She's On The Money - She’s Good With Money, He Was Deep In Debt… Here’s How They Turned It All Around

Episode Date: May 4, 2025

What happens when you’re smashing savings goals… and your partner is dragging debt behind him? This week’s Money Diarist is the kind of person who plans, budgets, and makes things happen. Her partner? Not so much. But instead of giving up or giving in, she stepped up.... managing the money, making the plan, and slowly pulling them into a better place. It wasn’t easy. But now, they’re out of debt, kicking goals, and building a life with way more control than chaos. It’s honest, relatable, and seriously motivating if you’ve been doing the financial heavy lifting (or just need a lift yourself). Ready to binge more relatable, inspiring, and downright juicy money stories? Check out our ultimate Money Diaries playlist. Listen now Join our Facebook Group AKA the ultimate support network for money advice and inspiration. Ask questions, share tips, and celebrate your wins with a like-minded crew of 300,000+. And follow us on Instagram for Q&As, bite-sized tips, daily money inspo... and relatable money memes that just get you.  Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements. The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs.  Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708,  AFSL - 451289.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

hello and welcome to she's on the money the podcast that lets you be pervy about other people's money habits for educational purposes, of course. Welcome back to another episode of Our Money Diaries, where I get the absolute pleasure of sitting down and talking to one of our incredible She's On The Money community members all about their journey. Let's jump straight into it, because this week I got a message and it sounded exactly like this. Dear She's On The Money, I grew up seeing my parents go through bankruptcy, and while I was only about nine at the time, it had a lasting effect on me. And so I'm the opposite. But my partner, on the other hand, has struggled with addiction to smoking and alcohol, which put him

in debt. So I had to get involved and help him manage his finances and get him back on track. Now we are debt free and we are seeing a financial advisor to set us up for our future. But honestly, I feel like I'm pulling my husband along for the ride. Money Dourist, I feel like this is going to be a little bit of a relatable one for all the people who listen to She's On The Money, but maybe their partners aren't as bought in as they are. So to dive right in, Money Darius, could you let me know what you think your money habits are if I asked you to give them a grade from A through to F? I would probably give it an A because I feel like I'm on top of my money and I consider myself good at saving and have also helped my partner get into a similar position.

But also I would like to get a little bit more educated in the realm of investing as I've only just kind of started to dabble my toes into that. I love that. And I adore that you're like, no, I'm an A because so many women undervalue how good they are at money. Like they're all like, oh, I'm a C. And then I'm like, are you really a C? Because we just went through how good you are at money. I love that. So can we dive a bit further in? You told us in your letter in a little bit about your money story, but I need to know more money, Doris. Can you tell me a bit more about that money story of yours? Yeah, so I grew up with my family, so my brother and my parents, and they went through some struggles, some hardships early on, positive ending to their

story, but they pretty much were the type of people that would take on any job. They did things from cleaning to office work. My mum even worked in an abattoir at one point, so they pretty much took on whatever they could to put food on the table, which was fantastic. But unfortunately, I remember the memory of our car being repossessed. And that's just something that's kind of just stuck in the back of my head. And it made me certainly be aware of money and the fact that money was spent on things. And so when I was growing up, I consciously thought about the opportunities that were given to me and whether I should take those opportunities or not. And if they cost my parents money I was more inclined to not tell them about it but obviously kids being

kids I did have some opportunities come my way that I'm like I really want to do that and I knew my parents would make that happen for me if I wanted to do that. Yeah I love that. Can I ask a little bit more about that experience of getting your car repossessed because like you were like nine you said so you were quite young but was that like a really traumatic experience or was that something that, you know, after it happened, your parents were really upset or like, what about that really stuck in your mind? I think it was just the image of seeing the car being towed away and my mom's reaction to that. So my mom was obviously quite devastated and was upset. And that's just something that's kind of stuck in my brain. I couldn't tell you, you know,

the circumstances as to how that happened or anything around that. It's just something that I remember and I could be remembering it wrong for all I know. No, but it is like a pivotal moment in your journey and it's always something like that that you're like it was that moment that I was like wow that's something I never want to experience as an adult. Yeah for sure. So talk to me a little bit more about what you do now for work and how much money you earn. So I'm a teacher so I suppose giving myself an A I'm used to grading things. Oh so she's accurate. I'd like to think I'm on point with grading. So I'm a teacher I've been teaching about nine ten years and I'm currently earning $116,000 plus super. Very cool. And how long did it take you to get

