She's On The Money - Sparking joy: It's time to Marie Kondo your finances

Episode Date: August 4, 2020

Is it a good idea to borrow QUEEN Kondo’s principals of tidying up and apply them to our finances? Victoria says YES. Join us as we chat all things money minimalism, from exactly what it is, to how we can start making some practical, easy to follow changes today. It’s a blimmin’ good chat – we pinky promise.Do you love the podcast sick and want more SOTM? We hear you. Come be our friend by joining our Facebook page or follow us on Insta for daily inspo to keep you on track and subscribe to our newsletter, the written recap of the pod’s key takeaways, including some bonus bits you won’t want to miss. In a money mess and need help untangling the muddle? We’ve got you sorted – simply record your question and send it through to us at [e-mail] and you may just end up on the podcast!Your hosts are Georgia King and Victoria Devine. 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. Victoria Devine is an Authorised Representative of Australia Pacific Funds Management Proprietary Limited ABN 34 132 463 257 - AFSL 339151. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

She's on the money. She's on the money. Hello and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. My name is Georgia King. I'm a copywriter and journalism student with lots left to learn when it comes to finance. Luckily, as always, I'm joined by my very own money guru and mate, Melbourne-based financial advisor, Victoria Devane. Hello, Georgia King. Now, today on the show, we are going to be walking through the approach to money that

many people swear by, that is making like Marie Kondo and decluttering our finances by adopting a money minimalist method. Now, money minimalism is all about taking the confusion out of finance and simplifying our processes so that we can more easily achieve financial freedom, which you guys would know is the purpose of this podcast. Now, there are a few different techniques to becoming a money minimalist. So on today's show, we are going to explain exactly what Marie Kondo-ing your finances actually looks like, and we'll be talking through exactly how we can start applying

it to our own lives. But Victoria, let's stick to tradition and chat through our own money wins or confessions from the week. How'd you go? I have a money win this week. Unlike my confessions of previous weeks, I'm very proud of this one. Georgia King this week we are in a situation where we now have mandatory masks for everybody in Melbourne and now that is extending to the state soon I believe so I have gone ahead and

instead of buying a very expensive mask online like I was going to I went to Kmart and I purchased a children's t-shirt in a pattern that I liked for a whole hot three dollars and I made my own mask and it is triple layer I used a pattern that I found online that is government approved and that is my money win of the week very crafty there from you thank you and you know what georgia king i got more than one mask out of it as well i got a fair few so it's not just me rocking this homemade mask it's myself and my friends um am i not your friend i mean i'll make you one as well but given i don't have a sewing machine yeah by hand and it's kind of a sad process but that is not the point yeah i'm still rocking the classic surgical look it's gorgeous i saw it this morning

before we recorded because obviously you can't record with masks on, but George King, have you got a money win or a confession to share with us? I have a money win as well. It's obscure. Mine always are. There's not much going on. You're quite creative. Yeah, I like it. Outside of the square. I was in my boyfriend's car. Where's this going, Georgia? I love him dearly, my boy Harper, if you're listening. Shout out to Harper. I'm in his car. It's a little bit dirty, but that's okay. it's a boy's car yeah he's a boy he's young there's stuff everywhere anyway I was looking for his wallet because he'd misplaced it as he does so often so I'm looking under the car seat and what should I find a banana peel yep his wallet his wallet no but my sunglasses that

I lost yes you literally lost those my Ray-Bans so they're the expensive ones that you complain about not having so I was looking to replace them and now I don't have to because I have them again So it's obscure. No, that's an actual money win because I think we can all relate to losing something and then finally disconceding that it is actually lost as opposed to misplaced and going, okay, well, I actually have to replace that. And that feeling is the worst. But then finding something that you had deemed officially lost, money win. Exactly. A tiny joy in this horrendous time that we're all living in, let's be honest.

