She's On The Money - Money Wins, Housing Dilemmas, and a Surprise Car You Didn’t Ask For (With Strings Attached)

Episode Date: January 16, 2025

What would you do if your parents surprised you with a car… and then dropped a bombshell that there were financial strings attached? This week, we unpack a juicy money dilemma that will leave you stunned, and we’re not holding back. Plus, we’re diving into another hot topic: how to split housing costs with your partner when one of you owns the home. It’s tricky, but we’ve got the tips to keep things fair and drama-free. Of course, Fridays wouldn’t be complete without your money wins! From designer scores for pocket change to genius broke tips (free lattes, anyone?), this episode is bursting with the fun, inspiration, and real-talk advice you love. Ready for more laughs, lessons, and unhinged money chats? Check out out oh-so-bingeable Friday Drinks playlist. Listen here. FREEBIE ALERT: Join the She’s on the Money 30-Day Reset—your step-by-step guide to refreshing your finances, setting achievable goals, and starting the year strong! Sign up for free here. Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements. The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs.  Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708,  AFSL - 451289.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, my name is Natasha Nabanunga-Bamblett. I'm a proud Yorta Yorta, Kernai, Wolperi and Awadjeri woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on Awadjeri country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through. As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow. Let's get into it. She's on the money. She's on the money.

hello and welcome to she's on the money the podcast that makes personal finance fun especially on Fridays. It's our or my or I don't know, I think everybody loves it, but it's our favorite day of the week because it's the end of the week. But also we get our beautiful team together to celebrate you, the incredible She's On The Money community. Miss Jess Greachy is here to share our favorite money wins and confessions for the week. Miss Bex Syed is here to share some hinged and unhinged broken tips. And we're going to be helping to answer our money dilemma today, this week, Unrelatable, but it's about someone who got a surprise car

from their parents. Wow. But there are some financial strings attached. Okay, of course, yes. That's where the dilemma comes in. And something that you slid into our DMs about this week, we're talking about how to split housing costs with your partner when one of you owns the whole house.

I feel like this will be a good conversation to be having. But before we get there, how have your weeks been, my loves? You go first, Jess, please. Oh, very exciting. If you're listening to this first thing in the morning and happen to be in Melbourne, we are currently right now at the Australian Open, probably, to do a live podcast. What do you mean, probably? We are definitely at the Australian Open today, Jessica.

What if someone's listening at 6am? Yeah, like we're not up yet. I'm not there at 6am, definitely not. But if you're around, 12pm at the top court, come see us. Give us a squeeze. We're so excited. Oh my gosh, it's actually so cool. Have you actually?

No, never. I'm really excited. It is so fun. Not just to watch the tennis. This is probably not what the Australian Open want me to say because, like, we should be saying, go to the Australian Open. Just watch the tennis. That's what it's all about.

But, like, they have that top court. Like, it's all about the ground pass. Like, there are installations and activities. Like, Mecca is there. Like, they always have a beautiful Aperol Spritz stand. Like, it's about the vibes. Yeah. Like, so you get to watch a tennis, obviously elite,

but also the installations, the music, there's always, like, it's festival vibes, chill festival vibes. Yes, very Melbourne, isn't it? I adore it. It is so fun. But, like, also, guys, we're doing a live podcast at the Australian Open. I'm sick.

I'm sick. I'm sick with this. It's going to be so fun. But, Bec, that's what Jess is excited about. Are you excited about anything this week? You can't say the same thing. Oh, no. No, I was just singing it for letting me go first.

Damn it. Well, that's all I had. No, I'm just kidding. Actually, today is, it is confusing to say this because we're right now maybe sleeping, maybe the Australian Open, but also today is also my move-in day because I finally got approved for a rental. What? You got a new house? Yeah, me and my friend. Oh my goodness. I'm going to ask you about this offline. I know you would actually answer on the podcast, your address and stuff, but do not give that information away. That's so fair. We had been applying for a long time and it's just hectic. We went to

a few open like what are they open for inspections open for inspections thank you um yeah because I and open homes are for for selling a house and we were renting but we went to a few and it was like a concert in these houses it was like packed with people and I was like we're never ever ever moving getting back together we were applying as a couple so I think that's still relevant that Update, update, update. So you're living? We're living. With your partner now?

No, my friend's partner, but we're pretending that we're a couple so we can get a house. I was like, sorry. I fully was like, I missed a step. I know. Sorry, I didn't know it was. I just wanted to justify my change. Your friend's partner you are pretending to be in a relationship with.

I need to know. Yeah, well, just because we thought that would work. It did, it clearly did. It turns out it did, but the house we applied for, no, it actually went to them. Are you faking being straight? Because that would be even funnier. It would be.

But, no, there's actually also a girl. I love that. You didn't have to go too far. I was, yeah. I was worried about, like, oh, my God, boys, they're homophobic. But no one else applied for this house, so that's why we got it because it's very ugly. But I'm very excited.

And that's what I'm excited for. Home is what you make it. Home is what you make it. Thank you so much. I know you've been stressed, so it must be a big relief. Oh, my God. It's so nice to be like, the search is over, you guys. The search is over.

Do you help moving after the AO? That is so sweet. I think I'm just going to do it on, I think I'm going to do it tomorrow. Yeah. Instead. I was going to do it like straight after this, but whatever. See how we go. You'll be too tired.

We would have had a few soda waters. Yeah, exactly. I'll be well and truly so hydrated by then. I can't do it. Exactly. All right, let's move on. But before we get there, I'm carrying on what we picked up last year. I'm going to read you guys a five-star review that someone has left us.

