She's On The Money - New Financial Year, New Financial Goals

Episode Date: June 29, 2021

Are you feeling like you’re stuck in a bit of a mid-year-flat-funk when it comes to your finances? Well this friend, is the pod for you. Join Victoria and Georgia as they talk through some simple ways to amp up your money motivation as we head into a new financial year.We also mention our 'Marie Kondo Your Finances' episode which you can grab here or scoll down and find it, we posted it on August 5 2020. You will also be able to grab the sneaky sneaky budget template here! Just sign up with your email and you can grab those goodies for free!!!Our fearless leader and money queen B has written a book! You can order Victoria Devine's book right here!!!!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. Victoria Devine is an Authorised Representative of Australia Pacific Funds Management Proprietary Limited ABN 34 132 463 257 - AFSL 339151.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. Today is the final day of the financial year, which means tomorrow is the start of a brand new one. It's also my birthday. Stop it. It's the end of financial year and it's also my birthday.

That is like the perfectly timed B day for a financial advisor. It's actually insane. Also, how many tickets have I got on myself to like not even let you finish the intro to be like, it's my birthday. It's important. It's important to be told. I'm 30 today. So now everyone has got that written down.

Let's actually get into the episode. to you. Let's get into the episode. So, we did think we would dedicate today's episode to talking you through the tools that you'll need if you're in the market for a mid-year money reset, which I feel like I could definitely be getting around myself. I'm so here for this. And as a financial advisor and obviously someone who is, I'd say, just like mildly passionate about finance. Just mildly. I get to talk about this on my 30th birthday. What a better way. And what a B-day. What a better way to celebrate. Absolutely.

Now, my name is Georgia King and joining me on the other end of the desk is Miss Victoria Devine. V, talk us through it. Why is the 1st of July a good time to reset our money mindset? Because so many times we fall off the bandwagon halfway through the year. It is so easy to set goals at the start of the year and then by June 30, we're kind of like, oh, whatever, like, I'll work it out later. Yeah. And I feel like having a date that we reset on is going to be really empowering so that we can

stay on track for the next six months. It's also a really good time to check in around your goals and how you're tracking, because if you said to yourself, okay, I'm going to save $10,000 this year. And by the 30th of June, you don't have $5,000. We really need to check in because if you're planning on getting to that 10 grand, like maybe you had plans to be more aggressive in the last six months of that saving plan. But if you didn't, unfortunately, you're just going to be disappointed come December 31st. That's the last day of December. Come the actual new year. And you'll just be feeling a bit flat. Whereas right now we have the power to change the plan. And if you're not on track to meet a goal, we can update that plan or change the goal or change the

timeline so that we don't get disappointed. And I think it's really important to be on track and aware of what we're doing and not just set goals once a year, because that's bland. And I genuinely don't believe we should have to set goals at certain periods of time. Like if you want to do it, set the goal, get it done, do it now. But for a lot of people, we like to have a specific date to get in order. And like, we like feeling like new year, new me, we get that twice a year because it's a new financial year, my friend. Totally. And so Vea, why do you think that that is such a big thing for so many people? I know for me, it is, you know, if I'm like, all right, start the gym going every day on Monday. You actually do that though. I know. You go to the gym literally

every day. How relatable. She goes to the gym literally every single day, guys. You sound like a loser. But the idea of like, I'll start it on Monday. I'll start it on Jan 1st. I'll start it at the new financial year. What is it about that fresh start that we're so attracted to? I think we just like having structure. People like feeling like there's a clean slate. We love the feeling of new year new me like we love feeling like we've got another opportunity to succeed and I think that that's a really positive thing but I also really don't like the idea that if you've quote messed up that you need to hold yourself hostage over that like so many people like oh well I guess I've absolutely screwed up this month I'll just start again next month I

don't subscribe to that notion at all it's kind of like if someone's been on a diet for a really long time and then they go on a bit of a bender with their friends and eat like 50 Mars bars in one sitting and then the next day they're like you know what I've screwed it up like I'm done for like no you're not just get back on track today like yeah there's been a bit of a bump in the road but it's not the end of the world and like sometimes we do need to go through that to remember that that goal was really important to us and we are getting back on track so I think for a lot of us it's just a mental hurdle and it's something that it helps us reset and if we can all do it together i think we're more likely to succeed love that teamwork makes the dream work

wow that was really inspirational yeah you should put that on a t-shirt put it on a cushion yeah nice on one of those like wood planks that mums can put in their kitchens oh joey has one that says live laugh love how'd you know does it actually yeah oh no i joe what are you doing yeah joey poor taste does she actually has good taste she she we had it at the old house uh and She does actually say live, laugh, love. Yeah, I'm going to laugh. I think I have an old photo of me with it. Please post that in the group.