I love it. Okay. Now let's move across to the Facebook community. They're active as always. have any posts about you this week yes they have georgia king i have one from leah who is actually a friend of mine we went to school together hi leah and leah posted in the group this week and said where are my bargain slash reduced shoppers at she purchased some vegetarian mints that is usually 18 a packet and for those of us who actually eat this vegan mints beyond meat

delicious actually a really good substitute that i rate highly but it's 18 a packet she found it on sale Georgia for $2.70 and I feel like I'd be bragging about that as well honestly I would be jumping up and down and sharing it with everybody if I only spent $2.70 on a $18 packet of mince I know that sounds really weird to articulate but that's a saving of $15.30 on one meal you're not wrong um just to point out the mince does look quite disgusting a little putrid but I guess Georgia yeah okay well it's made of like lentils and soy protein I think so I promise you it's not actual means it tastes let's move on I don't think this part of my conversation doesn't need to continue so mine is from Stella who is a long-time stalker first-time poster basically she is a

kombucha addict so kombucha is that gorgeous yeah I am it's so it's that gorgeous it's like soft drink but it's not there's it's fermented tea okay you're across it thank you so old mate Stella was drinking liters of this a day. I'm exaggerating. She's not. She's drinking a couple a day. She's one to two bottles. Yeah. Okay. Well, it's adding up. Anyway, it's expensive. So instead of continuing this habit of buying the gorgeous kombucha, she's bought a SCOBY for $5 on Facebook Marketplace, which I guess is how you make kombucha. Yes, it's like the culture. Yeah. So she's making her own kombucha at home and is saving $50 a fortnight, which equates to $1,300 a year. I think that's actually wild and really smart. I actually love

that because kombucha can be so expensive like six dollars a bottle sometimes if you're buying at the convenience store like I sometimes do but how cool is that I don't even know how to make it but I do know that a scoby which is for those listening at home and have never heard of what a scoby is a systematic culture of bacteria and yeast I knew that off the top of my head please don't ask why no I didn't I just knew that honestly there are things that I do google for this podcast. That is not one of them. That is just some knowledge that I had sitting there. You're welcome. That's enough kombucha chat. Let's move across to the main topic of today's show, money minimalism. Now, when we talk about minimalism, generally we're chatting about

it within the context of the home. The idea is that the less stuff that surrounds us, the more serene and zen our lives will be. Now, obviously we aren't here to talk about interiors, although Victoria, I think you'd agree that that would be a good time. It would be a really good topic. Today, instead, we want to discuss the benefits of adopting this Marie Kondo approach to help us declutter our finances and make our journey to wealth creation a tidier, more organized, and less stressful one. Yes, it does turn out we're a finance podcast, not an interior design one. It would seem that way. Now, it's important to note too that this is an especially relevant conversation to be having in today's climate. It's important to

note too that this is an especially relevant conversation to be having in today's climate. We know a huge number of Australians have had their incomes impacted by COVID, be that in job loss or reduction of hours or salary, whatever it may be. So we're hoping that this chat will all make us feel a little bit better about our finances, making them easier to understand so that we can really feel like we're on top of our money, relieving some of that money anxiety that I know a lot of us are feeling at the moment. So Victoria, can you please start us off today by chatting me through exactly what money minimalism means to you as a financial advisor? Georgia I think this is a really great place to start and it can probably be tackled in so many

different ways by so many different people like this is going to mean something different to me than it means to you so let's just tackle it as a really broad type of topic but at the end of the day the goal of money minimalism in my mind is to just simplify your finances so that you can get on top of them and not have any of that nagging stress hanging over your head from not quite understanding your money situation or as I always say burying your head in the sand about your debt instead of creating a strategy to pay it off. So this is just more about empowering you to be on top of your finances, really cut out the things that aren't quite sparking joy. And as much as I love Marie Kondo, I feel like this really does extend to finances so that we can start talking

about, you know, actually adopting those principles into our financial health. I think it gives us a really clean understanding of one, what we're spending and what we're able to save or invest, or even just allocate to things that are important to us right now but it also helps us just cut things out without feeling like we're missing out and that's a massive thing we've got a podcast coming up on FOMO and I think that you know this is actually a really good segue into fear of missing out because if it's not making you happy why are you spending your money on it and as I always say to you Georgia I'm not sure if I've mentioned on the podcast maybe I have because I'm honestly a broken record but I see money as energy and like it can be channeled into

