The Vault with Financielle - How To Feel Financially Free | The Vault Episode 28

Episode Date: September 4, 2024

Send us a textIn Episode 28 of The Vault, we discuss this week’s controversial opinion, “It’s okay to spend when you’re in debt”, before diving into our listener dilemmas:- I can’t give up... my bougie membership- I don’t feel as financially free as I should doWe celebrate a savvy community member’s win - they dodged debt by using their emergency fund to cover nearly £300 in car repairs, and they're now excitedly setting up a sinking fund to stay ahead of next year's MOT! 🚗💸If you’d like to share your money win, head to the community in the Financielle app or email thevault@financielle.comSend your (totally anonymous) money dilemmas to thevault@financielle.com and we may feature yours on a future episode 💌Thank you to our partner PensionBee, who are on a mission to help you build pension confidence and create a world where everyone can enjoy a happy retirement. With PensionBee you can combine, contribute and withdraw online. Join over 252,000 customers saving with PensionBee. When investing, your capital is at risk.Sign up and combine your pensions here 🐝Chapters:00:00 Introduction and Initial Thoughts on Bougie Spending00:26 Welcome to The Vault00:48 Fun Facts and Personal Stories02:23 Controversial Opinions on Spending While in Debt03:26 Discussing Debt-Free Journeys and Spending Habits07:54 Dilemma: Bougie Membership and Debt11:40 Financial App Promotion12:18 Evaluating the Worth of Bougie Expenses15:18 Designer Labels and Financial Perspectives17:33 Designer Gifts Only17:54 Balenciaga Trainers Story19:03 Emergency Fund Success21:44 Planning for Financial Freedom23:49 Building and Growing Wealth27:31 Financial Health and Fitness30:33 Final Thoughts and Wrap-UpThe 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

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Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 It doesn't seem overly bougie to me. She sounds like she's very much in control of her money. She's even saying, she's in two minds because she's written a dilemma to be like, I don't want to give up my bougie one, but then finishes it with, I don't think it's very bougie after all. So she's kind of answered her own question. That seems to me that someone might have planted the idea that that's quite a bougie expense. And she's kind of gone, is it? Like, is that a bougie thing to do welcome to the vault with financial this is a safe space where we talk all things life and money and no topics are off limits howdy howdy this is one of the first episodes for those on youtube where we've not complimented each other not complimented as in
Starting point is 00:00:41 like this is very different colours look the leopard print oh look at us in case anyone didn't know my name ha ha ha
Starting point is 00:00:50 ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Starting point is 00:00:52 ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Starting point is 00:00:52 ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Starting point is 00:00:53 ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Starting point is 00:00:54 ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Starting point is 00:00:54 ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Starting point is 00:00:54 ha ha ha ha ha A what? Her Royal Highness. H-R-H. Holly Ruth Holland. Don't steal my identity. I have regrets now.
Starting point is 00:01:12 Thank you, Auntie Boo. But yeah, H-H, just in case I forget myself. Mine are liver function test. Or lateral flow test. Oh my God. Timely. I thought you were just sharing your like... I had a liver function test. I was like
Starting point is 00:01:25 oh no her initials and my sister's ear nose and throat ENT are you a family in the medical profession
Starting point is 00:01:34 by any chance we're Nana well I was LHA and I always liked LA because you could wear one of those LA caps oh yeah obviously it's personalised
Starting point is 00:01:45 and I'm LP like Lauren Perrier oh that's good I'll take it I don't know if anyone has compared mine to what is it
Starting point is 00:01:52 LMW no nine that feels like the type of initials that may be on a Louis Vuitton case do you know what you're getting personalised
Starting point is 00:02:01 you can see it in the airport when you get them when people do imagine HR how do you turn that oh it in the airport. When you get them, when people do. I don't have them. Imagine HR helped on that. Oh, it's Licensed Manufacturing Warehouse. There you go. Get in. Made it in life.
