The Vault with Financielle - ”Are Holidays the New Car Finance?” + How to Travel Debt-Free | The Vault Episode 59

Episode Date: April 9, 2025

Send us a textIn Episode 59 of The Vault, we discuss this week’s controversial opinion, “You should NOT be exchanging money with children for doing chores”. We then dive into our listener dilemmas:💸 "Holidays are the new car finance”💸 ”Am I behind on my salary progression?”We celebrate a listener who feels on top of her finances for the first time ever! 🌟👏 She’s completely paid off her credit card, got £500 in her emergency fund, set a budget, and is loving the community in the app! #CommunityWin #DebtFreeIf you’d like to share your money win, head to the community in the Financielle app or email [e-mail] your (totally anonymous) money dilemmas to [e-mail] and we may feature yours on a future episode 💌🐝Thanks to our partner PensionBee. They’re a leading online pension provider on a mission to build pension confidence so that you can enjoy a happy retirement. Pension saving is made simple with PensionBee - you can combine, contribute and withdraw online or from the palm of your hand with their easy-to-use app. Their retirement planning tools - like their Pension Calculator - blogs, videos and podcast - all aim to help you take control of your pension and build a better financial future.When investing, your capital is at risk.Guess what! As a Vault listener, you can get 25% off our digital course, The Money Playbook. This is a step by step guide to being financially well. It has 101 lessons where you'll learn how to budget, ditch debt, build savings and grow wealth. Use this offer code at checkout: VAULTCheck out The Money Playbook course here  💸Chapters:00:00 Introduction and Exciting Announcement00:44 Morning Greetings and School Memories03:04 Controversial Opinion: No Money for Chores05:19 Teaching Kids Financial ResponsiThe Vault is an entertaining yet thought provoking podcast that answers our community’s dilemmas and confessions surrounding women and money.Visit https://www.financielle.com to download our app.Watch the podcast on YouTube.Follow Financielle for more:▶︎ TikTok▶︎ InstagramAbout Financielle:Financielle is a female focussed finance app helping women to take back control of their money, ditch debt, increase savings and invest in their future.Recorded and Produced by Liverpool Podcast Studios▶︎ Web ▶︎ Instagram▶︎ LinkedIn

Hey everyone, it's Holly here. Before we get into the episode, I want to share something exciting. That's right. If you're looking to take control of your money, the financial app is your go-to tool. With the app, you can track your spending, create realistic budgets, and hit your money goals faster than ever. In fact, did you know our premium community members save three and a half times more than our free users? That's incredible. Plus, you'll be part of an amazing community where we all support each other on our money journeys. Whether you're starting to pay off debt

or planning for your future, the app has everything that you need to make it happen. So what are you waiting for? Download the Financial app today and start your free trial. Trust us, your future self will wish you did it sooner. Welcome to the Vault with Finite Child. This is a safe space where we talk all things life and money and no topics are off limits. Good morning.

Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Because nothing much else you can say other than good morning. I always think like in school, good morning, Mrs. Yeah. Good morning everyone. You know, sing song.

Our children in school sometimes they go, Buenas dia, senora. My school was Borreda. Oh, the Welsh are here. Yeah, Borreda. Where I live it's very close to the Welsh border and sometimes I go on runs and I'm like, yeah, run to Wales.

Run to another country today. I'm back. Yeah. I'm back. Yeah. From the front door. That is bragging rights. Bragging rights.

International queen. International running queen. Where it's like, I mean, Europeans must have known all the time. I know, yeah. Like Belgium, France, Belgium, France, Belgium, France. I remember just driving from France to Belgium and I was like, why is no one stopping us? Yeah, I would say that. We were not stopped, didn't need the passport, didn't need anything.

I was like. You've got island mentality, which is like, get off the island. It's true, isn't it? We don't have a border. So, yeah, obviously we do to Wales and Scotland and Ireland and stuff, not Ireland, Wales and Scotland. But I just couldn't believe that we were just dragged, we could have just reversed. Like the reverse. Like the reverse. Yeah, yeah. Like the reverse. Yeah, yeah.

When I was about five, I fell asleep on the school bus home and I woke up in Germany. Like I lived in the world. Oh wait, let's give context. I don't want to wake about your wheels at the time? I was like, oh no, and I had to do the whole bus route round in Germany. And they were like, oh, we'll take you back to Holland. So you lived in Holland when you were younger? Yeah. And then you fell asleep on the bus?

Crucial comp. I just assumed everyone was in the van. I was like, wow, you really did fall asleep. It was a long sleep. A ferry. So you fell asleep in Holland and woke up in Germany? Yeah. Oh, imagine the phone call to mum.

That's a cry in it. I'm going to country. You left the country? Oh, I'll cry if I went, if I was on the bus from Warrington and it ended up in St. Helens or something. Like now, should do that now. Yeah. Okay. I've got a controversial opinion,

which I think is a pretty good one this week. You should not be exchanging money with children for doing chores. Ooh. You're coming at the parents with the, like, children's ones the past few weeks. I'm, so, spoiler, Laura and I have actually talked about this before and I had, I was mixed.