Bless you, Joey. She'll be listening. Oh, gosh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No judgment. Okay, V, back to it. Would you say that it is quite normal for people to experience these money ruts at this time of year? Oh, absolutely it is because everything's overwhelming.

Like, especially here in Australia, it's cold. Yep. We're at home more. We're not going out as often as we were before. we're feeling a little bit flat because I think a lot of us actually experience emotional change with the weather which is very very common and we should talk about that more like I feel like people just in general are a little bit flatter come winter and that's okay there's actually a lot of science behind that I'm not just saying seasonal depression yeah it's called seasonal

depression and I'm not saying everybody has it but I do think that we're all a little bit just like flat anyway I do think that it is a nice period of time because six months is a long period of time if you set goals at the start of the year like six months is actually a very significant period of time to have not checked in with yourself if you haven't but also it's just a nice time to check in and say hey even if I am achieving my goals right now I've been working hard on them for the last six months where am I going now like are they still a value to me are they still things I want to do and you know a lot of us have been very significantly impacted by COVID yay maybe you had a travel goal and now that's going to be pushed out even further like

what are your goals in the interim should we be changing what that looks like to create more financial security in the short term instead of having a really long-term goal so it's just a really good time to check in and I think that often we feel really inspired by the new year new me vibes because I know I am and I know that I'm like yeah cool a fresh slate and I've always seen it that way because I am a June 30 baby but also it's kind of like new financial year like why can't I reset my finances now and have a really good financial year to come do you think as well that being in Australia in June July that is bang on in the middle of winter do you think there is a tendency for people to spend more on like treating themselves at this time of year

or is that more of a summer thing because you're like out and about more I don't know if I'm honest we should do some research into that when do you most treat yourself because I'm pretty good at treating myself with an Aperol with my girlfriends in the middle of summer yeah very good at that arguably it's one of my best talents but in winter I'm far more likely to order Uber Eats that's true for dinner yeah and like stay in and be like oh I can't be bothered like it's raining it's pouring outside I don't want to go to the supermarket and like I'm really lucky to be able to do that but I also just think that maybe we treat ourselves in different ways depending on the season but I also think it's just a good time to check in and just check at

what's going on and how we can reset ourselves and how we can track our goals better or you know create new habits if we really want to or change habits that aren't serving us anymore and I think that yeah it's just a nice time and I want this podcast to be a little bit of a reminder to be like okay cool like sit down even if it's two or three goals that you just have a look at or one goal or even just make a plan for the last six months of the year that doesn't feel as overwhelming as planning for the whole financial year so for me it's just about creating new better habits that serve you and this doesn't just have to be for money either right no it can extend to a lot of other areas of our lives yeah absolutely and I want everybody to just have goals in general and

I think that that's such a common misconception when you talk about financial advisors as well because I actually work with my clients on all their goals. I don't work with my clients on just finances. And I think maybe some financial advisors don't do this. Maybe I'm not the norm, but like, gee, if you were my client, I would be like, okay, cool. What do you want to achieve financially? Okay. But what about in life? What does your career look like? What does everything else look like? Or what are we working towards? Cause I'm on the journey with you and I know so much about you. And like, even next week, I've got a meeting booked in with one of my clients and I'm so excited about it because she has just finished her Bachelor of Psych Sciences,

which is what I did. She wants to check in and just like have a chat about what her plans are moving forward. Because I think that I become that sounding board for people where I know you so intimately when it comes to finances. And more often than not, that means that I have a really good understanding of you personally as well. And maybe that leans more towards me being a psych. Like, let's be honest, having a background in psychology does really help me here. so that I can have these conversations. But yeah, I think it's about what goals do you have? Like, do you want to set another healthy habit? Do you want to, you know, say more positive things to yourself? Do you want to, you know, spend more time with friends and family? Do you want to go

