She's On The Money - Should You Save or Invest Right Now? And a Spicy Inheritance Dilemma

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

You’ve finally built up a bit of savings, so… what now? Do you keep stockpiling cash, or is it time to back yourself and start investing? This week on Friday Drinks, we’re tackling the save vs. invest debate. We’re not here for one-size-fits-all answers, we’re here to help you figure out what move actually fits your life and your goals. And then it gets juicy. We unpack a seriously tense inheritance dilemma involving family property, blurred boundaries, and a brother with big expectations. It’s full Friday Drinks energy: spicy, thoughtful, and packed with the kinds of money convos no one else is having (but we all need to hear). WANT LEARN HOW TO INVEST? The Investing Masterclass is here.  Ready for more laughs, lessons, and unhinged money chats? Check out our oh-so-bingeable Friday Drinks playlist. Listen here. Join our 300K+ She's on the Money community in our Facebook Group and on Instagram.  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 a Friday. It is our favorite day of the week because I have my voice back. We also get our team together and celebrate you, our incredible She's On The Money community. Ms. Jasgrichi, she's going to be sharing her favorite money wins. Bec Syed has a number of tips to share with us and we're going to be helping to answer a money dilemma which this week is about whether you should take some of your current monthly savings and start investing some of it and something you slid into our DMs about what do you do when your sibling is pressuring you to join them in going to your parents to ask for your inheritance early oh

see see see I could see you going oh what do you do sibling okay okay okay inheritance oh I'm comfortable yeah I just feel like that's a lot yeah that's a lot it's a lot all right so let's maybe just not start there how were your weeks my loves go for it my week's been lovely I haven't done anything too exciting. Just been trying to survive the cold, the snap cold. It's been freezing. I'm over it. You've brought a BYO heat pack to the studio today.

How did you not have it tucked away? So you've got your little weedy pack you're sitting on. I was wearing a puffer jacket on the drive-in. It's just, it's freezing. It's crazy. I had the car on like blasting hot air. Yeah. And I was like, I don't know if this, like I'm comfy, I'm happy,

but I don't know if this is good or bad. Like I have to get out of the car. It's so much worse when you go from warm to cold. Like do I turn down the heater so that the transition isn't as bad? Yeah. No. Enjoy the heat, can I say? I walked Harvey to daycare this morning and my breath in front of me

was like pluming and like the grass was frosty. I could see where the dog had walked and I was like winter has really kind of arrived. On the drive-in I could see all the people go like walking to work in their like puffer jackets and puffer vests and I was wearing my pink puffer jacket and I was like I'm just one of you. he's never had an original experience no oh my goodness beck how's your week been no my week's been really lovely yeah really really cold but there's something so gorgeous

about like a crispy winter morning your car's frozen over for like what part of that is gorgeous sorry it's it's usually like the winter vibes i think it's the the thrill of like driving for a few minutes with no vision, you're terrifying. It's very pretty, like the ice on the frost on the grass and stuff. And the sun that's doing nothing, but it's there and it's so, it's really so beautiful. But this morning I hit my housemate's car. I haven't told her yet.

But just because I couldn't see. Excuse me? I was like, oh, she'll be fine. I just hit my housemate's car and then I didn't tell her. Do you mean like, oh, you need to get off this podcast and straight into her messages? She's chill. Oh, sure, I'll tell her later.

But it was just like a little love tap. But it's because like, you know, when you like spray your window to get the ice off and then there's just like those two long little windows so you can see through those but nothing else. And I was just trying to like get out of where I was parked. And I couldn't see but I thought, you know, I have some intuition. You just did a little love tap. Oh, no, that's where her car is?

No worries. Yeah, it was good to know. I was like, okay, cool, I'm going to stop there and then now reverse. That's perfect. Do you keep a squeegee in your car? a two dollar shower squeegee because then you just water and the whole thing's clean now this isn't going to make sense to you jess or beck because like you're not a mom but i actually keep one in the bottom of my pram oh i can't yeah what the hell for because the slide at the park

often has water at the bottom and harvey really wants to go on the slide every time but i don't want to have to like i'm not going to take a towel and then take home a wet towel so i've gotten like $2 Kmart squeegee and I just like flick it all off and we're ready to go. $2 Kmart squeegees in the Lord's work. I know. Maybe that could be my like unsolicited recommendation in this week's newsletter. Yeah. Just like carrying a squeegee wherever you go. Yeah. Like park bench, you want to sit on it? Squeegee would fix that. Genius. That's genius. I usually just like literally I sit and then I, what's it like, I kind of like you do the swish. Yeah. But with my They're like jeans because they're very absorbent.

Oh, no. Then you're sitting in wet jeans in winter. They dry so quick. Oh, my gosh. She's crazy. Jess and I would never. That's so fair. You're definitely the type B friend.