I was, I had a leg in both camps. I was firmly in one. Go and you do yours. No, you shouldn't. Give children money for chores, in exchange for chores. It's like the, for me, the two separate things. So I, that's why I'm soft on the kids. So Carl doesn't listen to the vault, so we're fine. Neil, don't channel it back to him or anything. But I think children should

help out around the house and they should understand what goes into running the house. And the reason I say this is like, Carl is OCD, like definitely more active around the house than I am. And I'm fine with this role split, definitely. And I sometimes, I would rather do something than the kids do it sometimes. So like, Carl will like, hey, there, come out. I'll do it, I'm next to you, I'll help, I'm here. But he's passionate about it,

and I definitely am about getting them to help out, Bits and Bobs understand how the whole thing puts together, the whole jigsaw of running this house is not, things don't magically happen, we take time to do things and can you help? And there's two reasons. One, obviously, it's the family home. You don't just wait on your hands and foot. But secondly, we're trying to make them into good big people. And I saw something once actually on TikTok, which was a guy saying his family had never taught him how to look after himself.

And his roommates, college mom once came around and taught him how to clean and taught him how to like do his washing. And he was like, I'd never had that. And suddenly I was like, whoa, these are big overwhelming things. And whereas his roommate had been slowly, gently taught how to do it. And so the house chore thing for me is about all pitching in and learning yourself what it takes to take care of yourself, whether it's the house, whether it's hygiene, whether it's like meal prep, whether it's stuff like that. Without dangling the carrot of money. Do it for some money.

I get that. So then on the other side of it is obviously, this is financial, like money and teaching kids about money is really, really important. And we actively discuss the budget in front of children. We tell them when we can't afford things. So we say, no, like we can't afford that. It's like Alby will say like,

do we need to make more money if we can do that? I'm like, yes. Or this- Do we need a side hustle mom? Yeah. Or there's something else that we would rather spend it on. Would you rather have this than that? So having those active conversations

and then the other element to managing money is they get, as a family, we invest in our junior prices every month where possible. Family, when they're gifting them money, they can choose how much of it they put into the prices and they're watching that grow. So I think I feel like this is a personal thing. This is absolute no judgment in my family for the moment.

We feel like we've got the right balance where we don't time when it's chores. I rest my case. Yeah, no, and I get that because I've got two boys. So I'm like overly conscious that they are independent humans because notoriously, like the example that's used, I do not want them to get in a relationship when they're older, whether it's with a man or a woman

and their partner being resentful of them because they don't know how to put a wash on or they don't think- Or like weaponizing competence, why don't you do that? Or they don't think to pick the box up off the floor because by God, if Teddy gets ready for football, it looks like he lives in a crap den.

I will have tied it in the day, and then he'll go, like literally the day I came home and he went to football. And I was like, what happened? Like genuinely, did someone get robbed or wrestled or something because there's like, Teddy has a thing where he like kicks his boxes off. Like if you're not watching on YouTube,

he does a, well, I would love it if he did catch it, but he just kicks his boxes off. Like if you're not watching YouTube, he does a, well I would love it if he did catch it, but he just kicks his boxes up in the air and then we'll get to the end of the week and I'll be like, why have we gotten up, there's no fresh boxes coming through this wash white and then I will look behind his wardrobe and they're all going to the sink. There's like 10 pairs of boxes behind the wardrobe.

So I've stopped that or tried to stop it. Maybe he's got a basketball hoop above the laundry basket. Yes, that's true. That's a good idea. That's true. Make it into a game. I might do that for myself. Yeah.

He's like, cause when I did that, I felt it really happened. My hack is, yeah, but I don't want them to, anyone be resentful. And I would want them to be independent, look after themselves, know how to clean, know how to do everything. So in my head, as they were growing up, I was thinking, oh, so we'll obviously do pocket money

in exchange for like chores, but I kind of get where you're coming from. It shouldn't be chores. It should just be pick shit up. Put your things in the wash, bring your plate back to the table. Like that should just, you shouldn't be rewarded monetary value for that.

So I feel like you might sway a bit there actually. But a lot of people come to us and ask us for pocket money like platforms in which to give them. They want children to handle money at a young age. Which I get, because they want them to understand you've only got 10 pounds left. What do you want to spend it on? You know, do you want to save it?

Do you want to invest it? Whatever. They want to, the kids want to be able to see Do you wanna save it? Do you wanna invest it? Whatever. The kids wanna be able to see the money and it's really hard because we're not really a cash. That's why the Giants are helps because you can see it going up and down. I would imagine some people might say, it's really helpful for teaching them that

if you work hard, you can get paid for it. This is what a job's like. I do understand that. And maybe it's for extra chores, maybe it's- Something out the ordinary, not- We're gonna go clean the cars, do you wanna come help me? And then as a reward, it's a nice- What your everyday stuff that you should just be doing

without, because I don't get paid to put the wash on. No. And I don't get paid to empty the dishwasher. But yeah, if it's something extraordinary, like we're gonna clean the windowsills outside, we're gonna do empty the dishwasher. You're like, but yeah, if you, something extraordinary like we're gonna clean the windowsills outside, we're gonna do like clean the car, like we'll. So then maybe you might have paid someone else to do it.

You might have gotten paid for valet and they said we're gonna do it ourselves. I'm never gonna let them mow the lawn. I can't mow a lawn. I've tried so many times. And I'm like, I have massive respect for gardeners. Neil gets so, have you ever tried to mow a lawn with a lawn mower and electric one?

