She's On The Money - She Spent Hundreds of Thousands in 12 Months… Then Realised She Had No Idea Where Her Money Was Going

Starting point is 00:00:00 My name is Natasha Bamblett, I'm a proud First Nations woman, and I'm here to acknowledge country. Tii, gulinyan ganya, nianakaka yao yinbina waka, nianakai nianbina yakarumja, duminyagumiga dumiga ithawaka nirawamundamun imalan. Mumu bangada boma ininyalan waka, gaunan yakarumja, wutunarana. Hello beautiful friends. We gather on the lands of the Aboriginal people. We thank, acknowledge and respect the Aboriginal people's land that we're gathering on today. Take pleasure in all the land and respect all that you see. She's On The Money podcast acknowledges culture, country, community and connections,

Starting point is 00:00:41 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 episodes 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.

Starting point is 00:01:13 Now, let's jump straight into it because this week I got a message and it sounded exactly like this. Hi, VD and the SOTM team. I'm Bella. I'm the fangirl who interrupted your family walk on Dramana Beach on Anzac Day. She did, my friends, and it was the best. Six years ago, I was a law student living paycheck to paycheck, prioritizing travel over financial literacy, and I had no idea what the S&P 500 even meant. Fast forward to today, after binging your podcast daily and completely shifting my mindset, I'm now a lawyer. I'm married. I live on the Mornington Peninsula with our puppy and we are building our investment portfolio. We learned the hard way that property investing isn't always the dream it's sold as. So we've pivoted away from chasing expected

Starting point is 00:02:00 milestones and now invest 40% of our income instead. Our big lesson, financial security doesn't have to look the way everyone says it should. Money Durist, hello again. Hi, thanks so much for having me. Oh, my goodness. This was so fun. So both of us, makeup free, looking a little bit disheveled. I think both of us had been to like dawn services. So we just like started walking our dogs straight after. You had your newborn. I did. I was ready. We ran into each other on Dramana Beach and much to our husband's demise. We had a really good chat. And then you said, I'm going to ride in. And I said, please do. Now we're here. Thank you so much for having me. I'm obsessed. I'm so

Starting point is 00:02:40 excited. So as I always start, Marnie Durrest, what grade would you give your habits from A through to F if I asked you to give them a grade? I'm going to say B plus. I was thinking, you know, I've come a long way. So I'm thinking B plus, maybe B minus. Got questions. You've always got questions. Your letter in says that you're investing 40% of your income and you're like B plus. I'm like, okay, I'm not even doing that, but okay. So talk to me. I want to know a little bit more about your money story and the things that have impacted it. So I grew up in regional Victoria, actually, mum and dad, just, we never went without absolutely

Starting point is 00:03:15 anything, but money was just never spoken about. It was so taboo. It was just like, we always had what we wanted. If I asked something, got it. But I knew that we had to work for things and hard work at the end, that kind of stuff. But it just wasn't spoken about. Like it just, money just never came up. Like, I guess I was very privileged. It just didn't come up or if it came up, it was like, oh, that's rude. yeah I think so I think that like just oh we don't have to worry about money kind of thing or let's just not go into it I think dad was very protective yeah and now that I know like they weren't well off like now that I've grown up and we've spoken about it like they definitely

Starting point is 00:03:49 weren't well off in the sense of the word but I think maybe he just wanted to yeah protect his money story for himself I guess but yeah that's kind of I think shaped my perspective on money now and it's definitely something I would do differently if I were to raise my own kids as well I think it should be spoken about and I know you believe this as well that you know how do you communicate about money with your kids and whatnot so yeah I think the fact that it was so taboo that kind of then led me into where I am now I guess so I moved to the city inner city Melbourne to study law and psychology okay queen when I was 18 yeah yeah and I just worked part-time in hospitality just trying to you know get a couple hundred dollars for the week kind of thing yeah

Starting point is 00:04:31 and to get by but I was a really good saver with whatever I had left at the end of the paycheck but all that money was going to travel like I was just like right I'm saving I'm going to Europe I'm going to this I'm doing that and I did all that but I did that up until a couple of years ago so yeah all my money's kind of just been on experiences that's where I really valued my money and then I met my husband actually in 2019. So just before COVID and we were thrust obviously into moving in together. Oh, so many people were, right? It's like you either stop dating because we can't see each other or guess what? We live together now. Yep. We're in it. It was like after a year. So it was fine. It was fine. Now that I say that, I think that's okay. And

Starting point is 00:05:13 it was a lot of fun. But at the time it does feel like it's moving quick because that's what my partner and I did. And I remember telling somebody, oh yeah, we've been together a year and we're moving in they were like wait what yeah so he's a little bit older than me but I guess we just were kind of yeah as I said just thrice into it and we just were having a really great time when I look back on COVID I'm like oh what did I do like I literally I wasn't learning about money or doing finance or anything back then so I don't know what happened during that period of time I think I was just honestly mindlessly spending and just being outrageous I feel like it all rolls into one I was looking back on this a little while ago because someone was like oh yeah it's

