She's On The Money - MONEY DIARIES: The MUST listen to Single Mum of 2!

Episode Date: August 6, 2023

This Marine Scientist, Gen X, single mother of two teens is a MUST listen to! She has come from zero financial literacy and navigated divorce, and her journey of growth and education is utterly inspiring. She joins Victoria to reflect on previously living paycheck to paycheck (in spite of her high earnings) and her transformation into a budgeting QUEEN! She's also teaching her teens to invest in their own Superannuation. We know you're going to love this one! 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 we get to talk to one of how incredible she's on the money community members all about their money story. So let's jump straight into it because this week I got a little message and it went like this. Hi Victoria, I'm a Gen X single mother of four, two Gen Z kids, two fur kids, and I'm in the top 1% of income earners according to Forbes. But I'm still struggling due to the cost of living and no financial literacy. That is until she's on the money, which is turning my life around and setting

my kids up for success. Money Diarist, welcome to the show. Thank you very much. I'm glad to be here. I'm so excited. As you guys know, I read those for the first time live on the show, so I never know what to expect, but oh my gosh, I'm so excited. I want to hear so much more about this journey, maybe because I'm really self-absorbed. I'm not sure, but let's start off with the same question I always ask. Money Diarist, what grade would you give your money habits if I asked you to give them a grade from A through to F? Well, I would actually give myself a C because even though I am a high income earner, that hasn't always been the case. And I certainly have only really just learned how to deal with that money probably only in the last 12 months. So I now

know a lot more and I'm definitely on an upwards trajectory, but I certainly don't have a lot of money behind me. And yeah, I wish I'd learned all about this a bit sooner. Oh, I'm so excited to learn more. Let's jump in. My favorite question in the entire world. Money Diarist, can you tell me a little bit more about your money story? Yeah. So I think up until about probably 10 years ago, I think I really just ignored money. It was just like, to me, it was just air or water and just came in and out and you used it and you didn't think you needed to save it up for later or anything like that. And yeah, I wasn't really motivated by it. My parents wanted me to be an engineer so that I'd have a good income, but I just wasn't interested. I was interested in the

environment and science. And so really I just ignored it. And I worked from when I was 14, but I always had enough for what I needed and I live within my means. And yeah, it just wasn't something I thought about a whole lot. So yeah, I've kind of landed where I am just through hard work and default, but it certainly hasn't been, you know, through any real sort of need or want for money. I was really just interested in the work that I was doing. My parents didn't have a lot of money, you know, they worked really hard. It was just me and my sister and we always had enough, but they certainly didn't have any investments or any particular financial literacy that I knew about. I vaguely remember them planning for retirement at one point, but

yeah, it was just something we didn't talk about a whole lot. So my focus was really elsewhere. Wow. I'm so excited to hear more about, I guess, how much that has changed. You have two Gen Z kids and two fur kids, both have different requirements. How do you think they approach money? Well, I guess one of the reasons that I thought about coming on Cheese on the Money is because listening to it, I really wanted to change things for my kids. Both of them are very similar to me in that they want to, I mean, my daughter's keen to work for the UN on human rights, and my son doesn't quite know what he wants to do yet, but they're really not motivated by jobs that earn a lot of money. And I've been through a bit of a tough time in the last 10

years. And so I really wanted them to be able to do what they wanted without sort of having that pressure. And so now with all the knowledge that I've gained in the last year, I'm basically setting them up for financial freedom very, very early. They're only 18 and 16. And yeah, I feel positive about them following their dreams like I have, but without sort of having those money worries behind them. So you're going to love this, but they're actually, even though they're only 18 and 16, they put $10 a fortnight into an investment account and they put $10 a fortnight into their super. Oh my gosh. Of course they do. Yeah. Yeah. So they were, I explained it all to them and they were both really keen and yeah, they've kept it up. So I guess, yeah,