on a walk every single morning for your mental health? Like, it could be anything. It's just a good reminder to be like, hey, tomorrow is July 1st. Yeah. What are you going to do for yourself? Yeah. I think it's about putting yourself first. I like that. And we will talk about goal setting a little later on in today's show. So Bea, how can we tangibly assess how we've gone over the last financial year or the last six months? So if you did set goals, it's obviously a good time to be checking in and looking back and saying, did I achieve that? And what did that mean? And I think that we don't check in enough with ourselves. So I'm not saying regularly. I mean, you don't do it properly when you do check in. So Jay, if I said to you,

have you like achieved your goal? You might go yes or no. Like, no, I want you to sit down and go, okay, I planned to save $10,000. And I use this as an example because it's just an easy example to apply it to. Plan to save $10,000 this year. It is now the end of June. Have I saved 5,000? No. Okay. Taking that next step and going, why? What has impacted me here? Have a look back over those six months. Like, why did you not achieve that goal in January of saving your first portion like that first thousand or whatever it was that you set for yourself because if you're in that situation where you're like oh I really I don't understand like why I haven't achieved this okay well in January maybe you prioritized going out for dinner a bit more

because it was the middle of summer and you bought a festival ticket and that's why you didn't do it okay well what happened in February all right well in February I did something similar but I went camping with friends and that blew out my budget and like look at it that way and have a look at maybe why you didn't achieve that goal and what you chose instead. Because if you chose something instead pretty consistently and it was socializing with your friends, that might be a priority to you that you hadn't identified in your budget and hadn't actually allocated enough in your budget towards in the first place. And that is potentially going to consistently push you off track in the future as well. So let's look at it and go, okay, well, gee, you really like socializing with your

friends. Let's make sure that's allocated for, maybe we need to find somewhere else we can save from to still achieve this goal without compromising the thing that you keep prioritizing over the goal that you say you want to achieve. So for me, it's about just checking in, but on a deeper level than actually going, oh, okay, I didn't achieve it. I guess I'll get back on track. Like that's not enough. You're not teaching yourself why that happened. And if we don't know why it happened, we can't fix it and I know that if you can't fix it by December you're not going to achieve that goal and I don't want to be negative but at the end of the day my job is to help you and my job is to help you see how you can help yourself and identifying what that is and going makes so much

sense like I love going out with my girlfriends no wonder yeah it wasn't in my budget I need to change my budget I need to work out how I can achieve that goal now as opposed to how I was planning on doing it before because I set a goal that was unrealistic for myself like we can actually all save we can actually all invest we just have to make it a realistic number for ourselves and the easiest way to get disheartened is to set a goal that we'll never achieve because I guarantee you if you got to December and you hadn't achieved that savings goal you're like oh I'm the worst at saving I suck yeah it's like no you're not you just didn't prioritize it because you actually cared about something else more. You're kind of saying, V, that if you set goals

that are unreachable, that could potentially jeopardize your savings even further and put you further down than where you started. Yes, because when we've talked about this on the podcast before, we've talked about learned helplessness. You're teaching yourself that you're not capable when that is not the case at all. You're just not setting yourself up for success. So we need to teach ourselves to set ourselves up for success. And once we have that, we will then be able to be successful because it's like and i said this on the podcast last week with jess it's like learning another language at the start of the journey of learning another language it's literally all foreign like no pun intended yeah it is literally foreign you don't

understand it you look it on on paper and you're like i will never understand this like what and then you start learning the basics and then you can say hello and then you can say hello how are you and then you know how to interpret what other people are saying and you start putting it all together. Instead of setting out to write an essay in your first week. Exactly. Like as if you would be able to enter the French speaking competition two weeks after, do you know what I mean? Like we're just setting ourselves up for failure. And I think that when it comes to finance, we genuinely put so much pressure on ourselves because technically we've been handling money our entire lives. So you go, I should know how to do this. It's like, well, actually you might

have known that the French language existed for your entire life. Doesn't mean you know how to use it. You might go to French restaurants all the time and you might know, you know, the basics of how to order and what that actually looks like. Doesn't mean you know French. Doesn't mean that you're silly though. And I think we need to give ourselves a little bit more credit. Like you might have been handling money your entire life. Your parents might work in finance. Does not mean you know how to speak that language though. So, VD, when you were talking before about budgets, I was thinking that that can be quite a daunting thing to go back through your old bank statements

and really go head-to-head, face-to-face with your spending habits for the last six months or the last year. Or just do the last three months. Let's not bite off more than we can chew. To me, that seems really daunting. But do you think that is the only way to kind of accept where you're at? I do. And I've said this before,

