She's On The Money - MONEY DIARIES: The Financial 'Work In Progress'

Episode Date: July 7, 2024

Having started and quit uni, she found herself moving to London and working as Butler, with some WILD experiences! After heading home and back to uni, things seemed on track, after graduating she was on a $100k salary! But in 2 short years, she was on Centrelink with $0 in savings. She's now in her final year as a med student at age 30, and is in the middle of her fertility preservation treatment. Financial status: work in progress! 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. Welcome back to another one of my favorite episodes, Money Diaries, where I get the absolute privilege of talking to one of our incredible She's On The Money community members all about their money story. Let's jump straight into it because this week I got an email and it sounded exactly like this. Hi, Victoria. I had a middle class upbringing and started and then quit uni. I then moved to London and worked as a butler, having some amazing experiences. When I moved home, I headed back to uni. Within six months of graduation, I was earning $100,000, but two years later,

I was on Centrelink with $0 in savings. I'm now in my final year as a med student at age 30, and I'm in the middle of my fertility preservation treatment. Financial status, work in progress. Money Diarist, I feel like this is going to be so fun. Yeah, there's a lot to talk about, hey? Oh my gosh. I feel like it's like a rollercoaster, but like not a stressful, too stressful one. I'm just like, Butler, what? Like $100,000, what? Centrelink, what? Where is all this coming from? And now she's going to be a doctor? Be for real? Like I've just got questions, but as always, let's start with the very first one. Money Diarist, if I asked you to rate your money habits from an A through to an F,

or what would they be? I would say I'm probably about a C minus. A C minus. All right. I'm interested to hear more, but like before we get there, can you please give me a little bit more info on your money story? Like take us back. Yeah, sure. So yeah, I grew up, I guess, I suppose in a very privileged position, I should say to start with. My parents had pretty, I guess, run of the mill jobs, hairdresser, nurse, and they worked very hard to kind of, I guess climb the ladder in the ways that they have and yeah always give us as kids what we needed to kind of improve so it had a good kind of foundation I guess when I first left school I went into a business degree and I hated it like just it was boring it's not for everybody

I'm telling you that now not at all and so I left there and I was just working at like Maccas and I climbed the ranks at Maccas, you know. Which is underrated, by the way. I feel like McDonald's, knowing now their leadership training and the way that they train people from scratch, like some of the best employers long-term, even going into corporate or going into other things, they have got a background in working at Maccas and it serves them so well. So well. Yeah. It like builds really great skill foundations. So yeah, I did that for a little while. I was actually at Marcus for about five years since I was like 15. And then I decided that I hated it and I moved overseas and I just did like a working holiday visa. And I was working

in like hospitality, just waitressing. And then they were like, actually, we need a night butler tonight to cover. And I was like, can anyone do that? And I was like, well, I suppose I can give it a crack. Like I'm probably not going to be the best at it, but I can do it. So I did it. And did you have to change your name to Nigel? Obviously. Yeah, obviously. Okay. Yeah. All right. So, Nigel, what happened next? Just wait for it. I wore like a full three-piece suit. Like I was- No, you didn't. No, I did. Yeah.

That would have been so fun. Yeah. It was like full on like three-piece suit, had to use the British accent because no one could understand me. Genuinely, my worst experience. Well, actually, I think it's the funniest personally, but like I had someone call me in the middle of the night asking for an extra duvet and I genuinely had to transfer them to the front of house manager because I did not know what a duvet was it's a do know by the way a duvet yeah even the word duvet feels bougie I know right and I had no idea I was like sorry you're gonna have to repeat that like for 10 minutes it was yeah it was hard work oh my gosh what was like the funniest thing that you were asked for as a butler

because I just feel like people take advantage of butlers yeah I was in like a five-star hotel and it was I don't know about the funniest like we did a lot of packing and unpacking and you see a lot of stuff in people's suitcases. I'll tell you that much for free. Oh, did you unpack their suitcases? Yeah, absolutely. I love that this is also anonymous. So come on, come on, spill. I will say like the funniest thing I probably had to do was like rearrange people's, I don't know if I'm allowed to say things that aren't PG, but anyway. Oh no, you can say this. Like we've just given it a disclaimer. What's coming up next? Not PG. Yeah, great. We would have to like go in and like organize everything so it was you know that kind of like type a personality in order OCD

