She's On The Money - She's 25, Owns a Home, Has No HECS Debt and Still Thinks She's a B- With Money

Episode Date: June 14, 2026

  She's 25, owns her home, has paid off her HECS debt, has more than $50,000 in super, is building an investment portfolio and somehow still rated herself a B- when I asked how she felt about her money habits. Growing up in regional Victoria, she got her first job at 14 and never really slowed down. While most of us were spending our weekends hanging out with friends, she was working supermarket shifts, saving for her future and helping her parents renovate investment properties. That work ethic followed her everywhere. Through nursing placements, night shifts, university, a mortgage in her early 20s and a long-distance relationship that somehow survived Melbourne lockdowns. Now she's built a life that's incredibly solid, but what I loved most about this conversation wasn't the numbers. It was her mindset. The way she talks about money feels refreshingly simple. Work hard. Save consistently. Make your money work for you. Repeat. We chat about buying a home at 21, paying off her HECS debt, starting her investing journey, the money lessons she learnt from her parents and grandparents, and why she's already thinking about the financial life she wants to build long before she starts a family. Honestly, this episode is proof that wealth isn't always built through big dramatic decisions. Sometimes it's built one supermarket shift, one mortgage repayment and one very stubborn financial goal at a time. New here? Follow us on Instagram (@shesonthemoneyaus) for Q&As, bite-sized advice, daily money inspo... and relatable money memes that just get you.  Acknowledgement of Country By Nartarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements (nartarshabamblett.com.au) 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 imalan. Mumu bangada boma ininyalan waka, kaanon 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 absolutely love the podcast and especially listening to the Money Stories episodes so I thought it was probably time for me to share mine. Anyone who knows me says that I am a very hard worker and that I am very goal-driven for someone my age. Once I get a glimpse of something in my vision it's full steam ahead until I can achieve it and then cross it off my list. I've smashed some of my goals in the last few years and I'm so keen to share them with the She's On The Money community. Here's a short list. I'm 25. I have a mortgage. I've invested more than $1,000 into the share market since November 2025. I have just over $53,000 in super. I studied to upskill in my

chosen field and have since paid off my hex debt completely. Don't have a credit card, don't have personal loans and I own my own car. I definitely work hard for what I have and I love to make my money work hard for me in all the ways that I can. I'm a sucker for a points or a reward system for things I would be buying already and believe that these small tips and tricks really help to add up to the bigger picture. I would love the opportunity to share my full money story. Ah, Money Diarist, I would love the opportunity to talk to you about your money story. What a weapon. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Are you kidding? 25 and you've done all that?

Yes. She's just a baby. I am. I feel like a baby and also very old at the same time. I feel like I'm wiser than my years. Yeah. Look, we haven't known each other for that long, but you just come across as one of those souls. You've been here before, haven't you? Like you just, you've been told that since you were tiny, haven't you? I knew it. All right. Let's get into it. What grade would you give your money habits if I asked you to give them a grade from A through to F? At the moment, I would probably say B minus. There's always room for improvement. B minus? Has a mortgage, only $25,000. Like I feel

like I've got your life story before we get into it. And usually I don't get to ask the specifics. I'm probably going to have to fight you later. Is that okay? That's all right. A B minus. All right. Now my favorite part. Can you tell me a little bit more about your money story and the things that have impacted it? Yeah. So I grew up in a small rural town in Victoria and I was taught from a very young age to work hard and save my money from my parents they are very wise but also to make money work for you and I think that was always something that was drilled into me

very young when that saving wasn't enough so as soon as I could I think it was 14 and 9 months back then I got a job in a supermarket and I think being in the workforce from such a young age helped me mature quite a lot and always working with people who are older than me obviously so that was always something that I looked up to and I suppose I probably did set unrealistic goals for someone my age because I'm like oh they've got this I really want that too and things like that but I suppose it made me work harder when you say unrealistic did you achieve them though I did yes so what's unrealistic about that well it's always something that I've looked forward to I suppose is to just have that next thing to work towards maybe unrelatable like I'm not in

the bad oh my god so out of touch way but more like oh my goodness she's basically still a child and she wants to you know buy her own car or do this other thing yes not completely out of reach but also like that's not what I did and that doesn't mean that it's the standard but I think that most people when I was 18 we would just live love laughing you know like we we didn't have proper frontal lobes did yours develop like really early or something is that what happened must have developed quite early because people would often say to me oh my god Georgia calm down like you're only young you've still got your life ahead of you and you know everything doesn't have to happen in the next five minutes like you've got years don't worry about it. Yeah but I did it

though so and I think that that's the funniest part of this because everyone's telling you not to and you're like yeah but I did though like how hard could it be men do it. Yeah that's right exactly. Exactly so tell me a bit more once you've got your supermarket job you're setting unrealistic expectations for yourself, but achieving them, what has that transpired into? Yeah. So I think I went to school Monday to Friday and then on the weekends, both Saturday and Sunday, I was at my supermarket job. And I think being in a smaller town, it was a smaller supermarket. So there was no four hour shifts or anything like that where they probably would have been in a metro setting. So it was like eight hour days. And so then of course, payday