like we need to stop sticking our heads in the sand we need to stop judging ourselves around our spending habits and actually start teaching ourselves what we do as people like what does that mean like why do we choose that why do I choose that take the judgment away like even if you've you know somehow in the first six months of the year gotten into more debt like that's actually okay it is fine don't judge yourself for that I'm definitely not judging you for that we just need to look at it we just need to go and set some new goals we just need to look at our budgets not as a budget not as something restrictive but more as something that teaches us this is how I spend this is what I allocate to and now I know I can actually reallocate that money

in line with the things that I really value and I've never been the financial advisor to say okay gee so if you saved that four dollars fifty every day that you're spending on your super lovely oat latte at the cafe every single morning you'd have eleven hundred and seventy dollars in your bank account you'd be like okay cool but like I really value that and I've never told you to sacrifice the things that you love it's all about where am I spending money that is not in line with my values and if somebody said I get coffee every single morning but I do it because my team goes down to the cafe and I always want to go for the walk with them but I don't even like coffee I just get it because I'm there and I don't even finish the cup I'd be like okay that's probably something that we

can look at and we need to help you feel comfortable to say no to that because that's not serving you that's not you spending in line with your values you can still go for the walk with your team to get the coffee and just not buy one I think it's really important to just remember that it's not something we should be judging ourselves on it's just going to help ourselves educate ourselves right like go and learn about you go learn what you spend on and then go oh my gosh that's so weird why do I do that yeah learn don't judge and I think that that's where we need to start from because if you can learn what your values are you can then build things around it to help ensure that you're always spending in line with your values like do you work really late in hospitality so

every single night you go through a drive-through to get dinner cool what's something if you don't like that and that's not something that serves you what can you do can you make sure that you've got dinners at home for you can you make sure that you've got something in your bag to eat on the way home like what can we do to help you achieve your goals and save in line with your values as opposed to just spending money because we haven't thought about it enough. Yeah, brilliant. Learn, don't judge. I like that.

Yeah, it's really hard to do that. It's a really hard mental shift if we're honest and it's not something that I go, oh, just learn, don't judge. Like it's really hard because you will look at it and go, oh, why have I done this to myself? And that's not serving you. Like cut that talk out. Like it's not going to help you because we actually can't go back in time

and change that. So how about we just learn what we can do in the future so that we don't look back again and go, oh my gosh, I can't believe that I did this check-in and then I didn't do it. Yeah. So, do it now for the good of you in 12 months' time, I guess. For future you. For all of our future you. Alrighty, guys. So, we will be back after a very short break to chat through the things that Vicky Day sees needing work the most at this time of the year. Plus, we'll be talking through some strategies to recharge your money motivation. Don't go anywhere, guys.

all right bd what are the top things that tend to need an overhaul when it comes to our finances at this time of year all of it no no no that's really dramatic and absolutely not accurate i just really wanted to say that for no apparent reason the first thing is probably our organization let's be honest not all of us are good at tracking our spending or keeping our receipts in order that we know we need to keep in order for our accountants or whatever that is. So I think that organization is really important to do a little bit of an overhaul on because if you feel a little bit out of control, one of the best ways to get back in control is to just organize and to plan and put everything in front of you and go, okay, cool. Like, does this have a home? If you're

collecting receipts, maybe it's about, and I've said this before on the podcast, I'm becoming a broken record, George, but do you need to start taking photos of receipts? So you don't just have a whole heap in your handbag some in your bedside drawer some on the you know table when you walk in the front door like maybe just start an album on your phone take a photo of each and every single one of them and then ditch them chuck them out they'll no longer feel overwhelming to you so it's just about working out what works for you do you need to reset your banking system are you not organized enough when it comes to banking and you've been a little bit naughty maybe you pay your bills on the due date or after the due date do we need to set up b pay payments so that it

actually just gets paid each and every single month without you thinking. And now I'm not saying that this will work for everybody, but what parts of our financial lives can we organize so that we can feel empowered? Is it actually about, you know, just getting all those bank accounts sorted and instead of having the five that you've had for ages that you shift money between and it doesn't really work, is it about going, you know what, I don't need three banks. I'm just going to go with one and I'm going to get rid of the others and I'm just going to really simplify my life in this way. So to be honest, it's just about organizing what makes sense to you. And one of the easiest ways to feel like you're in control, even if you're in debt, is to

just feel organized about it and have a plan. Because even if you're overwhelmed with something, if you know that there's a process and a plan to follow to get out of that situation, guaranteed you'll feel more empowered about it. And we did a really, a really good episode. We're so biased. It was probably this time last year, V. Can you believe that we've been podcasting together for more than a year, JK? Whack, whack.