to earning like $116,000? Do you remember like your first salary as a teacher? What did that look like? I think the first salary was probably somewhere around the $60,000, $70,000 mark. That's not too bad. Not too bad. Like a good starting out, you know, I mean, I did go to uni and did two degrees to get there. So it was nice having that fairly solid income coming in that I certainly wasn't used to at the time. No, I love that. And earlier you said like, hey, my parents would literally do any job. Like they did cleaning. They did, you said office work and your mum even at one point worked in an abattoir. Like did your parents, I'm assuming they didn't go to university. What was that like getting to graduate from uni

and your parents having not had the opportunity to have a career as much as you did? It was a good feeling to feel like I had accomplished something. And I think I made them really proud in doing that because they did, both of them didn't graduate high school. So my plan was to graduate high school to start off with. And then I also wanted to further that and I wanted to graduate uni and ended up doing two degrees. So I started off with a media degree, essentially. And then I went and did a master's of teaching. I love that. I just know that your mum brags about you all the time. She tells all her friends, doesn't she? Like she will tell everyone. And what did your brother go on to do?

He ended up welding. Oh, she tells everybody. She tells everybody about her two kids and their careers. Like I adore her. So have you ever had that conversation with your parents? Like obviously it's such a different world, right? Where once you've kind of fallen into teaching and if you love it, like it becomes a career in comparison to like your parents like finding a job and then like trying to find another job and like hopping around to different things like I think that's the difference between like work and a career right like do you talk to your parents about that not like in so many words but I do know that particularly my mom's quite happy that I'm in a stable position that I'm not having

to jump from job to job or find avenues to make money so that I'm basically in a position where I don't have to stress about those things. No, totally. And I just know that she's like, she's just excited for you. She's so proud. You mentioned in your letter in that you have a husband. So tell me a little bit about his financial side, like how much money is coming in to the household from his income. So he's recently become a teacher as well. Very cool. So he's put in the hard yards to do university part-time so that he can have a better money store as well. And now that's kind of finally come into fruition. So it feels like we're actually getting somewhere in that regard. Unfortunately, his main problem was getting a

store credit card. Yes. Okay. Slippery slope. Lots of us have fallen down. A very slippery slope. So a $300 item turned into $5,000 of debt used on things that weren't from the store, which as we all know, is huge interest. Well, nobody gets those credit cards being like, I'd love to get into debt. Like no one says that when they sign up, they think, oh, that's a good idea. No, no. And so unfortunately that was just something that was snowballing him and he eventually asked for help because at the time I didn't know anything about it. And so we put some plans in place to try and help him get rid of that debt. Unfortunately, each time we thought we were taking more of that debt, but he kept adding to it. So eventually we just ended up

consolidating his debt into one loan that he couldn't basically take money out of. Like, I feel like sometimes that's the best outcome. What was that conversation like? Because I'm assuming that you were wearing the pants in that conversation and you were like, right, enough is enough. I am taking this off you. We're consolidating it. You're not touching it. How did that go? Because you did say, feel like I'm pulling my husband along for the ride. Yeah. I mean, obviously our money habits are completely different. He's very much a spend what he has kind of person. And if he's got small things that he's wanting to do, he tries to save that money for it. Whether he does or not is kind of up to him. But

I basically make sure that I wanted him to be involved in that process. I wanted him to understand my thoughts around it and whether that's what he actually wanted to do. And obviously he didn't want to be in debt, but he was just struggling to figure out how to get out of that and I felt like I did more of the research and been like well what would actually work for him and after those few failed attempts I was like right I think consolidating is your option because it means you can't access that money because that's obviously something that he struggles with if he has access to it he's going to spend it so we made that plan together and we went into the bank together so that he was on board with the plan and knew what was happening

and that way he could see the progress as well and now that we're finally out of that debt I think he's seeing especially with the pay increase on his end becoming a teacher he's now seeing that he can actually save money and that money can be used for things positive things that he can do so things like going camping going on trips spending time with family because we have a two-year-old and you know that's just something we can enjoy rather than being like oh we don't have money or he hasn't got the money to spend on that. Or sometimes it's very much, I'm more of a experiences person. I will spend money for experiences, but he'll go, oh, that's too much. I'm not going to spend it because he's used to spending small amounts of money rather than big

amounts, if that makes sense. That totally makes sense. So what does that mean when it comes to your big money goals at the moment? What are you guys currently working towards? Because I feel like you've got that like fresh, clean slate. And it sounds like with a two-year-old at home, you've got a lot of motivation to build, right? Yes. Yes. So I've always been goal oriented. I'm always saving for something. And I like to spend big lumps of money on things because I feel more accomplished that way. It does feel pretty good, doesn't it? Like, I don't know, everybody, different sources for different courses, right? But like when you finally achieve something and you're like, that was a solid five grand, like, you know, yeah, that just feels good, doesn't it?

