She's On The Money - Wait, TikTok Says You Need 7 Income Streams to Be a Millionaire? We’re Calling BS

Episode Date: January 21, 2025

Have you seen those TikToks saying you need seven income streams to be a millionaire? Yeah, we’re calling BS. This week, we’re tearing apart the hustle culture myth that’s been making the rounds on social media—and giving you a realistic, sustainable approach to building wealth without working 24/7. Victoria and Bec unpack where this viral idea comes from, why it’s not what it seems, and what actually works when it comes to creating a financial glow-up. If you’re ready to ditch the pressure and make real progress, this episode is your game plan for wealth-building without the burnout. Listen to our ep Your Ultimate Guide to Asking for a Payrise.Victoria's book The Business Bible is available here. Ready to binge more relatable, inspiring, and downright juicy money stories? Check out our ultimate Money Diaries playlist. Listen now FREEBIE ALERT: Join the She’s on the Money 30-Day Reset—your step-by-step guide to refreshing your finances, setting achievable goals, and starting the year strong! Sign up for free 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's here to show you that this year toxic hustle culture is out and working smarter is in. I'm Bex Eyed and with me is Victoria Devine, our bestie who is really, really, really good with money. How are you, V? Oh, thank you. That's nice. You're so welcome. What do people say when they meet you? They say I'm really, really, really good with money. I'm good, but I'm a little bit worked up, I'm not going to lie. I have been waiting to get on the pod, Mike's Beck. I'm so excited.

Are you actually? Yeah, I'm excited. I love when she's riled up. When she comes into the studio and she's like, sit down, let's go. She comes in hot. I'm so excited. Okay, so what's got you all worked up? Okay. So in a shocking twist, it is actually not multi-level marketing videos or content about that, which I'm still riled up about that, but I've actually put that on the back burner for a hot second. You know, I'm chronically online, like basically live on internet. Like if I say I've done research, I actually mean I was on TikTok. Like we know how it goes, but there have been

these videos that have started to really frustrate me. They're like a little bit like entrepreneurial and they're really grinding my gears. I feel like they're putting unnecessary pressure on people. That is just really unrealistic. Okay. I am hooked. I really, really want- Was that a good little hook? I did try to reel you in without telling you what it was. Yeah. Yeah. So it worked. It actually did work. I'm trying to figure it out before you even say it, but if it's not MLM, I'm like, I don't really know. So what do they say? Okay. So picture this. Are you a bedtime

scroller? Because I am. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm like, oh, I'm going to bed, honey. And I mean, I'm going to lay in my bed and go on TikTok. but you're scrolling on TikTok and someone pops up and they say, millionaires have at least seven streams of income and you should do the same. Oh, easy. And then you're like, oh, I'm just busy rotting in my bed, but cool. Like how does that make you feel? Like I already kind of felt bad for scrolling for so long,

but now I'm like, oh, okay, I feel much, much worse. It's not motivating at all. Seven streams of income. Is that realistic? I would think not for your average Joe. But you've heard that quote before, right? I've heard it and I'm like, I don't think that's possible. That's not in most people's reality. I really feel like it plays on our insecurities and it makes us feel like, I don't know,

we're failing if we're not hustling 24 seven. And it really perpetuates that idea of this toxic hustle culture. I feel like you and I talk about this a lot, but it's this cycle of just like hustle, hustle, hustle. You're a hustle hard. Otherwise you're never going to make it. And it's just like ill David. And the reality is, I guess the advice when I see it, when people say, oh, you need seven streams of income to become a millionaire. It skips over, from my perspective, what actually matters when you are trying to build wealth. And I mean, as a headline, it works, but in reality, it doesn't. It's a fast track to burning out and feeling like trash about your financial situation and thinking, well, if that's what it takes to become a millionaire, like maybe

I just don't want that. Totally. Also, it's like, why do we have to like be constantly working? There's no such thing as guilt-free rest. You literally were saying this. You were like, I came back to work and I didn't want to come back to work because like, why do we have to work? Like, I just want to be on holiday all the time. Totally. I was just saying this a moment ago off air. I'm like, why do we need to work to afford basic human rights?

