She's On The Money - MONEY DIARIES: The FIFO Nurse Force of Nature!

Episode Date: April 14, 2024

Today's Money Diarist is the definition of tenacity! She came to Australia from the Philippines on a student visa almost 13 years ago, struggling to make ends meet working odd jobs and enduring some scary experiences. Fast forward to today, she's an Australian citizen earning $180 - $200k per year as travel nurse flying all over the country. She's also managed to bring her siblings here and is working towards her 4th investment property. Wait till you meet her! Friends! If you loved this episode, then we know you are going to love Victoria's new book, Money Diaries with She's on the Money! This book has been written so you can feel empowered and see that YOU have the power to rewrite your own money story! It's coming in May but you can pre-order your copy now, click here!  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 privilege of talking to one of our beautiful She's on the Money community members all about their journey. Let's jump straight into it because this week I got a message and it went like this. Hi V, I came to Australia from the Philippines on a student visa almost 13 years ago. I was a struggling student who worked odd jobs to support my studies and cost of living here. I had some pretty traumatising experiences that made me almost want to go back home.

However, I was firm that I wanted to make Australia my home. Fast forward to today, I'm an Australian citizen who earns between $180,000 and $200,000 a year, plus super, works as a travel nurse all over the country, and is now working towards my fourth investment property. I also have managed to bring my sister here who's now a citizen herself as well as my 19-year-old brother. Money, diarist. What? I feel like crying hearing that. Wow, I'm just so impressed. Is your family like super proud of you? I think so, yeah. What do you mean you think so? I absolutely know so that is crazy to me to go from being in the Philippines knowing what the average salary is

like wanting a better life having gone through some traumatic experiences and now going you know what I earn between 180 and 200 grand all by myself like are you joking I'm so proud of you can we learn a little bit more about this let's do a money diary oh I'm actually very nervous oh don't be nervous I promise I don't buy it let's jump into it the first question I always ask our money diarists, what grade would you give your money habits from an A through to an F? I've been thinking about this a lot. I think I want to give myself a B plus. A B plus. All right. Let's learn more about that because I already know I don't agree, but that is okay. Money diarist, tell me a little bit more about your upbringing and your money story.

Okay, so I'm the second eldest of six kids. I think we are from a middle income family. My parents own a meat shop. And whilst I know they were earning good money for Filipino standards, my dad is a chronic gambler. no yeah for almost four decades of their married life like I've witnessed them fighting over money and I've witnessed my parents selling at least nine properties to pay for my dad's debt my dad is a good guy but he just has an addiction I like that you prefaced that because I think sometimes when you talk about addiction people automatically go that's an awful thing that's a bad person trait it's not like people who have addictions are just people with addictions like they can be the kindest best human beings in the entire world and they're struggling with something and need support so that must be really hard on your family very hard growing up I've seen

how my mom has weathered all the storms she was really good with money I knew that we had the money to buy things, but we grew up not getting what we want. I remember going to this toy store and I wouldn't say a word because I know what my mom would say. Oh, we don't have the money to buy that. Although I knew that they had the money. But thinking of it, if my mom wasn't like that, we probably would have not graduated. Because in the Philippines, going to uni, it's not free. if you have any medical problems if you get hospitalized it's not free we don't have those subsidies so my parents has weathered all the storms and now she's got four professionals one's an orthodontist and then I'm a nurse and then a medical laboratory scientist and another

one's a doctor oh my god she must be so proud of all of her babies I'm so proud of my mom like yeah she's my inspiration I love her what a woman like especially to go through that for literally four decades and to still be like no I'm supporting my family we're gonna get here I need to be the strong one like oh women are queens aren't they yeah and she was the one who pushed me to go to Australia so to give you a bit of a background so I'm a registered nurse back in my country but at that time there were so many nursing graduates and there wasn't enough work for us what's happening before was we would go and be forced to do volunteer work so unpaid labor so that we could get experience because my ultimate goal at the time was to get out of my

country yeah wow like a registered nurse probably will get paid less than three hundred dollars a My God, $300 a month for such a critical role. That is so unfair. Absolutely not. I remember I was in my early 20s and I didn't have the money to go for holidays or to buy things and all that. And I would still ask money from my parents. I remember bringing at work kilos of meat to sell to my colleagues so I could have like a little bit of money. Oh my gosh. How did you source that? Well, my parents have meat shops. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's right. I was like, so you're just organizing all of their snacks and dinners as well as doing your work. Oh, my gosh. And so tell me more about this journey. Obviously, at this point, you still hadn't left the Philippines. Yeah. So my end goal was to go to the U.S.

