She's On The Money - Now, I ain't sayin' she a goal digger

Episode Date: January 14, 2020

SEE WHAT WE DID THERE?! This week we are chatting all things money goals, including how to set goals that are ambitious yet achievable PLUS we discuss what we're meant to do if we fall off the budgeting wagon in 2020... ooooh it's gonna be a good one! Do you love the podcast SICK and want more SOTM? Of course you do! Join our Facebook page to share your money wins and money confessions, follow us on Insta for daily inspo to keep you on track and DEFINITELY subscribe to our newsletter, the written recap of the pod's key takeaways, including some bonus bits you won't want to miss... In a money mess and need help untangling the muddle? We've got you sorted - simply record your qualm and send it through to us at [e-mail] and you may end up on the podcast! Your podcast hosts are Georgia King and Victoria Devine. 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 only and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. Victoria Devine is an Authorised Representative of Consultum Financial Advisers Proprietary Limited ABN 65 006 373 995 I AFSL 230323.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. My name is Georgia King. I'm a writer and TV production assistant, and I am someone who just really wants to lift my game when it comes to all things money. And to do that, I've enlisted the help of my friend and money expert, Victoria Devine. Hello. Hey, Victoria.

Surprise, it's me. Victoria, today we're going to be talking about goal setting. It sounds very simple, but it's the one thing in the shoes on the money Facebook group that we all seem to get stuck on. We need your help. But before we really dig in, let's kick things off by sharing a money win or a money confession from our own lives. Victoria, good or bad this week, mate?

It's good. I have a money win. It's such a good money win. It was going to be a money confession, but it's now a win and I'm claiming it as such. So I was about to order something on Adore Beauty and I had it in my cart and I was actually about to purchase it. And on my laptop, I have email notifications and a notification popped up that I got an email from Adore Beauty being like your $15 reward is waiting for the next 24 hours. And I was like, um, yeah. So I clicked that code, popped it in got $15 off my order and I feel like it wasn't going to be a money loss because it was

something I actually needed to purchase but it totally turned into a win when I got a code it was as if they were reading my mind yeah good from you mate well done what have you got for me I also have a win yay we are winners we are winners we are back at work and I've actually I was gifted a coffee machine over the break so forget spending $4.50 on a latte every day what does that equal? $60 a week? Just kidding. I know it doesn't, but it's still, it's still heaps. So yeah, basically I'm saving, I'm saving a bit a week on coffee. Yeah. Look, that was a win, even though your math was terrible because it was $22.50. If you have a coffee every day, unless you're having three a day, in which case I can't fight that math. Don't judge me because

I was good at English at school and not math. So I'm saving, what was it? $20 a week-ish. All right. Well, you keep being the TV producer and I'll keep being the financial advisor. All righty, Victoria, enough about my coffee habit. And bad maths. Yes. Once again, another huge week in the Shoes on the Money community. Did anything stick out to you this week that was particularly amazing? Yes.

Talk to me. I actually have a really fun money win. I don't know if it's a money win, but I just really liked her post. Give it to me. So this post is from Hania and she said, what's everyone's money goals for 2020? And then she listed a whole heap of her money goals. And she said that she wants to double her income. she wants to start investing on the stock market she wants to give more to charity and start making

super contributions because she says she's self-employed she also wants to have twenty five thousand dollars in savings and beat the feast or famine cycle that she's been struggling with since going freelance so she says there's heaps on her plate but she's feeling so motivated because of this group and she just wanted to hear everybody else's goals i love her energy i did too and there were literally hundreds of comments on her post of other people sharing their goals and what a way to bring in this episode. Have you got something for me? I do.

Mine is from 18-year-old Michaela, who was a first-time poster, and she really just wanted to thank the community for helping her save $24,000 in 12 months. She also went on two overseas holidays and she's booked another one in March. She wrote about how grateful she is to all of you for keeping her inspired, feeling supported, really helping her to reach her goals, and she can't wait to smash plenty more in 2020.

