She's On The Money - Nothing To Smile About: When Debt Costs You Dental Visits

Episode Date: May 21, 2026

The dentist can be spenny, but necessary. So what happens when you can’t afford an appointment? And what if your treatment is kinda important or worse… urgent? This week on Friday Drinks, we discuss a Money Dilemma that questions whether we can ever really afford to miss health-related appointments when we’re in debt. We also answer a DM that’s all about diversification and whether buying diversified ETFs is enough. If you’ve been afraid to ask the question or considering how to diversify your portfolio, this episode’s for you.  New here? Join our Facebook Group (Search for: ShesontheMoneyAUS) AKA our zero-judgement support network for money tips. Ask questions, share rec’s, and celebrate your wins with a like-minded community of 300,000+. And follow us on Instagram (@shesonthemoneyaus) for Q&As, bite-sized advice, daily money inspo... and relatable money memes that just get you.  Acknowledgement of Country By Nartarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements (queenacknowledgements.com) 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 - 4451289See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My name is Natasha Bamblett, I'm a proud First Nations woman, and I'm here to acknowledge country. Tii, gilinyan ganya, nianakaka yao yinbina waka, nianakai nianbina yakarumja, duminyagumiga dumiga ithawaka nirawamundamun imalan. Mumu bangada boma ininyalan waka, gaunan yakarumja, wutunarana. Hello beautiful friends. We gather on the lands of the Aboriginal people. We thank, acknowledge and respect the Aboriginal people's land that we're gathering on today. Take pleasure in all the land and respect all that you see. She's On The Money podcast acknowledges culture, country, community and connections,

bringing you the tools, knowledge and resources for you to thrive. 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 is our favourite time of the week where we bring together the team to celebrate you. Our adorable, she's on the money community. As always, Miss Jessica Reed, she's going to be sharing all of your money wins and the brilliant Bex Syed will be offering this week's best broke tips. This week's money dilemma raises the question of priorities, especially if you've

ever delayed an appointment for financial reasons. And finally, we'll be answering a DM for the masses. Is it enough to buy diversified ETFs or is there more to it? Go on, get your money dilemmas on the show by sending us a nice little voice note via our website. Head to shesonthemoney.com and let us know what money woes are keeping you up at night. You might just hear yourself on Friday drinks where we might even help put those worries to bed for good. My friends, as always, before we get into it. My favorite time of the show. I know I say that about lots of different parts, but my ego needs boosting on a weekly basis. It is time for a listener review where we share what you actually think of the podcast, but only the highlights. I'm not going to bring my team down

like that. Now, I'll admit this has always been a highlight of the show for me because we actually get to hear from you and how you're using our tips and tricks and tools and resources to make your money gold's a reality. So if you've got praise for the show, or honestly, we take like individual requests at this point, please share your reviews of She's On The Money on Apple Podcasts or wherever all good listening platforms allow, really. Here is a review from our friend Caitlin, who slid into our DMs to share this. Are you ready? Hi, Victoria. I've been wanting to leave you a five-star review for She's On The Money for so long, but I just, I never know where to do it you are such an inspiration as a 20 year old who is only just starting their career

I can't help but hoping I'll grow up to be just like you oh my god not to mention I always look forward to Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays for every single new episode of your podcast I just wanted to say thank you I've become so much more motivated because of you have a great day oh my god isn't that the sweetest that is the sweetest thing I've ever heard I just feel like when you grow up you'll be better than me I promise like oh how sweet is that so sweet and actually if someone said I want to grow up to be you I would be like hey I just a reminder I'm not 100 you're 20 everyone seems really old when you grow up when are we meant to grow up exactly what does that even mean like I am still shook that I was allowed to take not one but two babies home from

the hospital without licenses what do you mean you were like oh you can be discharged yeah they didn't check your id no they just said good luck and i said it was harder to get a driver's license honestly that's an incredible compliment so sweet it was so sweet do you mind if we take a fun little detour yeah it is time for our question of the week that moment during friday drinks where you can ask us anything about anything and this week's question came to us via our instagram dms from Cherie and she says if you could pick up a new skill in an instant what would it be and why oh that's a really good one I would love to become good at woodworking what hell yeah not like whittling little animals but not whittling animals as though that's what I was thinking

that's the first place my brain I don't know what woodworking is well so let me tell you I would I'd like to be, you know how it's the very stereotypical, like, dad-husband thing. Like, you say, oh, I'd really like a table that looks like this. And then, bam, there's one there. So true. That's my dad. You could borrow him. Yeah.

