She's On The Money - Walking Away From $200K for a Life That Matters

Episode Date: February 9, 2025

Would you walk away from a six-figure salary? For many of us, climbing the career ladder and reaching financial milestones feels like the ultimate goal. But when this week’s Money Diarist and her husband hit a household income of over $200K, they realised that success wasn’t just about the numbers. When they became parents, the long hours, the career grind, and the constant pressure to earn more no longer felt like the right fit. So, they made a huge decision—they stepped back from high-paying jobs to put their family first. Now, they’re adjusting to a lower income, a mortgage, and a completely new way of thinking about financial security. Was it the right move? Do they have any regrets? And what can we learn from their experience? Tune in to hear how they’re making it work. Ready to binge more relatable, inspiring, and downright juicy money stories? Check out our ultimate Money Diaries playlist. Listen now Join our Facebook Group AKA the ultimate support network for money advice and inspiration. Ask questions, share tips, and celebrate your wins with a like-minded crew of 300,000+. And follow us on Instagram for Q&As, bite-sized tips, daily money inspo... and relatable money memes that just get you.  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 lets you be pervy about other people's money habits for educational purposes of course welcome back to another one of our Money Days, where we get the absolute pleasure of sitting down and chatting with one of our incredible She's On The Money community members all about their journey. Let's jump straight into it because this week I got a message and it sounded exactly like this. Hi, She's On The Money. Growing up with a single mom in a low socioeconomic area, money was always toxic. Arguments, borrowing and never having enough shaped my determination to break the cycle. After years of hard work, study and climbing the career ladder and breaking some bad credit card

habits, my husband and I hit a combined income of over $200,000. It seemed like we had everything we'd ever wanted. But when our kids arrived, everything changed. We made the bold decision to step back, trade career ambition for family time and prioritize what truly matters. We might not have as much money, but we can still buy baby chinos and that's more than enough for us. Money Doris, I can just feel it in my bones. This is going to be such a sweet money diary. Hello. Thank you so much for having me. Oh my gosh. I am so excited about this. Before we dive in, Money Doris, if I asked you to give your money habits a grade from A through to F, what grade would you give them?

I would say I am a solid B. Oh, a solid B. We love to see it. But more than that, I love to ask people more about their money story. So, Money Direct, can you give us a little bit more insight into your money story? Yeah, absolutely. So, I feel like you touched on a lot of it already, but I grew up with a single mum and an older sister in a very low socioeconomic area. So, we never went without, but everything was hard to come by, I suppose, to put it easily. So mum was always, you know, working really hard to try to find where we were going to get money for groceries

and new school books and shoes and how we were going to pay for school excursions and everything like that. So money was always an argument. So whether mum was having disagreements with family members about like wanting to borrow money off them or whether we were kind of having arguments about how much a loaf of bread would cost because we'd get sent into the shops with $3 but bread was on special last week so where's the 20 cents change because every cent mattered. It was really really tricky so I saw a lot of the stress that my mum was under when it came to anything money related and that was really hard to see. So my sister when she turned 14 in nine months she got her first job and she started helping support the family as well so I figured that I would do

my part so if I got money once a week for tuck shop or something like that I actually just wouldn't eat at school that day and I'd save the money and I'd have like a little squirrel funds just in case like we ran out of milk or toilet paper or something so I could be like I'm helping oh my god my heart that is literally equally the sweetest and most heartbreaking thing ever like oh like your little heart is so pure I know and that's the thing is that like when you're a kid you just want to see the best in every situation and kind of do everything to help like mum found out and she was mortified that I like had been going without food and she was she's like where did you get this money from yeah is that what happened like she found it and was

like where is this money like how did you get this yeah and I was like I've been saving it like what are you talking about and you're like you don't have a job how are you saving it from where from where yeah so that was kind of you know how it was to grow up around money it was always really hard to come by. And when you did have it, it went really quickly. And if you didn't have it, it was really stressful and caused a lot of arguments. Wow. And how did that translate as an adult now? Because I feel like that would make you avoidant as you grow up of talking about money and feeling like, I don't know, I immediately assume that if your husband was like, oh, money dice, can we talk about money? You'd be like, ah, like, no, thank you. Even if it was

a good thing. So when did you get your first job? When did you start earning your own money? How did that feel? All of those things. Yeah, absolutely. So that's exactly how it kind of translated. So straight out of high school. So I graduated at 17. I was straight into my first full-time job and I was adamant that I never wanted to be that like poor kid. And I hate using that word, but I was always just like, I didn't want people. But that's a feeling. And I feel like that's something a lot of people are probably able to like resonate with. Yeah. So I feel like I didn't want anyone to ever think that I didn't have enough money or that like I was struggling. Like it was just so uncomfortable for me to ever talk about.