I'm really excited about that, that they'll have that literacy that I never had this whole time. I love this so much. I'm so excited about this conversation and I want to know a bit more about, I guess, you said that money has kind of like been ignored until, you know, recently. How has that impacted the relationship you have with your kids? Were they like, mum, why are we talking about money all of a sudden, like we don't want to do this or were they really interested in it or like how have you, I guess, bait and switched them because money could be really boring? Yeah, yeah. Look, I guess that the whole impetus for that was a separation, a divorce and separation, unfortunately. And so I guess I went from a situation where I could kind of ignore money to

I couldn't bury my head in the sand anymore. The separation itself was really difficult. I had to get lawyers involved and we didn't have a lot of money. And so, yeah, it was just all of a sudden being conscious of what was going in, what was going out. And I was, you know, quite confused going, I'm this high income earner and yet I just still don't have any, you know, spare money. It all goes on the house and the kids and everything else. And so I guess, yeah, I don't know. I just spoke about it with the kids. I mean, we did look at the Barefoot Investor, you know, 10 years ago or whatever. So they had that little bit of intro, but not really much. But then recently been, you know, walking them through their investments and everything. And yeah, I think they really

kind of understood the whole compound interest and starting now we'll put them in good stead. So yeah, that sort of worked out with them. And the fur kids, they're just two spoiled Labradors who get everything they want. But bring me a lot of joy. Yeah. And everything Labradors wants are snacks. Everybody knows this, but I am the biggest pet person in the entire world. So if I know someone's got pets. I'm like, tell me about them. He's got pictures. So we'll get to that later. I want to know though, you mentioned before that you're in the top 1% of earners, according to Forbes. Tell me, what do you do for work? How much money do you earn? So I work for the Australian government. I'm in the area of environmental protection and I provide science advice to

lawyers and government decision makers. So that's really my bread and butter of work. That sounds very fancy. Let's be honest. Yeah, it's really quite stressful and you have the potential of getting taken to court all of the time. But my job involves, I guess, holding big businesses to account and making sure that they prevent, reduce and minimise their environmental impact. So, yeah, it's, you know, I did used to think that I was very lucky to be in this job. My ex-partner used to tell me I was lucky, but I suppose after listening to your podcast and everything, I've kind of gone, well, yes, it is a bit lucky, but also... It's not really luck though, is it? So it's really hard to get here and I'm really passionate about what I do. So yeah, and now the how much do I earn question? I actually earn over 250 grand a year. So it sounds like a lot of money.

I do also have to say that about 90k of that goes in tax. So, you know, I don't get that part, which is fine. I'm happy to put back into health and education in the community and all of that. so yeah it is it does sound like a lot of money but I did do a little breakdown I'm not sure how much you want to go into it oh no if you want to go into detail I am sitting here for the whole time please I myself was like where does all this money go go my friend I would love to know yeah yeah so besides um the tax um about 30 grand of that goes to super so that leaves about 150 left. My mortgage is around 40k a year. This is the big one. My groceries. So for myself and my

two children and my two pets is about 20k a year. So that's like a lot. By the way, my daughter is a celiac. So I feel your grocery pain in that respect. Yes. Everything is twice as much and you get half as much so yeah and it tastes half as bad like it's not even good yeah yeah it's not do you know in Italy they actually test from when kids are very little whether they're celiac or not and if they are they give you a subsidy to afford their products that are gluten-free isn't that cool yeah that's amazing you're like I would love that yep I have a funny story about that related to child support but I had to go and do this special extra process to get some of the kids' school fees paid by their dad

and in it they say, you know, do they have any other medical conditions and I put down that that was celiac because I had just incurred a whole lot of expenses but they decided that they didn't think that that was, you know, much more. That's literally a medical condition, so sit down. Yeah, but they just said no, no, sorry, that doesn't count. Absolutely not. Yeah, it was quite disappointing the way that it fell out.