I would love to have the skills to do that myself. Yeah. Like, I would love to be really handy with, you know, like, I love a little DIY moment. I can do small things, but, like, furniture feels a bit outside of my reach. No furniture building from Jessica at this point. Not currently. But I would love to be able to do so. so that or car stuff purely so I don't have to pay for a mechanic because I fear for my car

sometimes I would just like to be able to fix it because I know car stuff and my skill I want to learn sewing and you want to learn car stuff oh my god what if we do a trade we can do a trade that's what you always say about trading skill sets oh my god teach your community lift everybody up absolutely well I'll teach you and you teach me okay this sounds very fun I'm very excited This has gone down such a practical route. And in my head, I was like, yeah, mind reading. That is a skill. I was like, wait, wait.

So, Bec, what's yours while I rejig what I was thinking? Mine is I am going to stick with sewing because the world is your oyster. I want to, like, make dunas. I want to make handbags. I want to do all these crazy things. Ask Jess. She's good at this. Yes.

And so we're going to do a skill swap. Yeah. Or you could come to sewing class with me. Oh, my God, cute. When is that? Wednesday nights. Great, I'll be there. You guys are so cute, it kills me.

I've rejigged. It's no longer mind reading. Because apparently that's not a skill. Two things. I wish I was good at saying no. And the second is if I could have like a skill skill, is it a skill to sing? Yeah.

I wish I was like a phenomenal singer. Yeah. Because at the moment, like, I put my babies to bed and like Campbell, who's like only three months old, she doesn't care how I sound. She's in. My two-year-old, Javi, he goes, shh, no, Mama. My ears are bleeding, please.

I'm pretty sure I'm not good at singing, but I'm tenacious. And so I think my tenacity should be met with skill. Yeah, I agree. I love that for you. And it's not right now. So if I could be good at anything. It would be that. Imagine just being able to be the girl at parties that can sing.

God, to not be afraid of a karaoke bar would be a lovely thing. No. Imagine. That's terrifying. Like the idea of going to karaoke, you know how people say, oh, yeah, Saturday night we went out, we did this, we did that, and then we ended up at karaoke. I'm like, over my dead body.

I know. I always confess. Were you feeling depressed? Yeah. You wanted to hate yourself more? Yeah. I'm like, is everyone really good at singing? And I just, like, what possesses people, dude?

Yeah. I mean, singing is enjoyable. Like, get me in my car on my own. On my own. Or get me in the car with Jess and the music's so loud I don't think she can hear me. And we're all there. but karaoke what do you mean and like this is coming from someone who's regularly behind a

microphone what do you mean you want to sound bad in front of people I know scary no thank you anyway I feel like that was a good one mind reading is obviously something I would like to do as well but that's not a skill apparently that's fake oh if we're going like crazy I'm going teleportation yeah okay all right so she's going to teleport I'm going to mind read what's Well, I'm going to say, but I want to take it back and play the piano. Yeah, real unrealistic from you, Bec. Anyway, my friends, I'm telling you, if you want your questions answered on the pod, you're going to have to send them in.

We love reading them. And honestly, this makes our week so fun. Like recording Friday drinks. It's my favorite. I love it. Now, Miss Jessica Ricci, let's hear all about this week's money wins from within the community. What have you got from us? Firstly, this week I've got one from Annabelle who said she found an anaconda full-length puffer at the op shop for $4.