I like spending more than $2,000 at a time. So whether it's a car or a laptop or a new mattress, because they're expensive. Oh my God. Why are they so expensive though? They are. Like illegal. Yes. So at the moment, like we kicked off some bigger goals. So we saved together to get married. We then also saved for a deposit for our house. So we've now got a house, but our next goals is we're looking to upgrade our house because I don't know about you but toys just seem to inundate and explode. My entire lounge room looks like the toy library like that's not how I envisioned that lounge room to look and also the house that I thought was you know really spacious I mean it's

not a big house by any stretch of the imagination but pre-baby me was like nah heaps of space it's all of a sudden tiny. Yes I 100% feel that and this was never going to be our like you know growing up with kids house but unfortunately with the COVID and that situation because we moved in during COVID and then after that houses just went crazy and now it's like well can we even afford to get a bigger place? I know right like it changes the goalposts so much. Yeah so that's one of our bigger goals. We're also wanting to get another car because one of our current cars is now 17 years old and it's costing us a fortune whenever we go to get it serviced. So it's at the end of its life. Yeah, no, thank you. It's time to switch out. You mentioned that you saved up and I have

to ask because I just love love, right? How did you save up for your wedding and tell me a little bit about that? I was such a control freak. Good, tell me. I had my wedding budget on an Excel spreadsheet, just as my own budget is. I researched how much everything was going to cost and how much we would like to spend and how much we could afford at the time. We ended up spending about $25,000. Hey, that's good. Yeah. I pretty much looked at our values. What were the things that we must have? What were the things that we could kick to save money? And yeah, we made those decisions together, which was lovely. I wanted him a part of it. So he went to most of the meetings and we sorted out what we wanted to do. And yeah, so things like, for example, I'm not a big flower

person. So I pretty much just had the bouquets and that was about it. That's so fair. And flowers are so expensive. Oh, don't even. I am a flower person. So you can imagine what that looked like if you are a flower person and then you also get married. It's ugly. It's not good. No, no. Everything's expensive, to be honest. It's like when I got my first loan for a car and I vowed off personal loans since then, because when I calculated the numbers and how much I was actually paying for that car in the end with the interest, I was like, no, that's crazy. Vowed to pay it off early. I did. I paid it off about two years early. Oh, good. And then I got charged $50 for every month that was left out standing on that loan. Why are they so shady? Very shady, but I learned

from that experience. And so when we were planning for a baby, I was like, well, we need a family car, something that I'm not going to hurt my back getting baby in and out. Totally. And so I got a bigger car and I saved up $41,000 in about a year and a half. What? Do you want to run this podcast? because I feel like you're just really good at money. I do like saving. I must admit. Guys, guys, side note. She said she was an A. The story is checking out. The story is absolutely checking out. I believe her. So yeah, $41,000. So that's probably one of my biggest accomplishments. I mean, when I was able to save essentially $1,000 a fortnight. That's crazy. Like so cool. I was making sure that I could get that car when I needed to. And that was a brand new car because

at the time, that was the time when you couldn't get a brand new car because they were like a year out on the boat and all the secondhand cars were just jacked up in price. Yeah, it was crazy. And I was looking at the new cars and they weren't that much more expensive. It was like a couple grand more. And I was like, I wasn't in a rush. Baby was still like a year off. And so I just ordered it and it ended up coming in early. So I had to find that money and make sure that that was saved in time. Yes, love. Talk to me about this baby planning process because if you say oh the baby was like a year off, obviously that's a planned baby because you can't just have a baby in 12 months. I don't know if you guys know how pregnancy works but that's not

how long it takes. So did you guys go all right we're going to get our ducks in a row, we're going to get the car, then we're going to have a baby or like what did that planning process look like because that's another financial nightmare. Yeah. We always wanted to have kids. The plan was to have kids. I mean, you're both teachers now. So like this story makes a lot of sense. Yeah. We both wanted kids. I particularly wanted to be married before I had kids. That was just my personal preference. We saved for the wedding. So we figured out based on the current income and how much we could save, particularly so that we were both saving the same amount because that was just where my head was at that time. We both saved for the wedding and unfortunately the

wedding got postponed because of COVID. So our wedding got postponed that week because that was when they dropped it to five people can attend. I don't want to have a wedding if there's only five people attending and I've already planned literally everything with my spreadsheet. I might just wait. Yes. So that got postponed, which is fine because all the vendors were able to make that date or what one. So that was fantastic news. We then basically the wedding had already been paid for at that point. So we had an extra year. So that extra year, I was basically just saving, just saving in general. So I was saving predominantly for baby because we knew we'd have to buy the cot and the bassinet and all the bits and pieces that cost lots of money and they add

up very quickly. So I decided to have that money aside, particularly as well for when I'm on mat leave or like if I'm going to be part time, I just wanted a buffer there so that if we needed it, we could. 100%. And if you can plan it, like it's just a much easier process to go through. Like if you've got more of like a run up and I mean, not everyone has that grace, but you were obviously like, okay, I'm planning this to a T. Were you obviously grateful for that once baby did come around? You're like, oh my goodness, what would we have done if we didn't plan? A hundred percent. I don't know how people would do not plan to like all of a sudden be pregnant and be like, oh, now there's all this money we need to find.