But anyway, it is what it is. My next biggest cost is their school fees. So my kids don't go to like a really fancy private school, but they do go to a Catholic school. So that's about $13,000 a year. Their dad does have to pay some of that through child support. Does he pay like, I'm just pervy to know about like the breakup there. Does he pay like half or is it less than half?

Were like you the primary breadwinner in that circumstance? hands. Yep. So I have a lot of info about child support, which in my view doesn't work when the primary carer is also the primary financial bringer in for the family. The way that the system is set up, it does really work when you have a person that brings in the most money is not the primary carer. But when the same person is that, I feel like it's really unfair. And luckily for me, I earn a good income, so it's actually okay. But I get really quite frustrated with the system because a lot of the things that happen to me which I can cope with I just think of you know other women who are not on high incomes and pay the way that payments get delayed and

broken down it breaks my heart to be honest and I've kind of decided that when I'm out of it because my kids are nearly both 18 and then I'm out of it that you know I will actually I don't know what do what but I have worked in governments and maybe there's some I love this I love the passion I'm so excited about it because I've heard this so many times as well that it just it doesn't end up falling evenly no and while sometimes a few dollars here and there like let's be honest it's not worth arguing over we're not talking about a few dollars here we're talking about thousands of dollars difference when you're the primary caregiver and the person who's funding most of it yeah that's right and it's not even that it's like some things are just process based

where it's really unfair for the the person who is receiving and I feel like they're such easy fixes. And I know how government policy works. It's really hard to change, but yeah, I do think of other women and I just think I'd really like to get onto that and do something. I don't know what. To advocate for them. No, that's so kind. I love that. I absolutely love that. I can see where your daughter gets it, where she's like not money motivated, but she wants to work with the UN. I was like, can't wait to hear what you do for work, babe. Cannot wait because the apple does often not fall far from the tree. Yeah. Yeah. So is there anything else in that budget? We got to school fees. They go to a Catholic school, 13 grand a year. Yep. My insurances. So I pay,

and look, I don't know what you would say about this, but I actually pay about 10 grand in insurances. So for the whole family, I have health insurance, trauma insurance, TPD, death and income protection, because I am the primary income owner for the family. feels right? Home and contents, car insurance. And now of course, my daughter has a car as well. So her insurance, so insurance, insurance, insurance, 10K on that a year, which is a lot. I haven't had to claim on it. So that's a good thing, but that's what it is. We want insurance to be the biggest waste of money in the entire world. Correct. Yes.

Because it means we didn't have to claim on it. And that's a really attractive position to be in. I do want to know as a high income earner, how did you set up your TPD life and income protection insurances. Is this something that you just set up through super or like what was the plan? Yeah. So I did have it through super initially, but then I went to a financial advisor and she tweaked some of it. So two are still through super, but two we took out and I do have to go and review it again because it was set up for like in the event something happened to me, the kid's school fees would still be paid and the mortgage would still be paid and everything. But obviously there's a bit of a change coming up. So with that change, I'll need to review them

and, yeah, see, maybe I'll have to pay less, which would be nice. Which would be really nice. It would be really nice, yeah, yeah. No, that makes sense. Most financial advisors will split some inside super and some outside super and to, I guess, stereotype completely most advisors. I don't want to say most advisors, but you know what I mean. When I say that, they'll pick TPD or total and permanent disability

and life insurance to sit inside superannuation and then they'll pick trauma and income protection to sit outside of superannuation because of the tax differences and also the claiming benefits, depending on whether you can claim it inside super. Because the interesting thing, just as a side note, because I'm passionate about finance, right, is if you need to claim on, let's say, income protection, the claiming criteria of income protection might be very different to what superannuation is willing to release the funds for. So we've seen it historically where someone might be able to claim on their income protection and it gets paid into their super fund because it's owned by the