yeah great kind of thing great and we would literally go in and organize their sex toys for like from A to Z like in order we would make everything look pretty like it was yeah a lot oh my gosh I would be mortified yeah I know that even like my bedside table when I'm staying in a hotel I'm always like triple checking it and being like what like it's you know I sleep with an eye mask and like sometimes have nasal spray. And I'm always like, I'm going to just put that back in my handbag because I know housekeeping's coming. Like be for real, I'd be mortified. Yeah. And people definitely just didn't really clock of what exactly a butler did. So yeah, we knew everything. We saw it all. I kind of want that job. Like you're telling me I can go

through people's luggage and it's not illegal? Yeah, absolutely. You can. It's great. You go through people's luggage, you organize stuff. I would be having such a fun time. I'd be like, all right, so top drawer, second drawer. Okay. Actually, we're going to color coordinate your wardrobe and it's like little capsule wardrobes. I'd have so much fun. Yeah. It was honestly so much fun and even better, they tip you at the end of it. So, I mean, yeah. So, title of this podcast, I got paid to organize people's sex toys. Yeah, exactly. Money wins. You know what? I'd pay you a lot so that you never told anybody that, yet here you were on the podcast. They didn't tip enough, apparently.

apparently not you're welcome sorry sorry oh my gosh so tell me more tell me more about either this job or like what happened next my friend yeah I was overseas for a couple of years and I always knew I wanted to come back to uni and when I was coming back I was like oh I'll either do marketing journalism or I could just try and get into medicine like we'll just see what happens and so I applied for biomedical science or marketing journalism um they're very similar so it just makes sense that you would apply for both of those at the same time and just you know throw your career yeah throw your career to the wind like whatever happens happens I might become a marketer might become a doctor who knows we'll just see what happens and then evidently I got

into biomedical science which was a shock and then yeah I did my undergrad and an honors year so I did that it was really good had a great time I was at a smaller university so we had a really good cohort and then I graduated at the end of 2019 and then COVID hit and oh gosh yeah I moved back home with my parents and we actually all got emails our cohort that graduated got emails from the department of health being like hey we need people with a biomed background to come and help us with data because we have so much data all of a sudden and so I got hired by the department of and I progressed really rapidly so I think within like the first three months I had like jumped three jobs just because they needed people to expand and expand and expand well it kind of

makes sense especially during a period of time where we knew nothing about what was going on and they would have hired you into a role and then be like oh my gosh she's actually competent at this like let's bump her up and bump her up because we can see talent and it would have been hard because they've never done this we've never had this data before right yeah exactly so but it was really great because they'd hired basically a whole group of people that already knew how to work together so they actually fired a culture that existed which was yeah a really smart business geniuses yeah I don't know how they made it happen but it worked anyway so I yeah jumped up the ranks a little bit quickly definitely unprecedented which is the fun word of the of the time right

yes absolutely and then yeah so i then got offered to step up again and at the time i was sitting the exams for trying to get into medicine i just thought i'll just do it and see how i go and give it a crack or whatever like if it happens it happens if it doesn't it doesn't i like how nonchalant you are about becoming a doctor when there are definitely going to be people listening to this who have slaved their lives away to become a doctor they have you know what is it the msat or something the test at the start that yeah whatever it is they're just like slaving away trying their hardest to get there and you're like yellow if I get in if I get in it'll be fine and obviously you have gotten in and they're probably looking at you being like Nigel I cannot believe that you

just don't care about being here and I've worked my entire life to get here yeah absolutely and look I'm very well aware of my position I'm very privileged okay you're not privileged no that's not privilege that's intelligence my friend that's you being a smart cookie that's your experience as Nigel yes coming out yeah Nigel definitely helped but yeah so I did that and I like but I suppose this is where I say yeah I don't know the reason I call it privilege is because I genuinely just scraped through like I just got enough to like leave my application in and I actually forgot that I had left my application in to medicine. Okay, but P's get degrees.

Yeah, honestly, yeah. And then randomly I was checking my junk email and I had an interview in two days. Your med interview was in your junk email and you were like, oh, lucky I got that two days before. Were you like, oh, actually, I can reschedule that coffee with a friend I might go. Yeah, exactly.