Starting point is 00:02:15 You are the vibe. Made it in life. Okay. Controversial opinion. Going to make someone very happy with this one it's okay to spend when you're in debt absolutely not
Starting point is 00:02:33 joking next yeah that was an easy one what do we best spend what do we think like that implies to me
Starting point is 00:02:43 go on spending is inevitable like life costs money there's a fine line between needs and wants do you need that nice apartment do you just need like a basic one for now etc yeah it's a non-bougie spending there's different types of debt as well so like student debt so okay spend when you're shooting debt lots of people will um have student debt hang around for a long time with especially nowadays and so would you forego any type of discretionary and happy and extra spending because you have student debt no you wouldn't forego it you do it and you know car loans that tend to take lots of periods of time to pay off i think i think this is a way to reframe this is if you're on a debt
Starting point is 00:03:32 free journey if you decide i want to pay off my consumer debt you absolutely shouldn't be spending excess money because it will take you absolutely ages and you're less likely to then stick to it because it's just forever i just get it over and done with. And so sometimes that pulling back on spending and you get the, especially if you're a dopamine hitter from a spend, you get it from paying it off the debt. But I think it's more connected to,
Starting point is 00:03:55 if you're happy to have that debt kind of hanging around and you're not motivated to pay it off, then why should you pull back spending? Because what are you going to do with the extra money anyway? Like save it. You've got the debt and it's just all a bit. But if you want to pay it off then why should you pull back spending because what are you gonna do with the extra money anyway like save it you've got the debt and it's just a little bit so but if you want to pay it off spending is going to slow you down quite a bit what do you think I think I like what we've said in the past few episodes about sinking funds like it's the same concept like it's inevitable that
Starting point is 00:04:20 you're going to spend you need your your car fixed in. Obviously, insurance, not insurance, emergency fund, vital. But it is like, okay, what's the minimum amount we can spend at Christmas? We're going to have to buy people presents, children presents, whatever. What's the minimum amount we can do? Like, what is the minimum amount we can do for everything until we pay this debt off? Yeah. Going with a, like, you don't want to be in a lack mindset but you kind of want to be in a we have to progressive yeah so are you saying if anyone is in debt i'm not talking like student debt i'm
Starting point is 00:04:55 talking credit card debt yeah yeah they're not allowed to go on holiday no I think they so I think I'm all about realism so the reason why I would say it's okay to have a travel sinking fund if you're on a debt-free journey is because if you're going to go on holiday you're going to go on holiday let's not pretend you're not because what happens is if you don't have a travel sinking fund and you crack on and you go we're not going away this year and then you get tempted to go away because everyone's going on holiday. You want a last minute, you will put it on a credit card. And so the biggest thing we can do for people is really help them to disassociate with credit as a means of funding things, which is why it's, if you're going to go away now, again, this is all about choices. Do you go for a week in Spain
Starting point is 00:05:42 or a week in Dubai? Do you go for a weekend in Wales, which sometimes is expensive anyway, or, you know, do you go to America? Because there's, there's choices within that. Any of you are going to continue to spend at quite a, spend beyond your means whilst also thinking you're trying to pay down debt or just because at some point in the future you'll pay down debt. You just add into it. And I think that's, I can imagine this, it's been so long since I've used credit that I'm trying to remember what it's like when you have a balance on a card and this just sounds so stupid.
