She's On The Money - The Super Catch-Up Plan You Need and a Pep Talk for When You Feel Behind

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

Have you ever celebrated hitting a big financial milestone... and then you take a look at what your friends are doing and suddenly your win doesn’t feel so shiny. This week, we’re diving into the mental minefield that is the money comparison trap... the spiral that hits even when you know you’re doing okay. We also break down what to do if you accessed your super during COVID and want to catch up (or feel like you “should”). Is it worth topping up? Where do you even start? Plus we've got all your fave money wins, broke tips and chaotic money chats. LAST CHANCE: to sign up to The Investing Masterclass, it starts July 1 and you can sign up here.  Ready for more laughs, lessons, and unhinged money chats? Check out our oh-so-bingeable Friday Drinks playlist. Listen here. Join our 300K+ She's on the Money community in our Facebook Group and on Instagram.  Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements. The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs.  Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708,  AFSL - 451289.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

Hello and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast that makes personal finance fun, especially on Fridays. It's our favorite day of the week because we get the team together and we get to celebrate you, our incredible She's On The Money community. Ms. Jasgrichi, she's here as always sharing our favorite money wins. Ms. Bex Syed is going to be sharing her broke tips and we're going to be helping to answer a money dilemma. Should you be topping up your super, especially if you've taken money out? And something that you slid into our DMs about, how to get out of a comparison spiral with your friends, which I feel like is so relevant especially at the moment like everything is so challenging at the moment

and then what do we do when things are challenging we look over the fence and we go well what's Beck doing then oh she looks like she's thriving but I'm so stressed Beck's stressed as well we're all stressed out here guys so that's a really good one how have your weeks been my week's been good but lots of birthdays galore a little cancer baby mine's coming up it's my birthday soon so exciting and then you know what happens yeah my birthday happens then jess's birthday happens and then mine because i'm the 30th of july yeah we're all in the space of like yeah a month literally a perfect yeah isn't that perfect yeah which is fun i love this are you a cancer leo no she wouldn't be a cancer she doesn't fall into that because she's at the end of july

you guys are cancer yeah yeah yeah yeah and babies in fact i think most people in our office are and it's low-key terrifying and then when we did the like Myers-Briggs typology indicator test and we all have the same personality as well and I just don't know what that says about us it's giving cult it's giving cult vibes if you aren't a cancerian you can't go here but also we're the worst cancerians are the worst so is it okay if I'm not you can be a leo it's actually better for thank you how's your week been uh really nice i'm really excited for tax time um because i got a feeling it's gonna be good but also i don't know i don't know i don't understand how anything works but other than that honestly chill week i feel like i'm i'm getting back into the groove of

things like a couple weeks ago i was in brisbane and i gotta say like there's something so weird about being around people who don't know the context of you because I feel like I can be quite maybe like either really shy or really jarring and know in between. And so I think that it's really nice to just be around people who know the context of me again and I'm feeling right at home and comfy and cosy and very, very cold. So crispy at the moment.

What about you, BD? I'm just mad about the cold, if I'm being honest. Like you would think that I would be better versed at this and have had more experience. No. Even being from Tasmania. It's cold. It's cold.

And I would like to complain about it and I would like to feel heard. You're allowed. Something about Melbourne cold is very cold because I've seen a few TikToks from people who are from Europe where obviously snows and stuff, which we don't really get, at least in where we are. But I feel like we get the crap cold, Jess. Well, people are saying even though they're used to that type of weather, they're still they're feeling the melbourne cold which i thought was very interesting

having had the privilege of travel when you're overseas and it's snowing it's real dry like it's dry cold you can actually like wrap up and feel like warm with your puffer on but i feel like i go out in my puffer and it's like this dampness that kind of feels like it gets in your bones in melbourne yeah it's not it's like a humid cold i don't know how to explain it crispy i don't know i like it to the bone cold to the bone so i said to james last night in bed i was like i'm freezing to the bone but we all know jess would have been in bed with her two weedy packs i was he came to bed after me he was cold and he was like touching me because i was warm and i was like get away i don't have weedy packs but when my husband gets in bed i put my feet on him yeah

