She's On The Money - Your Best Financial Year Yet: How to Set Money Goals That Actually Stick

Starting point is 00:00:00 She's on the money. She's on the money. My name's Natasha Bamblett. I'm a proud First Nations woman and I'm here to acknowledge country. Hello, beautiful friends. We gather on the lands of the Aboriginal people. We thank, acknowledge and respect the Aboriginal people's land that we're gathering on today.

Starting point is 00:00:22 Take pleasure in all the land and respect all that you see. She's on the money podcast, acknowledges culture, country, community and connections, bringing you the tools, knowledge and resources for you to thrive. Hello and welcome to Shiz on the Money, the podcast that helps you feel confident with your cash, especially when you're trying to get your life together at the start of the new financial year. And today we are talking all about goal setting, not the write your list and hope for the best kind, but the kind that actually sticks. Because I don't know about you V, but there is definitely something about July 1 that just feels like a reset

Starting point is 00:00:57 to me for me it feels like a reset but like for me it also feels like a new financial year like I celebrate this in exactly the same way you would celebrate genuine new years the party well yeah and in finance land everything's due on June 30 so it's just like a weight lifts and I can start thinking a little bit more about work-life balance you could say and I mean it's a little bit of a quiet a new year that I don't think enough of us are talking about and what an opportunity to kind of reset. Anyway, I probably should preface this episode and say I've done a lot of reading over the last few months so that you don't have to. I've been on mat leave and it has been incredible and we all know I love a self-development book like very, very deeply and over the last few

Starting point is 00:01:48 months I feel like I've picked up a few of them that are circling around the same ideas and that is that we've been thinking about goals slightly wrong and that is why so many people feel like they're constantly trying to start over when it comes to money and I feel like that's going to make a really juicy episode. It feels very real you know the idea of I'm feeling motivated it's new financial year or a new year or whatever it is I've set all these goals I've made all my lists And then, you know, a few weeks in, everything started to slowly fall apart. Yeah, exactly. And I mean, we've talked about this a million times.

Starting point is 00:02:22 Everyone joins the gym in January and then by February, they're not going, but the gym's still making money. Yeah. And how many times can we go over the same stuff? And then you think maybe it's a you problem and it's motivation that you're lacking and that maybe you're not disciplined enough or maybe you're just really bad with money. And it's not that. It's never been that.

Starting point is 00:02:41 It never was that. it's actually a psychology problem, not a personality flaw. And I recently read a book called Think Again by a very smart guy called Adam Grant. And one of the ideas that really stuck with me is that we treat our goals often like they're permanent decisions. Yes. And once we set them, we're like locked and loaded and we can't change. But he talks in this book about treating goals like hypotheses. So instead of saying, oh, this is what I'm doing and I have to stick to it, it kind of becomes, this is what I'm testing based on what I know right now. And

Starting point is 00:03:19 that could change into the future, but like I'm doing the best I can with the tools and resources that I have in this moment. That feels a lot less intense. I like that. I feel like it's really, she's on the money aligned as well. Cause I'm often like, don't crucify past you. Cause you know, she was doing the best she could with the tools and resources she has. So I'm like reading along being like, yes, King, get it. Yes, I agree with this. And I think it completely changes how you respond when then things don't go to plan. Because instead of you thinking, OMG, I've just failed. I can't do anything. Like I never set money goals that I achieve. This means I'm bad at money. You actually think, oh, this approach didn't work. What could I do? What could I tweak?

Starting point is 00:04:00 And then I went back. You're not going to be surprised by this, Miss Jescarici. Gucci. What's my favorite book? Ikigai? No, no, I do love Ikigai. Oh, no, no, no. The Man in Babylon. Nope. I also love that book. Yeah, I do love that book. You like too many books. I do. I do. I actually thought that you would immediately know because I was like, I only have one book I like, but you've just tumbled me. And yes, I talk about books a lot. Grit. Oh, sorry. We were talking about grit just recently. So this is a book that I've read and I reread because I just think it's really powerful. And for those of you who aren't readers, that's cool. I've done this whole podcast episode for you, but also this person did an epic TED talk, which I'll make sure I link in the show

Starting point is 00:04:44 notes. Anyway, this book is called Grit and it's by Angela Duckworth. And she talks about the power of passion and perseverance, which obviously I adore, but it really builds on this idea from Adam Grant because her whole argument is that success is not about talent. It's not about luck or how pretty you are or even how smart you are. It's actually about grit, which is basically passion and being persistent over a really long period of time. And, like, we say this all the time. Like, you see other people be so successful.