So real. Money win, especially because it's so cold if you're in Melbourne right now. She said she got it as a gift for somebody who wanted it but couldn't justify the usual price of $350. Oh, my God. That's a great present. $4 reduce. That is a very good money win. Well done, Annabelle.

Next, I've got a money win from Hayley who said, I downloaded the Too Good To Go Australia app and my favorite food store is on there. You get discounted surprise food bags at selected times, which will now be my go-to for treats for the kids' friends' catch-ups to save me a bunch of money. That's really cute. Our team loves a little Too Good To Go. We do. And do you know what started coming up on my Facebook?

Because obviously Too Good To Go is a hot topic in our even just work group chat. The Too Good To Go Facebook group where people are sharing what they got. Oh, cool. Okay, so I love it because you obviously get to see. But I love the Karens on there. And they're like, I spent $9 and I got this, this, this, and this. And I read one the other day and it was like, I got this and this. And like it was, I thought, a good haul.

Yeah. For $9, she got like a toasty, a few muffins. She apparently got egg bites. But before she took the photo, she'd like eaten them. So she's like, oh, I also got egg bites, but none of it's any good. I'm thinking, pull your head in. I know. That was such a deal.

And she's like, oh, and I might add that my toasty was untoasted. They'd like gotten, you know, like a ham cheese toasty and it had the butter on either side. So I'm thinking, but that's fresh. Like that means you can toast it at home and have the full toasty experience. Is that like, I don't want a cold pre-cooked toasty. No. No, that's crazy. You know what I would love to see on Too Good To Go?

And every now and again I'll check, but it's never there. Like a donut king. Oh my God. I was thinking that muffin break or something. Yeah. Like a little like sweet. Cause you know at the end of the day, there's always like stuff left over. You go, where's that going?

Because it could be my belly. Krispy Kreme. Oh my God. On too good to go. That would be the dream. That would be the absolute dream. Seriously, in this office, we love a Krispy Kreme. Really.

Oh, yeah. What else have you got, Jess? All right. Next one is from Katie who said, Telstra offered me $30 off of my bill by using my Telstra points. There's nothing in the points shop that I wanted anyway, so it's a win-win. Normally, I'd buy my smartwatch or new headphones every couple of years, but both of mine are still going strong, so there was no need to save up my points.

Money wins. That's so good. Then I've got one from Catherine who said, I just went to get a coffee from Maccas to find out I had enough points in my MyMaccas app to get it for free. We do love that. That's sick. And then lastly, I've got one from Sarah who said,

for the first time in 10 years, I've managed to get some savings behind me. Annual expat visit commitments and medical bills have decimated my finances for so long, but thanks to the podcast and changing my mindset, I'm finally turning things around and have saved nearly $2,000 in six weeks. Stop it. That was like a money win and a review all in one. Amazing. Double review Friday.

Well done, everybody. It's been a good week in the Facebook group. It's a good week to have a good week. Make sure that you are sharing your money wins with us in the comments or on Facebook. Miss Bec Syed, what does the community have to say about a broke tip? So I know most people probably know this already, but just in case, Fatima sent me a screenshot letting me know that the Free Public Transport Initiative across the entire state of Victoria has been extended to the 31st of May, 2026. Just in case you didn't know, I don't know what the

initial, I should be keeping up with that, but maybe it was till the end of April, but now it's till the end of May, which is incredible. Which is really sick. I mean, we've got a few days left of May, so make the most of that. Absolutely. This next one comes from Lara, who sent me this reel. God, I love a brogue tip reel. So if you feel like you want to send me one, Please, I love them. It's very funny. Maybe I wouldn't. Can you reenact it?

I don't want to hear the reel. I just want you to do the movements. Yeah, I can do the movement. Unfortunately, it's one of those ones with text on the screen. I can do what she's doing in the background, which is brushing her teeth. B-roll videos always make me laugh because our team are always like, Victoria, can you take more videos because we want to make more videos?

