She's On The Money - Taking Control Of Your Finances In Your 30s

Episode Date: September 1, 2024

Today’s Money Diarist has been through a lot in her 36 years—from battling ADHD and confronting the financial burdens handed down by her parents, to stepping up as the sole breadwinner when her husband’s health declined. She’s here to share her journey and the valuable lessons she’s learned, with a focus on teaching kids about money and the importance of smart financial planning, even on a middle-income. Make sure you don't miss this one.  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 for millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another Money Diary, where I get the absolute privilege of sitting down with one of our She's On The Money community members and asking them all the pervy details about their money story. Quick side note before we dive in, I'm just giving you a heads up. Our Money Diaries this week comes from a very rural area, and there are a few moments where the internet has caused some crackling in the audio, which I know is super frustrating. It happens mostly in the beginning, but trust me, it's worth sticking around for because there are so many amazing insights in this money diary and I can't wait to share it with you crackle and all. Let's

jump straight into it because this week I got an email and it sounded like this. Dear She's on the Money, growing up my family lived their champagne life on a beer budget. I was a successful child model and it wasn't until I was older I realized my parents had been using my earnings to pay for our lifestyle and there was none of it left. Despite having no financial role model and not being able to work because of a lack of childcare where I lived, I was in an okay position as my husband had a good job. That was until life took a turn and his health issues forced me to become the sole breadwinner. At 36, navigating life with ADHD, I'm determined to break free from the financial trauma my parents passed down to me. Starting your masterclass, I was brought to tears

by the first module. Now I'm on a mission to rewrite my financial story and build the future I deserve. Money diarist, that's a lot going on, isn't it? I know. That sounds heartbreaking to have done work. And I mean, yes, you were a child, but like to have done work. And I'm assuming you just thought that was being put in account for later to find out there was none of it. like what was that like? I think for me I didn't fully understand why they did it but they also went through a period of job loss mortgage rates being 18 to 20 percent when they bought their home and just raising three kids with one income would have been challenging but at the same time they never made us feel like we were going without. Yeah so it kind of went on the family

it wasn't them being cheeky or rude. They were kind of like, ah, this is income coming into our business or, you know, our home. Yeah. I feel like it's a fickle position to be in because I think if you and I sat down and said, you know, if a child earns money, whose is it? I think we'd both be like, well, it's the child's that needs to put in an account for them. But like at the time, I'm sure that that was just maybe not part of the conversation. Like, I feel like it wasn't until now that we are really prioritizing creating wealth for future generations through their own savings and their own investments. It's always a fickle conversation to have. I want to learn so much more about you. This is so pervy, but let's start with the question I

always start with. Money Diarist, what would you give yourself if I asked you to grade your money habits from an A through to F today? Probably a D. So I am really good with budgeting, really good with things on paper, but the ADHD side of my brain likes to be the spender in the relationship. Oh, yeah. It's like having an alter ego. She's a little bit spendy. I get it. I get it. Yeah. Money, Darius, I want to know more about your money story. I feel like there's a very interesting story. As you said, you've packed a lot into your 36 years. Can you tell me a bit more about that journey. So I have worked full-time since I was about 16. The only time that I haven't worked is when I had my daughter and became a single mum. So lived off Centrelink

benefits for a little while, then met my husband and lost all of those Centrelink benefits because his income was too high then lack of child care just saw me not work so we just made it work oh my gosh I feel like working since 16 is very relatable for a lot of us I want to know more about this journey of becoming a single mom and then not being a single mom and now becoming the breadwinner what led you to becoming the breadwinner in your family my husband kept making sacrifices for us when we met. So if that meant I didn't have to find a job, he didn't let me find a job and didn't tell me I needed to find a job. If it meant that we could go away on the weekend or I could see my friends, he would make it happen. So when he had health issues,