Starting point is 00:05:20 You're like, but how? I'm really smart too. Well, baby cakes, it's got nothing to do with you being smart. That person is just tenacious. Yeah. And if something didn't work for them, instead of ruminating on it and going, I'm really bad at this or I'm bad at money. I can't do it.

Starting point is 00:05:34 They're like, can't be that hard. I'm going to try again. And sometimes you've got to be a little bit delulu. Yeah. The most successful people aren't the smartest or the cleverest or the funniest or the – like it's not necessarily they're the best at something. It's just that it's more that they've been sticking at something

Starting point is 00:05:51 for a long time. Yeah. But you're really annoying, Jess. Like just be consistently annoying to your goal and I think you're more likely to achieve it. And I think that's where this money conversation overlay becomes really interesting because building wealth is actually nothing about talent. Like we know that research says that people who are active traders in the market do worse than people who just picked an ETF and forgot about it. Yeah. Like the returns on an ETF in general are higher than you actively trading every single day

Starting point is 00:06:25 and doing heaps of research and, you know, diving in and trying to be the smartest guy in the room because you just can't time the market. And that's not because you're not smart. It's just because that strategy doesn't work. And it's not about being the smartest person in the room. It's about doing, I would say, relatively simple things consistently over a long period of time. but there is a catch it's boring no instant reward no little dopamine no dopamine hit and for someone like me who's a little bit ADHD neuro spicy I love instant feedback and you know what our brains hate it yeah like our brains hate that things are boring yeah I get it boring things that do good stuff for us exactly so spending money feels good immediately like I love spending

Starting point is 00:07:12 money. Don't get me wrong. Saving money doesn't feel good. It does when it starts to compound, but that takes a long period of time. So if your entire plan relies on you consistently choosing the things that feel worse in that moment, I feel like you're going to struggle. I'm not selling it to you in this moment. No, it's not sounding great to me. Jess, I'm going to take away the dopamine. This is going to feel terrible. Would you like to continue? Not particularly, know. Well, I'm going to anyway. And that's why systems and processes matter so much because they remove the need for you to constantly make a decision that is boring, that doesn't feel good, that doesn't set you up for success. And I have another book to come into the conversation.

Starting point is 00:07:57 Oh, yes. You probably have read this one actually. And that's where the book Atomic Habits comes in. I have read to that one. So I feel like that's a cooler one than the richest man in Babylon. But I promise I will always give you the tips and tricks so you don't have to do it. But that's where atomic habits come in because the whole idea is that your life is a reflection of your habits, not of your intentions. We can have the best of intentions, but not be doing what we said we want to do. And like you can intend on saving all the money in the entire world, Jess, but if your

Starting point is 00:08:30 habits don't support it, it's never going to happen. Yes. I do feel past me feels personally attacked by that one. I'm sorry, but also your habits have saved more than $100,000 and your habits have bought you a house. So like she's a changed woman. The proof is in the pudding, really. Habits do in fact work.

Starting point is 00:08:47 Was it a little bit boring? Probably. Very much. But instead of relying on willpower, what we need to be doing is building systems. We need to be building processes. and this is about things like if every time you get paid you say to yourself I'll just save whatever's left over you're literally relying on discipline but if every single time you get paid you set up an automation and it automatically moves money into savings before you even see it

Starting point is 00:09:15 now that's the system that's doing the work for you it's taking it away from you so there's one less decision to make or if you're trying to spend less but your card is saved in every single app connected to every single platform and you're a little bit tap happy you're making it so easy for yourself to just overspend like add more friction yeah it's the apple pay of it all it makes so much sense it's so easy so it's not about trying harder it's actually just about setting things up better for yourself yeah and my friend this is why I always say if you're starting a new financial year and you want things to feel really different, let's not start with a goal. Let's start with an audit. I know that that's not the sexiest thing you've ever heard. And every single