Type B, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Don't we all need a type A or a type B? Jess is type A and I think I'm type C, which is like a type A person that has chronic ADHD. So sometimes we're super organized, but also we haven't cleaned out our fridge in a month. Some type B qualities. Yeah, all the bases covered.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. perfect just type c i reckon that works all right would you guys like a five-star review absolutely all right so this one this was really sweet it's from dashford down to earth and easy to listen to she's on the money makes complex finance matters simple plus unsolicited recommendations to make sure you thrive can't say enough great things about victoria divine and her she's on the money business wow oh isn't that so cute that's so sweet because it was about me as you should well I feel like I always pick Beck once because like Jess you and I both know that like we love complimenting Beck like it's just it's just really fun it's just so fun it's

like a game at this point you get so cute and embarrassed and like Jess is really sweet about getting compliments she really is but like I love embarrassing I love embarrassing Beck that's so fair and I'm I'm gonna I'm happy to take the fall for it because it is such a gorgeous well if Somebody has to. Somebody has to. You didn't stroke my ear. Well, I'll take one for the team. All right.

Well, Jess, I want to know what's going on in the community. What are their good money wins this week? All righty. Firstly, this week I've got one from Holly who said, money win and loss at the same time. I put on a gold class movie night for my little ones at home on Saturday night. I gave them the whole gold class treatment.

It still cost me a little bit of money, hence the loss, but it was way cheaper than actual gold class, so money win and core memory made. and she gave us a little um did we get a picture we got a video tour so she had like a little sign frozen love it my favorite look there she made them tickets they've got movie tickets and there's like a movie theater door she's got the snacks the dirt the whole she went all out it looks oh they've got little packs of oreos and bananas and then the fold-out couches with the kids look like they're having a ball so i love those such a fun and such a core memory she's

totally right a fold-out couch is such a throwback to my childhood and never having one like I remember being so envious when I went to my friends houses when I was little and they had like the themed Wiggles couch that flipped out I'd be like wow that's so cool like I know but don't be envious they were so uncomfortable but like you still like they were so exciting I didn't have one of those because I had the themed uh sleeping bag oh you know the one that was like shaped yeah like a mermaid tail or something I wish I can't remember I feel like mine was red I think it was a Teletubby oh cute I think that's cute I think why did my mind go to lobster when yeah I'm gonna have to call my mom lobster yeah maybe next this week I've got a money loss from

Alicia who said she bought a horse but she only had to pay to transport her life when she's waited three years for her to retire from racing so she's saved a horse that obviously is retired and now she's brought her home. That's not a money loss. That's a life win and we got a picture. Pet tax photo of the horse. Yes. I want to know, like, what's the most absurd?

Doreen, if you've got a random, if you've got a pet snail, we want a pet tax photo of the snail. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. We've done cats and dogs. I want to see your love. Like, I do. I really do.

Someone out there's got to have a Mexican walking fish. I don't know. Just if you've got something for you, not for you. I love it. Thank you with a heebie-jeebies, you guys. I was trying to explain to my husband the other day the concept of pet tax and I was like no no no like if you post about your pet in our Facebook group you got to pay the pet tax and he was like how do you enforce that and he was like taking it

as a very serious right like how do you regulate how do you regulate that and I was like you don't everybody is a law-abiding citizen she's on the money and we all pay our pet tax and the community is very good at self-policing like anytime someone mentions a pet you can almost guarantee someone there's like a comment underneath where's the pet tag yeah that is so cute I love it it's actually my favorite and like my favorite is when that happens Jess and then you see the response from the original poster and they're like look really sorry about this here's my pet tax and like some more yeah so it's my favorite oh I love we love the photos keep them coming everybody next I got a money in from Kyra who said I went to my local op shop for a look and picked up a Levi's denim

jacket for 45 dollars I was curious on what they retail for so I looked it up turns out it's a super rare vintage jacket and one is priced on eBay at $1,500. I would be selling that immediately. USD as well. I don't care how cute you are, we're selling that. Yeah, she said the op shop gods were looking down on her. What a good find. Gorgeous.

Another really good secondhand find from Tian. She got a Herman Miller chair, which if you know, you know, it's like the premium office chair. They retail for like $1,500, which is crazy. Yeah, we like not buying these easily. No. So she picked hers up for $400 from an ex-government furniture store. She said her friend owed her some money,

so she ended up only being $150 out of pocket. That's such a good deal. And now I'm in my 30s. So ergonomic. Ergonomic's what you want. That's such a good thing. Like if we're going to sit at our desk for a whole day, I'm going to get up and I'm not going to feel creaky.

That's a slay. Next I've got a money win from Alana who said every year the girls on her mum's side of the family have a weekend away. Everybody takes all of the clothes that they have that they don't want anymore and it's a free-for-all. You take what you want and whatever's left over gets donated. So she's come home from the trip

with a bunch of new clothes. That's actually so sweet. That is so cool. Very, very clever. And then lastly this week, I've got one from Di who said, she's probably a bit late to the party, but she used ChatGPT to search

for the best pizza deal and it worked. Saved her all the time from searching on all the promo sites and she got way more food than she normally would. So they had lots for leftovers. That's so good. Cool.

