She's On The Money - The Secret Trick to Setting Goals You’ll Stick With

Episode Date: November 14, 2024

Today, we’re getting real about one of the biggest money questions: What should I actually be saving for? With huge goals like buying a home, retiring, or traveling, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed or just plain stuck. We’re here to help you zero in on goals that feel exciting and truly worth it. But that’s not all—we’re also breaking down a game plan to tackle debt smarter by deciding which debt to pay off first. We’re breaking down how to prioritise your payments for maximum impact. And since it’s Friday, you know what that means: community shout-outs, juicy confessions, some clever broke tips, and all the fun ways our She’s on the Money crew is winning at finances this week. Get ready for insights, laughs, and some serious money motivation! This Black Friday, invest in you! Our course bundles are on sale—your chance to level up your finances, build wealth, and hit those goals. Click here for all the deets... Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements. The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs.  Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708,  AFSL - 451289.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

Hello and welcome to She's On The Money, the podcast that makes personal finance fun, especially on Fridays. It's our favorite or my favorite day of the week because I get to get my little team together and celebrate you, our incredible She's on the Money community. This week, Ms. Jessica Rucci, as always, is going to be sharing some money wins all confessions from the Facebook group. Ms. Bex Syed, I believe you've got a few good broke tips to share this week. We've got a money dilemma. This week is all about which debt you should be paying off first for maximum impact and you slid into our DMs about something. How do you decide which financial goals are actually worth saving for?

So before we get there, new segment. We have been sharing our favourite five-star reviews from the show every single week and it's been such a nice little addition, I feel. So if you haven't left a review and you would like to hear yours on the show, you could even slip in like a cheeky question into it, I reckon. Take advantage.

Yeah, take advantage of it. So, Bec, I want to know, have you got a five-star review that you would like to share with the team? Yes, ma'am. Okay, so this one comes from Katie. Man feels very official. I know, we're the same age. Yes, man.

This one comes from Katie. She's on the Money podcast is informative yet broken down to be easily understood and explained. The girls are so passionate and keep the podcast entertaining and interesting. I like that there's three different episodes a week that are in different formats, which keep things interesting, such as the deep dives, money diaries, and Fridays with the money dilemmas and spicy topics. Thank you for making financial education so accessible for women and in brackets and anyone else who would like to listen to this podcast and breaking down the barriers to financial

independence. That's so kind. Can you believe that people take their time to write reviews that are that long? So sweet. It's just, it's so nice. And it's very, very helpful. It's very nice, but also like just so kind. Yeah.

So kind. Thank you so much, Katie. I love that. Thank you, Katie. Jess, what have you got for us? I've got one this week from Lucy who said, absolutely, it's a great name. Absolutely love listening to this podcast.

Morning walks with my dog have been so much better since finding the pod. Coming from a girl in her early 20s who has always loved finance and is currently completing a Bachelor of Business majoring in finance, this is so awesome. Love all the hosts. They are great and so easy to listen to. I love that. That's also good luck with your degree because that's not an easy one to do.

Get it, queen. I have one. Do you want me to share it? Absolutely. This one is from Elise and it says, this is short but sweet. Are you ready? Obsessed with Beck. Girl, you are just perfect.

That's the whole review. Yes, isn't that so cute? Oh, my God. Oh, my God, my heart. She's so cute. That is so nice. But thank you, Elise. My whole body is excited.

Thank you so much. That is really sweet. I think Elise has got a crush on you. Oh, my God. I have a crush on you too. Oh, I love it. I love it so much. I've got a crush on you.

What a good start to our Friday episode. I want to get into it, though, Miss Jessica Ricci. I want you to start off with why are you laughing? I'm laughing because it keeps going. I'm going like I'm lower and lower. Jessica's laughing because she got the dodgy chair in the studio today. I'm really sorry. We'll have to change later.

All right, Jess. So from down there in your small chair, what have you got when it comes to money, wins or confessions from the community? I've got some goodies this week. So firstly, I've got one from Chloe who said she's learning the art of loaning and borrowing things rather than purchasing them for a once-off use. So she borrowed someone's dehydrator to preserve from lemons from a neighbor's tree with recipes that she got from a loaned library book. Oh, that's clever. I feel like this is something I was talking about.

This is my friend group recently, which is why I really liked it, is I'm often the friend that will have like. You've got all the stuff. Yeah. We're like friends of mine. She's got it. Christmas decorations, 60 boxes. Absolutely. Power washer and like leaf blower and stuff,

friends of ours borrowed it and they've still got it because I'm like I use it like twice a year and the rest of the year it just sits in my garage. I love my power washer. Me too. It's so satisfying. But I'm like why if you have a group of friends and one person has it, why would another person buy it?

Why are you buying it? Just share it. You should start like a tool library. My own little personal tool library? Yeah, your own little personal appliance library. This is what Jess has got and this is what Becca's got. Yeah. But if you need something, just chuck it in your friends' group chat.