different ways and if you're channeling your money into an area that is not of value to you you're essentially helping something grow that you don't really like so I think that if we're in a situation where you're faced with too many bank accounts bills debts all of that etc it follows that you may lose track of how you're faring financially which means that things can actually fall through the cracks and you might miss good opportunities to save money or just be a little bit more savvy especially right now when we're in a situation where you know a lot of us are actually suffering pretty significantly financially. Let's just talk about the things that we can cut out until life goes back to being a bit normal. So the benefit Georgia to approaching

your finances this way is just that it makes it simple by design. I know that money can be a very difficult daunting and convoluted thing to so many people which is exactly why we have this podcast so that we can tease out the complex financial ideas and make them accessible for even more people. So George, all money minimalism is though is making our money work for us by essentially getting organized and getting rid of the clutter.

So that's all today is. A few tips and tricks from me as to how we can really Marie Kondo our finances and create some action plans to start ticking off our goals. And George, I really couldn't say no to the opportunity of talking about Marie Kondo. You are a big fan of Kondo.

Yes, I am. Have you seen my draw? You wouldn't have seen the drawers in my house, but I can fold leggings like nobody's business. I'm telling you right now, it sparks so much joy. How do you go with a fitted sheet, just out of interest? I'm really good at a fitted sheet. My mother taught me how to fold a fitted sheet perfectly. My little sister, Alex, I'm sure is exactly the same.

So money minimalism, we know a little bit about what it is, but how can we actually be applying it in our own lives? So I think that there are a few steps and no one is going to be surprised that I tell you all that we want to start with reflecting on your money story and identifying your values. So by starting with your money story, we can really gain an understanding of your past behaviors with money, what has informed or influenced your decisions, and where maybe you'd like to make some changes. This is obviously where I start with all of my clients as well, because I say it time and time again, because if we don't understand the why behind our spending,

we probably won't be able to make the changes we'd like to. And I talk about money stories a lot, and we have a couple of episodes on it so go back literally to the very start of the podcast if you're not across them yet so that you can wrap your head around it but I think that that is probably the best place to start and Georgia a 2018 study found that 86% of Australians don't know how much they spend each month which is by the way that's like a really high stat so we need to be taking a look at our behavior and really take responsibility for our spending I feel like it's something that feels really daunting, really overwhelming, but actually puts us in a position where we are really empowered. And Georgia, when I say really empowered, I think it's important to

point out that I'm not just saying, okay, you're empowered to now save heaps of money. Like I know that lots of us are struggling and to me empowered is just knowing what's coming in, what power we have to change, how we can allocate these funds so that we can actually put ourselves in a better or the best position we can possibly be in. It's definitely not about saying, okay, well, you'll be able to save millions of dollars. That is not the case at all. It is more about saying what's coming in,

how can I feel on top of my situation when not a lot is actually in our control at the moment. From here, it is a good idea to map out your values so that you can budget appropriately and realistically. And Georgia King, we have another episode coming up very soon on budgeting and cashflow. And Georgia, I cannot tell you how excited I am about that topic because as you know, budgeting and cashflow is my favorite thing to talk about. But by identifying

those things that we really value spending our money on, be that your gym, your nails, your Netflix, expensive cat food, cough, me, it makes it easier to then rank these things that perhaps aren't as important to you so that you can knock them off and get rid of them from your budget without as much pain and without feeling like you're missing out on anything. As a part of this process, it's a really good idea to take a step back and have a look at the last 12 months of our spending, for example, and see where our money went. Does what we have spent our money on actually align to our values? And Georgia, something that I will be talking about in our budgeting and cashflow episode soon, so I won't harp on about it, is actually doing what I call

a bank account audit. And a bank account audit is where you print off the last, I usually do three months, but you can do 12. I print it off and I know it's really important to save paper, but honestly, this is so much more powerful when you print it off and have a hard copy in front of you print off your last three months of bank statements or 12 months get two different colors of highlighters and highlight your discretionary and your not discretionary spending so your essentials and your non-essentials and just see what that divide is and then of your non-essentials have a look at what you are spending your money on the most and I'm telling you right now that is what you value the most at the moment and I know a lot of people are going to love hearing that