It would be so stressful. Like I'm very lucky that I also planned my pregnancy and all of that stuff. But like sometimes it just happens and like, that's fine. But my goodness, the amount of stress that these mums and parents would be going through being like, okay, so we have nine months and we have nothing. Yeah. And the first is always the most expensive. So we're planning for our second now. And so thankfully I don't think it's going to be as costly. Like we've got all the starters. You've got all the paraphernalia. Yeah. You've already got the big car, you've got the bassinet. And I mean, honestly, like to distill it down, cause I don't want to scare people. I think the newborns aren't too expensive. At the end of the day, they really don't need much. But

in 2025, the internet would have you think that you need everything under the sun for them. You need the fancy carrier. You need the fancy bassinet. If you don't have this particular item, what are you doing? And from my perspective, safe, warm place to sleep, some type of transport. Do you need a pram or something? Because that'll make it a lot easier on your back. And how are feeding and clothing the baby. And like, that's where you should start. So I don't want people thinking, oh my goodness, like, you know, it's going to cost so much. But life will be a lot more comfortable if you're able to create a buffer and do a like baby budget. So I know you had a spreadsheet for this money, Dyrist. How much do you think it cost to set up for a baby? Or for you,

not for everybody, but for you? Weirdly, you'd think I had a spreadsheet, but I really didn't. I love that I did not I was like oh this girl is a spreadsheet queen and I'm sure you'll agree and say I am but like why no baby spreadsheet I think because I had enough money saved that I was like this will be enough and I was just going to chip into it like I had done my research I'd looked into the prices of things but I was also quite frugal in some regards as well so for me looking at a pram on like a pram is as you said a mode of transport it didn't have to be fancy dancy for me some of the prams you know they're like two thousand dollars and I'm like I'm paying for the leather and a peak view to be able to see my child and I ended up buying a cheap pram and

buying leather to put onto it oh nice and then I can just peek out the front of my pram I don't need a little peak window certainly not one that costs five hundred dollars it's crazy right and like don't get me wrong because like I'm probably on the other end of that like I love my pram but like I just I really enjoyed it but like it's so funny talking to other mums they're like yeah I prioritize this or not that what do you reckon was your bougiest baby purchase that was worth it I honestly couldn't tell you I don't think I really have a big bougie purchase I mean my car's the big one because my back would have been out like I had a lower car and my back has always has been bad in general from a previous car accident. So just the thought of getting a

baby in and out of a low car was certainly not my to-do list. That's so fair. I love my change table. I know some people never use their change table. They buy a change table and never use it. See, isn't it crazy having this conversation? Because I'm like, I love my pram. And you're like, oh no, don't care about the pram. Change table. I'm like, are we not all changing our baby's on the floor? I don't. She just wriggles more. Yeah. I feel like I have a child ninja. Likey now, the second his nappy's off, he's like, it's go time. We've got to leave. I've got to leave. I've got to evacuate the building in 0.2 seconds. And then like, he will do anything to weasel away from me. Yep. I feel like at least the change table that they contained to the table.

That's fair. Unless they really have no fear and want to jump off it. But thankfully mine does have fear. Yeah, I think the change table, not that it was an expensive purchase. In fact, I'm one of those people, I don't like white. I'm a black girl. And so unfortunately, all the change tables were white. So I ended up spray painting mine. I know. I am also a black girl. So I have a black cot. I have black furniture in Harvey's room, black everything. You would have thought that it would have just come in black and white. Turns out it does not. No, it does not. And so I spray painted it. I love that. Yeah. I don't really have a big bougie purchase on behalf of my kid, to be honest. No, I love it. But it's so good that we can talk about these things. And it has shown

us very quickly, like everyone's values are so different. So when you're talking about baby budgets, like your budget would be significantly different to my budget and what you're willing to spend money on is going to be different to what I would prioritize. And I think that's really fun. And weirdly enough, I only recently, so I'm recently new to your podcast. So I started this year. This year. Oh, she's new, new. Welcome. Thank you for joining us. And I'm one of those people that I can't read a book halfway through. So I started from the beginning. So I'm still listening to Georgia King. Oh, gee, King on tour has gone on tour. She's still living in London. For those of you who want a little bit of a check-in, she's live, love, loving life

and she's thriving. I miss her. Like she's good, huh? Yeah. She's good to listen to. So I recently listened to the baby episode about budgeting for a baby. I think someone said the stats of, you know, it costs between like, like there was a huge range and I completely know why now. Yeah. And do you know what? I got a lot of flack for that podcast when that one came out because people were like, oh, Victoria's wildly inaccurate. Like this is not what it costs. It cost me X and you know, she's quoting why. And I remember being like, my goodness, because I wasn't a mum when I posted that. And I remember being like, oh, I'm feeling really guilty because I put so much time, energy and effort into researching that to make sure that it was, you know, very accurate. And