Like how has anyone got a steam cleaner? How has anyone got XYZ? don't buy it if you don't have to. Yes, exactly. Yes. Hey, can you come and do the power washing though? Is that an option? Do you come with this? Is that included? For you, of course. I would never, but also you free this. Next, I've got a money win from Zelma who said, this is probably the least impressive win ever, but I'm so broke. So I'm pretty happy with this. She got some moldy raspberries in her click and collect. So she put in a refund request, obviously. She got her money back and she got an additional voucher for the value of the berries

because we'll just have a fresh food guarantee. Oh, great. So she came out six bucks up. That's so good. I feel you, girl. And then with that, she can get herself a loaf of bread and that'll last hopefully the week. Exactly. I love a loaf of bread. Next, I've got a money win from Hayley who said, I always thought selling things on Marketplace was too hard for not a lot of money, but we've been decluttering recently to move and I've sold enough to cover the cost of our vacate cleaning. Oh my God, that's so expensive too. As well as to make sure to cover some convenience food to get us through the stress. Oh, how good. Very nice. That just takes the pressure off. Totally. You get a few pizzas and have someone do the end of lease clean, like,

oh, live, love, laugh. Yeah. My philosophy is always the more I sell at moving time, the less I have to move. Like that's one less thing I got to put in a box. Exactly. That's That's true. And I hate packing. Moving is my least favorite thing in the entire world. I completely agree. Next up, I want to money win from Annie who said money win. We went to the Jurassic World exhibit in Melbourne on the weekend with my dino obsessed three-year-old. She got in for free despite having to buy tickets for kids that were three years or older, because in the description it says three and under are free. So she got a little bit of a She obviously argued with whoever was up the front

and she said, I use that to my advantage, got her in for free. The money loss was they do make you exit through the gift shop and, of course, we had to buy a dinosaur toy, so it kind of came out in the wash. Of course, of course. But the money was saved. It's a good point. But you also, that dinosaur toy, endless entertainment.

Yes. It's an investment. It is an investment. That's so true. Everybody needs a dinosaur toy. I really want to go to that exhibition. But anyway, that's another time. Story for another time.

Lastly this week, I have a money win from Rachel who said, last week I bought a new TV. I've never owned a new TV in my life. It was very exciting. At the time, I price matched and got a good deal for $1,145. One week later, though, it went on sale. I walked right into JB, requested a refund for the difference, and as I was told at the time I purchased it,

this was something that I could do. No questions asked. They refunded me in cash for the difference. Oh, my God. That is so good. $189 straight in her pocket. What? Just for walking back in and being like, hello, I saw you were having a little sale.

Yeah, that's really good. What are the chances that the exact model and everything is? Completely. And you'd be so annoyed as well if you just said, oh, I could have saved $200 by waiting. I did that on The Iconic this week. It's cute. Tell me more. I bought a new pair of jeans and I was like, do I get them express posted or no?

And then I was like, no, Victoria, you do not need to spend money on express posts. So I picked the normal post. And then the next day, because I did this over the weekend, I got the notification about Black Friday sales and I should have known. Like I should have used my brain and I should have known. And so these jeans went from like $160 down to I think $111. That's a big difference. And because I didn't get express posts, they hadn't even arrived yet and they were cheaper. So I just got on little like on their chat thing and said, hello, it's me. I was just wondering the jeans that I still haven't received yet have now gone on like sale and they said no worries refunding

you the difference easy what and they still like they still haven't arrived which is so fine but like I already have the discount back in my pocket dream that's so good and also to take it to another level I looked at them online and my sizes sold out so I couldn't have bought them for the sale price anyway oh my god isn't that a good feeling because I think everybody else like snapped them up on the sale price but I'd paid for anyway it was very exciting like Friday sales they get me good I gotta tell you oh it's so bad but also like I have needed new jeans for ages because like you know not to get too deep into it but jeans are the arch nemesis of a postpartum body I see like you just don't want to and I'm finally feeling a little bit comfortable and I was like

all right I'm just gonna buy some new white jeans for summer like it's just it needs to happen so to get them as a bit of a money win as well. Like, I was very happy with this outcome. Yeah, not bad, not bad. All right, Bec, have you got some broke tips? Yes, yes, I do. Okay, so as always, two from the community, one for myself. The first one comes from Alex who says,

Hi, Alex. Hi, Alex. If you boil water instead of using Weed Killer, that will eradicate your weeds apparently. I've tried this. It works. It works. I can confirm.

There you go. I love this. Why didn't you guys tell me? I bought Weed Killer the other week and I've been too scared to use it because I'm like, oh, Weed Killer, I have pets. Like, they're not in the garden. It just feels aggressive. So you're telling me I could have just boiled some water and fixed it.