I knew that that was my turn to repay the favor. And I was very fortunate to go back to my pre-child job. So it was a job that I love and I'll do till retirement, but it just took a little while to get back there. Yeah, that's very fair. I want to know a bit more about this. I mean, ADHD is something that I have and I have been working with since I was like 17 when I found out. And I feel very grateful that I got what I would call an early diagnosis, especially in the space where women are usually either not diagnosed or diagnosed really late. I feel like I've been able to use this as kind of like a superpower. And I know what medication can do. And I know how, you know, this impacts me. And because of all of that and all the research and the

information, I guess, surrounding it, I feel like I've been in the best possible position. When did you find out that you had ADHD? And the second you found out, did you go, everything just makes sense now? I found out when I was 35. So just before my birthday last year, I found out I had a performance review with my boss at work and she was diagnosed with ADHD and said, you are literally doing everything that I do, go and get tested. And I did. And my best friend who is a GP said, I can't believe after all these years, you finally have a diagnosis. Imagine how different your life would be if you found out at 15 or 16. Legitimately. It's something that now you look back on it, you go, oh my God,

this makes so much more sense as to why I struggled in these areas, or this was really hard, or I just couldn't seem to catch up with where everybody else was at. Is that something that you're still, I guess, grappling with? Because I would be frustrated. Like I even remember when I was diagnosed, albeit very early at 17, I still remember being like, are you saying that school wasn't meant to be as hard as it was? Are you saying that no one else was having these struggles with motivation? No one else was having these struggles with just getting it? Like I remember being quite frustrated, but I can imagine that that would be only amplified if I found out at 35? Yeah. One thing for me was the amount of jobs that I went through

after I had my daughter. It was a good amount in like five years. And it was just that I didn't feel like I fitted in anywhere. So that would be my biggest thing. Like if I just chosen the industry that I'm in now, straight up, it would be very different to having like 30 jobs over my 36 years. But you just don't know what you don't know. Exactly. Like there's no way that you would have been able to predict that. And obviously for those of you who don't have ADHD, you might be going, well, how does that impact you? ADHD manifests so differently in women than in men that often we internalize a lot of it and mask our behavior. And we just, from the outside looking in, you might go, no, she absolutely doesn't have ADHD. And that's us being really good at masking

it. I'm interested to hear that your best friend was a GP though. Did she see it or did she go, oh my gosh, this makes so much sense? Or like, what was that conversation like? She said to me, oh my God, this makes so much sense. Imagine the jobs you could have not done. Imagine the boyfriends you could have not had. She's very straight to the point and very blunt. And that's why we're best friends. I love her. I love her. What an icon. And now what's life like that you know you have ADHD? You've obviously been diagnosed. Where on this journey are you at? I am now at the point where I have realized that I have ADHD and it's not a bad thing. 12 months ago, I went through a bit of a midlife crisis because I was trying to navigate

this whole new thing and trying to work out what I was doing good, what I was doing bad. but fortunately for me the job that I have gives me my little dopamine hit so it never really came about in the very random ways that it does in my job so very cool I love that you found something that fits with you so now I want to know what do you do for work how much are you earning as the breadwinner in your family currently so I work for a national equipment hire company my income at the moment is just over 70,000 a year, but hopefully in the next 12 months we'll go up to about 80 or 90. Yeah, cool. Why is that going to go up? I am doing a leadership program and will hopefully take over managing an area of my business, which will be really cool. I love that. So tell me more

about this leadership program. Are you work funding it for you or is this self-funded or how did that come about? No, WorkFunder, which is amazing. And they essentially, it's a nomination-based program where they see good and bad in the business. And it's just a way of getting women especially involved because our industry is very male-dominated. I can imagine equipment hire being quite masculine. Do you work with lots of women? Like you said that it's a male-dominated industry. Is that the same for your workplace or what does that look like day to day? Yeah, it's definitely the same for my workplace. I have a male boss now. I used to have a female boss and I have a male mechanic and male salespeople. So it is very

male-dominated plus the industries that we deal with where I live are very male-dominated as well. Yeah. Wow. Wow. I feel like that would be a lot as well as going through this ADHD diagnosis. You're just like, oh my gosh, my life has been sent into a spin. No longer do I know exactly who I am. I'm finding out who she is, but there are a lot of people who probably don't understand to this journey to begin with that are surrounding me. Yeah. 100%. Like there's just not that level of support you deserve right now. So I definitely can see that. money diarist I want to know you said in your email in and I thought this was the sweetest thing ever and I really want to know more about it you said starting your masterclass I was brought

to tears by the first module now the first module I really talk about like your money story and what that means to you and how important it is to set goals one why did that make you cry what's that like and two tell me about these goals what are we working towards growing up I didn't have very good habits around money so I had my parents who would obviously spend quite big and they would get finance for everything humanly possible that you could imagine then moving 800 and something kilometers away from my home and everything that I knew again struggled with what I needed to do So for me, I didn't really understand what values I had around money and what aspect of money needed to change in my life until I met my husband. And what does that look like now?

