She's On The Money - Should You Remortgage? Plus, a Wedding Guest List Drama

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

What happens when a wedding invite turns into major family drama? This week, we’re spilling the tea on a juicy guest list dilemma that’s got everyone talking. Who’s in the right? Who’s way out of line? And how do you navigate sticky situations like this without losing your cool—or your budget? We’ve got opinions, and so does the She’s on the Money community. But that’s not all. We’re also tackling a financial dilemma that could save you hundreds of thousands: should you remortgage your home loan to get an offset account? We break down the numbers and help you figure out if it’s the right move for your situation. Plus, we’re sharing your creative money wins (a Tupperware miracle, anyone?), broke tips you’ll want to steal, and even how to score free seltzer in the most rogue way possible. It’s Friday Drinks at its finest—don’t miss it! Ready for more laughs, lessons, and unhinged money chats? Check out out oh-so-bingeable Friday Drinks playlist. Listen here. FREEBIE ALERT: Join the She’s on the Money 30-Day Reset—your step-by-step guide to refreshing your finances, setting achievable goals, and starting the year strong! Sign up for free here. 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 makes personal finance fun especially on Fridays it's our favorite day of the week because we get our team together And we celebrate you, our incredible She's On The Money community. Miss Jessica Ritchie is here as always sharing our favourite money wins. Bec is here sharing her broke tips. And we're going to be helping to answer our money dilemma this week. It's all about whether you should remortgage to get an offset account. That's secretly something I really want to talk about.

And something that you slid into our DMs about this week. Who is in the right in a wedding guest list drama? I have strong opinions on this. Strong opinions. It's the same as somebody who went through a wedding. You know. I'd do it. I'd do it again.

I'll do it again. But before we get there, my loves, how were your weeks? Really good. Happy Onyx Storm release week to everybody. I think you'll find it. I've been waiting for this so bad. Like, oh my goodness. I feel like those two books got me back into reading.

Like, I read the first one and I was like, oh, that's pretty good. And then I think it was you and you were like, have you read the sequel? And I was like, sorry, a sequel to a book I loved? say less. Was it Taylor Swift thing? No, no, but good guess. So for Becca and anyone who doesn't know, there's a series of books called Fourth Wing. They are in the Romantici. Remember me probably about a year ago being like, I want book recommendations, no smut. And now I'm like, give me the smut. It is actually the funniest thing ever. Jess was like, I don't think I'm into it. And I was like, I think you are. You know what I've realized? I don't want smut for

smut's sake. It has to be a part of, like, because people have sex, right? So it's like, Do they? Shockingly. Is that how you procreate? When it's part of a plot. No, neither. I like it. Anyway.

Yes. So there's two books that are out already. It's fantasy, romance-y, dragons, very good. You've got Fourth Wing and then you've got Iron Flame. Yes. And both of them were good books. Yes. And I only read them, so I only read these books like this month.

So I haven't had to wait long. So it wasn't even you. It must have been Brooke who was having this conversation with me. Yes, it was Brooke. She recommended this book to me. I was like, great, thanks. it got me back into reading so then she said that there was a sequel and I was like say less I cannot wait to read this got to the end of it and was like oh it's a trilogy fantastic because it

said at the back that what was it um onyx storm yeah is next and then I'm like great I'll go on my kindle I'll purchase that live love laugh not out it wasn't out and it was months yeah the girlies have been waiting about a year I think and it came out on Tuesday I've had it on pre-order Girl, it is going to be on my Kindle already waiting for me when I have a moment. Oh, that's so exciting. I read it in like two days. Oh, I can't wait. It's a great week.

Great week. Jess has been reading smart this week is the summary of that conversation. Bec, how are you? I can tell. I can tell. It's in Jess's energy. It's the glow in her cheeks. It is.

She's glowing. Good week. Settled into new home. Just, you know, honestly, nothing that is super noteworthy. Nothing that I'm going to write home about. There absolutely is. Next week anniversary? Oh, no.

Oh, no, you go, you go. It's about you, babe. You came into the office or you came into the studio carrying a coffee. Yes. No, that's true, actually. Can you tell me about the coffee situation? Because I'm really proud of you. Thank you.

I just got like a seven buck French press from Kmart. Yeah. And I, well, I told myself that I can't buy coffee. And usually on my own, I cannot stick to something. So I've written like a thing to my best friend. It's a contract that says if I break this contract, I owe you $1,000. Oh, okay. I didn't realize it was that dramatic.

I was just impressed because, like, Bec is a chronic coffee gal. Yes, I am. Like, catch her at the cafe. Like, it's a part of your values system. Yes, absolutely. And now you're making three or four a day. Yes. There are several things in this contract, like must exercise X amount of times per week.

I must do 30 minutes exercise before I can vape every day, which is a big reward at the end of it, which is like something you need when you're trying to build a habit, a reward, and something, something, something. I don't know what the rest are. I would argue that using the vapors, the reward is reinforcing. I know. It's silly, but it's like the only thing that will help me stick to it. I get it.

So this is the thing. So I haven't bought coffee in weeks. Weeks. I don't know how much I've saved. Probably not much yet. I am so impressed. Can you do something for me? Absolutely.

