She's On The Money - MONEY DIARIES: The Art of Turning Your Mindset Around

Episode Date: May 14, 2023

3 years ago she had no savings and refused to talk about money. She was also studying a health degree that she had zero passion for. Fast forward and she has followed her dreams of becoming a full time artist (and has staff), she's debt free, has tax savings, and has completely turned her money mindset around. How did she do this? Listen in to find out! 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 my favorite episodes, The Money Diaries, where we get to talk with one of our incredible She's on the Money community members all about their money story and journey. Let's jump straight into this one because this week I got a message and it went like this. Hi, Victoria. Three years ago, I had one bank account and very poor spending habits. No savings and I wouldn't talk about money and I couldn't bear to look at our joint finances. My husband had to beg me to make a spreadsheet and budget as I completely refused.

I left studying a health degree to pursue my dreams of becoming an artist. Fast forward to now, I have now been a full-time artist with staff for two years. I have no debt, tax savings, three assigned bank accounts for my business. My mindset around money has changed hugely. I am across all our finances now and would love to discuss becoming a business owner during the pandemic and how talking about money and getting hands-on with our finances has changed absolutely everything. Money Diarist, welcome to the show. How exciting is that?

Oh, I'm so excited. It's such a flex. Oh, thank you. I'm so chuffed to be here. I am so excited to have you. Imagine, I don't know, I just think it's one of those things to like take your passion full-time is bloody terrifying, let's be honest. But as I'm sure you can attest, the best thing you'll do in your whole entire life, but to not only have done that, but to also go,

I'm not only a full-time artist, guys, I'm an artist with staff. Like that's a flex. Well, to be fair, she's on mat leave, but she still counts. No, she still counts. She still counts. She's, I mean, she's on mat leave from your business where she is employed. Yeah. How good. All right. Before we get into the nitty gritty of all the questions I want to ask you, I want to know what grade would you give your money habits on a scale of A through F?

I have been mulling over this and I'm going to say I'm going to sit at a B. A B. All right. Well, we're just going to save that one for later and we'll have a chat about that at the end of the episode. But I'm so excited to learn more about you. Can you tell me a little bit more about your money story and journey? Oh, yeah, of course.

So I was chatting to my husband because I wanted to actually pinpoint when we sat down and we had our big chat. So it was the Christmas of 2019, just the start of 2020. So I would have been 25. I was very head in the sand, very just don't tell me how to manage my money. I'll figure it out myself. I don't need nobody. Yeah, pretty much.

I was just very week by week. The money that would come in, I would just address what was immediately in front of me and I wouldn't think much past that. So I'd be like, okay, my car bills are coming in this week. I'll just deal with that. And I wouldn't think of anything else. It was very, I had my little binoculars on, but not in a good way. Yeah. I feel like that's really relatable to a lot of people in our community. Is that how you grew up around money? What was it like as a child talking about money? Again, very head in the sand. So I really didn't know much about my parents' finances.

They owned their own business. And I was, I don't know if it was my own doing, just not wanting to learn about it or if they didn't speak about it. But I was really unaware of what, yeah, of how their finances were. It's pretty common. And then becoming an adult, I want to know how old were you when you got married? Was that something that you talked about then? Or was like there a particular moment that you were like, oh, okay, well, now we're going to have to talk about finances? Or was it literally after you were married and you were like, all right, being told off by my husband one too many times, I guess I'll do this budget yeah well we had been saying that we were saving for a house for quite some time and it just

felt very loose like oh yeah we're saving for a house but we didn't really have much to show for it we didn't really have any plans in place and we didn't you know didn't have a savings account for our house it was kind of this just this thing that we said we were doing but we didn't really have anything to show for it so I think it kind of got to the point where my husband was like no like, we need to make this happen. How can we make this happen? And can we please talk about this? And then, yeah, that's when I started listening to She's On The Money because I was like, okay, well, in my time, I'll come around to it. I'll do it on my own terms. I'm not going to listen to my husband, but I will listen to Victoria. That's good. That's good. I like that.