super fund or the policy is owned by the super fund. And when they apply to the super fund to have the money let out, it doesn't get let out because it doesn't meet the same criteria. So it's all about just protecting you. And if you haven't thought about that, not you personally, but people listening to this, please do because it's so important to just get the right structure. actually in this episode side note to my gorgeous producer analisa let's put the contact details for my friend phil at sky wealth in the show notes because that is something that everyone needs to set up properly and get done and i promise it doesn't cost thousands it really doesn't i mean if you earn 250 grand and you have two kids and a lot of insurances that might cost you 10 grand

but that's across all of your insurances including car insurance which is honestly pretty palpable let's be honest yeah yeah what have you got next on our line next I have got house maintenance so this is a thing about being a single parent who works full-time is firstly I do get help around the house you know for gardening and things like that cleaning I just don't have time for it so I do that but then also I you know just yeah it's not a new house it's an old house it still needs you know like you just I don't know light bulbs changed and I had a roof leak and just things like that. So yeah, a lot of just little things like that, little costs like that on that. I've got eight grand on utilities and then for transport.

So I own my own car, but for fuel, bus and train and everything is about six grand a year. So that's myself and the children. Then the next one is kids sport and my sport, which is about six grand which is expensive for sport and that's because my daughter is into dancing which is an expensive sport. Dancing is expensive. And recently in the last few years which is something I constantly think should I be spending that money on but my sport which is yeah has only really just happened has been horse riding. Oh she's expensive. Oh yeah yeah yeah and I don't even own a horse or anything I just go once a week and ride. Not yet it's a slippery slope we've had a few horse friends on the show before they've all let us know how expensive it is yep yep but

for me it was a mental health thing like it was really the only thing that got me through it's exercise when you don't actually feel like you're exercising I love animals and I just had a half an hour window where I used to take one of my kids and I found that in the week that was just the most peaceful half an hour that I had so yeah I am constantly revisiting that going is that an expense that I really need and it's not. But for my mental health at this point in time, it was, yeah, it was really, really appreciated. I think it's really important as well. Like I get when you add it all up, you go, wow, that's so much. But like, let's be honest, someone adding up their F45 membership, they might absolutely adore it. It would cost about the same per year. Like we're

not talking about a ridiculous amount per year. And I mean, you probably get less sessions, but they might mean a lot more to you and I think having learned a little bit about your money story like my friend I think it gets to stay at least for now so that's sport and then we've got medical as I said my daughter's a celiac my son has optical issues so you know all of that probably comes to about 5k a year the dogs actually I've made a mistake before their groceries weren't included in my grocery bill I've got 4k a year for their groceries and their health stuff and then the rest of it is like three grand for you know gifts for my family and friends and the kids and then there's only about two grand on beauty and makeup and stuff and myself and my daughter

we don't spend much on that at all and then the last big expense or actually I had 1k for coffee and one K for alcohol and one K for entertainment subscriptions. And then the other more complicated one is about two grand a year. I have a partner who lives in Melbourne, so I'm in a long distance relationship. Ah, yeah, you've got to travel. So I only pay for airport parking and taxes because generally I get frequent flyer points. Oh, smart. Yeah. It's mostly from just using a frequent flyer credit card for all of my bills so everything goes on that yeah oh how fun yeah so I have that and then the rest of it is just you know whatever's left over for clothes and shoes and tech like phones and airpods like the things that you have to pay for for teenagers so all of that stuff that

they need they really need otherwise they might die yeah exactly exactly yep so that's it but very recently, I now only have just started putting together an emergency fund because even on having a high income like that, I had my garage door break. I had my hot water system break. I had my washing machine break. I had my, like we have a swimming pool because I stayed in the family home. Salt dispenser that broke. It just, you know, I had a year. It all adds up. It all adds up. I've loved this. I feel like this is such a good breakdown because you're right. being like, oh, I earned $250,000. People would be like, I don't know what she's got to complain about. My friend, life adds up. Life is expensive. And you know what's more expensive? Teenage

