She's On The Money - The Side Hustle Buddy Boundary

Episode Date: March 23, 2023

It's our favorite time of the week again cause we get to celebrate YOU! As per usual we share your money wins and losses, and answer a Money Dilemma about home loan repayment periods. PLUS, last week we talked about supporting a friend's side hustle. Well this week, you slid into our DMs about having the side hustle and setting boundaries with your buddies. Do NOT miss some very helpful tips on avoiding awkward situations with your besties. 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. Today, my friends, it is Friday, which means it is time to get our little team together and celebrate you, our incredible She's On The Money community. Today, Miss Jessica Ricci is going to be sharing our favourite money wins from the community. We're going to be helping to answer a juicy money dilemma, which this week is all about whether to take on a shorter or a longer period repaying a home loan. And we're going to unpack something that you slid into our DMs about this week, which is all about running aside hustle and friendship boundaries. Miss Jessica Ricci, how has your week been? It's been good. It's been low-key, kind of chill, which is nice after a

couple of crazy, crazy weeks for us. I love it. I feel like I'm still kind of riding the high. Yeah. But at the same time, I'm so scared that the high is about to drop and I'm going to get really sick. You know that anxiety? I'm waiting for it. Waiting for the beat to drop. It's coming. Bec, how has your week been? Really nice. Also low-key, I believe. What have I done this week? of weather. I don't know. How's your new job going? Oh, I'm really liking it. Oh, good. Yeah, I'm really liking it. You know, when like little random bits of information finally start to form a picture in your mind. Yeah. I think I'm getting to that point and I feel really good and really comfortable. It makes you so much more confident, right? Yeah. Love, love, love, love. All right,

let's jump straight into it. Miss Jessica Ricci, you were raving about it earlier. What are the community money wins that you're bringing to the table today? All righty. My first money win comes from Nicole who said, money win. This week, I've finally gotten to the point where I was able to decrease the limit on my credit card to $5,000 from $10,000 after paying down some of the debt on it. My next target is to get it down to $2,000. Queen. Little baby steps. Still having debt is totally fine. Working on it, huge win. A hundred percent. I feel like so many times people are like, oh, I feel really shameful

because I'm still in debt. No, Queen. I'm proud of the behaviors that you have towards getting rid of that debt. Absolutely. And also what happens when you get out of debt? You've already got those behaviors established. Exactly. That's really sexy. Congratulations, Nicole. My next money win comes from Samantha who said, I didn't buy a new dress for a wedding. I always do. I'm currently 16 weeks pregnant and I uncomfortably squeezed into one that I already had so I could save myself some money. Oh, that is so smart. We were talking about it. Actually, I put it in last week's newsletter because a few people DM'd us about our outfits and Jessie was like, hey V, can I do a poster on She's On The Money about the outfits we all wore to International Women's Day?

And I was like, yeah, of course. They were really cute. But something that She's On The Money team does, which I think, I don't know if it's important to point out, but I think it's fun to point out because we're always like, oh my God, if you've got an event or a dress from a friend or hire it or do whatever, we literally walk the walk. Like Jess, we share wardrobes. All the time. Literally all the time. Like if you see me in a dress, very high probability it's Jess's and vice versa. And even for International Women's Day, it was funny because Gabby, my EA, was like, hey V, I really like that dress. Can I wear it in two weeks time when we do, you know, Perth? And I was like, of course you can. It's got pockets. Like I didn't invest in a dress

for it to get out once. But anyway, great outcome. Dress sharing. And that's a little theme. I'll touch on that in a minute. My next money win comes from Kelly who said money win. I was able to postpone the kids dentist appointment because there was one visiting at their school the same week they were due. Oh, is that like Harold? I think that's what I thought. I was like, is that potentially the giraffe? I don't know if he still exists.

Does he still exist? That's showing our age. Yeah, it's kind of weird now you think about it. Hey, this giraffe in a caravan is going to come to your school. Do you want to come in my creepy little dark caravan and watch movies? It was always so dark. Why is it always so dark? I don't know.