It was, yeah, like I said, I'm definitely the Swiss cheese model. I fell through every crack somehow. I like that. Yeah. I like that. Swiss cheese is also delicious. I mean, it's not a bad thing to be, hey? What happened next? Yeah. So at the same time, so I was offered to increase my, I guess, responsibility and move up the ranks. And I said, I can't do it full time, but I can take it on until, like, I can take it on as an acting role. And they said, yep. So I think my salary was, I think it was like 101, literally 100 000 so I was like just got over yeah and I did that for about seven months and then I dropped down to part-time when I started med school the following year oh yeah spoiler alert

I got into med really who would have seen that coming yeah and then I started the following year and I worked part-time for that first year and then I just I couldn't do it it was I just yeah it was way too much the expectation and the way that covered that whole role had grown over the time. It was, if you were there from the start, you knew the changes and I'd been there from the start, but I just couldn't keep up with it anymore. Cause it changed so dynamically, like every, you know, 12 hours there was a new policy and whatnot. Yeah. And, and like, I know that we're laughing about you being the Swiss cheese model and falling through the cracks, but like there is nothing Swiss cheese model about either doing that role or doing med. Like it is grueling. It

is hard. There's no way you would have been able to actually do that if you weren't intelligent and you weren't someone who had put their all into study and actually getting it done so like even though we're having a bit of a laugh about like oh ha ha ha I just scraped through like even scraping through is so flipping hard like so many people fail that so many people do not get in and make the cut and it's their life dream so I don't want anyone to think that oh V's laughing at the fact that she she scraped through but it's hard no no no I get it it's I've had a few friends go through that and it's a nightmare process I just love your attitude towards it though you're just like, YOLO, I'm a doctor. I think it's just like one of those things you have to roll with. But

yeah, absolutely recognize it's devastating, particularly when there's so many people who want and just like born to be a doctor and they can't get there because of a stupid exam that doesn't mean anything. Like that's the issue. It's like, it's not a good reflection of how good of a doctor that person will be. And I think they're moving away from that as a whole. That is, I guess, a summary of the entire world, right? I feel like so many people are born to be things and due to their circumstances or abilities aren't able to do it when they'd be the best ones for the role, right? Yeah. Like insane. Anyway, I want to know more about you, not about the economy. So tell me what happened

next. You got into university, you are becoming a baby doctor. It got all too much. You did part time and that's, I'm assuming when you went to, let's, I'm taking a stab in the dark here, you moved on to Centrelink with $0 in savings. Yeah, literally. So I was living in one of the yeah rent was just a lot in that time and so all of my savings that I had saved in that two-year period kind of went on to life yeah and I think I'd saved enough to do that so I was able to like support myself and get myself through to not work as much but I also had the gap of no Centrelink because I earned just too much as a part-timer so I was in this position where if I didn't work I couldn't live but if I worked I like I was not okay I was just burning out so I eventually had

to call my parents crying being like all right I'm at my last dollars like I don't think I can survive like doing this and I'm very fortunate and lucky and my parents were like yeah like if if this is what needs to happen like we can support you for that's so sweet yeah yeah and you just know like I know that you prefaced it before you were like I had a middle class upbringing. My parents were a hairdresser and a nurse from memory. And I just know that that would have put them out financially, but like they wanted to help you. That's so sweet. And I know that that, you know, it ebbs and flows, but it's so nice that you have that because so many people fall off the train when it comes to medicine because they just can't cut it. And it

is unfeasible as a baby doctor, or I call them baby doctors because I've got so many friends that went into medicine. I'm like, they're the baby doctors. Even now they're real doctors. I'm like baby doctor. It's unfeasible most of the time to work and to study. Like it's just actually unreasonable. Like the amount of study you have to do outside class hours is insane to keep up. Like even having a retail job or a hospitality job for most of them doesn't work. And we've had money diarists on the show before who have spoken about their med school careers, I suppose, and talked about how hard that is. And even one of them was saying, you know what I did to make money and I supported myself I sold my notes because that's what I spent all my time doing

I sold all of my class notes and that's how I got by like it's hard yeah so I'm not surprised you ended up there yeah absolutely and I am a bit too chaotic to actually you know make pretty notes so I definitely couldn't sell mine but I did hear that and I thought I was very very smart it's real real thrifty hey I'm like you're a genius I love it but yeah it couldn't be me I'm not organized enough that's for sure couldn't be me but proud of her yeah love it yeah so that's probably I guess where I kind of when I was like okay mom and dad I need help and then I randomly as a Dolomites kid mom and I have had a shared bank account since basically I was born and still have it um so even when I moved overseas I put my money in that account so she could still

technically help if I needed to and it's just an easy access point for us that's so cute that's So trusting as well. Yeah, it's not for everyone, I'll say that much. And my siblings definitely don't have it in play anymore. They're like, Nigel's crazy. Yeah, but it has been, I guess, handy because we've done that kind of, she's been able to support me and help out, which is good. That's so nice to be able to get through it.