And I'm like, brushing my teeth? Is that content? Anything is content, guys. Anything really is. This one's funny. I don't condone it on the podcast and out loud. In my head, I'm like, this is a great idea. It says, my best friend can't afford a dentist right now,

so she scrolled Hinge until she matched with a dental hygienist and asked him what toothpaste to use. He said anything with at least 10% nanohydroxyapatite. I don't know what that is. Slim girl. Slim toothpaste. She didn't even go on the date. Just screenshot the message and unmatched.

That part's mean. Go on the date. And then also date them because they're probably a nice person, but then you're dating a dental hygienist. But I think that's genius. Don't ask what you can do for the patriarchy. Ask what the patriarchy can do for you. That's exactly right.

And if they're taking our jobs, then we're going to take their needs. That's coming for the men. Apparently the men are taking our jobs. No, I love men. And I love all of them. You do not. No, I do. I love men. No, you don't. You won't even date one. I tried. I did try. I'm so sorry. She's like,

I tried. It's not to my taste. What else have you got back? I'm sorry. That is very depressing for the entire male population that I'm not dating you. And I'm so sorry. You're breaking hearts everywhere. I did laugh because we got a review, a one-star review a little while ago. And it was like, these girls don't like men. And I was like, that's actually a five-star review. I don't know what you're talking about I'm married to one I only like the man I'm married to the patriarchy can get in the bin and Jess is dating a man I am so that's the majority two out of three two out of three ain't bad exactly so we don't hate them that much we hate them that much you guys does that make us hypocrites oh god I feel we don't have enough time to unpack that one today that's

true oh god okay this next one comes from myself I saw this thing I didn't do the work in my head But it was this guy, his name is Josh Rincon, double N, incredible. He has some great, you know, money-saving tips and tricks. But he's talking about how he pays mortgage fortnightly instead of monthly because then you end up paying one extra payment a year. And don't ask me how that works. Somehow it works. Maths.

Therefore, you can shorten your loan amount by like seven years or something crazy. so if you pay fortnightly instead of monthly it feels the same unless obviously you get paid monthly but if you get paid fortnightly it feels the same I think and then yeah you end up shortening the life of your own isn't that crazy incredible isn't that incredible I feel like our community is very very creative when it comes to finances yes now my friends we're going to take a very quick break but please stay tuned because when we come back we're chatting about money dilemmas and if you've ever put off an appointment because of your financial situation I think you're going to want to tune in for this one. 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. Hey guys, I had two questions today. I'm in my late 20s. I currently have $15,000 of debt. Now, I'm just firstly wanting to know what insight, tips, advice you would give for someone paying down one debt. I know that there's a lot of resources out there for snowball and avalanche method for multiple debts but I just feel like you don't get the same

satisfaction of paying that debt off compared to having multiple debts where you're paying it off you're feeling good and you feel like you're getting in front watching the numbers go down has been great but yeah I'm just wondering as well I'm potentially going to be more debt for health reasons, specifically dental work and just wondering what you guys think of as I'm in two minds whether I should delay the treatment until I've paid off this initial debt or start it now and live a bit tighter at the moment. Thanks, guys. I've been an avid listener of this podcast for a while now and absolutely love the show. Thanks so much. Aw.

Bless. Thank you so much. I love you too. What would you guys do? Well, first of all, don't get me started on dental. It should be not – what are we, like in America? Why does Medicare not cover dental? It's insane.

It is part of the body. It's insane. A very important part of the body, too. Very important. Cosmetic, anything, sure, but this is – Another podcast for another time, but oral health feeds into the health of the rest of your damn body. Totally.

I cannot believe. Anyway, but that's a story for another time. So I would say – I mean, I could be wrong here, but maybe with this like $15,000 debt, I don't know what like the interest is on that, but I would maybe see if you can, is it called refinancing? Is that a thing where you can like get, find somewhere to consolidate or, I mean, it's already consolidated, but like find like a cheaper or a smaller or a lower interest rate. And then it might feel like you're getting on top of it quicker and then it might feel more satisfying. You could turn it into a game.