I did my qualifying exam and passed my, it's called MPEX. So I got my license to the U.S., got a sponsorship for green card. but then the visa backlog was so hard and it was taking me ages to go there I was like okay maybe I'll try Canada but then I got scammed no what my mom gave a lot of money to them and for nothing and I decided I'll probably go to Saudi Arabia but my experience at the time wasn't enough so they rejected me too so I was really resigned and she said why don't you go to Australia on a student visa because I know someone on a student visa and she's actually doing very well so at the time I was just feeling resigned and I just wanted my mom to decide for me after all she's the one

who's going to give me the money so I let her decide for my life so I came here on a student visa but it was just one year for you to study here you needed to show funds how you could afford living here in Australia and we didn't have enough show money so it was just one year and I had no idea what I was going to do here in Australia I knew I couldn't do nursing because to become a nurse here even though I was already a registered nurse in the Philippines I had to study again and I think it's like $30,000 per semester for two years yeah for international students it's so insane it's so ridiculous yeah so there's no way I could be able to afford it so I got the cheapest course I could get from the cheapest school that could accept me yeah and I did

certificate for information technology and I had no plans at the time I was like thinking oh maybe before my visa ends I'll find a guy who I fall in love with and give me a visa or something I love this plan it's gone from I should find a guy to give me a visa to by the way I earned 200 grand on my own and I don't need no man. This is a good story. This is my favorite story. I'm still very much single. Now you're just too intimidating for the men. I don't know. But anyway, so I had to work odd jobs. I had to do house cleaning and babysitting. And I was actually at one point put into a position where my client didn't actually want

me to clean and do something else for him no yeah I was super scared at that time but thankfully he did not force me and yeah I told my sister and I told her not to tell my mom but she ended up telling my mom she was asking me to go home but I was like I've come this way to go home I'm not going so I just learned how to be more mindful of accepting jobs and all that and I made it through And then I remember I had this client who told me that she had another babysitter who did her bridging program as a nurse. And it only took her three months and it was, I think, $13,000 at the time. So that was my aim. I decided I'll save up for this money.

I'll do the bridging course. And that happened. And then, yeah, fast forward to today. I'm a travel registered nurse who travels all over Australia and has now this investment property and still counting. I cannot believe that. And so we ended up being lucky enough to get you in Australia and you're going to stay here?

Of course, yes. This is my home now. So we get to keep you. I love this. And we now have your sister and your 19-year-old brother. I adore this. So let's talk more about money. You obviously mentioned that you're a traveling nurse.

We've mentioned what you earn, but can you get into what is a travel nurse and how does the pay system work? Okay, so I've been nursing here in Australia from early 2013 to now. Near 2018, I hit a crossroad. I was so stressed out with nursing, I didn't want to do it anymore. I felt like I had compassion fatigue, but that's all I knew. I was already doing a senior role and I decided before I go nuts, I will resign and I tried doing cosmetic nursing which I hated I felt like my hands weren't made

for it so I thought of what do I really like doing and what tools I know how to do and I really like traveling a lot at that time I was just working and traveling and saving and yeah and I just googled travel nursing and I saw this company based in Brisbane they interviewed me over the phone, got hired, and in two weeks' time, they said I was flying to Barnard, Queensland. Anyways, I was doing short-term travel nursing at that time, so they would give me contracts or options where to go and how long I could be there for. I have options to extend as well. They pay for my accommodation, my travel expenses, to and from work, and the money, the rate

is a lot higher than a regular nurse, plus you get all the penalties. but year 2021 I was still with the same company they actually had a contract with the government for the COVID surge and emergency response and they talked me into moving from short-term to doing the COVID surge and that was different so the pay was higher than the short-term travel nursing and then we get to travel Australia for two weeks to a month in one place and it's all over australia and yes still i get paid accommodation travel and then cost of living allowance as well plus the penalty plus super wow yes i was talking to my colleagues yesterday and we were talking about this and this is like the peak of our career i would never earn this even