It's weird. Like, some small part of me felt a little bit bad that I was boiling the plant alive. I know what you mean. I don't know, that's so silly, but I was like, oh, I'm so sorry, but hopefully it's a quick death. Yeah, I know. You didn't feel bad putting your beans on last night, though, did you?

No, not at all. I'm a hypocrite. Or the chicken into the oven, did you? Absolutely a hypocrite. Oh, sorry, dandelion. Pretty much. This is off topic, but I still have no idea what a weed is. I don't know how to detect a weed.

Oh, babe, you do. I don't know what a weed is. If it's growing in between the bricks, it's a weed. Okay. So it doesn't, anything that's just not meant to be there. I see, I see. Come to my front garden, they're everywhere. Okay, okay.

Well, maybe you can help me figure out which one's which. Yeah, I'm here for you. Thank you so much. Everything, everything is a weed. Everything's beautiful in my eyes. That's the problem. Thank you. okay this next one comes from uh actually a friend of mine nicola we were at the pub the other day

she was wearing this top and i was like oh my god such a nice top where'd you get that and she was like i got it from lost and found and i was like that i i want a preface this because i i know that if you go into a lost and found people might come back for their items but if you're going into like that feels like theft but okay it does but it's a slippery slope yes carry on she was uh staying in hostels she was just traveling for a little bit and also you know gyms and things like that if you like ask the people there like especially I think it's safer with hostels because people are coming and going and if you're gone literally in a different country then it's a little bit safer so maybe not gyms let's rule out gyms but hostels even if you're not staying in a hostel even if

you're not traveling you can theoretically literally if you just don't have the money to buy yourself new clothes and you do want to just see what's out there and there are probably this probably goes for like people who are literally homeless right now as well if they happen to be listening if you just need something something warm for the winter and you just go into hostel and say hey how long have these been here are these people you know have they left the country can i take this it has to be a no claim period there is like is there okay well i mean it depends place to place but my partner where he works there's a lot of lost and found stuff and they have like a six month period after six months they either donate it i think like the

staff are welcome to go through if they want anything and then it literally gets dropped at an op shop yeah and you got some really nice stuff about lost and found Totally. Well, he got a really nice watch, which is so nice. Okay. That's sick. That's sick. But, like, you know, other than the watch,

I feel like people sometimes just leave stuff because they're like, I can't remember taking this on my travels. I never comprehended this, but that makes sense. I feel like if they have a policy of donating it after three months, like, fair game. Absolutely. It's all yours. So that's just an option.

But I thought that was really, really clever. Okay, this next one's from me. Clearly you don't want it if you haven't come back for it in six months. Well, that's why six months, you know, It's plenty of time for someone to remember that they've lost something. Yeah, and if it was like a Rolex watch, I'm sure they would have taken it to the bloody cops, right? Yeah, absolutely.

I just feel like. Yeah, absolutely. And then this next one is from me. So this was, I just, I want to preface this also by saying that I do come to the table with arts and crafts, brogue tips. Excellent. My favourite kind. We are arts and craftsy girlies.

It's okay. You're preaching to the converted. Okay, good. I just want to remind you that I'm not grating. Please don't tell us that you're going to make us make our own felt from like dry lint or something. Absolutely. You do have to travel to a, I was going to say a felt field. I don't think they exist.

But anyway, no. So this is for the people who have gift giving as like their love language. And it's coming up to Christmas. Definitely, you guys, coming up to Christmas. But you don't have much money to spend. Anyway, I made these custom matchboxes. Oh, I saw these on your Instagram story. I loved them.

Thank you so much. You can do like little puns if it's for like a loved one. But matchboxes are cheap. So did you just buy them at the supermarket? Yes, cheap matchboxes. And then I just, you don't have to get paint, but you can if you want. I'm sure you have something lying around that you could use. But I just use, you know those chalk markers?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I use those. I bought some from Kmart the other day. I didn't need them, but I wanted them. They're so satisfying. So satisfying. There's something so nice about like that. Don't write on a whiteboard with a chalk marker though.

True, that's a good point. I thought it would be good for my MLM deep dives because the colours were very vibrant but not very come off-y. Oh, I see. I see. A bit more permanent, you could say. Which is perfect because it really, it symbolises the permanence of your love for the person you're giving these matchboxes to.

So I recommend just get a little bit arts and craftsy, make some personalised matchboxes. That's quite cute. They're really pretty and so cheap. Yeah. So cheap. And so thoughtful. I just love a homemade gift. I know.

Isn't it cute? And you're going to use it. Like people actually use matches. So it's like win, win, win. I love this for us. If you're not a good drawer, you could print it on sticker paper. Yes. And then put the sticker paper around.

Exactly. Or you could just do a terrible drawing and tell the person that it's the thought that counts. Absolutely. You could. That's my theory. That's my theory. All right. Let's go to a really quick break.