So I got my first full-time job straight out of high school the day that I turned 18. So the office I worked in was right above one of the big four banks. So on my 18th birthday, I left work and on my lunch break, I went downstairs and I got a personal loan to buy a car. Yep. And I signed up for a credit card. Oh yeah. Why not go with both? Honestly, they probably allowed it. You know what? Go big or go home, I say. 100%. And then I toddled myself down to like a phone company and I signed myself up for one of the new smartphones on a plan. So I was just going to have like... Oh, you were living large. I had the image, like nobody would ever look at me and think that I was earning like $16 an hour. Like it was atrocious. I can't believe still that they even

gave me a loan. That's actually how I feel about my personal loan that I got. Like, how did you give somebody, like I was in my early twenties, but how did you give me a $40,000 loan? It was obviously a linked credit card. Like how, like whose idea was that? It's honestly terrible. And I look back on it and it's like, if I just could tell little me one thing, it would be like, do not borrow money like do not go get a loan because you just put so much faith in the people that are giving you the loan that they've crunched the numbers and they're comfy that you can pay it back and you just like to see the best in everyone and I think because I was borrowing money from someone and for the first time in my life it wasn't an argument like they were so happy

to give me money and I was like oh it must be good right and it feels official right like it feels legit because it's at the bank. It's not like your aunt or your mom or somebody close to you. I feel like there's that level of legitimacy that makes you feel safe, even though you shouldn't. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. So by the time I was 20, I was about $30,000 in debt. So I had a $20,000 car debt and about just shy of $10,000 on a personal credit card. So from there, a few little job changes. I feel like where I went wrong was that at no point was I like, oh, I can't afford the way that I'm living. I should really dial it back. I was like, I can't afford the way that I'm living. I should get a new job and earn more

money. So the more money I earned, the more I spent, the more I spent, the more debt. It was terrible. A vicious cycle. So I ended up moving into state to a big capital city for a job that was earning a lot more than I was on. But with that came again, the lifestyle creep and now trying to keep up with a whole new crowd of people that were earning more money. And so it was pretty bad, actually. So from there, I met my now husband. Okay, you, how did you meet? So we did things a little bit backwards, actually. He was one of my housemates. So we were living together.

That could have been so bad. That could have worked out not well. No. And I kind of figured that, I mean, worst case scenario, you just move out and smoke bomb, right? Oh yeah, sure. Yep. Yep. Perfect. I feel like you're not the first money diarist who has ended up marrying their housemate though. Yes. I mean, I guess you get to try before you buy and money win. Yeah. Great. And you genuinely saw if he was actually unloading the dishwasher and stuff. Like, what is this guy like at home? Absolutely. Yeah. It does get rid of the magic of like those first few months getting to know each other a hundred percent and it was funny because I feel like to kind of sum up our relationship as well he's like so straight

to the point honestly one of the nicest people I've ever met but because we were already living together I was like is this a relationship of convenience like do you actually like me I mean I'm glad you were thinking that way yeah so we like I had a bit of a meltdown one day and I was like I feel like you're only with me because it's easy and he just looked at me like dead in the eye and he was like oh babe like there is nothing easy about being with you I mean tell me how it really is I mean I think that I feel more secure now but also like brooch I'm also very insecure about a number of other things now thank you for shifting that yeah so I met him and he was quite the opposite to me where came from very humble beginnings as well but he was really

secure in himself and had really good money habits, a really good relationship with money. So he worked hard, he saved hard, but he was also, you know, happy to spend on things that were important to him. So he taught me quite a lot about how to get out of that, like a vicious, just consumer debt cycle. Oh, I love this. Yeah. It was really, really sweet. So we got engaged. We decided that when we got married, we were going to share our finances anyway. and he sat me down one day and he was like look you were spending so much money on interest for your credit card I've got the money there we're going to be joining money anyway why don't we just pay off your credit card in full and then you can pay me back without the interest oh that's