came around and I was like, oh my God, money. This is so good. I just know it was an IGA or food works wasn't it it was an idea yes yeah so I think just having that money on payday I was like oh my god this is so good why am I even going to school I just hate it and don't want to be there I could be at work earning money and I spoke to mum and dad about it and I was like I just don't want to be at school I'm not good at it like I was terrible at maths which is kind of ironic now because I'm I'm a nurse and you're also on a money podcast yeah yeah I was just terrible at it and I didn't have the attention span couldn't sit still I was just like I just want to go to work work hard fill in the day get paid go home but yeah I think that drive for money the minute

school holidays came around I was like guys I'm available like give me some extra shifts and just anything that you've got I'll take it very very blessed that mom and dad was still able to drive me to all of that around their work schedules that's the worst thing about living rurally isn't it the public transport sucks there was none in the town that I lived so that was definitely the worst part dad had his own plumbing business and mum worked in in healthcare but sort of in the office admin side of things and so they like worked in dad's business but then also would buy cheap houses around the area that we lived which probably cost you know five cents in the scheme of things now but then they were absolute dumps and they would renovate them and flip them for

either like an investment property or then sell it and so I think watching them do that for years was kind of like oh there's money in this like property is worth money or it can be you know if you buy the right things and that's epic work ethic as well just the idea that your parents were doing that as well as you know your mum working in like adjacent to healthcare and your dad having his own business like a lot of people would be like sorry we don't have time but just what on the weekends they were doing up properties yeah okay mum and dad I can see that the apple hasn't fallen that far from the tree yeah and so yeah I was at work and then I would come home for my supermarket job and help out with their renovations and just odd jobs like mow the

lawn and that kind of thing while they were busy they wouldn't get time to do so I felt like I was always busy and then I think it was when I went into later years of high school everyone was like you have to pick a uni degree and I was like oh that doesn't really sound exciting and I spoke to a few people about it and they're like oh you know don't rush the decision but I think that pressure from school was always like you have to have something lined up and I know the school I went to was very big on like their success rates I suppose you'd say and they wanted to say like x amount of students you know from the year before went to uni and now they have jobs or whatever and I was like but I don't want to become a poor uni student I just want to work and they're like

no no you have to pick something even if you take a gap year you can defer it and I was like oh okay this isn't my jam mom and dad like I didn't want to go decided that I was like I'm just not that smart I did not want to be at uni I don't have the motivation to do things that I don't want to do oh yeah neither like if I don't want to do it we're out yeah so I was like oh I don't know how I feel about this and then I met someone who had done nursing through TAFE so it was like the next level down but I was like oh okay maybe that might be an option and she said like it's really hands-on and at that point they were very big on having your attendance in class which I thought that's what I need to do if I'm not sitting in the classroom I won't log on yeah

I'm not going to do the homework I need you to actually sit me down and be like this is the answer yes yes so I was like if they say classes between this time and that time I'll be there and if they say log on from home I'll be like yeah I'll just clean the house or I'll just do something else yeah or I'll just go to work yes I think that structure was very good for me and like how I went around it so I started nursing at TAFE and then after my first placement was able to get a job as a personal care assistant in aged care so I started doing shift work and sort of learnt that oh okay I don't really want to do shift work forever but there is money to be made in this so then I became a nurse once I'd finished my diploma. Iconic. And then wanted to get a hospital job and

sort of step out of aged care and everyone was like oh you've got to have experience and I was like well how am I going to get experience if no one will give me experience it's like a catch 22 it's such a joke looking back on it they're like we want you to have experience and I'm like where was I meant to get this experience when I just graduated literally yes and so dad sort of said oh perhaps you need to move away and like widen your search online to see what's out there and I was like okay ended up moving to Melbourne which at the time I was like well yuck I do not want to live in Melbourne coming from rural Victoria very different girl as a Tasmanian I get it but yeah moved to Melbourne worked there for about seven months I think but that was like

purely COVID times couldn't leave the house that would have been rough as well yeah so my partner we were still together throughout that but because of the whole COVID thing he couldn't come to Melbourne to visit me and I couldn't leave to visit him and I was like this sucks I'm out so I moved to regional victoria to an area which was near him but still totally new to me and i was like what the hell let's just do it so i moved there which was about 45 minutes away from where he was living rented for a little while and i was like oh this sucks like why am i renting this doesn't make sense i could be putting this money towards my own mortgage so i started working out some figures and thought i actually really like this area i think i'll buy a house so purchased