Starting point is 00:05:49 been like six years and I was like sorry what what do you mean they're like yeah COVID-19 start of 2020 I was like oh my god like yeah it feels like yesterday and also 50 years ago at the same time but I was like I don't remember a lot of is that a trauma response or is that just because every day looked the same like my husband mentioned something the other day he's like yeah hey remember when we used to get our like fresco cups and fill them full of espresso martinis and go for walks and I was like can you imagine if I did that today that would be so taboo like can you imagine oh Victoria Devine goes for a drink yeah and walk that's crazy sitting in the park yeah we were sitting in the park drinking mugs out of coffee cups wasn't it I mean it sounds quite fun

Starting point is 00:06:34 actually yeah let's go yeah I guess where we're at now is because my partner's a bit older than me he's always had that sort of higher salary yeah how much older are you talking though like sorry this is money diaries I get the goss seven years oh that's nothing that's nothing 26 he's 33 yeah okay when I was 19 he was 26 but yeah he's had the highest salary but I just didn't really matter like I think there was times when I was thinking oh shit like I wish I was earning that little bit more to like because I was just working in hospital trying to get through my degree to like match him I guess but yeah he never made me feel like I needed to oh good supportive and like oh get dinner and all that stuff like yeah he was like I'm queen you're still at uni yeah

Starting point is 00:07:13 that was exactly what he did but then in 2024 we got engaged which was lovely yeah how did he propose yeah so we were in Thailand cute yeah and we went on this little walk we're just holidaying and he just got down on one knee and it was just beautiful actually I was watching the video the other day I'm obsessed I just love love I love love one of my team members just got engaged and I was like so excited I was like hold on hold on she's messaged me on her holiday like I don't want to like you know it's a sign overstretched no she got engaged in Japan which I'm so excited this is Alicia if anybody is listening she's already posted on Instagram about it so I feel like it's public knowledge but I was like am I allowed to FaceTime her like I'm just so excited

Starting point is 00:07:52 like I just want to share this excitement oh it's it was yeah that obviously the most special day but our wedding was obviously then more special we then got married last year I guess where we're at is last year and the end of 2024 was just the most expensive year ever like of course it was so we had a wedding and we actually bought an apartment at the same time yes oh Steve and I did that and a dog oh yeah just like hey yeah money yep literally just setting fire to it at that point yep honeymoon and then we just put another trip in there to New Zealand skiing which was so expensive so very lucky and privileged obviously that we had the means to do that but now that we're here and we can reflect it's just like we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars

Starting point is 00:08:40 and that pains me to say am I allowed to be pervy yeah I did the calcs oh I need I need to know so where did you get married in Australia yes in Australia in Shoal Bay so up near Hort Stephens yeah up the coast yeah the wedding was fine so the wedding was around 50 60k altogether yeah we had 55 people it was quite small yeah but then we did the honeymoon and that was in Fiji yeah it all adds up doesn't it it's like I always talk about the core satellite investing approach and like I think that we talk about weddings in the same way where it's like the core you're like oh the wedding wasn't too bad but then we forget to include engagement parties and anniversaries and honeymoons and all of the other stuff that goes around it and then all of a sudden you're

Starting point is 00:09:23 like where is all my money gone and it was wedding related yeah exactly it's just baffling but you know what I was happy with that amount like I was happy that we didn't spend you know over a hundred thousand I was happy with that and was this something that you budgeted for or was it like you just spent as you went or I'm just so pervy I'm so sorry yeah no no we definitely budgeted for it actually we probably budgeted around 50k so blew it a little bit blew it a little bit and then in Fiji I think we went for two weeks two four weeks and that was about 15,000 which is just Fiji's gorgeous Fiji is gorgeous like we went to this island Turtle Island this beautiful island was amazing like no regrets obviously and then we came back and we went to New Zealand a couple

Starting point is 00:10:07 months later because all our friends were going so we're like well we're obviously going too yeah yeah and that was just uh yeah i think that was 12 13k for a week what did you do so the skiing passes are outrageous what do you mean where were you skiing as somebody who like disclaimer this is going to be the most unrelatable conversation i think is it's unrelatable the right thing like maybe just like a little bit entitled yes i go skiing a lot yes i love skiing yes we are a ski family skiing is not cheap but the ski passes in New Zealand are about the same as they are in Australia yeah so I think we paid four hundred dollars for a ski pass each right yes but then what got us but that would have been like three days or four days yes yes what got us is we went

Starting point is 00:10:53 Remarkables and then the other one which I think was Cardrona yeah and they're not on the same ski pass they're not on the same ski pass so then you get two you needed the hero pass yeah yeah so So then that was accommodation, a couple of thousand. Yeah, it would have been. Flights were expensive. I think they might have been 2K or something. Yeah, okay. Which is kind of X-y now that I see flight prices.