and he's always like get those feet off me and i'm like but this is why i got married yeah there's the whole point this is a rite of passage why be here in my bed otherwise literally you are the warm. Anyway, would you guys like to hear a beautiful five-star review? Absolutely. All right. So this one's from Mitch and he says, I would normally fall into the he's on the money category, but I've been listening to She's on the Money since I heard VD on the My Millennial Money podcast with Glenny James about maybe the 8th of May, 2021. Very specific. He said, and that means it's been just over four years now. Wow. She's on the Money is a great place to Listen, learn, and understand all things money, finance,

some good life hacks, and some generally good stuff. Even some great coverage on the federal budget. Wink emoji. I have shared many episodes with my friends and family because it's just great content. Thanks so much, V, Jess, and Beck. Love the eps, also love the banter. It's so nice.

Thank you. Thanks for hanging out with us, Mitch. Yeah, seriously. There's something really, really lovely about like, it's like, and I don't know if this analogy is going to land very well, but it's like when your parents take on your advice it's like you know historically we've been maybe men think that they um know more about money and stuff like that and so when when when a guy listens it really means so much more to me i don't know if it's so nice isn't it really really

nice like thank you so much like we like victoria really does know her shit like it's really and so do you at least and i have you guys fooled so thank you so much for listening you are so welcome here and we are so happy to have you the she and she's on the money is in our community that's us like we the she on the show and then everybody else is welcome yes we're all friends here and i think that that's the best part so i totally i love that one because it was such a nice review but also it just reminds people that like this community everyone's welcome as long as you're a nice person otherwise get out yeah that's so nice all right miss jessica richie have you got some money wins or even confessions for us this week oh you know that i do so i'm gonna start

off this week with a good one from louise who said money win i stuffed up and forgot to cancel an annual subscription to a streaming service which had renewed a week ago she said they're renovating and they're on reduced internet for the next 12 months so she messaged them and explained the situation and said she'd love to come back in the future if she could the company refunded her the full annual fee straight away no questions asked that's a money win how good is that also don't ask don't get exactly right don't ask don't get and also reminder check your annual subscriptions and put them in your calendar so you know when they're coming up next up i've got a money win from Em who said money win. I needed four new tires for my car and was quoted $480 per tire

from a tire place. Is that how much tires cost? They're rubber. They are rubber guys. She saw an ad from my car who were doing a one day 40% off end of financial year sale. So she managed to get better branded tires for $273 each, which meant she saved herself a whopping $838 for all four. money win gorgeous money win 40% of tires I didn't know that was a thing we love that neither did I and next time I need tires I'm gonna be looking because they are so expensive yeah and then that's one of those things you're like I don't want to spend money on it but like I have to spend money on it yeah also it's about safety so I'm like oh it separates you from the road like I guess that's right there 100% next I've got a money win from Alyssa who said she had groceries

delivered to her place by accident but the driver had left before she realized oh I would have felt so awkward she called Woolworths to let them know and they said that the order had likely been refunded or re-delivered so she could keep them she said she got 12 bags of groceries in this economy what she said it was like hitting the jackpot it would have been hitting the jackpot and you would have been going through and be like oh eggs this whoever ordered this likes the good brand or they bought the Josh's ones it's like a blind box but adult version yeah like you actually want the stuff inside a hundred percent someone went through and curated their grocery list and then you got it. Yeah. May that kind of love find me. Genuinely putting it out into the universe.

Next, I've got a money win from Asmina who said she bought a bed frame from Temple and Webster and while it was in transit to her house, she noticed that it went on sale. She emailed them to politely ask for a refund of the difference and they credited it to her account within a couple of days. Beautiful. Money win again. Don't ask, don't get. Genuinely. And then last one from me this week, I've got from Sarah who said money win. I found $10 in a pocket of an old winter jacket oh it made me think maybe I'll like surprise myself for next year like once winter's over I'll just squirrel something away in a pocket with like maybe like you're doing great sweetie and ten dollars and then I'll find it I still talk about the time that I found a