Really good way to use AI. You don't have to use ChatGPT. you could use the Microsoft one or something instead if you wanted to but save your little fingies from searching for dominoes deals. Although I was watching TikTok the other day and someone said my biggest ick is people defaulting to GPT as like their search engine and I was like wow I must be out here giving everybody the ick because I got asked yesterday actually one of our team said when was the last time you googled something Victoria and I was like oh like yesterday and they were like no but did you actually google it like how did you look it

up and I said, I asked chat GPT. Have you replaced Google? I think so. I think so. And I don't know if I want to admit that because so many people are so against AI and like how it works. And like, there's obviously a lot of arguments around like how much energy it uses. And like, I'm still doing my research into that, but like, I'm so sorry if there is a concept that I'm trying to like Google and get a clean answer on chat GPT just runs rings around Google when it comes to like hey can you explain this to me really quickly does it perfectly it just makes me nervous that like you're not verifying it like I just go you are so my chat gpt I'm sorry I'm sorry I have her primed I her by the way apparently that's another ick for people that you gender like that

you gendered your um or humanized I'm sorry your chat gpt but that's where I'm at I'm actually at a point where I asked chat gpt what her name was and my chat gpt is called Clara so she said she thought that was a sweet and soft name and it was like the name of somebody very helpful and I was like that's perfect Clara lovely to meet you I ask her to always prove her sources so I like read the response and then it sends me to the ATO website amazing she's a genius she's a genius um but yes apparently I give people the ick with that and honestly I think when I explain it I also give me the ick so I need to probably reevaluate my life choices it's okay I just but also don't you have to like log in to chat gpt you do you do but i'm just worried at some point do you remember

ashley madison like the oh yeah cheating scandal about like that website anyway so i'm worried that there's going to be like a data leak similar but for chat gpt all your questions girls i'm telling you right now i would prefer my nudes to be leaked across the internet than my chat gpt history to be revealed. Oh my gosh. So call me if you need my notes. That's fair. I literally don't use it just because of that, but also like, yeah, the energy thing and stuff. I'm like, I haven't looked into it myself, but I just know. I just don't know enough about it. You know, I know that people are saying that, but like, I'm not educated enough to have an opinion at this stage. Not so fair. And you're allowed. Well, I have never chat GPT'd broke tips, but I might

think about that next week when i inevitably run out and panic right before recording i'm gonna ask chat gpt for some broke tips yeah thank you maybe we could add next week a chat gpt broke tip yeah we'll be like this one comes from clara they can be so unhinged like sometimes i'm like wow um when people say you can really tell if people are using chat gpt it's because they're not proofreading their stuff and they're just copying pasting this junk like that's what i'm really He's scared of. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You definitely need a human touch.

Like you can't just rely on chat. She's not coming for my job anytime soon. No. And also like once you, when someone accidentally leaves like a little like. The M dash. I know, I know. It's because the M dash is in there. M dash.

The longer dash in between sentences. I see, yes. If you are sending me long emails that have the M dash. Girl, I know that you've chat JP. Yeah, and immediately there's a disconnect. And I'm like, I'm not reading what a person wrote. And you might try and argue with me and say, well, that's grammatically correct.

You are right. The em dash actually does belong in that sentence. But 99% of people historically haven't used it properly. So don't come at me and say, now you're completely grammatically correct in your emails. You're not. Right. There's so many rules, you know,

like I still don't know where an apostrophe goes and when it goes where. Oh, do you want to grab my lesson? Because like I aced English. Oh, yeah. actually I might I might I just love a rule though every single day in my group chat I'm like if I'm saying this do I put in a pot and so like I don't know and that was an em dash I'm just I don't know anymore anyway carry on I would love some bro tips so this first one comes from Lexi

it's about tolls so there's apparently like a I actually have seen this too in my linked account I don't know if it's like everywhere but it's definitely in my linked account I think linked is everywhere? No, I don't know. There's this thing called video matching fee, which is only like 17 cents. But it's like, if you drive through the tolls and you, I'm a tagless person. So like match my plate to who I am in my car and stuff like that. So why don't you have a tag? I didn't like the beeping. I didn't like to stick it. I just like, couldn't be bothered like sticking a whole thing. I was like, I'm just going to like go tagless. And then it will like, so we'll match it. And then it will like charge my account or whatever. In that video matching fee. Yeah. It's

really not that much money if you do it once off. But maybe just check if you're tagless like me, or if you haven't put your tag up or you, whatever it is, just check your account and see if you're being charged a video matching fee. Because all you need to do is order like a tag. And I think that they're free. Well, I got one for free anyway. You just like literally chuck it on and you won't be charged that video matching fee anymore. And it's really not much, but it will add up over time. If you do a hundred trips, what's that a dollar 70 or something? No, it's more than that it's more than and I just feel like it's like 50 cents I don't think it's like I think sometimes it is I think it's like 50 cents because I ran into this issue a little while ago and this