Starting point is 00:11:14 But maybe it was around 10, but then when we were there, we were just out for dinner, we're going on this winery tour. It just goes. It's a slippery slope. Yeah, it seriously is. Hence the slippery slope of the last year that was just ridiculously expensive. So I think this was our mentality.

Starting point is 00:11:30 And now I just look back on it and I just go. And it's hard. Right. And I'm not saying that that's a bad thing, but it's so easy to spend that. Whereas that's why I was like, oh, really? Is it expensive? Like not in a I'm being entitled way. That's why I was like, I want to disclaimer this. I promise I don't need to touch grass. But as somebody who, you know, if my husband and I want to go skiing, which we adore, like that's something big line item in our budget. Right. We do like going to New Zealand because the snow is better. It's a little bit more predictable and we actually find it cheaper. But we're shopping around. Like we're making sure that we book flights when they're on sale. You know, we usually

Starting point is 00:12:05 share an Airbnb with a group of friends. Like we're not just going and like having a bougie hotel experience. And then we eat in most of the time. Like we go down to the shops because we've all just hired a car together. We go down to the shops and we're like, all right, tonight's roast, tomorrow night's this. Like, and we all do like shared cooking and it becomes a really reasonable trip. But I think you were at Botswana Butchery, weren't you? Yes, definitely. And Berg Burger. Oh my god breakfast lunch and dinner yeah I can see how it would happen I promise you if you said Victoria there's no budget on this trip I'd be like yeah sit down I've got notes and in saying that like that actually makes me feel sick like we know what we did was just you just spend money

Starting point is 00:12:46 like when it's there and tying back into that piece of like we have a solid dual income that I think when we could get to that but like when it's there you just spend it and when you don't know enough about your finances and your budgeting you haven't done everything that you tell your community to do like we hadn't even you know thought about the emergency fund but we had it there but was it for that purpose no that was just but it's so easy like it is so easy to slip into that and again it's not because you're being entitled or you don't know what's going on or you're not smart but once you've gotten to a point where you're like well I'm a lawyer and my partner has a solid job like we don't need to stress about money like you don't have any kids like you've not

Starting point is 00:13:28 got this huge big mortgage over your head you're kind of like well we don't need to stress we can just be a little bit more frivolous but this is where people fall into the trap of overspending because they just go how much could it be it's just one dinner but it's not it's the entire lifestyle that surrounds that and if we're not budgeting from the beginning and understanding where every dollar is going it just falls through our fingers that's it that's really it and then i think we have reflected now, like in the last 12 months, it's been our real knuckle down and focus on what we need to do to get our money in order, I guess. I think that's the best way I would put it. Like just where's your money going? Just understanding it. It's not even about budgeting

Starting point is 00:14:08 it. It's not about restriction. And I think that's a massive misconception. It's not about going, you only have X for the groceries. It's about going, hey babe, how much do we actually spend on groceries? Do you know? And most of the time your partner's going to go, no clue. And then you're gonna add it up and you're both gonna be sick you're gonna be like oh my oh my goodness like how many trips to the supermarket literally what happened and so we actually bought the apartment before we got married so it was kind of like apartment deposit yeah was gone and then a couple of months it was like the wedding which we'd had a pot for but that was then gone and then it was the holiday and then that was gone and then it was the New Zealand holiday and then

Starting point is 00:14:47 the dog and then you're moving house and then we looked and we're like oh it's all our money gone I just full decided when like I have ADHD and I just hyper focused on money good girl as I yeah do enough I think it works to my advantage to be honest and I just did the budgeting spreadsheet your spreadsheet we already had emergency funds set it up but we had the fund had the budget and then it was more just about right what can I learn about investing now and how do i get into that oh i'm obsessed yeah but yeah that's kind of where we're at now but we did have a bit of a hiccup with our apartment so i think it is worth talking about because it kind of ties into our story a lot in terms of when we bought it we were really excited i think we had

Starting point is 00:15:31 around 80k for a deposit and just rewinding a little bit we bought this apartment to move into or we bought it as an investment okay so we've moved in yep we've moved into the apartment super excited we were renting together before randomly and then moved in together super excited I think we'd been looking around and all we could afford in that period of time was an apartment in the area because we wanted to live in a city like around a nice bulb and suburb yeah and we just couldn't get a freestanding house like that was just not happening no I feel like that's very normal nowadays so we're like right apartment and we found this one after looking around for a bit that actually felt spacious like it was on the beach like you actually see the beach and it felt

