes or luxuries for myself, but working on fitting it into my budget. So hopefully soon. And the last question, but arguably one of my favourites, what grade would you give yourself if I forced you to give yourself a grade?

I think I'd give myself a B+. I think that there's always things to learn and ways to improve, but I feel like I've got the foundations down pat. You're listening to Money Diaries. all right so that was actually a really interesting money diary but i guess one of the first questions i've got for you is why did you want to share your money diary on our podcast i got so excited when i found this podcast like i have literally recommended it to genuinely anyone who will listen to me yes um and so i was like i saw ryan's post in the group

and I was like, you know what, might as well. Like, why not? Give it a shot. Speaking of which, the one thing that stood out to me in what was a very busy email, because there was a lot going on there, you said you bossed up big time and left an insanely toxic and exploitive workplace.

Obviously, don't go into too many details. Yeah, don't throw them under a bus. But just how, like, it's a lot easier said than done to say, oh, just leave. I mean, I feel like in a lot of situations that's just the easy throwaway line, but it's obviously not that easy so how did you sort of psych yourself up for getting through that situation i actually have to credit it all to you guys literally i've been thinking about it for a

bit because there was just a lot going on and i was like i feel like i'm sort of not being treated properly i think i need to leave and as soon as i was thinking about it you guys released the money and mental health episode and i was like that's it i'm out of here oh my gosh so good we literally You literally got to be a part of your journey. You did. So obviously, I mean, you just said the topic was money and mental health. I assume it was starting to affect more than just your time at work. Is that fair to say?

Yeah, it was just like, honestly, there was no work-life balance. My employer was sort of, the expectation was that if I took a holiday or whatever, I still had to be online and on my emails and replying. And it just got to a point. Yeah, I know. And I just thought that was normal. I was like, oh, yeah, makes sense. No, that is totally not normal.

Like you're on holiday, you are uncontactable. That's why you actually have the ability to put an out of office on your email. Exactly. So tell me, how did it feel after you left that day? Like, did you feel amazing after you finally had that chat and really stood up for yourself? Yes, I honestly, it was like a weight off my shoulders. I didn't even bother to have anything lined up straight away. I was like, I just need to get out, got to do it for myself.

and it just felt so good I think we associate the the emergency fund with if an unexpected bill happens or our car breaks down or you know a health thing but is an emergency fund maybe something that can help pay the bills for a few weeks when you're between jobs because it's not healthy or helpful for you to stay there absolutely and this is something that I've actually written an article on before and I think that who was it I can't remember some media outlet picked it up and It was one of my first articles and I was very proud of it. And essentially, I don't swear as you guys probably already know, but I did call it an F off fund. And for me, an emergency fund is really important because, you know, if you have an unexpected cost come up, you can cover it.

But I also think that we should be having this emergency fund so that we can essentially say F off to any situation or place or person that we want to. So whether that is we are in a relationship with a toxic employer and we need to get out of that and pay the bills for a couple of months, I think that that emergency account is the reason it exists. Like as much as it's not a, you know, triple zero emergency, it definitely is an emergency when it comes to your mental health. And the same goes for personal relationships. Or maybe you find yourself, you know, overseas on holidays with friends and you're hating it. Like that's what your fund is for. It is something that, you know, gives you the power of choice regardless of what that choice is.

And I think that that's the important thing about an emergency fund. And did you feel just having a little bit of savings anyway, it made you feel a bit freer to make that decision? Yeah, absolutely. I was sort of like, I mean, obviously I'm very lucky to still be living at home. You know, it wasn't going to cost me too much. But yeah, I definitely felt a lot better. And I was really, really lucky that I actually did end up having something lined up by the time my notice period was up. Oh, how good.

Yeah, well done. I love stories like that. I mean, it is a little bit silly of us to just assume everyone has that grace. So there are probably going to be a number of people listening to this who aren't in a situation where they can just quit their jobs. You know, you've been in a relationship with a toxic employer. if you had to stick it out what would you say is your number one tip for people in that situation right now who potentially can't just quit? I think that probably the biggest thing that helped me was just getting all my ducks in a row before I left so I obviously hadn't been

thinking about it for too long but I just wanted to make sure that I had an emergency fund to rely on if i was out of a job for longer than i had expected i started doing pilates around that time and that was also a really good way to just sort of switch off for a bit so that really helped me you mentioned in your email about the cyclone and the you know the property damage and it really sort of changed a lot about the finance of your family did that change or teach you anything about making money losing money how important money is or isn't did that kind of impact you at all because you're obviously quite financially savvy now how much of an impact did that have when you're younger absolutely i mean obviously this happened all when i think i was like 10 years old so

didn't have a whole lot of cash to flush around in but it just made me sort of realize that things can go like they can you can get a full 180 done on you pretty easily but it definitely taught me the importance of money and I think that when I was sort of reading barefoot and listening to you guys hearing about the idea of having an emergency fund just made so much sense to me so having that in place and just yeah I think it definitely impacted the way that I look at it because it made me so much more aware of how things can just flip but made me a lot more grateful for the money that I do get and you know it makes me want to work a lot harder so that I can be in a good financially secure position i'm really curious to know what you're studying and what

you plan to do with your career because considering you're 18 years old you sound incredibly mature and switched on and driven and wise beyond her years i do believe what yeah what are you studying i'm so curious just to know everything about this situation i am studying business and creative intelligence at utf of course she is What's it created? I don't even know what that means. What is that? Is that robots?

