She's On The Money - She Arrived in Australia With $20 and Built a Million-Dollar Life

Episode Date: June 7, 2026

This week's Money Diary feels a little bit like proof that where you start doesn't have to determine where you end up. She grew up in a tiny village in Eastern Europe in the aftermath of communism, where family holidays weren't a thing, money was scarce, and the future often looked a lot like the past. But even as a kid, she couldn't stop wondering what was on the other side of the horizon. At 16, she won a scholarship that changed everything. A few years later, she arrived in Australia with just $20 to her name, planning to stay for 12 months before heading back to university in the UK. Instead, she met the man who would become her husband after he quite literally washed up next to her on a beach. Eighteen years later, they're raising two children on the Gold Coast, have turned a modest beach shack into a property worth around $1.7 million, and she's built a dog-sitting side hustle that's on track to bring in $40,000 this year alongside her part-time career. But what I loved most about this conversation wasn't the property story or even the side hustle. It was the way she thinks about money. From collecting bottles to teach her kids about saving, to creating flexibility around family life, to constantly finding creative ways to make money work harder, she's built a life that looks completely different to the one she grew up expecting. SORT YOUR INSURANCE: A big thank you to our partner Skye Wealth for bringing this episode to life. If you're ready to get your insurances sorted, you can learn more about them here.We have a long standing referral partnership with Skye Wealth and only ever partner with people we trust. CHECK OUT THE SOTM INVESTING HUB: Full of our best investing freebies, resources, courses and podcast episodes here. INVESTING FOR BEGINNERS: All our best beginner's investing podcast episodes in one place here.Ready to binge more relatable, inspiring, and downright juicy money stories? Check out our ultimate Money Diaries playlist. Listen now Join our Facebook Group AKA the ultimate support network for money advice and inspiration. Ask questions, share tips, and celebrate your wins with a like-minded crew of 300,000+. And follow us on Instagram for Q&As, bite-sized tips, daily money inspo... and relatable money memes that just get you.  Acknowledgement of Country By Nartarsha 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 - 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. Ti, gilinyan ganya, nianakaka yao yinbina waka, nianakai nianbina yakarumja, duminyagumiga dumiga ithawaka nirawamundamun imelan, mumibangada 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 lets you be pervy about other people's money habits for educational purposes, of course. Welcome back to another one of our money diaries brought to you by our friends at Sky Wealth, where I get the absolute privilege of sitting down with one of our incredible She's on the Money community members and talking to them all about their journey. Let's jump straight

into it because this week I got a message and it sounded exactly like this. Hi, She's on the Money. I've always been pretty resourceful when it comes to money, mostly because life keeps changing and I've had to adapt it. Over the years I've pivoted careers multiple times to make life work around raising two young kids and lately I've been thinking a lot about how important that flexibility is going as AI changes the way that we all work. Last year I started a dog sitting side hustle and in my first full year as a sole trader, I'm on track to make $40,000 alongside my part-time job. I'm also slightly obsessed with little money wins from bottle refunds for the kids' savings accounts to flipping marketplace fines for a profit. Money Diarist, I feel like this

is going to be a really fun interview. I hope so. I'm very much looking forward to it. I cannot wait to dive further in before we get there. Can you tell me, if I asked you to give yourself a money grade from A through to F, what would that grade be? Like everyone says, I had a really good think about it and I would give myself a C. C? Yes, I think so. I didn't see that coming. Look, I think there's so many opportunities that I am not even scratching the surface.

And obviously, investing is a big part of the podcast. It's a big part of what I believe would lead me to financial success and freedom in the future. And I think that's a really big part of why I would go down from the top. And also, you know, I am 38. I feel like I am very much just still learning and I still got a long way to go. All right. I'll let you keep it, but I feel like you are investing in yourself. Like, sorry, you invested in a side business that's now generated you 40 grand. That's arguably maybe a little bit better than buying your first share. Yeah. Oh, look, I'll take it. I'll love that. And I have to say with this particular side hustle one of the reasons I chose it is because there is zero upfront cost so yeah money

yes so I'm not not setting up leases I'm not buying equipment yeah literally started with the thought of walking a dog and looking after a dog because I already had a dog and you literally need nothing people they come to you they bring the lead the food the toys the treats everything the beds you really don't need anything just yourself and you do need basic things like obviously have a home ideally that you own oh yeah secure home and you know bits and pieces on the side but at any point if I wanted to stop it tomorrow I've got no problems with that yeah that's so good a lot of unhappy clients which would be sad but I've always had that thought at the back of my mind is that I'm not risking anything I'm really just giving a go to something

that potentially could turn into something great and if it didn't that would be okay too no that's so good and I just have this not unhinged but unhinged belief that the best types of people in the world are dog people I'll take it people don't like dogs I'm sorry if you're listening to this you don't like dogs but I question you yeah there's something going on there I don't know what it is but don't like dogs can't have it I do have to say some people unfortunately have a fear because of their experiences in the past yeah it's different than not liking dogs true true people who go nah I don't like dogs I go oh like are you fearful of them nah I just don't like them nah can't get around that if you like were attacked by a dog of course you're going to