Starting point is 00:16:12 really lovely it was like two bedroom one bathroom and I just got so excited and my partner loved it and was like oh my god like it's so there's so much emotion involved in that process as you know isn't it bad we all say we shouldn't get emotion involved and then you find the apartment of your dreams and all of a sudden yeah all of that logic goes out the window and I would say that's exactly what happened like it felt like the one we'd been looking for I guess but I think we turned a blind to a couple of things so it went to auction it got passed in but then we put an offer in the next day and then they accepted it which was really good so we bought that apartment for 700 000 and we thought that was a great deal to be honest because it had previously

Starting point is 00:16:52 sold for 750 right yeah they took a loss and we thought we were getting a great deal yeah and you've got a question why they were happy to take a loss don't you yes yes did we do that no no um oh no no I know so we moved in we've been there for 12 months but then during that 12 months is when all the things happened that I just mentioned the wedding the holiday and everything so we're just bleeding money yeah bleeding money and stressy as and after the wedding and stuff both our mental health actually took a bit of a turn and we've been thinking about moving to the peninsula for a really long time we've been on the cards of like that's what we want to do in the future but I guess when we made an assessment of our happiness overall happiness we were like

Starting point is 00:17:35 we need to just get out of this confined space the apartment felt really small and we had the ability to move down the peninsula just because our works were flexible in that respect so we were just like okay we've done the 12 month cut off thing that you have to live there because I think there's something that you have to live there for 12 months yeah yeah so that in the future you don't have to pay capital gains tax for seven years yeah yeah it's worth doing if you're gonna purchase a house and live in it yeah and we just decided to put our house on the market like the apartment on the market oh we sold you didn't even lease it out and see what happened you were just like not cut my losses well we couldn't sell it so we put it up yeah put it up for sale and unfortunately

Starting point is 00:18:17 it was up there for three months could not sell it what about this apartment so obviously someone prior to you made a 50 grand loss on it and then you couldn't sell it why what's wrong with the apartment body court so it's a body court fees I know and this is a thing of like yeah you're so excited you buy the house you just you're like oh so the fees are eight thousand yeah we were like great that's nothing did you have a good mortgage broker because it sounds like you did not I don't know Victoria I don't think so in hindsight you come to my house and I'll fix you up because I find it so funny because sometimes we shoot ourselves in the foot and lose clients because I'm like, baby, shouldn't be paying that. And we don't lose them to other brokers. We lose them

Starting point is 00:18:59 because they don't buy the house. And I'd prefer that and to have some integrity than just sell you something and then have you look back and go, oh my God, like Victoria would have like had her team review that she would have known that that was the body corporate. She would have thought that was ridiculous and she still let me do it no queen i would not and even what my partner and i know about it all now like why did we do that like well you don't know what you don't know yeah exactly and i like to think i make informed choices now but definitely yeah we're learning from our mistakes we are yeah 100 the body got really really high and also just really awful to deal with ah not a vibe guys we're paying you enough to be nice come on yes like so many admin

Starting point is 00:19:44 fees I'm like what are these admin fees it's spacious but the actual block itself is on a busy kind of road I would say and then there's beach yeah okay so when we couldn't sell we were kind of like oh I just gonna I think we just need to rent this out like we really need to rent out the apartment to try and get some sort of money coming in yeah of course yeah instead of leaving it up there because then we were kind of like oh maybe we try being landlords I don't know like we started renting down here so let's just try and we were lucky that we could afford to pay the mortgage and rent as well yeah and we're still doing that now and we're grateful that we can do that but it was so stressful like Victoria is so stressful when you can't sell a property

Starting point is 00:20:23 that is too much girl you don't have to tell me like it just it feels stressful but then also you just know that like the real estate agents are making so much money so you know that they're working but also why can't they sell it like and they're probably not going to be honest to you because they don't want to lose that sale like yeah oh it's just it's a bit of a mind I know mess so yeah we just decided to get the tenants in there and we're now getting $750 a week which is really good for rent from the tenants which is lovely and we're just kind of keeping it afloat but I think where it gets us is the maintenance like the consistent maintenance and then the body corp fees come and then rates come and there's just so many things you just go okay

Starting point is 00:21:08 we're negative gearing this but it's very much negatively geared like how do we kind of make this worth it so yeah I think the intention will be to try and sell that again in the future but for now the tenants are really good so yeah and that can be really really stressful like that doesn't sound like a situation I would want to find myself in but it sounds like you're also making hay while the sun is shining right yeah yeah yeah we've made it work I guess so yeah that's where we've ended up now. It's just about how we can maximize our income while we're in a space to do it with the tenants in there, with paying rent, with investing with that. So yeah, how do we make our money work harder? I want to talk about the rental yield because a lot of people would have