On the flip side, we're going to be answering a money dilemma, which this week is all about which debt you should pay off first for maximum impact. and you slid into our DMs about something this week, we're answering the question of how do you decide which financial goals are actually worth saving for. So, guys, don't go anywhere. Welcome back, friends. 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. Hi, she's on the money. I just have a question regarding investment property.

So me and my sister share an investment property together. We are 50-50 in it and that mortgage currently sits at around $200,000. Unfortunately, we recently lost our dad and got an inheritance each of about $250,000. My sister is really eager to pay off the investment property. She does not have a mortgage herself. She rents, whereas me and my partner have a mortgage of around $450,000 for the house that we live in. We've discussed it and think it would be wiser to put the inheritance on the offset of our own home rather than pay off the investment property. But my sister is very eager to pay it off and not have to worry about it. I know $200,000 is in a very big mortgage at the moment and there's a lot of things to consider. Just wanting

to know what your thoughts are and what some of the tax implications can be. Thanks, guys. Oh, I feel like this is a really good one. And one of those things, I guess first things first, actually, let's rewind. I'm really sorry about your dad because that sucks. But first things first, this is a really good, I guess, example of how different competing financial goals are going to take shape once you purchase a property with someone who's not your partner and that doesn't mean it's a negative thing it just means that we need to discuss it because if you have $200,000 left on a property that's $100,000 each and your sister's probably like cool I've got $250,000 I'll have 150 grand left over and no mortgage money win for her that makes

sense for you you might have done the maths and been like actually our family home mortgage it would be much better in an offset. That's what we want to do. And I'd prefer to pay this $100,000 that I owe on this investment property off over time. I think, guess what I'm going to say when in doubt, zoom out. So let's look at the bigger picture. Like if you paid off this in its entirety right now, is that actually the best decision for you and your sister? Like if it's an investment property, I don't have enough information. Like, is it a positively geared? Is it negatively geared? like maybe there could be some type of compromise and you pay off a little bit so that the property does become completely positively geared so that there's no additions that are necessary for you

guys and over time it just ticks along. Maybe you could talk to your sister about like what that lump sum could mean for her outside. Like what's the interest rate on that mortgage? Let's pretend you went to Zella and you've got a good interest rate on your mortgage. The Australian share market is returning more than the interest rates rewriting right now on mortgages. So it would actually long-term make more sense to not just pay that off, even though it would feel good, but invest. So I think it's a bigger conversation around, okay, what does that mean? But also what does happen if your sister pays off her entire portion? Is that a bad thing? Does that mean that your sister's expecting to pay her $100,000 off and you have to do the same thing? Or are you

happy to take on the $100,000 left on the mortgage and be like, yeah, sister, you're completely paid off. That's all good. But I still want to have that financial burden because it's still going to be the same amount that you're paying every single month if your sister extinguishes her portion. Does that make sense? Yeah. You just might have an increase in your interest, assuming they were splitting the cost of interest. Yes, but it would then only be on $100,000 instead of $200,000. So it should all come out in the wash technically. I mean, that's up to you to decide whether you put, you know, another $25,000 into that. So then your mortgage on that investment property is only 75 or something like that. But for me, it would be about looking at what the

rental yield on that investment property is, like what it looks like over time. What's the plan for it? Like, are you planning on selling it? Because for me, if the plan is to sell a property, you don't necessarily need to extinguish the mortgage first, especially with post-tax dollars to then sell it and get the money back out that way. So what's the long-term plan for this property? What would you be looking at Jess? If you and I purchased a property together and one of us wanted to get rid of our mortgage and the other wanted to keep it. I don't have a good reason for this, but my instinct was just like our listener, like I would want to pay off my own mortgage first. I don't really know why. I don't know if it's because to me...

It's the roof over your own head. Yeah. I was just like, I don't know if it's like the emotional thing or like in my mind, I guess, you know, I'm like that push comes to shove if you, you know, God forbid something goes wrong. The first thing I'd sell would be the investment property before my family home. And so for me, it makes sense to secure that family home as much as possible. But I can see that it could potentially cause conflict, you know, with if you're wanting to do one thing and your sister's wanting to do another. And there's obviously then the complexities of like, as you were saying, if she pays off her portion and you don't pay off your portion, like I can see that that's quite

messy, which is also not ideal. But yeah, for honestly, no good reason. I think I would go with my mortgage. I mean, I would probably, as you were saying, run the numbers. That's probably the smart, practical way to do it. But my just first instinct listening to the dilemma was, oh, like I think I would probably put it in my off personally. Yeah. I also think we need to, sorry to jump in here, talk about the difference between tenants in common versus joint tenants because I don't know how you own that and so if your sister pays off her 50% and it depends like the liability if you are joint tenants would actually mean that she still has that over her head which is technically not fair but then you could also