Have you? Or a petrol one? Your husband used that once and ran out. Or a petrol one? Or broke it? Neil's not got a good record with lawn mowers or strimmers. Given he used to, his first job was, apart from being a rubber player, was a lawn mower. Like in a council. Like a council ride on one. He used to do my grandma's from the lawn. Favorite job to this day. I'm like, no wonder because you used to play bowls and not do very much else. And have hot brews made from all the old ladies

and sit with the old men and have a chat. But Neil has a habit of cutting through wires, live wires. So like, I'm trimming a hedge, I'm trimming a hedge. No, Carl got a brand new lawnmower and Neil borrowed it before Carl had had a chance to use it. And we didn't pay extra for the cordless, which on reflection we should have done anyway. And we didn't and Neil borrowed it

and he mowed over the cord. But that's the first time he's done that. He said, don't worry, Alan, not Alan, Peter. Which is the next donate? I've got three Peters on the street, so. Peter, fix. Peter. Fix the wire. Can't imagine Karl like first.

OCD. First go, first go at the toy that you've just bought. And then he went through the live wire of his dad's and then he's done it to another lawnmower as well. He's not got a good track record is what I'm trying to say, but it's actually really difficult. So I highly respect gardeners and I would not let my child ever touch it.

I remember begging, begging my parents to get a ride on lawn mowers. Did you have an empire, like a farm? No, I was just, it was my dream. I think I would have gone on holiday and I'd seen one and I was like, wow. Not a cord bank. I love one of those.

Since so, if you fancy a summer weekend job, where like, you know, some Saturdays and Sundays, you might have a council that needs a... You'll get bruised. Or it won't work on the weekend. Oh yeah. It's only that it used to finish quite early. If it was a hint of rain.

It was like, right guys, back to the headquarters. Neil's like, oh, I'll finish for the day. I'm like, it's 8 a.m. He's like, yep, it's not raining. It's just how it goes. It's England, it's rain. Yeah, great job. Oh, we're talking about kids and money. Right, okay.

I am super keen to hear from people on this one, like messaging to us, and they said Laura, like my personal email address. Please don't give me Laura's email address out. Although it wouldn't be hard to crack the code. The vault at financial.com. But tell us what you're, like, you might have been someone who got pocket money connected to chores and you found it motivated you and it might have started the entrepreneurial

streaking you. It taught you taught you, you might have done it with children. Let us know because it we just because we have this perspective doesn't obviously. We're always right. But does it mean does it mean there's another way as well? I like it okay. Dilemma number one. It's the moment you've all been waiting for. It's time to reveal our controversial money opinion from our friends at Pension B. It's too difficult to track my pension so I'll worry about it later.

I couldn't disagree more although it depends who your pension is with. Mine's with Pension B and I can check the progress of my pension with ease using their app. The trick to tracking it all is in the payday routine. Each payday I create my budget, I pay into my pension using the app, I check the performance of my pension plan, and then I update my net worth to show my money progress. It genuinely couldn't be easier. I have to agree with Laura on this one. It's so important to understand how our pension is performing and it's all about visibility.

Gone are the days when your pension paperwork lands on the mat once a year. Ladies, we need to be in the know. Download the app today to get started or head to pensionbe.com forward slash uk for more information and remember when investing your capital is at risk. Holidays are the new car finance. I keep hearing people say holidays are the new car finance, and I'm really starting to feel it myself. Travel has always been my favourite way to spend and save. It's the only thing that keeps me going some months.

But recently, I feel like every holiday I book is more expensive, and I'm having to pay for them in instalments, sometimes well after the trip is over. The last few trips, I've had to rely on credit just to make them happen, and I'm having to pay for them in installments sometimes well after the trip is over. The last few trips I've had to rely on credit just to make them happen and I'm not sure if I should even be prioritizing this anymore. I'm stuck because travel is so important to me and I don't want to give it up completely but I also hate the feeling of holiday debt hanging over me. It's the time of year where I normally go a little a little bit holiday happy and book my travels for the year. Any advice on how to manage travel as a sinking fund without it draining my finances or leaving

me with post-holiday guilt? Hold on for this one. Just hold on. Everyone hold on. Because we are the travel people. Like, we like, like this is, this is our bag. This is gonna be, it's gonna be controversial. And so yeah, fully transparent, love traveling, worked in travel, was spoiled with some trips

to some amazing places that then absolutely skewed my perspective on what normal travel is, okay. So a full disclosure on that. And we are also the, some of us, the millennial Instagram generation of travel and escapism and- Wonderlust. That's what it is.

Hashtag Instagram. Hashtag wonderlust. Glittery writing. Yeah. You know, the domes of the Santorini, that doesn't look like that when you get there, but you just see a few domes and the lights, a queue of people. And the Lake Como, everyone's going, like the Maldives, the slides into the ocean.

We worked in travel, we know what's trying to be presented. We saw the dream. We have, we have. And lived it. And we've bought into it as well. Much less so more recent years, where actually what we value is warmth and sunshine and time with family and time switching off. And that has meant compromises on the quality sometimes

of what we do. You know, like we, like you want the bougie stuff and now you accept actually that. Something's gonna give sometimes. Especially when your family grows, like you've got to pay for three children, five plane seats. You can't always go, five plane seats

and you can't all, and like the room situation is hard in some hotels and things. And so we've been sold this dream and everyone on Instagram's traveling. And so we suddenly, it becomes quite normal to have the city break and the beach holiday and the aesthetic beach holiday and then the girls trip. And it kind of like some of these influences that we're following, they were gifted, like they did not pay for the trip. Whereas we're sat there when she

talks about holidays and like plural, you know, like the holiday planning time. And I get it because we go on multiple, multiple holidays, we do, but this is where the big book comes in. So I've had that the big caveats and the big disclosures, you need to pay for it with cash. I don't care if you pay for it on a card and then pay it off in full. Like I'm not here for that debate right now. But if you are paying for a holiday in installments, including after the trip, you've overpaid. You can't afford it.