Starting point is 00:10:01 person, and when I say every single person, I mean literally thousands of women who have done my money masterclass are going to agree with me here that doing an audit is going to put you in the best possible position. We're going to look at the last three months of your money, not emotionally but honestly like you might need a glass of wine I totally get it or like if you're a better person than me maybe you need a cup of tea but sitting down and looking at okay what discretionary expenses do I have what non-discretionary expenses do I have where did it go what was working what didn't what patterns are showing up whoa I didn't realize I bought a slushy every single day at 7-eleven like you know what I mean looking at these things and going wow

Starting point is 00:10:44 am I okay with this because that's where the power comes in and it can feel a lot yeah it does feel a little bit confronting doesn't it because it is you're kind of like again personally attacking yourself and I don't want you to see it that way and that's why I call it an audit not like a budget check but like we're just auditing it and we're going to put everything on the table and see where we're at but it's also where clarity comes from because awareness is always the first step to behavioral change so instead of saying new year new me how about new year honest me oh that's quite cute no it's not I just said it with the right intonation but from there you don't need to set 10 goals you just need maybe one or two that actually move the needle in your life and

Starting point is 00:11:30 Jess I feel like I've been yapping and I can continue to yap and I will continue to yap because we're going to go to a really quick break but when we come back we're going to get really practical because if you're listening to this thinking, I actually want this to be my best financial year yet, guys, I'm going to walk you through exactly how to approach it in a way that will work in your real life. Our 1000th episode is coming up soon. And to celebrate, we're giving one clever listener a chance to win. She's stashed the cash. Today's mystery word is seven. Tune into episodes of She's on the Money between the 17th of June and the 3rd of July and listen out for the hidden code words. There are five in total. The first person to arrange the code words in

Starting point is 00:12:16 the correct order will win $1,000. Entries open on Friday the 3rd of July with details shared live on the pod. Good luck and happy hunting. Okay, Miss Jessica Ricci, we are back and let's get into it. If my friends, you want this to be your best financial year yet, this I've done like a little template. This is how I would approach it. And I mean, you do you. If you wouldn't approach it this way, don't. Like you don't have to do what I say, but this is how I would approach it from knowing what I know now, I suppose. So first I would be picking a direction, not a perfect goal because like how many times will we set perfect goals and then felt disenchanted because we haven't achieved them yeah scrap that we're going to pick a direction ask yourself

Starting point is 00:13:05 what would actually make my life feel easier with money over the next 12 months because that's going to ground you in reality not some ideal perfect version of you like what's going to make you feel like life is a bit easier when it comes to cash yeah because if you said to me I'm going to save so much every month well we haven't done that before yeah and it hasn't worked so far so maybe let's just pick a direction I like that it feels much more achievable I would agree and then because that's maybe not specific enough we are going to make it specific enough that your brain knows what to do not just like save more or you're going to save a hundred dollars a week Jess or I need to build a $5,000 emergency fund because what that's going to do is remove friction because clarity

Starting point is 00:13:57 removes friction. And then third, we're going to build the system immediately. We're not going to talk about it for a long period of time. We're just going to set it up. And if it's not working for you, we're going to change it, but we're going to implement the system ASAP and we're going to automate it. We're going to set it up. We're going to remove the need for you to make decisions every single damn time because that relies on motivation and motivation isn't coming tomorrow motivation is actually a choice in the moment that you have to make consistently because it's not just going to one day show up like you're not going to wake up tomorrow and be like I finally get this Jess I finally feel like compromising my lifestyle enough to save five

Starting point is 00:14:37 grand and even if you have motivation now it goes away it's that new you new me feeling and then I'm feeling good now. I'm setting my goals now, me in four weeks, not feeling so good, not feeling so motivated. Someone could invent a drug that makes that feeling last for the entire period that I'm trying to set the goal or like achieve the goal. That would be fantastic. Yes. But it doesn't exist. In the interim, automating feels much more doable. It totally is. And let's then make this really real because I think that that's where it kind of clicks with you. If you're someone whose goal every single year is like I want to save money like this year I'm going to save money and it just like never quite happens what's missing it's not motivation like it's not it's

Starting point is 00:15:23 structure so your version of this kind of becomes every Thursday when I get paid $150 it's going to automatically move into savings and I'm not going to touch it your job isn't to be disciplined in every single week go into your bank account and transfer that money when you get paid because that's adding a heap of admin and like I can promise you you're going to fall off that horse real quick because come Thursday and you're like oh I'll do it when I get home because like I'm just going to pop out and do x y or z when you get home you're not going to do it and then the week after you're going to be like oh actually I don't want to transfer it right now because I'd like a bit more money in my account for the weekend like you are going to come up with every reason

Starting point is 00:16:03 under the sun to not do it manually automate it because then we're not interrupting the system And if the system is just working as it should, your goal is going to be achieved. That feels like a big shift. And if you're someone who kind of starts off strong and then falls off after a couple of weeks, it's usually because you've built something that only works when you feel motivated. That's why we need to build it. That's me. Well, it's why we have to build a system that you can actually stick to.