is probably making me sound a lot like a wanker and that's fine because sometimes I am um I have a car that has like the electronic like wind shield thing yes so like it's got like I don't know how to explain it I think it's got something to do with the like cameras that are on my car right so an e-tag when you put it on my car can't be read through the windscreen so I have to be tagless like I could I could put it somewhere like on the middle of the dash or whatever but you can't put it where it needs to go so you get on the chat for linked and say hey like my car doesn't do this and they ask a few questions and now my fee gets waived oh that's good and so I don't pay that at all and I also don't have a tag but it's because my car doesn't allow it

whoa all of a sudden you've got a porsche too and just yeah exactly if you buy a ridiculously expensive car that you absolutely do not need you could actually save like what was it a dollar 70 or you could just pretend that you have that yeah he's all i'm saying yeah you save a dollar 70 like maybe maybe linkedin gonna come for me but like why don't you just get on group chat and just or group chat or whatever instant messenger with them and be like hey like i just I have it on my dash but like it never scans like what's up with that no I could say I have a Porsche and I'd be like bitch we have eyes we can see the video and you'll be like I'm sorry it is 2025 I identify that that is a Porsche yeah like who's to say it's not a Porsche you know I'm

sorry we can like pry the badge off mine with a fork and stick it on yours oh my god that's a good idea I think it's a great idea hilarious I didn't even cross my mind yeah do you know what would be funny looking at the car to match the thing sorry I would love to see someone order like just surely on ebay you can buy like car badges or something and just like deck out their Camry totally as a Lamborghini or something like stickers yeah I don't know sticker that that is like the shape of a Ferrari yeah yeah but can we get the like you know like the silver things that go on the car, like the Toyota sign or whatever. Can we pry that off with a fork and put a Lambo one on it?

I just think that would be great. I don't see why not. I think that would be fun. My red Kia Rio is now a Ferrari. It's red. The story checks out. It's perfect. I'd believe that.

I'd believe that. What other broke tips have you got? Because like those weren't very good tips from me. Great tip from you though. Thank you. This next one comes from Linda. This is great. So Linda says, if you buy the extra large round pimple patches

and cut them into smaller pieces, you get way more patches and you can make them as big or as small as you need which I think is a gorgeous idea I never thought of that but it makes sense but I have also never seen like what's extra large like is it like the size of a palm or is it like surely not surely not but I think do that I know how this sounds I don't want to sound like a wanker but I have never had to buy we were just talking about me driving a Porsche which we've never actually mentioned on the show because I'm always like oh that's like not very relatable like people don't need to know that like that's not you know hey you know what is relatable if you end up getting rich because you've worked for it

the first thing you're gonna do is buy a Porsche you know what I mean so that's right I do love the car yeah it is gorgeous car like gorgeous car I do like it 10 out of 10 was it was it a financially sound decision absolutely not uh servicing petrol just like dumb like actually dumb like if you ask me if that's a good financial decision absolutely not would I recommend that you get one absolutely not is it the best thing in the entire world to drive absolutely would you like a turn do you want to come and like have a turn like I do want to have a turn yeah great 10 out of 10 we've got video evidence of you having a turn and then throwing my keys across a garden oh true so like I mean I'll send that to linked oh my god this is me getting out of my car

yeet yeah yeah for context those listening I did uh we just recorded a little video of me getting out of Victoria's car making it look like it's my car it's not my car it was for our MLM video if anyone missed that yes um and I just very good I feel like that didn't get enough like air time we just need to bring it back so fair and my broke tip so I went to Sydney and I had to go I went to the Sydney office and I'm telling Sydney don't get me started first of all you can't park at the airport like a regular person just picking up a regular person you know what I mean I think you have to go into a car park which is like you got to pay for that I think I mean I could be wrong if someone's from Sydney and they're like no there is a special spot that is hidden or like

not visible to the human eye then let me know because I drove around I couldn't find anyway parking in Sydney is really annoying and everything is so expensive so I had to go to this the Sydney office this airport thing is completely irrelevant I just wanted to say that and get it off my chest I'm just really mad about it. So my broke tip's actually about bananas. But no, so I went to the Sydney office to work and there was a day, it was the day before payday, and I was like, guys, I literally can't come into the office.

I cannot afford it because it's hourly parking of like $7 an hour or you go into a car park, which is $30 for the day. And I was like, I don't have that kind of money, so I'm just not going to come to the office. Anyway, it's not like that here in Melbourne. you can probably park where you work unless you're in the city of course and was public transport to the office not an option even then because they're opal they have opal not mikey yeah from memory i don't know if it's still a thing but it's like it's like eight dollars one way peak

hour or something and i was like i i'm not gonna i can't you know i was i was really also just like kind of being stubborn and i was really irritated by the amount of money everything is but anyway so the day I got paid I went in and I was like cool I'm gonna pay for my parking but usually you use your phone you do like there's this pay stay I think we have pay stay here and you you know you do your hourly thing I tried to find the cheapest one but it was still more expensive on my phone I was like why the hell is this $1.40 more an hour and I went to the meter and it was $1.40 cheaper and I was like oh okay so I just want to let everyone know that if you're a little bit broke like me and you can't afford parking in the city which is ridiculous we should all be able