draw up an agreement that says oh no no no like it's definitely my responsibility but on the flip side if your tenants in common where you have a defined share and you've paid off your defined share, like it shouldn't be an issue. But anyway, just probably thinking too deep about it once again. Bec, what would you do? Well, I actually just have a question about, so offset account is like, say like you've, you're paying for your mortgage and then you have an account that's linked to your mortgage. The offset account is like, let's say for example, you have a hundred dollars in your mortgage and then $50 in your offset. You're only paying interest on the remaining 50. Is that right? I'm retiring. I don't even, I don't even need to be here. You've

got this. What if like, and I'm not suggesting that our listener do this, but if they put a hundred thousand dollars in the offset and then the sister pays a hundred thousand, does it just like, is that like, does that mean that they're paying zero interest? Yeah. Yeah. So there are people out there who still have their entire mortgage facility and if their house is worth $500,000, they might have $500,000 in their offset and they just don't pay anything each month and it offsets it. But for some reason, they might decide that still having access to the mortgage facility makes sense. Now, you might go, V, that makes absolutely no sense. Like, wouldn't you just want to be nil all? Well, firstly, this is actually quite common for

people coming up to retirement where, you know, they might be in their 60s and they know if they went to a bank because one of them has just retired, they would never get that mortgage again. and they like the idea that they could have access to the capital and the money in their offset to play with. Maybe they're like, oh, as a part of our retirement plan, I don't want to be nil all and just have a mortgage that's a zero and like mortgage is gone. Like, I don't mind if I go back into debt a little bit because I took out $80,000 to buy a caravan because they probably wouldn't get that on personal finance. So, sometimes people keep their mortgage facility around. So there's a lot of to and fro, but yes, you could technically put the money in there and

offset it. But what this money diarist or this listener has written in and said is she wants that money in her current family homes offset. And I'm assuming it's because it's probably a higher interest rate. And even if it's not a higher interest rate, it's clearly making her feel more secure. And that's really important to take into consideration too. That's so fair. I I think I'd probably do the same thing in that case. Yes. Simply for like security. Yeah.

Yeah. I guess if you do like, you don't really have the emotional attachment to the investment property. So yeah, I mean, I can see where they're going. I'm like thinking about this as much as I can now. And I think that if this was my sister and I, and my sister was like, V, I want to put my hundred grand in and paid off. I think I would ask her if she could just put it into the offset account and I continue

to pay the remainder of the mortgage because it would drop the interest payments down to looking like it was only quote $100,000 and that can then be my portion and I can slowly pay it off over time. But then I could like sell it to my sister that if that situation ever changes, you can take the money back out. Like we don't need to sell the property to get your money back out. And then if you needed it for like another home deposit in the future or like building wealth in a different way, like you could access it. So maybe that's a good way of going about it. So like your sister can pay her portion, you pay yours, you do the mortgage repayments. But I would talk to your bank about that first as well or talk to your broker actually about how that works

because there might be, you know, some loans, you might not know this, but some loans have contribution caps. So they might say you can only contribute up to, you know, $24,000 a year on your mortgage, which obviously you need to dot all the I's and cross all the T's. If you're concerned, like shameless plug, but Zella money could literally do that for you. And it might be a good idea now if you're in a situation where you're like, oh, like we could pay it off. It's only 200 grand. Maybe refinance it as well. Get a better rate, pay off your 100 grand of your sister's side of things or put that in the offset. And then you're paying even less as well. That's a great.

Everyone can come out in the wash very comfortably. But again, it's such a personal decision because like money isn't inherently right or wrong like there's no right answer here it's like well what do you feel most comfortable with sure it's an interesting dilemma but above all we're really sorry to for your loss yeah sending you lots of love yeah everybody who gets an inheritance I feel like there's this idea that oh my god you got an inheritance that's so lucky it set you up like I don't know one person who got an inheritance who wouldn't immediately give it back for even like five minutes more with the person that they lost. Like, oh, it's a shitty position to be in. So I am sorry. But moving onwards, we have a DM that we received this

week. Would you guys like to hear it? Yeah. All right. So here's our DM. Hey, she's on the money. How do you figure out what you actually want to save for? I feel like I'm at an age, they're 23, where I should be saving for the big things in life, like a car, a house or retirement. but I also have a really pessimistic view towards that. I have a car that runs, it's not flashy or new but it's nice enough. I don't feel like buying a house is in reach right now due to the market. For example, I live on the Gold Coast so that feels like it's too big of a goal to even think about and I'm slowly chipping away at my investment portfolio but to be honest, saving for retirement doesn't light me up. So my head goes, oh you should save for a trip but that feels

irresponsible and silly. Does that make sense? I want to be able to save my money and I have a goal of $5,000 at the moment, but I don't know why. So it's making the goal feel much harder to reach. Is this relatable? Oh my God. I feel so seen. You're like, I don't know why we're doing this. Yeah. I, that's why I like, I feel like I've never saved, but also, you know, I've, I've, I'm also really, really bad with this money as everyone knows. Um, but I've never just really had a savings. Not bad with money. Financially illiterate. No. I'm trying to read your eyes. What am I saying? We're learning. We're learning. We're growing. You're getting some new tools and resources that you didn't have before. I think we're all just out here doing the best that we