be terrified of them I empathize with that that's a different story I actually have to say I have been attacked by a dog when I was a child I've got a big scar to prove it and I'm not afraid of them but you know I still dog person yep and I don't think I've ever met anyone that actually told me that they didn't like dogs and in fact part of my role is recruitment and I do ask that question I was like are you it's just you know when you go through all these really detailed question and the role that I currently would interview for it's got a lot of technical stuff and then everyone is kind of feeling bit you know like there's a steam coming and you just want to bring them down to a personal level I always say look this is a very important question it's possibly

make or break but you know I'm not going to jump ahead I said do you like dogs what kind of dog do you have because we also a dog friendly office and it's just to break the ice it's really just something to soften the I think it's really sweet in fact I asked the prime minister and that led to him airdropping me pictures of his dog that I can share with my dad so like it worked you can break the ice on literally anyone by asking about dogs but look that happens like If someone asks me about dogs, because of the nature of what I do. You're like, sit down, are you ready? I had to upgrade my phone and I've paid for extra iCloud.

Oh, for all their photos. Because iCloud storage, yeah. I like all the angles. Like I can't just choose one angle because they're so cute. It would be illegal to delete a photo of someone's dog. Yeah. So, look, pet photography could possibly be a branching situation, you know. Also seeing people, they do pet portraits.

Oh, you could definitely do that. Yeah. imagine getting a beautiful portrait framed for your birthday of your dog that could be like part of your business where you like print a picture of their dog for Christmas absolutely I just need more time in my day you know but look with AI perhaps it is a productivity issue perhaps it's an efficiency issue exactly maybe you're making AI work for you let's get further into it money diarist I want to know tell me a bit more about your money story and the things that you think have impacted it? Look, I would say I'm quite a multilayered person because I grew up in Eastern

Europe during the communism regime. When I was born, there was one year to go from the regime and then it obviously changed. The country got independence. But then when I was five, the countries separated into two. It sort of very much was an aftermath of the communism. So it was a very interesting way of growing up and very hard sometimes to relate to what we would call a western world because I would say that if you would talked about my upbringing it would be very similar to maybe your mum's generation so yeah I grew up with black and white tv like Charlie Chaplin used to be on tv my parents lived off land so we lived in a farm my grandparents never really had a job in a traditional sense they worked for the government and they were getting something

back because it was obviously about the grader rather than the individual yeah yeah they're kind of impacted like you know we've never had a mortgage on the home because land was something that was given to people for working for the government and then you build a house that you had some savings you were able to build a house but you build a house with your brothers and your friends and people down the road and you were exchanging and and it was very much like it's such a world like it's something that I couldn't even comprehend and look it was also very sheltered like if you see any of the movies they talk about like the communism and there's a fantastic show at the moment called the ponies and that shows it a little bit it's based in russia but it was like

the world but they were really worried that the western will bring it and will change everything and you know people used to get letters with the words cut out and they're like oh what does this mean and people used to flat to us because the regime was quite intense and you know there were no things like there were no kit kats no mass pass everything was very much either like handmade or everything was very like dull colors all my clothes were like hand-me-downs it was yeah quite a different way of growing up and everything like when you open a fridge there would be milk and there would be butter and then everything else came from the farm or the land my parents harvested everything and in summer or after harvest we had fresh and through winter we stored it under the

house we had these cellars and we they used to pickle jam do all that so we were very self-sustained but it was also a sense of poverty like more in a sense that we never went without and we never not had food but everything was made from scratch yeah everything took a long time and there wasn't really a lot left for I guess necessities or just because or fun things it was just sort of I think anyone growing up on the farm understands that type of life and some people romanticize it and you know believe it's beautiful and I believe it's beautiful but I did not believe it when I was in it it was tough it was a lot of work there were no family holidays no weekends doing activities we weren't working we were you know doing what we needed to do so that was interesting

yeah so side note what did you know about the western world when you were growing up because you know when you said there were no Mars Mars there were no Kit Kats like obviously but did you know that those things existed you kind of got hints and glimpse here and there and also depends our family my parents didn't really were the kind of people that they would necessarily want to do something beyond to what they knew at times I have to say my mom's very intelligent she read a lot she worked in the library part-time so we were reading a lot and that brought glimpses of different cultures and how things can be differently even though Jane Austen is not always a good indication what the western world looks like but it came later it came definitely later

so once I was in school when I was probably about 10 I actually went to school in the nearest town because also I grew up in a town of about 700 people and many of them were my cousins and relatives because it was you would know everybody and there's no street names it's just house numbers because it's only the name of the village well you would know and it's just one street there there was a pub of course a church and a convenience store and to go to school primary school you had to go on the bus or you had to walk and then when I was 11 I wanted to go to school in the bigger town or city and that kind of opened up my world more and in all honesty made me to be a bit of an alien someone that stands out because I was someone that started to learn more knew more

and started to ask questions about well why why are things this way why are doing things I was definitely pushing and wanting more and you know as you would know that doesn't sit well with everyone. I was too much and I was asking too many questions at all times and at times in my life I tried to make myself smaller but predominantly I was actually more so chasing the people that would make me feel accepted and actually feed the hunger of my wanting to learn, wanting to improve, wanting to see what's out there and that was really one of the drivers between me moving out of home and when I was about 16 years old I got a scholarship to live in Germany and I haven't really gone back home full-time since then. Wow my mind is spinning as you're talking