Oh, that's so nice. You went into that without even asking. No, can you set up an automatic direct debit? Because I know that you were buying like four coffees a day. Yes. you were buying at least four because like I've seen your budget babe I've seen it I've seen your spending I know and that's no judgment but can you transfer the amount of two coffees like just set up a direct debit for the cost of two coffees every day into a savings account I do have an

account called haven't bought coffee do you actually I haven't just set up an auto transfer yet but no no we're gonna set up the auto transfer next because then it's just gonna be taking the money that you already felt like was gonna be going so instead of getting to the end of the month and being like, which I know you well enough to say this. This is an offence. If you would get to the end of the month and be like, I've got extra 50 bucks. I'm going to spend it. Like I think that would happen. So can we get rid of it before that happens? Lock the account. Lock it away. I know I have been locking my accounts now actually, which is maybe there's other banks, but I'm. You can do it on your Shazies app too. So I know you use Shazies. So you could like

have a direct debit for investing. Yes, yes, yes. Okay. Oh my God. This is great. 2020. It's a great start of the year. Yeah, it's a great start of the year. How's your week been, Didi? Busy, busy. We had our Australian Open Live show last week, which was really, really cool. And I feel like I'm riding that high. It has been so busy. I feel like I'm just so excited to be back at work. Like I've been going into the office and I only go into like the Zella offices once or twice a week at the moment. And I just, I want to be in there more. Like I just, I'm so excited for are achieving our team is growing like they're so motivated I don't know maybe they needed a break from me to come back refreshed and reinvigorated but like everybody's just like on a high getting

stuff done like I don't know if this is like too much to share but we had the most amount of settlements that we've actually ever done as a business in January and I just think that's so exciting to come into and like I don't know it's just it has been a fun time yes that's so cool. Should we ride the high with a five-star review? A hundred percent. All right. So this one is from Ashley Atkinson and she said, five stars. I am obsessed with She's On The Money. I listen every day on my commute to work. I feel completely aligned to their mission of empowering women to get financial freedom. I open up the topic of finance in my own team and recently helped a 26-year-old into her first home, which she didn't even think was possible from her

background that is the ripple effect of the she's on the money women empowering other women so good as vd says a rising tide lifts all ships thanks team oh that's really really cool isn't that the cutest thing ever that is really sweet what do you mean you then helped somebody else buy their first home and they didn't even think that was possible until you shared it that is really cool she's on the money disciples they're doing their thing they're doing their thing this is a pyramid schema. I can get behind. So you'll say I said something and then you shared it and then you shared it with somebody else? Say less. Incredible. Say less. Welcome to the cult, baby. All right. Miss Jessica Richie, speaking of our cult, what types of money wins have they got this

week? All righty. Firstly, we have one from cult member Tay who said money wins. What's up, Tay? Due to my water company not mailing my bills to my correct address for the past three years, we landed ourselves a massive bill i rang them and complained as this was their fault for not delivering the bills to the correct place and they halved it so saved herself over seventeen hundred dollars also how are they sending it to the wrong address like what address is using the water like and then sharon jumped in with a comment underneath and said from memory they can only charge you the past 12 months of fees when this happens she did say do some research but you might be entitled to more of a cut so good yeah i'm like it's half i feel like they should maybe do

Okay, but that's actually a slay. Can neither confirm or deny? I look into it. Like saying, oh, by the way. Because do you know what you could do? You don't even need to do the research. You can call the water company because I can almost guarantee they would record their calls for quality, obviously.

For content. Yeah, so you could call them and say, hey, I'm under the impression that you can actually only charge me for this and they will either confirm or deny it. They can't lie to you because it will be recorded. Yeah. make them do the research there you go exactly anyway carry on next i've got a money win from charlotte who said she cleaned out the meats and leftovers and random things that she had in her

freezer and had a week of cheap eats oh great my personal favorite tip there's you when we're really broke i go okay that's it we're eating freezer food for the next week a hundred percent and then you have so much space for ice cream i know and like sometimes i look at it and i'm like oh this went off in march 2023 it was in the freezer it's fine basically don't think about to just eat it. I don't want to talk about how long it can live in the freezer. The freezer makes it invincible. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It lives forever. Next, I've got a money win from Tori who said, we finally went to the local farmer's market on a Sunday and we only spent $25 on all of our fruit and veg for the week for two adults. It was really well organized and quiet because they went

super early. They've decided to make it a little weekly ritual. So now all they need to do is a top-up shop at Woolies. And for the first time in years, their groceries were less than a hundred That's such a good deal. Every time I go to the farmer's market, guys, it is a slippery slope. I get sucked in. Yeah, I'm like, oh, that boutique granola, I definitely need to purchase. The hand-churned butter. Yeah, you make hand-churned butter, fantastic.

You make freeze-dried dog treats. Like I am, it's a slippery slope. I know, that's the thing. It is not a cheap experience. $25, I can get around that. Well done. Yeah, that's really good. Good job, Tori.

Next, I've got a money-in from Ant who said, after a post that went up in the group that some of you guys might have seen, and it was about the Microsoft Office subscription price increase. We've all seen that. She had a chat with her co-worker about it and realized that because their workplace pays for them to have, obviously, the Microsoft Suite on their laptops, they also have access to that on their personal devices.

So she can just forego the subscription. She was like, get out of here. Get rid of it. I don't need it. She's been probably paying it for a while. Yeah. She said, I've used Microsoft Word like two times in the last year for personal use.

Really frustrated that I was paying all this money, but good to know I don't need $20. Totally. That's the thing about Word is that you either never need it or when you need it, you need it. Yeah, it's for something super important. I just use Google Docs when that situation arises. Oh, Google Docs.

True. And that's like free, right? It's free. Oh, my God. Google Sheets instead of Excel. Yes, so right. I do love Excel. Don't try and get rid of that.

Pry that from a cold day. Apologies. It just doesn't work the same on Google Sheets. It's just not the same. That's fair. That's not fair, yeah. All right, carry on. Next up on Money Means from Alicia,

who said she shopped at Aldi. She went to take her trolley back and she saw that somebody had left theirs in the car park, the worst kind of people. So she took them both back and got herself a free token, little, because she clicked theirs too. There you go. Love that. And lastly, I have a personal money win. Oh, did you put this in the group? I didn't. Actually, I should. I'll put it on the thread. Money win for me, money win for community member, Sophie, the queen. You may remember a couple of weeks ago, I said I was devastated because my beloved like 40-year-old Tupperware microwave rice cooker lost a handle. Oh, yes.