children. I know you said, oh, their school fees aren't as bad as private fees, but that's still $13,000 a year that they spend, then dancing, then everything else that goes along with it. And I think it's interesting because obviously, let's be honest, lots of people have done the exact same thing or much less. But when we have that income, we're going to make the most of it and live the lifestyle that we want to live. And you've obviously gone through a majority, I'm assuming, of your children's lives having a dual income household where that was never a stretch. And it is such an ask to change your entire lifestyle, to go from, hey, daughter, I know that life's really hard because you're a teenager right now, but mom and dad aren't

staying together and it means you have to cancel dancing like that is not something that most people would want to take because you want to keep some level of normalcy you want to keep them in their routines and keep them happy with their friendship groups and I think that there's just obviously privilege fantastic yeah at the end of the day this is normal like at the end of the day it it just makes sense and I don't want you to feel like I know you wrote in you said I'm in the top 1% of earners and all of that. And I think that you're obviously very aware of the privilege that is, but like you worked your butt off to get here. Like, yeah, that's really cool. My friend, go ride your horse. But I think the thing is as well, it's also that that was a really big part

of trying to keep the kids' lives, trying to keep the impact of the separation away from them and trying to continue on. And, you know, the house is a really big expense for me, but I didn't want to move and it's not even a big house it's a really average house in an average suburb you know the higher income is really quite new to me it hasn't always been the case and so it's not like I had a lot of money behind me and now I'm you know trying to pay off my mortgage and everything because I'm actually not that far from retirement so it's kind of just sort of sneaks up on you and you think yes you've got this big income but without you know I'm sure that all of your listeners because they've you know got their financial literacy so early they would be in

so much more of a better position than what I am at my age because they will have started so early and they're not trying to you know still maintain this kind of lifestyle at the end of the day when they've only got you know 10 or 15 years before they want to retire so I think you know one of the things that I wanted to get across is that life does get more expensive and when you've got you know two teenage kids and you you're really covering the cost of three people so you know whatever you're budgeting for yourself for clothes and hair and fuel and food you go to times that by three and the income's still only coming from one person. So yeah, life does get a lot more expensive. So starting early is just, yeah, it's worth, absolutely worth as well. And I wish I'd

had the knowledge to do so myself, but yeah, it's, I'm getting there. Better late than never. I have to ask, I have to ask, you wrote in and you said, I'm a Gen X single mum of, you said four, obviously that's a 16 and 18 year old and two gorgeous Labradors. you've said I'm close to retirement but like I don't know who your Botox technician is I don't know what's going on babe but you look like you're in your early 40s are you actually close to retirement are we going to share ages on this podcast I know they can't see you like I'm sharing my age my I'm 48 I've never had no you're not so I've never dyed my hair ever I've never had any anything else done and people always say that to me and I honestly I don't know like if you said

it was my 40th birthday last week, I'd be like, of course it was. Like, that makes sense. Of course. Like, absolutely not. But when you were dropping, yep, these are my kids' ages. This is what I did. This is how I grew up. And I'm like, oh, something in my head's not like, has she got an extra 10 years up her sleeve to achieve what she's achieved? Both of my parents have aged really well. I think it's good genes. So I'm really, really lucky in that respect. Let me know where you buy them because I need a lot of those. I do dye my hair because if I didn't, my friend, I'd be half gray and you would all be like, what the heck? I am getting some gray hairs now and my hairdresser is laughing at me because I'm freaking out going, oh my God. And she's like, my friend,