I'm just like wow this is it's so different to the way that I grew up but then also just even in terms of the expectations that would have been put on you they're so not in line with this female empowerment movement that we're going through where you know you are now in Australia and I'm about to ask about that yeah but you know here in Australia women can become anything you can do anything you be anything you can start a business you can you know speak on stage you can raise your babies you you have freedom of choice and as much as you probably were told oh you can do anything as you you know you can be anything money diarist but I really don't think that's the narrative that you grew up with what was the expectation like you said before I was too much I

became kind of like an alien and that obviously probably pushed you to accept things like that scholarship in Germany you were like I need to get out but how do you get this mindset of I need to get out when that's all you're surrounded by look that's a fantastic question I've got a bit of a goosebumps when you're asking me that. I actually never really had someone saying to me, you could do anything. My mom was fantastic saying she would listen to my ideas and she would be like, well, like try it, give it a go. She was really good at that. But she did reveal later that she was always hoping that I would come back because I would see the value of where I came from. Whereas I was very much... You were like, no, run. I was very much of that mindset. And look,

now I have two children of my own it makes me sad as a mum that that's how it is but I've just could not wait to get out of there I had like my room was looking over this field and I was like what's beyond that you know that there must be so much more but back to the whole female empowerment and look living in 2026 is fantastic for so many reasons I do think we have a long way to go and my career journey probably is a little bit of a snapshot of of that as well but growing up my mom used to say you need to learn how to cook because uh husband wants you to cook and my mom cooked all the time like sundays used to be half a day was like this elaborate meal and i was like absolutely not this is ridiculous why would i need to do that this is where jane austen comes

you know I was like what no like absolutely not female empowerment mom's like who are you are you crazy and I was like well I'm not doing it and she's like what are you gonna do and I'm like I'm gonna marry your chef and guess what I did you did you married I did and it was like it's probably shows the power of like things that you just put out there and it wasn't like I didn't meet my husband I was like are you chef all right done you know you're mine why not it would have been much easier to do it that way i'm sure even just the first sort of a boyfriend i had he was a chef too but it just maybe perhaps it's the thinking that i was after someone that thinks i don't need a wife to cook for me and and this is an unfortunate byproduct of some of the european

upbringing and i don't want to make it a general rule because it's changed a lot just keep in mind i haven't lived there since i was 18 years old yeah but these are still your real lived experiences And a lot of women in Europe bring up men to believe that their wives are there to cook and clean and take care of them. And I just never subscribed to it. And my mum was smart enough to understand that. My dad probably didn't get it at all. But my brother also loved to cook. He was very inspired by Jamie Oliver. Jamie Oliver was just coming out and my brother was experimenting in the kitchen. And I was like, you go, you love it, you do it, I'll clean, whatever. like you know I don't care like I'm not going to be in the kitchen I'm not going to marry a man for him to want me to cook all the time and I do cook at home now because it is a split of roles but it just was something that definitely the role differentiation back then was obviously very strong and still continues to be but it's come a very long way yeah and all I'm hearing through that is it probably wasn't even the cooking that was just where you were channeling

this idea of, no, I don't want to marry someone where I'm not on the same page. No, I don't want to marry someone where I don't have equality. And at that point, you probably be like, I don't know how to articulate that, but I'm not cooking for someone. And that's just not happening. That's correct. And I think now that you actually put it in that perspective, it's actually interesting thing to listen to my own children and what are they saying? And are they saying something just, they just don't know how to articulate in the way that I would understand it because there is definitely that level and I also knew from very young age I did never wanted to marry and stay where I was and one of my biggest fear was to marry someone I went to

kindergarten with and I've got nothing against it there's some beautiful couples that I know that did that and many people do it many people also married the girl from across the street because you know that's just what you do I could not think of anything worse and I was like I'm out of here but to get there I had to really think about it because we were not in a good financial situation I would say we on the poorer side we didn't have any extra money for anything so I was like I knew it's not going to be something that my parents or anyone can pay for I had to think about how that could happen and the opportunity to apply for a scholarship when I was 15 I had to work really hard for it there was a whole big competition and there was one spot it changed my

life completely and it did eventually lead me to Australia again very around way but initially it was about thinking okay what could I do to prepare myself for these opportunities that might come down the track and you know that was one of them so I'm yeah that's probably one of the attitudes or approaches I was able to apply at a young age and think okay hey actually that works like that worked okay like it wasn't easy but it worked could I apply the same approach later and honestly it works you know if you really want something you really make it work. Totally so at 16 you moved to Germany you don't return home in a full-time capacity ever how did you find your feet in Australia? So the family that I was very lucky they put themselves forward to be my guest