Can't wait. So their username is I Love Sharesies. oh my god so funny i get it i get it i get it um they said i absolutely love this podcast i love money diaries and listening to all the different stories from listeners friday episodes are so fun listening to the girls love the dynamic of the three of you together i'm a in quotation marks elder millennial and have learned so much about investing and now my husband and i both have a account and love comparing together well done ladies empowering other women with skills and knowledge who runs the world girls girls incredible i love your username like i'm gonna send that

screenshot to the shares team and be like guys i get it i mean the passion for shares i feel like you've started picking up on your passion for shares that's all i think about is it actually like i feel like you're always like they are invested a little bit more today and i'm like Yeah. Cool. In what? You're like, the same thing. And I'm like, cool.

That's not how you meant to do it, but okay, that's great. No, that's perfect. That's literally it. That's what I do. Okay, cool. Consistent. I check it like three times a day. I don't know why.

It's like the same number every time, but I'm just obsessed. But that's all right. It's still there. So I get it. I love Shazies, whoever you are. I get it. Relatable content. All right, let's move on because we have a whole heap of money, wins, and confessions

from the community. Jess, take it away. All right, I'm going to start off this week with one from Justine, who said she bought a pair of Christmas earrings for this coming Christmas. They were marked down to 50. Oh, like for like 2025 Christmas. Yeah, 2025 Christmas.

I was like, Josie, you in an old thread? No, no, this is this week's thread. It was $6 marked down to 50 cents, and then she used her daughter's friend's staff discount and it came down to 40 cents. No, she didn't. She used a staff discount on a 50-cent payment? May as well.

Someone commented and said it's peak broke tips using a staff discount on a 50-cent transaction. And I agree, every bit counts. Honestly, that $0.10 in probably 10 years is going to be worth, I don't know, $1? Money win, we never know. Checking in shares, he's right now. Actually, compounding interest is probably only going to be worth $0.20.

That's not the point. Well done, Justine. Next, we've got a money win from Ida who said, if you live in Perth over the school holidays, public transport and the associated parking for public transport is free. Oh. Oh. Oh, that's actually really cool.

Yeah, she's saving herself a very tidy $30 a week, which I thought was good for anyone over in WA. Hey, that's nice. Like, obviously a little money win, but also some free cash flow for mum and dad to spend some money on the school holidays. Like, it's just genius. Never going to go astray.

Next, I've got a money win from Avine, and I did have to look up how to say your name, but I think we got it right. It's a bit of a story, so bear with me. Avine said that they had bought Qantas vouchers for Christmas pre-COVID. obviously COVID happened, had to cancel and they were issued a voucher. Fast forward, it's now been a couple of years. They used the voucher to book refundable flights to travel from Sydney to Perth. Unfortunately, they had to cancel and Qantas told them that they couldn't

refund or even reissue the voucher because it was over three years old. Oh no, that's not how it works. We're going straight down to consumer affairs. Not even an issue because apparently the day she was going to fly, Qantas called her and said, we're overbooked will you take a refund and Avine was like if I must but she got her cash back

she got her cash back I hope you ask them for like the compensation you get for cancelled flights as well oh true if you didn't send them an email girl

go hard or go home oh my god I was hooked that whole that's a great story really good story from start to finish there you go

also we learnt a new Irish name it's beautiful can you actually spell that out because absolutely so like her name's Avine

that is beautiful but how do you spell Avine Imagine my face, you guys, when I pull up my money win and I realise this is the name that I have to pronounce. A-O-I-B-H-E-A-N-N. Which, I get it, it's an Irish name. Like, it's like Niamh. And that spelling, they don't make a lot of sense.

They're beautiful names when you say them verbally. But, like, I'm going to literally ruin your name if I have to say it the way it's spelt. So we Googled it, turns out another beautiful Irish name. We listened to a long, long, long start of video and then finally got the name. We had to make sure that we were doing the right thing. We had to make sure. That's so true.

No, that's so true. I didn't want to massacre her name. Like, that's rude. How many people say her name wrong? She slides in and says, you still didn't nail it. I'm going to be a little bit upset. We really tried. Call me.

Next, I've got a money win from Emily who said she bought a cricket maker secondhand and it was still under warranty. She got it for $150. she's been saving for months and now she has heaps of money left over oh that's a money win you love your cricket love my cricket and now you've got lots of money to put towards extra craft supplies which i think i told my mom that you had a cricket and she bought herself a cricket did she oh judy judy what are you using a cricket for are you talking about cricket the sport no no oh sorry it's like it's like a vinyl it's like a vinyl cutter this is weird sorry sorry go ahead

It's like a vinyl cutter so you can like put pieces of like sticky vinyl in and make your own stickers and stuff. Oh, that's cool. A lot of people use them for like wedding DIYs or party DIYs, you know. Yeah, like vinyl cutting but then also you could like replace the blade with a pen and it would like draw on your things or like. Yeah, it's very cool. I can cut wood.

Like thin, very thin wood like bulbs are. Yeah, it's like a little crafty thing. For the sake of this episode, I'm going to pretend. And I know, but I'm absolutely going to have to Google that because I cannot picture anything in my head. We'll show you another YouTube video. Every day is a school day. The longer the better.

The longer it takes to get there. Lastly this week, I've got a money win from Cindy. Not a little bit of a journey, but a great ending. She said she had a small diamond fall off of her wedding band a few months ago. Luckily, she was able to save the stone and had it repaired by a jeweler. Unfortunately, it fell off again a couple of weeks later, and this time she didn't notice, so the stone was gone. she hesitated to go back to the jewelry shop to let them know what had happened but eventually

got up the courage went in and turns out the staff were actually very apologetic assured her that they will repair it and probably replace the lost stone free of charge oh so she's going to go in later this week to confirm the girl just needs to talk to her managers oh that's great as they should yeah oh yeah truly the repair didn't go very well yeah like that would be really annoying and often jewellery, especially if you're spending money on getting it repaired, I'm assuming has some level of sentimental value. Like, yeah, you're fixing it, but, like, I would, I don't know.