Like, I wish we all just had the standard, you know, roof over our head, clean water, good food, all this kind of stuff. But no, we've got to spend all our life working, working, working, but it's not enough. Exactly. But then on top of that, people are then like, oh, Bec, you also have to be a millionaire and to become a millionaire, it's going to take seven streams of income. and you're already like, I think you have like three or four streams of income. So like you are doing pretty well. But thank you so much. You've got the podcast, you've got your full-time

job. You do some freelance stuff sometimes. Oh, sometimes. Yeah, true, true, true. And you sometimes fix your friends' and family's cars. Oh my God. Yeah. You're so, so, you've got a good memory. You do. You do though, don't you? Actually, you're so right. I was like, oh, you're basically a mechanic. Yeah, true. That's so sweet. What a little icon. Maybe you do have three or four streams. But like that's already a lot. I just need three more. Yeah. Like why not make it four or five. Yeah, true. Let's just stack the pressure on. Yes. I want to just say that from my perspective, I don't care how many Forbes articles there have been about you being a millionaire takes seven streams of income. I think it's a myth. And I've like written a little

manifesto about why it's a myth and how it's a myth and why it's not the magical millionaire formula that people have been saying it is. And then also I was like, I can't just rant about this and not give you guys some steps on how to focus on creating wealth sustainably. So do you want to like hear this conversation? Yeah, what do we do? It's very one-sided, but I'm hoping you'll be like, oh, that makes sense. And now I'm going to go and do these things as opposed to like, I actually am going to build seven streams of income.

Totally. That's very comforting, actually. I'm glad to know we don't have to do that. Yeah, you only need four. Ha ha, we're all going to put these four. So where did this magic number of seven income streams actually come from? Like why not six or eight? Like it feels so arbitrary.

Like your four income streams. One or one. Oh, one would be so much easier. Oh my God. Low key. So it's a bit of an American concept, which is where a lot of our things flow from, right? The number actually originates from the IRS data from the US that looked at the income sources of high net wealth individuals in America. So it looked at the individuals and was like,

okay, we're going to look at all the millionaires and work out like, how are they making millions? and it stated, and I quote, the average millionaire has seven streams of income. So this is like data backed. And here I am being like, it's a myth. And it is a really catchy headline. But I think the most important thing here is that it makes sense that news outlets and like content creators are jumping on it because it is catchy. And they've taken the IRS findings and then kind of like spun it into what you could call like a how to become a millionaire playbook or something. And it kind of claims that if you want to be rich, Bec, you actually need seven streams of income because the IRS data says that because the

millionaires have that. And therefore, if the millionaires have that, that must be the key to success. Yeah. Correlation does not always equal causation or something like that. Exactly. Right. Exactly. That's literally it. And if we take a closer look at what those seven streams of income actually are, we can then ask ourselves the question of like, is this actually really realistic for the average person? And I could go through, you know, we talked about your streams of income and those are actual jobs, right? Like you are trading with those things that you're doing your time for money. And unfortunately you're capped out with time and you've got other priorities and things to do. So like we don't actually have unlimited time,

But when we start looking at the types of income streams that millionaires have, there's a lot of privilege in them, right? They've got their earned income just like anybody else is able to create, but then they will have their interest on their assets that they own. They will have dividends coming in from their share portfolios. They will have rental income from their investment properties. They will have capital gains that they're making. Maybe they have royalties.