can. Yes, that's true. Living the life that we want to live. Thank you so much. There's no such thing as a bad decision. Like there's a decision if you go, V, would you have spent X on X? Well, maybe not. But then I would go, Hey Beck, I spent this amount of money on this other thing. And you'd be like, what the hell are you doing? Like, yeah, that's true. I know what you mean. You're just doing you. And I love that. Thank you. That's important. Thank you. I, yeah, I feel like saving for something. I've also been the same. It's kind of like, I just can't see beyond, like, I don't actually know what I'm saving for. I'm just like, I guess I'm saving. If I'm, if I can, I'll save, but I'm like, what the hell for? Like, I actually don't think I'll be able to

buy an apartment anytime soon. I don't really even have the motivation. Not soon, but if we work at it, you will buy an apartment. Yes, that's true. But I don't even have like the passion for that to feel, you know, oh my God, like I want to put a thousand dollars away every month to get this. So it's like, it's not a big goal. So I totally understand what this person's saying. But I think that even if you just are saving so that you are not, I guess, really screwed if something goes wrong. So like, as you say, V, like just having an emergency fund. But if you live like me, that emergency fund could also be everyone's going to Japan next year and I actually really want to go with them. And I can see. An emergency, it depends on who you are as to what you categorize as an emergency. Yes. An emergency is sometimes just desperately not feeling FOMO and that is an emergency. Or just like seeing something that you really like and be like, oh, I can actually afford that. Like I really want to buy this brand new Fitbit and I can afford that now. So it's like I can see that brand new Fitbit. You see it right now? It looks really nice. Thank you so much. Nice band.

Very shiny. Very new. It's colour. Yeah, I like it. But, yes, I think just like even if you have no goals, if you don't know what you're saving for, just honestly save for the joys of life and that could be don't feel bad about going on a trip. When you're on your deathbed in a touchwood, you're not going to be like,

wow, I'm so glad that I didn't buy that latte that one time so that I could buy a house. You know, you're going to be like. Also, if the compromise is not buying a latte and I get a house, take my latte. Yes, take the latte. Honestly, take the latte. So that was a very boomer thing to say.

No, no, no, no, but I get it because I think that so many times we feel the pressure to make compromises that are compromising our lifestyle but don't actually ultimately help with the long-term goal. Exactly, exactly. But I'm just saying that the experiences and having fun and doing things that make you feel happy and joyful and spending time with your friends and all this stuff,

those things are so important. So if it's travel, I'd say that's an investment. I like that. I like that. I'm going to flip to the saver at the table. Yes, yes, we should. Miss, I can save even when I'm broke. Talk to me. I agree on some level. I think that you're right. Like you do need to find joy in the things that you're doing. I think I'm not entirely sure if our listener is saying $5,000, the $5,000 that she's saving towards will

be like all the money that she has. Like currently she has no money and she's saving. If that's the case, I completely agree. Like emergency fund should be your first priority because you need to have something there in case of whatever it may be. I think you need to figure out what does bring you joy. So if it is the travel and that's what you're choosing to prioritize, it's okay to prioritize that over more traditional quote unquote goals like purchasing a house or a wedding or. Traditional goals are literally bullshit. Like you don't have to do anything in this life that doesn't align with your values. Absolutely. So if travel is what really lights you up, I think definitely prioritize that. The one thing that I would say is, and I mean,

I don't know anything about where our listeners are sitting in terms of like their own journey for financial literacy and stuff. But I was never excited by the idea of saving for retirement until I understood the fact that like investing, for example, is free money. I love free money. Yeah. It was like a switch in my head. It was like, oh my God, once I understood that by doing this, I get all this money for free, you know, pending market conditions, etc. And so far it's been going well. It has been going well. In my investment portfolio, which is not particularly big, I think currently if I were to sell, I'd be up like three grand. That's three grand you didn't have before. Correct. Three grand of effectively free money. And so even if you're

looking at a high interest savings account or something like that, for me, that was a really good switch and a motivator. That's not going to be the case for everybody. Money might not be something that's a priority to you, but I would say maybe explore all the different options and make sure you really understand what that looks like for your potential future. You said you kind of want to buy a house, but you don't think it's achievable. Talk to a broker, see where you would need to be because you would be amazed at how many schemes there are that can help you get in with a much lower deposit than you would maybe think. And, you know, there are all of these different avenues and options. So I would say, and again, maybe this is coming back to the type of person

