She's On The Money - MONEY DIARIES: Well On Her Way to 100k!

Episode Date: June 4, 2023

Try and catch your breath as you listen to this story! This Money Diarist is 21and is working 3 jobs with the goal of saving $100,000 in two years. She's one year in and on track but is working 70- 80 hours per week across multiple jobs. Growing up she watched her mum endure several abusive relationships and this is driving her determination to never be financially dependent on anyone. We can't wait for yo to meet her! 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 to talk to one of our incredible She's on the Money community members all about their story. It's my favorite thing in the entire world. Let's jump straight into it because this week we got a message and it went like this. All right, before I get into it, I do want to give you guys a little bit of a content warning. We are going to be discussing abusive relationships today. So if that is not something you are ready to hear. We have a heap of different, literally hundreds of different

episodes you could listen to. But if you are ready for this content, we are diving right in now. Hi, Victoria. I'm 21, living out of home and working three jobs with the goal of saving $100,000 in only two years. Currently, I'm one year in and I'm on track to reach my goal. This means I'm working 70 to 80 hours per week as a full-time chef and as a part-time supervisor at Coles. On my day off, I deliver for DoorDash and for Uber. Watching my mum endure several abusive relationships is behind my drive to never, ever be financially dependent on anyone. The She's On The Money community have helped me so much, and I cannot wait to share my story. Money Diarist, I can't wait for you to share your story either. Are you joking? What a hustler.

Oh, it sounds so weird hearing it back. Is it inspiring hearing it back? Like, does it make you proud? It does. I've realized how far I've come, so it's good. You're a queen. I love it. Let's start off where we usually start. Money, Doris, I want to know, if we asked you to give yourself a money grade, what would you grade your habits from A through to F? I would probably give myself a B minus. Oh, a B minus. I want to learn more about that. Obviously, we're going to dive into it.

My favorite question, though, let's dive straight in. Can you tell me a little bit more about your money story? I spent most of my childhood with my mum. My parents divorced when I was just before two. She never obviously had the best luck in a relationship. She got herself in a few sticky situations. The longest one was about seven years and yeah, he was very abusive physically, mentally, financially. That was one of the reasons why mum didn't leave was because of the money aspect. When she eventually got herself out of that, I lived with her a little longer, but ended up moving in with my dad, just with everything going on in the area we were

living. Her ex was showing up at my school. There was a bit going on. I lived with dad for a few years. I started working at 15. I worked full-time hours whilst at school. Full-time hours while at school? Pretty much yeah. Oh my gosh did that burn you out or really impact your ability to get I guess a good quality education? I was doing VCAL because at that time I was doing a school-based apprenticeship so I was only at school most days four times a week. Not really like I'm someone who's always been very driven and I work better mentally when I'm busy. Yeah fair same. So I'm someone who can't sit still. Yeah. Same. Literally same. Like that's why, you know, you guys can't see this because we're recording, but like I move around the studio so much while

we're talking, like I just can't sit still. I feel like it's a certain personality type because I know you've probably got girlfriends that say the same thing. They're like, how on earth do you work 70 to 80 hours a week? And we'll get into it, but friends think I'm nuts. Exactly. And some people who thrive on it and some people who can do it for a short period of time and then get burnt out. there's so many different people in the world and we all you know thrive in different ways so I'm so interested to hear how you do it all right tell me more tell me more so just before my 18th birthday I had to leave dad's wasn't really feeling safe so I lived with Nen up until I was 18 and had left school at the start of year 12 to start my apprenticeship full-time and I saved up money

and I moved out on my own in my little unit that I've been in for the past three years Oh, how good. So you moved out with your nan and now you're living in your own little unit. How did you get to the point where you were able to afford your own unit? Was it something that you'd been saving for ages or, I don't know, I just feel like going into your own unit at that age, that's a lot. I had to share house for ages and I could only afford like 700 bucks a month rent. Like what are you doing? How are you doing it? It was tough because at that time I was a second year apprentice and had no other income I got a little help from Centrelink youth allowance because obviously I wasn't living with a parent at that age so I got exempt from that so I was

able to use that it was a lot I didn't save a lot at the start because I obviously didn't have a lot after I paid my rent which was like $210 a week at the time that's a lot at that age yeah it was scary. Yeah, I needed to do it. And I love my nan and pa. I really do. But yeah, I don't know how to describe it. I just felt nurtured in a way that I hadn't been nurtured in a very long time. So it was very suffocating. That's fair. But that's also, I don't know, they were probably trying their best, right? Do you still have a good relationship with them? Oh yeah, 100%. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're angels. I love them for it. This is all a bit too much. I need my own space. Yeah, like it was all out of love and I love them dearly for it. But yeah.