Maybe they wrote a book and they get royalties for selling the book. and they would then have things like business profits where they are making money because other people are trading their time for money, right? And I think it's important to start breaking these things down because I could sit here and be like, well, Bec, did you know you need seven streams of income? What are you doing? How are you hustling up to that and put a lot of pressure on you? And that's why I would like that is so unfair. And I think that content creators who do that are missing the point. And the list isn't, I guess, about millionaires working seven different jobs. Because I think some people, especially on TikTok, and I've seen some of it

on Instagram, have taken it literally. And they're like, I saw that this is the stat and I'm going to go get seven streams of income and I've got seven jobs. It's actually insane behavior to me because they want it so bad, but they've missed the point that they're going to miss the outcome. And those are the people that are working stupidly hard that they deserve the outcome the most. Yeah, okay. Like millionaires are not spending every single waking moment juggling tasks like some of us have taken this on us. Like they're not online being like, okay, well, I'm doing, you know, online surveys

and they're out doing Uber Eats after their full-time job and they're trying to squeeze in like a dozen air tasker tasks that they think that they can do. I guess that's the hustle culture version of the myth, you could say. and it to me is so unrealistic and unproductive and I would say problematic. So if I was to break down these streams of income for you, these seven streams of income aren't really like a playbook to becoming a millionaire. I think it is the natural outcome of having money. Like you get money, you've got surplus income, you're going to start investing. You're going to start creating these other streams of income, right? And making smart decisions because of it, because you can now

afford to make smart decisions. Yeah. Okay. So that actually does make me feel a lot better because I'm like, here I am thinking, well, how do I fit in seven different things in 24 hours? Well, maybe I'll just cut sleeping out. Yeah, no, we don't need sleep. We don't need sleep. For the week. Yeah, that's so true. If you ask my nearly one-year-old, sleep is absolutely for the week. Your nearly one-year-old will be making so much money. Yeah. Well, he needs to, to pay for my therapy that I need from my lack of sleep. By the time he's two, he'll be a billionaire. Oh, absolutely.

So because chasing seven different income streams sounds so hard and unrealistic. It's also really silly that we're just not doing that. Yeah, we're not doing that. 2025, we're not doing that. No one's got time for that. What should we do instead? Okay. I'm glad you asked.

And the answer isn't just easier. It's actually more effective. Okay. I'm just going to give you the answer. But we're going to go to a really quick break. We're going to grab a cup of tea. And then after the break, I'm going to tell you exactly what I think you should be doing to focus on building wealth sustainably and not in a hustle culture way. And it's actually much

easier than going, I need seven different streams of income. Thank God. Welcome back, everyone. Before we get into the strategy, V, I've got to ask how many streams of income do you have? No. Rogue question. I have a number of them. So I've got my business income. I have my investment income. I have dividends coming in from my share portfolio. I would say that I benefit from capital gains. Like I own property and that has increased in value. So I don't have that cash in my bank or anything. But I know if I sold that property, it would very likely be for a profit. So I'd make some money there. I actually have six books and I earn money from selling those books. So I'm with a publisher, which is really cool. And they sell my book and I get like a percentage of what they

sell it for. So, you know, to be a little bit pervy, cause I'm very happy to talk about this. I get just over 10% of every recommended retail price. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. So I feel like people think it's a lot more than what it is. So it's not recommended retail price. It's like the sale price of the book. Sorry. So for what they sell for, I get like a percentage of that. So if my book is selling for like 20 bucks, I'll get, you know, 10% of that. And then I pay like tax on that. And then that actually gets paid out to me twice a year. So I don't get that with every book sale, like my publisher deals with that. And then twice

a year, they send me this like big document in like an A4 envelope. It's like kind of thick and it goes through like how many audio books I sold and how many physical books I sold and of which publications I sold to and where they sold, which is, I think, really interesting. So I make money through royalties. Who gets the majority? Is it the publisher? Yeah, the publisher makes bank from that. I think in America, it's a little bit of a different structure. You can make a lot more money in publishing in America, but in Australia, it's not as profitable as you think. I'm still very grateful and I've sold a lot of books, but yeah, I think people think that I might be a millionaire from books and I absolutely am not. I have my business profits. I have two different