Starting point is 00:21:53 been like, oh, is that when you said, oh, that's good rent? Because it is. If you purchased a property for $700,000 and you get to rent it out for $750,000, you've got a gross rental yield of about five and a half percent but then that would drop down I would say semi-significantly because you've got what eight grand in body corp why are we having so many consistent repairs and stuff is it the whole building or is it that apartment what's going on it's been the apartment it's probably been monthly to be honest like we had a locksmith issue yep and then we had a plumbing issue where they had to regrow out and do the whole thing you know how much plumbing that's so expensive yeah anything bathroom related in the bin yep in the bin and the toilet breaks and

Starting point is 00:22:36 then the heater we had a hot service that's expensive too stop it outrageous there was a clothesline issue which was like that was me like fine but it's just been literally one thing after the other and plus the body court fees like it's been a lot so you would have spent probably at least 10 grand in the last year on this apartment so you've gone from expenses of eight thousand probably to $20,000 which takes your rental yield from being you know a really sexy five and a half percent which is you know for property pretty good in this economy down to maybe two and a half to 2.7 percent is that what it is oh god yeah it'd be my head yes yeah yeah in my head I'm like oh yeah if you took $20,000 $700,000 property rental yield of $750,000 you're about 2.7 percent gosh

Starting point is 00:23:23 yeah but that's still positive baby cakes yes yes we're on the up and up yes that's exactly right love the attitude there and I think it is we're fortunate that we could get the 750 like other ones in the building were going for five six hundred I honestly think it was the spaciousness like it's this big living area yeah and then all the other rooms are normal but it's just this area that's like you've just got lots of room I mean people are willing to pay for that like when you're renting, space is priority. Yeah, exactly. Oh, I love that. All right. Let's get into a little bit more of the nitty gritty. You're a lawyer. How much do you earn? Yes. So I actually only was admitted as a lawyer two months ago. So I'm still- Okay, big dog. That's so exciting.

Starting point is 00:24:04 Congrats. Yeah, thank you. I am currently working in employment law. So, well, I've always worked in employment law, but I'm a workplace relations consultant, just sort of working in a lawyer capacity, I guess. I earn 90,000 plus super. Hey, that's pretty good given you got admitted two months ago. Yeah. And you were in that role before and now you're just quote official. Is that right? Yes. Yes. That's exactly right. Yep. So it's been a bit of a journey. I did start working in law firms throughout my degree. I think that's kind of just what you do. Like you just get a part-time job in a law firm and you see if you like it, you're the assistant to the partners kind of thing so I was doing that and I worked in a private law firm to start and I absolutely

Starting point is 00:24:46 did not like the environment of a law firm at all so and then I tried another one and I did not like it again and it's just being like in that environment is just incredibly toxic and I'm very like work-life balanced and I always knew even doing my law degree I was like I'm not going to be that person that's working 16 hour days like it was just not my prerogative so I'm very grateful now that I work in a space that I can can make a pretty decent salary and there's obviously like the earning potential is there as well to keep earning more which is good yeah I'm grateful that I can still have that balance but also be pretty comfortable I guess now yeah that's cool yes yeah and talk to me what does your partner do and how much does he earn he earns 250 000 plus

Starting point is 00:25:32 super oh very nice yeah it's very nice he works in corporate in the digital space so digital and marketing for one of the companies that we would all know. Ah, very cool. I wonder if our husbands know each other. We'll talk about this offline. Now, what is your big money goal? What are you currently working towards? Because I feel like you've ticked off all the big ticket items. You've been like, bam, apartment, bam, wedding, bam, big holidays. Where are we going now, Queen? Holding off on the holidays for a little bit, I think. I think for us now, the money goals are just keep pumping what we can into our portfolios into our share portfolio so I actually never even had one until I kind of went down this she's on the money hyper focus moment welcome I do and I'm

Starting point is 00:26:18 so excited because there's going to be all these rich little old ladies around being like one time I listened to Victoria and I'm going to be in your nursing home and we can hang yeah yeah exactly so I set up one like my partner always had one but that was just his thing like I just didn't Yeah, we just didn't talk about it at all. And I just wasn't interested. Boys are boys and they get it. Exactly. And I just was interested in money once I heard content

Starting point is 00:26:43 that was actually digestible. It's almost like it was made for you. Yes, exactly. That's crazy. Who would do that? Exactly. I was reading these things and listening to this podcast going, oh, I can do this.