We have two amazing little children and we basically want to give them everything that we can. so we make everything about family we make sure that we give our kids experiences instead of materialistic things we make sure that we tell them that we love them we make sure that we show them how expensive things are so they can understand the value of money from an early age instead of getting to the point of me where I was 15 and not having a clue about money. With my daughter, she is starting to lose her teeth and she saves up her tooth fairy money for our holidays. So she's got big goals of overseas holidays. Oh, I love this.

Which is really sweet. I want our kids to have those experiences because I missed out on those as a child. I feel like now I'm a mom. I can really resonate with that. Like I want Harvey to have everything that I didn't have or, you know, experiences that I wasn't able to have. And I mean, this is so lame, but the other day I found on Facebook marketplace, these Winnie the Pooh bookends that I remember seeing when I was little and I don't know how they ended up popping up, but they popped up and I was like, oh my gosh, those are those bookends that I desperately wanted. So I bought them for Harvey. I feel like I get to relive my childhood through him and I never thought that I would be that person. Tell me how you're teaching your kids

about money though. I want to know, what does that look like now? Obviously, you've got a daughter who's old enough to get tooth fairy money. How are you having these conversations to educate but maybe not overwhelm? We sit down with our kids and we tell them when we're buying something how much it will cost and if we can go to another shop. So, when we do our grocery shopping, we will explain to our daughter especially that we can buy her a packet of Oreos which might be $3.50 or we can buy her a packet of the home brand chocolate biscuits that might be a dollar or a dollar fifty. They're essentially the same item but there's a cheaper way of doing it. And you can still have your cake and eat it too. Yeah you can still have that treat

but it's not going to be the brand name but when the brand names are on special we'll always buy them and that's their reward. And it means that probably when you're grocery shopping she's keeping her eye out and making sure that she's on top of it and I'm assuming that when you said mainly my daughter. That's just an age thing, right? Like that's just because I'm assuming that your son is too young to comprehend this just yet. My son is three going on, I think about 13 most of the time. Oh, yep. Yep. But he would see monster trucks, excavators, machines and just buy them. He wouldn't care how much they cost. I feel like that is a male versus female thing. Are you finding that maybe the narrative around money that you're teaching your daughter

might not work for your son? Are you going, oh my gosh, I thought I had this nailed. Now I'm going to have to find a different strategy. What do you think that will look like? Yeah. My son is a little negotiator already. So he will always try and negotiate with me when we are at the shops to buy him a truck because he's been good at the shops. So he'll negotiate that. Whereas my daughter will negotiate to a degree, but it'll be something that she really desperately wants to save up for, not an instant reward like he wants. I love that. You're seeing their little personalities come out. One's good at delayed gratification. She's saving up for her overseas holiday and the other's like

monster truck right now. Right now, mom. Yes. All right. Let's go to a really quick break. On the flip side, I want to know a bit more about debt and your best and worst money habits and what your financial future looks like. So guys, don't go anywhere. Money Diarist, we are back and I feel like we're having a really fun time talking about teaching kids about money and how there's not really a one-size-fits-all approach. Like your daughter seems to be a lot about delayed gratification and your son, albeit only three, seems to just really like that instant gratification. How do you think that that's going to work as they get a little bit older? Is that something where you're hoping maybe your son

might learn from your daughter or do you think that they'll always be just quite stoic in their own personalities? I think they'll always have their own little personalities, but we want to teach them both the same value and whatever that looks like to them, they can make up their own mind. I don't want them to have the same relationship that I've got or that my husband has where he remembers you know it was mints and sausages for dinner because it was cheap whereas and then his parents have really good aspirations around money whereas for me it was we'd go out a lot we'd have takeaway and I thought it was great because we were always getting spoiled yeah which is amazing for a kid but you don't understand what that means in the bigger scheme