Can't afford it. And this is where actually, and I've not heard that point about it being like the new car finance, but I understand it. The industry, the travel industry, but definitely like the social media more than travel has pushed this. Travel has benefited from social media being so like, let me do my Snapchat, let me do my Instagram, let me show you where my travels were. Car finance helped to make expensive cars accessible. So people suddenly started to buy cars way more expensive than they could afford because they felt like they could afford it

because it was paying for it monthly. And people didn't contemplate the fact that they were over paying for a car. They were buying a car too expensive. they were overpaying for that, paying for it full whack, no discounts, and then they were paying for the finance, like one, two, three. And this has started to happen with travel because it's kind of like, well, this is what I want to do and I'll just kind of put it on a card. I'll work backwards, yeah, like where do I wanna go?

I wanna go to Thailand, it's gonna be minimum X. Whereas it's like, no, how much can we afford to spend on holidays this year? Like if you're a proper finance sheller, you kind of have an understanding. And sometimes it might Whereas it's like, no, how much can we afford to spend on holidays this year? Like if you're a proper financial, you kind of have an understanding. And sometimes it might work the other way, actually, where you go, okay, where do we wanna go? And how much will that be?

And then look backwards, does it fit in our budget? Yeah, so many times me and Neil have been like, we're gonna go, we're gonna do a little, even, you know, we've got some family holidays, but this year, and we were like, oh, we would like to fit in a London trip with the kids. Like for years they've had this amazing book that we've got and they love to look through all the iconic things.

What's the pairs game they always play? What's the London game? It's like a London snack game. They played a memory game. So we've, for some reason, we've accumulated quite a few London-esque games, books, and they've just got a real fascination of like, I wanna see the Tower Bridge,

I wanna see Buckingham Palace, all that stuff. So Neil, we've kind of picked our holidays for this year, got our sinking funds, we're paying stuff off, there's deadlines coming up for final payments, we've gotta get it all in order, get the budget sorted for the full year. And then Neil's like, oh, we might just do a London trip. And I'm like, hang on a minute.

I'm like, a London trip is quite expensive. For us, we've gotta get either four, either four trade tickets or drive and park, which is not cheap in itself. Accommodation's ridiculously expensive in London. If we want to do big iconic things, it's going to be ticket costs. There's a theater, eating out. I was like, that for a family of four,

if you're going to do it properly, I'm going to put it out there. People will be like, you can't do it for that. If you want to do it properly, a grand. I was gonna say more. Yeah, on top of it. If you've got to pay for four train tickets or whatever. Michael, let's get on the, let's do a tour bus.

They're gonna want. Oh my God, they're expensive. Yeah, they're gonna want shitty merch. Like, you know, I'm incorporating all those little things. Like, you just wanna go. And you like your food, so you're gonna go to London. Yeah, you're gonna go to some nice places. So we, you know, it's very easy flippantly to go,

oh, we're gonna chuck a London trip in as well. And I'm like, probably can't afford that. But because we've done years of, where do we wanna go? How much, we already have an idea in our head. Like we've got a notes list in our phone because people forget the little trips in between. So like, oh, we're gonna, we're going away for a weekend or it's someone's birthday and we're staying away

for the night in Manchester or London, or wherever it might be. We include all that in our holiday funds. And every month I go to Neil, I think we need to put the holiday fund because I don't want to be left at the end of the year with, I don't want to be paying stuff after the fact. Like I want to-

But we don't, like, so you don't use credit. So you're like, I can't. Well, we can't. Yeah, so I go like, can we go through it again? And every month, a really good idea is write all the holidays you want to go on and don't use credit, so you're like, I can't. Well, we can't, yeah. So I go like, can we go through it again? And every month, a really good idea is write all the holidays you wanna go on and don't just write. Yeah, and write in your notes, add them all up and then put in how much are we gonna spend on the taxi?

That's a big one. Oh my God, yeah. To and from the airport in the UK. And then when you get there, people forget to do transfers. They forget to holiday. Airport money is free money. It isn't real. People go crazy. It isn't real. People

go crazy. We go in prep. I've seen people get their nails done in the airport. Oh yeah, I've seen that. That stresses me out. But it's just not real money. The kids are asking for sweets. It's like four pounds for a packet of wine gums in WH Smith's. Why? Why? And again, we say this as people that do it, but we pay, it's in the budget. It's in the budget. And then something has to not happen.