I was asking at the time I was an advisor and I was asking my clients like, oh, is this right? You know, how much did it, what's a SNU? Like, what does that cost? You know, do you need one? All of that stuff, right? And now I look back on it that I am a mum and I'm like, oh no, I was right. Like, I get that you guys had a different experience, but like, this is just the average. This is just the statistics. This is what it costs people. And like, if you're planning, as you probably know, like, is it not better to overshoot your shot and then be happy that you have a little bit of surplus than to have not, you know, budgeted enough because having a baby is stressful enough. A hundred percent. So, Money Diarist, I need to know, tell me, you've done the

wedding. You did it well. You've bought the house. You've done that well. Yes, you're planning on upgrading do you have any other big money goals you're currently working towards no really only just replacing our old car and the house unfortunately I feel like it and the baby obviously but it feels like all of those three goals I want to do like in the next couple years and so it just feels you just want to go bang bang bang it feels expensive it feels like too much it's kind of overwhelming particularly the house because just the way the market is it's like I don't even, it gives me anxiety just thinking about how that's going to work. Yeah, totally. All right. Let's go to a really quick break because I want to keep

chatting to you. I've got a lot of questions and we'll get to them in just a minute. All right, Money Diarist, we are back and I want to talk a bit more about investing. So talk to me about your investing journey. You mentioned that you're new to our community, which I love. We've been getting some new friends in 2025. Are you on your investing journey? If not, why not? If so, what is it? I am on my investing journey. I do have about $500 in micro-investing. Love. Mainly from this podcast that's kind of prompted me to do that. Ah, I love this. I can't tell you how much genuine joy I get when people are like, I listened to your podcast and now I invest. I'm like, yes, this is the best.

So I have about $500 in that and that's kind of my designated money for my daughter. So that's my way of being like, that's her kind of fund for when she's older, for her to use however she wishes. And this podcast has also prompted me to go see a financial advisor. Love. Well, I mean, you two are earning really good money and have like your stuff together. You've got a house, you've done the wedding. You're like, I just feel like that's a good idea. Yeah. I just wanted to see if we could make, now that we've ticked off some of the bigger goals, it was like, I just wanted to see if we can make our money work for us a bit harder. So after seeing a financial advisor, I now have put about $10,000 into education bonds.

Oh, exciting. That's a lot of money. She's really bitten it and gone, let's go. Yeah. So lump sum in there because I had that just sitting in savings at the time. And this was only probably a couple of months ago. And now we've set up to put about $2,300 a month into that investment account. I love that. Oh my goodness. I'm not going to lie. When you said, I'm new to the podcast and like I've had all these other really big financial goals, I'm thinking like she's, you know, maybe only very, very, very early on. Girl, you're like smashing everybody out of the water. No wonder you said, oh, M&A. I can see that. I love that. By dipping the toes, I mean, I've only just done it in the last couple of months, but when I go, I go hard.

What do you mean dipping the toes? Like you've just gone, okay, I'm sorry, zero to 5,000, let's go. I have maybe dived in. It's a better analogy. And now I really understand the comment where you said, I feel like I'm pulling my husband along for the ride. Yes, queen, you are. Like, get on, we're going. I dragged him to the financial advisor. He's like, I don't know why we were doing this, but you know, sure, I'm in for the ride. And he's like, yeah, everything makes sense. Let's do it. And I'm like, Cool. I'm so excited. And you know what? It's nice that he understands it, but also gets that you're clearly excited about this. So he's supportive of you, but also clearly respects

your advice because he let you get him out of debt and go through all of that together. I'm assuming you have a pretty strong relationship because that's what I'm picking up. Yeah, we do. I think he sees the light at the end of the tunnel now that we are out of debt and he can finally save his money for things that he actually is genuinely passionate about. So he loves his footy and now he's actually able to go to footy games quite frequently, partly because of his change of work as well, because he used to work night shifts, made it hard. So his change of job as well as his financial side of things has meant that he's able to actually have some money spared to do the things that he actually loves and enjoys,

rather than feeling like he's just making do with the money he's got. Yeah, I love that. And that's, I guess, what financial freedom allows you to have. I think a lot of people just assume that financial freedom means you're like working towards having millions and millions. And like, don't get me wrong, that is true for some people. But just the idea that your lifestyle involves enjoying the journey, going to some footy games, enjoying like the life that you have, getting to spend more time with your two-year-old, like that's exactly what it's about or that's what it's about for me. pervy before I move back on to money questions. How did you guys meet?