I love it. Go, Michaela. Now, though, let's get into the show. Victoria, research suggests that if you can create specific accountability, you will increase your chances of completing a goal you set by up to 95%, which, if we're being honest, is basically 100%. Victoria, why are goals so important? All right.

So definitely not 100%. You're talking to a financial advisor here. That 5% is really important. We know setting goals is important. We talk about it all the time. You know, we're in a new year. We are setting goals because we're motivated to do so. we often like, all right, new year, new me, clean slate, let's do this. But the important thing here

is actually setting goals that we can achieve. Too many times do we set goals that we are unable to achieve. And the easiest way to get derailed and feel demotivated is to set a goal that actually doesn't work out for us. And we heard this in the last season of the podcast where we had a couple of people who had set goals, but hadn't achieved them. And the reasons they hadn't achieved them was because they had actually set goals that were outside of the scope of their ability. So one person in the first season set the goal of saving $10,000, but she was still a student and had spent eight grand on her Invisalign treatment and had, I think it was like $20,000 worth of income. So that was actually just unreasonable for her to have expected that

of herself. So it became abundantly clear that we needed to do an episode on how to set goals that we can actually achieve because as mundane as it sounds, it's really not. Okay, Victoria, so I've got a lot of goals I want to meet for 2020. How do I figure out what is actually attainable and what I can truly achieve and what's just not ever going to work for me? It's all about being super clear. Setting goals that we can actually achieve means committing to them as well. So you could say, Victoria, I want to save $10,000 this year. That's a fab goal. If you've got a goal to go overseas twice and also purchase a new car, I think we need to really reprioritize what that looks like. Because for someone on an average salary, all those things aren't possible at once.

We can actually achieve everything together. The thing we can't do though is achieve it all at once. So we need to be logical about what we're setting and how it's going to work. And my favorite way to go about this is actually to work backwards saying, all right, what is the final outcome and when do I want to have that achieved by? And then going, all right, well, what will that cost me per month? So if you're in a position where you said, and I'm going to use that example of $10,000 again, if you said to me, Victoria, I want to save $10,000 by Christmas time next year and it's January. All right, we've got 12 months to achieve that goal. Let's work backwards. Can you logically save just over $800 a month for that goal? And you might say, oh, that's a lot

of money, I also want to buy a car. Well, which one are you prioritizing more? Goal setting for me is a little bit like a process of elimination where it's really nice to be really open and optimistic about it at the beginning, write down all of your goals and ideas on paper, put numbers to them, put figures to them, pop a timeframe on it, and then work towards it in a more constructive way. Because the easiest way to feel like you can't go anywhere is to set a goal that actually looks like you're not going anywhere. This episode and what we want to get out of it is understanding that I know we're all probably in the mindset of fresh start, new energy levels. We're all really high, so motivated to get it done. Let's also be really

constructive about it because I don't want you all falling off the bandwagon come the end of March because a festival ticket came up and we've just put you two steps behind on your savings goal because that took half of the monthly allocated savings from you. Just being really clear about your goals is really important. Vague or generalized goals such as I just want to eat better or I just want to save more money aren't going to work. They're not going to serve you. They are not going to get you where you need to go. We need to be so specific. We need to be defined so we can actually measure things. And as much as that doesn't sound exciting, measuring things actually means they're going to happen. So what, when, where, how, how is this going to happen? Whether

that is a personal goal or it's a money related goal like I'm going to pay off my credit card by March is that something that you can actually do and if you've got a two thousand dollar credit card can you actually save a thousand dollars a month to actually get to that goal or are you putting unrealistic standards on yourself? So what I'm hearing is I need to start writing down my goals Victoria am I right? Yes you are correct and you also need to start sharing them because if you can create accountability around your goals you're able to and absolutely more likely to achieve them whether that is sharing them with your friends or your family or just your mom or maybe your cat. I think it's really important to be visualizing these things, but also vocalizing them. So put