of things right or even how that impacts you now that you're 36 right? Yes yeah the reality for me was I saw it as a treat but as I got older I saw it as well mum and dad didn't really want to cook or it was just convenient for them to go and get takeaway so that's what we did whether it cost you know $20 or $30 they didn't care because it was convenient. Yeah and I feel like all of us put a price on convenience, but often that price eats into our future goals and what we want to create moving forward. You mentioned that your partner had a little bit of a different lifestyle growing up. Is this something that you've sat down with your partner and be like, all right, tell me about your money story. I'll tell you about mine. Like how do these money conversations

come up in your marriage? Yeah. So we're very fortunate early on that we had good conversations about money his parents have always been a one-income family and it's just always worked well for them and that was the initial shock for me to begin with because my mum worked part-time and then full-time and my dad always worked full-time if they wanted to do something they would save up so they went on holidays to the gold coast they went camping they did so many things as a family and my husband was shocked that I had not been to any of the theme parks until I was an adult because we didn't have the money to go on family holidays but we had a brand new tv we had brand new cars we had a brand new mobile phone whenever they came out we just didn't

have those experiences so he didn't have all those things but he had the experiences it's crazy when you get to sit down with someone and talk about how different your experiences were because you would you know if we just put it on paper and don't look at the details here you would assume that the parents where you have two full-time working parents would obviously have the more affluent experiences in life right like you just assume that that's the case but that's actually not the reality because it's all about our value system and what we know about money and how we allocate money and, you know, what we actually want to do. And I'm sure if we sat your parents down and said, you know, do you wish you had different experiences as the kids were

growing up? I'm sure they would have been like, yes, absolutely. But at the time, you're just doing the best that you can. And it's such a gift to be able to sit down and be like, all right, husband, this is how I want my kids to grow up. This is, you know, what we need to instill. These are the values that we want to have. Like, it's just so cool that you get to pick your values. And I think so often we don't know that. We just assume, no, no, no, it's a given. This is just life. This is just how it works. How old were you when you realized, actually, this is completely in my control? You wrote at the end of your submission, you said, now I'm on a mission to rewrite my financial story and build the future I deserve. How old were you when you realized that

was completely within your control I was 36 isn't it liberating though like isn't it so exciting knowing actually I can create the life I deserve like I can do that all on my own it doesn't matter where I've come from what my story is what my values were they can be different that's right like my kids are obviously quite young but we are about to take them on their second Gold Coast holiday. I love that. So they will go and have a weekend at the Gold Coast and absolutely love what they do. And then our next big family holiday will be Japan in a few years. I love that. And are the kids on board? Do they know it's going to be Japan in a few years? Are we like working towards this goal as a family? My daughter has already got her kimono packed,

basically. She is ready. What a little honey. She is a little like Harajuku girl, basically. She loves it. She's so keen. Oh my gosh. I love this so much. All right. Money Dyrus, I've got to get back to the questions. I want to know, what are your thoughts on investments? Do you currently invest? If not, what's the plan? How does it work? Do you have these conversations with your partner? Tell me all. I now do invest. Through my work, we were lucky enough to be able to purchase some shares and I did that last year. How cool is that? About a thousand dollars worth of shares through them. And then through the podcast, I downloaded the Sharesies app and used the She's On The Money code, got the $10 bonus. We got our free money.

I love that. And invested some more. So, I'm sitting at about $200 in that and I regularly put about $50 to $100 a month in it. Oh my gosh. I love this. Who are you? I'm getting there. We have a financial planner now as well that manages investments. So, we sit down with him probably every six weeks. Every six weeks? Yeah. Oh my gosh. She's aggressive. I love it. You are definitely making tracks. tell me how do you find your financial advisor and can I be really pervy? How much do you pay him for this pleasure? Because financial advice, hard to get, can often be not that affordable. What's it costing you? So I have known our financial advisor for nearly 25 years.