We actually went to high school together. Oh, that's so cute. We got together after high school though. Yeah, that's okay. Like I wouldn't have dated my husband if I met him in high school. Funnily enough, he was the person in high school, the cocky guy that would go, yeah, in about five years time, I'm going to be with you. And yeah, that's what happened. The audacity, but also, sir, you were not wrong. No, he was not wrong.

Oh my God, he wasn't. Did he actually go, oh, we're going to get together. I'll end up marrying you. Yeah. In front of my current boyfriend at the time, it was a bit weird. I mean, was he wrong? No, he wasn't wrong in the end. That is so funny. It's like when I talk to friends and like even on the podcast about Steve and my first date, on my first date, he's like, so what do you reckon our wedding song will be? And I remember being like, that should be a red flag. Like that should like for anybody else listening to this conversation, that should have been a really big red flag, but I just saw it and thought, why not? It's amazing how some things seem like red flags to some people, but not to

others. Yeah, no. Like for anybody else, I would have been like, babe, that's a lot. Like, are you sure you want to go on a second date with this guy? And I did in fact end up marrying him. So anyway, talk me through debt. Let's move back to that. You have a mortgage and you're out of personal debt. Is that right? So tell me a bit more about your mortgage. So our mortgage is currently sitting at $340,000 and our house was originally like $400,000 and now it's up in value to like $720,000 or something ridiculous at the moment. What? So you purchased for $400,000 and it's like worth $720,000 now? Yeah. It's like I said, the market's gone crazy. Yeah. But that also makes a lot of sense as to why you're like, okay, cool. We have this house and to move house

obviously into a bigger one, you're probably looking at like a minimum of $800,000, if not more because of how much, and I'm assuming the area you're in and you're like, wait, hold on, I didn't want like $800,000 or $900,000 worth of debt. Like we started at $400,000. I thought that was fair. So what do you think that process is going to look like for you? Because that is quite stressful, like to go from one to the other. It is. I really don't know what the answer is because like when I think of, you know, if we build, then I don't know what the options are in terms of building? Because obviously we would prefer to have this place and rent it out if we can afford to do that. But then obviously if we build, then we're having to pay for both

mortgages as it's going, which is a lot of money. Well, yes and no. So I need you to talk to a mortgage broker. You can either come and see my team at Zella Money or your financial advisor will probably have a really good recommendation of someone that they recommend. But when it comes to building, you can actually stage your mortgage. So you can continue to live in your current house and you might not pay for your mortgage repayments until like settlement or when keys get handed over. There's like lots of different options. There's also like, you know, if you were to sell and rebuy, like there's so many different options. What I would do is literally talk to a financial advisor about what rental yield, so you've got one, but what your rental yield on that current

property would look like. You can even just do it yourself. Honestly, go onto realestate.com.au and look in your local region. I would just put the map pin down and be like, yeah, just show me current location and look at what options are on the table for renting in your current area to get an idea of what that rental repayment would be. And then you can go from there, but I would talk to a mortgage broker sooner rather than later, because that doesn't mean that you'll have to pay two outright mortgages at the same time because the banks actually know that that's not that feasible. Yeah. Yeah. I thought there might be options. I just hadn't looked into them yet. Yeah. Haven't explored it, but they exist. I promise you.

The other option is obviously buying established. And then that has also other fees involved, stamp duty, et cetera, that is a lot of money when it's an $800,000 house or if not more. A hundred percent. It starts to like literally consume it. You're like, hold on. If we get close to a million. We're talking like at least $50,000 in stamp duty. That's a lot of money to feel like you're just flushing down the toilet. And don't get me wrong, it can be absorbed into the cost, but then it makes you really think about it. I love that. So we're not in any other debt. We just have $340,000 owing on your mortgage. That is it. I've paid off my HECS debt. My partner still has his, but he only just finished. So that makes sense.

Story checks out still. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I've worked pretty hard to get out of debt, especially after my car loan. I can tell. That was an eye opener for me when I realized how much interest it actually was because I didn't really know anything about loans. I'd never had a loan, never really looked into loans. We were just walking through a car yard and I'm like, oh, I like this car. Let's get it. And they pull me into one of these little offices and go through finance and all that. And I'm just this little girl going, yeah, sure. And it made sense at the time, yeah, they would have been like, oh, it's just this much per week. And you'd be like, oh, I can totally do that. No worries. Like so easy. But it wasn't that easy because they stung you

on the interest and then you felt like you'd been screwed over and that's not fun for anybody. No. Well, I mean, I could afford the repayments. That wasn't the issue. It was more of that I was angry with myself that I could have spent two years saved up for this car and paid it outright. But I didn't do that. I got the loan because it was just the easy way. But you've learned now. And I think that was an important learning piece in your journey, right? Because if you hadn't experienced that, I don't think you'd be as passionate about staying out of debt or as aggressive about saving or whatnot. I think you've done something good for future you. Yeah, for sure. I think it was the kick up the butt of, you know, loans are bad.