Starting point is 00:06:17 You put more on it. I can't, I really, I'm struggling to remember that time where you were, and it might be because you've not got any money in your current account and you're using it to kind of fund the gap but sometimes about just because you go I'll put it over there because then I don't have to deal with it yet and I just I'm so naive to that now I'm so far from that that I would I have to really empathize better with people that are in that situation I think if you've got a goal to pay
Starting point is 00:06:46 off the debt then it would seem a little bit strange to go and spend excessively on things that are wants not needs whereas for a lot of people they don't have a goal to pay off the debt and they're just living day to day so it's probably just the norm but it's um controversial probably yes because 90% of the population would be like doesn't everyone like function on credit whereas us geeks
Starting point is 00:07:09 in the corner are like we don't have credit what do you mean so it probably is controversial because we're not 90% of society
Starting point is 00:07:16 where it's just completely normalised it's connected to where it's conducive to a goal so if you want to run a marathon and you never do
Starting point is 00:07:21 a training run it's probably going to be a tough run why do they look at you and laugh you do lots of training run it's probably going to be a tough run you get lots of training but you're probably going to be a tough run isn't it you absolutely trained for your marathon and ran it I just laughed at you oh my god I was going to correct her then and say half like I still half still impressive Lucy it was only a half it was half a marathon more than we ran so um but yeah I think it's about whether they do whether they're doing the goal they're not because if they're not it's not controversial it's just a way of life for lots of people um well i feel like this goes nicely onto our first dilemma so i can't give up my bougie
Starting point is 00:07:55 membership hi girls i have been on my debt-free journey for around six months which all started with becoming completely teetotal which allowed me to get a grip on my life and free up time from drinking and being hungover to having complete handle on my life and start tackling the £14,000 debt I have managed to accrue through spending way beyond my means and racking up debt across several cards. I work in central London in luxury and I'm very used to seeing clients spend hundreds of thousands on purchases throughout the year and I've become extremely desensitized to the value of things. I also spend as though I live their lifestyle as I am very friendly with many people in these circles and they really are just normal people who I get on with despite the huge differences in financial circumstances. In this time I've also managed to get a promotion with a substantial pay rise which is due to me
Starting point is 00:08:44 getting my shit together. My dilemma is that I'm part of a very bougie private members club in London, which also has a gym, restaurants, country club, and a space to work on my own business and meet clients. The cost of this space is £250 per month, which seems reasonable to me. What are your thoughts on whether this monthly expense is worth paying? Really good dilemma. She's done a lot in the last few months I replied to this actually because it was a community dilemma out in the open
Starting point is 00:09:10 so you can see my live response and other people's but um what I said the fact I really picked up on the fact that she finished it by saying she meets clients there and that's how she grows her business so if you split out if a gym is non-negotiable in her budget and a co-working space is somewhere non-negotiable in her budget she's probably going to spend over 250 pounds in London a month on those things anyway so straight away I was like that's not technically bougie and it's all relative a 40 pound gym membership a month for someone could seem really bougie to someone that works out at home for free and would never dream of paying for a membership so it's really hard to be like is this bougie well if it's in if it's in line with your budget and that's where your clients are it's arguably
Starting point is 00:09:52 business expense as well um so you can have a look at that but it doesn't seem overly bougie to me she sounds like she's very much in control of her money she's even saying she's in she's in two minds because she's written a dilemma to be like I don't want to give up my bougie one but at the end finishes it with I don't think it's very bougie after all so she's kind of answered her own question that seems to me that someone might have planted the idea that that's quite a bougie expense and she's kind of gone is it like is it is that a bougie thing to do yeah so if someone was spending 250 quid a month on a leased Peloton, for those of you that do, that's what I'm going to say next. And you have 14,000 pounds of debt,
Starting point is 00:10:32 that will be on the list to go for me, whether you can or couldn't get rid of it. But that's a kind of example where you, if you were in that amount of debt and you're, and you're serious about paying it off and there's not a lot of room in your budget that's one of the like optional nice to haves in the budget you know same as if you shop at m&s regularly and you can do a switch to a more affordable brand you know those are the choices that we make when it's connect what i would say is um and maybe why she's asking us this is we can convince ourselves of anything so I need it for work then this is for probably more other people listening because I feel like she's answered the question do you need it for work or do you