because this is something I do with clients and for example I will sit down with you go through it and then I'll talk to a client and say okay well obviously you really value smoking and they're like no Victoria I don't at all I don't like it like okay well that's where a lot of your money each week is going they're like no no no that's not a value to me at all I'll say okay but it is because that's where your money is that's where you're channeling your energy that's where you're channeling your money power and I think that once we can work out what that actually looks like and kind of just have it sitting there right in front of our faces we are able to see what we want to change well that's the thing there's no hiding from that right yeah and it's smoking's

just an example it's not to say that that's you know the thing that's going to pop out for you but for me that's obviously a very expensive habit that you know once it's put in front of you like hey cool so you value this people like no yeah well actually you quite clearly do because that's where you're allocating your money and that would be similar with like coffee where you're spending like $4.50 on that every day and then you look at that over a year it's like well I've spent thousands of bucks yeah and like as you know I don't mind where your money goes as long as you are actually really confident with where your money is going you feel comfortable with it it's all about education and it's all about just knowing I spend lots on coffee because genuinely

it is a value to me I love it it is a very beautiful part of my day I'm really lucky to be able to do that but I consciously make that decision and I want everyone to be in a position exactly like that where they are consciously making decisions around their discretionary spending as opposed to it just being frivolous and not happening okay so we start with our money story then we identify our values see where we're spending our money and if we want to make any changes i'm assuming then simplification is going to come into the mix i feel like simplification and marie kondo are kind of intrinsically linked yeah in like the most beautiful way like i wish i was Marie Kondo honestly she is so cool but you're correct simplification is definitely the next step

and this can actually manifest in a few different ways so George simplification is definitely the next step and this can manifest in a few different ways and we can go through a few different things that you can do to actually start simplifying your money journey or your money story or whatever you would like to call it first things first get rid of bank accounts you don't need for me having bank accounts that are sitting dormant to the side, they just create a lack of clarity. So it's more about keeping a really consistent amount of bank accounts that you actually use. So I'm not saying close bank accounts that you're using, but if you have an old card that you're not using, just get rid of it. You might have fees on it. It might be something that you are not actually going to ever

use again. The fewer accounts, the fewer statements you need to keep on top of, the fewer things you need to check on etc etc so just simplify that make that really clean second step is and these will go really hand in hand with a really solid budget Georgia when it comes to organizing your processes and making the most out of 2020 because let's be honest like there's not a lot that has gone great this year so hopefully we can get on our money stories together this year instead make sure you're automating as much as you can so that your bills are direct debited without you having to think about it. So it's not necessarily an option for absolutely everybody. Some people want to manage it manually. I have lots of clients and lots of friends who are like, you know what,

Victoria, I see that you direct debit things, but I just want to go in and transfer it myself every month. That is fine. Some people just don't have the money in their account yet. So they want to wait until it is, but I think automate those payments so that you know they're coming up and you can actually allocate for them. And if you're in a situation where you might not have the money in your account yet, don't stick your head in the sand. It is totally fine to be in that situation but do something about it. So if you know you've got an energy bill coming up but you can't afford it, you genuinely don't have the money in your account, call them. Let them know. Either establish a payment plan with them or ask to defer the payment. Don't just stick your head in the sand

and let it get some penalty fees and become something that stops you from sleeping well at night. I think we actually need to be on top of this and making sure that we're not sticking our heads in the sand and I know that that's a really hard thing for a lot of us especially if we're struggling financially but like you've totally got this and you're in a position where you can just take charge there is not one thing that is embarrassing about being in a situation where you can't afford something especially right now I think it's actually really empowering to pick up the phone and say hey sorry that's just not going to happen for me this month what can we do to work together to get out of this situation so you're not feeling like you're overwhelmed but the most

important thing for you is actually your mental health and being able to sleep well at night. And I know that that is going to sound really lame to some people, but I genuinely think it's going to be really, really helpful for you if you can actually just get on top of your mental health via finance. So give us some more simplification tips, Meg. So debt consolidation is something that a lot of people don't make use of if they are in debt that I think is really helpful. So for every loan in your life you receive statements and you need to pay payments and factor those payments into your finances and essentially the fewer debts you have the fewer payments you need to make each month obviously ideal situation is to have less debts full stop but for a lot of us