to afford that but go to the meter instead and they won't charge you the gst the all this stuff on top of that which yeah i feel like it's an app it should be less expensive i thought that would be easier for everybody two different prices i don't know if that's everywhere i don't know if that's in melbourne but in sydney it is two different prices it is more expensive if you the app it's like it does show you the the price that shows you on the meter but then it adds a dollar here a dollar there like it's that's crazy i hate that so pay at the meter is all i want to say sorry for that long the longest but i also hate that that's so annoying and taking advantage of convenience yeah i know also sorry can we just rewind having to pay 30 to park at work

yes crazy crazy absolutely not or seven dollars an hour like oh no actually it might have even been $8 from for where I had to park and it was like that's what a 60 bucks a day absolutely not ridiculous anyway sorry I like that I like that let's leave that one right there let's go to a quick break because on the flip side we're going to be talking about whether you should take some of your current monthly savings and start investing them and I'm kind of excited to talk about this but also like want to see what the hell everybody else thinks you slid into our dms and you asked what do you do when your sibling is pressuring you to join them and going to your parents to ask for your inheritance only. Sorry, we're going to get to that after this break.

Welcome back, everybody. Let's take a listen to this week's 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. So I'm able to save between let's say 250 a month to 500 pounds a month but I'm starting to think actually should I split that and do 250 in investment and 250 in savings because the investment that I'm putting into savings like for example I'm getting about 16

pounds a month back from like savings interest but I think I could do more however I don't know if investing suits somebody that for example the reason why I'm wanting to save money and to build a bit of a background and to have a bit of a chunk of money so that we can have a baby one day and that we can get married one day and we can go on holiday and stuff like that I'm not necessarily thinking about like retirement just yet which is where then I'm thinking do I then split savings and split investment but I am new to investing haven't done it and so would appreciate any sort of guidance thank you that's fun we've got an international friend I love the accent I wish I sounded like that you sound so polished yeah you sound so fancy

what would you guys do Jess well I think we've said it before don't sound like a broken record but you obviously not financial advice different strategies for different people but you really shouldn't be investing money that you want to access in the short term I think typically VD you recommend between seven and ten years I do you know to ride out the waves again obviously not advice so I would say it depends on how much you want to prioritize the different goals so if you can afford to put some money into your investments and you won't need to access it within that time period then I would say it's great because time in the market is everything and even if it's a small little amount now it's much better than nothing but if you don't have a

lot of flexibility in your budget which I know a lot of us don't at the moment particularly with big life events like kids and weddings and holidays then it might be smarter even though it might not maximize your returns it may be better for you to pop it in savings where you know you can access it you know whenever you decide you want to start chasing after those goals yeah i was gonna say a similar thing there are like you know other things that are you know like term deposits and things where you have more control over like say you just want to do like one year at i mean i think this is generally the amount it's like five percent interest so it's not nothing crazy but it's like at least it feels like you know it's like

guaranteed and then you can access that amount of money after a certain time it's just like locked away you are getting interest and I feel like I can't say guaranteed but it is guaranteed right if it's if it's a term deposit for like 4.95 oh yeah yeah yeah for the period of time that it would be agreed to yeah in the terms and conditions it would be like for the next 12 months or whatever yeah yeah so it's like a a definite like if you put in invest you put your money in like you know shares or whatever it is and you may return five percent you may even lose or make or whatever it is but it just kind of feels more like secure more like and then you can figure out how much you'll have at the end of the year I would probably do that if I had like that kind

of money I think it's a really good thing that you're considering investing because you just told me that you want to have a baby and you want to you know get married and do all these things which fantastic they do require savings but you just told me you want to build a life with somebody you told me that you want to like put down your roots and like settle with them and be financially stable and financially confident. And to me, that means that you would have a good financial backing. And yes, you might not be able to pull all that money out. And when we say not able to, you absolutely can. And I always say invest for a minimum of 10 years ish, like seven to 10 in a perfect world, because that's when compound interest really starts to kick in and things

get real magic. It's not because you're not going to make money in the short term, like you will, it will be more than your, usually more than your savings account will. But also what if the market goes down a little bit. Like you don't want to be in a sticky situation where you're like, yep, I'm saving for a house and I've popped all of my money into my investment account. I'm going to buy in the next 12 months. And then you're so excited because you've got the right amount of money. And then the market dips a bit and you've lost like 10% of your deposit. And you're like, well, now I've lost 10% of my deposit. You haven't actually lost it. It's just worth less at the moment. And what I would say is you need to ride the market out until it recovers. But like we do