it out to the universe. Say, I'm going to do this and this is how I'm going to do it. All right, will do. And let's all remember that we are actually human and your journey is not a straight line to success. We're in this situation where nothing actually ever goes according to plan. If we put a plan in place, we are better able to track what we are trying to achieve. If we're not on the bandwagon on Friday. We can always jump back on a Monday and the plan is already in place. Our resolution for the next 12 months should be just to keep going on. It's not about always being perfect. It's more about how do I still achieve this goal? And like we were saying, if you need

to save just over $800 to save that $10,000 in the year, if you get off track, just realign it. What do you now need to save per month? And where could you pull that additional savings from so that you're still on track to achieve the bigger picture. So basically when I fall off that bandwagon, I can just jump back on and it'll all be okay? Absolutely, it'll all be okay. We just need to be really realistic with ourselves and not expect everything to be perfect.

And what a better way to do that than to have shared it already with your friends so that they can motivate you to get back on as well. All right, done. It's a good plan. So, Georgia, before we head into the next part of the show, we wanted to quickly share a message from today's sponsor, Verve Super. Who are they? Well, Victoria, Verve Super is Australia's first ethical super fund tailored for women. They also don't invest in fossil fuels like new coal mines or companies engaged in animal cruelty,

weapons or gambling. Plus, they're the first super fund only to invest in companies with women on their boards, which is pretty huge. Well, as we know, one of the most important things we can do to improve our financial lot for the future is to sort out our super, And what a better time to do it than the start of 2020. By 2025, Australian women will hold $1.5 trillion in superannuation. So we probably should start the year off right by caring about which super fund is going to help us long term, which is why Verve wanted to remind you guys that super is super important. Given this is a goal setting episode, if you know you haven't looked at your super in a

while or you've got a few funds floating around, maybe this is your friendly reminder to pop super on your list. To find out more about Verve Super or to sign up online, visit vervesuper.com.au. When looking at changing your superannuation fund, it's really important to take a number of factors into consideration, like the fees associated and the insurances that come as standard. And also, please keep in mind that past performance is not a reliable predictor of future performance. We suggest having a chat to your friendly financial advisor when making decisions like this.

Hi there. You've reached the She's on the Money mailbox. Do you have a money problem you want help solving? Do you have a money dilemma you just want to chat about? Victoria is here to help. Every week, we'll be playing your questions to help make sense of a money mess you may have found yourself in. Make a quick recording on your phone and send it through to podcast at she'sonthemoney.com.au and you might find yourself on the show. But for now, here's today's question. hi guys i love the show and the printables in the facebook group however i thought i'd send this recording through because even though i'm really motivated and absolutely love the idea

of saving money i can never seem to meet my goals regardless of how big or small they are i just can't seem to achieve the goals i set i have a good income so money coming in isn't really an issue so i feel as though i'm a bit stuck at the moment i'd love to know your thoughts and if you have any tricks to keep motivated once the initial excitement has worn off thanks guys so what are some things she needs to think about when setting goals victoria i think it's really important to realize and i feel like i might have said this a few times in the podcast already that achieving goals is actually really hard so we can set goals while we're really motivated but people often fail to achieve their goals not because the goals they set were actually impossible but because the goals

they set weren't actually set in the correct way. Maybe the goal didn't have a really realistic timeframe, or perhaps the goal wasn't achieved because the person actually lost motivation and they couldn't see any progress. And I think we've all been a little bit guilty of that at some point in our lives. What I actually think we need to do is use a framework for our goal setting. This is something I do with my clients all the time. And as much as it sounds silly, it puts us in a position where we are able to really quantify what that goal means and how we can achieve it over the long term. Victoria, I sense you're going to start talking to us about the SMART goal methodology. Am I right in my assessment? Look, you're not wrong. So many of you have probably already

heard me talk about the SMART goal methodology, but you know what? I'm going to keep hopping on about it because sometimes the best solution is actually the simplest. And as I said, working backwards is really important to me. And this is a framework around two of my favorite things, goal setting and money problems even though I've spoken about it before and if you look up smart goals in the Facebook community you'll be able to find a whole heap more information on this and a template you are welcome but it's something I use with my clients all the time one of the most important things when setting goals is to be realistic and I know I keep saying that but the fastest way to lose your motivation is to set a goal that's unrealistic or unachievable