$20 note in my ski pants so good like I still talk about it I'm like that was that was amazing that feeling was amazing there's nothing better than surprise money and check your pockets before you take things to the op shop because people yes you can find money in those things so check the op shop pockets and also the pockets of your clothes is that legal can you check op shop pockets at the op shop i don't know purchasing the outfit i've seen mixed reviews is that a good money to keep things because you know those stories where someone was like oh i bought like a jewelry box then you know got it home and opened it up and it was like oh yeah jewelry and stuff like that see i just i don't know where the line is i just i don't know but like if you find 10

bucks in a pocket at the op shop but you didn't buy the outfit what do you do jess i would probably give it to the op shop of course oh you're so cute it wasn't it's not i'm not out of pocket no just i'm doing financially yeah no we all know jess is better than everybody we just know she is yeah you actually are what else have you got for us that's it for me this week that's it all right it's your time to shine miss beck syed great what are your broke tips really quickly i have a money win and um that is obviously shop back related but i'm paying you on the side by chance because I feel like shop back have been sliding into your dms because you know my friends seem to be in a very committed relationship with them I wouldn't be mad but

we just need to be transparent you know I I am obsessed with shop back so I know but they're not paying you no they're not paying me they're not paying me um Angus if you're listening to this call me please I am obsessed but um no I well I was telling BD that I'm going to Thailand and I bought this is unhinged I kind of low-key love it I bought hotels but I did it I'm sorry one hotel and um did it through after pay so i was like well i'm i forced myself to go even though i haven't saved for it but i did it through shop back and it's like i get like i got like 50 bucks back isn't that crazy 50 bucks is 50 bucks and then they do aarlo on shop back which is like the e-sim yeah they do travel insurance on god sorry i was stop talking about shop back now we

should try and plan like a holiday soon jess so that we can like contact all of these travel brands and be like what a coincidence we should work together if anyone would like to send team she's in the money on a holiday yeah we'll figure it out for you looking at you united and virgin again we wouldn't hate it no if somebody has to in fact we would be grateful and you know the content you would get out of us we would do anything for you this works for free already for shop back apparently yeah exactly wow yeah i really should stop mentioning them until they send me something be like shop back this was your free trial yeah and honestly just send me one chop-a-chop and I would be happy. I've got a chop-a-chop in my bag if you want it. Coke,

please. What did you say? Sorry. I've got a chop-a-chop in my bag if you want it. I think there's a Coke one. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. I'm so happy right now. I'm so excited. That's all I'm going to think about for the rest of this recording. You can collect it from my bag on your exit. Thank you so much. Okay. Broke tips. This first one comes from Emma, who said that she went to two phone companies in person. For her, it was Optus and then she went to Telstra, but then got home and chatted to Optus online. She was in a nine year contract with them. So she asked me to put through to their loyalty team. And basically, long story short, they offered her $10 off her plan per month. She said that she would sign up at that exact moment if they made

it $20 off a month. And they did. So now she's saving $240 a year and didn't even have to change providers. Which I think is the thing. Vodafone is going to be so annoyed that we're sharing that because people are going to slide into their DMs. And like, that's fine. You guys get that bank and be like but I know you did it for someone else totally totally and that's the thing with like I think phone providers as well my mom used to do that all the time and I'm like I would not have the audacity I did a speaking engagement earlier this month actually Vodafone have their small business summit so I was in Sydney earlier this month speaking for them so Vodafone I do adore you I know that we've got a close relationship but I'm really sorry if there is a good money

win for my community we're gonna still share it we're gonna share sorry about it now this next one comes from ella because i see that there's a broke tips thing on the she's a money every single week oh my god you guys are going to be sharing broke tips and bec gets to pour over all of the comments and then pull the best ones yes and i want those who didn't get picked to know that i really appreciate all of them they probably will come at some point oh girl the community just thrives off the fact that they can read through hundreds of comments like they're all being used whether they end up on the pod or not god it's useful thank you so the second one comes from ella who says that she's on medication that is not on pbs and it is quite expensive

she discussed with the pharmacist to get like the double the dose so it's like if you have like a five milligram to make it 10 and then you buy half does it make sense yeah absolutely my gp actually mentioned this to me the other week so carry on with that and then i'll tell you about greg no um basically she just said make sure you talk to your doctor or pharmacist before you do this because some medications can't be halved i guess if it's like maybe you know those tablets there's like american tablets yeah like the capsules or something too hard yeah too hard but like those white ones like a paracetamol you can split in half split in half so that would save you a little bit of money especially if it's not absolutely does so my gp greg shout out to greg

