She's On The Money - Salary or Sanity?

Episode Date: June 1, 2023

Ring in Friday just right with Victoria, Jess and Bec as they share your money wins and Bec brings her broke tips (feat shiny new theme song)! Plus we answer a Money Dilemma about how to get the ball rolling on starting to save. And this week you slid into our D.Ms to ask whether you should prioritse a good work culture over an amazing salary. There are SO many angles to this so don't miss the discussion! Tasty links... SOTM Budget & Cashflow Masterclass (use the code pod50 for a cheeky $50 off the masterclass) Sami Rose On Demand Workout Series Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements. The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs.  Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708,  AFSL - 451289.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

She's on the money. hello and welcome to she's on the money the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. I'm sick today, but we're still showing up so that next week, the rest of the team will also be sick. Today, my friends, is Friday, which means it is time to get my little soon-to-be-sick team together and celebrate you, our incredible She's On The Money community. Today, Miss Jessica Ritchie is going to be sharing our favorite money wins and confessions from the community. Miss Bex Syed is going to be sharing her broke tips and our newest jingle. We're going to be helping to answer a juicy money dilemma, which this week is all about how to just start saving.

And we're going to be unpacking something that you slid into our DMs about. And this week, we're talking about whether you should prioritize a good culture at work over a good salary. Miss Bex Syed, how has your week been? Hi, VD. Good. Good week. What have I done? I can't remember it, but I think you can't remember it. No, it's been really quiet, actually it's been a real quiet chill wholesome week you know that's good sometimes no juice no juice at all i'm going to try and talk as little as possible in this episode because i sound terrible oh gosh 10 out of 10 can recommend um i'm not even actually sick i just had croup and i have a what would you say a remnants of croup cough oh very attractive if you're thinking

wow, V, I thought that only toddlers got croup. You thought wrong. You thought wrong. Toddlers and Miss Victoria Devine get croup. It's very attractive. Jessica, how have you been this week? I've been good. Just bopping along. I had so much fun this morning because we got to test our friend Sammy's new workout regime. And I've said before, not a gym girly, right? Not the vibe, not for me. there is I did convince you one time to do a Pilates class via zoom during lockdown this is a vibe that Sammy's thing gives me because there's a whole 45 minute 13 song workout and so like I have I'm sore today I ache I really am in a lot of pain but I bought the thing because friends support friends and buy their friends stuff you don't expect it for free and I had a lot of fun

and I'm kind of looking forward to getting back into exercising again without feeling embarrassed And there's heaps of other stuff on there, but yeah, little plug, she's our friend. I love her. Oh, how good. And it's a lot of fun. If you're someone who just likes to dance around in your lounge and have a good time and call that exercise, kind of what it is. Yeah, she's an absolute legend.

We'll actually put a link in our show notes so that you can. Oh, she'll love that. Yeah. Well, I mean, it wasn't so that she could love it. It was actually so that our community could love on her. Yeah. And so we can find it easily. Do you know what?

I had a bit of a conundrum this week. I had a lot of email replies to our newsletter last Friday. So today is Friday, which means at about lunchtime, probably more close to 3pm because that's how I roll at the moment. I will send out our newsletter. And last week I did the same thing. I was sitting on the plane on the way back from Sydney and I was like smashing out the newsletter. And I thought I was so funny because this week I recommended my favourite food, which you two will know is frozen mashed potatoes. Stunning. Absolutely amazing. And I was trying to sell the community on them real hard. And I was like, they are the best thing in this entire world, right? And if you

haven't subscribed to our newsletter, well, you're in for a shock. It's not that much about financial literacy. It's relatively rogue. Yeah, we recap the week that was. Yeah, we have money tips and tricks. But there's also Victoria's unsolicited recommendation where it's very unsolicited. And to be honest, my aim with that is to waste as much of your time as possible. In a fun way. Yeah, in a fun way. And do you know what? I've probably had 15 DMs this week from people being like, V, this mashed potato has changed my life. And I'm like, I know, that's why I recommended it. But at the end of that recommendation, I said that I had been eating it with a side of dead horse. I can see how that would confuse a lot of people.

Yeah. And so we've had, aren't you a vegan? Yeah, we've had 50 plus email responses from people being like, V, not only did we think that you didn't eat meat, but also horse. Interesting choice. Interesting choice. Yeah, and to confirm that it is in fact dead. So it was horse meat. And I was very confused because I thought it was just a term

that everyone's, you know, parental figure used to refer to tomato sauce. Is this something that I had just been living and nobody else had been living? Or had you heard of the concept of dead horse being tomato sauce No, I had never. You? My dad had.