Sometimes that can be a little bit too much. I totally resonate with that. All right. I want to know a bit more about work. So when it comes to work, we know that you work as a chef and you're also a supervisor at Coles. But can you talk me through what that is, what your jobs are and how much money you earn? Okay. So full-time chef, I earn 65 a year. It's roughly a thousand take-home a week. I do, depending on the week, 15 to 25 hours at Coles in the evening as the service manager, supervisor, which most weeks is about 350. And then I do DoorDash on my two days off from my chefing job, which I can get around 300 after tax per week.

How good is that? You're killing it. Yeah, I can't sit still. I was about to say, but does it kill you? You're getting burnt out. I feel like that's a lot of hours that you're spending not on yourself. Yes and no. There are some weeks where I do struggle, but at the end of the day, I know what I'm doing it for. So that's a massive drive. So talk to me. Obviously, that's the next question. What's the big money goal? Obviously, we're saving $100,000 in two years and you are doing really well. My producer let a sneaky go and said she saved $57,000 so far. How are you doing that? Because that is crazy, but also why are we doing that? So there's a few bigger ones. The biggest one's a house. Obviously with the

market at the moment, more scared than what I was at the start, but I have about $35,000 saved in that, which has a long way to go still. I am saving for a new car because obviously with the DoorDash, I'm very much adding Ks onto my car. Yeah, that's fair. That's something that I think a lot of people don't consider when they take on DoorDash or Uber or any type of delivery service, right? Yeah, the Ks add up so quickly. So I'm putting about $150 into that each week because I'm hoping I won't have to take out a loan when I buy the car that I'm in now, like I didn't have do for my first car I am also doing a little savings with my partner which I put about 250 in a week yeah and then all my little ones and I'm investing and talk to me about that you can't

just drop oh and I do a little bit of investing and not share with me I'm literally Victoria like I am obsessed with investing you can't say oh I do a little bit of investing talk me through that what does that look like? So at the moment, it's just income sec. Just into the ETFs, I've got about $12,000 in that at the moment. Obviously, my super, which is sitting at about $15,000. I pay a little extra tax a week too, just to be safe. And I also have an emergency fund of $10,000, which I kind of see as an investment for myself. So you're telling me you already have an emergency fund saved. You're saving for your first home. You're saving for a new car, you actually contribute every single week to savings with your partner and you still

think you're a B minus. Like we'll talk about this later, my friend, but I am confused. One of the most overwhelming things I think from our community is talking about investing, but not just talking about investing, knowing where to start. So I want to know, you mentioned before ComSec, how did you come to the decision that ComSec was the right platform for you? And I guess, how are you then allocating your money on that platform? Like what are you choosing and why are you choosing it? So I have a couple of their preset ETFs. I started out in Rays and Sharesies, but I feel like with everything going on, I wasn't concentrating enough and doing enough reading into it. So I thought if I pick an ETF that I really like, I look into that a bit more

and I've just been investing in that. I tried to put 200 away a week. That's a lot. Yeah. That didn't work out? But most weeks it does. Occasionally it doesn't. But if I can't hit that, I just have the goal of $500 a month. So we did some maths before. You said you get about $1,000 a week from being a chef. You said about $350 from Coles and then maybe $300-ish from DoorDash. You're then going and spending, you know, $250 a week, putting that into your savings with your partner. Obviously,

you're saving for a house, a new car. Are you a budgeting queen? Because like, I don't know how I would do what you're doing. Like that is a lot of money. Yeah, I don't leave a lot for myself. I was about to say, tell me your budgeting strategy. How does that work? Because this is very impressive. You are 21 and I can't quite believe it. I'm like, how did you do it? I kind of just have a thing set up on my notes on my phone that I get my paycheck. I think I do it every three months roughly. And I write down everything and how much I'm earning. And then I break it up and then readjust it every three months when I need to, because obviously things change. But yeah, I don't leave a lot for myself. And why don't you leave a lot for yourself? Is