family in Germany they were these retired teachers really beautiful their daughter and son were going back and forth in Australia and they were doctors and the university hospital at the Gold Coast was sort of on the horizon and they said go back finish year 12 and we'll hold a spot for you as a nanny and they have already a full-time nannies regularly but it's like if we know that you're coming we have a spot for you and come for a year we pay for your flights and then when you're here you've got your board and everything. There was very small pocket money and you can be here for a year. Leading up to that, I just wanted to mention that I have then put that sort of in my horizon, but I treated it more as an opportunity to improve my English because I've applied to go

to university in the UK where my brother was at the time and I could accept it. So I was like, I'm going to defer for a year. I'm going to go to Australia. I'm going to improve my English because I was already fluent in German by then. That would be my year. And I was like, when do I ever get to come to Australia? Australia for me, it was Sydney. There was this article in one of the German magazines I used to read. I actually cut it out and I had it on little board.

You're a manifestation queen. You've manifested wearing a chef, moving to Australia. I don't know if you know this about yourself, but you got this down pat, my friend. I had a picture of the opera house and I had New Zealand next to it as well and I was like what is this land down under you know are they really like what is going on we really do have kangaroos yes and my husband would say I used to ride him to school no you didn't yeah I just had this sort of idea and then when they

said Australia I was like I'm down I'm coming and again no money absolutely no money and they're like I'll pay for your flights I literally came on that flight with $20 there was no room for that's crazy like even though I'm picked me up at the airport I'm probably stranded somewhere at you know somewhere but I was like I think it's the youth you know you just like you just give it a go and it scares me a bit that my children might be a little bit you're like are my kids gonna do this because absolutely not I know that scares me I'd be like no you're coming with me but yeah look that was me like what is there to lose right I I've had this university lined up and prior to that in 1993, the EU borders opened in Europe, which meant we could live and work in the UK.

And that was a huge thing for a lot of people. They called it sort of a brain drain. Lots of the educated people from Eastern Europe moved to the UK. However, the language obviously was the barrier. So it took a few years to kind of get to where they needed to be. And my brother is really quite an inspiration. He did his degree. He had a fantastic job. He worked at the university and he's now living full-time in Scotland and that was sort of his trajectory. Anyway I came to Australia and three months before my visa was due to expire I used to drag this big male surfboard down the beach we were actually living quite close to the beach and try to surf I was like I'm here for 12 months like I need to learn how to surf right and he was terrible and one day

I coming out of the water and another surfboard sort of comes to my face so I pick it up and this guy comes up it's like oh thanks or you know forgot my leg robe for the day or whatever and that's my husband ah he literally came swimming up yeah the rest is history and I have to say I was 18 years old at the time that's okay so you're impressionable yeah I was 20 when we got married and we sort of just jumped in and we will be married 18 years this year I was about to say 18 years because you said that you were 38 right yeah yeah that's crazy and so then you never headed back to the UK for study you threw in the university degree over there for a boy is that what happened I did not I was smarter than that I yeah we we had a connection and we were sort of

hanging out and I said look I gotta go back and he said I want to marry you and I said absolutely not who do you think I am like you know I was like I'm building myself I'm you know I'm was imagining this big city girl in the UK and it was exciting there were supermarkets open past five o'clock in the afternoon that's crazy isn't it oh my god Sainsbury's Tesco's like it was fantastic I was living the best life and I was like I'm going back I've got obviously uni and he's like I'm coming with you and I was like okay and look there was this moment when I was like he he actually already had a true book to Bali for a month Australia surfing I get it he went and then we sort of finalize all the things over messengers I don't know what it was and then he's like I'm

coming is that okay and he's like can we live together and I was like this moment in me I was like it's just this is hard like I'm 19 I'm about to put all my eggs in the basket for this one guy I met three months ago like really like oh I could just have so much fun and freedom and I was like I don't know something about it just felt like I wanted to do it so yeah we moved in together we had a shed house we lived there for a year and this was 2007-8 so the GFC was becoming quite prominent and one thing with my husband what I really admire about him he was a chef he worked as a sous chef at the Reddison here on the Gold Coast he printed out his resumes he got a job the first week he came to and he worked six days a week and he worked so hard he met my brother he

became part of a you know friend circle he met my parents he made the life there for a year like in a truly like a supporting partnership where it wasn't my money wasn't your money it was a very early christening with fire because I had these money feelings about men holding power over women because they've got the money which I have from my dad and that really a lot of it came into surface in that year and even has since then but it really showed me that with him it wasn't about that it was it was our money from the start and when we wanted to get married we had to have joint bank accounts and we've had a joint bank account since then like we've never not had a joint money that's crazy yeah and I'm not saying it's the best option we're not saying it's the