You won't want to go back to it and actually puts us in a position where we then begin to think that goals for us are unachievable in general. If we start to feel like we are consistently failing on something, setting a new goal just feels unachievable before you even begin. The SMART goal methodology helps us maintain not only our motivation, but also keeps us on track. SMART goals can be applied to anything in your life, whether that's financial or personal goals whether it's doing more yoga saving for a house deposit or affording a holiday being clear

on the goals that you set and how we can achieve them is actually the start line of your journey and if we don't know where we're beginning how on earth are we meant to know where we're going if i gave you a map with no directions where would you be going i'd be getting lost victoria exactly so let's work out what the start line looks like set out a clear path and a starting gun to let us know when to actually start and a ribbon to run through at the end to let you know that you've achieved your goal we are all going to be able to achieve goals quicker faster better and over the long term love the olympic reference there victoria you you are so welcome i tried really hard with that one by the way okay victoria so for those playing along at home who haven't

heard of the smart methodology that you love so dearly can you give us a little recap smart actually is an acronym and it stands for specific measurable attainable relevant and timely and these are the five factors that I like to take into consideration when setting goals. If we don't meet one of those criteria when setting a goal, it makes it harder to achieve. If we're not setting a goal that's relevant for us, we're probably going to lose motivation over the long term. If we don't set a time on it, how do we know when we've actually achieved it or not achieved something? For me, the SMART goal methodology is a very simple way of creating a structure around a goal so we make sure we can achieve it. Alrighty. So this is starting to make sense to me and I'm

feeling like I probably need to start doing some of these myself. Victoria, if people are listening to this and really struggling to find motivation to set a new goal, what exactly would you recommend? I think it's about going broad and then funneling it in. Write down all of the goals and things you would like to achieve and then go through that list and highlight the things that are most important to you. Like what is jumping off that page? As I said earlier, we can actually achieve everything we just can't do it at once. When setting goals I really like to limit myself to a total of five at once and as much as I definitely have more than five goals it doesn't mean I'm always actively working towards them. If you put too many goals on your plate at one time

you're actually going to lose not only motivation but you won't have the energy or resources needed to achieve those goals and therefore you spread yourself too thin. To break this even further down I really like to, of my five goals, and this might be a little bit pedantic, but bear with me. I like to have one long-term goal. So something I'm trying to achieve over the next 10 years, two medium-term goals, which I'm trying to achieve in the next three to five-ish years, and two short-term goals. And those are the goals that I am trying to smash out in the next 12 months. If you tick off a goal early, fantastic. You actually get to replace it with a new one. And I really like doing that because I feel like having a constricted list of goals

means I'm really forced to prioritize what's really important to me and what's important to my life. And it stops things from feeling really overwhelming and forces me to consistently reassess whether those things are still a priority. Like if I'm only allowed five things, are those five things worthy of being on the list? I talk to clients about this all the time because the first thing people are going to say to me is, but Victoria, I have so many more goals. Keep a wishlist. And every time you knock something off that goal list, you can take something from your wish list and add it to your goal list. As much as it sounds a little bit savage to only have five goals at once, creating a list of five goals and achieving them over the

long term is going to take some time, but it ultimately provides you with the clarity that we are looking for so that we can always stay on track. I think what I love about that, Victoria, is that it's not just these giant goals that are, you know, 10 or 20 years away, like buying a house, if that'll ever happen, you know, you're going to be ticking things off along the way by having smaller goals and feeling like you're achieving. So that's pretty big. Yeah. I think it's really important to make sure that we are actually rewarding ourselves along the way and ticking things off a list is just so satisfying. Love a list. Okay. And now for the fun stuff. What good would a money podcast be without the pervy stuff? Now it's time for Money Diary. Let's get into it.