Has the community pulled through, Jessica? Of course they did. Oh, my God. This is so wholesome. I would expect nothing less. Sophie slid into my DMs and said, is this what you're looking for? And firstly, I'm shocked that she knew from my vague, my very poor description of what it was, of this very specific tool.

She has one. It looks brand new. Show me, show me, show me. It has the, like, the instruction manual. I did not pitch that. Yeah, so the lid, the rice goes in there, the lid goes on. Oh, I gotcha. So that's what broke on mine, one of those little clippy handles.

Yes, I see. There's an extra piece that mine doesn't have. Oh, it's an upgrade? Yeah, pretty much. Have you bought this from this girl? I sure did. And she was so lovely. She was like, I believe in paying it forward.

You don't have to. And I was like, no, no, no, of course I'm going to pay you. So money win for her. She's just made some extra cash because apparently it was sitting unused in her cupboard. And money win for me. I don't have to pay $150 for one on eBay. Oh, my goodness. That is so wholesome.

Jess has been reunited with the rice cooker. Oh, lovely. We were all up late worrying for you, Jessica. It's all I thought about for months. You can stop now. We definitely didn't forget about that. We can stop. We can rest.

Say less. We can have a good night's sleep. So what broke tips have you got? Do they involve rice cooking? I wish they did. Let me think if I could think of one on the spot. Honestly, rice cooking in general is just like a broke tip. Honestly, good.

No, no, no. Spilling. Good rice cooking tip. Don't buy packet rice. You can make it at home. You can make it at home. You can buy those huge bags from Coles. Yeah, don't buy packet rice.

You think it's only like a dollar and that feels cheap. But you know what's cheaper? Cooking your own rice at home. And it's always better. It is because it feels like you can taste the love that's going through it. I think you can taste the difference genuinely. Like I reckon maybe this is not a good thing for me to say, but I reckon in a blind taste test I could tell the difference.

We're going to make that a video. Yeah. Remember the time I was like, so I'm a diet Coke girl. Do not drink Coke Zero. Absolutely not. That to me is trash water. Absolutely not. Pepsi over here.

Pepsi Max. Jess loves Pepsi Max. Also trash water. Like I have so much trash to talk about Pepsi and Coke Zero. Absolutely not. Diet Coke though, love of my life. Oh, I don't know. Oh, absolutely.

So I've been quite aggressive about this, as you can tell. Brooke from our team made me do a blind taste test of all the different Cokes. Turns out I couldn't tell. Oh, my God. That is the power of the brain, isn't it? And apparently, I say apparently because I think that she foiled me, I told her that the Coke Zero tasted the best. I'm not shocked.

Shock and uproar. Yeah. I would like to see myself out. The people are rioting in the streets right now. So the fact that I am saying, I could definitely taste the difference. Between rice. We'll report back to you on that one when we film the next video. We will do that.

We will do that. So this first one comes from, I'm so sorry, I don't actually know your name, but we have been chatting about Supernova. I'll call you that because that's actually kind of cool. Supernova says, every few months, Moondog World has a day where you can fill up any sized container with fizzer for free. What's fizzer? Any size.

I think that's their seltzer. What's it called? Seltzer? Oh, a seltzer. And I know seltzer is actually soda water in the US. So if you're listening in the US, I'm talking about seltzer. Oh, right. Not seltzer.

Wait, so soda water here is seltzer in America. I think so. But here seltzer is your vodka. I feel like it's an alcoholic. It's an alcoholic something. So what are you doing, taking an esky? You could take anything and fill it all the way up. What's the most rogue container you can think of?

Well, I'm thinking like a birdbath or something. I have a lack of creativity. I'm like, Jerry can. A shoe? Jerry can? A shoe? Well, like a gumbo or something. That's tiny.

Okay, a cup is bigger than a shoe. I'm just going to take a cup from 7-Eleven. I was just going to say, it's giving 7-Eleven slurpy days, isn't it? Yeah, totally, totally. I love that. You could go to Bunnings and buy a whole new bathtub. Yes. Oh, a blue shell swimming pool.

Yes, you could do. Yes, I like this. We could get quite creative. What else have you got? Oh, yes. This next one comes from Jem, who I did not know this. And maybe a lot of people do, but optometrists can bulk bill. So, Jem got an examination, eye drops, and a minor procedure on Medicare.

And I've been avoiding the optometrist for, you know, nothing major, just like I need to get new glasses. And I know that they do prescriptions for free, depending on where you go, but I did not know about the rest of this stuff. So, if you've been avoiding the optometrist. I had no idea. I've just been avoiding it because I don't want to wear glasses, but I get headaches in the afternoon and I'm convinced I need glasses.

You get contact lenses? What's wrong with glasses? I don't want contact lenses. There's nothing wrong with that. I just don't want to wear glasses. both of you say wearing glasses it's the idea that I would have to pick out something that looked good on me and I already struggle with the idea of sunglasses and then the idea that I feel like it's a new personality trait it really is because when I ask my friends and then people are going

to comment on it consistently oh did you get glasses yes I can't see Belinda I don't like the sounds this Belinda but I'm just friends with Sharon it really is a new identity because when I ask my friends now when you picture me do you picture me with glasses or without glasses with glasses 100% I'm so sorry I still picture myself without glasses when I think of myself but because I this is you know a few years so it's not been my whole life so I'm like it is weird how other people perceive you once you start wearing glasses it's like when I see my dad without glasses yeah that's not my dad that's my dad without glasses I never wanted to be that person now I'm that person unfortunately I can't go back but they suit you so like do you even need to

See the optometrist? Because you don't look like you need new ones. Thank you so much. You look like I need new ones. She's blurry. It sounds like you're saying, I can't. I don't even want to look at you anymore. Thanks so much.