if i work as a facility manager and i have less stress yeah wow and you get to see all of australia and travel and you love that and we do have downtime as well so the constant stress is not there like we get down times and we're able to recuperate and all that but of course it has its trade-offs yeah wow so how often are you actually at home then that's a tricky question because I don't have a home base now so from 2018 I've given up my rent although my sister and brother lives in sydney if someone asks me where do you live i live where i get sent at the moment i'm living in north like queensland and last month i was living in victoria wow so do you just live from a suitcase because i could not do that like i would get so stressed

being away from home i have two suitcases one winter and one summer so i left my other suitcase at my sister's place yeah of course but now I try to put everything in one suitcase you know like warm clothes and stuff because with my job you'll never know you'll be in somewhere really hot and then next thing you know you're in Tasmania or you're in Victoria whatsoever yeah absolutely especially within two weeks of each other like it's been freezing cold in Victoria and then you go to Queensland and it's like 40 degree weather so like oh my gosh I wouldn't know what to do. That's actually so cool. So have you the whole time that you've worked as a travel nurse always earned between $180,000 and $200,000? Or is that something that you've kind of worked

up to? No, for financial year 2022, I earned $217,000. Oh my gosh. Yeah, because I was doing a lot of overtimes. Last year, I earned $186,000. But because I went on a lot of holidays, because if we're on our personal leads we don't get paid of course yeah well prior to the COVID surge I was earning maybe around 100 or the most is 100 2000 but I was doing a lot of traveling overseas at that time yeah wow I feel like you're living the dream yeah do you think that that's sustainable like will you always be a travel nurse or you said before I am still single like do you think that you'll find someone and settle down and want to you know maybe stay in one place someone's telling me that with this job, you won't be able to find someone who would take you seriously

because I feel like we're in the transition box. So that actually motivates me to make the use of my time now so that I'd be able to have the freedom to do what I want in the future. Because I know that I also do want to have a relationship and maybe a family one day. So I'm not sure if I want to have this year as my last year as a travel nurse, but we'll see at the end of the year but I won't be definitely doing this forever yeah wow we know you own three properties and you're about to buy your fourth can you tell me about your money goals like what are your big money goals at the moment what are you working towards oh big money goal so

my short term is to get the Ford investment property this year and also top up my super so I could buy my fifth investment property through super this year as well that's my short-term money goal and then my long-term money goal is to be able to live off of the properties and have you know more freedom like not exchange my time for money anymore and do different things I am shook at how good you are at this like I'm just looking at it going holy moly like having come from the Philippines going through what you've gone through to now earning what you're earning and knowing how to invest it. I'm just looking at you going, holy moly, you are so good. I have a lot more questions. Let's go to a really quick break. And on the other side,

I want to know about your investment strategy, how you got into your first property and all of the juicy details around that. So guys, don't go anywhere. All right, Money Diarist, you are absolutely killing it. Like I am so proud of you. we know that you have three properties and you're about to go into your fourth and the next question I want to ask is about investments so can you take me through the investments that you own so what properties do you own do you have any other investments and how on earth did you know how to do this yeah okay so my mom talked me into investing properties but I was investing in the Philippines I sold two properties and bought another two oh you're just a property flipper

you just have millions of properties so it's just that i saw it from my mom like worst comes to worst like she could just sell property and bail my dad out of trouble oh my gosh so now in the philippines i have one property that i share with my sister and then i've sold one but she's still paying it off like i sold it to my sister the other property i call it my yolo money. Your YOLO money? My YOLO money is the money I got from my properties from the Philippines. Okay. Well, I wouldn't be looking at it as like a YOLO money. I would be looking at it as wealth creation, but you know what? Whatever's working for you, it's working for you, babe. Yeah. And then here in Australia, so I've got three properties, one in Geelong,

one inside Victoria in Melbourne, which is just turning over hopefully this month. I was able to see the pre-inspection when I was there. And then the third one's in Bunbury WA. So I'm currently working in my court. The pre-approval's already all good to go and I have my deposit as well ready. So I'm just waiting for the right property to be presented to me. And then I've got $102,000 in super. How much in super? Sorry, could you repeat that? $102,000. You got $102,000 in super as well you are a money queen I took some money out as well before I knew that I shouldn't be taking money out yeah okay clearly didn't impact you too negatively and then I've got shares as well of course you do what are they I'm not really proud of my shares investing experience but I've