I'm pretty sure it's Cockney, which is English, and my dad is English. So that might be why. Dead horse. Yeah, Cockney rhyming slang, I think it is, something like that, which is, yeah, you just replace like the starts of like Shmaila Twift. Like you're just hearing, you're replacing it with something else. Tomato sauce, dead horse. You knew what I was talking about.

I thought everyone would know what I was talking about. Turns out I offended a very large population of our community, for which I do apologise. I was actually referring to tomato sauce. Also, I did think up until this week that everybody in every family called the catalogs that are put in your mailbox unsolicited were called cattle dogs. I haven't heard that one. Never. Okay. So it's just me and my dad from Tasmania that use this type of terminology. I will continue to use this type of language

in the newsletter to confuse you. I mean, it's probably just really good for engagement, but it's probably just letting you in on the side of me that's maybe a little bit more bogan than you thought it was. And I'm not mad. So let's move on because I want to know, Jess, I feel like that was a loss for me this week, but how has our community been winning? So the first win this week comes from Ebony who said, money and life win. After months of searching, I had a new housemate move in. Now I'm no longer paying $370 a week rent solo. And she's absolutely lovely and is going to help me look after my cat while I'm away next week, visiting family. Happy to save more money and have a little bit more flexibility to say yes

to things like the cheeky coffee during the week oh and your cat's probably gonna be happy with someone they know extra company we love a cat win my next money win comes from alana who said money win after two years as a regular casual at my job my boss has given me a full-time contract to start once my maternity leave finishes and it's so much more than i was going to ask for so that's also a nice positive congrats cool very exciting my next money win is from tess who said money and a heart win instead of buying expensive flower decals for my daughter's bedroom when i was free decorating. I was looking at spending $150 to $200. I decided to get creative and paint the flowers myself. $26 in paint from Bunnings later and the end result has far exceeded my expectations

and my darling baby girl now gets to go to her room every night and touch the flowers and giggle and smile. And I was just like, that's the most wholesome thing I've ever read. She DM'd it to me as well. I loved it. So sweet. And pro tip, if you're doing something like that, don't buy a big tub of paint, buy a sample pot. Sample pots go a long way and they're like eight bucks a pot. genius if ever i need to do diy anything beck i actually just call jess weekend i don't care jess i need your tips and tricks i live for it and i'm very excited to see all the stuff that you start doing in your reno oh don't even start me it is so overwhelming and when she says see she means what you do the things i told you to do victoria can't wait i'm gonna love it she means

that's exactly what she means beck next money win is from maddie who said money win there were 30 nuggets in my 24 nugget pack. What? That is a money win. Big win. All right. But at what point do you stop counting how many nuggets are in the nugget box? I've never counted my nuggets. Yeah. Did she sit down and count 30 or does she count per bite? Like how did you decide? I don't know. I mean, if you're buying that many, maybe you're sharing them and you're splitting them up. And so you've got 15 each. Yeah. I've never split a 24 pack. I'm so sorry to offend you that way. Oh, my gosh.

Bec, have you never shared a 24-pack of nuggets? I don't think so. It's one of the true joys in life. Wow. I'll try it one day. I hope one day you experience that type of joy. I've just said 50. I don't know if she's talking about a 50-pack on the road, and that's okay.

Oh, you'd split a 50, sure. You'd split a 50. But not a 24. But not a 24. Can you buy a 50-pack of nuggets? I think so. I have no idea. I'm sure you could purchase 50 nuggets, but like a box?

You just go to Macca's and be like, hi, yep, I'll get the 50 nugget pack. And they're like, sure. I'm concerned. Move on. Jessica, what else have you got? Next up, we have Morgan who said, money loss slash money win. Recently purchased a sewing machine for my husband and I to build some more skills and hand make some projects and clothes for our daughter.

We took advantage of a sale at Spotlight and got over $400 worth of fabrics and patterns for only $73. How good is that? Do you know what another hot tip is if you're looking for fabrics? Op shops. genius tablecloths sheets literally old off cuts of fabrics always end up there and they are so cheap so if you've got like a project where you maybe want a little bit of a different fabric or you're just testing off to the op shop you go my friend i want to know how morgan you're planning

on learning is there like an online thing because i've always wanted to learn and it's hard to like find some way to go and learn as an adult but i'll just teach you i've already said i'm going to teach Jess how to sew properly because she drops off her pants to me and then I take up the hems and return them because hemming pants is really expensive and we save money in any way, shape or form that we can in this team. And that includes making Victoria do your sewing. She does my sewing. She does my nails. Full service. Full service. Just drop it off. Same day service, actually. Same day service. Yeah. You've got to stay and I can probably get rid of it. Yeah. She does it all.