There are some mental tips and tricks that you could use to make it feel more satisfying, not just like you're throwing money away because it really can feel like that when you use money to buy something you don't have the money yet and then you've already got the thing maybe you've already used it maybe you don't even have it anymore and you're still paying the debt you're like oh this feels like such a waste and it really sucks so I guess yeah my only thing for that is try and find somewhere that will offer a low interest rate and then make it a game for yourself as far as dental is concerned if it's essential I think do it also you can take money out of your super if you need dental right that's the thing anyway potentially compassionate something anyway

have a look at your super and see if that's an option because you can take money out it's not ideal but i'm shocked i mean don't get me started but that's me i don't know if that's helpful at all i like the idea of making it a game when i was paying my debt down i was looking at it in the same way you would look at savings but reversed so you know when you go save these here i really want to hit my first five hundred dollars you're oh my god i've hit five hundred dollars i really going to hit my next $1,000. Flip it around. And so if your debt was $15,000 ago, I really want to get it down to $14,000. And you hit $14,000 ago. Oh my God, I can't wait to hit $12,500. And you kind of hit your milestones in reverse. You can make yourself a handy dandy little chart where

you can tick things off or color it in or have the amounts that you want to save if you want to do an envelope system. There are lots of ways that you can make that fun and gamified like what you were talking about. But I think look at it as milestones within that big debt, rather than being like, my goal is to pay off debt, have a physical number you're working towards. Because I think having a physical number for a goal gives you that sense of satisfaction, makes it feel achievable, hopefully give you that little dopamine hit that you're looking for. For the dental, I would say it's going to depend on how urgent it is. Obviously, your mouth is very important. You need your teeth to eat and all those kinds of things. And it can be very painful if things

aren't sorted. So if it's something that's urgent, take care of it because there's also the potential for it to worsen. Yeah. And then it's really, really, really expensive. Correct. Chat to your dentist as well. A lot of dentists offer payment plan options or installments or different things like that. So see if there's anything that they might be able to help you out with. Otherwise, if it's something you can sit on, if it's not urgent and not causing you distress, it's going to depend on how long it's going to take you to pay off the debt, honestly. $15,000 is a significant sum. So if you say that's going to take me five or six years, that's probably arguably too long to push your dental work out, I would guess. So see what you can do. Can you

consolidate it in? Payment plan would be my first preference because you're not taking on additional debt, so to speak, with interest and you can pay it back slowly. And if that means your bigger debt takes a bit longer, you know, your health is very valuable and important. And I would view it kind of as preventative to stop it from getting worse, but it's going to all depend on what it is that you need. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe I've got a left field. Oh, I love those. I don't think it's that left field, but I don't think you should be putting off health appointments because you've got debt. Just because you've got debt doesn't mean that you shouldn't be looking after yourself. Yeah. Like, and yes, debt is important to reduce and get rid of. But ultimately, if I sat down

with your financial situation, I'd much prefer you to be in debt for a little bit longer and you to be fit and healthy and happy and comfortable than you to be out of debt sooner and then you've got crappy teeth. There needs to be some type of balance. And I think that there's a lot of financial content creators out there that are like, no, you can't do this until you're out of debt. What's his name? Dave Ramsey is so good at saying, you cannot eat inside a restaurant until you have absolutely no debt. And I'm like, life's about the journey, sir. Don't get me wrong. We're not going out every weekend and throwing our money up against a wall instead of paying our debt off, but like you deserve to have nice things regardless of your financial circumstances. Like

if you were saying, Victoria, like, should I buy, you know, this really fancy outfit or should I go on a holiday? I'm not out of debt yet. I'd be like, probably not because that's discretionary spending. That's stuff you don't need to spend in there. Nice to have is not need to have. Whereas I'd say dental's a need to have. Then when it comes to paying off your existing debt, I need my stuff gamified as well. And I'm going to throw our graphic designer under the bus right now because we have those beautiful savings charts on our website that are free to download. And you can like say $500 or $1,000 and lots of people in our community like printing them off and putting them on the fridge or on their desk or whatever. Maybe we can just gamify that and

