The Vault with Financielle - "I Have My Emergency Fund… What Now?" | The Vault Episode 67

Episode Date: June 4, 2025

Send us a text“You don’t have to track every penny” - we unpack this week’s controversial opinion, then dive into your dilemmas:💸 ”Should I cancel my student loan?”💸 ”I have my emergency funds…what now?”Got a money win or (totally anonymous) dilemma? Share it via the Financielle app community or email [e-mail] 💌You’re not alone in figuring this stuff out. Get honest, helpful reads at financielle.com 💖💸🐝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.Chapters:00:00 Introduction01:47 Controversial Money Opinions02:44 Tracking Expenses and Budgeting Tips12:34 Listener Dilemma: Student Loan Decisions19:07 Exploring Extra Income Opportunities19:27 Post-PhD Financial Planning20:09 University Fees and PhD Stipends21:06 Pension Contributions for PhD Students22:06 Evaluating the ROI of Advanced Degrees24:26 Community Success Stories27:23 Managing Variable Income and Sinking Funds33:03 Emergency Funds and Debt Repayment Strategies40:35 Concluding Thoughts and EncouragementThe 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. How are you?

Good. Good. Yeah. I look like I'm dressed for Winter Ball. It's June. It's June. You really are. Yeah, I love being there.

And listen, I saw a funny t funny TikTok about a guy who was like, there's a window where you can wear a hoodie and shorts. And I was like, I do appreciate that, especially in Britain, that can be anytime. That can be in July, you know, breezy. And certainly it's been in June, but yeah, there's a window. How are hoodie and shorts? Our friends across the road, Lee, wears shorts

in all weathers, like it's the funniest thing. And he always's a window. How are you in shorts? Our friends across the road, Lee, wears shorts in all weathers. Like it's the funniest thing and he always has a tan. I'm like, it's October. Just getting that you. It's November, December, January, he's still walking the dog in shorts. And every time Neil has to wind down the window, he's like, oh, hi, get your legs out.

I'm like, oh God, you're dying to death. Cat calling. Yeah. How embarrassing. Okay, I'm gonna go on to today's controversial opinion. You don't have to track every penny. It's not controversial, that's correct. It will be for some people. Yeah, there's some people in our community.

People might think that's controversial coming from you. Yeah. You don't have to track every penny. This is why it's good because divisive. We literally founded this brand and we don't track every penny. So you're okay. Like it's allowed, but a lot of people in our community,

the other Uber trackers would be like, you don't track every penny. You don't mean every penny is working for you. It's all down to personal preference and money personalities and time. and I'm not being funny, we've got how many kids, five kids between us, like full-time jobs, all of them have some sort of extracurricular activity.

My brain doesn't work like that. No, like there's too much in it, there's too much, I'm always overthinking, I'm always thinking about 12 steps ahead, I'm always behind and chasing my tail and so I think you said earlier, like you have to like doing that bit. And if you do like doing that bit, it comes naturally, it comes easy, it's a game.

I like, I love hearing from people that do do it. I have done it when I've been, or I did it when I had no money. So I do think privilege and context is super important. I, you know, I'm now at the stage of my life where the budget is so helpful to me and the sinking funds and the flexible expenses being in pots is helpful to me. And it's a voluminous budget. It's a big budget. What I mean by that is like there's comfortable enough in categories, apart from Christmas,

there's never enough in Christmas and sometimes eating out. But like, what I mean is, I have worked through this program and got to a point where the budget's okay. When the budget is tight, you have to track every penny. And I've been there and done it. So there's definitely a need spaces. And then if you don't need to do it, you then only do it if you want to do it.