see a lot of people, because like, let's be honest, it's 2025. It doesn't take one or two years to save a house deposit. Most of the people in our community, seven to 10 years saving anyway, like that could become part of your strategy. It could become part of the plan. Does that mean that you put all the money in investing? Absolutely not. It sounds like you've got some big life goals that are going to require some cash. But to give you a little bit of perspective, if you like took, and I've done this in pounds, but the same is convertible for dollars. But if you took like 200 pounds, which I think makes sense given the numbers you gave us, and you just kept saving that, after 20 years, that 200 pounds is worth 48,000 pounds, right? But if you had

invested it, you actually would have 153,000 pounds. So I think the difference there, if you're having kids and you are going to be, you know, getting married, do you want that marriage to have a solid base like in 10 20 years like do you want to have kids in like let's pretend like everything goes really smoothly whack out some kids everything is good in 20 years like let's pretend kids are a few years off you've got late teenagers like do you want that financial security when that happens like I know that these aren't sexy things to talk about but I just know if I've got teenagers of course I want a level of financial security and yes my my wedding is really exciting and you know being able to have a baby is exciting but like the financial security aspect I feel like

is really it makes me feel very safe so like yes I would be considering investing but like do your risk profile work out what would work for you and I mean the fact that you're listening to she's on the money and you're asking that question probably means you're ready to take the leap and we have a whole investing series that you could listen to to work out like what the best investment for you is and how to invest and like what that might look like. Because I've said it before on the podcast and it can feel a bit disheartening, but if you are not investing your money over the long term, you're going backwards. Like you are losing money because the rate of inflation is higher than the rate you will ever get on your savings account. So if you think, oh, but it's okay, I'm getting

a little bit, that's so sexy. But you're also paying tax on that 16 pounds that you're getting every single month because that's an income coming in and all income is taxable yeah so it's just it feels a little bit or I often feel like people can feel a bit defeated when I start going well actually it's not as good as you think it is whereas inside an investment you're going to be a little bit stronger a little bit better off and I mean shameless plug our investing masterclass is also open and I would highly recommend joining that because at the end of the day it is the time and the energy and the effort that I can sit down with you and actually put you on the right track to getting invested and teaching you the nitty gritty of absolutely everything so that you can

be a confident investor, not just a, oh yeah, I started investing and I'm not really sure what I'm doing. Like this is the step by step playbook. All right, let's get into our DM. Are you guys ready? I feel like this is going to be a little bit spicy. Hey, she's on the money. So my parents are selling their house to downsize. They're really financially comfortable. Had a planner for years, totally set themselves up. Although we have never directly spoken about it and I am assuming there is going to be some sort of sizable inheritance. My brother has now started to push that we all band together and ask for our inheritance early. He's sending group texts about how it just makes sense and how we're all struggling with mortgages and debt. So why not

make life easier while they're still around to see us enjoy it. I get it logically, but every time he brings it up, I feel sick. Like they haven't even hinted at this and asking feels like I'm fast forwarding their lives or something. My brother won't stop pushing and I don't know what to do. What would you do? I think like, I know this is going to sound crazy, but I can kind of understand a little bit because I feel like you know for example I don't think I'll have much of an inheritance but if I had parents who were like really really well off and I knew that like there was quite a big you know sum of money that could be coming my way if in the unfortunate event of their passing but I think if I was currently struggling and I knew that like oh

maybe in 20, 30 years, I'll be okay. I'd be like, well, that's a big chunk of my life where I'm going to be struggling. And then I'm going to thrive at 60. You know what I mean? Like, and like on the flip side, it's like, thank God my parents will live till I'm 60. You know, that would be amazing. So it's a really funny one that it has, it's, I feel you feel really insensitive saying that. Cause it's like, you would feel blessed to know that the longer you don't get your inheritance that is a blessing it's like great that everyone's happy and healthy and this is amazing so it feels really bad saying that but to some extent I feel like yes well if we take the word inheritance out of it and just like you have the capacity to help me and like you know they

don't know that for sure but if if I knew that someone had the capacity to help my parents had the capacity to help and they had intend they intend to help me after their natural life I would be like, Hey, can you give me a little bit right now? I understand that thought process weirdly, but I would then not call it an inheritance. I would be like, Hey, if you look at it like this, some of us are struggling right now. If you can help us right now, cool. If you can't, that's okay. And we'll just like, see how we go, you know? But yeah, I think, I think the, honestly, the main thing for me is the terminology around it. It's that like, I just wouldn't be calling it inheritance anymore because that it really does make it quite morbid