businesses I own my mortgage broking business and I own she's on the money and then I don't know is it like inside she's on the money we make money from like lots of different things yeah right I think people always like oh I don't know how she's on the money makes money happy to talk about it so we've got the podcast so we go to an ad break and we have some very generous sponsors and like partners that we work with that work with the podcast to share them with you and they pay advertising. We make money through our online courses. So our investing masterclass, our money masterclass, we make money through that. I get paid to do speaking events. So people will invite me to do like talks and stuff. I do them at schools. Actually, I don't charge for public

schools just for the record. I would never, but like corporate gigs, you know, maybe conferences, stuff like that. I make money consulting sometimes. So other podcasts come in and go, oh, we want some like strategy advice here or there. I also make money on my Instagram. So my social media has become kind of like a revenue stream as well. So I don't do that very often because it's not my main priority. Like my main priority is actually my mortgage broking business and she's on the money. But like sometimes it's fun if a brand that I know and love is like, oh, V, we want to work with you. Like Dyson. Oh yeah. This isn't like a paid shout out, but you know how much I love my Airwrap. When they messaged me after I already owned the Airwrap and

was like, do you want to work together? I was like, say less. But yes, of course I do. Like that is like, I've been waiting for you to call me, like have your people call my people. So that was really cool. But yeah, I probably have more than seven streams of income coming in and I'm very grateful for that. And I think it's important to talk about that because if you're comparing my income, which I won't give a dollar amount. Like I'm happy to like talk about percentages and stuff, but I feel like sharing a dollar amount, it just doesn't help anybody. But yes, I would be classified a millionaire. That's so cool. But like, I feel like that makes sense with what I have achieved. Yeah, definitely. I was on LinkedIn the other day and like time flies when

you're having fun, but like I've been doing my mortgage breaking business Zella for nine years now. Like to have that and then to have she's on the money, you would kind of hope that I would have achieved that by now. And that's not me saying, oh my God, like I do this, but I have worked my butt off for the last 10 years to get here. But I think it's important to talk about the fact that I used to be in $40,000 worth of consumer debt, working a job that was not paying enough to cover that. And I was stressed about money. Like the financial glow up I have achieved, I think is really impressive yeah but I know what that feels like and how that works and if you had said to baby Victoria oh like you need to achieve seven streams of income mate I didn't even think

that purchasing a home was going to be a reality for me I just was like that is never going to happen like what are we going to do maybe I'll need to marry rich like maybe that's the game plan here. But when I started, it was one thing. And then with that one thing, being able to put all of my time and energy and effort into growing that then enabled me to fund the next project. So my first project was Zella. And I put everything I had into that. Like I was living in a share house in the tiniest room. Like, I don't know if you do this or not, but I don't care about the room that I had in a share house. I was like, I'll take the dinky little one if it's like 300 bucks less a month. Absolutely. Money win. Absolutely. This house has a lit kitchen.

I don't even care. So for me, I was making decisions like that and then investing everything that I had. And at the time I didn't see it as investing because I didn't think of it that way. I was like, oh, I have another bill. I've got to pay for that. And in my head at that point in time, the difference between personal income and business income wasn't there in my brain because it was just something I was doing. Right. Like I was just setting myself up. I was like, oh, I really want to do this business. How am I going to do this? I've got to pay. Like it was very single track minded in a way. But once that became successful and I had some profits in that and my interests were growing and I had this little Facebook group. I think if you look at me

today versus historically, I didn't become a millionaire because I had seven streams of income. To sustain my life now and to create the life I want, I have seven streams of income. I couldn't afford to have had seven streams of income back then. In fact, if I had taken the money that I was just like solely investing into Zella and tried to diversify that, I don't think any of those investments that I was making would have grown because they wouldn't have had enough channeled towards them they wouldn't have had enough investment in time in money in effort and energy to grow but my first one I focused on it fully and it started to grow and then yes a little bit by accident I won't say it's not because I I'm not smart but like it was literally a passion