It was dark. That's what I remember. Like I cannot remember what I learnt in that caravan. Nothing. But it was dark. It was very dark. This next money win comes from Ashley who said, My friend went in a ticket lottery for Harry Potter

and the Cursed Child play Melbourne Tickets. We got last-minute tickets and we only paid $40 each for row A, which is normally $185. Sometimes it pays to be flexible. Oh, my God. How good. $40 for a good night out. Yeah.

Amazing. And that show is so good. You're going to love it. My final money win this week comes from Em who said, I went to a clothes swap at my friend's house the other week and got two bags of new-to-me clothes for free as well as some books, clothes, and toys for my son. I love that.

That's so cool. Sherry is caring. It does come into the wardrobe category. I feel like we do that with each other's wardrobes. I've definitely rifled through bags of your stuff and had a great time doing it. Yeah, let's do it again soon. No, I was just hiding in the closet.

She was just in my wardrobe. They were my new bags of clothes. I wondered where all of those went. No, I feel like it's really fun as well. And, like, I get a kick when I see you guys wearing something that I might have given you because I'm like, I never wore that anymore. How good is it that it gets a second lease at life? Our first photo shoot that we did, the three of us, do you remember that dress that I wore? You were like, cute dress.

And I was like, thanks. It used to be yours. That's because I'm also like a goldfish. And I'm like, oh, really? That's wild. Looks so good on you. Maybe I'll borrow it from you. Yeah, did you kind of want a backflip on it?

No, no. I think Jess said that. And I was like, absolutely not. That is not how gifting works. All right. let's go to a really quick break because after the break, we're addressing a money dilemma about whether or not to take a shorter or a longer period to pay off your home loan. And we have a cheeky little DM that you guys wanted us to respond to about running a side

hustle and boundaries when it comes to friendship. Don't go anywhere. All right. You know what time it is, guys. Let's 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 i'm a huge fan just got a quick question we have just seen a mortgage broker our fixed interest rate home loan is due to expire in May. We have already had the mortgage for six

years and from listening to your podcast, I requested the loan term be 24 years. The mortgage broker recommended that we still take the loan term out as 30 years. However, making our loan repayments as if it were the 24-year loan term. He said his reasoning was because if we are unable to make the higher repayments, the lower repayments could be our safety net. Just wanted to get your thoughts on this. I wasn't sure if he was making a genuine recommendation or if he was trying to ensure we keep the loan for longer and keep him in business for longer. Thanks. Well, my friend, the first mistake you're making there is not going to see the Zella Money team because I guarantee if you saw the Zella Money team, you wouldn't need to ask us whether it is a good idea or not

because you just know you'd have good education. But that's me being a little bit biased and also putting really unrealistic expectations of my team educating the client. But I also think that that's not the worst idea in the entire world. I can completely see where he's coming from. But I also think it's kind of like, all right, well, have you done the maths on what the repayments on a 24-year loan are versus what the repayments on a 30-year loan are? And at the end of the day, obviously, if you're in the position to be able to pay off your mortgage ahead of schedule, you're going to save money on the interest. From my perspective, if you stretch out that loan to be a 30-year mortgage, the interest is also stretched out. So I don't

particularly love that. I actually want it to be really condensed. And the more condensed, the more principal you're paying off your home loan. So that's a better idea from my perspective. But I also think it's really situational. And if your mortgage broker has suggested two different scenarios, what they should have provided you with is the breakdown of the total interest paid on both of those circumstances, the total repayments that would need to be made and all of the other circumstances. But in saying that, I think that in this current economy, it is a little bit different to the advice I might've given two or three years ago, right? Because obviously it's more than double what it was historically. And that is painful for me to say as somebody who

has a mortgage and is definitely feeling the brunt of it, which a lot of our community are as well. However, I think that if you're in a situation where you're like the flexibility might be really good. Even though long-term the interest may be a little higher, I don't think it's the worst position to be in to afford yourself with a bit more flexibility, especially because we don't know what interest rates are going to be doing into the future. Is it also possible that having a 30-year loan may increase borrowing capacity? Because if they're looking at your income versus your ability to repay that, they might, if you have those additional 10 years, the bank might consider you're able to borrow more? Yeah, absolutely. In this circumstance,