My last money win this week comes from Amy who said, I settled on a block of land and I bought a puppy. What a great week. Look at that face. Oh, my gosh. That's very cute. So sweet. Do we know their poppo's name?

No, it wasn't there. I did check the comments. Come on, guys. If you're going to post a picture of your dog, I'm going to need all the information. How old is it? What is its name? What's its favorite treat?

Where does it like its belly rubs? Like, I need all of that information. Otherwise, you're doing this community a very big disservice. Absolutely. It's rude. It is rude. Withhold that information. Do you know who's not doing our community a disservice?

Who? Antoinette. Oh, yes. Why, Bec? Well, Antoinette is one of our listeners, and she so kindly reached out with a really, really catchy jingle for Bexbroke Tips. When you say really catchy, you mean it's the only one we got?

No, it's the only one we got, absolutely. Yeah. And also really catchy. And not at all familiar. It's made up from scratch. I just want everyone to know. Schmailer-Schmift kind of vibes, right? It's a Schmailer-Schmift kind of vibe.

Am I just, like, play it? Yeah, just play it. Stunning. Let's drop it into the microphone. It's time for the Bex Brogue Tip Jingle. B-E-C-S-B-R-O-K-E tips. B-E-C-S-B-R-O-K-E tips. I love it.

Stunning. Amazing. Amazing. I wouldn't say no if somebody wanted to remix that for us. I also wouldn't say no. But we appreciate it. I feel like that was a broke jingle. Oh, yeah, that was perfect.

Right on brand. Ten out of ten. So on brand. Straight into it, though, Bec. What have you got for us this week? Okay, so I've got, I'll share two of them and then I'll share my own if that works for you guys. Love. Okay, so the first broke tip is from Cindy.

Hi, Cindy. Hi, Cindy. She says that she goes to the Asian grocer when she's trying to stretch out her last $15 for the week. Smart. So she'll get like a $0.65 to $1.50 packet of instant noodles. Great idea. They're cheaper there too. They're very cheap.

They're much cheaper. You can probably get something similar from Woolworths, but never like $0.65. Yeah, no, that's not a thing anymore. But it is at the Asian grocer. Yes, absolutely. And she gets a generous bunch of Asian greens for $1. That's insane. $1?

Yeah, how good is that? That's actually quite a wholesome meal as well. Yeah. Like, that's actually really good. It's really good. You get your noodles, you get your greens. Greens are good. You can buy the dumpling wrappers too.

I used to always love getting, like, you get just a tray of mints for, like, what are they, $5, $6? And a thing of the wrappers and a thing of your $1 greens. We would make 80 dumplings from, like, one lot. It was crazy. That's, like, under $10. Yeah, it's so cheap. And so we would just freeze them. But really good way, like if you do that, stash them away.

Yes. Way cheaper than ordering them. I love that. Oh, genius. That's a really, really good idea. Asian Grocery is aware of these apps. I'm going to find Jessica's dumpling recipe. I'm going to get it in the newsletter.

Oh, stunning. Oh. It better be good, Jess. I've just said that. There's like four ingredients. Can't be bad. Can't be bad because it is cheap. What else you got?

My next broke tip is from Rachel. Hi, Rachel. So she says that her family buy instead of, so say you're making meatballs, instead of buying the mince and all the ingredients and everything separately. Instead, what her family do, they buy 10 meat patties from Woolworths and then roll them into meatballs. Hey, that's smart. Yeah, I feel like that's a pretty good way to do it

because it has all the ingredients in there for you. You literally just have to take – Yeah, it's already kind of spiced. Yeah, and because you split them, because like a whole patty to be one meatball would be a huge meatball. Yeah, you'd have to cut it into like four, right? You'd get a couple meatballs out of a patty, you know? That's great.