And now you're in your final year of med school, is that right? Yeah, nearly there. And I've just started working again this year. I've got a bit more, I would say a bit more time, but I've actually just filled it all. but yeah I'm working again as of this year and I work remote which is great. I was about to say what type of work are you doing that actually slots in with being a med student in their final year? Yeah I'm doing health admin which is pretty crazy if I'm honest and yeah it's remote work I

can do it wherever I am so I can you know visit family and friends and just take it with me and do it wherever I am. Oh how good now tell me about what the future looks like you are currently a med student, you are 30. I want to talk about that fertility preservation treatment in a hot minute, but like, what kind of doctor do you want to be? What does it look like once you graduate? Yeah. Money question, that one. So I really want to practice rurally. I like the idea of a rural generalist, which is essentially a GP who has advanced skills. So you can work as an emergency doctor or a pediatrician or pal care or whatever it might be. So you can kind of do all of the other different types of medicine as well as be a GP I like that concept but we'll see but I do

really like paediatrics so working with kids and emergency medicine as well so that's kind of where I'm kind of gearing towards at the moment but we'll see what happens we've got to do like general years first so I'll see what I like then and yeah I suppose because I'm 30 I'm kind of thinking about what's going to happen in my next five years and 10 years and there's obviously some other stuff You know, you mentioned the fertility preservation stuff I've been going through. Yeah, I want to know more about that because to me it makes a lot of sense because you told me earlier I'm 30, you know, I'm actually in my final year as a med student. And while I hate the fact that women have to choose between a career and, you know, having a family, at the moment you're kind of like at that juxtaposition where you're probably, and this is an assumption, you can tell me to go shove it or not, you're probably starting to feel a bit of pressure. Because I remember when I turned 30 going, oh, I never thought about my fertility like windows or

my biological clock. And doing medicine, you'd know a lot more about that than the average bear. So tell me why you're going through that fertility preservation treatment pathway. And like, what does that actually look like? How much is it costing you? Yeah, sure. Yeah, a lot. Although, yeah, I suppose in terms of the why. So I started thinking about it, I guess last year. And I was like oh maybe I should look into it and I thought oh I'll just start taking the steps and it was more of an insurance policy so I was doing it just to kind of have the eggs in the bank and I'm again talking from a very privileged position I know not everyone's in that situation that's possible but this was my experience and so I suppose I kind of started looking into it as

as an insurance thing and then as I started doing that I found out that I actually had some medical reasons that I needed to have it done for wow yeah and you wouldn't have known if you hadn't started going down that path so it very much went from a like I literally was going to do it as like a backup plan and then I went in and I remember sitting down in front of this like the nurse came in that I hadn't met before and within like two minutes she was like yeah so if you want to have kids you'll have to do it in the next year and I was just I'm sorry what yeah I was like no pressure and like to be really pervy do you have a partner I do but he's also 25 and you know he's not ready and you're not at that point in your life where that's what you want to do

oh my god the pressure how did that go I would have probably burst into tears I did yeah normal response and then what you go home and have a chat with your partner and be like we're not ready for this yeah and like we'd already had the chat obviously because I was starting to look into it so we already yeah we're out and then I was like actually guess what so yeah it was not good and as you could expect I was a mess and it also was like a very much a thing of okay we need to start this now so it was I think two weeks later I was injecting like wow injections and taking the medications so yeah it was a really quick turnaround and again I'm very lucky to have had the support of my family and I'd kind of spoken to mum and dad and seen whether or not

that was something they could assist me with knowing that you know in a year's time I hopefully will have an income and can pay it back yeah of course yeah so I was kind of in a position where they were able to help with that which I'm so grateful for and lucky. The other thing I will interject with here is if people are going through this and they don't have that family support you are able to access your superannuation for stuff like this so you are able to access your funds in your super to be able to pay for fertility treatments and you know egg preservation and things like that and if you are confused about it there's heaps of information online but the best thing you can do is actually call your super company and have a chat with them about what

that might mean for you because they will let you know what that process looks like, how you access funding, what it means to access funding, where you can go, where you might not go, and how much you can actually get because it's going to depend on how you access it. I don't want people to think that, oh my gosh, and I know that Nigel, your experience is a bit different, but it's so nice that you've got that support, but you can access your superannuation. And while obviously from a wealth point of view. That's not the best thing ever. We can also access it, get the fertility treatment we need and talk about how we build that amount back up before we retire. So we're not, you know, behind on anything. Like there's always going to be a strategy at play. And if it means