Luckily, I can't. What's your broke tip, Bec? I'm so sorry, V. That's okay. It's probably for the best. My broke tip is it's stolen. Okay, it's stolen. We'll allow it.

Thank you so much. A friend of mine said if you – That's the best type of broke tip where you don't have to pay for it. Exactly. My friend says if you get an overnight trip, say you're, like, doing a lot of travel, and I guess this is more so if you're, like, going overseas for, like, six months, try and get as many overnight trips as you can because you're saving on accommodation. That's a great one.

You know? That's a really good one. God, I didn't even think of that. Like an overnight train or an overnight flight. Yes, everything overnight, everything overnight. And then you – yeah, exactly. I'm really tired. I know, but if you get yourself a cabin on a bus,

That's a good idea, honestly. Combining two things, travel and economics. That's a travel hack. I wonder how many people have now decided this year is like their year to do travel. Oh, I want to travel this year. I was so mad. Where are you going to go? I don't know.

Broke. Seen for a house. Yeah. Relatable, but also you're not broke. I have seen your savings. You know what I want to do? I really want to do a Disney cruise. You want to do a Disney cruise?

Oh, that is so you, Jess. Yeah, because they're pretty new here and they look so fun, but they're very expensive from what I've heard. Are they? Yeah. What happens on a Disney cruise? I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie.

In fact, I'm going to be brutally honest. Not your idea of a good time? No, I've never done a cruise, so this is probably wild. Just the idea of being stuck on a ship does not sound entertaining. It's the Disney specifically that sells me on it. That's selling you. Yes. Well, do you want to wait until Harvey's old enough to want to go on a cruise?

Absolutely. Because I feel like that would make it just as violent. Oh, my God. We could be recording it from anywhere. She's on the ship. She's on the ship. Oh, my God. Harvey in a little sailor hat.

Stop. Sailors. Absolutely. We'll do it. Harvey with Mickey ears. Oh, that's very cute. And when we do our she's on the ship, we have to be speaking in like nautical. She's on the four C's.

She's on the four C's. Ahoy and welcome to She's on the Money. It has to be our whole identity for the whole episode. Sorry, did you say that the Disney cruise was really expensive? Because if you work for Disney cruises, I think you should call us. Because we would do it. We could do more great voice acting for you just like that. Would you go on a Disney cruise?

Yeah, that's incredible. I feel like Bec would go on a Disney cruise. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I reckon Emma, our producer, would go on a Disney cruise. Absolutely. I feel like we'd all go on a Disney cruise. Someone's got to know someone.

Say less. Yes, someone out there, if you know something. The overnight trips, though, genius. Yes, yes. You could do it on a ship. No, you can't do that on a cruise because that's the whole holiday. Yeah, they're there the whole time, yes. We are from Melbourne and Tasmania overnight.

Oh, you could. Oh, yes. I don't know if this is taking it too far. I think if you gaslight yourself, which is a great money tip. And that's that. Take the power back. Do it yourself. Yeah.

And book a cruise, but then tell everybody you got free accommodation because you spent it all on your transport. There you go. Oh, yes, I see. Follow for more money tips. Yes. Go on overpriced cruise. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Disney, if you want to call us, we would do a whole Is It Worth It series. Like, we really would. And we will be worth it. We'd take the whole team. The more the merrier, right? Absolutely. All right. Let's move on from this. We're going to go to a break. We're going to calm down after we get back. We aren't going to be talking about Disney cruises. We're going to be talking about whether you should remortgage your current home loan to get an offset account. And you slid

into our dams about something this week. You want to know who's right in a wedding guest list drama. And so do we. So don't go anywhere. welcome back everybody let's take a listen to the money dilemma hi there have you got a money dilemma you just can't solve the she's on the money team is here to help every week we tackle your dilemmas both big and small to answer your most burning money career and life questions to get involved simply head to our website and leave us a short voice recording and you might just find yourself on the show now let's take a listen to this week's money dilemma hi guys i just wanted some advice on my husband and i's not really money problem but maybe

money advice we have a five-figure healthy savings fund at the moment and it's currently sitting in an offset account gaining interest and we were wondering if we should pop that into a mortgage offset account, but plot twist, our mortgage account currently won't allow us to have an offset as that's just the type of mortgage loan it is. Do we change our mortgage to a different mortgage loan where we can get an offset account so we can reap the benefits of these five bigger savings funds or do we leave it in our savings fund that we have it in at the moment that's currently gaining interest. Any insight would be amazing. Thank you. I think in the word salad of trying to get so many technical things out, I'm assuming our listener meant she has her money

currently in a savings account, not an offset, right? We're going to operate on the assumption that that's what you're saying. I know it's very overwhelming when you try and get it all in one take. You did a good job, but we're going to assume that that's what you mean. Okay. I want to know, because I've done the maths or I'm currently doing the maths and will do the maths while you guys are talking. That's the plan here. I'm hoping you go long enough so that I can do the math properly. But what would you do, Jess? Well, I think you do the maths is the answer. So this is probably an interesting addendum because I feel like maybe not everybody knows that not all mortgages have offsets or redraws or things like that. An offset, if you don't know,

you should. You should listen to the property playbook. But if you haven't, that's okay. An offset is where you put money into an account and it, shockingly, offsets your mortgage. So, if you had a $100,000 mortgage and you put $10,000, like this person was saying, into their offset account, you would only be paying interest on $90,000. It's taking it off the top, basically. So, it's a bank account that works exactly, operates the same and is linked to the mortgage? It's linked to the mortgage. You can take money out. is like you can put money in, take money out. So it's appealing because it's not as if you've paid