that is not an option especially right now so I think working out how you can consolidate those options if it is available to you if you are in a significant amount of personal debt sometimes it is not available to you until you can prove that you can get out of some of it first but this way you have one larger expense each month instead of a number of them broken up across the month and to me that simplification actually is far more empowering and makes you feel like you're on top of it and it's one less bill payment to schedule each and every single month just by combining things and making sure that you are on top of it but also Georgia when you do debt consolidation more often than not if you're consolidating things like credit cards and

personal loans you'll end up usually and i'm not promising anything but you'll usually end up with a lower interest rate so you'll end up saving money over the long term as well this could be a dumb question so feel free to just ignore me and move on i will never ignore you georgie how do we actually consolidate our debt can we do that ourselves do we need an advisor what are we doing so you can go to your bank and have a chat to them about that but i would actually recommend going to a broker and most finance brokers are able to help you out here if not I guarantee they'll have a referral for someone who deals in personal finances have a chat to them because they will have access to not just one bank and one consolidation product they'll be able to find

the right consolidation product and I think that that's a massive thing as well I'm in a situation where you know I don't do personal debt refinances myself but I have a really good partner that I refer work to that I know he kills it. So if you're in that situation, I'm really happy to help out, shoot an email through to She's On The Money and we can hook you up with the right broker who can actually put you in a really good situation. But at the end of the day, it might not actually be accessible for everybody. But honestly, if you're in a situation where it might, it's definitely worth looking into. Okay. So we've chatted debt consolidation. What about super consolidation? I feel like that follows that it's going to be the next step.

You are a smart lady. I didn't have it. I didn't have it written down, but you're right. I think that debt consolidation and super consolidation are both really great things to talk about and you guys know that I am a massive fan of getting your superannuation in order so I think it's really important to put yourself in a situation where you are consolidating the multiple super accounts that I know lots of us still have because I did up until a few years ago because as a financial advisor it's always do as I say not as I do quite obviously Georgia but I worked in retail and I worked in hospitality and then I worked a little bit in office admin and I was in this situation where I had lots of super in lots of places so I think obviously consolidating your

super is a really good idea if you are looking at all of the right factors make sure that you look at the Australian tax office's super seeker tool to see if there is any lost super as well so that you can pop that in it can start contributing to your retirement fund ASAP but then also I think it's really important to take into consideration insurances and not many people talk about how important that is but I cannot tell you how many people I've met that you know really proud that they've consolidated their super and I go oh no you got rid of you know that insurance that would have actually really served you so I won't harp on Georgia what do you want to talk about next um okay so I feel like this is actually what you're going to be the most excited

to talk about today organization and systems I do love some yeah I can see you lighting up over there. Stop that. So talk me through how we can Marie Kondo our systems to make them work better for us. Our finance systems. Yeah. Okay. I would be very happy to spend the next 20 minutes talking about my pantry, albeit not productive. Have a folder where you keep all your receipts, Georgia. I don't care if it's a folder or a shoe box or whatever you want it to be, but keep track of everything. So one for bills, one for receipts, everything that you know you need to claim at tax time because I know that when tax time creeps up on us it can be in a shambles remembering how much you spend at office works in between the work day for some pens or whatever it is that

you should be claiming. So for me it's keeping a folder. I really like physical things but more recently I've actually moved to keeping track of it via the ATO app where you can just take a photo of your receipt and upload it and make sure it's there for future reference. I also with bills and just important documents, things that I know I need to keep. I have a folder on my phone under albums. I don't know if everybody is as organized as I am with albums in their phone, but I am. I have this folder on my phone of all of the important documents that I need to keep for tax time so that when tax time comes, I actually just save them all and email them straight to my accountant so that they have them on the file. So for me, just make sure that you keep your bills,

your work your pay slips etc so that everything is in one place I've also recently read I think it was in our Facebook group Georgia I can't even remember where I read it now but somebody created an email purely for keeping track of business expenses and would always forward information to that email so it was all in one place and I thought that was pretty smart so I guess to wrap the main benefit of implementing a money minimalism is that it helps eradicate that stress many of us feel when it comes to finance. It gets rid of the clutter and the anxiety that builds up within us. Victoria, would you say that speaking to a financial advisor if you're ready for that step is a good way to get you on this journey or do you think we can just do it on our own?