he is very impressive and the other day i was on the phone to him because i just did a telehealth appointment and i was asking for like a script and he said do you still do that little podcast if you're going to say, yep, do Greg. Absolutely. He said, well, I've got a money win for you. He's like, I have been giving you every single time you get your scripts, two months supply instead of one month. And I was like, oh, I just thought that the like, I didn't question it. I just thought that the chemist had been like taping two boxes together for me and just like giving it to me. But he's like, no, Victoria, that was me. I've been giving you a two month supply every time you go and pick it up because it's cheaper. So if you tell your community to ask your GP to give

you a two month supply instead of a one month supply, it will be less. And I was like, oh, that's a really good one. And he said, also, if you take any over the counter medication, so if you are going to the pharmacy and asking for like creams or medications that are just behind the counter, but you don't need a script for, he said, sometimes if you ask your GP for a script for it it then falls onto the pbs and you get it cheaper oh so shout out to greg love greg we love greg the little podcast loves greg he's been my gp for like 10 years and like he's the best he sounds sweet oh my god that is so he's a 10 out of 10 and also sorry he takes every single concern i've ever had very seriously oh that's good anytime i'm like oh i don't like this he's like

we'll get to the bottom of it victoria that's what we want to hear that's what we want that's what we want don't be dismissive anyway be more like greg what else have you got be more like greg and then my broke tip i don't use chat gpt i want to preface what i'm about to say with this i don't use it i don't there you know there's some things that i anyway i don't love it but anyway apparently if you use chat gpt you can ask it to get you like find you discount codes you absolutely can a specific website or like maybe just in general I'm not really sure you can ask it for anything anything so if you're like I really want this lamp from Fenton and Fenton please find me a discount code you can also say when do you think their next sale is going to be

and it will say well actually their last sale was here and last year in October they went on sale for up to 40% off so you might want to hold off Victoria oh my god wild yeah it's so much smarter than i'll ever be whoa that is really cool it's low-key terrifying i know but also like really cool anyway maybe i will ask about fenton and fenton later but anyway so that is my broke tip for this week i love that all right well i think that that's where we're gonna put a pin in it we're gonna go to a break because on the flip side we're gonna be talking about whether you should be topping up your superannuation because a lot of you in the community during covid took some money out. And something that you slid into our DMs about, we're chatting about how to get

out of that comparison spiral with your friends, which I think is going to be really relatable. So guys, don't go anywhere. Welcome back, everybody. Let's take a listen to this week's Money Dilemma. Hi there. Have you got a money dilemma you just can't solve? The She's on the Money team is here to help. Every week, we tackle your dilemmas, both big and small, to answer your most burning money, career and life questions. To get involved, simply head to our website and leave us a short voice recording and you might just find yourself on the show. Now let's take a listen to this week's Money Dilemma. Hello, she's on the money team. I'm just reaching out because I have a money dilemma that I would

love some advice on. So through COVID, I did take advantage of the $20,000 that you could take and I did use it to pay off all of my car loan, which I don't regret because it has put me in a much better financial position even to this day. I guess my question is that I am coming into a large sum of money early next year and I'm not sure if I should be putting that $20,000 back into super or if I should be putting it elsewhere. A little background is I do invest with shares years and also raise. I do have a healthy emergency fund and I'm almost finished with my house deposit, but that payout will support that and also putting $20,000 in super if that's the right thing to do. I would really love some advice to see what your opinions are with what

I should do with that or if I should be redeploying it elsewhere. I really appreciate you listening to this and I can't wait to hear your feedback. Thank you so much. Bye. Oh, you sound so kind. Yeah, sweet angel. What do you guys reckon? I used to work for a super company. Come on, Bec. I know. Well, I think you should, well, this is what I would do.

I would put it back in super as a personal contribution that is an after-tax contribution and then claim that back on tax and then maybe you get some of that back and then you can do whatever. You get 15% back. Because most people in our community are on a marginal tax bracket of about 30% and if you're not capping out your contributions, which is at $30,000, the superannuation environment's tax rate is 15%, so come tax time she would get 15% tax back.