be like, if you've got $1,000 worth of debt, here's how you're going to pay it off and you can gamify it that way. So I'm just going to go to rebrand those. So we've got savings and also debt reduction because it's impressive. The other thing that I found really motivating when I was paying off debt wasn't necessarily, I feel like lots of people do it in like bundles. So like a thousand dollars, yay. For me, it wasn't like that because I'd be like, cool, I've got $40,000 to pay. So it was like different milestones that in my head felt significant. So like for me, it was like those $5,000 marks when I went from having $35,000 to $30,000. I was like when that like front number changes. And then when it got closer to like that $15,000 mark, I was like,

oh my goodness, like can't wait until I get it down to four figures of debt. And then I knew I was like waiting for three figures of debt. So those types of changes, like maybe have a think and sit down and be like, what would I find interesting that maybe the $1,000 bundles works for you. But for me, I was like, I want to see like change, not just like a number, but like it needs to feel different. So that worked really well for me. But yeah, I would gamify it for yourself and work in smaller amounts that maybe you get a sweet treat when you finished your first thousand dollars. Or maybe you're like, no, no, no, I'm going to put off catching up for brunch with the girls until I've done this. And then that can be like a celebration. We don't have to not

spend money. We just have to be more conscious. Yeah. That's where I'm at. So are you guys ready for our DM of the week, which is arguably a bit more spicy? Yeah. All right. I feel like this week's DM is a little bit like double barreled and it's all about diversification and not just across your portfolios, but specifically ETFs. Hi, She's On The Money. I have a proper money dilemma. I'm a longtime listener of the pod and have been investing on shares for about three years now, and I have about $3,000 invested. I've been playing around a little, but I'm trying to established my long-term strategy. I've come across VDHG and DHHF. I'm wondering, is picking one of these enough as a complete diversified portfolio? I'm aware that they are both very

diversified and pay decent dividends. I've heard VD had one of her ETFs close. Would that happen to either of these? What would happen if I had a couple of hundred thousand invested and then the etf closed would love some advice thank you so much so i guess first point of call is to make sure that there's no crossover or like if there is then it's not like a huge crossover it's like you know i could either do one or the other i think that is a popular enough etf that i would be like oh yeah i'll chuckle my money that but i also feel i would feel more comfortable having it spread out you know across 34 possible shares in etfs just kidding a few just to be safe i don't know what the closing situation is though. Well, what closed for me was not an ETF. It was

a managed fund, which was, it had higher costs associated with it, but they're more, I guess, private. So it's obviously publicly listed, but they're more private and they can shut them down. I really feel like ETFs don't shut down very often because they are tracking an index rather than being managed by an individual who's trying to perform in a certain market. So for me, the managed fund that shut down was called the Asian All-Stars Fund. And I really liked it because it had all of these Asian, what they called All-Stars. And I thought it was really fun. But then what the conclusion was with the fund manager was they weren't outperforming the market. It was actually better for investors to have an ETF or something that tracked that market. They weren't actually

accurately picking All-Stars and they were like, we don't want to waste people's money or our time on this anymore. So what happened was they sold it down. The implication of that was I did have to pay capital gains tax at that point because I had made money on that fund. But then I used that cash and I reinvested it back into my broader portfolio and picked other things. So when it sells down, you're not going to lose money. It will realize some tax. So like I had to pay some capital gains tax because I made money. But also if an ETF shuts down or if any type of managed portfolio shuts down and the reason for it is that it's not performing, I would argue that you probably don't have a lot of profit to be taxed on anyway. So what would happen is it shuts down,

it basically sells down your portfolio and you'd have that money back in your account. So you're not missing anything. You just have to redistribute it. And this is just part and parcel of making sure that you pick something that arguably is going to have longevity in the market. Whereas When I purchased the Asian All-Stars Fund, they'd shut down portfolios before. Like, I wasn't surprised, if that makes sense. Did they shut it down after it gets to a point where it's like almost like you get no money back at all or you can like see it kind of? No, I had a profit.