You can keep that up. I felt quite equipped when I came to the chat because I said to him, and I remember this so clearly, it was his Christmas holidays. And I was like, I'm not doing it any sooner. We have this week allotted and I will come prepared. And then we sat down and then. Oh, so sweet. Yeah. Yeah. I am obsessed with that. So obviously you are now a full-time artist, which is so beautiful. Thank you. I want to know, tell me the pervy stuff though. What money are you earning from being a full-time artist? And can you tell us a little bit more about what that role entails? Because obviously being an artist is super broad. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm an artist in the way that I'm a painter so I create original artworks I do prints I sell the

licensing to some of my artworks oh my gosh what you sell licensing that's big dog energy thank you thank you I've mentored artists in the past I've run workshops and things like that so it's super diverse which is something that I love I'm also in the process of getting an ADHD diagnosis so I think that has explains why I have like I love wearing so many hats in my business. Yeah I feel like and it's all really novel and exciting but in saying that if you're in the process of getting an ADHD diagnosis as a business owner you'll also probably be aware that there are some parts of your business that you're like I'm not going to work on that at all that's not engaging that's not exciting absolutely not is that something you resonate with? Oh it does but fortunately I

love being involved with my finances and it seems to be a good focus. Like I love my graphs. I love my spreadsheets. I love my color coding. So that seems to be a part that has benefited. Oh my gosh, how good. Because I feel like I've gotten to the point where I love helping you with your finances. Talk about mine. Oh, no, thank you. That's okay. No worries. No worries. My accountant can do that and he can just tell me if I need to give him more money for tax or not. I need to be better at it because I'm definitely, at this point in time, a do as I say, not as I do kind of money gal. I'll give you all the tips, but I'd prefer to talk about your business, not mine. Oh, yes, yes. I've just circled back. I realized I didn't actually answer your question. So the

nitty gritty. So this year I'm looking at a turnover of about $100,000. Oh my gosh. Yes, queen. Yeah, which is really exciting. But then I've also registered for GST, which hurts. Yes. And then obviously saving for tax and expenses. I pay myself anywhere. So I draw a wage, which is really exciting. And I pay super. So I pay myself anywhere from about $800 to $900 a week and about anywhere between say $50 to $80 a week in super. Oh, how good. I'm so glad that as a young artist, you're prioritizing that. It is so important.

Yeah. So you can definitely understand the pull as to why people don't want to pay their super. Because it's not that sexy, let's be honest. Out of sight, out of mind a lot of the time. Yeah. Yep. So every Friday I have my little super contribution that comes out of my account, my little salary that comes out of my account to pay myself. And then, yeah, I spend about two and a half thousand dollars a month on expenses and materials and subscriptions, you know, all that kind of stuff. Hey, that's not too bad. And I think as a business owner, fellow business owner, I really struggle when I don't know what my expenses are. Like I could tell you right now exactly what my payroll costs, what my super costs, what my tax is looking like

and all of that. And I know that I'm saying that I've got my head in the sand. I absolutely do. I'm in the very privileged position where I now can just pay an accountant to give me a monthly summary of like where it's at. So I feel in control without having to do all of the time that I used to. But it's actually not that common for business owners to go, yeah, it's about two and a half grand of operating expenses per month. Like I feel like so many of us just fly by the seat of our pants and have no idea what that's going to cost or no idea what that actually looks like because they haven't spent the time to sit down and quantify it, which is so important. Please do it. I have a bit of a running joke that everything goes through zero.