And so I'm in this like framework now where there's room and I've got boundaries to my budget. There are, you know, things will happen. I'll still invest. It doesn't matter whether I track to that penny or not. But back in the day, oh, actually I did do it. Yeah. And I've done it actually when you've maybe done

a no-spend challenge with our community. And I've gone, I don't need to do a no-spend because I'm not like an impulsive spender and my categories are all working, my sinking funds are great, like I invest and everything's working very well, but we have got a bit slack on X and it's usually groceries, like it really is out of,

I don't know if anyone else is the same, but if there's one thing that we tend to go over and you've just mentioned eating out, I think we put too much in our eating out budget and never use it and I literally, 11 out much in our eating out budget and never use it. And I literally 11 out of 12 months probably pull a little bit over. I think I've done that where I've gone,

we need a rebalance and I've gone, okay, I'm gonna do track, I'm gonna track my expenses even for like a week and just see, am I in, if I split the, because we get paid monthly. Cause we get paid monthly, split that cost in, what is it per week that we should be spending on groceries and then track the expenses specifically of that category just to see. So it could be a category thing that people want to track on. And I did that

and I found out that I was going to our local Sainsbury's because I felt like I was spending, I didn't want to spend too much on the grocery shop. I was like, oh no, a hundred pounds is too much. Like we're overspending. So I'd spend 70 pounds on the grocery shop, I was like, oh no, 100 pounds is too much, like we're overspending. So I'd spend 70 pounds on the grocery shop, but then I'd spend about 50 pounds in Sainsbury's on top of things. It's like the logic doesn't work. So I think it's actually quite a good tool for people that are comfortable in the framework.

If one particular category is going a little bit or I like eating out, you might go, okay, I'm gonna track how much I spend on like Uber Eats or whatever it might, my eating out category and just monitor that. And it's a little bit of a like a come back to Jesus moment. There's a, it's cause in the app, for those who really don't know, you set your budget,

but you can do actuals and actuals, especially on flexible, you can add it as you go. So you can add like 2.99 or 9.44 and it'll just add it for you. You can quite quickly and easily track your actuals and know whether you beat your budget. So some people are like doing that. They're like setting a goal and seeing if they beat it.

And if they did, what did they do with that extra money? What do you do? I go through phases and I like cycle. Like what you were saying, it's the same for me. Like food shopping is where I always go over and it's so easy for me to be like oh it's an essential yeah I need to do it it's fine if I need to like pull some money from from another sinking fund it's fine and I think my favorite thing in the app is like that I can

leave myself a little note because you look at your bank and it's like oh I spent 10 pounds at Tesco what was it and I type in the app and I'm like, unnecessary top-up shop. And then I look back and I'm like, well, 60% of these are unnecessary shops. Oh, that's interesting to know. Because it was in the bank. It's just- Yeah, that's why when everyone says,

oh, I'll just use my banking app and whatever, and open banking, it doesn't give you the detail. You think it gives you the detail, actually our app gives you the detail, because you't give you the detail. You think it gives you the detail, actually our app gives you the detail because you are personally taking accountability. So you add it on as a description. Yeah. Unnecessary spending.

You could be like, if you're a takeaway person, you can convince ourselves of anything. You could put like, boozy takeaway or like, I couldn't be asked cooking. Yeah, yeah. And then you can look back, oh sorry, if you look back at the end of the week or at the end of the month and you're like, oh.

Yeah, how many times could I not be as crooked? Or like shocked when hungry. You're like, yeah, leaving yourself little notes and it's fun. Or like the Diet Coke was not on sale. That's why this shot was more expensive. Had to buy a washing pods olive oil fabric. Oh my God, oh my God, I honestly did a shot

a couple of weeks ago and I needed to top up the olive oil, well get a new one and I needed to do the washing powder, a detergent and honest, I wish I'd have put on as a note because I was going, oh my God, Carl's like, what's the dinner? I'm like, nothing, but we can put olive oil on it.

Like Jesus Christ, it's so expensive when you don't have to do, when you have to do those big ones. I think I've got a butter and the butter wasn't on offer. Oh my God. Jesus Christ, it's so expensive when you have to do those big ones. I think I've got a butter and the butter wasn't on offer. Oh my God. It's a big day. Neil said the other day, it's like, oh, we need some butter.