the money to the mortgage or into an investment where it's harder to access. You can still get to it. But there is obviously the added benefit of offsetting the interest, reducing the amount of interest that you pay over the long term. But not all of them have it. I think maybe some people assume that just they all do, which isn't the case. Yeah, that isn't the case. It's like a bells and whistle additional thing. It's not a standard inclusion on a mortgage. And often you'll find that they're not the cheapest. Like that's not to say that you shouldn't do it, but like you might go to, I don't know, have you seen the ads for Athena home loans? Like they're everywhere at the moment and they say, I don't know, they've got really good marketing. I shouldn't be promoting

them because they don't work with mortgage brokers. But they like basically go love us and leave us. And the whole marketing ploy that they have is we have a low interest rate, but that's it. They don't have any bells. They don't have any whistles. You can't have an offset. You can't have a redraw. You can't link it to your banking. There's a lot of restrictions on using that. And for some people, it works perfectly. For other people, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but that is okay. Bec, what is your thoughts? So I would say you should be proud of yourself for being in position where you have to know what these words are unfortunately i didn't understand a lot of that and so i don't have a lot of good advice but i do i am big in big support of offset

accounts based on what i've heard i don't know what a redraw is similar functionality but you're paying the money off of the mortgage but it allows you the functionality of taking it back get it back what's the oh sorry i know they sound very similar from my understanding and vd has probably got a better insight than me. But from my understanding, a redraw. Who taught you? You know, everything I know. A redraw, there's a little bit more hoops to get through.

Sure. So the offset, like I could, if I had an offset on a mortgage, I would be able to pick up my phone and be like, oh, I have $10,000. I'm going to take $5,000 out. I can do that right now from my banking. I think with the redraw, it's a little bit more. A redraw looks similar, but the bank, you're kind of at the bank's mercy. So if we went into economic crisis and the banks were kind of like

locking their doors down a bit. And they're like, oh, Jess has $100,000 that she could redraw. We're actually going to cap everybody's mortgages and say, you can only redraw $30,000. You can't access your full $100,000. We know you did that, but we're just like going to put a restriction on it. And so that restriction, I don't love the idea of, whereas an offset account is your bank account, Bec, that is just tied. It's like in a relationship, it's married to your mortgage. and therefore anything in that offsets the interest that is payable on your mortgage. So let's just say you've got a home loan back of $250,000 and then you've got 30 grand in an offset account. In that situation, when you go to pay interest every single month on the mortgage

that you have, you're actually only paying interest on $220,000 because the bank goes, okay, so you've got a $250,000 mortgage. You've got $30,000 in an offset account. we are going to look at those two things, subtract one from the other and only charge you interest on $220,000. So that actually means that financially you're ahead. Now, going with the example that you said, Jess, you said, I think they meant high interest savings account. Yes. And so do I. I think that's pretty clear. At the moment, high interest savings accounts sound really sexy, like five and a half percent on average, I would say is like the normal high interest savings account amount. Sounds really sexy until I tell you, you have to remember tax.

So any dollar you earn in Australia is taxable income. That includes the interest that you earn in your high interest savings account. That is why you have to report it on your tax return and you might be up for some tax. On the flip side, if you put your money into your offset account and that offsets the amount of interest you pay, there's no tax occurring because you never actually made money. You just saved money. Yeah. Oh. So if your marginal tax rate is 32 and a half cents, you're going to lose 32 and a half cents of that five and a half percent that you're paying or that you're making. So you're losing that. You're going to gain that back by using an offset account instead. So I've done some maths. As you guys know, I own a mortgage broking business. So this

is kind of second nature to me. Let's say you have a $500,000 loan. Let's pretend you got it yesterday because then I can say it's a 30-year term. On average at the moment, they call it a comparison rate. A comparison rate for a mortgage is about 7%. So we're going to use 7% or maybe 7.5% as an interest rate. I'm not saying that's what your mortgage would be at, but I'm seeing a lot of people with that mortgage interest rate right now. Do you mind if I quickly ask what the difference between comparison rate and interest rate is? It's just the comparison across the industry. It's like an average. I see. I see. I see. So let's just say it's 7.5%. When I say that on average, people are getting mortgages at about that at the moment. And that includes

your investment properties and your owner-occupier property. It's just the easiest way to talk about it without promising you a particular interest rate from a particular bank. And let's just say you've got, I don't know, you've got 50 grand in your offset account. So we've put $50,000 in your offset account. If you are putting it in your offset account, instead of into a savings account, it could actually save you nine years and three months off your mortgage, saving you a total of $389,954. Very tidy. So that means that on your 30-year mortgage, if you had that in your savings account. Obviously, like it would grow a little bit over time, but using the example I just laid out, the individual in that situation, because I can't give you personal advice, the individual in

the situation I laid out would be better off using an offset account instead of a high interest savings account because they're not paying tax, they're saving on interest. And then that interest is, or they're saving on interest, is meaning that they are paying their mortgage off sooner. that means you're getting nine, nearly 10 years back, meaning you could invest that money over that period of time. May I ask a hypothetical? Of course. We're all about hypotheticals in the world where we're not allowed to give personal advice. Absolutely. So is it fair to say, and I could have this wrong, is it fair to say that the other thing that they would maybe want to consider is let's say they were really smart and really lucky and they locked in a much lower interest

rate. So say like, you know, during COVID when interest rates were like 4% or 3%, if they locked that in and they were still getting that, it's worth keeping in mind that by refinancing to get a new mortgage that includes an offset, you may be taking on a higher interest rate. Yes, that is absolutely correct. And that is why you need to talk to a mortgage broker to do all of this for you. It's a lot of maths. A mortgage broker is bound to make sure that you're always in a better position because of the recommendations that they make. Yeah. So like you could go to them and be like, hey, I've got this great mortgage and I think I want an offset if it's financially viable. If the mortgage broker can't put you in a better situation, they're going to have to tell you,

hey babe, I can't put you in a better situation. I mean, I could do this, but it's not as good as what you've got. And you can go, great, thanks for checking. Yeah, that happened to my friend. It was like, this is the best, like if you change, it would be worse for you. Yeah. And she was like, come and see a Zella mortgage broker because that's literally one of our favorite things to do. I want to get a better deal for you. Absolutely. Like, do you know how exciting it is to be like, I saved you this amount. And we always want to do the numbers. It's one of the reasons why I literally love what we do. Firstly, we get people into their first homes. So exciting. But then I'm like, hey, Bec, I can save you $300,000 and I'm going to help you pay off your mortgage soon.