so sweet and I was like absolutely not I don't need no man right okay so that's exactly how I would have responded to but like in theory that is very kind of him but then I also grasped that maybe like this was maybe it's a joint decision now yeah we were going to be in it we were going to be sharing the burden anyway so let's just get it done so I paid off my credit card and then I paid him back every single cent of it in nine months oh queen do you feel like I put more pressure on you to pay it off too now that it was like with your partner instead of a bank yes but I feel like it was good pressure because it was like going to him but then I also knew that I wasn't just going to keep racking up more debt knowing that I owed someone. Like I hate

owing anybody money for any reason, unless it's a bank. No, I am now the same. Like I do not like owing people money and it's something I wouldn't say I struggle with, but like, even if other people are like, oh, buy your coffee V. I'm like, oh no, that's fine. I'd actually prefer to buy two and buy yours so that I literally owe nobody anything. Like, I don't know what that weird complex is but I just know where it comes from and it comes from being in that situation before and just being like I just don't want anybody to lord anything over my head and I'm grateful that I'm in the financial position that I can do that but like I don't want to owe you sorry like if we go out for lunch I'm more likely to try and pay the whole bill instead of you paying it because

I would hate to think that I either owe you money for lunch or you're like oh no you'll get it next time no no no I just just let me pay thanks bye weird complex absolutely I'm exactly the same like I know down to the cent, if I owe someone money and I can't sleep, like it could be $2, it could be $200 and I will not sleep until I have paid off my debts. No, I can resonate like that. Just it's so frustrating, isn't it? And you're like, that person doesn't even care. I know, right? And like, you could owe me all the money in the world. I'm like, honestly, it's fine. Like I know we'll get there one day, you do you, but. You are me. So tell me, what did that look like? You got married. You had some babies. Yes, we got married. We had babies. I studied full time at uni while I

was working full time while I was planning a wedding. It was full on. I honestly don't know where I got the energy from. Like your 20s were just something different. Yeah, I actually people always like, how did you do it? And I'm like, delusion, babe, delusion. Like I think I was high on it. I couldn't do it now. How did I do what I did? I don't know. I don't know. Honestly, I feel like if I've gone for a walk in the morning, I just don't even have energy to like unload the dishwasher that day. Too many tasks. Yeah. Relatable queen. Yeah. So I worked really hard. I got like my dream career job. We got married. We bought our first home. Oh, she's ticking all of the boxes when it comes to little achievements that people often

set for themselves? It was lovely. And it was all by the age of 25. Okay. I know. Nope. I mean, it's downhill from there. I picked early. Okay. All right. So make us feel better about this. Yeah, no, she picked early, but yeah, so it was good. And then we hit that sneaky little pandemic that happened. Oh yeah. The panini. Yeah. The panini. Yeah. And then everything kind of changed from there. What changed? How did it change? So we had my son. He was one of the COVID babies. So born during the lockdowns. And I had this new kind of sense of really needing to be near my family. And I could have sworn I would have never heard myself say those words, right? Like I moved interstate for a reason and I needed my space. And then I had my son and I was like... Now you're

like let's just change this script yeah so we had bought our house in February 2020 and by October 2021 we had sold and we're moving into state to be closer to my family oh my god yeah it happened quickly was that COVID driven baby driven the mix of all of it like where did that come from especially as someone who was like I left the state for a reason yeah I know that's so sassy isn't it? My poor mother. No, no, no. I have so many friends who literally would have said the same thing, but it's such a vibe. Like I've seen so many people could resonate with that and then be like, what do you mean you moved back? Yeah. I was like, I moved 1100 kilometers away for a reason. I will never move back to my hometown until I have a baby and I actually just really

need my mom. Yeah, that's so fair. Like, I'm sorry. Mom, help. I love you. I didn't mean it. take me back yeah so it was partly COVID driven but mainly baby driven yeah so just really wanted to be closer to home but because of the lockdowns it meant that we had to buy our next home site unseen oh wow which was that would give me anxiety that's like the biggest purchase you ever make in your life and you can't even look at it before you give them the money like oh yeah it was really bad. So we saw our new home about two weeks after settlement. Wow. Which was a gamble to say the least. How did that go? We are so grateful to have a home. Look, it is a good house. I'm waiting for the but. You can just say but, it's anonymous. No one knows you. Who am I kidding? No, look,

it is a really good house. It's in a great area. We probably paid more of a premium because of the area that it is in, but it needs quite a bit of work. So when we first moved in, everything seemed fine and then it started raining and then there was like an indoor water feature. And then it was, yeah, it was pretty bad. We've had to put quite a lot of money into it, which has set us back in a few other ways it was a massive gamble and I still kind of feel sick about how much we paid for it sight unseen but I guess where there's desperation you kind of like you have to pay what you have to pay right that was kind of just the climate that we were in and I can't really hold us you did what was right at the time yeah and now you might have done it differently but you

can't change the times so yes and I'm kind of hoping that maybe we've learned our lesson And next time I will be a bit smarter about large purchases. So in your money diary entry, you said, my husband and I hit a combined income of over $200,000 and we had everything we ever wanted. What do you do now? Like, what do you do for work now? What do you earn? Because I know that the tables have turned.