project that I then turned into a business then I went she's on the money and then she's on the money the podcast made no money back like I was doing speaking events and that had for the first probably three or four years, zero profit. Like it was not making anything, but it was a separate business. And then I started to commercialize that a bit more and work out, oh, I probably should go with a network and get some advertising on here because I'm spending so much on a producer and getting it edited and I'm going to need to cover the bills. And then I'm going to need to pay a co-host. Like what's all that about? Like I need to bring some money in. So those things didn't come from having seven streams of income. But I think focusing helped me build that. And I

think that this idea, and I guess these are my steps, is like building those foundations. So I think a lot of people think that maybe my foundation is She's On The Money. It is my passion project. I adore it. But my foundation is Zella. Like that is the backbone of everything I do. That is why I still get to play in the financial services space. Like I am a legitimate financial services provider. And I think by focusing on one very strong, consistent stream of income, I have been able to create the life and support the rest of it. Because when She's on the Money wasn't making money. I was taking profit from Zeller and investing it into She's on the money. And like, it kind of perpetuated from there. But how do you do that? Right? Like,

yes, I was going to say, what I'm doing is not, I won't say it's not replicable. You could absolutely do this, but I feel like my success has come from a very beautiful, very lucky mix of luck, timing and grit. So like, yeah, I worked really hard. Don't get me wrong. But also starting a podcast at the time that I started was the perfect time to start a money podcast. past. It was kind of lucky at the same time as being able to seize an opportunity. But you know how to seize an opportunity? You need to have some cash. So how are you going to do that? Maybe if you're not a business owner, we're going to have some confidence in ourselves. We're going to ask for that pay rise. Like I've done, and you have too, whole entire episodes on this, which we'll

make sure we link in the show notes. But if you haven't done it this year, new year, new me, you pay that's it so like why haven't you gone in and said new year yeah this is everything I achieved in the past 12 months like let's focus on your biggest stream of income and hustle that up to begin with okay I think this is such an interesting moment for some reason I just realized that like we're basically the same age and because my focus has never really been on money we grew up differently we have different brains and all these things like say you're talking to me and also everyone else in the world that's like me no savings really bad with money cannot wrap my head around the concept of saving a dollar and then not spending it in two weeks so

how do we start like where would you recommend myself and people like me or just anyone out there that's trying to get by say we're starting from scratch today and working towards becoming a millionaire what would you do i would genuinely like focus on that one strong stream of income like start with your foundation and trust it so like you need to trust it but also have confidence in yourself and I think so many times we tie our value as a human being to our income and if your income isn't what you want it to be you see yourself as less than and that's so dumb like you are not your income and I think that by upskilling and trying to get the best possible job and like taking an honest moment to evaluate am I doing a good job in this job like is this

the right job for me is this going to create the path towards financial freedom that I want like I think also you know you comparing the two of us we are so wildly different and it's so nice that we are but I am just a different human being sure like I adore study like I did my MBA because I thought it was fun to do not because I wanted to work corporately I was just like oh that sounds really interesting like that's who I am as a person and like that is not for everybody like if I was like okay here's the pathway this is what you're gonna do you'd be like V I would literally prefer to do anything but that yeah right like that's just not for me and so I don't have the expectation that people would create what I have created it's kind of like I'm a bit

of an outlier in that aspect but like you can take an honest look at what you're doing and go is this getting me where I want to go sure like do I need to be a millionaire like you might go yes fantastic and I'm assuming if you're listening to this episode like that's something that you maybe want but if you really want to be super financially successful and that is super important to you yes but you're working a job that doesn't remunerate you well enough maybe you need to weigh up finding a role or an opportunity that brings you closer to that goal. How do you do that? What does that look like? And what transferable skills do you have that could lead you to a higher paying role? Like if you're currently in a role where there's career progression, fantastic, put a plan