You don't want to be losing it because they didn't do a good job. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Well, those were fun and also I feel like Bec and I jumped on it really quick and we were like, consumer affairs, like, we're all over it. But, Bec, I want to know, what are your broke tips of the week? Yes, let me bring them up for you guys. So this first one comes from Liv who says,

This is your friend, Liv, who you've just been getting your friends to do your work for you again, Bec. Always. Honestly, genius. Work's not that hard. Exactly. This is from a different friend, Liv, and also someone I haven't met yet, someone who's a listener.

Internet friend. Just a friend we haven't met yet. Exactly. Liv says, delete and re-download the Maccas app for unlimited $2 lattes. Oh, my God. That's such a good one. Oh, no. How does that happen?

My mind was blown. I haven't tried it yet. Oh, we're going to try it. It's because I'm into French press at the moment, but I would like to try this. Oh, you're into French press. Yes, I'm actually a percolator girl now. Oh, that sounds very intimate. What's his French press?

It is very intimate. I don't want anyone talking to me or looking at me when I'm sitting in my coffee lady. I currently have a hyperfixation on a Montblanc coffee. Montblanc? Is that like a cream? Yes. So it is a cold brew coffee at the bottom. It has a sugar syrup that has orange in it in the coffee.

No, no, it works. It's giving Terry's chocolate orange. Okay, okay, okay. And everybody loves a Terry's chocolate orange. Oh, yeah. Are you joking? I don't love chocolate orange. I really like chocolate orange chocolate too.

Sorry, but I'm with you. I'm still hearing you. I do not. I'm sure you could forgo the orange for a month. You could forgo. No, the entire purpose is orange. Like, it is orange. Sorry.

Well, in that case. My husband was like, why would you want to mix orange juice with coffee? Are you insane? I completely agree. Yeah. But then they top it with, like, a cold foam. So it's like a cream mixed with orange and then there's nutmeg and orange rind on the top.

And, like, maybe I'm not selling it. I'm just kidding. It sounds lovely. It's actually my favourite. It's pretty crazy. We're not yucking your yum. We love that you love it. You're not yucking my yum.

Why not? The nutmeg sounds delicious. While a Macca's latte may not be a Mont Blanc. That's true. Constant free lattes do sound delightful. So off. She's sad. $2 lattes, Jessica.

Listen up. Sorry. sorry yeah no that's true maybe we'll try one day all right we're gonna try it because I love a Macca's coffee yeah this is so so good that is such a great I feel like I'm not a very good Melbourne coffee snob though and people always ask me because Jess you don't drink coffee Beck you do drink coffee but like I love a 7-eleven coffee same like and that's not a sponsored conversation I also love a Macca's coffee do you know what I love I love consistency I didn't love But when neither of them offered like oat milk and like my preferences because I was like, oh, like I don't really like drinking cow's milk because it makes me feel icky.

So like that's the reason I was turned off it. But a 7-Eleven coffee. Yes. Do you know how hard they would have thought about like the blend, the coffee beans, the actual machines they put in store so that you always get a consistent experience? Totally. And they do soy milk now. They do oat milk now. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. They do oat milk as well. There you go. I feel like I want to take credit for that. I think you should. I can't. I absolutely cannot. But I'm there every day.

I was there this morning. Like I mixed and you are a protein girly, right? You know the Rokebees? Oh, yeah. I love those. Yeah. So Rokebees is a protein smoothie. So you go into 7-Eleven.

This is my hack of the week. Apologies. This is a new segment. You go into 7-Eleven and you get the iced coffee cup. So it's a cup of ice. You put a double espresso in the bottom of that and then you pour the Rokebees over the top and then you have a 30-gram protein coffee. Wow. Oh, my God, Victoria.

I have. I'm a genius. You can say that. You can say it. It's okay. Everybody else is. I'm literally going to do that as soon as we finish. Yeah, and, like, it doesn't fit the whole thing,

so you get to have a little bit of the Roquebees. But, like, vanilla Roquebees tastes like melted ice cream. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm not mad. I'm going to drink that, get rid of the bottle, then I'm having my coffee, and it's a protein coffee, and live, love, laugh. Feeling as well.

That's a whole meal. That is a whole meal. For a couple bucks. Exactly, Manny. That's fantastic. Back to you. Sorry, thank you for letting me go off on my TED protein talk. So this one comes from Savannah.

I love the wording of this, so I'm just going to use it. And I'm so sorry if it's disgusting for anyone else. Oh, where are we going with this? The carcass from your Woolies chicken is good chicken soup material, which I totally agree with because, you know, you get your roast chicken in a bag. That's the word for it. Yeah.

And I guess that's the word for it. It did give me a little shiver. Yeah, a little shiver. Have you not seen my Instagram stories on the whole chicken thing? so you buy a chicken yeah if you do it at the end of the day it might be 50 off money win you can take all of the chicken off that and you can make the chicken salad mix so you can have that in sandwiches for the week you're then going to make chicken stock with the carcass you are right that is a great broke tip you are going to put like honestly so easy you're going to take jess with

the carcass um but you're going to like just chuck a carrot an onion some celery what honestly if If you've got vegetables that are dying in the bottom of your fridge, those all go in to the stock. Maybe some ginger, maybe some garlic. You're going to put that on the stove on low overnight or in like a slow cooker. I was going to say not on the stove overnight. You're going to surely.