In saying that, I didn't stay away from them all completely. I had a credit card, I had a store credit card, but I just used them really wisely because I am very good at my money. So when I did the store credit card and bought furniture for our house, it was very much like I'm not paying the minimum. I am working out exactly how much I need to pay before the interest free period ends to pay that off. And so I did that and I'd done it multiple times. So that was fine. And then with my credit card, I made sure it was only a thousand dollars, nothing more than that. And like I said before, I had at least a thousand dollars in savings per fortnight. So I just paid off my credit card each time I got paid and I never even saw a statement for that card.

Oh, how good. The only reason I got it was for accommodation overseas because they... Oh, isn't that the most annoying thing ever? I mean, it does make you feel more secure because you're like, okay, cool. They can't like get to my life savings and whatnot. But like for someone like me, like I just know that me having access to a credit card is not a good thing. Like I can be really honest about that. It doesn't work for you. Clearly you made it work. And I just wish I was a little bit more like you, but I just, I can't be trusted. Yeah. I know my parents had a credit card and it did nothing but bad things for them. So I was always like, oh, I shouldn't get a credit card. But then I was like, you know what? I'm really good with my money and I can be strict

on myself with my money. And so I knew that the credit could, would be fine for me. And it was actually a really good cashflow kind of system for joint spendings with my partner. We've recently, basically I've finally jumped into now that we're debt free I'm happy to consolidate our money so we are now officially everything is joint oh I love that but you were like I am not doing this while you were in debt sir absolutely not well no before it was like well you're in debt I don't like being in debt and so the fact that if we join our money that's my debt and that just didn't sit well with me and then I also earn quite a bit of money and so I liked holding on to that fact that you know I worked hard for this money and this is my money but I'm also not in denial we're married

my money's his money his money's my money and so when he got out of debt it was like well now we can make that leap and that jump to combine all our money especially now that we've got my daughter it does change it it makes it more sense to combine our monies so we did that and so now we have our own new system but I'm finding cash flows a bit harder now that I got rid of the credit card? Yep, totally. So now I'm just looking at tweaking our structure, like our bank account structure so that I can... Oh, I can do that for you. I will gift you our budget and cash flow masterclass that I've recently renamed to the money masterclass actually. And it basically has a couple's like spending spreadsheet. And do you have an offset on your mortgage?

All of my accounts are offset. I was one of those people that had like, I think the bank was like, oh, you have 13 accounts and they're all offset accounts because my bank... Good. I want every single dollar that comes into my bank account to be working as hard as I do for it. So that makes sense, sir. Yeah. Well, my bank told me they allow up to 99 and I'm like, who has 99 offset accounts? I don't know, but I'd love to meet them. If you have 99 offset accounts, please come on my podcast. I would love to talk to you about what the hell you're doing with 99 accounts. Yeah, it was crazy. But I basically had, originally I had accounts for me, I had accounts for him and I had accounts that were joint and so now we've kind of combined those

so we have a bills account with all our necessary items that we need to spend we have our we call them our buckets which is our spendings that we each don't have access to so that you know it's completely guilt-free that's your money if you want to save it for something special go ahead if you want to spend it that's your issue and then we have an account for like investments so for the education bond to come out of. And then I've got a few accounts for basically our savings goals. Yeah. Love, love. All right. Well, I'm still going to gift you the money masterclass because I think it'll take that to the next level, but it does make use of making sure that if you have a mortgage, you're using your offset accounts to your advantage and like

cash flowing it that way, because like, obviously it would make sense if you don't have like an offset for like people who are listening, it still works. And there's just a different strategy around it, but it automates it for you. And I think as a self-confessed spreadsheet girl, you're going to love this because you just put everything in and it automates it for you. It says, okay, well, in this account, this amount of money will happen. And in this account, this amount of money will happen. Honestly, I don't know if you can tell, I'm just really proud of it. I look forward to seeing it. It's very pretty as well. She's very peachy. I don't know if your partner will love the peachiness, but again, he's along for the ride. Sit down, sir.