Insane. Do you know that in the middle of June, She's On The Money, I didn't celebrate this and we really should have. It was She's On The Money, the podcast, second birthday. Stop it. I know. We turned two. How many eps have we got out of it?

It's more than a hundred. It's wild. Wowee. We spend a lot of time sitting at this table. We have. Chatting to mics. Sorry, sorry. So it was the Marie Kondo, your finances episode.

So I feel like that would be a really good one to help our listeners get on track. And if they want help really organizing their systems, making them. I love that. Let's link that in the show notes. So if you haven't listened to that, you can listen to it. And if you have listened to that, you can go and re-listen to that. Yeah. Yeah. Love that. I love that. Now the budgeting and motivation are two of the things that I, in my opinion, would be really important to get on top of at this time of Yeah. Would you agree with that? Yes. Good answer. You're welcome. Can you please break those two down? Yes. Thank you. Oh, you'd like me to actually break it down? Okay. No problems. So first things first, when we need to break it down, there are a few things that we need to do.

First things first, we need to feel motivated about it. If you're not motivated to do this, it's going to be real hard. I'm sorry. So getting on top of going, all right, this is why I need to do it. Let's actually be positive about it. Don't pick a time where you've only got 10 minutes. make it a nice experience for yourself don't go oh my gosh I'm gonna like you know do this on Saturday night when I'm meant to be out with my girlfriend like having a drink like don't pick that time pick a time on a Sunday afternoon where you didn't have any other plans and you didn't need to be anywhere and you're not sacrificing doing something else that you really want to do and you know maybe light a candle and have a cup of tea and enjoy the process I think that's really

important because too many times when we start talking about do you budget Georgia you're like okay, I'll sacrifice something so that I can do this. Like, don't even come at me with that idea. I don't think it's a good idea because you're already going to not want to be doing it. Pick a time when you can do it and you can do it comfortably and enjoy it. If you work best from bed, get your laptop, get your cup of tea, sit in bed and do your budgeting there. Do your goal setting there. You don't have to sit at a desk and actually get it done. If you want to go to the park, do it there. Like, I don't mind, but make it a good experience for yourself. And then let's actually talk about strategies that you can implement so we've talked about this before

and about how to set strategies and how to set goals and the best way you can set goals I think and I've simplified the smart methodology down to four instead of I think five or six or whatever it is how many letters are in the word smart s-m-a-r-t okay so I've taken it down from five to four because haha she's on the money and now we call it the she's on the money strategy so it's S-O-T-M. So we need to be specific. Then we need to be optimistic. So I've changed it out because I actually want you to be positive about these goals. I want you to be approaching it with a mindset that means I can do this. Like I can get this done and you've got to document why you're being optimistic about it. And if you don't, it's not going to work, my friends. Then it needs to

be time bound. So it needs to be timely. You need to actually set a goal and go, I'm going to achieve that by December. We're not talking about just saying, oh gee, do you want to save money? Yeah, I want to save 10 grand. Great. No, I want to save 10 grand by December, 2022. And this is the specific date. Like we want to be specific and we want to have a time. And then we also want to be able to measure that goal. So if we're not able to measure it, how are we going to work out if we've achieved it or not? How are you going to measure it? You're going to measure it by breaking that down. Okay. Every single month, I'm going to save $500 towards that goal. And that's how I'm going to measure my success because after two months, I should have a thousand dollars. And

after this entire time period, I should have that $10,000 and I can check in with myself and measure whether I'm on track or not. So that is how I would recommend setting goals. But to really backtrack here, and this is very in line with the way that I've written the book and what has, I guess, come to be the way that She's On The Money podcast flow happens is before you even think about setting goals, know yourself, know your money story, understand who you are and why you are the way you are because if you don't understand that it's going to be really hard to set goals that you're going to stick to it's going to be really hard to set goals that you actually feel like you can achieve so understand that then understand your budget because why are we setting