That's a good idea. Adding to that, I remember when I was younger, mum used to get the flavoured sausages and squeeze it out of the sausage casing to put into like pasta bakes and stuff. So like kind of like meatballs, but like a sausage pasta. And therefore, you didn't have to spend heaps on like seasonings and flavourings and stuff. So like, I like the idea of repurposing pre-seasoned foods for other reasons. Yes. And then you can split it so that you get more mileage out of it, which is always a

great thing. Love. $10 meal right there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that. So my tip of the week. Oh, yeah. We've been waiting. You left it till last. It's not going to be as dodgy as last week's tip. Yeah, okay. That's a step up. I was going to tell you about my Fitbit. As you guys can see here, I've got a Fitbit that's

stuck together with sticky tape instead of buying a new band. But that's not my broke tip for the week. It is a good idea, though. Is it sustainable? It's sustainable. This has lasted me two weeks. Oh, impressive. It's pretty good. And it has not even, it's not slightly coming off. It's, you know, just get really, really, really good tape.

Can you take the Fitbit off or is it taped onto your wrist? You can because when you come up here where the screen is, you come up behind there and you unclip the band from the actual screen. Right, you're a genius. You never, ever have to remove that tape. Okay. She's thought about this. Sorry for questioning your logic.

No, that's quite all right. Anyway, this one might be common sense to a lot of people, But Genuine Sense is not that common. That's very true. That's what we've learnt in our lifetime, I'm assuming everyone has. Anyway, so what I do is I have, you know, your Woolworths Rewards cards, literally any card that's out there that you can get your hands on, one of those freebie Cafe 10 voucher, what do you call it?

Coffee cards. Coffee cards. Anything where you could eventually one day get something free. The 7-Eleven app, which is something that I will talk about in one of our later episodes. I'm obsessed with 7-Eleven sandwiches. Love the 7-Eleven app. Can't wait.

Can't wait. 7-Eleven app. Anything. But basically the reason why I say this is, for example, this week I have $10 to spend on my Woolworths card. I won't be using that right now. I know that I will have no money in two weeks' time. So that's when you'll go into Woolworths.

You have the $10 that you saved up from your everyday rewards card or let's say you have a free coffee on your coffee card. Don't use it when you have money. Only ever use it when you are broke. Save it. You might be like, oh, what a treat. Don't do it yet. Wait until you have no money and you need that $10 on your everyday rewards card

or you need that free coffee because you literally have nothing. So save all of these things. And it must be embarrassing having all these flybys cards, these rewards cards. No, we love it. It's empowering. And only use them when you are broke. Please save them for yourself. And you can put a lot of them on your phone, Woolworths and flybys.

You can both have them digital. So if you are embarrassed about having a million cards in your wallet, there's your solution. Exactly right. Get it on the app. you're a genius. You know, all I can think about is I know what your salary is and I know it's good. I just know that you don't budget and cash flow in a way that is super effective at this point in time. And that's fine. You do you, like we all manage money differently. But if you put

the same energy into your budget and cash flow system as you do into tracking your flybys and your free Woolworths 10 bucks, like my God, you'd be a rich woman. I do agree that if I put this much energy but I'll honestly you're like but I'm not gonna do that no but as I say because I have been broke for so long now that I've got good money I can start buying things that I could never and so I end up being lifestyle even yeah lifestyle creep is you know it's kind of like a lifestyle creep or like you know debts and servicing cars all these things that I couldn't pay for before yeah no but eventually it's not it's not a judgmental comment it's just I'm so impressed with your ability to work the system and make it work for you yes I'm like that's so

much energy and effort. I cannot wait to channel that into Bec's budgeting cashflow system. At some point in the future, you and I are going to get to sit down and I'm going to be so excited. Today's just not that day. Not today. Till then, we will continue on. Let's go to a really quick break because on the other side of the break, I want to talk about how to actually start saving. Bec, maybe you wrote this in. And then we're going to unpack something that you slid into our DMs about, which this week we're talking about whether you should prioritise a good culture at work over a good salary. Don't go anywhere, guys. Welcome back, everybody. Let's listen to this week's Money Dilemma.

Hi there. Have you got a money dilemma you just can't solve? The She's On The Money team is here to help. Every week we tackle your dilemmas, both big and small, to answer your most burning money, career and life questions. To get involved, simply head to our website and leave us a short voice recording and you might just find yourself on the show. Now let's take a listen to this week's Money Dilemma. Hi ladies, I am quite desperate to know how on earth to actually save money. I feel like I'm not overspending, but somehow every pay I seem to have all the intentions to save and then something happens and I end up having to use that money. And I've just never been able to get on top and I'm nearly 40 and I have no savings. So I would really love

your help on where to even just begin. Thank you. She sounds like the most wholesome human. Like I just want to, like her tone of voice, the way she spoke made me want to be her best friend. I was just like, I love you already. I don't even know you. You're so relatable. Yeah. I just feel like that is so common. Jess, you're a little savings queen. So I want to know, where would you start when it comes to savings if you were starting from scratch? I feel like it sounds as though she does need to do the classic Victoria Devine method of going through her bank statements because it's the most tedious thing in the world. It's no fun at all.