Isn't that exciting? So exciting. So fun. But essentially you would pay off your mortgage much quicker. And that needs to be taken into account as well, because what are you going to do with the mortgage repayments? Like, are you investing that? Are you saving that? What's the power of that money that you could have for an additional nine years? So you're not just talking about the $50,000 you have in your offset account. You're also talking about the power of the money you don't have today that you will have in the future that's free cashflow. Huge. And if I had more time, I would do the financial advice thing and extrapolate that out. But we just don't have time. Chat to a broker. Chat to a mortgage broker. I know a lot of good ones that I have a personal

affiliation with me. We'll link to that in the show notes if you'd like to chat to one of the queens at Zella. Can we get you a better interest rate? We hope so. Yes, that's the plan. We'll see. And then once you're a Zella client, we literally check every six months anyway so that you never have to ask a mortgage broker again. We'll call you with a better deal. Sign me up. It's a good deal. Well, should we get into the spicy DM from this week? Yes, absolutely. Are you ready? Sit down. It's about weddings, so you know it's going to get spicy. Yay. Hi, friends. My cousin is getting married next year and I am so excited to get together with all the family. But we have a big family. I just found out one of my cousins has RSVP'd. No, because she didn't get a plus

one for her boyfriend to come as well. Weddings are so expensive and I think the fact that every cousin in our big family is invited in the first place is amazing and I think she's being really selfish. But the boomers in the family think it's fine and think she should have been given a plus one to begin with i want to hear your thoughts i mean i don't i'm just based basing this off my friends's wedding i've probably gone to like two in my life and they are so so expensive i totally get it if you have especially yeah if you have a big family you've got a lot of friends you have to it's like that thing when you like invite someone out at like for work drinks you're Like, oh, well, if I invite this person, I've got to invite this person.

And it's just like the list grows and grows and grows. And then so you're like, before you know it, there's like 100 people that you must invite. There's no ifs or buts about it. And then imagine 80% of those people have a partner. Or like even if 50%, 30%, whatever. Okay, well, now it's like 180 people. It's just not feasible. It's just not possible to have.

Because that's like, I understand that in your one individual situation where you're like maybe you've been with your partner for 10 years and they're part of the family and you're like, why the heck not? Why does this person not get an invite? That is weird. Or it could be someone you just started dating. Either way, if you're looking at your own situation and that's your, because it makes sense, like that's your reality. Your reality is everything to you. That's all you're living. And so you're like, my partner is not invited. That sucks. But if you zoom out as VD says, zoom out and be like, oh, actually like 500 people are probably complaining about the same thing. Like, why is it my partner? And you're like, okay, well,

actually they don't have exactly double what they initially had budget wise, just miraculously like accessible to them. So I honestly, I totally get it. Like that would feel really crappy, but it's like, you must take into consideration that if you're saying it, probably like many other people are saying it and that's just not realistic okay I need to talk about this in three separate sections I love how Jess's brain works so much guys this is literally how she works at work as well like I'll be like so do you want to just have a quick chat and she's like all right so I've got three different scenarios to start at the top I want to say the cousin who pulled out because she couldn't have her partner I'm going to say okay like if as an anxious girly it's like

If you don't want to go, if something's not right for you, I get it. I don't want to, you know, verbally punish you for that. That being said, I do think there is a bit of a difference between a cousin and, like, a friend from 10 years ago. I agree. That was going to be my point. Because I think that, like, if you're a cousin, you presumably maybe have other cousins, other family, you know other people at the wedding. I think that if you were childhood best friend who is not going to know another soul at this wedding then I go okay like I can see why that would maybe push you over the edge or why there

would be a strong argument but you just said that you're a really big family and you can't wait to get together with all the cousins so like that is not really making sense to me you got a friend there bro you got many it sounds like but then my overarching feeling on this conversation is no pay no say if you are not paying for the wedding if you're not paying for the wedding take your opinion and shove it with the sun don't try i'm sorry like so i saw this conversation happen and i don't want to say too but i saw this conversation happen with someone very close to me oh no and i was like the tea oh my god stress we're getting the tea after this episode stress that this girl was going through yeah there was a bit of tea

the stress that this girl was going through because family was saying oh you need to invite these people people she'd never met like you eat the aunties or whatever and i and i should acknowledge i know that there is you know in different cultures there's certain things i don't want to overstep there because i don't you know that's not my area of expertise situation we are talking australia the boomer opinion like we are talking correct white australia yeah very white yeah but it is such an old idea that oh but everyone needs to die yeah every uncle cousin grandpa grandpa's best friend from down the road you know and i just think ludicrous exactly what you were saying if it's not up to anybody it's about the bride and groom i mean it's your call

or bride and bride or groom and groom or nine minute you know you could just say the couple The couple would make 70% surrender. I'm really digging myself a hole here. Yeah, we can't get married legally yet. Oh, is that so? You can only marry one person, Bec. Don't get greedy. That is actually news to me.

Don't get greedy. Wow, we've got a ways to go. That's why we've got to get divorced before we get married again. I see, I see, I see. I'm sorry, guys. I'm running on not a lot of sleep. No, you're allowed, you're allowed. So forgive me for trying to explain.