that because your bigger goals are more important to you? Is that just because sometimes we fall short? Is that they talk me through what that means for your lifestyle? I'm too driven and I'm too stubborn. And I feel selfish and angry at myself if I spend too much money each week. No, no, that's bad. I'm not saying spend more, but I think that money shouldn't really have any level of judgment associated with it. And that sounds like maybe you're being a little bit harsh on yourself. Probably. That's the general vibe with me. All right. Let's go to a really quick break. And on the flip side, I want to talk more about debt, but also I feel like you've got some really good money habits to share with us. So guys, don't go anywhere.

All right. Let's dive straight back into it because I am arguably very impressed. I cannot believe at 21, you know how to do this. I want to step back a little bit to your money story though. So you were talking about how you grew up with your mom and then you moved in with your dad and then your Nana, now you live on your own and how, you know, you watch your mom into several abusive relationships and it just kind of never seemed to end, but you're the type of person who now wants to be super financially independent. Something that usually happens in those circumstances is you often see, like, let's just say a child follow in their parents' footsteps, because usually that is role modelled as an acceptable relationship, right? So how did you know that that was something

that you wanted to break the mould of? And what were the steps that you took so that you were like, all right, well, I'm going to be in a different or a better position? Because often, what would you say, like, education isn't as accessible in those circumstances. So tell me how you did this because apart from the fact that you're a killer saver and an epic worker and have the best work ethic I've ever seen like this isn't something that just comes naturally so where did this come from I need to know I guess just seeing the pain she goes through and knowing that if she had had the money there she would have been able to leave earlier than what she did it's probably the biggest thing I just I don't never want to be put in that position and yeah I don't really

know how to describe it no it's really really wholesome so what were your first steps because you started working at 15 was the driver behind that to get some independence or was it to get some cash or was it to help the family or like how did that start uh wanted a car very common reason to get a first job yeah yeah so saving for a car I ended up having to actually lend I think it was $13,000 to mum to get her out of trouble. And did you have that saved at that age? Yeah, I think it was about 16, 16 and a half year. Well, she didn't ask, but it started like $200 one week, $200 the other week.

So I was getting most of my paycheck. Yeah, wow. And how at, you know, 15, 16, did you feel about that? I was scared. I was scared I wasn't going to get it back. But at the same time, you know, like the word bankruptcy was thrown around and I couldn't imagine mum having to go through all of that and she still had my little sister.

So, yeah, I wanted to help her and I guess her car didn't seem that important. No, absolutely. I feel like I'm so proud of you that you were in a position where you could help your mum. Is that something that you think has really driven you to go, all right, well, now I've seen that circumstance, I need to be fiercely independent?

Yeah, 100%. I'm stubbornly independent. and I think it annoys my boyfriend sometimes. That's not the worst position to be in. So talk me through your emergency fund. You said before, look, I've got $10,000 sitting in an emergency fund. How did you pick $10,000, and at what age did you start establishing that? I started establishing it at probably the age of 19 roughly.

I worked it out at the time that it was about five to six months' worth of my expenses. So like if for some reason everything went wrong and I didn't have a job, I was covered. I finished saving that about I think just before I started this big savings chunk so it was about 20 just yeah so you had 10 grand just casually in an emergency fund at the age of 20 yeah just casually sitting there at the age of 20 I was trying to work out how I could take on more personal debt it was really yeah I don't recommend it I was also spending every single dollar that I

earned. In fact, I was really, really good at going out every weekend and being like, I've got 50 bucks. Well, we're not coming home with 50 bucks, are we? That's four drinks. Exactly. Exactly. In this economy, like that is at least two drinks nowadays. So it's one of those things where I look back on it and I'm just, you know, and you shouldn't do this. You shouldn't compare your journey to somebody else's at all. But I feel like innately, we all just immediately do that. And I look at you and I'm like, you're a baby, you're 21, you have so many years ahead of you. You're going to be so financially successful. This is so