I am. I like to have all of the information before I make a choice. But like really look into all of these different things and what that could look like and what input that would take from you. And if at the end of that you go, no, I just want to spend the next five years traveling, travel. Like that is okay and do that and enjoy that and don't feel guilty about that. But I would just say, make sure you have all the information because I would hate for you to make a choice because you go, oh, I can't afford to buy a house. I'm just going to spend the money because I can't take it with me when I die, like you were saying, Bec. And then, you know, a couple of years later, you go, oh, if I had known X, Y, Z, I actually could have bought a

house a couple of years ago. And that's something that I would have wanted, but you shouldn't feel bad about your priorities. Yes. Yeah. I think that you said something or our listener wrote in and said, like, I think I'm just pessimistic. And I think that's important to address because human beings are inherently pessimistic because if we go back in time, none of us could live in a cave but back then being pessimistic was a survival instinct and expecting the worst and getting the best was was a literal survival tool to go like oh if I go out there might be a threat like and I think that that is a protective measure that we still implement today whether that is us protecting our emotions because we're like oh I don't even like them kind of vibes or oh I don't

even want to buy a property when maybe deep down you do because you just don't want to put yourself in a situation where you feel at risk, right? So I think that having conversations and learning more about financial literacy and what it could mean and just exploring opportunities, you don't have to do these things. Like my job or the job I've given myself is to give you all of the tools and resources that I believe you deserve to make decisions that are in line with your values. and that does not mean that everybody should be investing in the share market it doesn't mean that everybody should be you know buying property like I want you to have the financial freedom to live the life that you are crafting but I can't tell you what your values are that's why I'm so

like oh think about your money story think about these things because I can push you so far but you can't lead a horse to water and then expect them that they'll immediately drink right so I think you need to do some internal work about well what are your value systems like let's talk about this pessimism where is it coming from is it because your money story is telling you that it never happened for your parents and every family member that you've got has never owned property and therefore this blueprint has been set for you so you just expect you will follow suit that doesn't have to be the reality of your future like just because you've seen it portrayed that way doesn't mean that you aren't completely in control of your money journey. Like anybody at any stage can go,

nope, that's not for me anymore. It's really hard. It's not like an easy, like, oh, I just woke up today and decided to be rich. If only. If only, right? But like, if you want something bad enough, you can make it happen. And the She's On The Money community has taught us that. Like we've had people who've gone from being dead broke in hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of debt to starting businesses, to, you know, investing hundreds of thousands of dollars, to becoming financially free. So I think it's important to kind of like go, okay, cool. Why am I not even engaged in this? Is it because it is overwhelming? Is it because I don't know what I even want to do with my degree or even want to do for work or whatever that is? Jess, you touched on something

that I think is really disengaging and that's this concept of retirement. Like in my head, in my head. People who retire, they have like a work Christmas, like a work party and they get a Coles cake and they stand around in their tea room and they go, yay, Fred's retiring. And they have little flags and there's nothing sexy about retirement to me. But there's a lot that's sexy about financial freedom. Like the idea that I'm going to get to a point in my life and I'm going to have enough income from passive investments, meaning I could not go to work and still afford brunch, still afford coffee, still be able to travel. Like to me, that excites me. So I think it's about, I get that you're not engaged with this concept of retirement because neither. And

I know that Jess, that was something where I was like, do you want to talk about retirement? And you were like, absolutely not. But then I was like, also, did you know you could get free money? And you're like, sorry, what was that? I wasn't listening. Can you start again? And I think it's really important to kind of educate yourself on what that can provide. Because if you love travel, Imagine having an investment portfolio that paid you a passive income that meant you could travel every single year without question, without having to be like, oh, I wonder if I'll be able to afford it. No, no, no. You set yourself up so you could afford it. And a lot of these systems, once you've decided on your values, we can set up in the background, whether that's

contributing more to your superannuation and asking your employer to do that on your behalf so you don't have to think about it again, or whether that is automating your cash flow so when money comes into your account, you have a direct debit that goes straight out into an investment or straight out into your savings account so that you don't have to think about money all the time. I think there's this massive misconception that to be good at money, you need to be consistently counting your pennies and checking your bank account and doing all these things. No, implementing good systems is the key to success. It's not something like, I don't check my bank account every day. I don't look at these things and that's a privilege, but the privilege

has come from implementing clean systems because I don't really want to do that every day. Yeah. Yeah. And it's a really tough economic time right now. You made a point about like, you know, feeling pessimistic. And to be honest, I can totally agree with that. I think that it's just overwhelming and scary, not even just in the financial world, but the political world and, you know, all of the things that are happening in other countries right now. I feel like it feels heavy to just be alive right and you know yeah sometimes it just feels hard and that is really normal I think and that it makes sense that that would then bleed into something as significant as your finances because you're trying to think about your future you go oh my god the future feels very