Yes. So I took a big step back from the career that I'd worked really hard to get. and now I'm working casually two and a half days a week as a chiropractic assistant oh cool yeah so it's still a little bit hands-on but it's administrative it's like three minutes from where I live so so close to home like I can ride my bike there if I wanted to yeah it's really good and I earn there because it's casual it fluctuates a bit but I think I'm on track at the moment to earn about $49,000 plus super. Oh, for two days a week? Yes, I do two and a half days and then like a Saturday every now and then.

Oh, how nice. Okay. That is, I thought you were going to say less than that. I don't know why. I think because when you said two and a half days, I was like, okay, cool. Like that is, I'm very happy with that. $49,000 plus super. Yeah. So our boss is awesome. You know, he sees a lot of value in what we do and he certainly pays us accordingly. Yeah. Adore. What an icon. What does your husband do and how much does he earn? Yeah. So, he is a software engineer. He has permanently actually gone part-time as well because he wanted to step back and have a bit more time with the kids while they were young. So, previously, he was on about 160 plus super and now he's on about 130 plus super.

Hey, for part-time? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Pop off. Tell me more about this. How many days a week is he doing? So, he's doing four days a week and he does anywhere between kind of like seven to eight hours a day, gets to work from home or goes into the city if he feels like it. Yeah, it's a really good balance. I love this for you guys. And I mean, that makes sense because you said when our kids arrived, everything changed and now we have enough money for baby chinos and that's enough for us. I low-key love that. You own your home. Obviously, you're more lifestyle focused, I'm

assuming. Can you tell me a bit more about where your big money goals are? Yeah, so we were actually having a chat about this recently so I feel like on one hand we've got the really practical ones of like finish the renovation so that our house doesn't leak every time it rains try to pay down the mortgage but like a water feature we could reframe that make it really sexy when we actually moved in it had an indoor water feature down to a pond as well but it was atrocious I love that for you guys I too had an indoor water feature but it was accidental when we moved in yeah like it was it was beautiful yeah it's like there was when I say indoor water feature to pond I mean fish and all like it was terrible but at the moment like we've been kind of living this little

like part-time life for a few months and I think long-term money goal is to be in a position where we actually don't have to go back to work full-time oh I love that that sounds so fun yeah it just feels like a bit of a trap doesn't it look the more I think about it the more I'm like absolutely it is but it turns out we have to have money to trade for goods and services and like that's okay rude and I don't know I feel like we're stuck in the wheel so we may as well learn as much about money so that we can prioritize our lifestyles as well I don't know it's a good idea to me maybe I should do a podcast or something have you heard of it I think there's one called something like she's in the finance you should look it up yeah yeah that would be perfect yeah I'll look it up

later you could use that name if you wanted yeah thanks let's go to a break and then on the flip side, I'm going to talk to you about investments. We're going to talk about debt, best and worst money habits, and maybe we'll come up with a better name for a podcast in the future. All right, guys, we are back. And our money diaries today grew up with a single mom in a low socioeconomic area and has now flipped the script, hit a combined income of more than $200,000 and has now chosen to take a step back so that she can spend more time with her family and get some baby chinos. Can we just start off by talking? So my kid is at the moment, what, just over 11 months old. And that to me is terrifying because the first year has gone

way quicker than I ever consented to. But I'm starting to look at things. He hasn't had a baby chino yet, but I'm starting to see them on the menu more often. Like it's something I glossed over before. What do you mean a baby chino is $3? It's actually ridiculous. And like little insider tip. They don't drink it. They just want the little marshmallow that goes on top. So just ask for a sneaky marshmallow with your coffee next time. Honestly, that's okay. Smart. Apart from the fact I did that tiny hearts course and they said, you're not allowed to give your babies marshmallows. And now I'm scared of marshmallows and popcorn. Look, you probably should be. I actually used to work as a paramedic. So I feel