a house. Okay but how do you just decide to buy a house because like that's pretty big. It was pretty big and I had been saving for a long time with that goal in mind but then when I moved to Melbourne I thought oh this is like years. Oh this is out the window. Yeah and so then I think when I moved back to like out of Melbourne I was like okay maybe this isn't like more achievable. So when we're just butting in there because I'm just so pervy I'm so sorry my brain is going a million miles an hour. When you got your first job and you're working in the supermarket was a lot of that money being saved and put aside for a future house some of it was for a house and some of it was for a car I did buy my first car like myself and then I had put

aside money as well for study because mum and dad had said if you want to study like that's fair enough but we can't afford to help you do all of that we will help you but you need to save some money and it was just coincidence that I'd signed up to be at TAFE doing my nursing and about three months before I'd started the government announced oh my god we need all these nurses it's COVID oh that's such a money win yeah so the TAFE course then became I don't think it was completely free from Emily but it was significantly discounted yeah yeah and so I was like oh well that's great because I was going to do this anyway and I had all this money put aside for that but then decided that I didn't need it for that so yeah I just put it towards something else so definitely then

became a house savings yeah okay okay I was like where is this coming from like I need to do the maths because the maths isn't math thing and you said before not good at maths and I was like I think you might be because money and maths aren't different things aren't they yeah so then bought my house and I think once everything had started and I was like oh my god this is massive for someone so young like I'm in so much debt but it was almost like a drive in me to go no I want to pay this off yeah or like start paying it off you know see the the changes every time yeah and actually see it go down instead of just sitting on it and feeling like you're paying interest only which you know a lot of people listening to this are going to be like Victoria

in this economy all I can do is afford to pay interest only which again relatable but we'll get to it later in the show about how much you spent and what it looked like and all of the numbers because we want to know but like regional is so different to buying in melbourne like in melbourne and in sydney like i don't think you've got much change for seven figures anymore and it's just sadly so out of reach yeah and i think that's so sad for everyone because they probably won't get that opportunity until later on or without help from someone else because it's so tricky yeah or we need to like create another strategy which feels so far removed from what you thought your reality would be like we talk all the time as you know like I work in mortgage broking as

well but I'm always talking to clients and people about you know maybe we could buy regionally and then they're like no no no I don't want to live regionally I'm like yes but we need some stepping stones here like you're not going to go straight into your dream property like we might have to rinse and repeat three times before we get that dream property absolutely at least there's a strategy and it's just a bit disappointing because like I adore my dad but he bought his first home at like 21 and it was basically a dream home like what do you mean he just bought a four-bedroom house basically in the main city of where he lived rented the rooms out to his mates covered his mortgage wham bam thank you ma'am must be nice must be nice yes unrelatable kid

same there is it no but yeah I started paying down that mortgage and I think seeing the numbers change was like almost that next goal to be like yep I can do this and then decided that I wanted to work smarter and not harder and then I felt like I was working quite a lot as a nurse and then obviously doing shift work and I was like oh this sucks so I decided to go to uni and become I'm a registered nurse studying my bachelor. So I did that, which was tricky, to say the least. I worked a lot of night shifts to fit in around my uni schedule, which sucked. But that was the only way that I could fit it in around uni and work and just trying

to fit everything in. And somehow I have a social life. I honestly don't know how I did that. I look back on my uni time and I'm like, I don't know how she did it. I actually don't. Like, I could not keep up with past me. Yeah, but I think placements were really tricky. in that obviously we're not getting paid so there was a few weeks of the year like at different

stages where I was like I'm going to earn nothing so I really need to work hard to put money aside so that I can still pay my mortgage so there was a time where I was paying a little bit extra but not as much as what I had wanted but once uni finished then sort of thought okay well this is good I've got a little bit of extra money now and then thought oh god now I've got this heck debt so I felt like there was constantly this cloud over me of debt I suppose you'd say which in the scheme of things is probably nothing but just yeah but it also feels that way doesn't it like and it's kind of the way that it's positioned to you as well because nowadays hex debt doesn't scare me I still have a lot of hex debt and I don't personally prioritize paying it back because

I'm like well I'd prefer the money to come off my mortgage or go into an investment portfolio like I've just got stuff to do right but back then because I just didn't know anytime anyone mentioned it I kind of felt sick and I was like oh my god yeah that's right oh that's going to be so crippling later like oh there was this like overwhelming sense of anxiety and don't get me wrong you've paid your heels off pop off queen I love that but I think that with education comes knowledge that it's actually not a bad thing to be carrying and I think that was definitely something that I probably didn't understand when I started paying more onto it because I was like oh I didn't actually know that this was like good debt I suppose in that it doesn't affect you down the

track not in the same way as a mortgage like and I think that that's sexy but at the same time if you're in the privileged position to prioritize it and get rid of that debt like okay love that for us yeah so I probably cut back on my mortgage payments to put extra money towards my hex debt and then paid that off and after I had just not long paid it off there was a few changes with indexation and that kind of thing and so I'm actually waiting for a refund I suppose you'd say because it's like in credit at the moment so I'm very much looking forward to that oh I got that too and I was like I'm so glad that I didn't prioritize paying that off because I got a lot more back than what I would have if I had prioritized it yes but yeah I suppose at the