I'd keep that flame burning. Surely. It's just how you roll. No, no, for H&S we did not make that recommendation. Anyway, you're going to cook it for a long period of time so that you then pour off the stock. then you're going to pour some pasta into the stock that is left over so like you've taken your chicken stock off save that for later chicken soup for dinner okay three meals one

chicken 50 off money win i do want to acknowledge the vegetarians and vegans because i used to be vegetarian i'm not anymore and that's like you know i can't like always that's my claim to fame like oh i used to be vegetarian as well i used to be vegan i yeah that's true and then i got pregnant and all I did also that's like I guess a public service announcement because sometimes I post things on my Instagram story like the Roquebees this morning I posted that I had made like a protein coffee and someone replied aren't you vegan right you would not be wrong if that was two years ago but I got pregnant and then all I did was crave red meat yeah yeah yeah yeah and for a long time I was like not not not just then what happened we went through the steak fritz

phase and it was delightful. All I wanted to do was eat steak and chips. And we did that every day for a week when I was pregnant. It probably is why I put on more than 30 kilos during my pregnancy. Pure muscle. No regret. Absolutely. Absolutely. And then my broke tip. Yes. So this is just a suggestion because I don't have any proof that it works. Fantastic start. But I do have proof that people can be interested. Anyway, the point is when we were looking for rentals and when I have historically looked for rentals, I would go on realestate.com and sort from oldest to newest. Oh, genius. That's actually very smart. Yes. And then I would see like, you know, some places are obviously ugly. And I think when you're like me or if you're like desperate,

you don't actually care how ugly it is because you just clean it up. Oh yeah, you wouldn't know. I didn't even know you could sort oldest. Totally. That's smart. These have been up here for ages. no one's renting them. And then when you go to apply, that's it. When you go to apply, you put it actually like the box where it has the rent, that's not blacked out. You can actually put in there what you would like to pay. And then I have had times when I was looking for rentals by myself and this is pre-rental crisis. This is like a few years ago. I put $10 less and the real estate agent would call me every time and be like, oh yeah, no worries. I'll see if the landlord is okay with this. I ended up getting a share house. So I don't know that they would have gone through

But that's just a good tip anyway. I reckon just try it. Don't ask, don't get. Exactly. Especially if it's an, it wouldn't work if you're applying for, as you were saying, like a property that heaps of people are applying for. Yes. But if you're picking old ones that have been on the market for weeks and weeks and they

just want to get a tenant in, you might get lucky. You might get lucky. Don't ask, don't get. That's it. Oh my gosh, I love this. So that's my tip of the week. That's actually a really good tip because I feel like in the new year, people are starting to think about, oh my gosh, like, I do want to move this year.

So we're all thinking like, should we, shouldn't we? Like, that's a great tip. I love that. Thank you. All right, let's go to a really quick break because I am chomping at the bit to get to the part where we get to talk about how to split housing costs with your partner if one of you owns the house entirely. But then we also are going to be answering a money dilemma, that's going to come first, about someone who got gifted a car from their parents as a surprise, but then it came with a whole heap of financial, like, strings attached. And I just think that's going to be juicy. So don't go anywhere.

Welcome back, everybody. Let's take a listen to this week's Money Dilemma. Hi there. Have you got a money dilemma you just can't solve? The She's on the Money team is here to help. Every week, we tackle your dilemmas, both big and small, to answer your most burning money, career and life questions. To get involved, simply head to our website and leave us a short voice recording and you might just find yourself on the show. Now, let's take a listen to this week's Money Dilemma. Hi, she's on the money team. When I was 17, my parents surprised me with a car. I knew they weren't going to contribute financially to the car, but I was still extremely grateful for the surprise. My understanding was they purchased the car

with their savings and I would pay them back. Prior to this, my budget was never discussed. The car ended up costing $21,000. I had $200 in my savings at the time and personally wouldn't have chosen a car worth that much. I'm now 22 and I paid the car off mid last year, but still contributed money afterwards into my parents' account as it was for savings. I ended up saving an extra 10K to contribute to my house deposit, putting me on track to purchase my first home this year. However, I've only just found out that my dad had actually gotten a loan out in his name to pay for the car. He didn't tell me and now I owe 10K in interest from the loan he took out. my dad doesn't seem to think it's a big deal and gets really annoyed and dismissive when I try to

speak to him about it which extremely frustrates me a loan is a big deal and that should have been my decision to make I also would have made more of an effort to pay my car off quicker to save more on the interest there's a side of me that feels like I shouldn't have to pay it even though I'm obviously going to I love my dad to bits but he's put me in a really annoying situation he's also sent me back 10k on my house deposit I would love your thoughts on this thank you oh my gosh honey I am so sorry that's crazy that is a lot that is not no when I saw the topic I was like oh this will be interesting a surprise car we don't listen to the voicemail until we're on the show our producer doesn't obviously knows that it's going to be a good one but like to get

our authentic reactions I don't answer no one on the show hears it until then I think we're all a bit like what yeah I think we're all kind of like speechless it just makes no sense that like none none of like from she just kept saying things and I was like what wait it gets more complicated it gets worse it gets worse oh my gosh that is honestly heartbreaking because it's obviously a challenging situation for you I am a bit shocked that he took out a loan to do that and then surprise like I don't know I'm trying to see it from their point of view and put myself in their shoes and they probably really wanted to surprise you with a car but that's not how you do that not not discussing what the spend will be not letting you know that there's interest like there's just

so many things that I go how did this eventuate yeah like how did that make sense because I agree like I'm sure that they probably were like really excited to give you a I'm assuming at that price point probably a relatively new car the big bow on it for whatever I'll be like oh my gosh here you go like you can pay us back over time but like not factoring in the conversations around how much and you know how long you've got to pay it off and that sort of thing is mind-boggling but also just like give you a shout out because it sounds like even though she sounds so kind right she sounds kind but also the fact that you were able to still save on top of that like that would financially cripple me I'll be like that's it for me and and I'm out