Starting point is 00:11:17 want it for work do you actually meet your clients there or do you not really how much do you spend when you're in there I was just about to say because you said there's a cafe and I'm getting flashbacks of David Lloyd when we were younger. We all had a family membership and my mum was like, basically all we used to do was go to the cafe and have tea. So we'd pay to eat in a cafe
Starting point is 00:11:36 and pay for the cafe as well. And the cafe was not cheap when you're in it. No. 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
Starting point is 00:12:01 money community who share tips, offer support and celebrate your successes along the way. Click the link in the description to download Fan and Shell 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. And so I feel like, again, where it's going to do, because the thing is, she says she works in luxury and in my head, I was like, oh, does she have a job? And then this is like an extra business or for my business or is her whole because the thing is she says she works in luxury and in my head I was like oh does she have a job and then this is like an extra business or for my business or is her whole business
Starting point is 00:12:28 the thing that she does at the bougie club do you know what I mean well I asked her was she employed and could she charge some of the membership costs to her employer
Starting point is 00:12:37 she has to prove that it's got a significant ROI including all spend 100% she needs to look at the £250 monthly thing, how much does she spend when she's in there and prove to herself or the company that she works for
Starting point is 00:12:50 because it's not quite clear whether she's self-employed that she gets the return. 100%. Because if she doesn't, then it is a bougie thing and you can go for a run around the street and go meet your client in a coffee shop. A very nice coffee shop. Because surely, unless you can have guests,
Starting point is 00:13:05 the only other people can be people that are actually members there. Yeah, a workshop. I mean, listen, for a co-working space, that's cheap. I was about to say. For a space for a month, that is cheap. With a gym as well. So, you know, that even in the north, that would be... Imagine taking a pal lunch.
Starting point is 00:13:21 Take it to work. I would literally be like, tinfoil. And like, you water bottle. I have a cup of water please Froob a baby bell country girl get your baby bell out
Starting point is 00:13:34 your grapes cut in half no choking hazard what do you do with the baby bell wax you're like it's a shuttlecock I went to when I went I met someone for a meet,
Starting point is 00:13:48 we met in a cafe last week, but it was the cafe of a co-working space that we used to go to. And I'd picked up lunch from M&S. Yeah, I was with you. And hadn't really thought this through and then was meeting someone in a cafe and I was like, I'm getting it. I cracked it open. I cracked it open.
Starting point is 00:14:02 I got to the BBC. She's like, can you give me my food? I'm starving. And so I'm like, do, do I cracked it at the BBC she's like can you give me my food I'm starving and so I'm like knowing that it was cheaper from where I got it from versus in a cafe and then I think I was like
Starting point is 00:14:11 we'll buy a coffee one coffee between all of us it was all blurred lines because it's in a co-working space so you're like but it is the cafe of the co-working space what people are co-working
Starting point is 00:14:19 and I think the big message here is firstly well done for asking that question this is showing questioning everything in your budget nothing is off limits everything gets a question because at least you've covered it and then the second point is we can always convince ourselves of anything so I need the peloton because of this I need that gym because of this and so if you were sat here
Starting point is 00:14:41 with us yeah and you like were happy to evidence it all out, how would you feel? You'd be in a torch in a face. Like in a torture room. How many clients did you meet last month? The CCTV evidence shows that you... How many croissants did you buy? How much panel did you play?
Starting point is 00:14:59 It's that healthy challenge. Healthy challenge, which is it might be absolutely worth it. And it brings in that extra bit of revenue, happiness, whatever. But what else can you be doing? So it's bringing in more revenue. Then how more quickly can you pay off your 14 grand? And also just a slight nudge to the designer element, which is when people don't have as much and we want designer, when you get a bit desensitized designer,
Starting point is 00:15:30 it's because of your space and that is really difficult. And so you're going to have to try really hard to know that they're okay, but I'm not them. And that's not going to make me happy. Being debt free is going to make me happy. That handbag's not going to make me happy. Like a house deposit is or a nicer rental place is, that kind of stuff. The regrets we've got over designer handbags,
Starting point is 00:15:50 like just cannot be underplayed like they're literally taking space off in my wardrobe i can't be bothered to get off my ass and sell them and take the pictures how many conversations have we had about this lucy's like give it to me i will take a percentage of me selling it for you because i'm bored of you talking about us they won't take mine call me but you know i am genuinely anti-label i am now i'm i try and actively find things that don't scream a label and i think it's really hard nowadays because i don't i don't want someone so i've got a chanelbag. We've both got one. We both bought them when we were young. And I've got friends that have them and like each to their own. I don't like using mine.