True, but there is a personal contribution cap. I think there's a tax specifically, the amount that you can claim back on tax, I think. Yep, up to $30,000. Up to $3,000 on tax? Okay, there you go. That's the cap. So anything above and beyond that becomes margin,

like defaults back to your marginal tax bracket. You don't get the 15% tax, right? So, I mean, that's what I, if I had the money too, if I was given that kind of money right now, it would not be going into super. She would be spending it on Thailand. I know it. Absolutely, absolutely.

But yeah, if I was in a good place, maybe I would do that. Thailand has the best food. I can't wait for you to go, honestly. Thailand is one of the most underrated travel locations, I reckon. Yeah, okay. It's so well-priced, like I would say so cheap, so cultural, like the people are so friendly. Like I've been before.

I adore it. I can't wait. Anyway, side note. I'm so excited. Jess, what would you do about the super question? Have you been to Thailand? I haven't been to Thailand. I'd love to go one day.

It's on my list. It sounds like you said super question, but you said super question? Super question. It sounds exactly the same. Sorry, go ahead. I would say $20,000 is a really significant amount to take out of your super. Not knowing how much you have invested, the only way that I would say it's balanced is if you've invested $20,000 and you intend to not touch that until retirement. If you haven't done that,

I would say I personally would be looking to put the money back in because taking $20,000 out, especially during COVID, which is now four or five years ago, you've already lost quite a lot of time compounding. And so I would really be prioritizing paying that money back as a matter of urgency. Personally, you can elect to invest it outside of super instead. But as Beck said, there's obviously the tax benefits of putting it back in. I also just think it's nice that you can't touch it. I think we're all sometimes a little bit tempted to dig into money we've got put aside, whereas obviously once you put it into super, you're not getting it back out. So I would be making it a priority. Personally, I would say if you haven't listened, we did an

episode during COVID it would have been 2021 2020 it was so long ago we're really old now Jess but it was specifically about um how to catch your super backup if you took money out yeah that's actually still all very which I think would probably be pertinent to our listener specifically to explain a bit more why you might want to prioritize it yeah I can't give you personal advice but I would be looking at what your super balance is right now and if you took 20,000 out but you didn't mention anything about, you know, I always make contributions or whatever. I'm assuming that you're behind for your age.

So like that's not an ideal situation to be in and it's something that I would be trying to remedy whether that is making a lump sum contribution now or going, okay, well, I've got this 20,000 and like maybe for some reason you don't feel like you want to put it in super and you want to invest it in shares. It's like go off,

but like let's make a plan that maybe you're contributing additional so that you make that money back up. Because women, we're already behind when it comes to super. We are already retiring with less money than men. We are already not in the best possible financial position. And when we're young, we just don't take our super seriously. And Jess, that's why we recorded that episode of like,

what to do if you took money out? Because it was so damn tempting. Totally. Like if the government's like, hey, do you want to access 10 grand of your super or 20 grand of your super? A lot of us were like, yeah, I don't want to have personal debt.

I don't want to have my loan. I don't want to do these things. And you know what? Financially, for a lot of us, taking money out of superannuation and paying off a personal debt that had a high interest rate was actually not the worst idea. The thing we did a disservice to ourselves on was not upping our contributions after to make back the money. And I know a few people in our community were like, hey, hey, hey, this feels like a money hack. I'm going to take the 20 grand, but I'm going to up my contributions through my workplace. so it'll be back in my super account in like three years but I also can pay down some debt so like

they did the maths and realized that's actually a really good financial play but I think a lot of us just were like free money fantastic and we didn't think about the broader implications or what that might mean for us in retirement and like it's not sexy to talk about retirement like how many of us want to say like I'm sorry Beck you and I want to talk about like the unhinged money hacks from TikTok. That's where our brains are at right now. So like talking about retirement, she's boring. She's not exciting, but like that's future us and she deserves the best possible future as well. So let's make sure that firstly, let's look at your super. Are you behind? Unfortunately, because you said you didn't make additional contributions and you did take cash out. I'm

going to assume that you're probably behind for your age. How do we get back to where we need to be? Maybe that lump sum contribution is a very sexy way of doing it. You are going to get some tax back come tax time, which is nice. But what does that actually look like for you? So maybe do some numbers, work out what you want to do, or maybe not the 20,000. Maybe you do, all right, I want to invest 15,000 on shares because I want more direct access to it. I'm going to chuck five grand in and I'm going to set up an automatic contribution with my workplace so that over the next two years it gets made back up and I'm never going to be behind again. Yeah. There can be a plan. It doesn't have to be a lump sum contribution. Yes. If you're getting a big inheritance, it might