Yes, love zero. Oh, zero is so good. My account is very happy about that. But I also have Excel as well, where I double check zero and I also can have the pretty color coordinated you know graphs and things like that I really like like to me it's really satisfying watching particularly my income I like tracking you know like what percentage of my income is coming from prints what percentage is coming from artworks and I find it really helps me guide my business yeah no I love that and I feel like it's all about the tools that can help us for some people they'd be like that's double dipping I don't like that but for you obviously that's what's going to keep you engaged and empowered in feeling like you're on top of things. I'm exactly the same. Like I

love a good spreadsheet and I don't care how many times my accountants tell me that you can just generate a similar report on Xero. It's not the same. It's not the same. It's not the same. I would like to build it myself. And then I want to cross check it and feel like I've actually gone through every single line item because an output sometimes just for me isn't enough. I want to feel like I built that myself and I know that I'm in complete control, but that's the, I guess, the inner treasurer in me. Yeah. And I can really relate. Like I like analyzing and seeing where my cashflow is going and how I'm spending my money. And I do find it really empowering, which I think is something that's changed. And that, you know, looking back

definitely was not on me, like was not what I was doing a few years ago. Yeah, totally. All right. You obviously had this chat with your husband because you wanted to buy your first home. I want to know right now what your big money goal is. Like what are you working towards in business and in your personal life? Yeah. So the personal one would be to buy a house. So we'd love to have $40,000 to $50,000 towards our first home. And we're sitting at about $23,000, $24,000, which is exciting. Tracking well. Thank you. And my biggest goal in my business be to have my own gallery slash studio slash shop shop front which is just um yeah we can come all things my art basically how beautiful would that be I know it's going to happen it's

just when it's going to happen what kind of planning are you doing to get to achieving that goal that's a really funny question because I think I'm going to have to set up maybe another bank account so to preface so personally we have a bank account for everything so we have like a bank account for our dog our petrol our personal medical our groceries like you're the jessica ricky right i'm on it i'm on it she does the same thing i could never so i reckon what i will do and what i've actually done is i've set up a high interest savings account which next financial year i'm going to start popping some money into that i kind of forget that it's there but i know that it's growing money towards that big goal. How good. I love this and I feel like it's going

to happen soon. How much are you contributing on average to your home savings and I guess what's the split between your contributions versus your husband's contributions? So I guess it's like a little bit of the bucket analogy that we put it all into one account then it splits out. So at the moment he's putting in $850 a week and I'm putting in $800 and of that we are putting $355 dollars towards our savings a week. Oh, how good is that? Yeah, it's really satisfying to watch it grow. How are you managing that? I feel like that's a lot. Yeah, we are really on top of analysing our spending. So like, for example, he just got a pay increase two weeks ago. So that extra hundred dollars that he was putting in, we really sat down and we were like, okay, where can

it go? You know, our dog's vet bills, like she's getting older. So we put away like $70 a week for her, which we joke is rent, like we're paying to rent her. Yeah, yeah, fair, fair. And we don't have as much fun money as we would like. Everybody would like a little bit more fun money, but it sounds like you're really knuckling down to get these goals happening. And that makes me so proud and so excited. How long do you think it'll be before you're able to start looking at purchasing your first home? Next year. Exciting. And you know what? It sounds like I'm just going to take a stab in the dark. You mentioned Xero, you mentioned how good you are at bookkeeping. I don't think it's going to be an issue at all as a business owner to actually get finance for that,

because the biggest sticking point for small business owners who want to get loans is that they don't have good bookkeeping and they're not keeping track of their finances and they can't show year on year profit. And if you can't do that, well, the bank's not going to lend to you. But it sounds like you're not in that position at all, my friend. Oh, thank you. And it's really nice. We met with a mortgage broker a couple of weeks ago just to kind of see where we were at. And my mom's actually a bookkeeper, which is the hilarious part of all this. And she looked at my books and she's like, your mother's daughter. You're like, yes, but don't tell mom because I'm taking the credit. Don't give it to her. Don't give her the credit.