goals before we know how much money we have yeah if you were setting goals before you know how much money you have you are setting yourself up for failure because gee if you said to me all right back to this ten thousand dollar example i'm going to save 10 grand by the end of the year victoria that is so sick gee I'm so excited I want to hear all about it I want to know when you've achieved that how much free cash flow have you got oh like I think I have like a grand of free cash flow this year okay so how are you achieving that ten thousand dollars oh I don't know like it's just something I've always wanted to do okay but Georgia you can't afford to do that and you're not going to achieve your goal and then by the time you say that you're going to get to that goal it's not

going to happen and you're going to feel really flat and you're going to feel deflated and then you're going to feel like you're really bad at saving like that's actually a really bad idea like don't set a goal that you're going to feel like crap about like why would you do that to yourself that's really mean yeah so understand your budget and I shouldn't be telling you this because it technically is only meant to be for the people who bought the book but on our website you can download the she's on the muddy budgeting tool for free yeah so go and download that it's just a basic budget spreadsheet it's not like the budgeting cash flow masterclass it's not that bougie one it's just a basic this is my spending this is my earn this is my own this is my owe and

this is my income and for me it's just a really good way to see what you're spending and where it's not asking you to allocate a certain amount to a grocery budget or whatever it's actually just saying what do you spend gee put it all in here and we'll tell you if you have surplus cash flow or not and then it will spit out at the bottom it'll say okay well you're actually spending more in your earning or it'll say oh gee you actually have like eleven thousand dollars free this year that hasn't been allocated in your budget based on what you earn how are you going to save that so you can work it out from there and I think that that's a really cool tool and I wanted to share it even though I technically probably wasn't meant to but what am I like I want you guys to

have the tools to be successful and I think that by understanding that then you can set a goal that makes sense because if that budget spreadsheet for you spat out that you only had eight grand but you really wanted to save 10 well then that gives you the opportunity to then look at your budget again go okay cool I'm spending more on this if I strip back you know going out so much or if I strip back on how much I'm spending on clothes or I you know go and rejig my insurance policies and negotiate better deals that'll free up some cash flow so then I can achieve that goal of 10 grand we can find it and we can set ourselves up for success from the start but to set ourselves up for success means actually creating a plan that makes sense not just creating a plan because

how many times have we actually just been like oh the plan is okay is it booked is it happening are we on the road do we have the map do we have enough petrol you might be like I don't even own a car yeah like okay so how are we getting there so you need to set yourself up for success from the start and if you don't do that you are doing yourself a disservice because you're not going to achieve that goal and then you're going to feel terrible and that is not what we do here so what if they jan 1 you you really sat down to understand your money story you knew who you were you had that sorted then you nailed your budget you had that sorted your cash flow systems it all made sense it was practice you set these goals that were great but now it's up to july 1st and you're

just feeling a bit like meh what's it all for i'm not rich yet girl like imagine if you could get rich in only six months. Oh my gosh. It is the long term. It's about enjoying the journey as well as working towards a final destination. Like I get it. It can feel really uninspiring and something that I think is really important is to set mini goals for yourself. So back to our example of 10 grand, which seems to be the theme of this episode. If you're feeling like that $10,000 is really out of reach, cool. Put in mini goals. All right. I want to save my first thousand and then I'm going to celebrate when I get twenty five hundred dollars and then I'm going to celebrate five grand and then I'm going to celebrate seven and a half thousand dollars like

we want to celebrate the small wins like make a little chart tracker and maybe I'll make another one of these in the future of just like being able to track your savings goals that we can stick on our fridge and we just like color it in so we can see where we're at and we can actually see what we're achieving because if we can visually see that achievement it feels more real and when it comes to money like that's hidden and that's half the issue with money right like if it's in your bank account and you're not open on your banking app you kind of feel like what else have I got like you don't see it so how can you visualize that for yourself because I have a feeling that a lot of people are actually really visual learners and visual people because I am

and I just assume that that's quite normal if I had a savings chart on my fridge which I've done literally so many times I've lost count if I had a savings chart like it makes me feel like I'm on track it's like when you meal prep and you like put the list of things on the fridge that you know you're gonna have on Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday like it makes sense and you kind of stay on track but if it's not front of mind it's not gonna happen so for me I think it's just about can you make that visual because if you're not on track or you're feeling a little bit flat like yeah make it visual but also double check if those goals actually align to your values yep like if you say I can't I can't be bothered it just feels so overwhelming and like I'm just