Like we were trying to, again, we're super, super fortunate. Lots of planning goes into paying for our travel, but there were years when we didn't do anywhere near as much. And then there's also been quite a few compromises this year. For example, I really wanted to go to a particular hotel for Carl's 40th in Ibiza. I didn't want to do like a big, big party holiday, but I even mentioned to a couple of friends being like,

if we booked this, do you guys all fancy it? Like I dropped it in, priced it up, and like even though it was a push, I hadn't contemplated what it costs to lie on a sunbed there, nevermind buy a diet coke there or a water. And it just like, it really, you sit there and you go, no, it's not worth it. And we've ended up, we're doing something completely different for the cost. We're doing an all-inclusive four days somewhere for the same price as just the hotel and the

flights were. But we had to compromise on it. But if it was, and we'll put it on a card and pay it off after, no, don't go. And we've always been that way. And there's something like, when you commit to doing it that way, you just adjust your budgets that way, you still have to still obviously make sure

that you're investing, you still make sure you do those things. And if you're in a debt payoff journey and you're in survive, it's a different game altogether. But it is this practical debate around, can I afford it? Am I willing to pay cash for it? It doesn't have to be at the beginning, because again, there can be deposit now,

and you can have these due dates, and you can build up to it. And different things are due at different times, is why getting a notes page is really, really helpful to plan ahead for it. But if you think, if you can't pay for it with cash that you have or plan to have as you save up, can't afford it.

It is the new car finance, you're buying something too expensive. It's the sinking funds argument. During people's, we'll get a lot of dilemmas in and people will be like, how can I get ahead on my sinking funds because I feel like you've got to plan in like a year and a half ahead a little bit. You might have to go without for the first six months

to get ahead so that you can this year, at the end of this year and then next year have a holiday paid for, do you know what I mean? We've had to work in advance to pay for everything because you pay for it before you go. So you have to get ahead on your sinking funds. So sometimes you'll feel like you're doubling up, trying to get there.

That's what we felt like last year anyway. It's really hard. It's like, I said, we're seeing it So sometimes you'll feel like you're doubling up, trying to get there. That's what we felt like last year anyway. It's really hard. It is. It's like, and I said, we're saying it from a position of privilege, but if you want to feel good on these holidays and if you want to regret being there and if you don't want to have this like, we've caught the hangover, the financial hangover that you have when you use credit for things, then a couple of sacrifices, a couple of years,

and leaning in and then saving up in advance, like you do get ahead and I promise you, you enjoy it more. Imagine if the weather's shit and you paid off and you still paid it the Maldives this year. If everyone was on Maldives TikTok over New Year's. What? Maldives TikTok. So I felt horrendously bad for all these people.

Other people were relishing in the misfortune of the people that traveled to the Maldives TikTok. So I felt horrendously bad for all these people. Other people were relishing in the misfortune of the people that traveled to the Maldives over peak. So it would have been, I'm talking rocket prices. Christmas day, Boxing day, New Year's. It was wash out, wash out. So it was like, I was watching Maldives TikTok and it was people just being like, it's day seven, we're still not being able

to get into the ocean. So the people could have saved up like so long. They're solid in their lifetime. Will of credit card. With the kids. And they're still paying the payment. Yeah, so people that went to the Maldives over Christmas and there was a washout,

still paying for it in March, April, May, June, July. You'd be fuming, fuming. It's bad enough if you pay cash for it. Which if you pay for it in cash and you paid for it six months before, you're like, no, it's gone, I'm done. But when that car payment still comes out, you're like, oh.

What was this for again? Do you remember that holiday? Oh no, it was an absolute washout in paradise. Oh, I felt so bad for people. I actually saw someone that obviously had a lot of money and they were like, sod this, we're going to Thailand. They landed in a beaut, they landed in the Maldives. They did like 48 hours and they were like,

the weather forecast they were showing you is terrible for the rest of the week. They got out of there, so long as it's highland. We got a few money. That's okay. What did you use the F off fund on? F off Maldives.

Diversion. Diversion from the Maldives. We were airlifted out of the Maldives. That's not Spain. That's like a bucket list holiday people would have. Yeah, that's tens of thousands. Cause it's, I of the politics. That's not Spain. That's like a bucket list holiday people would have. Yeah, that's tens of thousands. Cause it's, I've tried myself. It's not cheap.

And it's a trek to get there as well from the UK. Absolute trek. I actually looked where it was on the map the other day. I was like, I actually don't know where. Yeah, yeah. Really is in the middle, like middle of nowhere. Yeah. I still couldn't tell you.

Not as in the middle of nowhere as Mauritius. Yeah, that was the other one that I was like, where is that? Where is that? A long way south of Dubai. You had a great time in Mauritius. Yeah, that was the other one that I was like, where is that? It's a long way south of Dubai. We had a great time in Mauritius. I would highly recommend. Again, the spoil. We used to work in travel.

Oh, you honeymooned there to be fair. Well, I honeymooned there, but I look at it sometimes like, could we go as a family of four? And I'm like, no. So you just got to roll, like, you sure got your shoulders. Sometimes Holly. You could if you wanted to put it on credit.

Oh, of course I could. You could immediately. I could go tomorrow if I wanted to. But it's the way up of like, can we afford it? Would we love to go, yeah, maybe we'll save up for a special birthday, like a 40th. But I'd start planning it now. You've got four years.

So I'd start thinking from the- But it is funny, because even then when you get there, like we, again, with you, we think- Oh, do you wanna spend it? We could have, we could, we had the money, we have the money and we go, and this is where, closing final statement, this is where paying for things in cash

really makes you think about the decision you're making, whereas you're paying for it on credit, it's pretend it's not yours, you'll do it later. Cloud your judgment. It completely clouds your judgment because you have, and the biggest way I picture this is, and I talk about this with car finance as well, let's say we're talking about like, you know,

a 40 grand brand new Audi that you're getting on finance. Someone put 40,000 pounds, like deal or no deal, on the table in front of you, I want the stack of cash with the tape wrapped around it, with maybe a nice briefcase. Are you going to buy a 15 grand car, even a 20 and go, thank you 20 grand, I'm keeping you? You're going to do it. I really would be surprised if you went, no, I'm going to get the keys to the car. You're not going to do it. So why would you do it if you financed it?