best but it worked out for you but I also think that you know I'm listening to this story and even when you're 18 19 and you've just met this guy you've got your head screwed on in a way that I don't think many other 18 19 year olds did have especially because of your upbringing you could have been incredibly sheltered in those moments and just been like yeah okay no worries whatever you say but somehow you just knew better like your intuition was like right on yeah and look I think I have always been described as like an old soul or like a head of you know when some people are just probably just thinking slightly differently and that could be to your detriment but also I've always been around older people I think I just had more connection with them oh I get it my

grandmother used to always say about me she's been here before yeah I can feel it and once you have your children you can sort of see that and you can yeah something has happened a few years prior that made me realize that if I don't give this a go I will regret it because I might not get another chance and that was literally I think one of the things that I am good at is that when I something happens I am able to learn from it and really apply moving forward and I was like Well, if it doesn't work, that's fine. If it works, I mean, we've got two children together. It is a relationship that requires a lot of work, but we do choose to do that every day

for the last 18 years and it's pretty quite special. That is epic. So now you live in Australia and you touched on before that you work in recruitment. Tell me, what do you do for work? How much money do you earn? So I don't actually work in recruitment, but it is a portion of my job. I am a studio coordinator for an architectural practice, an architecture studio. So HR, administration, marketing, it's all portions of the role, which is actually really

exciting. That's fun. That sounds good. Yeah, it makes it quite different. I was the first non-technical staff hired for this company. So also quite new to them. And it's quite new to me. And I think that brings it to the career change or career pivot.

I earn $72,000 per year per writer. so I now work part-time and I am lucky enough to have a very flexible and very supportive environment again something that I had to in a way forge myself but I'm very lucky that the person that I work with or the director of the business is very open-minded so when I came to the interview I liked what they were offering they liked what I was offering and the role wasn't work from home there wasn't a portion of it and I put that forward and he said you know I will I will consider it and I think we can make it work and we've been sort of working it out together as we go and I have this approach that and this is what we've sort of agreed on that I wanted to show my

value before I start asking for any other relaxations or any time support and we we agreed that it needs to be office space for a period of time for me to really learn the business but now I have an opportunity to be flexible around my children he has two children so he understands it and it's kind of a bit of a new world because obviously COVID has opened this opportunity but I do have to say it doesn't work for all the roles in my opinion because like the architects itself that actually have to be hands-on the design element part yeah yeah yeah it's like there are so many hands-on roles where work from home is just not going to work but if you're doing admin sometimes I feel like being in your own space and not having any distractions and just

smashing through a whole heap of stuff for HR. It's huge. It's so helpful. Like I need to work from home so that I don't consistently talk to my team and I can just lock in and get work done. Absolutely. Look, part of the role is also front of the office. So I do meet contractors or I meet people in the industry. So the presence is important. So we're trying to find the right balance, the balance between, and I'm also a big believer, let's say we're working on a project and I'm clocking off for the Christmas break and the project is not finished, not due to my efficiencies, but due to something else.

And I said, look, I'm going to take the laptop home with me. I want to see this project through. So I'm going to work this many hours, if that's okay with you, and we're going to finalise it. And I'm going to be the last set of eyes on this being submitted. Let's say it's an award, you know, it's an architectural award.

Of course, I want to be the last set of eyes on this if I've already put so much time in it. that is to me is showing a value that I can actually take the left of home I can work and I understand the flexibility so you know that's the give and take and if I'm ever doing a school drop-off and my son has a hard time in the morning and I'm 15 minutes late that's not even a mention it's like well you do all the other things or you stay 15 minutes later it's very much about the presence and the role and the outcomes and that's how I like to look at it. Love well talk me what is your big money goal what are you currently working towards we actually had a

chat my husband and I about this and I think it's important to get on the same page because even having a side hustle can be really hard at times so for for this financial year next year we want to really get a new car and then being from Europe we would like to go back as a family which you might imagine is a very expensive exercise we very just done it last year we'll be looking at about $35,000 we were there for five weeks it was 100% of time we had to pay for accommodation because I don't have the opportunity to stay with family and it was a trip that you do not once in a lifetime for us because another thing of being married to someone from Europe it means that half of the family is away and also you want these regular touch points and

of course one thing I love about my husband is that something that's never been even a question he's like absolutely and he loves being in Europe I love him he sounds so wholesome he is fantastic I can't believe he just washed up on a beach for you I know there was big manifestation you know yeah so he's fantastic like that we spend a lot of time traveling prior to having kids we had good solid years together we worked through our careers he's actually changed careers he is a lifeguard on the Gold Coast. Back on the beach. He's a full-time lifeguard and he loves it. He's very passionate about it. He's very much a water man. A lifeguard that can cook. Well, yeah, I do most of the cooking, but he can cook very well. He can cook. And he's very good at making birthday

cakes. Oh, I love this. Yeah. Again, very wholesome. We're very much showing our children that it is not about the mom doing this and the dad doing this and my husband's fantastic like he's currently taking my daughter to gymnastics and they love it i adore they love it and then they probably will get something that i wouldn't get for her like donuts or ice cream and then like last week they spent three and a half hours making a birthday cake for my son so he's very much you know taking on the role very present yeah and his mom was a single mom for many years before his stepfather came to the picture so he had a really good role modeling there so it's incredible to see as well and then just looking back on the money story and the life story that you've had that type of