Starting point is 00:26:53 And I downloaded the shares. How hard could it be? Yeah. How could literal boys do it? Yep, yep. And, like, it's so boring just having money in, like, savings. Exactly. It's a weird kind of thing, but we're kind of just,

Starting point is 00:27:03 I'm doing my own my partner's doing his and then they obviously joined like I don't know how that works yeah that's fine that makes sense thing that I can just do for fun I guess so yeah I've got mainly just ETFs and a couple of stocks in there I'm trying to do the whole core satellite thing but I guess our whole goal would be to just keep pumping what we can into there and eventually sell the apartment and honestly cut your losses there yeah yeah yeah and not get involved in property again for a bit like I think we're both a bit scarred I was about to say is that because you're a bit burnt yes exactly yeah very like triggered like just don't want to make any more mistakes I think we just were so involved in like what society and our friends and our family and

Starting point is 00:27:45 everyone was like just buy you want to be homeowners do it do it and you're like no just I think if we had our time again we would definitely not like rush into it in the way that we did. And like renting is amazing in our view now and we can still have security and whatnot. So yeah, I think in terms of the goals, it's just finding like happiness in not necessarily property. Yeah, fair. And ownership of property. Money dice. Let's go to a really quick break. On the flip side, I want to know a little bit more about your investing portfolios because in your letter in you said that you're investing 40% of your income. So guys, don't go anywhere. Money Dressed, we are back and I want to pose a question because I know that you've said a few

Starting point is 00:28:30 times, look, I just want to cut my losses. I don't want to be in property anymore. I don't think it'll work for me. But do you think that sitting down and talking to a good mortgage broker about, well, tell me about this house, like have we actually cooked it? Would that be a good idea to make you feel better about the situation? Yes. The way that you just said that, Yes. Because I'm just looking at it going, look, I can see how you're probably not comfortable with it. And $700,000 is so much money. But can I just like do a little bit of investigating off the top of my head? Because it was 700 grand and you were buying in Melbourne and it was both your first homes. Did you get your first home like buyers concessions? Did you get any benefits for

Starting point is 00:29:12 purchasing? The stamp duty. The stamps were waived. And then I think that was it. So you're sitting in a pretty okay position like thankfully we haven't flushed any stamp duty down the toilet and I talk about it that way because yeah like as somebody who gets to like I understand that money is inherently political and if we rewind a little bit stamp duty used to be the fee that you would pay when you went down to the little council and said hey I'm buying this property can you please stamp this because it needs to be transferred to my name now all of that's done electronically it doesn't need to be tens of thousands of dollars like in my head logically it doesn't need to be tens of thousands of dollars. The government needs it to be tens of thousands of dollars

Starting point is 00:29:49 because they're raising revenue. But I'm like, go find it somewhere else. Stop kicking us while we are down. But thankfully, you didn't have to pay that. But maybe we could do a little bit of a deep dive on the suburb and the area and what kind of rental yield it has and maybe working out how it could slot in to your portfolio because we're already there. We already have it. Yes, it has a positive yield what we could do to preserve that and hopefully it increase in value and that means that either we could sell it or we could use the equity to leverage you further into wealth like I think that there's maybe a reframe here like yeah oh thank you can't guarantee it because I can see where you guys are you might still go Victoria we just don't want it we hate this place

Starting point is 00:30:32 and I go that's a choice then yeah but at least it's not because you're like Victoria we're losing so much money when maybe, yeah, we're coming out of the wash, not feeling good, but like everything that you've spent on it, because it's now a rental asset, we can claim on tax. And obviously your partner has a relatively high tax. I just think that there's some chatting we could do offline. That would be great. Yeah. Well, that's where a good mortgage broker is going to kind of come in and be like, all right, well, let me just lay it out all on the table because they've got no skin in the game. They'll be like, if you sell your property, we don't care. Like our job is to make sure that you understand what's going on making sure that the rate's competitive obviously

Starting point is 00:31:10 but like also just helping you put your ducks in a row so that the ducks in the future are well fed yes and that's what we talk about yeah and we are quite negative about it like you can probably tell it was quite pessimistic like it just frustrates yeah that's why I was like can I just pick up on this because I'm picking up that vibe but then I also just did that little like in my head I was like oh the rental yield's positive like that's not bad it doesn't mean that the mortgage is are not crippling we need to talk about that but it looks like you would be in a pretty positive position okay great well thank you for that approach tell me a bit more about your investments because you said we had to sit back we had to do some budgeting it was really confronting

Starting point is 00:31:46 and now you're all of a sudden investing 40 of your income queen how i have no idea i just really helpful yeah really helpful thank you yeah yeah that's it when you put numbers in a spreadsheet as you know, they all can just have a place in the end. Like we both give ourselves allocations of what we are going to spend for the fortnight, to be honest, like that is quite slim. We try and be as frugal as we can. So whatever that is that might come up, like for me, it's like coffee and things like that, like little grocery expenditures and stuff. And then it's obviously the mortgage and rent that comes out, which I think is around 30%. The mortgage and the rent could be a little bit more but then we have this ability where there's kind of money sitting there and it can