let me show you. Money Diarist, you said, I'm an A, I need to know, what do you think your best money habit is? My best money habit is that I am very good with my money. I like to budget and know where all my money is going. So my spreadsheet has everything accounted for, at least everything that I've come across. And I review that constantly. Every time something goes up, I go in and I change it and I play with things and be like, oh, cost of living has gone up. We might need more money for food petrol that kind of thing so isn't that annoying though you're like I'm not even tweaking it to save more I'm tweaking it because like groceries are more expensive yeah pretty much and then it's things like now that I've got a daughter it's like oh now we've got

to think about mother's day gifts and father's day gifts that I didn't even think to put in the budget because I'm like yeah I've got my mom and dad but I didn't think about us and the fact that we buy our own gifts. We actually do do that. Yeah. So yeah, I guess it's just the being able to know where all my money is going and budget clearly, but also I'm very good at like setting goals and planning those goals. So when I planned a trip to Japan for a month, I knew how much that was going to cost me. It was going to cost me about 10 grand. And I worked hard for that. And I had a graph that I had printed out and shoved on my mirror and I graphed that graph every month. I love that so much. You are my people. I'm so glad you found our podcast, by the way.

You are in the right place. Yeah. So I just needed that visual and I also had a digital version of it because I'm that kind of person. Of course you did. I love this. Like you are my people. Welcome home, by the way. Thank you. Lovely to be here. So tell me, you're an A, but like, what do you think your worst money habit is? I'm a bit of a hoverer. A hoverer?

I don't think I've had a hoverer on the podcast before. A hoverer. So I guess my partner would say that I'm constantly watching what he's doing, particularly before we've joined our monies. So it was very much like he would ask for money for me to transfer him so that he didn't have access to all his money because he would spend all his money. So he asked me to do that. and we tried a fortnightly allowance but he'd spend it all in a day or two same with a week so

what worked with us we just he asked me for money and I send it to him and that limits how much he spent. Hey you've got to find a way to make it work and if you guys are happy with that manual process then I'm happy for you. Yeah I mean I could do without the constant transferring money so I'm happy now that we've got the combined finances. You're like this is actually really annoying. I'm glad it's working for you, sir. Yes, it got a bit much in the end. So I think combining our monies really helped. And I think it's also putting more onus on him to learn how to save his own spendings money. So if he wants to go away and do stuff or go to the footy, he can save his own money to do that. You've got to tell me more about what a hoverer is. So you're

watching him, you're tracking all of the expenses. Obviously that has like worked out for him, But why is it a negative? It's a negative because while it's helped him money wise, it has put a little bit of a strain on the relationship because it's obviously he'll be like, oh, I need $60. And I'll be like, well, what do you need that for? And then if it's not something I particularly like, then I might question that. And so then it becomes this, he thinks I'm watching his every transaction, which in reality, I wasn't. Occasionally, I would see it and ask a question. Yeah, I didn't actually care that much. but if you're asking me so consistently for cash, like me going, well, what's that for kind of

makes sense, but I can see how he would then go, oh, I feel like I'm being tracked. Yeah, because that's the system you chose. Yeah, I didn't want that system initially. It was just the system that worked for him at the time. And now that system has changed and it seems to be working well. So that's, you know, off my back, which is good. I can basically automate all my transfers and I don't even have to transfer money very often. Oh, how good. So she's a bit of a hoverer. Now talk to me. You said I'm an A. Why not A plus? Like what would it take for you to go from an A to an A plus? Because I feel like you're nailing it. For me, it's just like I want to understand the investment world deeper. Like, you know, I've put money into micro-investing,

I've got money into education bonds, but I feel like I don't fully understand them, if that makes sense. Yeah I feel like it's going to take time in the market so like over the next few years like you can't just read a full textbook and be like fully get it like I feel like you have to experience it to then go oh yeah totally I understand it now. Yeah so I think that's just something that will come with time. Oh how good like to get an A plus you don't even have to change anything you just have to wait a little while that's a good deal. Oh my goodness I have loved this I've loved getting to know about you about how you planned for your wedding how you met your husband, how you had a baby, how you budgeted for it. Like, I feel like I've gone

through a lot in the past while with you and I'm very grateful for it. But unfortunately, you and I are running out of time. So I really appreciate the time you spent with us because I just know that people are going to be listening going, oh, pervy, what next? Oh, I get to know how she met her husband. Oh, what about that? Like, this was just such a good money story. So thank you so much for sharing that. And I'm just going to hook you up with the money masterclass after this and I feel like everyone's going to be better for it. Thank you. Of course. Thank you so much for coming on the show. I have adored it. Have a good day. The advice shared on She's on the money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on the money

exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision if you do choose to buy a financial product read the pds tmd and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs victoria divine and she's on the money are authorized representatives of money sherpa pty ltd abn 321-649-27708 afsl 451-289 Thanks for watching!