Starting point is 00:16:32 So instead of going all in, like let's scale it back to something that works even on the worst of worst days. like if you have said I want to transfer $150 a week but you just know that's not going to work why are we setting that up for ourselves yeah let's be really realistic maybe it's just checking your account once a week and moving a smaller amount of money because the intensity it can change like lower the intensity but increase your consistency I feel like a lot of people don't want to do that because it feels like it's too small talk to older women in our community who said, I started by transferring $5 a week. Amen. Like the girls in the, in the group chat, they know, and they are the ones shouting from the rooftops in our Facebook group

Starting point is 00:17:19 being like, Victoria, I thought it was useless. And I was like, I know, but it was actually about setting up the system because that $5, you were like, Oh, actually I've got a pay rise. I can increase that to $10. And then that $10 became $50. And all of a sudden it's much bigger, but it didn't feel more painful. Yeah, because you're already in the habit. Exactly. And how on earth are you going to find $150 a week when it's probably absorbed in other parts of your budget

Starting point is 00:17:47 without feeling like it's restrictive? So let's start small and then start pushing it up. You're not going to feel it. Yeah. It's like the frog in the pot of boiling water. Like you just don't realise it's getting hot until you're in a pot of boiling water. But in a positive way this time.

Starting point is 00:18:03 Yeah. You don't want to jump out of the pot of the boiling water because the pot of boiling water is money. Oh, yeah, you're in a pile of money. You're in baskets and baskets of money. But I feel like sometimes when we say, oh, it feels too small, don't bother, like that's a trap because small and consistent every single day of the week is going to be big and inconsistent.

Starting point is 00:18:25 The rabbit in the hair. There are so many childhood fables we could use because it's not something that's unknown. everybody knows that small and consistent wins the race and if you're someone who sets too many goals which can be tempting like Jess is looking at me because like I love to be like and I think I want to achieve this and Jess is like do what you said you would do not what you actually did Victoria but the reality is every single goal is going to take energy so instead of trying to fix everything maybe let's just pick one financial focus for the next three months

Starting point is 00:18:59 just one and that's where you're going to actually start to see some progress and actually start to chip away at something that maybe you've never chipped away at before just one I feel like that's doable that feels like a relief almost to think about just I just have to think about one thing it should or I'm hoping it does because trying to change absolutely everything at once is one of the fastest ways to change absolutely nothing and this is where I want to bring in another Adam Grant book it's called Hidden Potential and I've just this is most recent one that I've read because one of the key ideas in his book is that progress it's not about getting it right the first time it's actually about how you respond when things don't go to plan I reckon

Starting point is 00:19:42 we should get Angela and Adam in a room together because like they would be like oh yeah I thought of this first no I thought of this first like they're saying very very similar things so instead of seeing your setbacks as failures which how many of us do like I punish myself for it inherently if I don't succeed the first time I'm like oh my god I'm so bad at this I am literally a drama queen and you have to call yourself out on that yeah but instead of seeing it as a failure let's start treating it as feedback and every manager who's ever existed is gonna tell you Jess feedback is a gift does it feel nice absolutely not in the moment no but like feedback can be constructive and you ask yourself well what got in the way what didn't work and then you can adjust and

Starting point is 00:20:33 that's just how people are actually going to improve like it's not nice and I think that you probably started this because you thought oh Victoria's done another podcast on goal setting this is going to feel good like no it's going to tell you to get together there's a phrase that I love which I don't know if it's their phrase but LSKD we have worked with that team before I love them you know their principles that I have on the walls yeah one percent better is like I think the most well-known one but one of the rules that they have I remember we saw at their office was move fast and break shit and the principle was like when you're doing stuff all the time things are going to go wrong. Is that why you break so much stuff? Yeah definitely not because