put 100k on shares and 30,000 crypto and they're very negative at the moment tell me how you picked your shares a hundred thousand dollars in shares you must be a savings queen to have a hundred grand in super a hundred grand in shares I mean I don't love the crypto but you get what you get and you don't get upset you've got so much property what okay so before I got into property I was into shares yeah and someone introduced me to shares and initially I was picking blue stock yeah I was very risk averse but then I got someone showing me her portfolio and she was like you should try penny stock because I'm earning so much from it yeah I have a gambling blood yeah it runs in the family I get it yeah but this is way more constructive like investing is not

gambling so like I feel like we're channeling this properly now yeah but I was more of a gambler before when i was doing shares i was chasing speculative stocks i was going with the herd and all that i was chasing the thrill of you know the volatility and i'm actually not looking at my shares at the moment because i'm really not proud of it at the moment but i'm holding it as long as possible and hopefully it turns out well like my goal is to maybe check it when i'm 50 years old and see if I could retire from that one. I think with that amount of money in shares and in crypto, you should be getting some advice to put it together properly.

Like don't bury your head until you're 50. Go get some advice. Have it all structured properly. Like a financial advisor will like rebalance your portfolio properly and make sure you're in the best possible position because that's so much money. No burying our head in the sand. You're too smart for this.

I was so lucky that when the market dipped, I went into the travel nursing 2.0. So it didn't really affect me that much because I was earning a lot of money and I wasn't really spending a lot because I don't pay rent at all. So I shifted my focus from shares to property investing. I came across someone who's got 13 properties. There are a couple. He was only 37 when he retired. And now it's just focused into mentoring people and sharing his experience. So I learned from him.

And from then on, I was like, okay, I probably diversify and put my money into property. Smart girl. You are so smart. My focus now is just property. But I'm hoping once I get my numbers, I'll go back to shares and I'll probably focus on blue chip stocks and dividend paying stocks. So yeah. So smart.

I want to know a little bit more about your properties. so you have properties in Geelong Melbourne and Bunbury and when you say Geelong and Bunbury to me as an ex-financial advisor I know that they are growth suburbs like Geelong and Bunbury have been pinpointed in my mind for a while there's lots of them but more recently I feel like a lot of buyers agents and investors are looking in these areas to buy property because they're basically growth corridors. Have you got a buyer's agent? Is someone advising you on where you're purchasing? I do. So I have two property portfolio partners. Yeah. Wow. How did you find them? Listening to podcasts. So I got into this company because I have always been listening to

their podcast because I was trying to learn about property investing. So I'm like, I don't really want to do it myself I want to utilize someone else's expertise and make the most out of it yeah I was asking because I was like interesting because those properties are in locations that I know a growth corridor is like where are you getting this information from that sounds like you've got a buyer's agent I love that have your experiences with them been really good Yeah, it's been really good. So my first one was off the plans and they do a lot of mentorship. I've had a really good experience with them, but my strategy now is going for established

properties because I don't know how long I will be in this job for. And of course, my serviceability will be impacted once I change jobs. So now that I have this hiring capacity and my income is high, I'd like to maybe fast track it. That's why now I'm into established properties. That's why I switched to the other. Yeah, because you don't have to wait around for the property to be built and then have to get the loan at the end.

Like that's quite smart. Tell me now, how much debt are you in and what does that look like? A lot. Look, with nearly four properties, I didn't expect you to say zero. Yeah. So my first one, I have $517,000 on that and I'm paying at 6.29% but the value of that now is around $660,000. Oh very nice. Yeah and that's renting now. How long have you had that for? Well I've been renting it out for almost a year now. I

bought it here 2021. Yep. So I started my property investing journey 2021. How much are you renting that property out for? It's only $2,026 a month. I'm heavily negatively geared on this one, but I'm actually very excited from tax return time. Yeah, because it will offset your tax. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Smart woman. All right. Tell me about property number two. Property number two, I have a loan of $449,498 at 6.99%. I haven't actually checked the valuation for this one, but when the land settled, it was up $40,000. Oh my gosh, how good?

Yeah, I think the comparable sale price is around $600,000 to $650,000 in that area. So this will settle soon. I'm hoping to get a good valuation from that one as well. Is that one leased out? Oh, this one is almost turnover. I've just been there for pre-inspection last week. Oh, right. That's what you said before.