Georgia, you know I love a good financial advisor, but I do not think that it is essential for you to talk to a financial advisor to get these things together. I think that you have the power to do this on your own and actually by doing this, when you finally do see a financial advisor, if you need to see one it's going to put you in a position where you are really clear on your goals really clear on your financial situation and your financial advisor is absolutely going to love that you know how much power you've got so for example if you go to a financial advisor and you haven't got your budgeting cash flow sorted and you don't really know what's going on you also don't know what you value it's really hard to work that out whereas if you've spent a while reflecting on this

and having a chat about it and you know doing a budgeting tool and you know working out what that actually looks like for you you are going to get far more value out of your financial advisor because instead of them helping with your budget they can actually help with bigger things and you know talking about investment or debt consolidation or whatever that is so for me no I don't think you need to see a financial advisor to you know Marie Kondo your finances if you're really struggling obviously reach out and you could do something like a budgeting and cash flow session with a financial advisor which I know is a really powerful way of actually you know turbo charging that they can go through it and actually be like okay this is what you do this is how you do it

this is how it perfectly aligns to your financial situation which is something I do in my business but then also not to plug my own product but I've recently organized an online course because I feel like I can reach more people by doing that and that will be coming out soon so that will be a really good tool as well to actually get on top of this and just really clarify your situation talk about money stories, talk about budget, create a cash flow and feel really in control of your money story. So no, you don't need to see a financial advisor, but sometimes you do need a little bit of help along the way. Hi there, you've reached the She's on the Money mailbox. Do you have a money problem you want help solving? Do you have a money dilemma you just

want to chat about? Victoria is here to help. Every week, we'll be playing your questions to help make sense of a money mess you may have found yourself in. Make a quick recording on your phone and send it through to podcast at shoesonthemoney.com.au and you might even find yourself on the show. But for now, here's today's listener question. Hey guys, money is something I've struggled with forever. Slowly but surely, I'm starting to get my head around things. As a 27-year-old with 10K of personal debt and average income of 55K, I'm wondering what you think the fastest way to getting ahead financially would be. Thanks. Alrighty, Victoria, where does you start okay first things first congrats on getting your head around things ten thousand

dollars worth of debt you can get out of very speedily but for me that is the priority so with an average income of fifty five thousand dollars she can probably get out of that debt in i'd say two years comfortably while still maintaining a lifestyle but the fastest way she can get her head around things would be to focus on smashing down that debt and doing a budget and cash flow for herself. So creating a budget so you know where everything is and how much you need to spend each and every single year, month, week, literally on everything and then working out what cash flow is. So cash flow to me is what comes into your bank account, what goes out of your bank account and what surplus or shortfall you have left to actually play with or work out if you're going

further into debt is going to be the fastest way she can get her head around things. This is going to be a really clean and clear way of actually working out what that means so that she can smash down that debt but also what I want to mention is if you're in debt you have so much power I know that sounds really lame but if you have ten thousand dollars worth of debt and you say look Victoria ten thousand dollars worth of debt I really need to get out of it it's making me feel really down feel really depressed about it makes me feel really awful okay I can understand that draw a line in the sand stop bullying yourself about this ten thousand dollars worth of debt and see it differently. See that debt as a tool to get yourself into a really great

financial position because the second you're out of debt, you have then proven to yourself your savings capability. If you were putting $200 a month towards your debt, that's now $200 a month that you have to create wealth or savings or allocate to one of your values. So for me, this $10,000 worth of debt is kind of like the training wheels of proving that you can save and you can invest and you can actually get yourself out of this position. So the second that you are debt-free, you're actually creating wealth. And I think that if we can reframe the way that we look at debt and see it as, you know what, it's not a great position to be in. Obviously, it's not going to be constructive long-term, but if I use this as a tool to actually put myself in a better position