He's a very good family friend and never really thought that I would want to trust someone that I know, but my husband was very keen on the idea of trusting someone that we know because they're not going to sugarcoat anything for us. It costs us about five grand a year, but it's money well worth spent in the long run. I agree. And I feel like as an ex-financial advisor, it is so hard to articulate to people the value of advice. And you obviously go, but V, that's five grand a year and money diarist told us earlier that she's the breadwinner and she's earning $70,000. Like that is so much of your budget going towards this. What types of goals are you working with your financial advisor for? Like how do you see as somebody who I would say has a very regular

normal income, how have you, I guess, justified this into your budget to go, no, this is an expense that's going to put us and our financial future first? We want to make sure that our kids aren't inheriting any debt. So I often say to my husband that despite my parents being mortgage free, I'm still going to inherit their debt, their unsecured personal debt. I will inherit that. And that's my little nest egg that's going to go away. So I don't want that for my kids. Yeah, that's very fair. And have you done, I guess, the full suite? Has he looked at your superannuation? Has he looked at your insurances? Like, tell me a bit more about this investing plan. Yeah. So we had to be very transparent, looked at everything. He sat me down and said,

no more weekday coffees, no more unnecessary spending, no more 10 trips a week to the shops because you forgot one thing and you've gone and bought 30 other things. I feel like that's such an ADHD thing though so like having a financial advisor when you're a little bit neuro spicy very good idea yeah he is very honest and loves giving me advice and because I know him he will compare me to his wife who I also know so I don't feel like I'm doing something wrong when I know that other people essentially have the same experience yeah I feel like that shared experience really helps. And I mean, that's the crux of She's On The Money, right? Like we all love sharing our experience because we know a problem shared is a problem halved. But then also how validating is

it when you hear a money story and you're like, oh my gosh, that's me. Or, oh my gosh, like I totally have been there. Like one, sharing it, it makes you feel lighter. But then also by sharing it, you're validating the experiences of others. Like I don't want to hear that I'm really naughty. I want to hear that you're not the only one doing that, V, and here's the solution. Like, that's what I want, right? Like, you just want to be told, actually, Money Diarist, that's pretty normal. And you go, oh, is it? I've been feeling so guilty about it.

Yeah. Money Diarist, I want to know now, do you have any debts? If so, what are they? We have two personal loans. We went through a period where we weren't earning enough and I fell into the trap of getting personal loans to help bump up the income that we were missing out on so now our plan is to get rid of them as quickly as possible because again financial advisor told us any overtime or extra money that we get and we don't have a plan for it should be going on that loan

and that was a big mindset change for my husband and I because we were well when it's gone it's gone like what if we need it for an emergency and his words to us were the way that I'm setting you up for success is you won't never need money in an emergency because it will always be right there yeah exactly that's why we're gonna establish an emergency fund and have a pool that makes sense to you I feel like that must be something that you look at and you said look unfortunately we went through a period and like I fell into the trap. I don't know if I would call that falling into a trap because you said that you weren't earning enough to keep up with expenses. So tell me a bit more about these personal loans. Are they personal loans where you're paying stuff

like school fees and like for food on the table or were they, you know, holidays? Like how did that come to fruition? No, it was to pay out one of our cars so it didn't get repossessed and it was to pay out a few other little debts that we had. So, there was smaller debts that we needed to pay out, but a bulk of it went on when we needed new appliances. So, we needed- Yeah. And their necessities. Yeah. So, a lot of necessity items, but at the same time, I look at it and go, I can't believe that we didn't even have a thousand dollars sitting there to go and get a new fridge that we needed.

But is that now a mindset shift? You're like, oh my gosh, we've come so far. Now that wouldn't even be something that we comprehend. Yeah. So funny enough, my husband this morning rung me and said, hey, we need a new dishwasher. And I'm like, yep, no problems. Let's go down to the shop this afternoon and have a look at how much they cost. And when we get back from our holiday, we'll go and buy one. How good are you looking at that going, wow, that's new me. like who is she? Yes. I love that. And is that going to become, I guess, a big goal that you work towards and go, all right, well, you know, dishwasher is going to cost us 500 bucks. That's another thing to put on the list that we're going to work towards, but we're not just going to get

it immediately on deck. Yeah. A hundred percent. Like we are fortunate that we do get overtime and I get on call allowances. So when I do those extras, I have that, well, this weekend that I'm working is going to pay for this item that we really want. Yeah. Wow. I love that. And I feel like that's so exciting. Tell me a bit more about how much have you got to go on these debts? Like how much is left on each of them? So with our personal loans, we've got about $25,000 left. The plan is to just look at doubling the repayments over the next couple of weeks and seeing how quickly we can smash them out. Yeah, it's pretty challenging. I feel like it's exciting. I know it feels challenging and it feels overwhelming.