husband I don't know I'm just looking at the way that you grew up as a kid and you were never going to accept you know cooking for a man and all of that like this was the husband that you hoped to get but I don't think you ever could have articulated and now looking back like how do your parents feel about this because this is a man that you know he's not from across the street you didn't marry him because he lived down the road like you didn't go to kindergarten with him like that's a different journey right yeah and look my mom did say like did you have to go that far like did it happen yeah I did I had to go that far mom I'm so sorry look my parents absolutely adore him obviously the fact that we live on the other side of the world it wasn't on they

manifestation cards I'm sure but they love the way how we are they love our children and going back for the first time with children last year it was a really great experience I was a bit worried about it because I do get a lot of I'm not speaking slow back to my children I'm not bringing them out bilingual and there has been a little bit of that my grandkids want to understand me but there's so much more that they see there the love and the way how my husband is like I just don't think they could have thought of anyone else for me in general they can just really see that and they sometimes the fact that they can't understand each other is not a bad thing yeah you know and my husband's always been very open-minded I'm not gonna lie

I was worried about judgment bringing someone to my life or the way how I grew up it easily could have been someone that would like snubbed over and thought of me lesser because the way I grew up no and you know what if they had they would have been straight out exactly but my husband sees the best in people and make them feel really good about yeah everything they have and I love that quality in him adore yeah he adores my mom and has always been very supportive you know we have spent a few years helping her out financially and it's never been a question it would never be like you can't do that or why it was always like absolutely that's what we're family now yeah exactly oh adore money darris let's go to a really quick break because on the flip side

we still need to get through investments and debts and personal insurance and your best and worst money habits for guys that don't go anywhere money darris this is one of my longer episodes and i have no intention of cutting this down I have adored hearing about your life and what it was like and how things have changed and how somehow you manifested a man washing up for you on the beach. But tell me, do you invest? Is that something that is part of your money story? A good question. I have been sitting on the fence with investing for quite some time and I haven't taken the first step, but I have set myself up in a way of having the funds to do it. I think the analysis paralysis has been keeping me

back oh it's really real isn't it yeah it's there's so much out there and look it is one of the reasons why I started to listen to your podcast I do have your investing for kids playlist saved and that's actually my that's on my to-do list like I really want to invest for my children because multi-generational wealth is something that I would love to provide and I would love to start that for my children and one of the things I put in the submission was we do the 10 cent refund bottles collection you did started about two years ago and I put them into my children's account as well as transferring ten dollars every week regularly and we have jointly about five thousand dollars in that account stop it so from doing the 10 cent bottle refund you

got five grand and look if you do the maths it's 10 cents how many bottles girlfriend that's a lot of bottle that's where my shock is coming from and look we again you sometimes find that when you do these things the community aspect of that is actually so amazing so we have granny collecting for us we have the neighbors they collect for us you've got the community rally we know rich people love drinking wine we always get the wine bottles but i also set it up the way i say to the people if you are happy to collect them for us here is a bag or bin or whatever I will collect it I will make it easy for you I don't want it to make it someone else's you can come and get mine I know we don't live near each other but you can come get mine I would

give them to you and do you know what that's a big thing for me to say because my nephew's collecting well thank you I appreciate I don't tell you so yes we have created that and it's been a really great way to show the kids because I'll tell you what they sometimes like mommy I don't want to do that and you have to take them to the refund centers yeah they have to be part of the actual process like you can't just do it for them like that's defeating the purpose of teaching them absolutely and look my daughter because obviously I've got the side business with the dog sitting as well my daughter says oh there's money you know money mommy are we rich and I was like well what does what does rich to mean to you like if you go to a shop and you can

buy something or does it mean that you have to you know for me it's starting to talk about money as an opportunity or means to either have the lifestyle or the time or the opportunities, that's a really big thing. And that's the start of it. You know, once you get to the point where there is excess amount of money or even just opportunity for money to create more money, that is exciting. However, I have to say where I am right now, having a part-time job, two small children, a side business, obviously husband that I like to spend time with. That's a lot. I do find it quite challenging to keep up with making the right decision and podcasts have been

really helpful. I'm glad. Yeah. And I did mention one of the reasons I started my side hustle is because that idea has been discussed on the podcast. And I just felt, again, it was just another, like, I've had this idea before. I've been thinking about it. I should really do it. And yeah, I feel like financial literacy is, for women, such an important skill to have, because it gives you freedom gives you confidence it just pivots you forward so much and I just yeah I think it's very important I couldn't like you're preaching to the converted yeah I know I'm not telling you something you're preaching to the converted but it is so true right and like I just I keep reflecting on how you've grown up and how this would never have been part of