moment just sailing through life still nursing ideally would want to get out of a shift work nursing like in the next five years just yeah goal is to sort of have a family and be able to prioritize that and not have to work shift work I'm happy to do it for the moment but I think down the track I don't really want to do it forever it's very taxing totally exactly and I mean it depends on the type of lifestyle you want to have but a lot of you know people in our community who are doing shift work and don't have kids are like I don't know how this would be sustainable if I did have kids don't get me wrong you're probably making extra bank right now by you know doing that and I mean I'm grateful that there are people that get to benefit from

hanging out with you overnight but I don't know if that's a forever thing you mentioned a boyfriend before do we still have the same boyfriend same boyfriend yes oh my god so cute yes so we've been together. Are you from the same small town? No, actually we were in a Tinder relationship. Oh, me too. Me too. Yeah. So I widened my search to find him on Tinder and was like, oh, I don't know about this. You know, I never met him. But yeah, met him and we just hit it off like a house on fire. He's a bit of a chatterbox so we can just yap for hours. And how long have you been together now? About five and a half years. That's so cute. Do you find complete side note that I think a lot of our single friends are

going to relate to I've got a number of girlfriends who are single at the moment and I keep being like well I met my husband on tinder like it can't be that bad and then they tell me the stories of how basically it's the dregs of the internet now I feel like go back five years it wasn't that bad yes today definitely some post-covid it was definitely not as bad as what it is now no like I think I would just decide right I'm never settling down we're done here because like there was no way I was going to meet someone at a bar because I was not going to bars babe like I was hanging out at home doing financial advice like real cool Victoria real cool yeah so have you guys moved in together now like what does the life situation look like so we live

separately he's bought his own house probably about a year before I bought mine so he's got his mortgage I've got my mortgage all our finances are still separate yep I have in the last few months got a job in the hospital of the town where he lives so eventually we would like to move in together and potentially rent one out or something like that so you're setting yourselves up really nicely yeah at that stage we would then talk about family and next house and goals and that kind of thing but it's sort of a bit up in the air at the moment and have you guys been talking about that kind of stuff before like is this a like because five years is all from my perspective five years feels like a really long period of time to be together and not live together has that been a

conscious decision I think we are very independent people but I also think being it's probably like a regional and rural thing as well like we were first together when I was living at mum and dad's and so we lived about an hour and a half apart so I think the distance has always been between us and then when I moved to Melbourne I sort of thought oh this could be make or break like you know he might walk away he might just think oh she's going to move to Melbourne whatever and he at that stage had no intention of moving with me so I was like well we're fresh into this relationship it's either going to work or it's not I'm doing me you're doing you whatever happens happens and I mean that's kind of fair because like at the start it's like we might be in love

but also I don't want to compromise my dreams and I actually think that's really healthy yes like I know that some people will be like oh my god heartbreaking but like prioritize you babe yeah put you first and if you can put you first somebody else will see that you're doing that and want to do that for you too yes and he was very supportive he was like absolutely go do what you need to do and then once you've got that experience come back and you know we'll go from there but I sort of thought oh I don't know this is too good to be true but we did end up seeing it through and I think like it was hard and COVID was terrible but I think just putting everything into perspective like at the end of the day we're a couple of hours apart some people were across

the other side of the world and couldn't see their family so in the scheme of things it really wasn't that bad yes not that deep but yeah I just think it was made to last and so it did that's so good I just love love and I love asking people about love yeah but I also love asking people about money so we know that you're a registered nurse now how much money do you earn you're doing some night shift so I feel like it'll be good. Yeah it's a bit all over the place so I still do all the shifts. While I was through uni I was doing mainly nights but now it's just a bit of everything and I also have a couple of casual gigs that I do as well like still nursing but just here and there just because you know I haven't got enough on my plate. That's so good

though how are you finding the balance between you know having a full-time job doing some night shift and then some casual gigs and maintaining a long distance I'm gonna call it long distance relationship I mean it is tricky my partner doesn't work shifts so I think that's probably a bonus I think if we were both doing shifts that would make things very complicated oh yeah no you'd be ships in the night yeah he has always made comments about the fact that I love you but if you've just come off a night shift don't come here because you're a mess you're hungry no worries i want the whole bed to myself anyway yeah so i think he's been very understanding of all of that but at the same time he is a gem if i'm a night shift he'll cook food

he'll do whatever to help out but i think also being very independent people means that we can survive you know a few days without seeing each other it is what it is because we used to do that all the time so if I'm on shifts it's kind of yeah but I think now even though we're still technically long distance it's really not it's like 45 minutes down the road we're still separate right that's yeah like we're still separate but in the scheme of things it's actually the closest that we've ever been because it used to be like an hour and a half or two three hours away so it's kind of good we actually see each other more now than what we did before yeah that's epic which is definitely a good way to look at it and then we think oh like we haven't seen each other in a week