Starting point is 00:32:29 either go into the offset or we can put it into our portfolios and we're just like hello why is it not just going into the portfolio because we just had this shift yeah so it's really that allocation I know that doesn't really help much but yeah it's just being fruitful no it does help because it's good to understand how people are approaching it and like obviously I was like yeah really helpful but it kind of can be that simple like once you've sat down with your spreadsheet and there's a free one on our website if you would like to do it but once you sit down with a budget and go okay cool I'm just gonna pre-allocate the money to the buckets and then I'm just going to use the buckets as intended sometimes it just works out and like I don't

Starting point is 00:33:11 want to have to point it out here and I hope that you don't hate me for this but there's obviously a fair bit of privilege in this as well because you have really good jobs like your partner earning 250 grand and you on 90 like those two combined mean that your household income when you don't have kids yes I would say is comfortable so we can move things around but there are so many people in our community that have similar incomes to you why do I know that because I survey you all and I know that they exist but there are so many people that would still be living paycheck to paycheck even with that income because it's just so easy to bleed money like and that's what we were doing. You genuinely were. And it wasn't paycheck to paycheck in that sense, but it was

Starting point is 00:33:50 like all your money isn't going to something worth it for our future self. As you say, like it was just going on things and you know, you could be earning, you know, a hundred thousand dollars less and be able to put money away. And it just disappears. And I'm not saying that that's quote okay, because there's probably someone listening to this being like, Victoria, I'm earning $50,000 and I have two children and it's so hard to make ends meet. You guys need to touch grass and like yes I fully comprehend that that situation exists as well and it's bloody hard like that is so hard but there are also people who have higher incomes who are also struggling to get it together and just because one struggle is quote worse than another doesn't mean that we

Starting point is 00:34:31 can't feel the struggle still yes and I think that that's worth putting on the table as well because you know I don't want people to go oh well they wouldn't get it they've got a higher income but anyone is going to budget from understanding where every single dollar is coming from and where every single dollar is going so that they can feel more in control of it yep absolutely yep so it kind of just happened which is so nice and what does that project out to be is the plan to retire early is the plan to just be financially comfortable you like v i have no idea we just started yeah yeah what does that look like a bit of all of that probably not the fire approach necessarily but I think the idea would be to just pump as much as we can into the portfolio to then

Starting point is 00:35:15 be able to draw down when we do get to that age whatever that age is like 55 whatever yeah 60 whatever it is but just to have security that's not in a property asset I would say that's in the portfolio that we can watch and grow and compound like just yeah please compound do your thing totally fair and can I be really pervy about your personal life and like what you want out of life because like all of that sounds fantastic if you don't plan on having kids yeah are you planning for kids in the future yes I would say 100% yep so I think the whole story will change again I was about to say so that's not going to be maintainable but we're making hay while the sun is shining exactly we do want kids I think no rush yeah but I'm definitely more maternal than

Starting point is 00:36:01 what I ever have been in my life so I don't know what that means like I'm in my luteal phase so maybe something's going on there oh don't go I find it so funny because you know maybe six years ago I was with my husband we're talking about you know maybe getting married one day and do we want kids and like I was the one that was like oh in this economy I don't know like I don't know and would I even be a good mom like all of those questions come at you like do I don't I like our life would significantly change I really like my sleep all of that other stuff yeah yeah and now I'm like girl give me 10 yeah yeah it's crazy how much you can change like and it might flip back the other way and you'll be like actually we don't want this at all yeah pop off I love that for you

Starting point is 00:36:45 too but it's so hard yeah it is it really is like I think the shift has happened though I think the wanting kids shift is definitely there like it's definitely want them just don't know when it's a slippery slope once it starts happening yeah yeah I get it I get it all right talk to me about debt this apartment was purchased for $700,000 what kind of debt are you currently carrying on that so we owe around I think it's just over $600,000 hey that's pretty good isn't it yeah yeah we've done okay at that so that's obviously a big big debt that we have and then I have my hex which is I believe it's $40,000 that's actually come down because of the discount that we got the 20% discount yeah yeah yeah yeah the discount we got so that's come down a lot which has been

Starting point is 00:37:30 great. But yeah, so they're the two things, the mortgage and the HECS. Oh, I love that for you. And talk to me about personal insurances. Obviously, you've got some responsibilities like your mortgage and having a partner and now a dog. Have you set up your personal insurances? If so, what did you do? If not, why not? Yes, we have got the personal insurances incorporated with our supers. I've got mine, the three main ones. And then my partner also has his. And then obviously our dog is insured with pet insurance. Your dog is insured. Well, the pet insurance, I don't know. Yeah, look at her go.

Starting point is 00:38:02 Look at her go. So yeah, we are sort of there. And that was genuinely on the back of listening to your podcast about it because we actually didn't have the personal insurances within our super flipped on. Isn't it crazy? Yes, until like 12 months ago. And then we're like, oh gosh, we need to do that. So we did that.