But for me, when I was paying off my debt and when I worked with clients who were doing the same thing, having a plan and going, all right, let's break it down. Let's go, all right, we've got $25,000. How much can we pay off each month? You might go, we can pay $500 off each month. And you kind of extrapolate that out and put a date on it. And I feel like having a date on it, one, that's the light at the end of the tunnel. But two, any of that overtime that you're doing, every single time it brings that date forward. Like it helps you get ahead and you can see visually it getting ahead. And at the moment, I know it probably feels a little bit like you're treading water because you like throw another couple of hundred bucks at it or whatever

you've got when it comes up. And it just doesn't feel like it makes that big of a dint at the time. But I feel like if you work towards a particular date and now I'm thinking of it, I'm probably going to try and make a tracker that we can put on our website and you guys can download. But if you have a date in mind that comes down each time you make another repayment above and beyond the minimum, that feels really motivating knowing that that time is coming closer and you're also teaching yourself these great savings habits. Because if you can smash that debt out. The second that debt is gone, those all become savings. Like that is you setting yourself up to be in the best possible position because you're like, all right, well, did you see last

month we were able to save an additional three or four hundred bucks? Money win. Do you know what you can do once you're out of debt? You can save that. That goes towards holidays. That goes towards travel. That goes towards those experiences you want to give your kids. And I just think that's so flipping exciting. Yeah, that's what our plan is. So once the personal loans are gone, the repayment for those is essentially half of our mortgage repayment. So, we will then look at allocating that money to the mortgage to get rid of that. Yeah. See, that's sexy as hell. I love that. Tell me about this mortgage. What's your mortgage? How much is it for? And when did you buy. We bought in 2022. Our mortgage was $280,000 and we spent $250,000 on our house and had

$30,000 left to do some lovely little upgrades that our very old house needed. We owe, I think, just over $260,000. Oh, that's exciting. Yeah. But the plan is we will just smash it out. We pay it weekly because it is much better in the long run. Interest is calculated daily. Yep. That's a hack. Did you learn that from your financial advisor? Yes. Yeah. I feel like that's such a financial advisor thing to say. So, mortgages, and this isn't for you because you clearly know this is for everyone listening. Your mortgage is calculated or the

amount that you owe on your mortgage is calculated daily. So every single day, the bank does some maths in the background and calculates exactly what you owe. And at the end of the month, they're like, well, you owe X. But if you broke up that X that you're paying at the end of the month on a weekly basis, so therefore, let's say on average, you're making four payments each month, that actually brings down over time your interest significantly and you can pay off your loan faster, even though it didn't cost you an extra dollar, it just cost you some planning. which I think is very exciting. Have you done the maths on how much time slash money you're going to save by doing that? I think a rough calculation was about 10 years,

but we want to have our mortgage paid out by like probably 2034. Oh my gosh, that's so soon for a mortgage. Have we got a big plan for that? Is your advisor going, heck yes, we can do this? Yeah, we are just going to keep throwing everything humanly possible that we've got left over at the mortgage, get it out of the way as quickly as possible and hopefully look at retiring by the time we're 55. Is that not iconic? I feel like I heard in your voice earlier when we were talking about debt, you were like, yeah, we have like these personal loans and I could feel the disenchantment. But at the same time, you're literally like, okay cool so we actually have a really big plan for that and we're actually going to be doubling

our payments and our mortgage by the way there's a plan to get out of debt by 2035 and retire early like what in the dream life like that's so exciting is it not it is I don't think we could have done it if we just live in a city like we do live regionally but it works for us because this is where we have work. This is where our kids have grown up. So for us, it works. But ideally, if we did live elsewhere, we'd have the same goals. I love this so much. All right. I want to know, you've obviously recently worked out that you're ADHD and obviously that impacts your money story significantly. So I don't know, what do you think your best money habit is? Best money habit would be never paying full price for anything.