That's a good activity to do. Well, like let's go and draw off your 40 grand out of your account. I know you've got it. So you've got money bags over here. Okay. Community win. My first payday, I think ever, I've felt on top of my finances. My credit card has been completely paid off for the first time in about three years. I have over £500 in

my emergency fund and all of my pots are ready to go for the month ahead. This app and the community has been such a help and great motivation. Woohoo! Love those. The pots and spaces and sinking pots. If you've not gotten onto them yet, like you have to. They are the game changer. They're the best, I genuinely think, biggest game changer of my like financial wellness journey.

I love them. I talk about them every day. I update them. I look at them. I plan stuff. I plan fun stuff. Like it's not boring stuff. Yes, there's the accounts, car tax might be in there

or car service or car insurance, like the necessities, but there's such fun stuff in there. It just lets us do amazing things. Really easy for you to forget that kicking the gut that you feel when something unexpected comes up and you don't have the money for. Whether it's like it was an expensive restaurant bill or whether it's the car needed more things or whether it's, I'll tell you a big one,

like you know when people are fundraising and you wanna be able to donate money. Like I have a giving pot and at any point, if someone's raising money, if someone needs something, if you wanna give a really good tip because someone was just amazing. Just like mentally not even a thing, just. I come across as so bougie because

whenever anyone says, oh, I'm raising for, I'm like, yeah, here you go. And they're like, really? Like usually I have to like ask people like 12 times to send the money over. But because the money's there, the life admin gets taken away and you don't go all get around to it

and then forget and then feel bad and it's it on you. Friends that have done the stuff, I'm like, here you go, 50 pounds or to it and then forget and then feel bad and it's set on you. There are friends that have done this stuff, I'm like, here you go, 50 pounds, whatever it might be, because I've got a sinking fund that I can truly, like Laura taught me to do this thing at the Gifting Sinking Fund. And it's one of my favorite ones. Because when shit goes down to someone-

Because imagine getting into a position where you've got a comfortable income, so this isn't because you're struggling generally, you're comfortable. And someone says, oh, I'm doing the marathon for like, you're comfortable. And someone says, I'm doing the marathon for like, raising money for cancer. You know, and you're like,

oh my God, absolutely. Can I do it next week? Can I afford it? Not because you can't afford it, because you was just chaotic and spending money there and everywhere. Like, no, no, no, no, you should just, I mean, the giving one's the best one.

Like set aside, pick 20 quid at first just, when the giving one's the best one, like set aside, pick 20 quid at first, pick 50 quid, whatever the amount is, just pick something first, put it in a space and feel the magic when you give it. Because the fact, like Holly, that you said, you take away the mental load, it's like transferred. So just giving Lincoln, done. Click, done.

Move the space over. It's not a, oh, is there enough in the account? I'm getting paid next week, what bills are gonna come out? It's, oh yeah, yeah, it's waiting for you here. It's just- You said even starting with the five pound, even when you're on the lowest budget ever. Yeah, I like that, I'm like, giving a tip for

if someone's like collecting, you just move it back into your current account. I could sponsor forms today. Oh yeah, I've done that today. We had a space for it, where it was like, if I didn't, I'd be like, oh, can we afford it? Yeah, actually, we did that. They were raising for charity and you're meant to go around the family, but I feel like we go around the family a lot for a lot of different bits of sponsorships and stuff. Sometimes we just go out and take the full thing.

It's in the park. We can just give it. Yeah. Exciting. If you'd like to tell us your win, head to the community in the app or email it to the vault at FindItShall.com. Okay. Next dilemma. Just, next dilemma.

Just a quick one, Laura here. If you're wanting to take back control of your money, ditch debt, make better decisions, and build wealth for the future, the Financial App is for you. With Financial, you can track your spending on the go, hit your money goals faster, and create a realistic budget that you can actually stick to. Not to mention you'll be part of an exclusive money community who share tips, offer support and celebrate your successes along the way. Click the link in the description to download financial and start your free trial now. This is your sign to take control of your money today.

Okay, I'm done. Let's go back to the vault. Am I behind on salary progression? of your money today. Okay, I'm done. Let's go back to the vault. Am I behind on salary progression? I changed jobs last year after being with my previous company for six years. During that time, I gained responsibility, led projects, was seconded into a higher role and completed leadership training.

Despite consistently good performance reviews, none of this translated into a higher salary. When I left, I was earning 35k, which had only been raised the year before. I moved into a new role in the same field with a salary of 42k, but it's hybrid and since my contract is based on site, I cover my own accommodation and fuel costs. After expenses, the pay rise has almost disappeared. To make things worse, I found out I'm on the lowest salary band than my less experienced teammates. I'm 32 with a master's degree

and six plus years of experience. We bought our first home last year in a more expensive area with good schools based on advice that this would be good long-term. But with high interest rates, renovations and little budget excess, it feels tight financially. My focus is now increasing, My focus is now on increasing

our income, but I'm unsure what to aim for. Should I push for a raise? And if so, what expectations are realistic? And should I be earning more by now, given my experience? Also, can we talk about how frustrating it is when job adverts don't post salary ranges? I'd love any insight onto salary progression and what steps to take next. This is a really good dilemma. I thought you were going to say that, because you were listing all the things like, I do this, I do this, I do this,

and they're not giving me a pay rise, and I was going to be like, leave. We can't leave. Yeah, I know. And then we comment on the thing, I was like, oh, well done, Tix. You've already left that role. So when she talks about like the mountain expenses,

whilst it's very, very valid and helps us to think we need to earn as much as we can. We need, it's like a balance, like you need to earn good money in a job you like with a balance that you like, people talk about balance, but what I mean is like, you know, you could go work on the oil rigs, not see friends or family, you might be afraid of the sea.