Pretty much. All right. Let's go to a really quick break. On the flip side, I want to talk about debts, investment and what your best and worst money habits are. Guys, don't go anywhere. All right, Money Diarist, we are back. I am so excited to be talking to you. Before we get into the structured questions though, I want to know, you were an occupational therapist but didn't enjoy it and now you are a full-time artist. What was that trigger point to go, you know what, I'm just going to go all in on this. I'm going to start doing art as my full-time job. I feel like for so many people, that's just a pipe dream. Like they might be working in a different area and going, oh, I'm so passionate about this,

but I don't know if doing paintings is gonna you know pay the rent how does that work for you like where was the turning point of you know I'm going boots and all in I can do this so I never actually graduated that degree so that is probably one of the biggest points in that I knew that if I had finished my degree I would have followed through with it and I probably would have practiced in it and I think it was the decision to opt out and not finish the degree and kind of give myself that breathing space to be like okay so I knew that wasn't for me kind of what now and that's yeah and that's kind of how I fell back into it like I just started painting I was just working in my casual part-time job that I had and then I just started painting and then I was like all right

well it was never the intention to get back into this but then it just kind of started happening people started buying and I thought well I haven't really got anything to lose I'm covering my bills of living what if I try and make this work how did you start selling your art I have so many friends who are beautiful artists and I feel like I'm jumping down their throats all the time being like charge more for your art charge more for your time you are worth this and they just don't seem to see it how have you known how to I guess charge your worth and know what to do because let's be honest, if you're a creative, that doesn't usually lean into being really good at the business side of things. And that's not me saying that that's a bad thing. It's just

as a creative human being, like you don't really lean into that type of role very easily. And it's not something that you find really sexy. You seem to be a unicorn though. You're obsessed with zero and with painting, which I adore. But a lot of us who are a bit more creative, we're just not that good at it. How did you structure this so that it could become a successful business? I think because I enjoy the business side of it as well. And I think that's something like I put so much time into my social media and I consider it a part of the job. It is not an afterthought. It is how I communicate my art to people. It is how I connect with my customers and that's how I engage with them. And I think that can be the real downfall that people are just like,

and you know, they'll say to me, oh, you're just so good on social media. And I'm like, yeah, but guys, for me, this is part of my role. Yeah. Yeah. I couldn't agree more. Like that's how you're going to connect with your community. That's going to be, I guess, the ticket to getting into people's homes and into people's hearts. And I think that we get that a lot too at Cheese on the Money. People will say, oh, you guys are so good at it. I'm like, yep, Jess does that full time as a job. And I did so many hours of that before Jess started to make sure that it was building properly. It was never an afterthought. It was always something where I went, all right, what's the strategy? What's going on? How's this going to work? What types of content are we

posting? How often are we posting that? How present are we going to be on our stories? What's appropriate to be on our stories versus what's not? And I think that through trial and error, you learn what your community likes, and then you overlay that over the top of the strategy. But I think a lot of people just assume it's about waking up in the morning, every morning, and just thinking of something good to post. And that's not it, is it? It's not. And I think like Instagram is such a beautiful thing and I think that has changed recently that suddenly collectors

have an immediate way to connect with the artist, whereas it used to, you know, be going through galleries or going through stockers, whereas it's a really beautiful thing now that people can actually speak directly with the artist, which I think is really, really incredible. It's actually one of my favourite things. I follow a lot of artists online and there are a few artists that I follow because I'm obsessed with them

but I can't afford a piece of their work yet. And I think that that is, you know, even one of the best ways to support them by showing them that not only, okay, I might not be in a position to purchase your art just yet, but I'm going to like your content, follow your content and give you the engagement so that hopefully you find more people like me who might be ready to buy. And at some point they're kind of like goal pieces. Like I feel like art for me is something that I buy to really recognize a certain part of my life or an achievement that I have gone through. It's not really a frivolous purchase, but that's why interacting with the artist as you go, it makes it even more special. Like it's as though I get to follow your journey and see