or whatever but I think it makes our time together more valuable and we value it more because there's less of it we don't take it for granted yeah so you already own a home you've got a mortgage you're only 25 like you've paid off your hex you own your car what are your big money goals what are you currently working towards so I think not necessarily like full steam ahead for this one compared to my other ones but definitely in the next like three four five years potentially start a family move in with my partner okay you get a house together I don't know what that looks like whether we sell both and buy one or keep both and use equity or whatever but yeah see whether see where the stars take us I suppose that's really exciting yeah we've got several options

which is good so when you say you want to start a family what does that look like financially do you think like obviously moving together but do you think you'll cut back on work at that point do you think he will like have you thought about the plan there because i feel like you know i always used to say yeah i'd love babies one day i'd love babies one day and i hadn't really thought about the semantics of it now and now i'm juggling it i'm like oh like i don't regret any of this but it's a lot more than i thought it would be yeah i think i work in public like victorian public health and i think one of the bonuses i suppose you'd say is that if you do change jobs from Victorian to Victorian, your long service leave

and that kind of thing travels with you. Oh, very nice. And so I think because I've, since working in Melbourne, have always been in public health, I have actually got at the end of this year long service leave to my name. How good. And you're only in 25. Stop.

That's going to be iconic. Yes. I'm very excited. So I think even if we were to use like a couple of days a week or something like that, it would be more doable, like after my leave in terms of juggling everything and just having that flexibility of choice like so many people don't they might just have their mat leave and when them thank you ma'am you have to go back to work because money is hard yeah but just having that in your

back pocket and going all right well I could go back part-time but still get more pay like oh that flexibility is so sexy I love this for you yes I've always been told work smarter not harder and so that's always been something but you really did it like so many of us say work smarter, not harder, but we don't actually know how to do that. Like it just doesn't feel like the reality. All right, let's go to a really quick break because I cannot wait to ask you how much you spent on your house. I just need to know. I also want to talk about your investing journey because you only started that in November last year. And then we're going to talk about personal insurance and your best and worst money habits. So guys, don't go anywhere.

money daris we are back and you're like so young but such a weapon how did this come to fruition like how do you just get good at money is it the work ethic that your parents instilled in you was it like you know a structure like was there just nothing to spend on in a small rural town like tell me how you get good at money as somebody who also I would say I had the same work ethic and I still do like I am a workaholic when I was young 14 years nine months much down got my first job at the ice cream shop have worked ridiculous hours through uni but you know what I did I spent all that money and more so where did we differ how did you get the work ethic from your parents in the same way I did, but yours was more productive.

Mum and dad definitely worked hard and that was something that I always looked up to. And I think something that dad used to say to me was that we're comfortable, we're not rich, but we've made decisions along the way that have put us in a better position. Yeah, that sounds like something a rich person would say. My partner always says, oh, your parents are loaded.

And I'm like, well, I don't think they are, but they've just sacrificed quite a lot through the years in order to get where they are. And I think that shows. I do kid, but also how cool, like the idea that your parents are financially secure. This is going to sound like a big one, but I think a lot of people will relate to it. Just what a weight off your shoulders to know, okay, that's never going to be something that I need to stress about. Yeah. And I think it's always been something that I've looked up to about work hard and save your money but also make it work for you and you know just odd things like that you would do along the way that you wouldn't even think of that making

one decision one way can change something so drastically and yeah something that they've always said to me was that you don't have to have a lot of money to make a lot of money and I think that Yeah. And I think that was always something that stuck with me in that just because you're working a supermarket job when you're 16, like if you spend 80% of your wage, or if you're a lawyer who earns however much per week and you still spend 80% of your wage, it's gone. That's, you know, if you're saving $5 or $500, you're still saving. That's literally my entire purpose in life I think so many times we are harsh on ourselves or we you know think this isn't going to be possible purely because you're like well surely because I've got this job it's not going

to work out for me but it's actually about what you can save not what you can earn and it's those you know underlying principles of being consistent because you know somebody working and I'm just going to use this example because you said you worked in a supermarket but somebody working in a supermarket hustling their butt off and finding a way to you know save 200 bucks a week which I'm not saying everyone can do but is completely possible in those situations you know don't get me wrong you might have kids and that might not be the reality but for a lot of people in that situation 200 bucks invested every single week girl you're gonna be rich like it's about the consistency it's not about going all right well how can I get a higher paying job and how many

times. And I mean, you've probably seen it, but never experienced this. I've experienced this where I keep telling myself when I earn more, I will be able to. And that's just not the reality of the situation. It's when I learn how to manage my money, I will be able to invest more. But until then, more money actually equals more problems. Yes, definitely. And I think that was something that was always explained to me that just because you earn more doesn't mean you make more. And that's all like that you take home more because there's things like more tax and then what a good lesson yeah and so I think that that kind of stuff has stuck with me but someone who wasn't very good at maths years and years ago I think those kind of things stuck with me because I was like well

even if I can say five dollars here or fifty dollars there that's still something yeah no totally and I'm adoring this mindset and that's why I keep asking like more and more about it because so often people will say, well, you know, it's only $50. It's not worth it. But in your diary in, you said, Victoria, it's about the little things that all add up. You're into like rewards programs and points and stuff like that. How do you integrate those into your life?