I only buy clothes when they're on a sale. I love this. We have an op shop in our town that has really good designer pieces. And I will only go through there once a month and have a look and see what's in there. Normally some of it's brand new with tags. So amazing. I've never really overspent necessities that I need. And the biggest thing that my husband taught me was when you're buying things in like the good guys or Harvey Norman, the ticketed price is never the final price. There is always room for negotiation. I love that. That's words to live by. There is always room for negotiation. I don't care what it is. We're negotiating it. Yeah. Negotiation isn't my strong point, but I do like taking my husband because he feels good

when he gets that negotiation. Of course. I love that. And also, I mean, does that not make you a great negotiator because you brought the right tools to the conversation. I don't have to be good at it if I brought the right tools and the tools is my husband, 10 out of 10. Exactly. Tell me a bit more about what you think your worst money habit is. Worst, that is probably looking at something and that impulsive purchase. So I will go and pick up stuff off the rack. I will go and order something that I've seen pop up with a sponsored post on Facebook and go, oh yeah, I definitely needed this. Yeah. Victim of the algorithm. Same. Sometimes I'll use it. Sometimes I won't. So I'm trying to get into the habit of

giving myself that 24 hour calling off period. Yes. So I will save it. And then if I come back to it in 24 hours, then it's a definite need to discuss purchase. If I don't come back to it in 24 hours, I go, oh, it was just my ADHD wanting shiny things. Oh my gosh. I know we're like bowerbirds. We literally are like, oh, shiny. I need it. Like anything on TikTok. I'm like, oh, I definitely need that. Like, do you find, I don't know, I feel like this is a millennial ADHD thing. Is your phone full of screenshots of things that you think you might need later? Yes, 100%. It's like a graveyard of all of the thoughts I've had while scrolling or doom scrolling the internet. I actually am

embarrassed. I'm going to go find how many screenshots I have. I'm probably going to put it on my stories at some point because I just think that's such a relatable point that when you finally meet other people with ADHD and they both know, you just go, oh, do you do this? And then we all agree. And you just go, wow, I've literally never had an original experience in my life. Like I thought it was just me. I thought I had these cute personality quirks. No, that's your ADHD, babe. Yeah, that's your neuro spicy brain. Exactly. Oh my gosh. All right. Well, it has been so good chatting to you. I feel like I've learned a lot, but I want to kind of bring something up, the elephant in the room. At

the start of this money diary, you told me you were a D. You said, look, I really reckon I'm a D. I've got so far to go. But then we had these beautiful conversations about you working since you were 16 and you became a single mom and now you've got this great partner, but you're the breadwinner and you're just absolutely killing it. You've got all of these big financial goals. I feel like my favorite part of the conversation was really talking about what you want for your kids and how you really want to give them all of these beautiful experiences and you've got a plan for it. Like we did talk about debt and I could tell by your voice that that's not something that you love. And I mean, nobody loves being in debt, but then you told me about these epic plans to get

out of debt that you were doing over time. You're absolutely killing it. And you're planning on getting your mortgage done by 2035 and then retiring hopefully by 55. Like your kids are going to have the dream life and then these super happy, healthy parents at the perfect time in their lives to, you know, be adults with them. Is that not the most exciting thing in the entire world? Like to me, dream life, adore that. Your worst money habit, you said you're a bit impulsive. I get it. We're a little bit spendy. But then you also said, V, I'm really good at never paying full price. Like I am a little bargain hunter and there's no such thing as not having any room for negotiation. I'm sorry, does that sound like a D person to you? I think I'd probably move myself

up to like a C plus or a B minus, but there's always room for improvement because you're never perfect. No, nobody is perfect, but I want to know what would it take if I said, all right, money diarist, what would it take to get to an A? What types of money behaviors or changes do you think you would have to make? I think for me, not having any unsecured debt and anything that isn't an asset. I love that, but that's a plan and you've literally got a time and a date for it. So we're well on the way to being a money diarist. It has been an absolute pleasure having a chat with you. I have adored this. I feel like it's so relatable, especially to me, like we're both a little bit neuro spicy, but also to the community. I adore having these conversations and I just know

that the community is going to go, oh, this money diarist was a cracker. This was a good one. So I really appreciate it and know that they're going to appreciate you sharing your story as much as I have. So a pleasure. Thank you. 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 MoneySherpa PTY LTD ABN 321 649 27708 AFSL 451 289. Thanks for watching!