in place. If there's not, are you happy there or are we going to be making a shift? Like sometimes you have to take a step backwards to take two forwards. So we need to be a little bit strategic and that was my second point actually it's expand strategically and you know what you're doing a really good job of this actually I'm going to use you as an example we need to create related income streams so like you're not going to go oh hey I'm back and I work you know for the radio station and do social media content I'm really bloody good at it I'm going to go be a lifeguard on the weekends like yeah right you're not using your skills and your knowledge and your ability because that doesn't actually tie to anything like you can get paid really well working as a

lifeguard for the record like they're hourly right amazing okay what is your like main job and then can you tie your side hustle to that because ultimately that is going to increase your experience and your knowledge and the next job you go for back you can be like oh I did that full-time job but did you see all this freelance stuff I've done on the side like I'm actually a done. They're going to go, oh, we're going to pay you more because you have more skills and experience than someone who only did the bare minimum at their previous role. So I think adding complementary streams of income when you can that are directly tied to your primary income makes sense. Like I was a financial advisor. I started a financial literacy company. It not only gave me

legitimacy but like it flows it gives me more experience as I grow and become stronger does that make sense yeah yeah definitely I had a really good conversation actually very recently it was this morning actually with a paramedic she was a money diarist and she was a paramedic and she was like I actually want to change my entire life her baby was in the NICU so like the neonatal intensive care unit like so I feel like that makes you think about your values and what you want to achieve and the life you want to live and she and her husband were like stuff this we want to travel we want to take the kids around Australia like we want to do this and she went and actually became a virtual assistant but in the allied health care space so like oh yeah people would value that

because they're like oh you're a paramedic like you get the medical knowledge and the text and the words and how people talk in this space so like you're going to get it yeah so she's got a lot of value to add there and she kind of sidestepped and is adoring what she's doing and I think that using that strategic sidestep has not only enabled her to create the life she wants but create an income stream that yeah protects that but then also she did say in that episode like I don't want to be a millionaire and I'm not a millionaire but I'm living my best life and to me that was way cooler yeah absolutely I guess yeah that's the preface of this whole thing is that like if it's not the life for you it is hard work at the end of the day and it's like

if you're someone like me who just wants to lay in the grass and hang out with their friends and and I love that and I think that that's where comparing you and I is just yeah that's true actually it's silly it doesn't make sense it doesn't make sense like that is not for me like I adore that about you but like I'm the type of person that can't sit still if you said V do you want to go lay in the grass for a couple of hours I'd be like we taking our laptops yeah yeah yeah like what are we doing like are we mowing the lawn or like like I need to be active and like that's not a good or a bad thing I'm just a different human being to you and the things that you enjoy doing I would be like so we've been here for five minutes what's next like it's just

totally not for me totally should we talk about the all don't invite me to go lay in the grass bit because you'll be so sick of me in 0.2 seconds you're like can you just enjoy the moment I'd be like, I just can't do it. So I think we need to also overlay our values into this. And I think that that's where I've been open, but like I do ultimately end up being a little bit uncomfortable because like, I mean, lots of people probably want to say that's probably really dumb, but like it is uncomfortable being like, Hey Beck, I'm actually a millionaire. Yeah. And you're not, what do I do about that? Like that's actually not the goal of everybody. And that's why I really shy away from that narrative because like, I know you, I've been you, I've been in

significant debt. I've not slept all night because of it. I still feel sick often about money because that past trauma in my money story means that money conversations today stress me out. Yeah. It's why I don't have any business debt because I'm scared of it because I don't want to go back into debt ever again. Of course. Like I could grow my business much quicker, but I don't want to beg. I'm too scared. That's okay. So I think comparison culture is really detrimental, but then also this idea of

becoming a millionaire and needing seven streams of income. Your seven streams of income come when you have the free cash flow to achieve seven streams to solidify that as opposed to needing it to get there. Yeah. Okay. I see what you're saying. This is a question that I probably already know the answer to. I hope the answer to this is no. Do you actually have to have a side hustle to be a millionaire. Yes. No, no, no, no, no. I was being mean and you took me very seriously. No, of course you don't. And I think that there is this overly glamorized version of what being a millionaire looks like and having multiple side hustles is really cool. And you've got passive income streams and maybe you've got your own boss by business. And