Because I love a points hack like my whole team do. What are your favourites? I'm definitely big on flybys. That's probably something that I use a lot. Oh, me too. And I am a OnePass member. so of course you know bonus points my partner's hearing about it this isn't sponsored but like you guys are sleeping on one pass like if you use one pass it like five times as your points

like for not much more and then all of a sudden bam I've made that into business class flights yeah and I think those kind of things like I would be going to Kmart or to Officeworks or to Coles or whatever I would be spending money on that kind of stuff anyway so I'm like well if I can earn points then yeah why not and if I can earn five times the points bonus. Make it make sense like sorry I actually asked someone very close to me who happens to work at that company I was like what the hell's going on here because like it feels like that's not good for business like surely giving us that many points isn't good and they said yeah look it probably isn't but it's a really good recruitment strategy and I said right well I'm going to abuse that until it's

done like until they feel like they've got enough members I'm gonna get my triple points or like quadruple points or whatever it is yeah and I think people always say like oh that's just how they track your spending and I'm like so what I'm earning points who cares yeah see there's that like privacy point and I fully get it but like you want my information for points I will sell my soul if you're gonna send me 500 emails I don't care yeah that's fine I'm gonna put them in the bin yeah you want to track my spending oh like it's good isn't it maybe I'm not saying this the way that I shouldn't have probably terrified some people looking money Darius you said that you'd also just started investing tell me a little bit about that journey why did you start investing

after property being such I guess a big part of your strategy to begin with yeah so I think I was sort of in the mindset of don't have all your like eggs in one basket type thing. So even though I was putting a lot of money onto my mortgage, I sort of thought, oh, I don't know, like God forbid the house prices go down or something. I don't want to lose a heap of money. So I was sort of like, oh. And then started with Sharesies through the She's On The Money discount code or whatever that was. Icon. We're trying to create a cult here and I think it might be working. It's definitely working yes yes I've got to make it more culty though like we're not good at this all we're doing is getting rich like there has to be something negative you know yeah but yes started

with that I think the promotion was get ten dollars if you spend ten dollars or something like that so I thought oh it's 20 bucks what the hell 10 of it isn't mine so if I lose it I lose it and I think something that my grandparents used to always say was that if you go out and buy a lotto ticket and you lose it's gone you know like that's it your money's gone whereas with the share market if it's gone down it's not gone completely and so I thought well that seems so silly why are more people not doing that yeah literally and like that is a lesson that is a lesson that I have been trying to teach for a very long time and that is that you know if your portfolio goes down you've actually not lost anything it's just what it is worth today if

you sold it and if you had 10 shares before you still have 10 shares today you actually haven't lost quote anything they've just lost or dropped in value and that is so hard to explain to people because obviously you feel like you're missing out but it's nothing like gambling it's nothing like lotto so you're telling me that your parents had shares too they did my grandparents did they had shares from their parents which they then inherited which then my parents got yep so they're really rich. I don't think mum and dad actually had shares until they inherited it. But then after that, when they got that later in life, we're like, oh God, why weren't we doing this sooner and started putting a little bit of money aside for that. Yeah. And then they passed that knowledge

on to you, which is so cool. Yeah. And my granddad was always like, oh, you know, make sure you're investing. And I was like, oh yeah, yeah. Okay. Sure. Whatever. And then years after he passed away, I was like, oh my God, he was onto something here. Yeah. Like this guy was actually smart. Yeah. And so, yeah, I started with the Sharesies app, which I love. Adore. And yeah, just little bit by little bit and sort of learned the ropes and then, yeah, made a little bit and lost a little bit and that's all part of the learning curve. But yeah, at the moment I've got about one and a half thousand invested.