They just decided that it wasn't worth continuing managing that fund and they wanted to probably put that fund manager on a different job or something. Okay. And it would depend on the individual investor, like where you've invested, how the market had gone. There's not really a hard and fast rule for if someone had tipped everything in yesterday versus if someone had bought a heap 10 years ago. It's so reliant on the individual's investment journey within that fund or whatever.

There wouldn't be a rule, I wouldn't think. Got you, got you, got you. I would argue that you'd be hard-pressed to find a financial advisor who would tell you that a singular ETF is enough diversification, even if it is a ETF that is specifically aimed at being diversified. probably firstly for that exact example like if it was to close down well you're kind of up against a wall right like you don't have a choice that's your whole portfolio that then would need to be redistributed also like there are just so many things in the world to invest in do you mean

there are so many markets there are so many industries for an ETF to be as diversified as you would want a whole portfolio to be I just don't know that it would be possible to have something that's everything to everyone. Because again, it's like so dependent on your personal risk profile. It's so dependent on your personal moral compass. Like one of my favorite sayings is nothing can be everything to everyone. No one can be everything to everyone. I think that is true for investments as well. You would have to have, I think, at least a couple of different ETFs to cover all of your markets, all of your preferences, all of your industries. Having one just feels very risky to me. And I just don't think that that's a recommendation that anybody would make, if I'm

honest. And often you'll see financial advisors recommending something like DHHF and then a more international option. So to compare both, because I think you're saying like they really overlap and they do. So Vanguard Diversified High Growth Fund is not necessarily an ETF, but it holds ETFs. So it actually holds three different ETFs, whereas the DHHF is just an ETF. So to get a little bit complex for a hot second, DHHF holds the top 200 and then some global shares and then some emerging markets, which is, you know, just like a nice little mix. Whereas the Vanguard option, VDHG, that holds Australian shares, global shares, also emerging markets, but it holds three different ETFs. And I find that interesting, but it's kind of like when you start to look at

the individual holdings. So instead of going, oh, well, it has different ETFs in it. Let's just look at the companies that holds. Both of them hold Australian shares. So like banks, BHP, CSL, they both hold internationally developing markets. They both hold emerging markets. So when we talk about, just disclaimer again, when we talk about international developed markets, we're talking about America. We're talking about Europe. When I'm talking about an emerging market, it doesn't align perfectly. But when I talk about an emerging market, you can often think more third world developing countries. And like that helps me delineate. It doesn't mean that it's accurate, but it helps me go, okay, cool. Like there's like a little bit of a hierarchy

per se of like, obviously internationally developed markets have really clean systems and laws and stuff in place. Whereas places like China and India and Southern Asia are developing markets to get even more like technical. That's where you see like a lot of tech development and stuff, whereas you don't see that as often in like a Europe because they're regulated differently. But you're going to see in both of those some very similar players. So in emerging markets, in international markets and in Australia, you've got, you know, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Tesla and they all hold those and then they all hold the Australian top 200 so it's kind of like going to and I always use the supermarket analogy but let me like try a different analogy this time

it's like going to two different bars and ordering a margarita like you're gonna get a margarita there's gonna be lime there's gonna be tequila there's gonna be salt might be different amounts maybe same price maybe a dollar different maybe that mug's $15 and the other one's $16 dollars but you're still getting a margarita so do you want two margaritas in your portfolio or do you want like a bloody mary and a margarita you know like how are we stocking our bar or our portfolio would you just get margaritas probably not because like i don't want a bar where you walk in and i go what do you drink and you go not tequila and i go i'm all out of options so we want options and we want diversity because when our friends come to the bar they want something