I think that there's this idea that you having a dropshipping business, for example, gets spoken about on social media so much like passive income is easy to achieve. And I am, as you know, wildly passionate about breaking down multilevel marketing businesses because I do believe that they are inherently predatory. But one of the biggest issues with them is they make people believe that wealth creation is easy. They make you think that to become a millionaire. It's going to be so easy. You can work from your phone. Becoming a millionaire is really hard and it is for some people. If you want to achieve it, you can. I have absolutely every belief under the sun that you can achieve it, but you can't achieve it passively. It is a

very active thing and passive income streams are legitimate, but they're not drop shipping. They're not multi-level marketing. That's not going to make you super rich. I mean, you might be generating enough income from your main job or your main business to be able to dive straight in and invest in something that creates a passive income stream for you. Do you need to have a side hustle to become a millionaire? No. Spoiler, you just need to invest. You need to be investing consistently over the long term. I worked as a financial advisor for years and some of the wealthiest clients I had were just PAYG employees who had invested over their entire lifetimes. In my first book, She's On The Money, I wrote about this client. I got their permission.

Husband and wife adored them. Still in contact with them today. I think I called him Jim in the book. That's not his real name. And he worked in a skyscraper in the Melbourne CBD. He worked as the maintenance man, earned about 70 grand each and every single year, had a stay-at-home wife, looked after their three kids, put them through school, like really admirable. He'd be nearly 80 now. So like very like stereotypical narrative. He has retired with like more than $6 million. Oh my God. And the reason for that is investing consistently over the long term. He has done nothing wild. Like he hasn't created a drop shipping business. He hasn't done a multi-level marketing business. Jim has not done any of those things. He just invested honestly in,

a number of different ETFs and shares and stuff like that, but in blue chip stocks over the long term. I wish I could be like, oh, it was really sexy. He did this magic thing. He didn't. He just invested consistently. And even when the kids were in school, he was investing. After the kids were out of school, he had a little bit of money aside that he could invest in addition. He just invested and created himself into being a millionaire. Yes, you can add passive income streams though, Beck. That is cool. Okay. So dare I ask what step three is? So the next step that I have written down, I guess it's the most important step in wealth creation. And that's where we literally invest, Beck. It's taking your surplus money and giving your money a job. So I believe in what's

called like zero budgeting. It's where you give every single dollar that comes into your account a job. Like Beck, I literally don't care what that job is, but like every dollar that comes in gets a job and it needs to work as hard as we did for it because we don't have employees if we're a PAYG employee but we have dollars and we can put them to work and you should but you should be acting as though your dollars are your little employees and they should be working they gotta work they gotta work hard and like some of that money is going to be working to put a roof over your head some of that money is going to be working to pay the electricity bill some of that money is going to be working to make sure that you have a good life and that you're having a fun time

and when your money starts making money, that's where the real wealth comes from. That's where the magic starts happening and that's why we need to do a bloody budget, Bec, and see what is coming into our account because I know and I'm not going to ask you to tell me the dollar amount, but do you know how much you get paid, Bec? After tax? Yeah, like how much hits your account. Don't tell me the number, but you know how much money goes into your bank account, right? Do you know the day it goes into your bank account I sure do the second how much leaves honestly for my whole life all of it and then I have to borrow money and then I yeah but like you couldn't tell me on average how many dollars you spend per month like I think so on what is a different question but the amount