That's so good. And you only started in November last year? Yes. Yeah. She's going to be a rich woman, guys. I'm so excited. Let's flip the script and talk about debt you don't have any bad debt you've only got good debt yes can we rewind yeah to prior to debt how much did you pay for your house what did that cost and look like so in October 2021 I bought my three bedroom one bathroom unit for 440 440 for three bedrooms that is a good deal and like on paper it's listed as a unit but I would say it's a rather large unit yeah it's probably more like a townhouse is it like standalone or is it like duplex there's

two on the block but they are two separate buildings oh how good and how much land ish do you have oh I don't actually know I don't know have you got a backyard or is it just like there is a little bit of a backyard yeah nice both units have got a little backyard so cute so 440 and what type of deposit did you have I had 10 percent at the time and so then did you pay LMI or did you get a waiver? We used the Victorian first home super saver scheme or whatever it was called. Yeah. The first home owners grant. Yeah. That was a similar sort of one. I don't think it was actually that one, but there was something similar. It's changed a bit since 2021. Yeah. But yeah, there was something similar through the bank. So we used that and the

government or, you know, so-called the government had a percentage in my house and I was like, hang on, that doesn't sit right with me. If I sell this tomorrow and make a million dollars, I mean, hopefully, but I don't want them to take a percentage of that because that obviously means that their percentage is now higher. So I was like, no, I get stuffed. So I worked hard to pay them off. Honestly, fair. No, I get stuffed.

That's actually my take at the moment. So, yeah, I worked hard to obviously put a little bit more into that and then since finishing uni, really hustled and, like, put aside extra money into an offset account so that I could then pay out the government, I suppose you'd say. Yeah, but that got you in the door. yeah absolutely and without that I probably wouldn't have got started yeah and like 440 at the time probably felt like and don't get me wrong it's an astronomical amount of money but probably

felt like the most amount of money you'd ever seen in your life and that was probably overwhelming if you purchase that regionally in 2021 I'm gonna make a stab in the dark and say it's probably increased in value significantly what is it worth now so I actually had it valued last week last week. Oh, how perfect. And so last week it was valued at 553. Oh, money win. How good. And what have you got left on your mortgage? I think there's about 330, I think, for me. Oh, that's nice. That feels comfortable. Or I think that feels comfortable, especially, sorry, I think we're also forgetting here. You are still a baby. You are still a child. Yes. Oh, how good. I'm so excited for you is that something that feels really like natural is it something that

feels really overwhelming are you stressed by your mortgage like especially with all the interest rate hikes I feel like it could be really stressful I think while I was at uni that was definitely very stressful because the interest rates only seemed to go up and so my payments were going up and I was like oh my god this is like yikes but I think because that was there was periods where I was earning literally no money at all but now that I've got an income and like a steady income every week because I'm obviously not studying yeah it's a lot more manageable and that I think because I have tried to pay extra each pay if I'm able to then it's always like a little bit more reassuring that if there is a week that I've been off sick or you

know whatever that I haven't necessarily gotten paid that is just that option of just paying the minimum and I don't feel like I'm behind yeah and what does that actually look like so like what's your monthly mortgage repayment so I think I usually pay it fortnightly and my income can fluctuate depending on what shifts I do the required payments are about 970 I think for a fortnight and I usually try and pay about 1300 if I can oh look at you go so you're getting down that principle which is really really nice yeah that's honestly that's what average rent for regional victoria which by the way has skyrocketed so like last time i checked the average regional rent across victoria was just over 500 bucks a week yeah like to me that's astronomical like to

me i feel like that's so rude like what do you mean 500 a week to live regionally that's not even like Melbourne that's not even that convenient to let's be honest yeah well part of my evaluation last week was also rental income and they said 480 which I was like for a unit oh my god like that's who's paying that but realistically that's probably really cheap yeah I mean I think that's relatively reasonably priced but I also just go to me that's astronomical because our incomes are not keeping up with the inflation in how much rent is. I have so much to say on that topic and we'll leave it there because you guys know that I would go on and on and on about it. But that makes me feel really good. And you said that you had purchased your first car all by yourself. So

you've never been in car debt or any other type of debt? No. An icon. Yes. And I did upgrade my first car when I purchased my first car and then when I found out that TAFE was actually going to be discounted I was like oh my god but I've saved up all this money what do you mean and I didn't want it to just sit there and look pretty I was like oh well I want something to show for this so I did actually go and upgrade my car which was still a second-hand car but by the time I got my license I was actually already onto my second car. What does an upgraded car look like though are we talking you went from buying a second-hand 1988 Corolla to a 1989 or like how much were we spending on the car so my first car was a I want to say 2005 Ford Focus like a little

hatchback yep sick car and then genuinely like that's such a good little get around really economical on fuel and I feel like Fords are cheap to like service and maintain yeah and so I started with that and it was a manual which hardly anyone back then was open to driving a manual so I was like oh I feel like it's going to be really difficult to sell but I actually had no issues selling it and then I purchased a 2013 Nissan Jewels little SUV and so I had that by the time I actually started driving like on my p plates that's what I was driving and then had a bit of a money win later on in life. When I was living in Melbourne, my Nana was unwell and needed oxygen and things like that. And she's like, I don't feel safe driving. I think I'm going to hand in