Starting point is 00:16:33 Firstly, I'm convinced I'm going to get robbed. Secondly, I don't want someone else to think I'm better than them. And that you should aspire to have this bag on their arm. Because even though the prices have gone up ridiculously, you actually, the fun fact of it all is you can't sell them easily so it's not this oh it's now worth eight grand no no it's not it's like you can't sell it for that um but secondly it would have done as well if not better and i put that money in the market and no one
Starting point is 00:16:58 taught me that when i was younger and so it's usually poorer people and working class people that aspire to have designer labels it's why they go and get fake you know stuff from here there and everywhere it's not impressive and it's this chasing this thing that is not valued by wealthy people it's just they like high quality and they've got it but they're not like living for the new bag not really and i'd much so i don't like wearing labels because i don't want to inspire someone to want one does that make sense yeah so much sense oh just only accept them as gifts right I'll give you the bag god's sake no I would literally you would never catch me buying my own designer item no No. It's only gifted.
Starting point is 00:17:45 Yeah. I only accept gifts. Literally. And cash. And the Balenciaga trainers. They were gifts. They were gifts you would buy them yourself. Oh no.
Starting point is 00:17:54 Can we just talk about this? Balenciaga trainers. Had you only just got them when you first started working with us? Or did you have them a while? No. She was a trendsetter, not a trend follower.
Starting point is 00:18:04 Got them for my 21st. I was actually, with us or do you have them a while she was a trend setter not a trend follower got them from a 21st I was actually hopefully my dad does not
Starting point is 00:18:09 listen to this I was sick on them the next day so I was
Starting point is 00:18:12 drunk you do know that's going to be cut up as a montage for social so he
Starting point is 00:18:17 couldn't see you but you just said it into the microphone don't look at me
Starting point is 00:18:22 missus dad don't listen does your mum know? don't get her in trouble she does now because I know Jen listens yeah I'm just a bit
Starting point is 00:18:32 of a wrecker to be honest of like physical things like I just wear stuff to the death you're like the people on made evident
Starting point is 00:18:39 you're like the people on TikTok that they get an Hermes bag and they just like throw graffiti paint on it oh do you not use it? yeah oh my Chanel box is literally a box up high People on TikTok, they get an Hermes bag and they just like throw graffiti paint on it. Oh, do you not use it? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:18:46 Oh, my Chanel wax is literally in a box up high, never to be seen again. I sold a Chanel handbag and a Celine handbag to start a fashion show. Really? True story. We'll go into it one day. Not today. That's incredible. Okay.
Starting point is 00:19:03 Community win. Emergency fund came to the rescue today my car had its mot and needed some work totaling almost 300 pounds without my emergency fund this would have previously gone on either a credit card or monzo flex but i didn't have to resort to either i'm going to start building a sinking fund for next year's mot from this payday too as well as building my emergency fund back up so i'm not caught out again next year if you could bottle up the feeling of paying for your first MOT new tires service bullshit with a sinking fund we would make a lot of money if you could bother yeah it's like drugs don't do drugs kids Just pay up your MOT in cash. You can imagine it's like, I would imagine it's like drugs.
Starting point is 00:19:48 But did you enjoy it? Did you enjoy it? Like, was it really weird? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Because it's not normal. Yeah, no, it's like, be your own sugar daddy in it.