This has been colourful and exciting. Yeah, I am. I'm overexcited and underslept. It's not a good combination for me. no pay no say that's where I'm at if you're not paying for the wedding if you're not getting married you actually you don't get an opinion and I'm so sorry that's just how it should be I'm not sorry there you go I'm glad you apologize I'm I'm doubling down okay great I feel supported I feel literally the same like as someone who had a wedding I'm grateful that I didn't have a lot of

pushback of people being like I need to bring xyz but we did like my husband and I did have conversations about like, oh, who's this person? Oh, your mate from work. Like there was a group of Steve's work friends that we invited without their partners. Yeah. And we discussed it and said, well, I've never, one of the rules we implemented at our wedding was both of us had to have met you for you to get an invite to our wedding. Great rule. So if you got an invite to our wedding and I had not met Jess's partner, I probably wouldn't have invited Jess's partner, but I knew Jess's partner. And I was like, hey, Jess, you're coming. But then over the top of that, it would have been the same conversation of like, oh, well, does Jess have friends there?

Oh, Jess and Beck would have come together. That's fine. Jess will sit with Beck. She's got a friend is like the thought pattern. And then if I didn't think that you would have had a friend, your partner that I didn't know would have gotten an invite. But honestly, if I'm trying to remember back, honestly, if it got to that point, I think we would have been like, why are we inviting Jess? Yeah. Not in a, like, obviously you were integral to my wedding, but it's one of those things where it's like, well, if we don't know their partner and, you know, Jess has been with that person for seven years, like why is this person coming to my wedding and celebrating love if we've never even celebrated theirs? Like, yeah. Anyway. So that was like our kind of criteria. And then

there's another theory I want to introduce because I am reading more this year and I want to read more nonfiction. So recently I finished Mel Robbins' new book, Let Them. Let Them. oh like like as in don't let them bring someone but like let them talk shit let them be mad it's hard like that's the decision i made i'm dropping it there i'm walking away yeah sure sorry that's the decision i made thanks you don't get a say because no pay no say yeah exactly and i mean jess's book is coming out it's called no pay no say i literally made that up on the spot. It's perfect. That's a motto. Thank you. That's my 2020 thrive. No better say. Exactly. You're paying my bill. You know, someone's definitely thought of it before. I'm going

to put it on a t-shirt for you. Thank you. But I just feel like there's so much nuance to this, but like if it's a group of cousins, I feel like you've thought about why they're not getting plus ones anyway. I can promise you that when a bride and a groom or a groom and a groom and like all of that when someone sits down to plan a wedding they don't go we should just invite Jess and not her partner they don't go oh get rid of them yeah it's about love yeah like if you could you'd have everybody there but then also having too many people there might not suit the vibe you're going for either so like there's a lot of consideration that comes into it because even with my wedding I didn't want heaps of people there I mean we ended up having 123 people at our wedding

and to me that felt like so many people like that felt like a lot in some weddings you're going to be like that's nothing V for other people you're going to agree and think that was a relatively large wedding but like I remember when we first did our guest list this is going to be so bad I remember this too you remember you agonized yes but also do you remember it was close to 200 guests it was like 200 people and I just said to Steve that's ridiculous like absolutely not because I said Steve we guess what we got a spreadsheet and we both co-contributed to it and basically put every single person that we could think of that might be invited to the wedding not like a oh we definitely want like a might be like you know

Jess was on it but then also Steve's friend's friend that we met once if he thought of them was on it. And then we whittled it down and we color coded it. And there were like green people that were like, absolutely not. They have to be there. And then we looked at the rest and there were people on the list that I'd be like, who is that Steve? And then we would have a conversation about that. Literally, who is that? Oh, it's such and such. I really like them. I got a beer with them last year. I used to work with them. Great. I don't know that person. Why are they coming to my wedding. Totally. Right. And so we had this conversation and thankfully Steve and I are very much on the same page. So he was like, yeah, fair call. And there were people that I had added that

he was like, what? And then there were conversations about, hey, should we give a plus one to this person or this person? Like, I don't think there was one person at my wedding that I had never met before because I was crazy. And I was like, it's just not happening. But like, you've got to pick your battles and no pay no say it's also like one of those things I think exactly as you said so many people it's like really I've never been married but it seems like everyone really agonizes over putting those lists together like it's not an easy thing to meet your budget your venue capacity your tra la la all of these things yeah it seems like it's really hard for people it is because the thing is also when when you put the invites out and you have no control over who's

talking to who and like say say someone's like oh I've got an invite to this thing and you know that someone somewhere is like oh that's weird that she didn't invite me and you don't have the opportunity to go and explain everything to them they're just out in the world thinking that you don't like them as much as they like you or or whatever so it's like this feeling of like people are going to perceive that I don't enjoy our friendship and it's just you have no control over that once it's out it's out and that's it I've never been married it's kind of like I've done this before but this is a massive cost and we're not just talking about like a little bit like oh it's just another seat like totally event styling for additional tableware for your food

your drink like let's just take a stab in the dark and say that that costs on average $250 a head some weddings will be less some weddings will be more $250 a head great if 10 people want plus ones that's another two and a half thousand dollars to add to your wedding budget crazy people aren't made of money that's insane to think that the plus one isn't like even if you're like oh well I'll pay for my plate or whatever like it's actually not the point like if you didn't get a plus one your question isn't should I ask for one your question is am I comfortable going on my own yeah and if the answer is no you can just RSVP no and you know what I can promise you if for example I accidentally sent out an invite and my invite went to Jessica and it didn't have

a plus one and Jess was like well I'm not going to ask for a plus one and she just said hey sorry like RSVP no there's no drama she just said no like because she doesn't want to go to that event because I can promise you this is so savage nobody cares about your wedding as much as you do nobody does like Jess is just like I don't want to go to that event it's not important enough to me to go on my own and I was like I really want Jess there I'm going to pick up the phone and be like hey jess why didn't you rsvp yes like what's going on i thought that you'd be in and just just goes oh thanks so much but honestly like i'm a bit of an anxious girly i don't want to go on my own oh my god i'm so sorry i forgot james yeah oh my god would that change if i added james yeah

like if it's important to me it will happen yeah but like yeah no pay no say yes what did everyone else say they probably have the same opinion as us i'm hoping because otherwise we look like So we asked the question, if your wedding budget was tight, how would you manage the guest list? 94% of you said limit plus ones based on certain criteria. Seems like the obvious choice. You get to make up the criteria too. You could be like, oh, they all have to be named Bill.