I spend per month is more than what I make per month and then I don't know what I'm spending it on after this episode you and I sitting down and booking in a date to do your budget I keep saying we're doing it, but we're booking in that date. But most people are able to say exactly on this date, I get this amount of money and this is how much comes in and this is what it looks like. But they're not able to tell me like, this is how much my rent is. This is how much surplus I have. This is how much I spend on food, fuel and fun. Like on average, I spend this on my my key or my train. People just spend and we're not understanding it. I think that there is a very big misconception that budgeting is about restriction. Like I think a lot of people think they made me sit down and do

a budget. And so I had to think, oh, should I cap myself to $150 a week in groceries? Like, no, that's not budgeting to me. Budgeting is going in and going, all right, Beck, let's go through bank accounts. How much money are you spending? Like, I don't care what it's on, but what I want to be able to achieve is saying, okay, on average on food, you're spending this. And this is how much you're spending on dining out. This is how much you're spending on groceries. And this is how much you're spending here. And I would then like you to be able to reflect on that and go, oh, that makes sense. Or, oh, that's a lot higher than I thought it was. Okay. A lot higher. Great. Is that just because you'd never thought about it? Or is it because you're not comfortable with

that number because it should be lower? And you might go, oh, I just hadn't thought about it. Okay. No worries. Do you want to change it? No, I'm really happy with the way I spend that money. okay moving on from that though you might say oh man like now I'm thinking about it I go to the supermarket every day like I don't really track my budget I don't plan my meals if I planned my meals a bit more I reckon I could save a fair bit yeah if that's a value to you so I think we need to get our money working for us because when we get our money working for us we are able to find a potential surplus. And I'm not saying that everybody has a surplus. I don't want you listening to this and you're in that chapter of your life where every single dollar is going

towards the kids or every single dollar is being spent because you're studying. Like for me, it's about knowing that if you have a surplus, you can give that money a job that's above and beyond putting a roof over your head. That's above and beyond paying the electricity and having a nice life. It's making that money make money for you. So what are you doing with that money? Are you investing it in shares? Are you putting more into your superannuation? Do you want an investment property? Are you going to be investing in businesses? Like where's that going? Sure. But do you feel like if we do that, do we still need all seven? No. Oh, good. Do you remember how I just told you about Jim? His income stream was his job. And then

when he retired, it was just his share portfolio. That was it. Yeah, I see. I see. He did own his home because thankfully he bought it a period of time where it cost him like three times his annual salary. Property nowadays is like 13 to 14 times your annual salary, Bec. So like a little bit further off being able to achieve that dream. But no, you don't need seven different streams of income. You need a solid one and then you need to be able to invest. I wish I could be like, it's actually magic. He's the magic king. He's the golden ticket. It's not like that. It's actually a very sustainable approach. That sounds way more sustainable, something I could definitely get myself around. And we're going to get you around it. I'm going to do your budget.

I think that lots of people are going to want to know an update of how your budgeting went. So let's see how that works. But I think this approach and kicking out the idea that you need seven streams of income to become a millionaire, I don't like it. We're cancelling that. But this approach to creating wealth is more about avoiding burnout and making real progress and making it sustainable and throwing out the idea that hustle culture is a good idea. You don't need to hustle 24-7, but do you know what? If your money is invested, Bec, that's hustling 24-7. Money doesn't experience burnout. No, that's so true. If it's invested, it can work 24-7 for you and that's kind of sexy. So this year we're going to be like, I don't know, working smarter, not harder

because we want results and like it doesn't have to be hard. But what I need you to do is really focus your energy on one solid stream of income. So whether that is your current salary or your business, like go all in on one thing as opposed to trying to diversify it too much too early. Because if you have your eggs in too many baskets, you're not going to see any real return. You'll just see like a really small average across the board. And I think that by putting your money to work for you, you're saving your sanity and your time and you're setting yourself up on a pathway to financial freedom. And that, Bec, very sexy. That is very sexy.

That's what we're here for this year. I think I'm done here, though. For me, I think the key takeaway here is you do not need seven streams of income. You just need one solid one. It's progress over perfection and strategy over hustle. And work smarter, not harder. Exactly. We are so inspirational.

We should make t-shirts. Okay. Let's go make those. 10 out of 10. All right. Don't forget to follow and subscribe so you never miss a She's On The Money episode. Until next time, my friends, keep smashing your money goals without the hustle culture burnout. See you soon, guys.

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