Starting point is 00:19:58 Be your own sugar daddy. But I think the people either absolutely whack that stuff on a card because there's not enough money in the account because you didn't plan for it's not enough money in the account because you didn't um you didn't plan for it or you there is money in the account you pay for it and you go oh i've got no money left like it's i hate paying for things from my normal money i hate it so when money could come from a sinking fund we recently had two services last week and we we spent 700 on two services and i
Starting point is 00:20:27 don't know what that bit i needed i didn't take it so whoever new tires new i was there new tech okay new tires it's a family trip like seven of us took cars because everyone needed to give each other a lift and it was all organized by my dad's big day out there was a plan there was a rotor to across days um but 700 right 700 out of our main budget would have massively knocked us off like there's not 700 in the budget it's allocated towards different things and it's just paid done not even and i like i said if you could bottle the feeling of the first time you do that because i hate using savings for things that just feel like not important and dipping into it. Just like life admin. And then otherwise you're adding it onto a card and it's another thing to pay off so yeah we're bottling it we're selling it for Christmas.
Starting point is 00:21:13 Perfume. With Lydia's face on it. If you'd like to tell us your win head to the community in the app or email it to the vault at financial.com. Okay. I don't feel as financially, financially, financially. I can't write the word financial anymore. Yeah, every time I type financial. Yeah. My laptop's like, financial, do you mean financial?
Starting point is 00:21:41 You're financial. Okay, listeners, I've got a controversial money opinion from our friends at PensionBee. Pensions can be sexy. Yes, you heard us right. Pensions can be sexy. Laura, Holly, disagree? Agree? I, oh my God, I agree 100%.
Starting point is 00:21:57 I think so many people reach out to us. They ask how they can start their investing journey. But spoiler alert, if you invest into a pension you're already an investor and if you aren't investing into a pension our question would be why not with pension bees website and app they make it simple for customers to combine their old pension pots contribute flexibly and withdraw their pension money all in one place you even get your own dedicated uk-based beekeeper, which is like an account manager to support you every step of the way. I personally have been a
Starting point is 00:22:30 PensionBee customer for years and I wouldn't be so buzzing about my pension without them. Get it? Yeah, we get it. You love talking about pensions and PensionBee. Download the app today to get started or head to PensionBee.com for more information. And remember, when investing, your capital is at risk. Okay, I don't feel as financially free as I should do. Hi ladies, I'm planning ahead as I'm nearly out of the survive phase and into the build phase. Yay! I can't wait to be debt free, but I feel like that debt payment simply switches to a larger emergency fund payment. I'm worried it's going to feel like I should have gained extra cash every month but in reality it's still going to be a large payment each month where I don't feel as financially free as maybe I thought I would. How do you stay
Starting point is 00:23:13 motivated as this feels like a tough part of the journey as you still have to knuckle down and reach that next savings goal? Where do you find the balance and the new dopamine hits. She's on the plateau. She's on the plateau of dreams. It's like the come down after the high of, like the debt-free journey is so intense, isn't it? It's where you learn, doing all the learning. It's where all the low hanging fruit, as we call it, I can cut that subscription. I can sell that on Facebook marketplace.
Starting point is 00:23:41 And so addictive, that survive part of the playbook, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. And I feel like the word survive talks about how intense it is survive versus build like they've got
Starting point is 00:23:50 a different energy we need to rename it yeah it's your butterfly phase you grow your wings your financial wings and fly
Starting point is 00:24:03 build yeah we're marketers like come on now we need to work on this no i think but i think i sympathize i think it's life i think i went through this a little bit i think everyone probably does where we come out of there i've done it i paid off the debt you're like pat yourself on the back i've always had loads of learnings and then you're suddenly like oh i've not got loads of excess cash to blow on shit because that's what you want to do because you've not done it for so long um you've got you're going back into you being like it's your sensible phase I felt like somebody can describe it but then it's not for that long so one thing I would say if it's talking about building your emergency fund
Starting point is 00:24:39 whether you've bought a home yet because they're two big chunky things you have to split them up don't you because it will then feel like a really long you've bought a home yet because they're two big chunky things you have to save. They are, but you have to split them up, don't you? Because it will then feel like a really long, you've got to set yourself maybe two goals, like extended emergency fund or saving for a home or whatever it might be. But then when you're out there, you're into grow and that's really exciting.