I would just be calling it like some money that you've put aside for us like give it to me right now please like a little bit would be nice um particularly if you're struggling and they and they can see that but that's honestly so I know it's probably really bad to say but that's kind of I kind of get it just I don't know if it's because I was raised you know in a family where obviously we weren't wealthy by any stretch of the imagination there wasn't a lot of money to go around like I understand it from a logical perspective I've never and I don't think I ever will operate on the assumption that I will be receiving an inheritance or any kind of money like if I was to it would be a lovely surprise but my future planning for myself has never assumed

that I will receive anything and obviously there's more complications you know for me personally in that situation but I think that it's an interesting concept because I understand you know we talk about future planning for our families one day and of course like wanting to set up so that we can look after our families should we choose to have them but at the same time I also think that for a lot of people you know your retirement is what you're saving for so it could be that yes maybe your parents do have a cash surplus or an asset surplus particular after downsizing but have they lived their whole lives thinking when we retire we're going to finally see the world together I feel like that's a really common thing people want to do is they want to travel

once they've retired and once they've got the money or they want to maybe knock something off their bucket list or do whatever they might have planned for that money and you're not accounting for that it's also none of your business sorry yeah it's not I understand the thought process of like well one day when they're no longer there theoretically but also they might have chosen to donate their money and assets to charity yeah I'm donating into the lost dogs home sorry Harvey like if you came to me for an inheritance early well yeah like you just don't know and to me it does not feel appropriate at all and again I don't know if that's me putting my own personal lens over that I think if anything you could go to them and say hey if you are really struggling and it sounds

like our listener perhaps isn't in the position where they want to do this, but maybe you could suggest it to your siblings. Talk to your parents about an interest-free loan, if they have the capacity to do that to assist you, or even just talking to them about the situation that they're in and the financial pressures that they're feeling. And then if they have the money and that's something they want to do, they may offer and say, you know, can we help you out? We would like to help you out, whatever. But I think that the expectation, it goes beyond being morbid. I think it's just quite presumptuous. I think it's so disrespectful. I'm like sitting here like bashing my tongue because I feel like it goes against every moral code that I have. It goes

against the fact that it just doesn't feel like you're grateful. It doesn't feel like you're respectful. It doesn't feel like you are honoring their independence. And like, I could say to you, they have a million dollar portfolio and their house is fully paid off. But like that million portfolio is probably only generating, and I say only, but like generating a $60,000 income for them each and every single year and the assets that they have, like having more than $470,000 here in Australia means that your pension starts to get impacted. So they probably, and like with a million dollars of like super and a million dollars of investments, they're not going to be able to access a pension, right? So like that money might be generating the money that they're

living off and yeah they might they for them to go yeah like even if hypothetically you knew that they were sitting on a couple of million dollars you don't know what that's for also it's none of your business like just because they have a planner doesn't mean they're millionaires maybe they have a planner because secretly they went bankrupt and they needed to find a way to get around the fact that you know they were never going to be able to financially recover from something do you know what I mean like yeah it's actually none of your business it's kind of like I don't know it's like Jess if you and I held a joint birthday party and then somebody was invited to the birthday party and they come over and our beautiful birthday cake that you and I would have

decorated so well is sitting on the table and they go and take a slice before we've even had a chance to put the candles on and blow it out like you wouldn't do that would you like that's rude like that's not yours for the taking and I like the idea about an interest-free loan like being like oh hey is there any way I could xyz like but you do not like the assumption that an inheritance is yours is bullshit like I just hate that idea and anybody I know and like I feel like this is a good time to remind everybody that when I worked in financial advice a lot of my clients were dealing with very big inheritances because I would get a lot of millennial women who unfortunately had lost a parent. And that is the shittiest situation to go through. Every single one of my clients that

are in like that was in that situation, I'm still in contact with because I feel like you bond in a way over that experience. Every single one of them I can guarantee would prefer their parent back or their guardian back than the money. Like it's not like it's not even up for debate. I just I think it just goes against everything in me and it feels gross because you're flipping a love and caring relationship into something transactional like you're seeing them as a tool and like I just find that gross and like Jess you were saying before oh like you know they've spent their whole lives building this and like you know we talk about it all the time I do want to build a legacy I do want to put myself in a financial position that I'm able to help my son when he

wants to purchase a home. Like when I have multiple kids, hopefully one day I would love to be able to like financially support them so that they never experienced the financial stress that I did. Like how special would that be? But I'm telling you right now, they would get nothing from me if I didn't feel like they were grateful. They would get nothing from me if I didn't feel like that was, you know, anything other than care and love and support. That's where it's coming from. So the fact that you're like, oh, well, they've got this money and they've never mentioned giving it to us. I just, it feels wrong. And like the idea that inheritance is deeply tied to mortality, like how long are your parents going to live then? Well, you don't know.

Exactly. Are they going to live till 80, 100? Are they going to live to 150 somehow? Like, you don't know anything and I just I find it really gross because also financial freedom is something that if you have worked so hard to get there too just having it in the bank is that security blanket that means you know what if one of my kids couldn't afford their mortgage repayments that they have signed up to I could help them out but I'm not going to go pay off their mortgages just because I have the cash in the bank and what operate at like zero again like they haven't come this far to only come this far and then go week to week in retirement like absolutely not absolutely like I just find it quite gross yeah and I'm probably a little bit

more opinionated on that than you probably expected because I'd be like oh yes what a good like open conversation about money like no there's no gratitude there there's no expectation so I think that the person who's asked this question is absolutely right to not feel like that's the right thing to do and that your brothers may be getting a bit ahead of themselves like anytime I've ever done financial advice for a client especially a younger client we don't even talk about their parents like yeah never have I written a financial plan that takes into consideration a potential like inheritance because I think most parents would want to put their kids in the position where they can look after them I totally get what you were saying back about