your narrative like the fact that you're teaching your kids about how to grow their wealth and you're wanting to invest for them. Like this just is so foreign from the way that you grew up. It's just so special. Thank you. And I think that that's really cool. Do you have any debt? If so, what kinds of debt? Yes. So we have a mortgage. We purchased our property in 2017 and it was our third property in a sense that we bought, sold, bought, sold. Stop. You came literally to Australia with $20 and now you are buying properties, but this is your third one. Well, it's not the third one that we already have three but we bought it no no but you've gone through three yes yeah and this is again this is very much my husband educating me or sort of telling me look almost

like this is the Australian dream right owning a property yeah wow what I'm gonna be a gypsy and I'm gonna travel and I'm gonna live you know and he's like no I think we should come together like this is the next stage and I was like okay so no more gypsy life no more gypsy life he's very much the driver he's also very good with finances like he often looks at the loans and the terms and really understands it yeah we started with the unit we sold the unit with the profit we bought a duplex we sold the duplex with the profit and then we bought a house in Miami which is a quite you know one of the beachside neighborhoods on the Gold Coast and we bought it for $660,000 and we have put about 150 000 in renovations into it and due to the covid and the land value

increasing we 1.7 million is our how much 1.7 stop it yeah money win but also just like incredible and is this is this a house that you're planning on selling and then you will you know move into something else or was this the dream house that you got into when we bought it it was a two bedroom, one bathroom, what you would say a beach shack. We've turned it into three bedroom, one bathroom, but it's very obvious that it's going to be too small for us at some point. How beautiful though, to have that opportunity to sell that and then move into something else and probably not have that much of a mortgage on it. Yeah, look, that's the dream. That's the goal. We also very lucky. We live very close to my husband's family, which we

are very close with and we are 200 meters walk distance to the beach oh stop that so we're very lucky and one thing I mentioned so I did say to you I work for a architectural studio one thing that's been quite prominent on the Gold Coast is developing obviously so when you have a land yeah there's a lot you can actually my street predominantly you knock it down you build a duplex and you sell one duplex you keep one you sell both so there is an opportunity to do that But obviously, you need to be in a financial situation to either withhold that or you can sell one prior to build. So there's lots of different options that we are considering.

Well, if you talked to a good mortgage broker, you could probably organize the finance on that, especially because I can tell from the background, you've got some good equity in the property that you currently own. Yeah, there is that. We have also reached out probably about six months ago regarding purchasing investment property. and at the time my earnings were too low we really end up with rough pre-approval it was it was tough it was a very much of a reality check but what actually happened she said if

you had any other income that you would declare it would make quite a big difference so the idea this year was to obviously put through my side hustle income and that would have dramatically increase our borrowing capacity. It will. However, obviously the budget announcements have put few spenders in the works. And yeah, I think for us, it's firstly, we're not at the end of financial year yet. We don't know exactly what the situation looks like, but what we do know that even with the increase, we wouldn't be able to purchase on the Gold Coast. So there are so many things to consider around investing somewhere else in Australia and how that would potentially impact our lifestyle and things like going to Europe I know they're very much a wants they're very no but that's

lifestyle and it's about enjoying the journey not just the destination I think sometimes especially with social media we can get caught up in becoming the richest and the biggest and the best and like that's not necessarily it like it's connection to your roots it's connection to your family it's sharing that and like arguably that's worth more look I think you're right I think that I've arrived at that realization again probably thanks to my husband because I didn't understand what a lifestyle meant if you grew up in eastern Europe you just worked it was survival it was my mom had worked six days a week she never had time off in school holidays no I was pretty much brought up by my grandparents for a lot of times yeah it was always a grind and then my husband I actually

in my career had opportunities to work interstate and more money and I said to him how do I do that I fly back on the weekends and he's like no that's not a lifestyle and I was like what do you mean lifestyle what is the lifestyle what's this lifestyle concept but now having children actually one thing that's one of my highest value it's spending time with them and quality time and the side hustle of the dog sitting actually allows me to do that a lot because I can take time off in school holidays in fact my bookings usually are at the highest peak because other people go away I can stay at home yeah and I can spend time with them while you're getting paid and I'm getting paid often I get paid more than I do in my actual role which is yeah that's crazy

obviously the bonus but it is you know a bit of a balance and at the end of last year I actually had six weeks off over Christmas incredible with my son which is I feel so lucky to do from a sense of my employment allowed me the opportunity to do that. And I was able to support that time financially through the side hustle. So that worked really well. That's crazy. So tell me, is personal insurance something you've ever thought about? We definitely thought about it and we started to talk about it in a little more detail and what that would meant if one of us got sick or one of us had a permanent impairment or something like that. We definitely have discuss it. I also have a cover through my super. So obviously I know it's something that you often

ask. Yep. So I have a death cover, a total and permanent disability cover, and I also have an income protection through my super. Oh, see, there you go. You're ticking all the boxes. Yeah. So, and I've set it up about 2014. So that's sort of been ticking over and that's there, but there's other things that we also interested in and since having my own business or more so a sole trader. So just to be very clear, I also have a business cover. I was very particular about the fact that one thing with pets is, you know, vet fees are so high, so incredibly high. I really wanted to make sure that if I ever found myself in a situation, I am covered. So I found one business cover that offered me what I was after. And I obviously purchased that too.