Starting point is 00:24:56 Grow is so fun. So that's your sexy and your rap. Grow. Yeah, for those of you who don't know, grow is when you are taking your excess cash to grow it so you're investing you're overpaying your mortgage because it's bringing your net worth up you are um hopefully and this is a bit in build as well which is another reason it can slow you down so so we've got survive which is make sure you've got a one month's expense emergency fund minimum
Starting point is 00:25:23 bit more if you feel more comfortable and then let's get rid of your consumer debt. Consumer debt holds you back massively if you want to be able to do most of the things in the rest of the playbook. And once you've kind of done that, you move on to build. And build is your larger emergency fund, which again is completely subjective. It depends if you are self-employed, if you have a stable job, if you don't have a stable job, if you're a single income family, if you're a double income household, whatever, you pick your number. And you also at this point choose to save for a home or a home renovation or a home upgrade if you wish to. So if you've sorted and you don't need to, you can skip it. The third part of build is big life goals. And this is really important because this is where you still need to save hard
Starting point is 00:26:05 for that emergency fund. And if you want to save for a house deposit, really want to do it as quickly as possible. But at the same time, we want you to nudge your budget a little bit
Starting point is 00:26:13 and incorporate big life goals. And they could be better travel, like an increased clothing fund, a house interiors, like the stuff that you've been- Like investment in yourself if you've always wanted to have it like a hobby. Gym, wellness, beauty, hobby, like the stuff that you have been investment in yourself if you've always wanted to have it like a hobby gym wellness beauty hobby just the things that you know the
Starting point is 00:26:29 extra subscriptions if you were like a netflix addict but you went without this is the time to put those things back in and what that does is it shrinks your excess a little bit so there's got twofold here one we want you to increase expenses and get you suspending again um because it's really important that we teach people how to spend and grow their money at the same time or spend and save at the same time. It's still okay to do that. It's not one or the other because I think life's a bit, it would be very difficult if you just went all in on one of those
Starting point is 00:26:58 because you probably ended up in that situation because you were the spend everything and not do anything, which is why you started in Survive. You would still like to think that even if you are increasing your spending in some areas, your excess will still be big because you've the spend everything and not do anything, which is why you started in Survive. You would still like to think that even if you are increasing your spending in some areas, your excess will still be big because you've no debt, you've no consumer debt. So hopefully you're in this space and hopefully this space you'll be able to invest in yourself and grow your income maybe,
Starting point is 00:27:17 you know, and have a look at that. What would our tips be though for getting her to feel motivated and not feel, I I mean we've talked about this before financial poor haven't we which is like you're financial broke you put money into your sinking funds so you're all prepared and there's a nice total over there but because you can't see them you're looking in your bank account and you feel like oh I've done all this work and all this stuff and I've slowly got like a small amount and it's because you're kind of planning for stuff but I think we've talked before about mini wins yeah you have though it can feel like a long slog especially if
Starting point is 00:27:50 you just come out of a really intense time of paying down debt now you're like and now I'm not going to see any benefit of it I'm going to save but those are goals in themselves paying off debt is a massive goal and like I said it's very addictive but yeah you want to keep the momentum going but I've seen a lot of people in the community say I just took a break for one month and after that month they're like oh that was really chaotic
Starting point is 00:28:09 I'd actually you know like give yourself grace but then people then go oh my god I actually didn't like it because I didn't take a break
Starting point is 00:28:16 I thought I would but I did it so giving yourself permission to take a break could actually be quite good imagine having a month of like no budget
Starting point is 00:28:23 you're not allowed to you're not allowed to you're not allowed to move any money into any pots it all has to stay in one account laughing like this is crazy
Starting point is 00:28:30 we're the weirdos madness that's like saying now we're Laura's the same been on a fitness journey for like two years where it's