uninspired by this and I'll be like oh gee what's your goal you go saving for a house and I go okay like that doesn't sound like something that you're overly excited about no but I just really think I should okay let's have a chat about that because if you're saving for something that doesn't actually align to your values you're not going to get that sense of accomplishment that you're probably yearning for yeah like let's work out what you actually want to do maybe we change the goal. Maybe it's for this massive overseas trip. Maybe it is for, you know, an investment that's going to create you a passive income in the future. Let's make it about you rather than about what you think it should be. The other reason, V, I think it's important to keep yourself

motivated is because, and this could be changing these days and within our community, but it's not like you reach a savings milestone and you're like, chicks, G saved 20K. Like that's still it quite cringe and people would maybe it's not cringe don't you call that cringe but like is that bragging like no that's totally brag is that oh totally yeah totally brag good but are you allowed to do that you totally are allowed to do that to be honest if you've got friends that aren't celebrating the goals that you've been working your butt off to achieve get new friends yeah get new friends well strike out my point um no no but it's serious though like if you don't feel like and it can be tricky right like if you're so stoked that you've just saved 20 grand

yeah like how epic would that be but then you know that your friend is struggling and in debt like that can feel really hard and it can feel like oh I probably shouldn't be talking about this but find a way to celebrate it obviously don't go and rub it in the face of the friend that just opens up to you that they're in a whole heap of debt because I just think that's insensitive but if you read the room right and you've got friends that know that you've been saving like absolutely share it and if you don't have anybody else to share it with please message me like i swear to god they are my favorite messages to get people saying hey v like i don't have anyone to share this with but i've just reached my savings goal and i'm so excited because

i'm halfway to buying a house and i'm just like heck yeah like these are the best messages like please don't feel like you don't have anyone to share it with because you've got she's on the money if you don't have people that you want to share it with and if you've already shared it with somebody else still share it with us the money win thread dms exactly dms if you don't on the money win thread or jump into the facebook group and share it there like we genuinely love knowing that you're achieving your goals and it makes me so happy like how cool would it be to one day be able to quantify just how much people have saved in our community like i don't know how we're gonna do it but you'll find a way my friend i know you will find a way and we can be like oh

this is how many millions the she's on the money community combined have saved like how that's huge Anyway, that's all I've got. Love. Oh, good at it, mate. So I guess in sum today, guys, if you feel like you're lacking motivation right now, that is very normal. So don't beat yourself up. But do use this mid-year milestone to reinvigorate yourself, set those new goals, reflect on

your budget, tweak it how you need to tweak it. And just be kind to yourself, I think, because as we always say, the road to financial freedom is really long. It's not going to happen overnight. So just be kind, keep on doing it. And even just listening to this podcast is an accomplishment enough, I think. Oh, my gosh, yes. Educating yourself.

Exactly. And celebrate those things because I get messages from people all the time. And I didn't anticipate getting messages like this, but I'm really grateful for them nonetheless. But people will message and say, Hey, Victoria, so many of my friends have recommended the podcast and I'm really sorry, but I haven't listened. I don't want to hear a money podcast.

I'm like, oh, thanks. One, thanks for messaging me. But two, like I get it, not everybody's ready to hear about money. Like a lot of people feel like it's an overwhelming topic and they just don't know where to start. And obviously we are a little bit biased and we think that She's On The Money is a great place to start. But a lot of people still aren't even comfortable with that and that's okay.

But like if you're struggling with something, maybe this can be your win for this week. Yeah, love it. All right, Bea, I think that is all we have time for today. All right, but just before we head off, we'd like to acknowledge and pay respect to Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. They're the traditional custodians of the land, the waterways

and the skies all across Australia. We thank you for sharing and for caring for the land on which we are able to learn. We pay our respects to Elders past and present and we share our friendship and our kindness. 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 a financial decision. And we promise, Vicky D is an Authorised Representative of Australia Pacific Funds Management, Proprietary Limited, ABN 34132463257, AFSL 339151. And as always, we would love to invite you to join our Facebook group if you haven't already. Please join us.

Search She's On The Money 8 US and join us. And if you've already joined us and you're still looking for more ways to engage, we're obviously on Instagram. We now have a book, Georgia King. We've got a book. A number one bestseller book. Stop it. I can't even.

We've got a masterclass where you and I can hang out and actually do budgeting cash flow together. I think New Year, New Me is a great time to do that. And we've also started making a whole heap more TikToks. So we've got a lot to share. We've got it all. And we'll see you next week, guys. See you, guys.

Bye. Bye.