I'm not even going to try to lie to you about that. But that's why I always recommend wine. Yeah. You can drink wine while doing it. Or you could drink tea or something. But like wine probably will help the most. A Bevoragino of some sort. Bevoragino of choice.

but I think because she's saying that she keeps getting to the end of payday and we've all been there where you go oh my god where did my money go by going through three months of statements you're going to see where the money's going right you're going to have a very clear understanding of I'm spending more than I should on takeout or maybe like the you know if you've got kids like it's all going to the kids activities and that's not an expense that I can cut which is totally fine as well so I feel like understanding where you're spending allows you to then begin making changes to start saving. Yeah, no, I think that that's absolutely it. It kind of, I want to go on and on about values here. And you guys know how passionate I am about living to your values,

not what other people say you should be spending. But it actually just sounds like you don't have a clear idea of what your actual budget looks like. Because if you're thinking, oh, I put money away in my savings. Well, actually, you didn't allocate what you needed to to the expenses you have they were never savings that was a pipe dream basically that was like very aspirational and I'm so excited that you're prioritizing it but every single month that you do that you're going to feel like you're shooting yourself in the foot because you might be saying I can save 500 bucks I'm going to put it to the side right now when in reality you might only have the capacity in your budget for 150 dollars worth of savings and that's okay we just need to be aware of it so that when you

allocate it, you don't feel like you're stealing from future you because that was never the money that you were able to save, if that makes sense. We need to sit down and go, well, if rent is this and bills are this and groceries are this and, you know, the kids' activities are this. Well, actually, what does that leave you with? And then that gives you the ability to reflect on whether you want to spend that or you don't want to spend that. You might go, oh my gosh, the kids are doing so much. No wonder we can't save. We're spending all our money here or there. Or you might actually find that you're in a season of life that's just really expensive right now. And we all go through those seasons where life just feels a little bit overwhelming. You're not, you know, making the

traction that you want to make when it comes to saving or investing. And that's okay. I think sometimes it's really about just recognizing where you're at and taking a step back and going, you know what? I don't know about your situation. You might be a single mom absolutely killing it. You might not feel like you're saving a lot, but oh my gosh, you're putting food on the table. you're putting a roof over your kid's head. They're going to school. They are happy. They are healthy. And you know what? That's more than enough. I think sometimes we really need to put life in perspective because that season isn't forever. And maybe you're studying. Maybe you're in between jobs. Maybe you're in a job that you don't love and you're about to move to something

else. Or maybe you're considering what that next move even looks like. That's okay. But I think this idea of seasons of life is okay to understand, but also empowers you to go, all right, well, let's just look at what I want today and how that might work and what that means for my financial future. But when people say at the end of each month, I am dipping back into savings, that to me is an immediate flag that says you didn't understand what your actual cashflow and budget looked like. And I'm going to get a hold of your email address and I'm going to gift you my budget and Cashflow Masterclass because I know that it will help you and I know that it'll put you in the best possible position. So my friend, watch out for that email because it's coming your way

because I think that's actually such a relevant question. And I think I love that you told us your age as well, because I think so many of us, especially when we're young, we just go, oh my gosh, I'll have it sorted out. It's only going to get sorted out if you sort it out. It's not magic. It doesn't happen overnight. Do you know how many people in our community are in their forties, fifties, sixties, even seventies that we get DMs from all the time that say, oh my God, V, I have no savings. What do I do? Well, we have to just go back to basics. There's no magic outcome. There's no magic wand or kind of solution that I can offer except for, hey, here's the process that you should go through that will put you in a position where you can

fully comprehend what your next steps should be. Yeah. I love that. Just on that, I am probably not the best person to be giving advice because I currently have no savings but I did notice when I was saving back in the day I would feel like putting 10 bucks away felt pointless but it was the only thing I could actually stick to so even if at the end of your budgeting masterclass you sit down you do everything you realize I only have 15 dollars a month to put away 15 dollars you didn't have before exactly and eventually that will that will grow I've started I know this isn't your favorite thing but I have a piggy bank that I was just gonna say one of those money tins you can't open are the best. They're the best because you can and like I know it's not