Starting point is 00:38:18 We probably should look into this because I feel like this might be a big deal if something bad happens. Yes, and we have a lot of liabilities. Exactly. Exactly. And I feel like your best money habit might be now how good you are at budgeting, but tell me a bit more about what you think your best money habit is. Yes. I think budgeting, definitely that's one of my strengths for sure. But I also think researching and hyper-focusing and genuinely just making informed decisions about setting

Starting point is 00:38:45 the time aside to be like, I need to know about this thing that I don't know. And that's really worked to my advantage over the last, yeah, my whole life, but more specifically with this kind of finance piece it's like if I don't know something I need to know about it and that's worked in the terms of investing and whatnot so it's really helped I think that's my strong side I guess I love that and then also the dollar cost averaging into our portfolios like I just don't know it's happening it just comes out of the bank account and goes into shares and it's really easy oh I love that so you would say maybe like automation yes automation she's just like set it all up to work for her yep yep it's doing it all for me I love this for you and flip side what

Starting point is 00:39:27 do you think your worst money habit is so I am a sucker for activewear so me too queen yeah has me in a chokehold I seriously like any time I see anything that's like on my emails or I just immediately need it so that's unsubscribe unsubscribe yes immediately unsubscribe I know and social media needs to just to go because if I see something someone's wearing something I'm buying it immediately but I think that's also the dopamine seeking kind of thing as well so that's definitely my fault for sure and coffee like I'm buying coffee like there's no tomorrow yeah love love I feel like it's a slippery slope and like it really is built into the budget it's okay yes like if it's built in and you're enjoying it because I've said this a million times like

Starting point is 00:40:13 coffee for me it's not just the cup it's not the social it's the you caught me having coffee with my husband along the waterfront like I get to go on these walks with my family and have a coffee and it just feels so wholesome like oh please don't take that from me yeah please don't I want that to stay in my budget I want my large almond cap immediately yeah but I also now I've got kids I'm like okay I'm actually I do really enjoy having a coffee machine at home yes I am saving money because I'm making at home but like it's also about the convenience of not having to pack the kids up to get my caffeine hit in the morning because it turns out I am addicted you and me both you and me both not the worst I think we need to find balance and that's why for

Starting point is 00:40:58 me this like fire mindset doesn't work like it just doesn't work for me and that's so fine like you're in the she's on the money community you know that one of my team members Brooke who is an absolute weapon she is all about the fire life and she's investing so much that she's going to retire by the time she turns 35 I turn 35 in June babe there's no chance oh gosh good on her though I love that for her but each to their own and it's exciting that we get to share these stories so that we can learn from them be like oh I could take parts of her money story and tips and tricks from this person and all that money Dara said that and I can just be the best version of myself financially because of it oh I have loved this but my queen you bought an apartment you had the

Starting point is 00:41:40 most expensive year of your life last year. The apartment that you said was maybe not the best financial decision is still positive when it comes to rental yield. So not too bad. And you've got your personal insurances set up. You're investing 40% of your income, but you're a B plus. Well, yeah. Riddle me that one. It is the act of it. No, I mentioned earlier that I have a sort of an allocated budget. I would like to rein that in potentially in terms of what I'm actually spending that on like do I need the things I'm buying within that if that makes sense like yeah can I reduce my spending there and put the money somewhere else even though it is quite reduced in itself but yeah I think for me I'm just hard on myself in that sense that I would like to be doing

Starting point is 00:42:23 better like yeah it's why I don't often like I like to point it out but I don't want to go oh you're not and disagree with you because I think we all have a very different view of what financial freedom actually looks like and what you know that means for us because to one person they could be like girl did you hear that that she's on the money episode she was killing it like I don't even understand why she thought she wasn't doing well and then on the flip side someone could be like oh my goodness I so resonate with that like I would feel the same way so it's like this arbitrary rating that I make you give yourselves but then I'm like it doesn't matter yeah exactly but it does it matters to the community it matters to me because I think it's so important to be able

Starting point is 00:43:08 to reflect and see that you know one b plus is not the same as another b plus and that is okay for sure oh my goodness what a pleasure I got to hang out with you a second time oh love it thank you so much this has been such a beautiful diary and I just I'm so glad that I got to share that with the community because I just know that there are people going to be like oh this is like an episode that just called me out I was like maybe I do need to look at my budget and it's not about restriction but it is about just getting to know what you're actually up to so yeah thank you so much what a privilege it's been thanks victoria 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

Starting point is 00:43:54 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 MoneySherpa PTY LTD ABN 321 649 27708 AFSL 451 289. Thank you.

She's On The Money - She Spent Hundreds of Thousands in 12 Months… Then Realised She Had No Idea Where Her Money Was Going

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