I don't know how applicable that is though, because she said she's refinancing. So if you're refinancing and she says, I've asked for a 24 year term that from, you know, just making some really basic assumptions based on the fact that most loans are 30 years, she's six years into that term. So she's probably spent six years paying that mortgage and she's probably just refinancing maybe because her interest rate has unlocked and it's gone up and, you know, you just need to make sure you're always in the best possible position or because it just makes sense to see a broker at that point and I mean right now is actually a really good time to see a mortgage broker because there's actually like the banks want to keep your business and like

we've been talking to a few clients recently where it's like hey cool we can actually change your mortgage really minimally like you're going to be in a better position it's not the sexiest change like I'm not cutting it in half or anything but by changing your mortgage and going to this other bank you're going to have access to an offset account and also they're going to give you $4,000 cashback. Great. Like that's sexy. Yeah. Like that's really nice. So I think talking to a mortgage broker always, whether you think it's necessary or not, is not a waste of time. And talking to one that's actually going to educate you about your experience. And I don't mean to throw this dude under a bus. I think that as somebody who literally owns a mortgage

broking company, I have really high expectations of brokers. I think coming from the financial advice industry and always wanting to educate clients and put them in the best possible position to create wealth, that's kind of been overlaid over the, you know, just get client alone vibe that a lot of brokers have. And if you're asking me, is this a good idea or not? I don't, it sounds really nasty, doesn't it? But I just think that your broker has not done enough to educate you because both scenarios should have been mapped out in plain language for you to go, ah, yes, option A means I pay X interest and this many repayments and over the long term, I'm in this position B means X payments this position over the long term and then you can

just make the decision that makes the most sense for you having a broker that just says oh Jess I don't think that's a good idea I think you should just take the 30-year loan and you know deal with the repayments and then you've got more flexibility what you meant to nod along and be like yeah of course sorry yeah sorry for trying to be educated like he should have mapped that out so that you felt like oh far out you're right that is a great outcome because everybody's circumstances are going to be different. And that's why you don't just log into an online portal to get a loan. You actually have to see a broker who takes your lifestyle and your budget and your circumstances and your goals and what's going to happen in your life into consideration

to make sure you get the right product. So yeah, I'm a bit biased, but I also think just education is key. And if you're getting paid to do a service, you should be earning that. Yeah. From my perspective. That's fair. Sorry. I completely agree. Now, last week, we obviously answered a juicy DM about side hustles and friends with small businesses. And I think whoever DM'd us this week was listening to that because they've kind of flipped the topic on its head, haven't they? They absolutely have. I laughed when this one came through because I was like, this is very timely. And you've obviously been listening to the pod, my friend. So we picked it this week because it kind of like flowed on

really nicely and kind of came from another perspective. So this week, our community dilemma sounded like this. Hey girls, I just wanted to send through something based on your convo last week. That's why I came up with this conclusion. I'm on the flip side and I'm actually a side hustle owner and I find navigating this with my friends really hard. Sometimes I think my friends expect a discount or items for free and with the cost of living, I really can't afford to do this right now and I'm actually about to increase my prices. Keen to hear the other side of this and how i can approach this with my friends that is a very good question i personally am a like a digital designer outside of this and i kind of make like little i don't know just like art print

pieces that's why we got you to do all the shoes on the money branding for free right yep that's me but i kind of yeah i do find that some people will really want to support me so they'll be like hey I love your work I love your style can you do this or this or this and then like I don't know how much I'm actually meant to be charging yet because it's so challenging it's challenging when it's a print because I'm like oh do I you know charge you based on my hourly rate or do I just charge you based on like because the printing is quite expensive it can be like hundreds of dollars to get it printed on like floating frame canvas nice light oak look wood it can be very expensive And so do I charge more than that?

That's excessive, I feel, as a kind of like a beginner. You get what you pay for. Yeah, that's true. It's always very like I never know what to do. And so I find myself thinking, okay, I'm very grateful that you want to support me, but it takes hours, if not days, if not weeks, and then I'm probably going to get profit maybe like $20. That's on me.