Victoria was half gray by the age of 20. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I love that so much. I love that you're working on an emergency fund and kind of like finding your own feet. I do want to know, what is your big money goal? You mentioned like you're trying to smash down your mortgage, but like have you got specific money goals at the moment? Yeah I really do want to pay off my mortgage and have enough money to retire at 60 which I will be struggling to make 65 is probably likely but the other thing is that I do want to move out of the family home because it is quite expensive for me to keep and maintain it and you know kind of want to just start fresh as well but I haven't worked out how to make that happen yet because yeah if it depends what suburb I move

to. And if the kids are still with me, I kind of feel like they're both going to be with me through university. So I'll be solely supporting them for the next few years. I mean, look, they're great kids. They both work and they contribute and everything, but it's still a lot of money. It's still a lot. It's still a responsibility at the end of the day that you're having to make accommodations for and it's important to take into consideration. That's right. So yeah, aside from being able to sort of have enough money to retire if I want and paying off the mortgage. My new partner and I both wanted to do a trip together, like an overseas trip, which we'll probably put off until our kids have finished school.

And that will be 2026. Oh my gosh. But that's a goal. That's a goal to work towards. And that's so exciting. Yeah. And I guess that's another thing as well is like sometimes with the budgeting, which is, you know, helpful for your community to know is that sometimes it's really quite hard to, because the timing of things that you want to do with your kids is dependent on what year they're in. So you might want to go on a holiday with them at a certain time, but then you've got to work in with when their exams are and all of that. So you actually do have to plan well in advance and know that you've kind of got this little window and then they might not want to come on holidays with you anymore and those kinds of things. So yeah, it is tricky to sort of balance

everybody's needs. You're not just balancing your own needs, you're balancing what they've got going on and they go through phases where they want to come away with you and then it's all about their friends and then they don't mind so much again. So a lot of the time, yeah, it's really, you're really juggling and trying to make those memories while you can, you know, it's tricky. Oh my gosh. All right. Let's go to a really quick break. I have so many more questions and we'll get to them in a hot minute. All right, Money Diarist, we are back and I feel like this has been one of my favorite chats in more recent times. I feel like it's just so enlightening to see where you're coming from and you've broken down your budget in such nitty gritty detail that I'm like,

I love this. Maybe I should make every single money diarist tell me exactly what's in their budget. I just find it genuinely so interesting. You mentioned before that your kids have started investing, but I want to know, have you started investing? Like are we walking the walk or are we just talking the talk, my friend? No, I haven't started investing for myself. So well, aside from my super. So again, I'm really lucky because I've been with the government. They have 15% super. So my own super is actually 500 grand. Oh my gosh. No, it isn't. Yeah. That's so sexy. Yeah. Look, I'm really, really happy about that because like I said, you know, I used to, up until a year ago, I honestly used to get the super statements and just go, oh yeah.

I didn't even have an idea about how great, you know, and how good that is and how lucky I am to have that. I really didn't know. So no, not lucky. We're removing that one. Remember how hard you've worked it has been hard work I have worked since I was 14 so I have that but also in the financial settlement I did get some of my ex's super as well because I was actually part-time for about 10 years so I didn't you know I was looking after the kids I was a primary caregiver as well as working part-time so I actually have another 130k of his and that that one that's a really interesting one because when we did the settlement I didn't know that I was entitled to that. And he really tried to keep lawyers out of it and not to get legal advice

and kind of said, oh, you know, if you do that, it's going to be really expensive and all this stuff. It's more expensive for me to not, babe. Yeah, that's right. And that's how it turned out because I wouldn't have got that if I hadn't have had lawyers go, no, this is the breakdown. This is what, you know, how we're going to do. Yeah. So I have that as well. So they're my only investments. Only, that's a lot. I'm very impressed. That's a lot. Yes. But yes, I'm very, very fortunate to have that. And look, I don't, you know, I guess I would not be even looking to retire at 60 if I didn't have those. So yeah, I'm, I'm really, really happy. I suppose I don't have any actual, well, I do have investments in my name because we invested some money for the kids