be worth just getting some advice where someone can actually look at everything and 100% and I think that inheritance is such a fickle conversation because sometimes you go and like I'm not saying that this is true at all but sometimes people go oh it's only a hundred thousand dollars because that's a whole heap of money right but for a lot of people they go well that's a house deposit I'm just going to use it for that like or they might go oh well that's not enough to change our like it's a life-changing amount of money for a lot of people but for some people who already have full-time careers and maybe they've already got their mortgage, it's not such a life-changing amount that like it changes their lifestyles. Yeah, their mortgage might go down by a hundred

grand, but like they don't see it as a priority to seek advice on that money. But like that could be the start of kicking off financial freedom. Yes, you could put it on your mortgage or we could spend a little bit, get some advice and put ourselves in the best possible position. Like let's just see it as an opportunity totally yeah we're a little dilemma i'm so excited for this one do you know what i'm i'm not excited i think i'm still just a bit disheartened because i feel like a lot of us are going through this at the moment where we like doing the analysis paralysis or comparing ourselves to each other and like i'm victim to this all the time i'm not just comparing myself to my friends i'm comparing myself to random people that i see on tiktok that i'm like

What do you mean? She's a mom and has the same age kid as me and I'm not doing X, Y, Z. It's delusional. So someone wrote into She's On The Money. Hi, She's On The Money. I recently hit what I thought was a huge milestone. I landed a new job and I finally cracked six figures for the first time. I was feeling pretty great and so happy for the extra income. See, that's good. That was until I caught up with a friend who just got a new job and she told me that she's earning more than $200,000. She's much younger than me and she didn't even go to university. She just worked her way up in a good company. She's absolutely killing it and I am really happy for her, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me feel like my salary now isn't enough. Now, even

though I like my job and I worked so hard to get here, I can't stop feeling like I'm not earning enough money. I've started looking at other roles constantly, even though I don't actually want to leave my business. I just feel like there is no way I could ever earn that much. And it's starting to really affect my self-worth. I don't know how to change this money mindset. What would you guys do? I want to hug you. Money doesn't define you. Your self-worth. I don't know. Like, I just want to jump up and down and be like, your self-worth is not connected to how much money you earn. Yeah, not at all. Do you know how many people I've met who were rich, who I think are absolutely awful people and people who don't earn that much that I'm like you are the best human in the entire

world yeah oh anyway I'll let you guys have the floor because like this one just gets me maybe because I can relate yeah I get it yeah I think that it's I want to validate your feelings like it's totally understandable and as Victoria said like it's something I think a lot of us experience it's really hard especially like for me personally like cost of living is something that's so hard so I can see how even when you achieve something it really feels like you're swinging uphill and then seeing other people around you you know you said that she didn't go to uni you did so that you know maybe makes you feel like you're questioning the choices perhaps that you made or the things that you've done so I totally get how you're feeling and I want to just say that

that's okay and that's normal I think what you need to do is step back and go back to where you were before you spoke to her and you said to us I've wanted to hit six figures for a really long time like I was so excited and you should be yeah absolutely yeah like that's amazing and you know on the flip side I'm sure your friend was equally as excited to share that with you and she probably didn't consider that you know by doing so it would make you feel that way exactly but I think looking maybe at where you've come from what I try and do when I'm feeling really down on myself for you know my progress or you know you guys know I've been saying for like five years I'm gonna buy a house this is how many years have I said this is the year and it hasn't been you know

and anytime I do that manifesting for you we're manifesting hard but anytime that I'm really struggling with that I try and look at where I've come from so for me if I go back six years I had credit card debt I had zero savings you know now I've got even though you don't have a house you are sitting on so much cash right now like you are killing it I've saved a house deposit I have an emergency fund you know I've been able to do all these incredible things in my career so it sounds like our listeners done the same thing like you've gotten a pay rise you've stayed at a company you've got a job I remember when you hit six figures like it is a big moment like it's really that's not little exactly and so I think rather than looking at what other people are doing