Starting point is 00:21:15 I'm clumsy but I like that principle because it's like well if the goal is to be doing things like I was saying I'm someone who when I don't do well at something I find it really frustrating that's just like a personality trait of mine but like if the goal is to try so many things that some things don't work you're not you can't fail. 100% which I feel like that's arguably a little bit healthier yeah and it's I guess also what keeps you going because if every single mistake feels like proof that you suck and you can't do it you're gonna stop yeah like I'm not gonna keep doing that because that is terrible it's making me feel bad that's not motivation but if every single mistake we change our mindset and we view it as just part of the process like I was never

Starting point is 00:22:01 going to be good at something first go which is logical like I would tell you that right I would be like Jess you can't be good at everything like first cab off the rank of course not but then when I do it I'm like why am I not good first cab off the rank yeah stupid just start talking to yourself like you would your friend instead of me because my self-talk she needs talking to it's where grit really kind of comes in because it's not about being perfect for a really short period of time it's about staying consistent when things feel boring or slow or just relatively inconvenient And that's where most financial goals do fall apart. Not because they're hard, but because arguably the journey is not that exciting.

Starting point is 00:22:42 That's so true. And what our friend Angela Duckworth talks about is that people who succeed aren't the most talented. They're the ones who stay in the game for the longest. And I think about that all the time when it comes to money, because the person who invests consistently for years will almost always outperform the person who is trying to be perfect but gives it up early or just like throws lots and lots of money at it for a short period of time because it's not about being perfect it's just about not quitting and not quitting feels like

Starting point is 00:23:14 an achievable goal a hundred percent and I think it's a good reframe yeah and I think it's a little bit of a mindset shift and if we bring this back to something really practical if you're sitting there going what the hell do I actually do after this episode this is what I want you to do I want you to pick one financial goal and then I want you to make it really specific like set one system up that supports it so we're not just going to set one goal the system is the key here what system are you setting up that is actually going to support that goal and then in your calendar you're going to put a check-in with yourself in a month you're going to go and put that in your calendar and be like check in on that goal and then that's it that is it that's it that feels

Starting point is 00:23:55 very manageable i want i can i add one thing of course everybody we would like you to go to the comments on spotify and tell us what your goal is oh yeah we'll keep you accountable yeah maybe in like six months time we can come back and be like okay amanda did we do what we said we were gonna do and amanda's gonna be like why are you personally attacking me mr garicci i know and i'm saying i'm doing it with love babe just love exactly like we are your big sisters sometimes we're really annoying, but I promise we still love you and want what's best for you. We just have to sometimes point things out that you don't particularly like. Yeah. And make it feel manageable. Yeah. But like, why does my little sister do that to me so often? Rude. That's big

Starting point is 00:24:32 sister energy. You are the little sister. But I guess that's the whole point. It makes it a lot more manageable. You actually don't need a perfect plan. You don't need to overhaul your entire life. You don't need to find oodles of motivation and watch 6 million TikToks on how to find motivation. you just need to start something and then stick to it get this just longer than you normally would okay just stick to it longer than you normally would that would be the goal we're not going to set this ridiculous goal of yes you have to stick to it for the next 12 months just like longer than you normally would and then if we zoom out your best financial year isn't going to come from one big decision it's actually going to come from really small decisions that are done consistently

Starting point is 00:25:14 over time and then a year from now you will look back and be like damn girl I did that yeah which is less exciting in the moment but arguably more realistic and less pressure which we love exactly and if there's one thing that I want you to take from this it's that you actually do not ever need to be perfect with money no one I mean Jess might be I'm not no definitely not but you just need to stay in the game because that's where everything changes and if you want to go deeper on this I'll make sure that I link the books that I talked about and Angela Duckworth's TED talk in the show notes, because I think it's genuinely one of the best explanations about why persistence matters more than talent. But for now, I want you to consider this your mid-year reset.

Starting point is 00:25:58 It's not pressure. It's not perfection. It's just a chance to start again. But we're just being a little bit smarter about it this time. And that feels like such a good place to land, I think that we're done I think we can wrap this episode so my friends if this episode has helped you I would love it if you sent it to a friend who's also trying to get their stuff together this financial year and we'll be back again on Friday bye friends 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

Starting point is 00:26:41 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.

She's On The Money - Your Best Financial Year Yet: How to Set Money Goals That Actually Stick

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