in some direct shares that was probably about 10 years ago. Now that is worth about 11 grand and they are in my name, but the plan is that I will transfer them to the kids' names when they're both over 18. Although that's another thing I want to talk to my financial advisor about is that obviously the tax is on me at this point in time. So now that my daughter's 18, it might be good to transfer them to her name, but then I've got to split them between the two kids. So yeah, I still have a few things to work out with that. And then more recently, because the dividends were being paid into their trading account, I spoke about it with the kids. And so they did choose some ComSec Pocket ETFs. So they've got that as well. Again, it's all in my name, but it will be

transferred to them once they're 18. So I don't have anything that's mine. Actually, it was super, but I don't have anything that's mine. But my plan is that I'm actually changing jobs. So I'm actually starting a job, a new job in a few weeks. Congrats. How exciting. Thank you. And I actually want to say thank you to you because listening to the podcast gave me the confidence to actually ask for a better deal than what I was getting. And the better deal, it wasn't more money, but because the super was going to be less than the government super, I did ask for the package to be the same and they agreed. Ah, money win. That's such a good outcome. Yeah. I would never, ever have done that. I would have just gone, oh yeah, you're going to match the salary. That's

great. Yeah. I would never have done it. So thank you. Ah, I love that so much. It gives me goosebumps when people actually make tangible change. Yeah. But my plan, and you're going to love this even more is that my plan is that for the additional money that won't be going into my super anymore, I am going to invest that. So I'm just going to compartmentalize it, not going to see it, not going to have it come into my cash area. I'm going to just have it straight into investment so that it's working the same for me as my super was. Obsessed. Yeah. I love it. Talk to your financial advisor and she'll set it all up and make sure that you're ready to go. I love that idea so much. I want to know, we spoke before about you having a mortgage. So I want to know

about debts. What debt do you have? And tell us a little bit more about that. Yep. So I have my mortgage, which is about 460 grand. Kind of the separation made me realize that we really didn't have a lot of money. Part of the reason for that is we had just done some home renovations. And so the capital on our house had been reduced through that. It was just the timing of it. So I do still have a sizable mortgage, which that's what I'm trying to pay down. I don't have any other debts though. So I don't have HECS debt. I was very fortunate to get a scholarship. I have got a PhD and I got a PhD scholarship. And you didn't write in with doctor in front of your name? Come on. No, I didn't. All right. Well, Dr. Money Diarist, how much

is your property worth in comparison to your mortgage at this point? It's probably about 700 grand. Oh, that's not too bad in comparison. Yeah, yeah. And the plan is to smash that down over a period of time before you retire and get that done. How likely is that to be paid off by the time you're 60? I think it's a pretty good odds because I guess I'm planning on my expenses being less with the kids growing up. And look, I think it's definitely will happen in 15 years, probably in 11 is my plan so yeah oh how cool but it's like you know it's all last minute stuff I just think gosh if I'd been applying myself to this all this time my life would be just really different but you just don't know what you don't know and you weren't meant to be on that path yet

and that is so fine now I need to know what do you think your best money habit is well this is a funny one but my best money habit is that I'd normally take my lunch to work so I work in the city, but I never, ever buy my lunch. And this has not been motivated by money, but what happens that when you get older is if you look at a piece of lettuce, you put on a kilo. So it was more about eating healthy than saving money. That's fair. That's absolutely fair. But also it does impact the budget because I feel like the piece of lettuce you buy at lunchtime is like at least $16 nowadays. Correct. Yeah. So that's a no from me. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. So that's a really good money habit that I'll, that I'll take, even though it wasn't actually a money habit. What are you

usually taking to work for lunch though? Are we making gourmet lunches? Are we doing tuna and rice? Like what does it look like? I do, I generally do like a fresh fruit and veg platter, which it's so funny because I generally use up all of the fruit and veg and you know, it's not old, but it's the stuff that the kids are not going to eat kind of thing. And I bring it to work and And I cut it up and I arrange it on a plate and it's like, you know, carrot sticks, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, you know, a bit of meat and olives and feta if I have it. And I put it all on a plate because I just go and get it, cut it all up. And then I just snack through the day because I generally don't leave my desk to have lunch.