my license. And so I was like, oh, really? And she's like, yep, it's not for me anymore. I just don't feel up to it. Your granddad can drive me around. So she was selling her car. And so I actually purchased that off them for the trading price, which was really good. And because Nana had only driven to Woolies and back, so it had hardly any kilometers. I feel like old people and their cars like as my dad would say it was a good get around it only went to church on Sundays yeah perfect yeah so that was a massive money win for me so that's what I'm driving currently but yes definitely a money win for me yeah but also sorry you worked your way up and you only made smart money decisions when it came to cars like so many people might have gone oh my gosh I

have all of this extra money I'm just going to blow it like okay that happens to the best of us Now, personal insurances, you've got a mortgage, you do have a very hands-on career. What have you done about your personal insurances? So I don't have personal insurance at the moment, but it's in the winds. I contacted Sky Wealth and they are- Oh, you did? I did, yes. The cold is getting coldier. It is. It's very addictive. It's definitely in the winds there, finding me something at the moment. How good. I know it sounds so funny or it sounds so funny to me when I hear people

use the brands that I recommend and go, please go do this. But it makes me feel so good because I just know you're going to be safe. I'm just like, okay, this queen, if anything happens to her, she can message me and be like, V, I'm all right. I'll be like, yes, the best. All right. Moving on from that, I want to know what's your best money habit or is it just literally everything? I think I'm known in my family to be a bit of a tight ass. And so I think things that other people would invest money in I kind of think oh that seems so silly why would you do that so things like bed sheets my nana had a massive thing for bed sheets and she would spend thousands of dollars on bed sheets and I'm like but you're only going to sleep in it

no one's going to see that but they're snug so I'll go to Kmart happily and buy my bed sheets okay okay you and I not too different in terms of mindset but when it comes to sheets like you can come lay in my bed and you tell me you tell me because it's different I promise but yeah I think definitely that like things that I would skimp out on I suppose you'd say other people may not necessarily but then also my points systems I'm always my partner's so sick of hearing about what's got points this week and what doesn't so we'll just message me I'll listen I'm here so tell me what do you think I'm not going to ask your worst money habit yet but I want to know what would you splurge on then like if it's not bed sheets what is it I do have a bit of a house

plant addiction there has been discussions with my partner that when we move in together I will have to downsize my house plant collection and that upsets me I don't think that that's necessary because you know what mate we don't have to live together but yeah probably house plants oh my god that's probably something that I people are listening going house plants that's not a thing houseplants when you fall down that slippery slope they can get expensive are you into the exotic houseplants now is that what we're talking about here oh I certainly wouldn't say they're exotic but they excite me and I like to talk about them but people are just like oh okay no I also like to talk about them I post about them on my stories quite regularly I am not

sorry what's your worst money habit my worst money habit is probably I mean I wouldn't say it's a bad money habit but I'm a sucker for fruit and veggies and fruit and veggies are so expensive so I will spend hundreds of dollars on my food shop but it's because of my fruit and veggies but I don't think that's the worst if you're being really reasonable everywhere else like also astronomical like I was at the supermarket the other day what do you mean a punnet of blueberries is nine dollars yeah no that that's actually taking the mickey like that's that has to be a joke like do not get me wrong i don't want to hear it like i know that you know they're australian and we're supporting australian farmers all of that i totally get it that's not the thing i'm

arguing i'm arguing what the hell is wrong with our economy yeah and the answer actually comes back to fuel i know the answer but i don't like it yes it definitely adds up very quickly we spend more on food than we do on bills it's ridiculous yeah I mean ridiculous but it sounds like you're eating well so like I'm mad but like not mad yes and that's why I think it's a bit of a weird money habit because like you know my health is thanking me but my purse is not no I get it I get it at the start of this episode you said V I think I'm a B minus where where is the B minus I'm not gonna argue with you because I don't think that's very nice but what I will do is ask you what it would take to get to an A? Because you're investing, you have a mortgage, you seem to have your head

screwed on. You've got really good money habits. Girl, you couldn't really think of a worst money habit. You're at B minus. Come on. Where are we? What would it take to get to an A? I think if I was to be an A, it would definitely be smarter money decisions. I still make some good ones at the moment, but there's definitely better ones to make. I think things like that would probably make me not feel like I'm stretching my money as far. All right. Like I'm going to allow it just because I think that if you've decided that's what it is and upon reflection you haven't decided, all right, scrap that. I'm changing my grade. I'll go with it. I do think you're better than you think you are, but that is okay. And we can argue about that in my Instagram

DMs later. Okay. Money Darius, it has been a pleasure. You are literally just so cool. What do you mean you are 25 and have achieved all of this i feel like you are internally maybe 35 like in the best possible way like as i said at the start of this episode you've been here before and that is a very good thing she's clocked the world once and she's about to do it again wiser than my age yes yes like she's a wise soul i love it monita it's been a pleasure thank you so much for sharing so much of your story and all the pervy bits with our community because i know that They will love it just as much as I have. Thanks for having me.

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