You can do whatever you want. 6% of you said cut guests so everyone gets a plus one. Interesting. That's a very interesting take. That is. Yeah. I was like, oh, I'm going to read this one out too. I know it was like the minority, but like the idea that you'd cut guests so other people could have a plus one. Yeah.

You're cutting people you know. It feels people pleasing. I say as a people pleaser. Yeah. Yeah. Next question. Is it fair to RSVP no if you don't get a plus one? 14% of you said, yeah, it's really awkward to go solo. And 86% of you said, no, I respect their budget. Yeah. I'd probably still go. Yeah, it depends. I think it just depends on the situation.

Like if I was the friend from school that didn't know anybody, being anxious enough maybe, during like your wedding, I would have been like, yeah, I can go solo, no dramas. Yeah, but you had heaps of people that you knew there. And like honestly, that was part of the consideration because you've got to remember that when you're planning a wedding, it's not just the guest list we're thinking about. So I've done the guest list.

Then I've done the table settings. And I've made sure that those two people that used to be married that we're both friends with are not on the same table. And even, you know, I'm like literally like, okay, cool, But if this person was sitting at this table and they look up, are they going to be looking into the eyes of their ex-husband across two tables? Like, I'm thinking about that stuff. I'm sitting down and being like, okay, well, if Jess is coming and Beck is coming, they work together and they get along really well. All right, I'll put them on a table together.

Oh, Jess is bringing a partner. Beck's partner's busy. All right, well, make sure she's with Jess because if she's with the rest of the team, she doesn't get along with them well and she's coming on her own. Like this is literally what is going on in a couple's mind while they're picking table settings. It is. It's like battle planning. Yeah, like we're playing battleships. Like we are fully playing battleships.

And I think it's so important to remember that like this date is not about you. They have extended an invite to share their love with you. Take it or leave it. Yeah. We did ask, what's your two cents? Mm-hmm. First person said, we had backlash at our wedding because we didn't invite partners that we hadn't met. I feel like that's such a valid choice. Yeah, fair enough. I feel like that's fair. Someone else said, I don't even think it's budget dependent. The bride and groom don't

have to invite plus ones. Yeah. Do what you want. It's your wedding. Literally. I'm very happy that no one's disagreeing with us yet. Literally. And that's in my head. I'm like, why would I invite somebody to my wedding? What am I going to do? Stand in my wedding dress and veil and be like, Oh, sorry, what was your name? Someone else said, yeah, but was she the only cousin to not get offered a plus one? That's awkward if she was. That's a good point.

Yeah, it would be very rogue. But then could it be, like, if you've just started dating your boyfriend, I would be in? Yeah. You mean? Right, right, right, right. Are you sticking around? Are you going to be in the family photos?

What if you're not around anymore? I remember one of my friends had this and she went to a wedding, I believe. I just remember brunch yapping. But it was only for married partners and her partner couldn't go because they weren't married oh but they'd been together like seven years or something and they were like yeah I know wild yeah that does feel a bit unfair actually someone else said I had a friend never speak to me again after she didn't get a plus one to my wedding that's harsh like as

much as it's your choice whether or not you want to go with or without a plus one yeah kind of your friendship is crazy yeah that's wild I mean what was this relationship I think I I'm again a little bit savage today um I feel like that friendship was probably more fragile than you think it was Yeah, right, sure, sure, sure. And, like, catcher. If that's all it's going to take to break our friendship, you would probably not a good friend to begin with. It's crazy.

When you boil it all down, it's like imagine, like, you're just sitting in the lounge room with your friend and I know this is really dumb. This is not the situation at all. But, like, let's say your friend is sitting across from you and they're like, give me $200. You're like, I'm so sorry, I don't have $200. I only have $200 for you, not your partner.

And they're like, give me $200 or this friendship is over. Like, that feels really mean. That's wild. And that's almost what this feels like. Kind of, yeah. You know? It's like, but I'm so sorry, I don't only have enough to give you. And it's like, wow, that's really sad.

It's not like your kid came home from school with an extra kid and said, oh, have we got dinner for Marcus as well? Yeah. Oh, yeah, we made spag bol. Join in. A bit different. Someone else said, I didn't care if people RSVP'd no to my wedding. It meant I spent more money on my honeymoon.

Honestly, that's a great take. Less money I have to spend. Iconic. Another person said, the cousin isn't going solo. She has the whole family there, plus one for real solo guests. That's fair. Someone else, and this is going to be my last one because I feel like we could yap about weddings forever, said, petty decisions like this can have

long-standing repercussions. It's true. Is it worth ruining a relationship over it? That's the thing. We've got to think about life, you guys. Everything's arbitrary, isn't it? Yeah. It's one day.

It's one day. We're all going to be in the ground one day. Whoa. Statistically, they'll be divorced or dead. That's it. So live, love, laugh while you can. No, I love this. I'm glad we ended it on such a positive note, you guys.

Ten out of ten. All right, guys. We are going to go because I feel like this is rapidly declining. But we'll see you bright and early on Monday for a money diary. Have a good weekend. Bye, guys. Bye. The advice shared on She's on the Money is general in nature and does not consider your

individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Devine and She's on the Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN 321 649 27708 AFSL 451 289.