Hi, I'm 23 and my name is Snakes and Letters. I call myself Snakes and Letters for the podcast just because I feel like ever since I've started working, I've always been saving up for some big items, sort of around the $10,000 value. And then once I'd hit that, I'd obviously been saving for it. And so then I'd spend it and then I'd sort of be back to square one. So it's up and down like a game of snakes and ladders. Today's money diarist goes by the name Snakes and Ladders and is pretty amazing with her money. I would say that my relationship with money is fairly positive. I've been working since I was about 15 and have always had a job since that point in time I've always been encouraged to save and save up for big ticket items in cash but I feel like

things could still be better so always looking for ways to improve I just finished uni last year so I'm finishing up my role as a disability support worker and in the process of starting work as an occupational therapist so I'll be working with people of different ages who have disabilities and are on the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Alrighty, so now we know what she does, let's get into the juicy stuff. How much does she earn and how much is sitting in her bank account right now? Currently, I'm sort of earning a different amount each week because I was working casually. So I'd probably say on average, maybe about $450 a week. And at the moment, my bank accounts, because there's multiple, are sitting at about $17,000. But about $4,000 of

that is sort of reserved for bills and stuff I have annually that are sort of between March and May. What about debts? The only debt I have at the moment is my HECS debt from uni, which I think is about $38,000. But I also took out an extra $4,000 to go overseas for one of my uni placements. I went over to Vanuatu, which was definitely worth it. So what exactly happens to her money once it's deposited into her account? I put most of it into sort of my longer term savings account, which at the moment I have reserved to save up to move out. And I'm also saving for a trip to Canada. So some of it goes there. Then a little bit I have on a bank card just for whatever splash money I want to have on whatever I want to buy. Then a little bit goes into a separate bank account with a

separate bank for my emergency fund. And then the others all go into the bills accounts as well. Alrighty. So how does Snakes and Ladders feel about investing? Does she invest? And if so, how? So when it comes to investing, I've just started using a micro investing platform sort of just before around Christmas time. So I do invest, but I've just started. But my plan for what I do have in that platform is to help it hit a certain amount and then decide what to do with it and get some advice about that. I definitely see the value in investing, but I just think it's something I need to learn more about. And I think as I do that, I would feel better about it. Like I know at the moment it's a good thing to do over time but it's just yeah I suppose that's still

initial sort of phase of starting something new so and how does today's money diarist feel about making decisions when it comes to money I think to a certain extent I think when it comes to making decisions around money that it's sort of when it comes to spending or knowing what I want to save up to spend I feel confident but when it comes to things about I suppose deciding where to put my money, like whether it's an investment or, you know, if, you know, someone of my age should even be looking at contributing to super voluntarily or something like that. I'm a bit sort of still confused about it or need to read more about it. So for the most part, yes, but also probably could be better as well. Does Snakes and Ladders have any good money habits that she's especially proud

of? The main good money habit that really jumps to my mind is that I have a spreadsheet that I've been using for the last two years where I list all of my spending, which has been helpful mainly because I've been able to not only track where everything goes, but pick up on habits that I didn't know that I had. So for instance, I found out anytime I was going out somewhere like to an appointment and I was early, I'd go and get a snack or a coffee or something and all of those little things were adding up. So now I just don't do that because I know it adds up over time. and then probably the other thing as well is using sort of apps to help split costs with friends as well so when you go out not one person's footing the bill and I think it also

helps us to all chat about money a bit easier as well because no one feels like they're being unfair towards another person. And what about her worst money habit? My worst money habit would probably be maybe not fully thinking through how much things would cost before I actually do them so like say for example the middle of last year I booked a plane ticket to go and visit a friend that lives in England and I just booked the plane ticket and then I was like I'll just figure it out later because I was on uni placement at the time and I was busy and it all worked out because I had money in the bank that I could draw upon but I think in hindsight I probably should have actually done a rough estimate of things first. What is our money diarist actually saving for?