where you've been up to before I make that purchase. And it can be so special. So I can see exactly why that would work so well for you. But also, I guess, just change the dynamic because you're right. It used to just be artists going into galleries and then it would only be people who were interested in taking the time to go to a gallery. Now I'm watching the Batchy and I'm also checking out what my favorite artist is doing and I get the best of both worlds, you know? Yeah. And you know what? The artist wins because they're not losing, you know, anywhere between 30 to 50% commission. Exactly. It's genius. I love it. All right. I want to talk about money again, which I don't think you're going to be mad about. I want to

note, do you have any investments? If so, what are they? We have an investment portfolio that's sitting at a thousand dollars. How cool. How did you decide to start investing on the platform you chose? So we're currently investing with Vanguard. So my husband is more of the cautious type. So he felt very secure and that was kind of, he kind of pictured it as, you know, like a safe kind of investment. And to be fair, it's not something that I have looked totally into. Whereas I think for me, a little bit my blinkers are on investing in my business, but investment portfolios, that's where we're currently sitting at. Yeah, that's very cool. When it comes to being conservative, I can see why maybe Vanguard was a choice that you made. It's one of the

biggest investment houses in Australia, very well known internationally. They do, you know, from my understanding, very good investment portfolios. But what led you to that decision? And what research did you guys do before? Or was this something that your husband just said, all right, well, I'm going to put the money in, in Vanguard. And you were like, yep, cool. Focused on the business. Have fun, honey. A little bit of column A and a little bit of column B. I had done, you know, very little research. I had heard the word Vanguard thrown around and that kind of thing. And I said, yeah, look, that's fine. I said, I would rather just start investing in something and then I will have a look later. Like I've said to him, you know,

I do want to start, you know, maybe having slightly riskier investments. I said, I would like something with a higher return. And it's funny. He goes, yeah, he's like, sure. He's like, do your research, pitch it to me. And then he's like, of course we can do it. And I was like, yeah, that's fair. I love that. I feel like they're the sexiest conversations between married couples. Like what are we going to invest in next? Yes. Get it. Love it. Yeah. I want to know now, obviously you're saving for your first home, but do you have any debts? If so, what are they? Yeah. So the only debt that I have at the moment is my HECS debt. And what is that sitting at? And how do you feel about it given that? How do you feel about the

indexation going up in June? Oh, it's painful. It's, it is the one reminder of the degree that I didn't finish and it's just growing. It's, yeah, it's frustrating. I mean, it got you to where you are today and taught you exactly what you wanted to know. So it's not the biggest waste of money. So just got HECS and that is it. Yeah. Yep. So like we own our cars, I've got no debt for my business. And that's something that I'm really conscious of because I know that there are so many things that I could go out and buy tomorrow that would be wonderful for my business that would put me into debt. And I just, at this point in time, I just can't justify the mental load that would come with that. Yeah, that's

absolutely fair. I feel like you over the last few years, I mean, we've only spent what nearly half an hour together, but I already know this is going to be true. You've changed your money mindset and probably adopted a lot of good money habits. I feel like everything about your financial journey has changed, but I want to know what do you think is your best money habit? I think my best money habit would be consciously staying on how our money is being split up. So like checking if our bills have changed. So like we've just moved recently and we have solar now. So like our power bill went down. So we were like, okay, we don't have to put as much away for bills. How can we use that? My husband just changed phone company. So his power, like his phone bill is

less. Like, I think that would be our best money habit and staying within our means. So like we have a set budget per week for our groceries and we're really conscious to be like, this is how much money we have this week. We will work within that. Yeah. How cool. I don't want to bring the mood down, but I also want to know your worst money habit, my friend. What is it? Coffees, brunch, and buying paint that I probably did not need. The first two completely resonate with. We're going to be best friends. Can't say I've ever bought paint I'm not going to need, but can say I've invested in a lot of audio gear that I definitely didn't need. Was it shiny? Yes. Do I think that I would look cool with that