and I'm never all my hopes and dreams of like maybe owning an apartment one day I'm like I'm not going to worry about that for the rest of my life because I am financially crippled that's stressful right it's stressful I couldn't like you've had the choice taken away yeah not your choice exactly exactly and and to be able to still save on top of that is really really impressive um but absolutely I want to I want to completely 100% validate your feelings because like your feelings are very valid I get I'll stress that enough very very valid I think this is coming from a place of your dad having a lack of financial literacy because making that decision doesn't come from someone who fully comprehends how loans work and how that situation would

eventuate. And I obviously want to be able to see the best in everybody. So I'm assuming that he thought this was a really good idea for you. Like maybe he thought you couldn't get the loan in your own name and you were going to pay back the loan anyway. And he didn't understand how the interest was going to work on it. So it would cost more. And now he's finally worked it out. Maybe he's feeling, and I'm not justifying this, but maybe he's feeling a bit embarrassed and he's like, no, no, no, it was your loan the whole time because he can't afford to pay that. But at the end of the day, I feel like this is obviously a financial issue, but also a relationship issue. And he's quite evasive of having that conversation. So is there a way that you can,

like, I don't know what your ideal outcome is. So maybe sitting down and going, okay, the ideal outcome is my dad takes over that $10,000 of debt, or the ideal outcome is I feel comfortable paying that, or working out what your situation is. And then maybe instead of trying to approach your dad and being like, hey, dad, can we talk about X, Y, Z, saying, hey, maybe in a text, hey, I want to sit down and have a conversation about this when works, because I want to go through all the semantics and just really nut out what this means and why this happened and how it worked because sometimes when a conversation like this comes up, money is hard to talk about. We need to give people warning that we want to talk about it. It's like if you've been listening to

this podcast for ages and you're like, oh, I can talk about money. This is so good. And then you go to your partner who hasn't been listening to the podcast and isn't ready. And then you're confused because you're like, hey, Jess, you want to talk about this? And they're like, oh, what? No. And they get defensive and you're like, wait, what? It's just because they maybe are not ready for the conversation. I'm not saying that that makes it better, but sometimes we need to give people warning to have these conversations. The other option I would explore is maybe having a written conversation. That also gives you a lot of time to ponder your responses and maybe take the emotion out of it and just like jot down how you're feeling and what that means and like go,

hey dad, I'd love for you to have a read of this and respond. Like if that's something that could work, but I wish I could be like, this is what you do. But I don't think there's a right or wrong answer here at the end of the day there should have been a lot more communication about this situation and now we're in a pickle what would you do beck you said you'd just be ruined and you bury your head in the sand yeah i would but it is tricky because i feel like if it's like a relationship like a yeah like a parent and child and you obviously don't want to like throw that away oh if a friend did that we're done but like it sounds like you have a good relationship with your dad so it's not if i if a friend did that i think that would maybe be easier

in a way because it's like you're not throwing away the friendship but it's like you're obviously friends for a reason you're obviously friends because you have you share the same values and stuff like that and and you probably could i know it sounds weird but you could probably get through to a friend easier like i would be like hey like this like let's let's have a chat i don't want to you know you'd be but when it's a parent it's like there's a completely different upbringing and dynamic and maybe like your parents or the older generation might not fully understand the financial pressure of today's world. So there's a lot of differences, but whereas if it's like a friend or someone like your age or around your age, you can kind of explain that a

little bit better. I think that personally, I wouldn't want to build a resentment. I would feel like I would start feeling quite resentful, like, oh my God, you literally have changed. No matter how small or big, you've changed the trajectory of my life in a way that I didn't ask for yeah I didn't want you and I'm like trying to get on top of things and this is just like this thing that I'm I am grateful for but I also have to be grateful for has kind of ruined a few things about the way I saw my life going and no matter how big or small whatever so it's like it is a tricky one I would say I know we always like communicate communicate but yes I think saying maybe your parents or your dad doesn't know it's is so deep for you and maybe you just got to make

it that deep just be like on a human level I really want to talk about this because it is actually affecting the way I communicate with you so affecting the way I feel about seeing you it's affecting all these things and I want to have a really good strong relationship I want to maintain that and I want you to hear me and just make like make it deep make it emotional yeah and that's a really good take back I really like that I feel like that's probably the best take that I've heard on this table we haven't heard Jess's though true it might be better yeah no it's not gonna be top of that. I completely agree about approaching it from like an empathetic human side. I don't know if this is because I haven't had a car loan. The math isn't mathing to me.

It can math in that situation. A two-year loan at 50% interest. Not 50%. He could have got like a payday loan for this. It could have been a really high interest loan. It might not have been through like a tier one banking or lending partner. I'm going to make some grand assumptions about the lack of financial literacy in this situation and say that we were taken with it. Like I was actually having this conversation the other day and I did some maths on my phone, completely separate, but I think it will provide a bit of context here that you may or may not be interested in. So the other day, and this is just to talk about, I guess, how a lack of financial literacy or just like not getting it ends up ultimately impacting you

significantly financially. So the other day I was posting about a company called Before Pay, and this is their ad. I'm just showing the girls. It says, repay only $105 for every $100 you borrow. Simple, right? And then the ad goes on to say, no interest, no late fees. Like that sounds pretty good, right? So like from, right. So they're implying flat $5 loan fee. Like if you're in a situation where you need to access cash fast or get your pay today, I think that a lot of people would find that really attractive and appealing. But if you go and assume that that is 5% interest, you would be incorrect because the example they have used is not an annual interest rate. So they haven't annualized that. They've just said, hey, if you borrowed $100