exciting. And then I go, oh, at 21, I was the circus. Like I was questionable. So talk to me about debt. You said before you're going to save for a new car and you don't want to have any debt. So do you have debt? And if so, what is it? I don't have any debt. I've never had any debt at this point. Yes. So talk me through the idea of potentially taking on some debt. How does that make you feel? Is that something that, you know, you want to do? Is that something where you're like, look, I really need to do DoorDash. So maybe getting a new car is an essential expense for me. The only time I really want to take debt on at this point in my life is to buy the house. I feel like a car is something I can budget for each week. I guess

to say it's if I was paying off a loan, like I'm making it an obligation that I have to put that away. So paying the loan off before I get the loan. Very fair. So talk me through your experience with debt. So, you know, having grown up and money obviously was a point of contention in your relationships. I know that you lent money to your mum, but was that because she was in debt or was that because she just didn't have an income or like, where does this aversion to taking on debt come from? My mum being her very loving and trusting self paid off her partner at the time's debts no and he left so then mum was couldn't get on top of everything and yeah so she was working full-time but yeah she just couldn't get on top of it all also she just sounds like the most

wholesome human in the entire world she just trusts people too much and does the best thing for everybody else but not herself yes that is my mum oh my heart it breaks me when we just don't have the level of financial education that we deserve to find ourselves not in these positions. Like she did not deserve that. People have taken advantage of her because of her kindness. And now she's the one that's on the back foot. And that's not how the world should work. Like it blows my mind. Growing up, I feel like you've probably learned to be very frugal and it sounds like you do have some pretty good money saving tips. So I want to hear them. Right now I'm meant to ask you what is your best money habit, but I actually just want to hear all of them. So let's

start with what you think your best is, and then I'm probably going to ask for more. Being strict with my budgeting, I think is probably the biggest thing. Like I live by my budget. And if for some reason I fall short one week at Coles, I'll do extra door dash to make up for it. Like I'm stubborn in the fact that I don't want to budge from that set budget each week. And when you say you're strict with budgeting, can you talk me through what that might mean. So a lot of people think that maybe strict with budgeting means you write down every single expense or being strict with budgeting might be really constricting yourself to a certain amount that you spend every week. How do you go about that? So I have my, I think it's about $150

a week to spend on things that I want or need and I don't go over that. So is that food and fuel and like talk me through what that actually is made up of. Food, fuel, and if I want to do anything. 150. Yeah. That's like some normal people's entire grocery budget. Are you like a wizard grocery budgeter? Like talk me through, what are we buying at Coles? Well, my partner and I do HelloFresh, so we split that 50-50. Yep. Stunning. But we don't just eat dinner for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So what are we eating for breakfast? What are we eating for lunch? Like I need to know because this is wild. Like you're spending $150 a week and that's my entire grocery budget. It's not coming from a judgmental place. This is coming from like, hey, I think I can learn

from you. Please teach me your tips and tricks because I think you're a wizard. I don't eat breakfast most mornings. Neither do I. So that's pretty good money saving hack. Terrible diet tip. Terrible. But this is a money podcast, not a diet podcast. So it makes sense. Definitely shouldn't be on it if that's the case with lunch I'm lucky at my chef job we can make a toasty so I'll have a toasty for lunch that's a good hack become a chef yeah I like it how good so you usually have like food at work and stuff and obviously that would bring it down genius absolutely genius when it comes to stuff like fun though what to you is like fun and what is something that you just don't let yourself budget for and are you going to enable yourself a bit more freedom in

the future or do you just think this is what makes you most comfortable? I definitely want to give myself a bit more freedom. I think, especially since dating my boyfriend, I've kind of had to learn that I have to sometimes be a bit more lenient and go out for dinner and go out for breakfasts more and stuff like that. I'm hoping once this big two-year saving things is over, I can allow myself to cut back a little bit on working and hopefully find some hobbies. Yeah, no, that would be epic. When it comes to this $100,000 savings goal, like let's pretend you hit the $100,000 and we are wham, bam, thank you, ma'am. It is sitting in the bank. What happens on that day? Are we then buying a house? If so, what does that look like or how