like gaining interest and or anything like that it's literally just sitting there losing value whatever but no if it works it's the only thing that works for me because I can't reach it I can't transfer it back to myself only put a little bit away and put it somewhere where you literally cannot touch it. No I think that's great and I also think that there's no such thing as it's not worth it because I promise even if it is 15 bucks I promise the day before payday when you didn't have money before, you're going to be grateful that 15 bucks was saved so that you can lean on it. It's $15 you didn't have before. So I just think that from little things, big things grow and that $15 will turn into 30 and that 30 into 60 and that 60 into 120. And very

soon you'll see that compound and you'll be like, wow, I never thought I was capable of this. And the reason you were capable of it is because of the consistency. That's it. That's the magic. I really wish I could be like, okay, guys, I'm going to let you in on this top secret tip to saving money. It just doesn't exist and it's going to look very different for everybody and that's why you need a process that helps you understand what it looks like because your process, Bec, is not going to look the same as Jess's and it's not going to look the same as mine. So why am I looking at the way you budget, Jess? 100%. Sorry. Really good question and the fact that you're thinking about it is a really good thing. Love, love, love, love. If you want

to get on top of your own budget and cash flow, we'll have a link in the show notes where you can check out Victoria's Budget and Cashflow Masterclass. Over two and a half thousand people have done it, which is wild. Thousands. Isn't that insane? Also, we'll hide a little cheeky discount code in there. I'm saying that right now. I don't know what it's going to be. So you have to go to the show notes to check it out. Bye. All right, let's unpack it. We have a community dilemma to go through this week. And I feel like this one, this one is an interesting one. Are you ready? Yes. Hey guys, any advice? I absolutely love my job. The culture and people are amazing. and I really enjoy the work I get to do. The issue is I get paid well below the industry standard.

I work in finance, but at a smaller startup company. I have had many conversations around a pay rise. However, they always say there isn't room for this at the moment and we'd revisit it in a few months. Problem is a year later, nothing has changed. I've been offered a job that is more than double my current salary plus bonuses. However, the culture seems very corporate and very competitive, very long hours, and the work doesn't seem that interesting. I can already tell I won't love it there. How much should I value work-life balance versus good culture at work? What I have now is awesome, but it doesn't allow me to meet my financial goals. But to meet these goals, I worry that I'd have to sacrifice the enjoyment aspect I have at work. I'm only 23

and still new to working life, so any words of wisdom are appreciated. catch 22 yeah oh i don't want to go first on this one beck what would you do let's pretend you work in finance okay well it's it's so easy for me because i don't have any kids i don't have a mortgage i don't really have any outrageous financial goals so i would literally just go with the culture um culture culture over anything else if i'm happy that's all that matters really But it is a real tough one. I assume you'd eventually be disenchanted with the workplace anyway just because they're paying you so little.

But if that's not happening and you're happy and you love the people you work with, the culture's great, I would stay. But I don't have the pressures of, yeah, children, mortgage, all these other things that people might have to, you know, try and buy. It comes down to your values, right? Like it depends on what responsibilities you have, what you have going on. I would like to say as someone who has worked in workplaces where the culture was pretty freaking average. Stop talking about me. I'll do it more quietly. No, but I've

definitely done the thing where you take the job and you don't love it, but it pays the bills and puts food on the table and that is good enough. I do think, yes, absolutely. In an ideal world, we deserve it all. We deserve great pay, great culture, a life that we live and love to the fullest. But can we also normalize the fact that sometimes your job is just there to pay the bills? 100%. Like, I don't think that there is anything wrong. And I think there is a little bit of an ideology that is sold that if you love what you do, you won't work a day in your life, which simply isn't true. I work so hard. You can hear it in my voice this week. I am dead. You are dead, Jess. You have had a massive week as well. Like, you just can't hear it as well in your

voice. Like I'm so sick because I've worked myself into the ground. Jess, I adore what I do. Everybody knows I adore what you do. That's bullshit. Absolutely. If you love what you do, you'll work harder than anyone else in your life, I think is what that should say. A thousand percent. And I think, is your life more enjoyable? Is there absolutely like physiological benefits, psychological benefits to being in an environment where you feel supported? And I am not refuting that. I'm not disputing it. But I think at the same time, if you're going, I'm barely making ends meet and that is stressing me out, take the job. If someone said to me, you can double your salary, it's at least something I think you should entertain. Oh, absolutely. Always have the

conversation. Always have the conversation. And I'm not saying that that means that you should absolutely leave. You need to think about how would you cope if you were in a less positive environment? How would you deal with the change of culture? But you also don't know a culture until you get there. Grass is always greener. Grass is always greener. Maybe you'll get there and you'll find a really great group of friends. And even though it's a super corporate environment that makes it worthwhile for you, maybe you won't and you'll be totally miserable. Either way, I think it is worth considering and it's worth going. It's not necessarily your job's responsibility to fulfill your happiness. Every aspect of your life.