And you like, or small spaces. When I think of oil rigs, is that sound on TikTok? Yo ho ho ho. So that's danger money, you know, and like that's, it's not, it's danger money, but it's also like far away money. So there's like, earn lots danger money, you know, and like that's, it's not, it's danger money, but it's also like far away money. So there's like earn lots of money, compromises come with that.

There could be a job that you really, really don't like and that pays a lot of money. Again, it's actually gonna be sustainable, maybe for a period of time, but it's just not gonna be. And on the flip side, you can be really enjoying your job and really like the balance that it can give you, but it's just not going to be. And on the flip side, you can be really enjoying your job and really like the balance that it can give you, but it's not hitting the salary. And so you've just, you do have to,

I call it like optimizing your income. We want you to earn the most you can earn doing the thing you like, giving you a quality of life that you like. And I say that very, very carefully because you're still going to have to work hard. Like I don't like this and it's dead easy and we just took a long day. No, no, no, no, like you should very carefully because you're still gonna have to work hard, like I don't like this, and it's dead easy, and we just take a long, no, no, no, no, no,

like you should work hard, it's good for us to work hard. So because of her mounting expenses, it is her job to optimize her income. It's never your employer's job to optimize your income because you've got growing expenses because you decided to get the renovation. Don't ever go in, you hear it. I think we have mentioned it before, haven't we,

where people have said, my washing machine broke, and then we moved house, hear it. I think we have mentioned it before, haven't we? Where people have said, my washing machine broke and then we moved house and it's really expensive to live in this area and groceries have gone up and it's like, no. You've got an extra kid. That's not your employer's problem. Like it's absolutely not. So if you're ever gonna go in for a salary negotiations,

please don't ever comment on the fact that your costs might have gone up. Even if it's true. Even if it's true. It's really annoying. It is, all our costs are going up, but it's not your employers responsibility. It's especially annoying if your employer also

is not looking at inflationary pay rises or decent pay rises. Yeah. And technically, really weirdly, that is linked to cost of living as well, but don't mention it. It's because that's a blanket thing for everyone. That's not based on individual performance

or an individual's costs have gone up there for. I deserve a pay rise, cause I've moved house and my mortgage is full. It's like, you just can't go in like that. And people do. We hear friends that are managers and people go into them and like, I want a pay rise. Okay, can you evidence why?

Like, why do you think? Well, it's like my rent's gone up. It's like, sorry. You have to benchmark it. We've talked about it before. You're asking us, should I be paid more? I've got this much experience. I've done a master's.

That's what to me stands you in good stead to say. Like you deserve a well-paid salary. I don't know what sector you're in. Yeah, it doesn't say. But you have to go out and do the work. Like you've already found out that one of your peers that is less experienced than you gets paid more. That's not acceptable.

Also really hard to go to your employer to say that you've discussed salaries because a lot of them put it in the rules that you don't do that. So how you navigate that, you need to be mindful of that. But the fact that someone with less experience is getting paid more than you, already something that you need to address,

but you have to go and benchmark, look at your sector, look at other jobs. And she says it's really frustrating when employees don't put salary brackets and bans on them. I feel like that's changing a little bit if you're on LinkedIn, which is painful at the moment, I feel for everybody that has to navigate your way

around that. People are calling out companies that don't put salaries on like recruitment companies are getting really frustrated. They're not getting the leads. People don't want to go through a big application process. Not knowing what salary they're going for, it's not acceptable.

So I feel like that's changing a little bit. And just, if you want to apply for a role, ring up the hiring person and say, what are the salary expectations for this role? Because I would be expecting X. Go on benchmark, what are you worth? And go for it. Negotiate you down.

Don't low-ball yourself because you can only go down. Salary journeys aren't linear as well. So, you know, sometimes you earn more. Sometimes you come down. Sometimes, you know, a salary that you were offered was unrealistic for the wider market, but that company needed you in that time

and willing to pay more. If there's a supply and demand issue, people might say, well, we can get lots of people at this. Like it is just a bit of a, it's ebbs and flows. And so sometimes it's not, don't expect every single year for the rest of your life, salaries go up, stuff changes. So I think it's being pragmatic about that. And but like Holly said,

benchmarking and understanding what's right and having open eyes conversations that you don't like. Holly said, you don't have to say, I've been chatting to my friend and he's paid more, but you need to say, am I paid fairly for this role? Like across the team, am I? Because if they lie, do you know what I would do now?

I'm so brash now. I would go and find someone in another company that does my job and be like, can I just ask you transparently and I'm going for a pay rise, especially. We've got nothing to lose. Even if it's brackets, even if it's what kind of, what am I looking at?

Can you let me know in your company, like what? People don't care, they'll be like, well it's getting paid this much. It's super interesting that when they've talked about how they left for a pay rise, but the net impact wasn't, and actually that's really important when people are understanding.