that, you know, in the next couple of years at work, we contribute a few extra dollars each month towards your super. So over the long term, it builds back up. I think we're in the best possible position for everyone. Sorry, side note, because I want everyone to have access to this. Yeah, absolutely. It's like such a huge, I guess, weight to kind of take on. And yeah, like I said, I'm very lucky to be in the position, but I can't imagine being in a position where it's something that I feel is invisible. So I completely, yeah, really important. So where are you at in that process now? Yeah, I've had two cycles of egg collection. I didn't have great numbers collected,

which was traumatic to say the least. It would be because you're already going through a traumatic process. You're injecting yourself. You're going through a whole heap of trashy emotions. Like they boost all of your hormones. Like it would have been trash to then find out you didn't have enough eggs like collected and that you have to go again. Yeah. And they kind of started with being like, we're going to collect this amount. And then it was every time I spoke to someone else, it just got lower and lower and lower and lower and lower. And I just, it was just awful. I'm so sorry. That's really just, honestly it's really shitty yeah it is shitty but that was that's all right I went through and at

least no one else has to hopefully but yeah it just took a big toll and of course because things don't happen to me in you know small little batches it all happens at once I also happened to be on obstetrics and gynecology at the time and pediatrics were my two rotations over that period so that was a real knife in the gut yeah just a really heavy piece of content that you're having to like deal with every single day oh I'm so sorry it was challenging but anyway enough of that that's you know it is what it is can't change it and I've gone through two cycles I think at this stage I'm just going to pause on it for a little bit because it really did take a toll and I will look at it again next year when I have the income to support myself to do it

at the moment so in terms of cost my initial quotes were I think it was seven and a half 000 plus the anesthetic fee which is about 400 bucks per cycle per cycle yeah plus the day procedure which was I think 990 as well so it was around about just shy of 10 000 10 000 around it was out of pocket without private health without medicare and then medicare I hit my top rebate my threshold sorry and it was then changed to be a medically required procedure so I think in the end out of pocket, I think it's three and a half or $3,600 per cycle was what it ended up costing me out of pocket. Which is still a lot of money. And we're not just talking like a lot of money to guarantee you have kids either. We're talking a lot of money for a better chance at

having kids. Yes, exactly. And so like that would weigh really heavily. And it also doesn't include all of the cost of storage because those eggs need to be stored over the long term. And then once you decide to, you know, use one of your eggs, the insemination process. So it's actually insane to think what we have to go through as women to start a family. But I'm really proud that you went through that because it's probably giving you a little bit of peace of mind. Is that right? Yeah, absolutely. I think what I have now is obviously not what I want to end up with. So I'll definitely go further with it as needed. But for now, I'm happy enough that I have something to work with and yeah no I love that and just on the freezing my freezing costs are $255

every six months so every six months yeah oh my gosh that feels like a massive like I feel like my phone bills less than that yeah like oh my god yeah so anyway just some more info I guess oh my gosh all right well I've got a heap of questions for you I want to know how much are you earning right now you mentioned before that you were doing health admin what does that mean and how much does that pay? Yeah. So at the moment I'm basically just managing waiting rooms for online service and it depends. I'm a casual employee, so it changes every fortnight. So you pay fortnightly. Roughly, I would say I get anywhere between $600 to $1,000 a fortnight through that job. It pays pretty decently and sorry, I should say very decently, really.

How much is that per hour? It's about $36 per hour. And then I get on top of that weekend, I guess, rates as well. Oh, loadings and stuff as well. And you get to work from home. You're just online making 36 bucks a night. Okay. Must be nice. All right. Yeah. So I do that. And then I also get Centrelink still, which is about 620, I think, per fortnight. So you can understand why living off 620 bucks a fortnight was a bit difficult without a job right yeah it definitely is and as a student even you just your costs over the year for rent and food and even textbooks to study like it's more than that absolutely so yeah you do often see people having to work but it's nice that the top-up exists because I know it's not the same for lots of other countries tell me

what's your big money goal at the moment we talked about fertility we talked about you having a partner? Is it property? Is it this fertility stuff? Is it being able to move regionally to be a regional doctor? What are your big money goals? Yes. At the moment, my biggest money goal is actually going overseas for a trip. Oh, you know what, babe? You deserve it. What does that look like? Yeah. At the end of the year, we're hoping to a few of us go overseas and have a bit of a break before we start working. Are we celebrating the fact that we're graduating as doctors like oh how cool so um we're hoping to do Bali in Japan which will be fun and at the moment flights and accommodation for Bali are costing us about 1200 I'll say and we haven't