Just in the same way that it's not, you know, no one person can make your life totally happy and fulfill everything that you need. I think if a job has one of the... My dog can do that for me. I agree. Lucy's the one thing on this planet that fulfills all needs at all times. But I think that if you have one or the other, if you're happy or you're earning great money, maybe sometimes that's enough. Yeah. I think we can also cancel this idea that your job defines you as a person. Like I don't actually care what my friends do. I have friends who work in podcasting. I have a few friends who are very fancy anesthetists, like real fancy doctors. I have friends who work in retail and I have one friend who is a stay-at-home

mum. I have a friend who's currently not working because she quit her job because her boss was a douche canoe, basically. And I was like, yeah, queen, get it. I don't care what you do for your work as long as you are kind, as long as you are nice, you are my people. So I think we need to just throw this idea that that defines you out the window. But then also the tone of this message was really that you weren't unhappy in your job. And I think that that needs to, I guess, weigh in a little bit heavier. Yeah, we're talking about the financial aspect, but I know when I've been underpaid, I feel undervalued. And if I'm consistently going into a workplace that I feel doesn't respect me for the, you know, the time, the energy, the effort that I put in,

the value that I'm bringing to this organization, I feel like that wouldn't have been the tone of voice of my message. Like, I feel like when you say you love the culture, like that goes a little bit further beyond just loving, you know, I love working with Beck because Beck might be the only thing that you love in that workplace and everything else sucks. But I think that we need to talk about culture as more holistically. Clearly, you feel valued in some way, shape or form. Maybe not financially at this point. And back to Beck's point, maybe you don't need that at this point in life. Maybe it's an experience. But I do think it goes back to having really wholesome, holistic conversations, I get the startup life more than anybody does. I've done

it multiple times and I've had to have conversations with people where I'm like, look, this is the budget for this job. Take it or leave it. I cannot stretch the budget any further for this. And thankfully, we're now not in that position where I have to really, really cap it. Now I can actually remunerate super, super well. But often when you work for a small business, you are taking some level of compromise and that compromise usually is salary to make up for that culture, to make up for the, you know, the fulfillment that you get. So you really need to have a think about, well, what is this doing? And beyond financial gain, what are you getting out of this? Is this a job where you're getting way more experience out of this job? So if you stuck it out for another

year, you'll actually turbocharge what you'll earn in the future versus going to a corporate job that might silo you into something where, you know, there's not actually a lot of gain after that. I think we need to look at the big picture, not the right now picture. Because right now, Jess, if I said, do you want to earn double your salary? You'd be like, yeah, that sounds sick. Yeah. But you're not really thinking that, hey, Jess, if you earn double your salary today, you're never going to earn another dollar for the rest of your life. Whereas if you carry on on this trajectory, you're going to earn 10 times more in the next 10 years. Like I think we need to

look at the bigger picture as well. It doesn't sound like you're super unhappy. So I'm rocking in a hard place I think you need to sit down and maybe even just do a pros and cons list what are your values where do you want to see yourself in the next 12 months in the next five years it's okay not to know if you can't answer those things but what do you actually want to get out of a job beyond financial gain yeah 100% what did everybody else say because it seems like it's a bit split across the table so this was interesting because you and I just were both on the I guess side of being like, sometimes you can just go to a job and it's absolutely fine not to love it. Been there, done that.

We asked the community, do you think it's important to enjoy work? 97% of you said yes, 3% said no. We asked, what do you value more in a job? Money and salary, 28%. Culture and work-life balance, 72%. Huge. People like to sit in the grass. Yeah, I love it. If you had two job offers, which one would you take? A lower salary, but a great culture and work life, 76%. And at 24%, we said yes to a higher salary, but poor culture and work-life balance. There were so many comments on this as well. A lot of people had a lot to say. Someone said, I want the best of both worlds. Of course, we all do. We all do. Sometimes not the most realistic thing to want. Someone said, time to negotiate if you've got another offer.