But it's just like a last minute thing. I don't have to do any prep. And I get so many comments in the lunchroom when everyone sees it all laid out on a plate. They're like, wow, your lunch looks so good. And I'm like, I just brought what was left in the fruit and veg drawer. it's quite funny but um yeah no I find that works really well and then because you're sort of eating you're snacking I don't if I have a big lunch I just want to fall asleep in the afternoon so it kind of avoids that as well yeah that's fair I do tend to avoid pasta and stuff because

otherwise I think I deserve a nap and I'm not very good at self-control so I'll usually let myself have the nap I want to know on the flip side though because platters at work that sounds good I'm glad I asked lots of people are quite inspired by it apparently which is um yeah it's funny love I need to know though what is your worst money habit I have a lot of bad money habits I'd say the worst one is like my kids you know when they want something I really want to get it for them they aren't that sport though generally you know make them save up for things and all of that but I do you know because I have the means I do like to get it for them and you know that really happened because I've never really had a lot

of money my whole life. Like I didn't have it when I was a kid. I went straight to uni. I was at uni for a long time because I did multiple degrees and, you know, didn't have that much money. Then my first job that I got when I finished, not my PhD, but my undergrad was for 25,000 a year. And I just thought I'd hit the jackpot, you know. So, and then doing a PhD for a long time and then basically having kids. And so I went straight to, was out of work for six months and then working part-time. So I never really had like a lot of money. And so then when I got, I separated and all of a sudden I could spend money on what I wanted. I did go a little bit crazy because it was the first time ever that I had money. So yeah, a lot of stuff on the kids and, and also the dogs

too, probably my worst money habit. And I do also like clothes, but I'm really trying to rein that in. That's fair. That's fair. All right. Last question I have for you is at the start of our conversation, I asked you what your money grade was and you said a C, but then you continued to tell me about how the potential to retire at 60 is there, smashing down your mortgage. You gave me a really detailed outline of your budget and how that works and what that looks like. And we talked about super and how you are obviously killing it inside super and have plans to invest outside of superannuation in yourself, but also you negotiated to get some of your partners super when you went through a divorce. Like, I just feel like there's a lot going on there in a really good way. And you

spoke about it one so clearly, but also in a way that just made sense. So the real question I have for you now is, is C where you really think you're sitting at the moment? And if so, what's it going to take to get to an A? Yeah, I think C is really because it's about my money management, like in terms of having money, you know, maybe now it's a bit higher, but my own money management is literally only in the last year have I got on top of it. So I think I would still say C, but I think probably in a couple of years I will get up to a B and then hopefully by the time I retire, it'll be an A. So I could have made it at the very least. I love that you're still like, no, this is about me and my money journey. And I still feel like a C because sometimes we talk

to people and they're like, yeah, you're right. And being a bit harsh on myself. And I feel like a lot of people are going to be jumping up and down in their cars right now and they're like she is being harsh on herself she's an a but it's not really about what we think it's more about how you're feeling and how you're grading that and what that means and you're only comparing to past you we're not comparing to other people we're just comparing to the journey that you've been on and I just I'm so in awe of what you're creating and what you're doing and the life skills you're teaching your kids and that they're set up for success and I reckon they're so proud of you like there's no way they're not like it's just it's so cool to see your journey and I'm just so

grateful the one you wanted to tell your story but two I get to say that you're part of our community and like thank you I really really appreciate it honestly I do oh no thank you very much for for having me on and yeah I just also hope that your community is like you know they can get there too because if someone like me can get there with no financial literacy whatsoever then you know they're all going to be in such good stead. So, yeah. And thank you. Thank you for educating me and us all. And you've made a huge difference to my kids. You are going to affect their lives enormously. So thank you very much. Oh, my gosh, I love it. Well, thank you so much for spending some time with me today. I cannot wait to drop this episode. Everyone's going to love it.

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