really costed Japan yet but a bit more expensive but I feel like it's really reasonable at the moment yeah like super reasonable I would love to visit Japan and everyone in my team except for me has in the recent years. And apparently it's incredible. Like Jess and Beck rave about Japan. They're both the biggest Japan fans. So I feel like it would be rude not to try given they've got good recommendations. Yeah, give it a go. Well, yeah, I'm very excited. So we're hoping to do that. I'm aiming to save, I think I'll be lucky if I hit eight grand for that, but I am hoping. I feel like that's reasonable. That's reasonable. And also that would be a good holiday. yeah I agree for two locations yeah yeah so that's the plan that's the big money goal at the moment

and then I think the plan after that is to kind of start saving and look at property then oh I love that all right let's go to a really quick break on the flip side I want to know your thoughts about investments and debt and then your best and worst money habits I feel like as a med student you've probably got a few savvy habits that we can learn from so guys don't go anywhere. Money Diary store, Nigel, as you've become known on this episode, we are back and I'm really excited about this episode. I feel like you are one very engaging to talk to, which is why the first half of the episode was very rich and very long. I have adored talking to you thus far, but it's also been super interesting. I want to know though,

as a med student who has gone from, you know, earning $100,000 to then being on Centrelink and having $0 in savings, what are your thoughts on investments? Do you have them? Do you think about them? Like, what does that look like at this point in your journey? Yeah. So, I obviously have some super up my sleeve. So, at the moment, my super's sitting at about $31,000. Oh, honestly, not that bad for being 30 and having studied for so long. Yeah. Yeah. I worked out I'm in like my 10th year of university, which is crazy. I feel like that's a common doctor experience. Yeah. So I suppose the only issue with that is that I had a couple of years where I wasn't contributing at all. So I obviously didn't get that compounding interest. But we're aware of it

and that is okay. And let's be honest, I feel like there is a misconception that doctors earn the big bucks always. And that's not necessarily true, but it is a steady and good income. So once you do get to that stage, we can probably build it back up. Yeah, exactly. And I'm planning to do that. So yeah, aware of where I need to work on it. And then in terms of other investments, I have started, I was very nervous, but I did start dabbling in shares. Who is she? I love this. You'll be amazed at how much money I've put in there. I put in $5 a week. Yeah, that's perfect. and why would I be amazed? Like that's literally consistent. What we want is consistent investments always. Yeah, exactly. So I'm up to $40 in chassis and I lost about $1.50 of that. So

we're doing well, but that's fine. Investing is good over the long term, short term. Sometimes it can feel like you're being kicked in the teeth. Sometimes you look at it and you're like, what the hell? That's so rude. But we're in it for the long term and we're in it together. Yeah, exactly. So yeah, that's kind of what I've got going at the moment for investments and hoping to just continue that on. How have you picked your investments on Sharesies? Because like, I mean, we talk about it all the time, but Sharesies is the platform on which you're investing. Once you're there, sometimes people get analysis paralysis and go, oh my gosh, Bea, I didn't know what to do, so I didn't do anything. How did you pick your first investments

on that platform? Yeah, so I definitely did get analysis paralysis. I downloaded it like six months ago and then I was like, panic, let's put this to the side. It's so common. Yeah. And then I started kind of looking into it again a couple of months ago and I just decided that single, I guess, companies weren't really, I didn't want to have to watch it really. So I chose ETFs. So I think I have a vanguard and I'm going to say Betashares. I don't know if that's how you pronounce it, but it's. Yeah. Betashares, whatever you want to call it. Yeah. I mean, And I do know the CEO of BetaShares and he's fantastic, but I haven't actually ever clarified if it's BetaShares or BetaShares. So I hope that I haven't been talking to him directly

using the wrong one. And that's just something to give me anxiety later at 3am. Carry on. Yeah. So I have a couple of ETFs and I haven't really gone too much further than that. I just put in five bucks each week and see what happens. How good. The plan is to just kind of keep it going. And then eventually next year, I'm hoping to essentially get like a financial advisor and see what I should be doing with the actual income I'm getting and how to split that. And now I know you got analysis paralysis at the start and it took a little while to pick what worked for you, but now you're there. Are you like, oh, this is good or this is overwhelming or what does that look like now you're invested?

Because I feel like so many of us are actually still stuck in that analysis paralysis area of like, do I pick individual shares? Do I pick an ETF? Oh my gosh, I've decided ETF. What ETF do I pick? Like, are you okay now? I would say I'm like halfway there. I'm definitely still like confused at some points. So, I'm still trying to like look into the ETFs and what they, I'm definitely looking at what companies they actually are invested in. Love. I am trying to kind of like see what their pattern is over time and having a look at that. But other than that, I haven't really delve too much further into it. I'm aware that I can and I could.