and you paid it back within the month, it's a $5 fee and that's great. But if you calculated an effective annual rate, which is essentially taking that payment, dividing it, doing some maths, I can share with you guys the maths if you want, or you can just Google effective annual rate formula and it will come up. But when I did it, it actually comes out as an effective annual rate of 81.64% when it is viewed as interest. So even though BeyondPay's fee is like a fixed amount of $5, they are misleading you because if you extrapolate that out to the entire year, it becomes an effective annual interest rate of 81.64%. And the rate kind of shows you that the cost of borrowing over a short period of time is similar to a pay loan and like short-term

credit but then you compare it to like I guess stand loans and credit cards and the interest is so much higher which is why some of the people using this see the fees as comparable to high interest loans or they are really comfortable with it because they're like oh it was only five dollars and they signed up to it but then they had it for a longer period of time and it became an exorbitant amount of money. Oh, so is that $5 added every single? So it's more about taking that $5 and extrapolating it over the year. So as an effective annual interest rate. So if it is 5%, they would have just said it's 5% because that's a good loan. Like a 5% personal loan, you don't get that. Personal loans start at like 15%. Credit cards

go up to 24% here in Australia. So like they're advertising something that feels a lot sexier, feels a lot more obtainable. It's only five bucks back. It's not $5. It's not 5% because if it was 5%, I would be lining up, borrowing money for 5% and investing it in the share market, which on average returns 9.2% each and every single year over the last 30 years and making bank. That is not how that is working because I'm telling you right now, if that's how it worked, people with wealth and financial literacy would abuse that system to make themselves even wealthier. But they are not because that's not how it works. Okay. So that kind of shows, Jess, that like you're like, oh, that math isn't mathing.

They could have gotten caught up in a borrowing system or a scheme that made a lot of sense. And they're like, oh, it's only an annual fee of like $395. dollars like that's so fine I can pay that then my daughter's going to get this loan and it will be fine but they haven't looked into the terms and conditions and how that actually works yeah so if you do the math sometimes it doesn't work out and you have to triple check the math because you're like that can't be 81 it can't be an effective annual interest rate of 80 it is yeah I would say and maybe it's the skeptic in me but if you are now effectively responsible for this loan I'd be asking to look at the documents because it is a little I don't want to be the

person that like it's your dad and i know that you want to trust him and love him but at the same time it's a little bit suspicious to me that you're like wow i've saved ten thousand dollars and that is exactly the amount of money that he owes on the intro yeah maybe i'm a bad maybe jess is the one with a whole brain cell and then it's you and i that share one between us Maybe we are. Whoa, that is so. I just think that like, and the way that you go about it, I would still very much echo what you said, go about it with kindness. But I think like you are very much well within your rights if you are responsible effectively for this loan to say, hey, like I'd really like to look over the

paperwork and understand how it all worked. And like, you know, just, you know, find a way, obviously don't accuse anybody of anything. But you could also like, just to add on to that, you could also then call the lending facility and be like, hey, I'm in this bit of a pickle situation, didn't realize like, what can we do? And if you actually have the $10,000, this is like a money hack, I suppose. If you owed, like, let's say you have a credit card, Jess, of $15,000 and you had 10 grand cash sitting in your bank account, you can call them and be like, hey, I can get rid of this entire debt today. I've got 10 grand for you, but you have to wipe the slate clean, get rid of that. I'm not saying they will every time, but more often than not, a company

is willing to take a really big sum of money as a lump sum payment and wipe off a bit of it because the likelihood of them getting the entire amount is very low and they love that. So like I have seen lots of people in our community renegotiate. I'm not saying you'll get five grand off, but I've seen people who have said, oh, if I did this $10,000 credit card, I've maxed it out. Can I pay it all out for eight grand today? And they've said yes. So maybe even if that is the case and like let's pretend that your dad's story is absolutely legitimate and you do have 10 grand owing maybe you could negotiate it down a bit and just see what you can get back because if you don't ask you don't get that's so true and it's a good way to ask your dad so that he doesn't think that

you're thinking dodgy of him totally but yeah that's kind of my take on it should we get into the the dm for the week let's do it i'm so ready here is our dm of the week hi shares on the money i need some help because i'm so confused right now my partner recently moved in with me and since i own the house, the mortgages are 100% in my name. I'm trying to figure out what's fair for them to contribute. I want to be fair, but I'm worried about creating a weird landlord tenant vibe in our relationship. At the same time, I don't want to end up carrying all the costs alone. Has anyone figured out a balance that works? How do I navigate this without overthinking or feeling guilty? Please help a girl out. I want to make Jess do it because that's her plan.

yeah i think the the just wants to be a big dog and own her own head yeah 25 is gonna be the year everyone 2020 thrive baby so the way that i would plan on doing it because similar situation i would be buying the house 100 by myself my partner would be living with me i would kind of treat it like a rent situation wherein he would pay market value rent and i would be responsible for the upkeep so you know your rates and things like that But I don't foresee that being an issue because, I mean, and it's so personal to your relationship, right, but he's not in a position to buy a house and I am

and that's kind of the meat in the middle point of making both of us happy. The one thing I would say is if you are looking to split the expenses, which is what our listener wrote in and said she doesn't want to carry all of those things herself, be aware and, again, not to sound like the really sceptical doom and gloom person. But that's kind of us.