different. Yeah. Okay. Does that make sense? Love it. Yeah. Anyway, would you like to know what our community thought? Yes. Yes. So we asked the community about this and they said, do you think holding just one ETF like VDHG or DHHF is enough for a long-term strategy? 42% of you said yes, and 58% of you said no. I'm surprised by that. More of you need to do my investing masterclass. Next question we asked was for those using platforms like Sharesies, has your strategy changed over time and I I'm so excited we asked this question 60% of you said yes my strategy has changed over time amazing and I just can we like reiterate that that happens for most people like you download your investing platform you start investing you learn more you become educated

you get really clear on your goals and then you change and that's fine whereas I think so many of us are like I don't know what my strategy would be I'm not downloading the app I'm not starting we're pivoting queens we can change absolutely and then we asked do you think simplicity over optimization when it comes to investing 77 percent of you said simplicity all the way and 23 percent of you said optimization for me okay and it's like a middle point where it's like you want things to be simple but also you want things to be optimized as well like they're too simple almost i also think we get too down in the trenches of optimization and we go well what's that costing us usually time but also like what's the difference in performance and also how much time and energy do I want to put

in for this like do I want a standard 10% return or am I going to work tooth and nail forever and be so in the trenches for 10 and a half like what's and that's not even a guaranteed 10 and a a half, you know? So then we asked the community and we said, what is your two cents? Some of you were really complimentary and you were all like, like literally look at these messages. I started using Shazzy's because of she's on the money. So cute. Tell me your thoughts. So many people were like, go see an advisor if you're trying to invest more than a couple of grand. And I thought that this was important because I feel like this is still a conversation that we are having, but I think you're more than equipped if you're investing that amount of money.

to make decisions on your own. I don't know. I just feel like there's so many resources out there nowadays and financial advice. I'm not saying don't go get it. If you had a couple of hundred grand or you had like a complex situation or you're like, Victoria, my partner and I want to do some financial planning because we earned 200 grand together.

I'd be like, yeah, that's a good reason. But not just because you want $2,000 invested. Yeah. Personal opinion. I mean, it would eat up all the money you were going to invest. Right. And then some. Yeah. Next person said, I've had a lot of overlap. So now I just focus on the market of the ETF,

not necessarily what's popular. Another person said, simple is fabulous, but you don't want to be putting all your eggs in one basket to say. Someone else said, those two are pretty similar. I've done some research and I still haven't decided on one, but they're on my list. Another person said, high growth diversification for core. Anything else is exploration and learning for me as it's really early days. Another person said, it is so easy to get overwhelmed by the noise, but diversification can just be so easy by using two different ETFs in different markets, which is true because you've just got two ETFs that arguably are holding the same market. So maybe you just need to look outside what that looks like. And sometimes

you don't even need to look outside of the company. Like you could have two Vanguard ETFs and they'd be fine. Two beta shares ETFs and they'd be fine, but not overlapping. Someone else said, check out your fees for diversity in those platforms. Is it actually worth it? Another person said, what happens if you sell down? If you've made a profit, maybe you don't want to, so you don't have to pay CGT, which I thought was really smart as well. Sometimes we buy things, we liked it and we're like, oh, that's really similar to this other thing. I probably should get rid of it. But like personally, I'm like, well, maybe I'll just leave it there and I won't invest more and then one day if it's not performing well,

I'll sell it and, you know, roll it into something else. But it doesn't mean that it's bad ticking along. Totally. Someone else said, I really wish I had been a little bit simpler and gone with three ETFs instead of my 13. And someone else said, VDHG, all the way. It's my favourite. There you go.

Kind of love it. So there you go. And other people were just like, can't wait to hear answers on this. So you're welcome. You're welcome. Anyway, that brings us to the end of the show, my friends. lovely listeners as always that is all we have time for today and as always as always as always thank you for being part of our community whether you're listening on your walk or you're in your

car or you're pretending to work and listening to us thank you we honestly appreciate it and i love the fact that we have this little intimate relationship where the three of us get to hang out in your ears every friday have the best weekend look after yourselves and we're going to see you bright and early on monday for a brand new money diary 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 divine and she's on the money are authorized representatives of money Sherpa, PTY, LTD, ABN 321 649 27708, AFSL 451 289.