That's smart. Yeah. Yeah. That is so smart. Now tell me, what do you think your best money habit is? My best money habit, I would say is really understanding value of things and looking for value. So an example I could give you is let's say us going on holiday and having time away. The things that I like to consider is do we go away during a week where the accommodation is cheaper we'd be staying at the same place could I book a stay through places like booking.com and get 10% cash back yes could I book it through luxury escapes where you know often you see the value in how much you pay yeah those kind of deals I would say have actually worked really well for us but also I tried to understand it really well you know there's other things are you planning for

a birthday could you order things online they're cheaper but you have to just do it early enough you know and how it also can eventually work is let's say we want to try a particular function with canva well canva offers 30-day premium subscription they do yeah yeah let's use the 30 days and really see how we make the most out of the value so i like to think of ways how i could really subtract the value out of things and also if the value is showing to be useful and important obviously you can then use it down the track so yeah I like to think and I had a career in retail I worked in retail for 10 years I do understand how retail products that's good that's so valuable sales refunds yeah I understand all that so I very much applied that knowledge to

what I'm obsessed do you even have any bad money habits what do you think your worst is absolutely do. Oh, my worst thing. I'm a cereal card shopper. I leave everything in my cards and I just go back and I look at it and there might be new deals and I add more things to cards and I never check them out. And I just love doing that. You're not spending the money. Yeah. I love doing that. I also can be impulsive at times, but I'm learning to be better at it. I think. That's relatable though. Who isn't impulsive at times? And if they're not, what's going on there? I wonder what my husband would say my worst habit is I don't know I have to ask let me call him I'll ask him I doubt he would say anything I think he would just say she's fantastic she's the best thing ever

she has no bad habits oh no I do have to say that my husband would say this about me I have these ideas and I was like let's buy a house let's buy investment property and he would say to you he's the one that has to go okay how are we gonna do that let's go back like you're bringing the ideas to the table he's the doing man he's like do we ever just like you know like chill let's smell the roses let's enjoy where we are that's my husband yeah that's my husband as well I'll be like so I was thinking and he's like didn't you say you were busy like didn't you say that you were already overwhelmed and I go yeah but I was thinking that was yesterday today yeah that was yesterday and I'm over that now I would like to do this other thing today I had a full night's sleep

and I was thinking that we should do this. Exactly, and don't you use my own words against me. That is quite rude. Oh, yeah. I also like to add things onto his to-do list, which he hates me to do. Yeah, look, that probably would be it. But I think having this, obviously, the last time my parents

probably have paid for anything relating to my life was probably at 18 years old. So having this feeling that I am really steering my own ship and I am in charge has probably put me in a situation that I would not go and buy things. You know, having a joint bank account, my husband knows that I would not go and spend $5,000 without him knowing. I would never put us in a jeopardy.

I did have an afterpay for quite some time and I don't have that anymore because, again, it's something that you feel like you need to have because it's everywhere and then you try it and you don't like the way how it feels, don't like the way how it eventuates and then you cancel it and you're like, okay, won't do that again. Learn from that. Yeah. At the start of this episode, I didn't know what we were going to get into. Before we even spoke about your money story, I said, what grade would you give your money habits? And you said you're a C. What? You think that you're

a C after achieving all of that. What would it take for you to get to even become a B? Look, I think that the investment part, obviously having a shares portfolio would be fantastic. that would be something that I would love to do. I would also love to work on my career and opportunities even with the side hustle as a business to get us to the point where there is money that goes beyond the sort of the baseline. So those kind of things I feel would take me to to higher mark and setting up system where money creates money because I do definitely still fall in a situation where money is there I think about the way to spend it yeah okay I would love to reframe my thinking about think about the way to invest it or think about the way how that money

could make more money I am not there and I think that takes a lot more rewiring than you know I'm just not there right now but I think things like your podcast books speaking to people listening to stories that's manifestation right there because these are people who actually done it it was a podcast of a girl recently I think she was like 19 or 21 her portfolio was in you know over 100,000 that to me is inspiring I think you think okay if she can do it surely you know I would be able to learn something from that and apply it and hopefully benefit my life and the life of my family and you are already like at the start of this episode you were like there's so much privilege and luck. No, there's not. You did all that. You created all of your

own luck. You're like, you did not grow up with privilege. You did not grow up with a silver spoon in your mouth, but you have just done so much. And just thinking about your children and the work ethic that you're teaching them, my goodness, they are going to be such wholesome human beings. Like I hope you are so proud of yourself because this is incredible. I hope so. And I appreciate I can't wait for the community to hear this story. It's going to be amazing. Marnie Dyrus, thank you so much for sharing so much of yourself and your story and your journey and your family's story with me. It's been a genuine privilege. Thank you. I appreciate that. And thanks for your time and the opportunity to come on a podcast. The advice shared on She's on the

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