set of headphones on? Absolutely. We're going to need them. It's funny because I will buy the same paint twice and we'll have clearly had the same thought process. Like I'll be at the shops and be like, oh, French blue. That sounds great. And then I'll come home and be like, clearly had that thought last week. I've thought this before. I mean, I'm not a doctor. I can't diagnose you, but that's very ADHD of you, my friend. Yeah. I'm very like, I'm in the process of the diagnosis and it's pretty much like I'm 95% there. I'm waiting for the final tick. It's actually very funny. On the weekend, I went shopping with one of my girlfriends and I saw this pair of pajamas that I was like,

oh, I love these. They're like a navy pair of long sleeve pajamas. And I was trying to convince myself. I was like, you know what? I do need new long sleeve pajamas because obviously winter's coming. Genius. And then I said to her, no, I'm going to put 24 hours between this. I'll come back and get them if I really want them. Like, it's not too far. I need to be better at this. She was staying at my house for the weekend because it was over the Easter long weekend. and I came out that night to grab a glass of wine after my shower in a pair of long-sleeved navy blue pyjamas and she said Victoria I thought you didn't buy those and I'm like oh no these are my old ones I forgot I had and she said they're identical to the ones you were trying to buy

today and I said yep that's exactly why I need to put 24 hours between me and my spending so that I can remind myself you already have that at home babe yeah oh so so relatable like yeah it's like I'm a goldfish. I'm like, oh, blue pajamas. That's wild. I would like those. That's new. That's new. That's shiny. I've literally done that with like two or three colors that I looked at last week. I was like, oh, I'm going to try that. Yeah. Had that thought two weeks ago. But anyway, glad it's not just me. Oh no. You need a better system. You need a better filing system. I find that taking photos of everything and keeping it in my album so that I can look back on it and go into my phone. You could even have like a little album called paint colors and you

can flip through, check if you've got it so that you don't double up and buy again, because I'm the worst at that as well. The amount of white dresses I have is obscene. But I bet they're all stunning. Yeah, but they're all the same. They're all the same. All stunning, but all the same. All right. Now that we've had a chat, I feel like you are such a vibe. I am loving this. I love that you have your own business. I love that you're so passionate and vibrant about it. I love that you are saving up to buy your first home. You're investing, you're saving. Oh my gosh. I'm so excited with the fact that you're a business owner paying yourself super, like that's queen behavior. But you said you're a B. So I want to know two things. Firstly, do you still think after our

chat that you're just a B? And what would it take for someone like you to get to an A? Oh, look, I just think cut back on the unnecessary branches. And I think your tips of actually just checking what I need to buy and rolling with that. And I think it would like upgrade me to an A. Yeah. Okay. So like a few small steps and we can actually make a really big impact. I think that's not bad. Oh my gosh, Marnie Dyrist, this has been such a fun episode to record and so fun. Like I feel like knowing where you've come from and where you're going, our Shed Lovers spreadsheets, like this is going to be a fun episode for everyone to listen to. Thank you so much for spending time with us.

I'm so grateful. Oh, no worries. Thank you for having me. And I really hope that my story resonates with other people and people that feel overwhelmed by spreadsheets and that can just listen to this and see that there is light on the other side. What would be your number one tip? Obviously, you can't just decide, okay, I'm going to be good at spreadsheets today.

Where would you recommend people start if they're feeling overwhelmed and not ready to have budget and cash flow conversations. Set a date, set a date and like have someone hold you accountable and then kind of do whatever you need to feel ready to have that chat. I love that. Like whether it's, you know, listen to some She's on the Money episodes, whether it's buying a book, whether it's sitting down and looking through your bank accounts, like you do what you need to do in that time to prepare yourself to get really hands on with it. Oh, how good. I love that. That is perfect advice to end this episode on. Thank you so

much for your time. It has been an absolute pleasure. Oh, no worries. Thanks for having me. And yeah, thank you. 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 321 649 27708 AFSL 451 289.

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