Sometimes employers need a push. Also a relevant point. Someone else said, for a little bit more money, I would stay. But considering the offer is double, bye. That's kind of how I feel as well. Someone said, as much as I love good work culture, you need to move companies and start earning more. Someone else said, take the job offer for one to two years,

then you can always come back to this job later with more experience and or pay. someone said there's always another opportunity for you maybe this isn't the right role but you should be exploring a different one that's a really good perspective i like that someone said use the other offer as leverage in your current job yes you never know you never know but i also do think you need to be a little bit careful so this is probably a spicy employer opinion and jess is laughing because she knows how i feel about this i know where this is going If I'm in a position where, let's say, Jess has interviewed with somebody else and she's gotten a bigger, better job offer, and let's say they're going to offer her double,

let's say I can afford to pay Jess double. I am an employer that believes that we should be having open, honest conversation about salary before you go external. If you're going external, I do genuinely believe that it is about more than money. So let's say Jess went external, I'm assuming me just paying her more is not going to mean that she stays 10 plus years I give it six months I could double Jess's salary but I guarantee she was looking somewhere else because she was disengaged with the job she wasn't happy with my management she wasn't happy with something I was doing because I know with the type of management I have Jess would turn to me and be like hey V can we talk about my pay and I'd be like yeah do you want to grab coffee and have a

chat if you're coming to me to say hey V I've got this job offer I want a counter offer I'll be like, no worries, take the job. Because you've already left. In my mind, you've already been disengaged with the job. Whether that's right or wrong, as I said, spicy opinion from somebody who is an employer. I don't want to negotiate with a pre-existing contract. Do you know what? I am not disregarding the fact that sometimes that's actually necessary. Like I have got friends who have worked in like real estate and more like corporate roles where they've actually had to go get another offer and slam it down on their boss's table and be like, hey, mate, I've got this offer, match it or I'm out. And then they match it and they're so happy. And that's a 10

out of 10. You need to read the room because if you came to me with that, I would be like, okay, Beck, I'm so sorry. I couldn't fulfill you. Like, you know, that looks like a really good job offer. You've obviously thought about this. I wish you the best. I'm not going to, like, I'm not in a position where I want to negotiate with you. I don't care how much value you put into my business. because I want you to be connected. I want you to be talking to me and yeah, whether that is right or wrong, we're not disregarding the fact that sometimes that's necessary for my business. I think you need to kind of read the room and work out whether that's the best way to go about it or not. I think if you're going to put a counteroffer on the table and use

it as leverage, you have to be prepared to walk away. Like I wouldn't use that as a technique purely to increase your salary. If you're like, I actually don't want this other job, but I'm going to use it to increase my salary because there's a good chance that you will get your employer offhand. I think if you're in a position where you're like, oh, I could go either way. Do I stay? Do I go? I am happy here. I like it here. If they match the salary, I would love to stay. If they won't match it, I'm happy to leave. Then it's a time that you can bring it into the conversation and say, hey, I do really like it here. I do want to stay. But if I'm being offered double my salary, of course I'll think about that. But I don't think it's a technique

that you should use unless you are in the position where you're like, if you're going to us, I would be happy to walk away. I think so too. And I'm always willing to have an open, honest conversation. And I don't think a lot of employers are, let's be honest. And you know what, what if Jess got a rogue offer from like another podcast brand and they were like, Jess, whatever you're doing will give you double. Jess is like, Vae, did you know I got this? I'd be like, oh my God, who was it? I need to know. I need to know what's going on. But I think it's tread with caution with that one because I know that that is an aggressive way of going about it. Sometimes it is necessary. Someone else DM'd us and they said, in your interviews, make sure to ask about

culture, how they support balance and whatever else is important to you. And also do your research into their leadership team and their business reviews. One interview is a good way to gauge the style and culture of the place. I promise there are always going to be better options out there for you. I think that's probably a good place to wrap it, to be honest. But I think it's just about knowing your worth, but also it sounds a little bit like you don't know what your values are as clearly as they should be. Because what I would want to hear in that circumstance is, oh yeah, like I don't get paid the best, but oh my gosh, I'm learning this, this, this, and this, and I love the team and I love the culture. Maybe in the future I'll change my tune, but right now

I'm really happy. I want to hear that or I want to hear, look, at the end of the day, like I'm not that happy deeply and I do need to move on. It might not be that role that you're being offered double, William, but you might start exploring other opportunities. Yeah. There you go. Make a pros and cons list. Maybe it'll make your life easier. Oh my gosh. I feel like this has been a very, very well-rounded conversation today from Antoinette's cameo and first jingle on the show to talking about pay and talking about how to start saving and Bex. I just think everything has been really good today. Yeah. 10 out of 10.

10 out of 10 we have tickets on ourselves guys have the best weekend and we'll see you on monday bye 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

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