because I'm teaching myself really good values, really good behaviors, and I'm going to keep those behaviors after I get out of debt, you're going to be in a great position long-term. And I think that it will teach you a lot. So I think people need to stop beating themselves up about being in debt. Obviously don't try and go into more debt, but stop beating yourself up because this is something that you can use as a tool to feel really empowered about your financial situation moving forward. I think also just owning it is a really good step and you're the financial advisor are here I'm not but I can imagine owning that debt rather than as you've said multiple times on this podcast keeping your head buried in the sand will mean that you've got 10k of personal

debt but then that's going to get worse and worse and worse if you're not like I've got 10k like own it and then you can start getting rid of that debt and doing your snowball thing that you always talk absolutely you know like absolutely and I think that if you've got ten thousand dollars worth of debt you know you work out your cash flow and you say look Victoria in the next 12 months, if I put my head down, I can get out of it. Fantastic. Imagine the year after that, if you put your head down again, you will have $10,000 in your savings account. That is so cool. And I think the power of seeing people going from being in debt to having savings in their account, it makes me so happy. I'm so excited. We also see this a lot on the Facebook group. So

sweet listener, if you're not already there, definitely add yourself to that one to get some inspo because we do see a lot of posts like this and it's so incredible to see exactly and once you're out of debt as well post it I want to celebrate with you I want to talk about this stuff our community are so supportive and it's one of my favorite things seeing someone post and say look I've been in debt for two years I'm finally out of it or I've been in debt for 12 years I'm finally out of it like we are here with you to celebrate your successes and help you be the person you want to be Hi, I'm doing well but earning less than my partner. This is my money diary. Okay, now for

the fun stuff. What good would a money podcast be without the pervy bits? It's time for money diary. Let's get into it. When I was a bit younger at uni, I was way more strict with how I spent money and that's obviously because I had a casual job. Now I'm in full-time work. I let myself breathe a little bit more with money so I think my attitude's fairly standard. Not too relaxed but not too tight either with money. What does she do to earn money, how much does she earn and how much is sitting in her bank account right now? My job is a primary school teacher and my annual salary is around $80,000 and in my account at the moment I have roughly $45,000. And what exactly happens to that money after it's deposited into her account? It honestly depends each

week what I'm doing. I have no set plan with savings. Ideally like to save more, but when my pay goes in, $700 goes to bills and rent and food. And then roughly $1,300, half from there probably goes to long-term savings and the other half just goes to splurge. But honestly, each week, each fortnight is really different depending on what I'm doing. How does she feel about investing? does she invest and if so how? I know a little bit about investing but honestly not heaps I do have five thousand dollars invested not in the share market but in gold I don't know if that's in the share market or not my boyfriend actually runs it so that's probably something I need to look at myself I just gave him the money and he invested it for me. What about debts like credit

cards or personal loans? I don't I'm really lucky I don't have any debt. And does she have any good money habits that she's especially proud of? So my best money habit would be if I have something I want to buy. So for example, I want to buy a new laptop in the next two to three weeks. I don't just buy it straight out. If it's over $50, I really think about whether I need it or not. And I'm happy to wait one, two, three months, however long I need in order to get it. So yeah, anything over $50, I'm really careful about thinking, do I need it or can I hold off a little bit longer. And what about her worst money habit? My worst money habit is if something's under $50, I don't think about whether I'm going to buy it. I just buy it. So what ends up happening

throughout the week is I just have little purchases all the time that obviously add up to much more than I realised, but I just honestly don't think about it. That would be my worst money habit. So what's today's money diarist actually saving for? What's her big money goal? My biggest money goal for this year would be to get to $50,000. I'm on track to get there. I'd ideally love to buy a house with my savings, but that's more of a long-term goal. I did have a question for Victoria because I'm really, I describe myself as haphazard in saving. I have no set plan and I'm really not stringent with the amount I save each fortnight. Because I want to buy a house, is it worthwhile going to a financial advisor to get sort of more of a plan to enhance my savings

and perhaps save a little bit quicker? Because at the moment I'm just sort of doing whatever I feel like, which I feel is okay, but perhaps I could be better and save quicker. So how would today's money diarist rate her own relationship with money? I would give myself a B. In order to get it to an A. Probably tighten up the way I save each fortnight and have an actual plan not just oh I feel like putting this much in or I don't feel like putting any in. And finally what does you want to learn a little more about? I'd like to learn more from Victoria. My partner earns significantly more than me and I want to know is it worthwhile us putting our money together? We've been together for seven years? Or did I still keep it in my bank account and keep my finances