like terrible for even suggesting that you just give your 11 month old a marshmallow. No, but like, I feel like we've all got to use our initiative in our house. I just have an aversion to marshmallows at this point. Yeah. And you know what? I'm actually more scared of my kids if I tell them they can't have a marshmallow at the moment, I think. Okay. That's a very valid fear. That's very valid. And you're like, you know what? Cost benefit analysis. Yeah. We're going to do a risk analysis on this. I think that's fair. Which means like, if you're doing risk analysis, talk to me about investing. is that something that you've thought about is it something you're doing what's the plan there

yeah so I have a sharesies account oh a queen after my own heart yeah you can use this like really cool code um sotm and you get ten dollars in your wallet oh my god do you want to work for she's on the money like not only are you suggesting better names but yeah like you do get ten dollars for free to start your journey is that how you did that is how I did it because it was just free money, wasn't it? It's actually ludicrous. They give you $10. They don't give me $10. I don't get any kickback on that because I was like, that just feels a little bit convoluted. Instead of $5 for me, $5 for you, just give them the whole $10. But if you hypothetically put $100 into your share trading platform, that's an instant 10% return. Absolutely. That's better than the ASX

is producing at the moment. Right now, absolutely. So I love that for you. So talk to me about how you're picking on Sharesies and what's going on? Yeah. So I have a few ETFs in there and then a few just random companies that I figured that I would put some money into, mainly because I just wanted to see how it all works when I first started. But I'm very much an ETF girly. So I've got about 1,700 in Sharesies now. Oh my gosh. So you are building it up. Yeah. So we just make little contributions every month. So when we were earning a little bit more, we were putting more into our investments. And now that we've dropped back, we've kind of just reduced that percentage as well. Cool. Very cool.

So we've got that. We've also got some ETFs under the ComSec little pocket app. So my husband deals with those ones and then I just do the shares. And then we both have Super. Very cool. And what's the plan for Super? Is that something that you're like, oh, I reckon it's on track. Do we talk about that at home a lot? Like, how does that work? because you had a pretty good salary before you took a step back. So I'm assuming you've cared about super before. Yeah, absolutely. So I am a big super girly in that like I've got the app on my phone and I kind of track it and I see where the investments are going and we have good conversations about it. We've plugged kind of the numbers into the calculator before as well just to

see where we're on track for retirement, if we needed to make any sort of additional contributions. but I think at the moment we're pretty happy with where we're sitting with our super accounts. Yeah. Oh, how good. I love when people are like, yeah, we're active. I have the app. Do you know how many people don't know that most super funds have an app? Like you can literally just put it on your phone, the same as like your phone banking and just like check. But don't they just want to know what's in there? Like I can't not know. Some people are evasive of it and I totally get that, but I just like looking that it's doing what it's meant to do. It makes me feel good when I've maybe splurged a little bit where I shouldn't have. I'm like, oh, super's doing all right.

Yeah. I bought sight unseen. I spent too much on my house, but my super is okay. She's healthy. She's happy. She's thriving. Let's not take it any deeper. So talk to me about debt. You have a mortgage. Do you have any other debt? Tell me. So we've got a mortgage. We owe $690,000 on our house and we pay that at 6.09%. So it's a pretty big monthly bill that comes out. And the only other debt that we've got, I've got a student debt of about $19,000, which I'm really actively trying not to add to. But I think in my head, Hex debt is just free money. Like I'm such a serial student. I mean, it's not, but I totally get that.

Yeah, it's absolutely not. And every time I log into the account to see what it was kind of indexed at or how little I'm paying off it, I'm reminded of that. Yes, but really trying not to add to that anymore and just pay that down. But otherwise, we've got no other loans or debts or anything, which is nice. I love that. 6.09 as a interest rate is relatively normal at the moment, which is kind of crippling. I don't love to feel that. But 6.09 is, I would say, a pretty good comparison, right? Do you have a broker that you're working with? Why did you know that just off the top of your head? Did you check your app before? Do you always review it? Tell me about that. Yeah. So I am always pretty across what our interest rates are just to make sure

that they're competitive and that there's nothing kind of better out there. We do have a broker that we've used in the past who was lovely, fantastic, but we came off. So when we moved up, we were on a fixed rate at 1.9%. So then we used our broker. I know. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. So it really hurt when we came off. Oh, you're speaking to the converted. Like I'm the same. I'm like, Ooh. Yeah. And now we're just like desperately kind of waiting to see what the RBA is going to do with the cash rate and hope that it starts to come down soon. But yeah, I'm pretty on top of what our interest rate is because like, why give the bank any more of my money than I honestly did in my 20s. Very valid point. I feel like you've paid your way. I've paid my share of interest