sometimes looking back at where you've come from you can forget because we're always striving so hard to move forward we're always you know thinking about the next thing and we're also all trying to just keep our heads above water I think in this economy as well so it can be really easy to lose perspective on where you've come from so I think honestly like go back look at your bank account from five years ago and see how far you've come look at your position look at the job that you had maybe you hated it maybe you know you didn't like the team that you're in or maybe you were earning half of what you're earning now or whatever that looks like I promise you like I would bet my house deposit you've made progress yeah a hundred percent and so I think you need to

at your house deposit. No. You worked really hard on that. We are the gambling family, Jessica. But, you know, I think go back and recognize all the hard work that you've done because that's so exciting. And just because other people are achieving what maybe feels like bigger or better things doesn't mean that the progress you've made is any less incredible or exciting to be part of. Yeah, totally. What you're not seeing is that maybe you will get to that stage at some point and you will earn 200 grand. And maybe we haven't comprehended that that's the cap of your friend's career yeah like maybe they've tapped out and I'm not saying that that's reality because you know we do a lot of money diaries on this show and you know a couple of months ago we had somebody on the

show who worked in tech and like she was earning like half a million dollars and had stocks and had all of this stuff and hadn't done uni right and she's just in this industry I don't think that that means that her friends that are earning less than her are less than like I can almost guarantee that your friend told you because she was like oh my god Jess I really want to tell you this because I'm so proud of myself and I think you're going to be proud of me too. Like you don't tell people things because you go, do you know what? I'm going to tell Jess I earn more than her because that'll make her feel like trash. Yeah. No one does that. And so your friend went into that with the best of intentions to arguably celebrate and share with you because like

sharing makes things burn brighter. Right. Yeah. But didn't really comprehend your feelings and that's okay. But it doesn't mean that you're less than or different. Totally. And it could even be a like, okay, so you've seen somebody else who's earning literally double. Do you want that lifestyle? So have you looked at your friend's lifestyle? Do you like that? Yes, they're earning more cash, but like at what cost is a question I like to ask all the time. Like you can do it, but like at what cost? Like I could triple how much she's on the money earns, but at what cost? I don't think anyone in our team would be happy. I would have no work life balance my family would be suffering like all of those things right so I think we need to zoom out

and go well at what cost or hey you know I keep using Jess as an example here because she spoke up first I suppose but let's use Beck hey cool so you've looked at that lifestyle maybe you go that is really shiny do we want to make a career pivot what would that look like how could we work towards moving into a career where you have that because no shame some of us are very money motivated you might adore your job but you've seen someone else and an opportunity that you go I'm smart enough to do that maybe you want to move like maybe it's an opportunity to reflect on where we are and what that might mean and sometimes we could fall back into I don't actually want that I adore my job I have the best like work-life balance whatnot and I'm really proud

of where I've come from or hey that was actually a really good like little trigger to push me further. Yeah. It really depends on what the friend does. I'm really curious to know what your friend is doing. Oh, I'm always pervy. You tell me you earn $50,000, I want to know. Totally. But also the fact that they came to you and they're really excited about this, like, you know, this either pay increase or salary or whatever it is. It's like that in itself is kind of telling. It's like that, that is abnormal. That is not the norm for everyone. If it was the norm for everyone, your friend wouldn't have made a point to be so excited to share that with you. it's like some sort of extraordinary circumstances I can promise you I am so far away from six

figures I don't know about you guys but almost everyone I know is so far away from it or like just almost touching it it's like that is a big big deal so that is incredible and you should really be proud of yourself for for getting there but also exactly what you guys are saying like it is so funny I was having this conversation last night about money and career and all this stuff and really we have to like first of all realize that the value we put on roles like everything's kind of just made up you know what I mean and so I think that like first of all we need money to like buy food and all these kind of things and like if the lifestyle you live is what you like if you are happy exactly as VD was saying if you're happy cool it doesn't it honestly doesn't

matter if you have some disposable income, you can buy some luxuries, you're paying for your rent, your food, your whatever else you need to pay for. If you're covered, if you're not struggling every single day and you're fairly happy, you're fairly comfortable, that is so much more than I could ever imagine. Like that is just so cool. Like that would be amazing. And so, but yeah, I think when we look at what other people are earning, we have to think about like, if I want that would you completely switch up and do exactly everything they're doing if not hey let let them be you know there's like FIFO workers that make like a million dollars a second I'm like that is amazing but but I would do that yeah would I do that no absolutely not so I'm like