does that work? I hopefully have a house, depending on the market. I have yet to see a broker, so hopefully find out what I can borrow and stuff I would like to keep one or two nights a week at Coles just to give me that little bit of a buffer and I guess outlet to do something and then yeah just chill at home watch tv I'm pretty boring so am I don't worry don't worry my idea of a really good night is one wine on the couch and then I get to be in bed early after a really good shower, like 10 out of 10, like very excited about that. So talk to me about this $100,000 savings goal. That is a massive goal and you're going to need some pretty good money habits to get there. But I want to know, are your money habits going to be continuing after you get to

that $100,000? Or like, what does life look like then? Because at the moment, you know, you said before, I really want to be a little bit like kind of myself and give myself a little bit more wiggle room and, you know, maybe pick up some hobbies. What does that look like once you reach that goal? Well, depending if I have enough money for a deposit, hopefully I will drop back significantly. I will stop doing DoorDash. I will just do hopefully one or two nights a week at Coles on top of my chefing job. I just like having that little bit extra, just if anything pops up, everything's okay. Just letting myself just be a bit more free and not so strict with my 70 to 80 hours of work a week yeah that's a lot a lot like that is double what normal people

are actually doing especially in such physically demanding jobs so like if someone says oh I work 70 to 80 hours in a desk job I kind of go oh okay like I used to do that too like I get it it's exhausting but like as a chef you're in a kitchen and that's like fast paced the entire time you're in a kitchen like it is hot it is steamy it is yelling it is like from my perspective I watched Gordon Ramsay at least four times so I am very educated on what a kitchen looks like but is that right like are you just always on your feet if so how are you looking after you? I've been definitely pretty busy doing services I don't know I've never really had much of a self-care kind of I guess routine probably just coming home at the end of the day having a nice shower and getting

into bed yeah fair is my underrated self-care yeah underrated doesn't cost anything yeah which which you love so I think there's honestly nothing better than a good shower though like if anyone wants to argue that my dms are open but I want to know let's flip this on its head I don't know if you've got one but I want to know what do you think your worst money habit is one thing I struggle with my budget is sticky to a budget when it comes to gift giving yeah okay I'm terrible at it you are your mother's daughter you are too generous my friend yeah so tell me about what that looks like like how do you feel when that happens and what are you usually spending too much on is it because you're not planned enough or is it just because you get too excited like I do

about giving gifts to people yeah I get too excited I have little sub savers I put money into each week which covers like birthdays and Christmases and everything but yeah I can't stick to it I'll say something and even though it's way over budget but I know that they'll love it so I'll still get it love love I can resonate with that but at the same time I feel like that might be some level of self-care for you because I know that I feel really good when I give gifts I know that can sound really lame to some people and if that does sound lame to you that's because gift giving is not your love language and that is totally fine but for me I just I feel so good when I'm able to help other people or gift them something that I know that they'll love and I do

that all the time like I end up going over budget because I'll see something I'll be like oh my gosh money diarist would be obsessed with this particular one thing and then I can't buy them anything else, right? Yeah. All right. I want to talk about your money grade again. At the start of this episode, this is wild to me, you said that you're a B minus. You then proceeded to tell us, hey, V, yep, I have five to six months worth of my expenses built up. I'm earning a lot of money from literally three different jobs where I work 70 to 80 hours a week. I'm investing $200 to $250 per week with ComSec. Wild. And I'm just creating this super secure financial future. I have 15

grand in super. I care a lot about that. I want to buy a house. I want to buy a new car. I've got really clear goals. Why did you only say a B minus and what would it take for you personally to become an A in your eyes? I think just achieving the goals. I feel like they're very ambitious and I get worried there's going to be a point where I can't do it. So I just think at the end of that, just being able to say, okay, I did that. And doing a bit more research into a broker probably is the next big thing that I think I need to do. Oh, you don't even need to research it. I've got a recommendation. Zella Money, go talk to Kate or Nikki or Jack or Kristen. Like the girls are wizards. I'm biased because

it's actually my business, but that's what I do when I'm not podcasting and getting to talk to our community. I am literally running a mortgage broking business. So I'm a little bit biased. I'll definitely have to look into it. All right. Well, thank you so much. Unfortunately, that is all we have time for today. Marnie Dyrus, I cannot tell you how much it means to me that you have spent your time having a chat with me, even though we had a few technical difficulties, and you have

shared such a beautiful story with our community that I know so many people are going to learn from. Thank you. Thank you so much 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 Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN 321 649 27708 AFSL 451 289.