Probably not. Do you want to just, like, robots? No, literally, everyone asks me, they're like, are you an AI? I'm like, nope. That's what I was thinking. So what's creative intelligence? That is a good question.

I'll get back to you in six months. I've got no clue. So you're literally doing a degree just so you can confuse us. I love it. Yeah. It just, it looked really fun. And I think it's sort of like problem solving and different ways of looking at business issues and that kind of thing. So it sounds really interesting, but I might hate it.

Who knows? Up on She's On The Money In Six Months, an interview money diary with a creative intelligence studier. You said that you had a bit of trouble allowing yourself to spend money. And that's been such a common theme with a lot of our money diarists. You've said a few times, I'm saving up because I want to go on exchange. I'm saving up because I want to go to Europe. it seems like a big blowout of i'm going to be really really frugal until this big sort of travel opportunity tell us a little bit about your mindset towards that definitely knowing that i've

got this big money goal that i want to work towards um is sort of has impacted for sure the way that i see spending money on myself it has gotten a lot better like i obviously spoke to my therapist about it and she was like this is getting out of hand you need to buy that pair of jeans come on um yeah i think divine your therapist hello welcome to my that would be shoes obviously i feel attacked um so yeah i think i think even i was thinking about it today and i think covid also just realizing how quick you can sort of lose everything or a lot of stuff yeah i think through covid knowing that people have lost their jobs and that everything can fall apart pretty quickly it feels silly to spend money on things that aren't necessary and that aren't completely

essential but yeah i think it's just something that i've got to work on but i've definitely gotten better having the two separate cards now what's something considering we've got victoria divine what's one of your nicknames for v georgia sorry to put you on the spot swig of water sorry guys uh i just asked her a massive question i'm all right with georgia not being able to Vicky D, because one of the, like, explainers of her title. Oh, okay. So, like, money, millennial money wizard, extraordinaire. Can I go and talk to the AFA about that?

I'll just go straight to the AFA and be like, hello, yes, I know that I can be accredited. I'd like to be officially a money wizard. Yeah. Well, Money Dyrus, considering you do have the millennial money wizard chatting to you now, What's one thing that you maybe want to learn more about over the next few years as you, you know, continue your money journey? I think, to be honest, this is quite niche.

And I know that it was actually brought up in the Facebook group really recently. But the whole idea of looking at Victoria's career, I think, is super interesting. Oh, my gosh. I know that you didn't think that people found it interesting. Really? Really? Don't worry. I've already written a down YouTube video coming soon.

Victoria doesn't know this yet, but YouTube video coming soon. oh my gosh i just didn't think anyone was that interested it's kind of been so what would you say like here there everywhere jagged i clearly didn't know what i want yeah very non-linear and just if you want to be a financial advisor the way i've done it is absolutely not the way i definitely went the long way but in saying that i'm very grateful for the experiences that i have had because i do genuinely think it has made cheese on the money what it is because I do have in the background two degrees in psychology and both of those really play into every single thing that we do here.

But, yeah, all right, maybe given we've got a money diarist asking for it, I will do that YouTube video that Jess told me I had to. Watch this space, friends. It feels really strange to say this because, you know, we don't really know you. We've only just met you, but I feel like I'm proud of you. I feel like I'm a proud older brother. I am too.

I am too. Are you allowed to adopt siblings? like am I allowed to do that am I allowed to be like okay cool so these are all my sisters and these are all my brothers if you did that with the community though you'd have very very expensive on Christmas day I don't do presents we need to find a religion where we don't do presents um but congratulations on on what you've achieved and a few of the decisions you've made because it seems like there's been a couple of setbacks where you've handled it really well and uh like I said I look forward to a seeing how it pans out for you and b finding out what

creative intelligence actually means yeah i love that thank you so much for jumping on with us it has been so interesting to learn more about you and i have absolutely no doubt you are going to kill it financially in the foreseeable future thank you guys for having me now just before we head off we'd like to acknowledge and pay respects to australians aboriginal and torres strait islander peoples the traditional custodians of the lands the waterways and the skies all across australia we thank you for caring and for sharing on the land which we are able to learn we pay our respects to elders past and present and we share our friendship and our kindness now guys keep in mind that 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 a financial decision and we do promise i am actually an authorized representative of australia pacific funds management proprietary limited abn 34132463257 afsl 339151 and again thanks to ryan john and to beck our producing legends who whipped this show into the show that it is yep if you've got a great story that you think the community would appreciate send me an email ryan.john at she's on the money.com.au and maybe you or someone you know can be on an episode in the future. Thanks for joining, friends.

See you next week.