Absolutely not. Absolutely not. You and I have to have an offline conversation about that because your time is absolutely worth money. and I think that your comment there's lots of layers there babe we're gonna have to break those down but let's pretend for a hot second that you did know what your hourly rate was or what like your artwork rate was and let's pretend for a minute that each piece of art and this might be grossly undervaluing you and that is not what I'm meaning to do it's just an example each piece of

artwork's 500 bucks right do you give your friend a discount just for being your friend that's a very tricky one I feel obliged to no but you shouldn't no absolutely not if I want your art in my home I want it hanging on my wall knowing that I did absolutely everything to support a friend who has started a business and produces art like I want to look at that painting up on that wall or that piece of art that you've created and know not only did you do that for me, but I contributed to you running a successful business. I don't want a piece of art on my wall that I go, oh my God, yeah, I got that piece of art. It's from my friend Beck and I actually took the absolute mickey out of her. I got the biggest discount. So she wasn't remunerated

for her time or the energy or the effort that she put into that. But check it out. It looks sick, right? Yeah. That's ick. That's ick. Like if you can't afford to be buying art from your friend, you shouldn't be doing it. And that goes for any service. Like I'm not going to ask for a free haircut from my friend just because she's a hairdresser when she works at one of the best salons in Melbourne. Like, you know, if she offers it and you're having a few drinks on a Friday night, I think that's a very different situation than going, oh, well, because you're a hairdresser, you probably should be cutting my bangs for free. Like that's, it's just not the case. Yeah. I just think that if you genuinely want to support your friend in business,

support them properly, back them and actually back up their prices because your friend is absolutely worth what they are charging. Yeah. Jess, what are your thoughts? No, I agree. I think that, as you said, it's like a different circumstance. And I feel like this is probably my experience just because me and a few of my friends work in more creative industries, but I think it's quite common within our circle, at least, that it's kind of like a tit for tat. So I shoot content outside of work. And so sometimes my friends will be like, hey, like if I give you this, are you happy to like send me some pics I can use? And it's kind of like a given receive, which I think is a bit different to a friend going, oh, I just expect

it for free because as you said, you're my friend, because ultimately if that's what they're expecting, they're putting you out because you've spent the money to get the materials or you've spent the, you know, the hours to create the drawing or the digital art or whatever it is. So I think like there is definitely gray there. Like it's not black and white. Every friend must play a full price all the time. Oh, absolutely. Do you know how many times I have given my friends free advice or I have, you know, given them the budget and cash flow masterclass for free or done things? Like I do it all the time. I get it. Yeah. But I think it's the expectation. The expectation. A hundred percent. Like if someone came to me and said, oh V, like I want

one of your books. Can you just send it to me? I'd be like, wait, what? Do you know how many books I sent to my friends? Like I'm so proud of that. Like I want every single one of my friends to have that in their hands. That makes me proud. But I think if someone approached me, which they haven't because I have nice friends and been like, oh, hey, do you have any free books lying around your office? Can I have one? Yeah. Totally different. Totally. Right. Like, oh, hey, can I buy it at wholesale? Like, oh, that just feels ick. Like it just doesn't feel like you're supporting me or my business. And I'm really lucky to be in, I guess, that privileged position where all of my friends are very similar to me. And so they actually can afford that and they do.

and it's so nice. But we also ask the community, right? And I think that that's my favorite part of these dilemmas is it's not just our opinions because like our opinions are ours, but the opinion of the community really backs up my opinion. So I really validated this week, guys. So we said to our community, all right, give us your two cents on this. What do you guys think? And our community said, any true friend wants to support a friend with a business, end of story. Someone else said, if you truly want to support friends with a small business by purchasing, than pay full price. Someone said, yeah, it can be hard. I run a small business and when I do it, I don't take my time into consideration. I feel like that makes sense. Someone said people are

constantly expecting discounts and don't realize the time, effort and money you spend on getting there and the actual cost of a discount, which it's right. Like if you're asking for a discount, where is that coming from? Like your friend's business is like profit or their bottom line, or are they just working for hours for free when they could have been working on another project that actually would have paid them? Like, I feel like everything is different. You're right, Jess, but it's also as a small business, I feel like we need in this circumstance to actually just have really strong boundaries and be able to say no. Like no is a full sentence. Can you give me a discount? No. You don't have to go, no, I'm so sorry. I this, I that. Here's my