if it was available and you were really struggling like it would as the child be so much perhaps more beneficial to receive sooner than later. But also I think like the parents, if that's within their means and they could see that someone was struggling, I think they probably would want to step in instinctively anyway, which is where I think, you know, it's maybe the brother can have a conversation and we don't know the semantics of, oh my God, maybe he can't pay his mortgage. Yeah. But we don't all need to go to our parents to ask for this. No, no, no, no. And like, I've seen situations where I've had a client come to me and be like, oh my God, you know, my mum has decided to gift all the kids, like four kids,

a deposit amount, like $20,000 each, but she really doesn't have the financial means to do that. She's got it in the bank, but like, it's going to stretch her. Like we absolutely shouldn't be doing this with her, but my siblings are like, they really want to take it. Like my sister and I, we think that's bullshit, but the other two, they want to take it. So like in those situations, there's literally been times where I have worked with clients to set up a separate bank account for that money to be deposited into so that like small amounts of savings like returns can be made and that money's sitting there for when mum decides that oh that was a really bad idea like I'm in financial stress and the other two can be like right well here's that money back

but they didn't want to not take it because otherwise the other siblings would have been like oh well we'll have the rest yeah which it's money is wild yeah and it's very complicated especially the family and such a level of entitlement that makes me feel really gross what did everybody else say oh girl so we asked a few questions first we said do you think asking for an inheritance early crosses a line 87% of you said yep it gives me the ick and 13% said no it's a fair discussion next question was would you join your siblings push to ask for an inheritance early and 90% of you said no couldn't bring myself to do it 6% said in this economy I would and four percent said yes better to enjoy it while they're here we then obviously said give us your

two cents what do you reckon first person said let the brother ask alone if it's so important to him i agree next person said my grandma's actually 103 still needs money to live good aged care ain't cheap that's so true and you just don't know medical expenses at that age can come up suddenly and be really high exactly like also good aged care absolutely isn't cheap but if i have worked my entire life to create this investment fund so that I can financially support myself you best believe I'm choosing the nice option at the end like I want to go to the beautiful retirement village if I can afford it like yeah totally babe I'm spending your inheritance if I can like I'm so sorry like whenever my parents plan a holiday they always joke they're like ha ha ha

we're off to spend your inheritance and I'm like yeah get it queens enjoy it you should be enjoying retirement. Like you should be enjoying your life. Next person said they're downsizing and adding the excess to super so that they can live, which is so true. Lots of people don't just downsize because they're like, oh, the house is too big. They downsize to get some cash out so that they can put it into their investments so that they're able to live. It's a very valid investment strategy. Like you don't know why they're downsizing. Yes, the house could feel cold and empty and massive, but it also could have been all of their life savings going into the house and now they need to sell it to be able to retire. Someone said, my dad passed away.

Mum gave us inheritance after selling the house. She's now put herself in a shit situation. Which is so nice that she wanted to help you, but that's what good financial planning is about. Just because you have the cash there doesn't mean it's for that. Next person said he's going about it the wrong way why not politely ask them for financial help which you know you guys came up with before next person said my husband's aunt did this for her three daughters it helped mortgages private school fees etc that's great but can I assume that it was your husband's aunt who made the choice to have that conversation and sit them down and be like hey Harvey we are sitting on a number like of dollars and we would love to be able to help you to put you in a best possible

position. Next person, and I've just got two more for you, said her brother is stepping over the line. If he's struggling, then he should be asking for help, not an inheritance. And the last person said, what about their goals, their hopes and their dreams outside of you? Are you even having that conversation? Do you even know what your parents want? Yeah, totally. That's such a good take. Yeah. I just, TLDR, I feel like that gives me the ick because it's just like laced with entitlement to me. You're not entitled to anybody's retirement savings. Absolutely not. And if they extend that to you, fantastic. But I also think if you're listening to this podcast, I'm assuming you're relatively financially literate or you're getting there or you're on the journey. Like it is

actually a responsibility to make sure that your family is, and this is just from my perspective, your family is financially okay. And I mean, if my parents turned around and said, Victoria we'd love to xyz I think one of my first questions would be like well what impact does that have on you like fantastic that's so cool like oh my god of course like maybe but like what does your retirement look like then what does your bank account look like then do you still have a mortgage you still have this like do you know what I mean I want to ask a million questions and I think that the more financially literate we are the more we can support our community the more we can support our family and our friends and those are valid questions because even though

you'd be in a better position. Not asking those questions is basically taking advantage of the situation. Gorgeous words. It's a bit ick, isn't it? Yeah. I see what you're saying. Yeah, I do see what you're saying now. Yes. Anyway, it has been good. I have loved this chat. Thanks for joining us for another Friday Drinks, guys. And we'll see you bright and early on Monday from Money Diaries. 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

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