rates. Thank you. 100%. I feel like you've changed your entire narrative around money. What do you think is your best money habit? So this might be a little left field, but I think that because of everything I've been through, I have a really solid understanding of my values. So whenever it comes to making like financial decisions or purchases, like I kind of just come back to whether or not it feels good and it's in line with our values and our goals. And I feel like that's been a really good money habit because it stops the guilt associated with spending. But at the same time, it stops us from trying to keep up with the Joneses. Like I don't fall trapped to like trends or fads or anything like that because it just doesn't feel right. So I feel like that's

been a really good way to kind of just keep spending in track. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that. And I feel like saying my best money habit is literally that I can stay in line with my values. Slay. I love that. I think that is literally one of the best responses to be like, no, no, no. Like all of the dollars I have coming in are working for me in the way that I want them to. Like how good? Flip it. What's your worst? So I have what I like to call a procrastination tax. so my motto seems to be like if it ain't broke don't fix it and if it is broke still don't fix it until it's urgent oh yeah I do that yeah yeah until your car's flashing at you and it says you need an oil change and then you're like oh okay well I'll think about it as an option absolutely

so then you pay procrastination tax because you need things done urgently ASAP yeah oh my god I I'm, do you know what? I didn't realize, but I'm actually the queen of procrastination tax. Oh yes. Well, welcome. Yeah. Like at Christmas time. Oh, I actually now have to pay for express post because I didn't organize this earlier. I actually have to go down to the shops and buy this instead of getting the best possible price online because I don't have time to wait. Absolutely. And that happened with like a pipe that we had that had a really slow trip. And I knew that it needed to be done, but procrastination tax rules then meant I had to

leave it until the pipe burst during that Christmas, New Year period. Oh, good. It's always at the time where it's going to be the most expensive. Yeah. Yes. So please may I pay a premium to get a plumber to fix my burst water pipe because... That I knew about for a really long time. For too long. Oh, well, do you know what? I'm impressed with you. It's actually about having insight into your own life. And I feel like you have a lot of that. Tell me at the start of this episode, you were like, I reckon V, I'm a solid B. What makes you a solid B and why aren't you an A?

Like what would an A look like? Yeah. So I think that I'm a solid B because I'm pretty across where our money is coming in, where it's going out. I'm pretty comfortable with how we spend things and how we save. I don't know that I would ever want to get up to an A, if I'm honest. I feel like once I think that I've learned everything, then I'm going to stop trying so hard and you kind of stop evolving. So I think that if in my head I was an A or an A plus, I'd just not try. Yeah. And then I just wouldn't try. And I think that that can be really dangerous. I think that's a really positive way to stay a B. I don't even want you to become an A now. Like just live in B. No, I love it. I love it. I loved this. I feel like this is such

a good chat. Last question I have is you said, look, we've definitely traded our career ambitions for, you know, prioritizing what truly matters to you. Do you have any regrets with that? Because I feel like lots of people listen to these and they're like, yeah, but like the extra cash is so helpful and I don't know what I'd do. Like, what are your regrets about making this decision? I'm not sure that I have many regrets. No regrets. No regrets. I think that a lot of the ways that we were spending our money was on things because of how it would make us look to other people. So we would say, go on these really expensive,

luxurious family holidays, but no one would see that on the other side, I was having panic attacks going to work every day. No, that's not worth it. No, and it wasn't. And I think that once I had that moment where it was like, this is not adding up, like this is not okay. We still have family holidays, but it's camping or it's like a staycation at home. Like I feel a lot better. My mental health is a lot better for that. There is that side of me that still does kind of worry about what if one day we run out of money and I don't have my lunchbox money saved up, squirreled somewhere to feed the family.

that's a deep down feeling isn't it yeah so I think that there is still that but I kind of combat that with knowing that money is just a tool and you can always earn more money if you need to but you can never get this time back I love that so much I wish we had more time money it has been a pleasure getting to chat with you today getting to learn about you and your little family and that maybe we do but don't like the marshmallow on top of a baby chino like we just can't get to the bottom of that one and that's totally okay but I have adored this chat and I just know that the community are going to have so many or have had so many moments in this episode where they're like same that's me same because like it's just so relatable so I really appreciate

it and know that community is going to love this episode as much as I have thank you so much for having me of course 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.