scary and very unsure and very unstable and I feel like that could maybe play into it as well but I just want to say that you're not alone in that because I feel like that a lot too and you don't want to hear this but the best way to protect yourself and your future is to care about your financial literacy the best way to put yourself in in the best position whether you are in significant debt or have a massive income is to care about your cash flow is to do a budget is to do all the things that you are probably avoiding because it is going to mean that you have clarity yeah and even if the clarity shows you that things are looking a bit bleak you would prefer to know now and be able to address it then get another 10 years down the

track and be like oh that's even worse yeah like we can do so much today that puts you in the best possible position like let's do it let's do it what everybody else say so lots of opinions and I feel like it was a really relatable one right so we went to the community and we said do you find it hard to set goals because of what you think you should be doing and 40% of our community said oh my god yes 27% said sometimes I try hard to tune that out and 33% of you said no I'm just doing what works for me. Teach us your ways. We also asked, do you think clear goals help you keep control of your finances? 78% of you said, yes, all my money is a mess. And 22% of you said, nope, I'm fine without them. Whatever works for you. We're not here to judge. Easy. I'm not. But

also like, I could never. I know. My type I ask could simply not, but I'm happy for you. We obviously then said, can we please have your two cents? Some, and I have a lot of comments, so I'm going to go through them. One person said, I think it's okay for people to have different goals at different ages and stages. Absolutely. Agree. So many of you replied, I relate so hard to this. Someone else said, struggling with goals. Think of money as a journey, not a destination, because it's about process. So true. I love this. I feel like all of you guys should actually host the show. Someone else said, I think you should think of investments as something different rather than your retirement. Same page as me. Another person said, you can save for a holiday and a

house. The house doesn't need to be clear in order to save towards it. That's true. Yeah. You can do multiple things at once. Someone else said, I'm a little bit in the same boat of not knowing what to save for. So I have just a big savings account and then a general savings account. The big one is for life things, whether it's a house or something big that I decide on in the future. And then general savings can be for holidays. I like that. Cool. Someone else said, I'm not very goal oriented. I save because I can, and then it's there if I need something. It's actually a good point. Not everyone does work that way. Particularly, I feel like a lot of neurodivergent people probably approach you. And we don't know what we want.

You're either hyper fixate and you're like, this is all I'm doing, or it can maybe feel a little bit intangible and therefore more challenging. Which is also very normal. Yeah. Being cross-stitch right now. Yeah. But very valid. Like you don't need to have goals, but you do need to care about future you. So I think that you don't need to be clear on it, but we do need to be clear that future you deserves the best and we're going to treat them that way. Someone said, this is 100% me. I'm saving, but what for? I think about spending it, but then I don't because I fear it's a waste. That's hard. Yeah. Someone else said, life is short, but also long. I try to balance goals for both. You never know. You never know. And then someone else said, maybe just start

with one goal. And that goal is an emergency fund. That's a great idea. I love that. It's like, what are you saving for? I don't know. Financial freedom. I just want to be rich. Like Beck, do you want free money? Yeah, I want to do what I want. Exactly. And I feel like you are a do what you want kind of person like you don't need to buy a house you don't need to organize like a plan for an apartment but like beck you imagine how much do what you want you could do if you didn't have to come to work today i know you could sleep in you could lay in the grass you could get six million vapes like you could do you but you need cash to fund that lifestyle but still be here lots of financially free people don't have houses and stuff too like it looks different for

everybody oh my god i just actually finished it's coming out soon i just finished recording a money Diary was someone who said, basically, I have six figures in my investment portfolio, six figures in my super, six figure income, and I don't think I want to buy property, not for me. And I looked at their savings. They are saving, they have $110,000 in an investment platform right now, saving two and a half or $2,200 each and every single month, which is so much money, right? But I worked out that when they retire, they're going to have about $5 million in investments and no plans for property. But do you know what $5 million in their investment is going to mean when they retire? What? An income of $275,000 a year. That is very appealing. But do you know how much

whatever you want that means? Yeah, that's so true. And they were like, oh, I don't know. I'll have to work it out because I'll have to pay rent. And I was like, babe, with $275,000 in income, you'll always be able to pay rent. Don't worry. You are fine. Anyway, this is probably also a really good time to do a little bit of a shameless plug, Jess and Bec, because we have just launched our first ever Black Friday sale. And it's like kind of a way to divert you from actual shopping and into investing in yourself. And we're just talking about goal setting and investing and cash flow and how that's really important. So we have just launched our bundles with She's on the money. So you could get your wealth builder bundle and it's like 30% off all of

our courses or like future investor bundle where you have the goal setting course as well as the investing course. Anyway, there's a whole heap of discounts to be had. It launches in January next year, like the actual course intakes, but we wanted to give some people some savings now so that they can focus on investing in themselves instead of in clothes and shoes and things that seem to be all we care about during Black Friday. Anyway, all of the info for that is going to be in the show notes and it's all over social media because that's just who we are as people anyway i feel like this has been a really good friday chat friday wrap have a good weekend guys and we'll see you bright and early on monday for a money diary bye guys bye

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