She's a work in progress. I like that. Yeah. Work in progress is my thing. It was your theme when you wrote into us as well. You said financial status, work in progress. So I do love that. Yeah. And I think it will be forever, but you know. So talk to me about debt. Do you have any debts owing to any human being or financial institution? Yeah. So I've got a couple. So obviously I, like I said before, I've got the debt that I'll be paying back to my parents. That's why I said human beings. I was like, I know what's coming.

Yeah. So I'm very lucky that it's interest free, but the sexiest kind of debt, let's be honest. I mean, let's take away the fact that the unsexiest kind of debt is money that you owe to family or friends, but interest free, very sexy. Yes. Yeah. So I have around about, I would say seven and a half grand. That's just from the fertility preservation treatments. And actually it might be a little bit higher because I think there's a car service on top of that. oh my gosh of course one thing after another yeah but aside from that I also have the lovely help debt loan so at the moment my higher education loan is sitting at $88,000 and I also then have a student startup loan which is a loan you can get via Centrelink as a student it's a

semesterly payment or yeah yeah loan every month and how much is that yeah and my total for that is $11,200. So, in total, yeah, I'm looking at about $100,000 in debt. But we do need to stipulate the difference between good and bad debt. I think that, you know, the idea that if we put on paper, this money, Darius, is $100,000 in debt. That's really overwhelming, but it's actually you putting future you first, like that help and hex debt. Mine used to be six figures and it was terrifying at the time, but that's what's helped to get me where I'm going. And it's obvious that you've been really purposeful. You're like, I really want to be a doctor. I'm really committed to this career. Over time, yes,

it will impact your cashflow, but nobody, well, not many people have the ability to pay their education upfront. Like to me, that is wild. So having that makes a lot of sense. The student startup loan, I think makes a lot of sense as well because it's, you know, lumped in with help and hex and really does help you get ahead. Like I'm assuming here that that student loan has meant that you haven't had to further rely on your parents. Yeah, exactly. So that's again, really sexy and putting your education first and then the seven and a half grand plus the car service you owe your parents. Like that's, you know, you again, putting future you first. So while it can seem overwhelming. I love that it's not like personal debt. It's not, you know, racking up a

whole heap of debt on credit cards or personal loans. Whereas when I was in $40,000 worth of debt, they weren't good debt, babe. Like it was me racking up terrible debt. So, I think that there's a difference there and this is putting future you first. So, overwhelming, yes, but not unobtainable. Yeah, absolutely. It's kind of like daunting, but it's also not that daunting. it's fine. I'll pay it off eventually. It's good. All right. Well, I want to know, let's change the narrative. What's your best money habit? I feel like over the last few years, you would have had to get a little bit savvy with the cash. So what's the best money habit you could share with our community? Can I have two? I think I have-

You can have as many as you want, honestly. Great. I always ask for one because I just set the bar real low. And then if you give me two, I'm like, we've doubled it. Yeah, great. I think my first one, and to be honest, it's probably not my hack. It's more mum's hack, but I've definitely had of instilled from a young age if you don't have the money for something don't buy it so I've never had after pay I've never had a credit card I've never kind of gone down that road if I can't afford it I can't afford it and so I think that's been a really good I guess lesson for me to have learned early because I definitely have the personality type where I get attached to things

I want to buy all the things I need for it and then I'll do it and then I'll get bored and then try something else so yeah I can definitely get tap happy but anyway that's probably my first I guess hack is that I don't have any of those. Good. That is a very good thing to have been instilled from a young age. Tell me about what your second good money habit is. Yeah. So my second good money habit, I have become a very savvy shopper. So there's a local fruit and veg shop and they do like a checkout box of all the things that are what they call going off, but I think will last two weeks in the fridge if I make it work.