Like that's our label. Yeah. We are sceptics at our core. Totally. I would say just be aware that you are then impacting, I guess, the divisibility of the asset should anything go wrong, God forbid. But I'm very much of the opinion and the reason that I personally want to structure, you know, when I do buy a house, the reason I want to structure it that way is because the most important thing to me personally is ensuring that my asset that

I worked really hard to be able to buy is protected and remains my asset. So once your partner, and I'm not a lawyer, let me preface this. Aren't you? Yeah, I would definitely chat to somebody. Are you sure? No, not last time I checked. No, I said it on your resume. Yeah, sorry. You may have fluffed that one a little bit. So, you know, maybe talk to someone about what the options are. Finding financial agreements. Correct. Like once you start co-contributing to things, should anything go wrong down the line, there is grounds for an argument that they contributed and may be entitled to a portion of the property so it's just something to keep in mind I know obviously like we all love our partners and we don't ever think that

anything's going to go wrong and you know maybe if you share all of your finances this may be a less relevant conversation to you but it's something that I want you to consider because you know knowing that you've worked so hard and bought your house all by yourself I'm so proud of you and it's just something I want you to keep in mind but yeah the way I would structure it would be kind of to be tenant landlord, not officially, obviously, because I don't want to be paying that money on tax. But, you know, I think that it shouldn't have to impact your relationship. And the way that I would keep it from doing so would be kind of just going, okay, like you pay market value, look at houses that are around you. Like if we were to rent a house

somewhere else, what would your half of that rent be? That's what you're contributing to pay it off. And I would hope that you guys, if you're in a long-term relationship and you're living together, can have a good conversation about that and if someone is feeling a bit weird about something, you can chat it through and come to a resolution like two full-grown adults. In an ideal world, we all ride rainbows into the sunset. In a perfect world. But, you know.

But you're not wrong, Jess. And to be like, again, a little bit of a sceptic, 50% of marriages end in divorce in Australia. True. Very sad. That does. Scary. Jess, the other 50% end in death, so I'm not sure.

There's no good options here. There are no great options. But I feel like no one gets married or like into a long-term relationship being like, do you know what, let's set ourselves up financially so that if you leave me or if I leave you, we're financially screwed. Does that sound good? Let's do that. Like no one does that.

But I feel like, yeah, it's very personal. That is good advice, Jess. Bec, what would you do if you were moving in with your Jess? Yeah, I mean, well, when I lived with my best friend, she was like not really working much because she had an injury and I was working. So we did like an equity thing where it's like she – I think I paid like two-thirds and she paid one-third and that felt right. So I feel like I would just carry those exact same things into that dynamic if I moved in with Jess or I moved in with a future partner or whoever.

Like it would be very much the same. It would be like if we're making drastically different amounts, we would kind of like calculate that. But I think when it comes to like, and this is what I was going to ask you, Jess, like furniture and food and utilities, if all of that is split down the middle, you're saying that they could potentially. No, no, no. I'm talking about, so like utilities. If they're paying rates. Yeah. So when you own a house, there's a number of other fees.

So you have your annual rates that you pay. Okay. That's not utilities. No. So rates are like council rates, land tax, things that you have to pay that you've never had to pay back. because as a renter you don't even see that because legally your landlord just pays his like I assume it's a male because live love laugh um they pay that yeah and legally they have to they can't pass that on to you so these are things that if you were like trying to get your partner to

split they'd be like well I've been paying for the maintenance and upkeep of this property not just for rent oh even things like if your air conditioner broke for example yeah you and you split that you would go well they've contributed to the up whereas furniture someone can take it with them. You can take the couch. Totally. Horseries, bills and stuff that's totally separate. You make them buy the really big TV. Totally. That's fine. Oh yeah I think even without that knowledge it would just be like for me I would automatically be paying for anything that a landlord would pay for like yeah you know your maintenance. Yeah. Yes yes yes so that's like almost like a default for me but when it comes to like rent and contributing to the inside of the house. That would all be split

down the middle, but then the rent would probably be like, yeah, an equity kind of situation. Is that what I'm using the right word there? Yeah, no, that's good. That's good. I feel like if I were to do it, I would actually take my partner completely out of the situation and pretend he didn't exist for a hot second to live my best single life. No, I would sit down and go, okay, cool. So I've bought a house. This is my house. I'm going to pretend that there's a spare bedroom I'm renting out, what would I do in that situation? And go down your route, Jess, and be like, well, what would fair market rent be for a bedroom in my house? Okay. Maybe it's like $300. Okay. No worries. It's $300 a week. If I got a housemate to live in my house, how would

I do bills? Oh, well, because we, you know, maybe live in a body corporate, I have to pay all the water, but like they can split the rest of it. Or, okay, well, I'd never pass on rates because my housemate would never have to pay rates I would probably just go what's the housemate rule if that makes sense even if you are sharing it and then all of the fluff can happen on top of that I am going to take it one step further though and like maybe have a little rental agreement with my partner if any if it's one that I've just emailed to them and been like hey here's the rental agreement this is how much you have to pay me per month this is how much should be direct debited into my account just to like get everything sorted and make it really easy and

clean and just in that email, like it's not an official rental agreement, but maybe you could do that if you're crazy like me. Does that then have tax implications if you're officially? I mean, technically, if you are receiving rent, you should be paying rental income, full stop, end of story. That is all I will comment on that. But if it was me, I would want to pay portrayal. I'm not submitting this to the government. I'm not sharing it with the taxman. I am putting it into our inboxes so that if ever one day we split up I can be like oh actually Jess here's our rental agreement you don't own half my house remember when it literally said because I own the whole house and will continue to own the whole house like that stuff even though

it's not super official will stick and carry weight because you emailed it it was time stamped it's official does that make sense would tax come after you and be like okay well now I mean probably not but like I feel like if your partner was going for half your house you'd be very happy to pay tax on the rental income you received so that's the route I'd be going down and just documenting everything like oh we'll split all utilities and we'll split groceries but like that's also just a good idea in general to have this finance conversation when you're moving in with someone like if I'm moving in with you Bec like what's the expectations like olive oil is exorbitant right now like are we splitting that do you use olive oil like are you going to use