justification. You don't owe anybody a justification. I think in that circumstance, to do it. Your friends are expecting a discount. They care more about what you can do for them rather than the friendship, like they care about the product or the service. And so it's probably not the kind of personality that you're going to want to be supporting you and uplifting you on your journey because small business ownership is a journey and it is really tough and you want the right people around you who want to buy your stuff or if they can't afford it, they want to promote it and share your Instagram to their other friends or whatever. So it might be as well if that's what they're expecting that they're just not the nicest people. They're not on your team

and like Jess we ran up against this because we recently had our International Women's Day events right and both you and I were in the circumstance where we turned to each other and we're like my best friend bought a ticket. Yeah. They can you refund her she shouldn't have been paying or like I had girlfriends that paid for tickets that slipped through the cracks and on the day I was like what are you doing here and they're like oh my god we bought tickets and I felt so bad because I was like, oh my God, I didn't check the guest list because at each event, there was like 500 people. So it is hard to keep track of that and run the events right. And I was like, oh my God, I feel so guilty that you bought tickets. And they're like, V, we'd never ask. And

I'm like, I know you wouldn't ask, but I should have offered. And I feel like there's this nice amount of privilege in our business where we can afford to refund the ticket because like, you know, events for us aren't about making money. We just want to make sure that everyone has a really good time. But smaller businesses who are still finding their feet, like I was at the very beginning, I couldn't afford to give away tickets to my workshops when I first started. Yeah. Like I genuinely needed every seat in that workshop that I was running to cover its cost because otherwise I was going to be out and I was already a small business and I didn't really know

how I was going to do payroll the next month. And it can be really stressful. Now we're in that privileged position where we're like, Jess, your mate shouldn't be paying. But I feel like it's a really interesting position where I think you as the small business owner need to surround yourself with the right people, but also know your boundaries. Totally. A couple of people here, I thought this was really sweet. She says, my friend has a candle business and once she had a two for one sale. So I just went ahead and I bought six and paid full price for all of them. Isn't that wholesome? I just feel like that's really wholesome. Someone else said, I'm a personal trainer and I always let my friends join in my group sessions for free if they ever want

to, but I can't afford to give them one-on-one free personal training. Yeah. So that's a really nice compromise. Exactly. Just on that, it is probably one of those things where in this situation, sometimes people actually do genuinely want to support. And so they think that they're helping out by doing these things and reaching out and asking for something from your business or from your time or whatever, your energy, and not realizing that it's costing you more than possibly it should or the perception of how much it costs isn't quite lining up and so it can simply just be a conversation like that unfortunately that doesn't i can't afford to do that in this situation where there's like oh you can jump in on a group session but i can't afford

to train you one-on-one maybe her friends are wanting to support her but don't realize how much it costs yeah a hundred percent so yeah just setting small boundaries and just being like hey that will cost me a lot of money i can't do that but here's try this you know exactly and i think when we say set boundaries, like boundaries don't have to be aggressive. They can actually be really soft and kind. And we've spoken about this before where I'm a boundaries person, but I hate enforcing them because I feel a little bit awkward. Like Beck, if you ask me for something, I hate saying no. It's just my personality type. So it's all about finding a workaround and language that feels really comfortable for me. And I know that a lot of small business owners are in a similar

situation where they're like, I should be this strong, independent woman who can say no to everything. And then your friend asks for something and you're like, yeah, of course. I think it's just really normal. There are a couple more that I want to read out just because I feel like they're really wholesome. And this one backs up your opinion, Jess. She says, if you do an exchange, so both are business owners, then that's okay to not pay because you're both getting something out of the deal. Someone else said, my cousin's a really good beauty therapist and I always pay her full price. Someone else who I absolutely agree with this says, I'm really itching to understand why others expect so much versus being grateful.

I'm like, yeah, okay. I totally get that. So I think with that, that's probably a really beautiful place to leave it. Please don't expect your friends to give you stuff for free if they have a small business. The time, the energy, the effort they put into that. Not only that, but the risk that they're taking to go out on their own as a business owner is wild. To go away from having a PAYG job. Jess, in this economy.

In this economy. Stressful. In this economy. like that's wild we absolutely should be backing our friends but my loves i think that is all we have time for on this very beautiful friday so guess what we'll see you next monday have the best weekend bye guys bye the advice shared on she's on the money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances she's on the money exists purely for educational purposes and

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