Starting point is 00:28:38 minimum five days a week probably going to the gym and feeling like really good for it strong and healthy and like a routine which I've never don't think I've ever truly invested in before so if you like we're going on holiday on saturday if you said to me you can't work out all week i'd be like okay
Starting point is 00:28:54 rocking in a corner because that habit has been like instilled into me it actually makes me feel good it's the way you sort your day out yeah just like it's the way you sort your money out so when some people when you go when you go back off holiday because everyone's got these trackers so it's very similar to financial it's health and wellness kind of my zone yeah you've got a my zone and people like they'll comment in the group like i thought you were supposed to be on holiday why are you not taking it easy points means prizes well they don't mean prizes it's just victory it's because it brings me enjoyment it's not because i feel like i need to keep it up i would actually feel quite uncomfortable if you said to me you can't take your gym or running stuff on
Starting point is 00:29:28 holiday I would feel quite stressed about that it's like my safety blanket now and it's my habit and it's my routine so I feel like tell yourself that you've got a month off and I bet you within two days you're like I want to do my budget okay I'm back to it now like you just have options retrain that dopamine yeah and also like let's think about these goals so if she's in build it's a bigger emergency fund let's pretend that's ten thousand pounds chunky emergency fund like a good emergency fund she could break that up into ten one thousand pounds or four two and a half thousands and every time she hits two and a half which might take like four months say or three months if depending on how aggressive she is or five months if it's a bit longer um bougie dinner make or like nice outfit like because you know
Starting point is 00:30:11 it's worth every two and a half grand spending a hundred quid do you know what i mean to kind of and like keep yeah in the financial app you could have four mini goals rather than a ten thousand pound goal tracker yeah because it's parcel one, parcel two. You have it going, isn't it? And a little picture of what you're going to get yourself after. Yeah, a picture of the thing that you're going to get
Starting point is 00:30:30 and whether you get it or not. Like at least it's just working towards those. She won't get it. She'll be like, dang up the carrot. Yeah, yeah. Like one of those like, fishing line.
Starting point is 00:30:39 Fishing line. It's all like, it's all up here. It definitely is. It's all up here. You haveing yourself it's all up here it definitely is it's all up here but you have to do it but also I think
Starting point is 00:30:48 we've seen this before you're not the only one so in this community everyone like build people should be getting together grow people
Starting point is 00:30:56 should be getting together grow people should be inspiring the build and the survive we want everyone to move up and graduate everyone graduate
Starting point is 00:31:02 through the stages oh my god we should have a hat you should have a graduation hat pink hat what they're called mortar mortar boards mortar board best of all i went like this it's a very american oh yeah l woods oh you moved the tassel over yeah survive to build so break it up let's let's celebrate pick some bougie things the little treats whether you do or don't get them. Gamify it. Trick yourself. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:31:26 I like that. And make sure you're tracking your net worth because your excess should be bigger than it was in Survive, even if you won't be spending. That'll give you dopamine hits. Yeah. Seeing that go up. Okay. Any final words today?
Starting point is 00:31:40 Silence. Absolute silence. Well, for holiday, I think it's an interesting one with the fitness connection I think more people should think if you're struggling a bit with your money journey think of it a bit like a fitness journey like it's all about habit it's all about routine it's all about the little dopamine hits it's how we trick our brains and it shouldn't be about weight loss which is like the debt payoff when it's like health and wellness for life yeah it's building the habits it's yeah i was like enjoy the process yeah the journey like i wish it was like when i was in debt are you kidding me but it's true all the good old
Starting point is 00:32:17 days when we had no money and we had to sell the couch and there was camping chairs you have that like we're all coming together yeah yeah. Yeah. That's why the name Survival is really important because it's like, that's how serious you're going to take it, survival. Yeah. But let's see you graduate.
Starting point is 00:32:32 That's all for this episode. The Vault is now closed. Just a quick disclaimer, The Vault is just a chat around life and money topics and we are not giving financial advice.

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