mine like let's have the conversation so nothing awkward happens because jess i remember you talking about your old housemate that just used all your condiments yeah yeah all my laundry powder yeah and you'd be like excuse me yeah see and i know that because it's so emotional and she's told me before but like we'll have these conversations before we move in so that's what I would be doing. And yeah, the community had a lot to say. What did they say? They did. So we asked the community, obviously, we want to know your two cents. We said, how would you work out costs in this situation? 24% said 50% of the mortgage. They pay 50% of the mortgage. Yeah. I feel like that makes sense if you are fully combining finances. I would just, like I said

before, be aware that in that case, the house is not solely your asset any longer. Yeah, but people People don't often know that, right? Like they go, oh, well, it costs me $1,000 a week to live here, so it has to cost you $500. Like that might not be market rates for what that room's going for, so you need to be careful. 42% said market value rent, and then 34% of you said I would actually base it on income.

Lovely. A little bit of everything in there. A little bit of everything. Then we said what about costs like repairs and maintenance? So 24% of you said the owner is going to pay for everything. 31% of you said split everything evenly and then 45% of you said owner pays for repairs and then you share upkeep which I think is fair yes yes yes upkeep upkeep upkeep I see so yeah like if there's gardening costs like I understand you would pay that as a renter so yes that's all

you could do gardening yourself yeah anyway we then said to the community all right we want to know your two cents and you gave us your peace of mind. So first person said, instead of sharing the mortgage, the partner could pay for all the groceries and the utilities. Another great option. Yep. I feel like that's good because then you don't have that conversation about that income sitch. Someone else said a binding financial agreement to protect yourself from him making a claim on your asset. Yes. Someone else said, exactly. I mean, I would never suggest a binding financial agreement someone else three minutes ago bfa if i got a tattoo it would be bfa across my forehead um someone else said unless he has an equity share maintenance and repairs have to sit

with the owner another person said be careful on ownership of de facto though i'd make it clear in writing before moving in and that's where i really like the idea of an email maybe this is just me being a business owner and having dealt with lawyers previously. Lawyers love an email because it is timestamped. You can't fake an email, like to be able to go into someone's account and be like, oh, well, actually on the 21st of November, I sent you X, Y, Z, and you replied this. And that's a clear example of you understanding the situation and agreeing to it. Like, I'm not saying that that will forever be legal, but like, it's a really good starting point and it doesn't cost you anything to send an email. Someone else said, register them as a

tenant in case you break up. Fair? Okay. Another person said, I charged my partner enough to cover bills, which was a hundred dollars a week. And then we got a section 21 prenup. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So this person must be from America. Someone else said, if you enter in, this is a two-parter. Someone said, two-parter. So if you enter into a mortgage by yourself, surely you were prepared to pay for it all yourself i'd feel weird if my partner expected me to pay to repair their house that they picked out without me and will sell and profit on without me oh that's actually a thought i didn't think of yeah like you're gonna sell the air conditioner bro and i'm not gonna see a dollar from that air conditioner yeah it really comes back to like your

view on finances because there's some people who are like very what's mine is yours like if you're in they're all in half half but that wouldn't be it all depends it depends if you're buying a two-bedroom because you have another person that you assume you're gonna live with forever then that's different or something like yeah but if you get yourself a one-bedroom that you've you've chosen for yourself then maybe that's different actually i didn't think about that i don't know i don't know i'm obviously in a different situation i'm married i have a kid like my circumstances are different but like if can i pretend to be jess for a hot second please Look at me. I'm so pretty. But if I'm pretending to be Jess, hypothetically, like you have a good

income, you can pay a mortgage, but like I would say it's a stretch. You've got your partner living with you. So that's going to take some pressure off because they're contributing financially. But if you broke up, in my head, when I was purchasing that property, I'd probably be thinking, okay, cool. Like I'm purchasing it. My partner's going to move in, live, love, laugh. like we're going to live happily forever, but I'd low-key want to have a separate bedroom in that house. So, if my partner ever moved out, I could rent it out and I could have a little bit more financial freedom because I'm assuming that the entire mortgage on its own would be financially restrictive. Can you afford it? Yes, I know you can afford it, but affording it and affording

your lifestyle are different things. So, often when I talk to, and you guys know I own a mortgage broking company, I literally have these conversations all the time. Often if I'm talking to, especially women, because obviously I'm passionate about this, about purchasing their first home and they're like, oh, it's a one bedroom, my partner's moving in with me. I do ask, would that, if they moved out, financially restrict you? Like what would that look like? And sometimes they say, oh, I hadn't thought about that. I would have to move out and rent it out. And like, maybe they're happy with that solution. But if you're not happy with that solution sometimes you do have to think about okay cool like I'm buying a three-bedroom house

because I don't want housemates but like if something happens I could get some housemates and financially I wouldn't be crippled yeah like I'm not saying that's your ideal outcome Jess but like having it in the back of your head that you could create a level of financial security to me is important hope for the best but prepare for the worst absolutely what a fantastic sentiment And then I have a last one. You guys are going to be very surprised by this. This person said, get a BFA in place. BFA.

So, yeah, anyway, I don't have any thoughts or feelings or beliefs on BFAs. It has been really good. I've loved this episode. Do you know what I love, though? The fact that we are at the Australian Open today. Oh, my God, come say hi if you're here. Please, please, please, please, please. I don't want to see any of those messages that we sometimes get after events where you're like,

oh my gosh, I saw you, but I was too scared to come up. Like, no, we're more scared of you than you are of us. Please come say hi. Please come and say hello. We are going to have the best day. Anyway, that is it from us. Have a good weekend. We will see you bright and early on Monday for a Money Diaries. Bye guys. Bye. 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

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