I'm sitting here I'm comfy I'm whatever FIFO I can't imagine it can you imagine I'm not getting out of bed sorry I kind of think that would that I can't imagine you're so far away from your circle of no exactly I wouldn't so that's the thing is that like you have to firstly look at like not just like the dollar amount you have to look at what your friend is doing and if you would swap everything over and also realize that the amount you're on not everyone is on but yeah your your worth and your value comes from within because everything else on the outside is just made up and I also think before I move on to the listener like to our what our community said we all struggle with it like I struggle with it uh Jess struggles with it Bex we we all do it so

even your friend who just told you I own 200 grand I can promise you she's found a ring of people that she's comparing herself to she's comparing herself to everyone at work being like I've made 200 grand but like so and so over there I know gets bonuses because they've got a different remuneration structure and someday I'm gonna like we're all comparing ourselves and we need to just stop. Because it's, where is the productiveness in this? At what point did that ever actually help you? Exactly. So we asked our community, first question we asked was, do you ever get stuck in a comparison spiral with friends? 25% of you said, yep, all the time. It's exhausting. Only 25%. Wait, then 58% of you said, yep, sometimes I catch myself doing it. So we all do

it. And then 17% of you are better than all of us and said, nah, I'm really good at staying in my own lane. Could you slide into our DMs and tell us exactly how you stay in your own lane? Because girl, I'm on the freeway. I'm on the freeway. I can see all the lanes. I can't stay in my lane because the people in front of me, they're going slow. I need to overtake you. Like we are just a little screed screed we aren't on the country roads you know next question we asked was do you struggle to separate your money and your self-worth 52% of you said sometimes depending on how I'm tracking 27% of you said yep they feel really linked and again 22% of you are better at much of this than we are and said no I know my self-worth isn't my income slide into my dms and

you tell me how you do that? Because we need to do a whole episode on how you guys are living your lives because I need your tips personally. So that's just a selfish request. We then said to the community, guys, what's your two cents? First person said, I'm 38 and I feel like I'm never going to reach six figures. I love my job though. So I'm happy to put up with the low income. Absolutely. Absolutely. Next person said, talk to a professional. Your work probably has a free EAP program that can do wonders for mindset and direction. That's a good one. That's a good one because that's free, baby. Another person said, think about all the times you were dreaming about being exactly where you are right now. Exactly right. They have a J name as well. So

that feels like a Jess thing to say. Next person said, there's a documentary called Happy. Once basic needs are met, happiness doesn't actually increase with money. I'm going to go watch that doc. That reminds me, there's a book called The Happiness Project that I read years and years ago that I really liked. Similar concept, I think. Oh, I have that book, but I've never read it. The yellow one, right? Yeah. Yeah. Next person said, I'm the friend that out earns all of my friends and I really hope that they don't feel like this. That's not why I shared. Another person said, I earn a lot less than all my friends, but I've got more time with my kids and I think I'm happier. I love that we've had two opposites there. Yeah. Yeah. I like that.

Another person said, my bestie earns double my salary, but she said she would love my sense of fulfillment and satisfaction she doesn't think she can achieve. That's it. Money isn't everything you guys. I'm going to give you three more. Next person said you could make bank doing a lot of things you hate. Is it worth it though? That's a great way. Exactly. Aspirational goals rather than comparison spiral is a good place to think. And another person said what you do with your money is so much more important than the figure you earn. Oh and the last one I said I was only going to do three but the last one is good too. Stop trying to keep up with the Joneses next door they're broke. Yeah. You don't know your friend might earn 200 grand but she spends 300. How do

you know? Exactly you just got to make sure the moments that you're living are happy and full if you can but the times we spend money this was like three minutes per day we're looking at our bank account like the rest of that time you got to be living enjoying just do what you got to do. I love that, Bec. That is a very good place to leave it. All right. I hope you have enjoyed today's episode. We'll see you bright and early on Monday for a Money Diary. But till then, have a beautiful weekend, guys. 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 authorized representatives of Money Sherpa, PTY, LTD, ABN, 321-649-27708, AFSL 451-289. Thanks for watching!