Yeah. And what do you think you'll rent it out for? Hopefully $500 a week. Yeah, cool. And then property number three. Yeah, that's the Bunbury WA, $337,915. And interest is at 6.79%. and I just had a look and the valuation is $434,000. Wow. This was the best one. I'm

renting it out for $500,000 a week. No, you're not. That's actually so good. And so the first property that you mentioned, is that Geelong? Yeah, Geelong. Second is the inside Melbourne and then the Boundary WA. How exciting. And then you've got a plan to purchase another one later in the year yeah I'm getting frustrated because my goal was to get that property last year for my birthday so I had it already but then they said the stock levels right now is very low and the competition is really high because I'm almost at capacity so I'm like I really want to get it over and done with because I already have the deposit and all that yeah wow so tell me about your savings habits because I know you said oh I'm a bit of a gambler in the share market like

you can't be that big of a gambler if you're able to purchase properties like what do your savings habits look like well when I was doing shares I was really really bad I would put almost all my pay to shares I even got a credit card but what the credit card was zero percent interest but I was using it to buy shares as well that's how bad I was yeah wow yeah but then as soon as I decided to go into property the savings game has yeah gone up a lot of people say that they say they're not amazing with money until they have property which is kind of like forced savings but it's like yeah a double-edged sword right because you have to have some money to be able to get into property to begin with yeah you're forced into a lifestyle but I don't feel like I'm actually compromising

on my lifestyle because I get to travel for free I have like a one-bedroom apartment all to my own for free and all that so I love it and I love your viewpoint you're so positive about all of this and you're just killing it what do you think your best money habit is of course I live within my means yep I'm not really big on shopping I don't like branded stocks not that I have anything against those who like that but I just don't find happiness in that I'm more for experiences Yeah, fair. Yeah, and I also know a lot of hacks, especially when it comes to eating out. Like I use apps, Eat Club, First Table, The Fork, anything that can give me discounts

because I love eating out. Yeah, fair, fair. And all of those websites are so good at giving you a discount when you eat. Like it just makes it a no-brainer, right? You go, why would I go if I'm not getting a discount now? Yeah, true, true. I love that. So what do you think your worst money habit is?

First money habit, I splurge a lot on my family. Like I will always shout out dinners and all that. And then I've made them come to Australia a few times and all expenses paid. But I love that you're treating your family because you love them. Yeah. But I'm thinking in a financial perspective, my money could have gone further if I wasn't really splurging a lot on this, but I don't regret it. Like it makes me happy. Yeah. And you said that you like experiences over things anyway, and I'm assuming you would love to experience things with your family. Sure. I don't think that's bad at all. I really like it. You said at the very start, and I scoffed at it, you said, I think my money habits are a B plus. And then you went on to explain that you not only have three properties, you want four, and you're working towards that at

the end of the year. You've got 102 grand in super, you've got a hundred grand of shares, $30,000 worth of crypto. You've got all these properties lined up. You have your head screwed on and you're so positive. Why do you think you're a B plus and what would make you an A plus? Okay. The thing is, I have been presented with this great opportunity to earn money and save money. And I feel like if I were an A minus or an A plus, I could have probably bought more properties. No, you're way ahead of all of us. I don't know. That's just what I'm thinking. It's like I've had a massive opportunity cost loss with my shares because I wasn't really thinking properly I was emotionally investing and if I wasn't you were learning I'm learning yeah

give yourself a little bit more credit people are listening to this going oh my gosh she's incredible like this level of financial literacy you've given yourself and taught yourself and you're still being generous to your family to bring them over and just give them their best lives like oh my gosh you're an A plus to me like I'm not going to argue with you if you've got more to achieve but at the end of the day I think you're so impressive I think I'd be and I consider myself an A plus if I no longer trade money with time like if I have the the financial freedom yeah that would be very sexy I like it yeah my goal is to semi-retire at 40 I'm not sure if I'd be able to get it but yeah I think I'm on track oh my gosh I'm so proud of you money diarist

unfortunately that is all we have time for today it has been beautiful getting to know you and learning a bit more about your story and you've been so generous with your time but also just how open you've been thank you so much for sharing thank you so much like you've been a great instrument to this I've been listening to your podcast and I've read your books and yeah you are so kind oh my gosh I love it thank you I really appreciate it thank you for having me 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 divine and she's on the money are authorized representatives of money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN 321 649 27708 AFSL 451 289.