separate to him? Alrighty V, what did you think of today's money diarist? This is so common, Georgia. I feel like everyone going from a casual job to full-time work ends up losing track of their money somehow. Although I think that she was doing a lot better than she thought that she was having $80,000 as a salary and then $45,000 saved. And I think she said off the top of my head, I can't remember exactly. I think she said it was like $1,300 a week in savings, which honestly is massive if she's in a position to be able to do that. That is absolutely not something that a lot of us can do. She's clearly going to meet that goal of $50,000 saved very soon if she keeps continuing that way, which is awesome for her. In relation to her investing, I think it was

interesting that she'd chosen gold. Gold is not something that I specialize in. It's a very conservative asset got absolutely no issue with her doing that if that's in line with her goals I think my concern came from when she said that she gave her money to her partner and he just invested it for her I really want you guys to be empowered about the decisions that you're making and the investment choices that you're making and really be on top of these assets because this is your future wealth like you need to actually take ownership of this and not let somebody else manage it for you. I know that a financial advisor would manage it for you, but a good financial advisor would make sure that you are absolutely on top of every single asset that you own, why you own it,

how you own it, and what it actually means for you. So for me, I would love for her to be a little bit more on top of the assets she already owns. In terms of her goals and the question that she had around whether it was worth going to see a financial advisor, obviously I think a financial advisor has heaps of value to share. But I also think that if you are in this situation where the thing that you want help with is saving, you actually need to sit yourself down and have a chat about the goals that you actually want to achieve. So she said that she wanted to buy a house in the long term. I think she really needs to think about, well, what does that timeframe mean? Am I purchasing with a partner or is it just going to be me? What does that actually mean for me and

my life and having a goal to work towards so she wants to purchase a home in 12 months really breaking that goal down and working out how much she needs to save each month to reach that one of the money habits that I really liked that she had was that she really thinks about any purchase that she makes over $50 I think all of us can have a think about that as well and maybe try and implement it but I could totally relate with her saying that she doesn't think about purchases under $50. So common and these are the ones that we actually really need to keep an eye on because they add up so quickly and this is often what lifestyle creep contributes to. It's always about just the small things that add up that kind of get away from us over the long term

that mean that we aren't in as great a financial position as we ultimately could be. In relation to her last question that she asked about is it worth putting money together with my partner? well that's absolutely up to you nobody can make that decision except for you I know that there are couples who have their money together that are absolutely killing it I know couples who are managing their money separately and killing it as well I don't think that there is a right or a wrong way it's just how you want to manage your relationship with money with your partner and how autonomous you want to be if you're going to put your money together with your partner though I think it's really important to have some really great discussions with your partner around that

and what the expectation is and you know your spending habits versus your partner's because I know that it can create a lot of tension as well if you go down that path. And what did you think about the grade that she gave herself? Look I thought that her rating of herself was actually pretty spot on with a B. She said that she wasn't too bad and definitely could be better. I think she could absolutely improve really quickly though because all of the things that she needed to men she was really aware of, like how she doesn't think too much about the purchases she makes under $50 and that they add up. She was clear that she had a goal of $50,000 to save, but she didn't actually have a long-term goal of when her house was going to be purchased. So I think that there

was obviously a little bit of room for improvement, but as you know, I always think that people are too harsh on themselves because we're all just doing the best that we can. Great points from you, Victoria, but that is sadly all we have time for today. Before we do head off, let's quickly wrap the boring but important stuff the advice shared on she is 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 and stress less we promise victoria divine is an authorized representative of australia funds management proprietary limited abn 34132463257afsl339151 and as always a big old shout out to our audio

wizard ryan john for putting together today's podcast we would love it if you joined our facebook group where our community shares money tips and tricks every single day free of judgment search she's on the money on facebook and join us if facebook's not your thing or you want to find us on the gram as well we are at she's on the money aus we will see you next week next week