Yeah. And I feel like so many people are like, they say one brown bit on a banana and they go, that's awful you're like no it's not it's a brown bit on a banana it means it's ready to eat yeah exactly so honestly they get me through like the week they usually have a good selection and then nine dollars nine dollars yeah for a big box of fruit and veggies massive box like it will get me through a whole week easily and I basically go there first what yeah it's crazy I know where you live but I'm coming yeah shop at your local fresh fruit and veg place honestly I think that's genius yeah and it's like a cute day out like I do it on a Sunday or a Saturday usually a weekend anyway and I'll like go get a coffee I'll go to the fruit and veg shop see what they've got if

they've got a box I get it if not I just like buy a couple of bits and I usually make like a risotto with all the veg and just chuck bits in you're so smart I love this and you know what's hilarious in this economy your coffee probably costs more than your fruit and veg box literally honestly And then I go to like IGA. IGA's are underrated for meat, honestly. They always have really good deals. So I'll go from the fruit and veg shop to IGA, see what deals they've got on that week. And then I'll go to like Woolies or Coles for anything else I need. And I keep a really good stocked pantry. So I keep like all of the, you know, a pasta, a rice, a tomato, tuna tomatoes. Like you can do anything with a tuna tomatoes. Oh, you actually can. You're a genius. I feel

like I need more of your budgeting tips for fruit and veg and like making creative risottos because sometimes I stare at my sometimes well-stocked pantry and I'm like I've got nothing yeah nothing yeah I do the same thing when I really do when I really do yeah so that's probably one like I guess hack that I'm pretty good at yeah I love that you rated yourself a c plus at the start of this episode so I need to know what what's your worst money habit because I feel like you've been pretty good thus far. So there has to be a really, really, really bad money habit to be bringing down the rating. So we need to know what it is. Yeah. I would say I'm very tap happy. Like I just won't even think about the purchase, even if it's like buying three coffees a day and not realizing

I've done it. And like, I mean, let's be honest, you're a med student. You deserve that caffeine bed. You deserve it. And in the hospital, actually, this is not, I'm diverting back to the tips. If you're a med student, it's kind of like a hospital hierarchy. The most senior person on the team will buy coffees for the team oh nice yeah it's like a real thing so like the further you go in your career you get more money but it's mostly to pay for coffees of other people so yeah okay that's fair yeah so that's I guess a hack as a med student is stay till the end of award rounds but anyway for the free coffee if anything yeah and you need it at the end of award round like that's when you need six coffees so you're a little bit tap happy and we're not tracking our budget and expenses in

the way that we should be is that what I'm hearing I'm terrible at budgeting yeah I'm really trying so I would say in the last year I noticed I was really bad and I started to like I changed my bank from you know CommBank the old uh the old Dolomites decided to try something else out finally branched out yeah yep and I am using up at the moment and I did create like all the different savers and I've been doing that now which has actually been working I'm definitely saving more money and following I guess like the cash flow system that you kind of speak about often. Oh, are you? That's exciting to listen to like the podcasts and stuff about budgeting. I love this for you. I've genuinely listened to that podcast, the one podcast about cashflow

and budgeting probably like five times. I'm like, wait, am I doing this right? Let me try again. Okay. I can make it a lot easier for you. I'm actually going to gift you my money masterclass so that you can go and do the videos and have the spreadsheet and all of the stuff. No one should have to listen to my cashflow episode that many times. It's like a thank you for doing the money diary, but also an apology that you had to listen to it that many times. So I'll set you up with that after so that you can start that. But I think that that will really help, especially if you've been already trying to follow my model. Yeah, I'm trying. I love that for you, money diarist. I mentioned just before that you, at the start of the episode, rated

yourself a C plus, but you've gone on to tell me how resourceful you are. You've gone on to tell me that you're a med student. You're working while doing your final year of med. That to me is insane. I don't know many people who can do that or even would be willing to try. But you still rated yourself a C plus because you were, quote, a little bit tap happy. Like, let's be honest, budgeting cash flow when you don't have the biggest income and you're still relatively reliant on Centrelink and part-time work. Like, I don't think you're a C plus. I think you're a bit better than that. I'm not going to argue with you over it, but I do think you're better than that. But right now it might feel like you're a C plus because finances are tough when you're in that

circumstance. So hopefully after having a conversation, you're feeling a little bit more positive about what you've been working towards. Yeah. I could probably move to a B minus, but that's as far as I'll go. That's as far as you go. All right. Well, you know what? I'll take it and I'll check back in with you when you're a proper baby doctor. Money Dice, I have adored this. Thank you for coming on the show, Nigel. It's been really, really appreciated. But also, you've been so bubbly and so fun to talk to, which is why this recording took so long. So I apologize to anyone listening, but also you're welcome for the extra content. Yeah, I'm sorry. I took a lot.

No, I adored it. I've had the best time. Thank you for sharing your story with the community. I know they're going to love you as much as I have. No, thanks so much for having me. I really appreciate it. And hopefully, I guess if people are in similar situations, they know they're at the very least not alone. 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

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