And you won't always know that something could have been homeworking and then it switches to in office and that's for you to decide whether that's appropriate or not. But lots of people that work from home nowadays don't understand what it was like. I can't comprehend what my petrol bill, I mean petrol's gone up a lot actually,

probably similar. And parking. But you used to pay for parking, you used to pay for petrol. You used to end up paying for lunches here, there, and everywhere. Your insurance would probably be higher. Even like, well, insurance was higher because mileage was higher.

Also, like childcare, you sometimes have to pay for longer. Yeah, yeah, to extend the hours. You start to commute home again to get back to the nursery. You'd paid for the extra top-up time. There used to be so many extra costs. And I can imagine that someone that's not used to those costs suddenly

moving into a role where there's a lot more on-site work. You're kind of like, oh my God. And so when you are looking at the pay rise, what is actually the net pay rise, which means take home an after all your expenses and stuff. Yeah. Is it worth that move? Because sometimes a lower salary,

but a cushier arrangement with less expenses, may be important, but also trajectory. So it's not necessarily about, you wanna make sure you paid fairly for what you're doing, but it's also about like, what's the possibility here? And ultimately, and we have always said this, and she's done the work, but you tend to, if you want to jump up the salary brackets,

we need to leave companies, we do. Like the facts say that, I'm not gonna say you're always gonna be happy. Sometimes I've seen lots of people chase the money and hop around. They get a bit of a reputation. You see V looks like that as well. You look like you can't really stick at anything.

But you've got the bag and this is all about balance. Like what is it ultimately you want? It doesn't sound like she's like, I want to win loads and loads of money and I'm gonna move around. No, she just wants to be fairly. Make sure, yeah, yeah. Which is right within her right.

So she needs to like how they do the work, get the benchmarking and engineer conversations with like pragmatic people that's like, I want to be paid fairly. And I know I'm not, you can say it. And I know I'm not, I don't need to go into detail. Yeah. And through, you know, investigative. Some chats, it feels like I'm not.

So I think it's for you to go and wait. I put it on them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't have to say, so I want this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've done my homework. So can you, I want you to look into it and do a bit of an investigating

and if it becomes apparent that I am, can we look to correct it? Yeah. And then secondly, what's the opportunity? The other final thing to say on this, and Holly, you say this a lot, is we're the main characters in our lives. Businesses are busy in big places and sometimes it's not a

personal thing. They've not sat and gone, oh, we can get away with this. This is male or female, by the way. They just kind of, you have to advocate for yourself. No one's going to come along and change your life for you. And if they do, they're a guardian angel. Because often that doesn't happen. You will get them at their like, once in a lifetime. Not always, so you have to advocate for yourself. And it's not always, I think sometimes women,

I think women take it a bit more personally. Because of what's happened to us. Maybe it's just been a look so often and underpaid. Yeah, we just see a pattern of behavior that's men get paid more. And we talked about on a pod a few weeks ago, a month ago, where men apply for jobs where they're only 60% qualified

and women wait till they're 100% qualified and then the paid disparities are even bigger because someone that's left qualified. They're overqualified, they're not paid, the other person's under qualified. So you get why women have a bit of a, like we're on the defense already and we take it personally, we're like, women don't get paid

because of the information that's coming out on the gender pay gap and whatnot. Like you've got a right to feel like that. Just be careful how you position it. Do your homework, benchmark, speak to, if you've got recruiter friends, HR friends, get intel, what's good? How can I approach this in the right way

so that I'm, you know, get the best possible outcome? And keep feeding me stuff that's out there. Like it doesn't mean you've got your eyes ready to leave. It just means you're keeping a tab on, you're not just being loyal and they should be rewarding me. It's no, no. I've got options.

And how many people do we know that have been let go from jobs? Like they've been made redundant unexpectedly and the CV is like dusty, out of date, not up to scratch, you know, not done any courses in the last however many years. Keep fresh. A chat have just coasted in the job and then rugs pulled out from under them

and they're like, Jesus Christ, they're having to navigate this whole new world. Like always keep an eye out. And like reinvent themselves. Yeah, it's like reinvent yourself every year. Always update, have a fresh CV, write your projects down. Oh my God, I don't have a CV. I'm probably unemployable to be fair now. Over 100%.

What about you? Both of us. Someone was like, can you just? I'd be like, can you just? Oh yeah, I know. Oh, it's scary really, isn't it? Can you do a CV? Can you talk about this part so we can keep doing the part? I'm going to do a CV tonight. I'm going to spray it with perfume like Elle Woods of Wiggly Plant.

It's pink and scented. Perfect day. Hopefully we helped her. But don't take advice from us. We are not qualified. Any final words today? As Holly's singing Perfect Day is probably enough. Yeah. Can you fade us out? perfect day is probably enough. Yeah, can you fade us out?

No, just keep your eye out, keep your eye on the ball, keep your CV up to date. But your income is the most important, one of the most important numbers. You don't want to compromise it for quality of job, happiness, whatever. But do not leave money on the table. Like, because every investment, so every excess comes from a good income, every pension contribution percentage comes from a good income, it's all connected to income. And so if you're sat there like hoping someone one day

will reward you, then they're not gonna, they're unlikely to, so you have to go and do the work and make it a project and you don't, like it's a one-off, and then you do it for a while, and then you do it again. Yeah. Perfect. That's all for this episode.

The vault is now closed. And just a quick disclaimer, the vault is just a chat to run life on many topics when you're not giving financial advice.