What's her big money goal at the moment? The things that I'm saving for at the moment would be mainly my trip to Canada, which I'm hoping to do the year after next, so 2021. So I started saving for that the middle of last year, just by putting a little bit aside each paycheck and that's really added up. So looking forward to saving up for that over the next year. But other than that, just saving up for a rainy day and saving up to move out as well, sort of hopefully some point this year. New year, new goals. What does 2020 look like for Snacks and Ladders? I suppose it's the money goes for this year is more about hitting specific amounts in certain accounts so like with the Canada account I want to have six grand by the end of the year so I can start paying things

off because now I'm going to have annual leave to use while I'm away so I won't need to save up for the full amount before I start booking things if that makes sense or yeah having a certain amount ready for when I move out. Now does our snakes and ladders lass have any hacks she can share with the shoes on the money community? I'd say like my best hack for saving money is always trying to find a better deal somewhere else. Like whether it's using, you know, vouchers to get discounts on meals or Groupon to get cheap massages or whatever it is you want to do, you can always find a better deal somewhere else. I love using vouchers. I think that people need to probably be using more of them. They're there to be used. You know, they're out, they help bring

business into shops that might otherwise need it. And, you know, you get to try a whole lot of cool new places. So no shame. I used to work in hospitality. I don't care if someone gave me a voucher, I just use it. It's what's there for. Even ShopperDoc, it's still around as well. There's so many good ones you can use you just gotta check in you know you never might get lucky one time my family and I we got three days free airport parking from a shopper docket so you never know and finally how would today's money diarist rate her own relationship with money um I'd probably rate my relationship with money maybe a b plus just because I feel like I have really solid habits that I've started early on and I think those have the potential to carry me through

quite well, but it's just a matter of, I suppose, fine tuning and tweaking things and learning about those other things that I've mentioned that I haven't yet learned about, like investing and doing that better. Snakes and ladders, Victoria, what did you reckon? I loved it. How good was she? How savvy? Very savvy. Incredible. I absolutely loved her shopper docket tip. That was my favorite as well. I actually can't remember the last time I looked at the back of her receipt and I just feel like I've been missing out. Like how many shopper dockets have I put in the bin and missed out on. Imagine all the deals you're just throwing away, girl. I know. I'm going to look next time, I promise. But I thought she was really, really great. I thought she had some

really good tips, but also was quite aware. You could tell by the way that she explained her money situation, how money comes into her account, and then she divvies it up to her goals and her savings. That was absolutely incredible. I think that her B plus rating was fair, given she said that she didn't really know much about investing, but I loved that she said that she wanted to be investing more. I also feel like, you know, not to criticize, but I also think it's really important to have some bigger goals. I thought her goals were pretty amazing, but obviously you're a financial advisor. So what would you say bigger long-term goals actually look like? So it was fantastic that she's saving for Canada in 2021. And I think it was fantastic that she said I'm

saving for a rainy day, but these bigger goals are really important. So saving for something like financial freedom or retirement is not too far away when you're 23. So it feels far away, but it is absolutely not. And the reason we want these bigger financial goals in place is because why are we working? We're working to create financial freedom and financial freedom is the thing that is going to make us money. So the money that we invest is going to then make us money so we don't have to go to work so we can go to Canada every year. So I think we need to really see the bigger picture, not just, all right, I'm saving for Canada in 2021 because what after that? What happens next? Where are the next steps? Where are we going? But I think she's absolutely on the

right track. She's 23. She's just started investing. She's got her whole life ahead of her and I absolutely loved it. That is all we have time for today. But before we head off, let's quickly wrap the boring but important stuff 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 only and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision and yes don't worry we promise victoria divine is an authorized representative of consultant financial advisors proprietary limited abn 65006 373 995 afsl 230 323 and of course thank you to our lovely sound engineer chris burke for making us sound stunning we would love it if you

joined our facebook group where our community shares money wins and confessions every single day free of judgment search she's on the money on facebook and join us if facebook's not your thing maybe find us on instagram we're at she's on the money aus see you guys next week bye guys