And we keep getting Kerrygold because it's like pure Irish grass. You can't spread it. It's freezing cold. Like, because there's no oils in it, which is great. It puts whole in all the bread. You put it in the fridge? It says, keep refrigerated.

That's just legal. Okay. So I said, I'm going to get some butter. And he was like, have you picked one on Asda? And I was like, no, cause it was like seven pounds, seven pounds, seven pounds. I've got all of the, like, I'm a butter addict and I've got all the butter contract, contractions.

Contraptions. Contra butter contract, contractions? Contraptions. Contraptions. Butter contractions. I've literally got, have you heard of a butter bell? No, it's where you basically, it's like a little. It's like a bell. Yeah, and it's like a butter dish

and it keeps your butter like fresh. And it's like you spread, you put all your butter into this like little cup and you put it underneath, like, sorry, like a lid sort of thing. And you put water in and it keeps you butter like airtight. So it's probably safer. But it keeps your butter so nice and fresh. And then I've got like a lot of butter dishes.

The top search is butter Belle Le Creuset. Yeah. Have you been on my phone? Loads of butter dishes. And I also have a cake stand, which I've put different butters in. So you can see why my food chops get so expensive. Cause I'm like, Ooh, French butter.

Ooh, and pasteurized. I didn't know you knew all this about butter. I didn't know you needed to do an intervention. Yeah, no I needed to. I just didn't know that there was all this. I love butter so much. Every time I Every time we go to like- When butter is at room temperature. A nice little deli, I'm like, oh, Welsh butter. Let me try.

I've literally tried every single, I've run out of butters to try. Literally going to Paris and I'm like, I'm going to bring so much butter back. You're like, try me. Burr. Is it burr? Oh, fancy. Just, my mind is blown. Calvin's laughing his head off.

This is what I'm going to, I find such niche things to enjoy. You're like, oh, I'm going to try this. I'm like, oh, I'm going to try this. I'm like, oh, I'm going to try this. I'm like, oh, I'm going to try this. I'm like, oh, I'm going to try this. I'm like, oh, I'm going to try this. I'm like, oh, I'm going to try this.

I'm like, oh, I'm going to try this. I'm like, oh, I'm going to try this. I'm like, oh, I'm going to try this. I'm like, oh, I'm going to try this. I'm like, oh, I'm going to try this. I'm like, oh, I'll say. Just, my mind is blown. Calvin's laughing his head off. I find such niche things to enjoy. You're like, just what's wrong with Lerpac? But I don't drink alcohol, so this is my excuse to spend 20 pounds on a bottle of olive oil.

Cause I'm like, no one would buy an island that's being 20 pounds on a bottle of wine. No. So I can buy a bottle of olive oil once a month. Yeah. Do you buy like a boug waterfall once a month. Yeah. What do you buy like a bougie one? Yeah. Yeah.

I feel like we've definitely agreed you can take, you can stick with Kerrygold and take it out the fridge. Okay. Yeah. Even if it's a portion at a time and having it under. Yeah. The back of my house is freezing though. As we well know, it's like north facing

and the back of the house is freezing. I can imagine keep on like border control. You know, the dozen. Take me, I'm really sorry. Why have you got a kilo of books ready? Nothing to decline. It's for my collection. I'm sorry, that is an elite program.

Like I will forever love people coming back from like China and bringing in all the mad grandmas that are just like, like, I don't even know what, and like border control, like, are you fucking even know what. And they look forward to control, like, are you fucking kidding? And they're like, well, only a few kilos of meat. Yeah. It's just a headless chicken.

That's a big deal. Well, they're actually more bothered about like seeds, aren't they? Because it can damage crops and stuff. I don't know, I don't watch it, but me and Lydia are like, seeds are your problem. It's not meat because once you eat the meat, it's gone. Whereas seeds and bits of fruit and stuff,

it can damage crops. Change ecosystems. Yeah, basically. It's terrifying. What can butter do? Yeah. What are you gonna do? It's just gonna up my cholesterol, don't worry.

No outside home. What was the question? This is not a butter podcast. I have no idea what we're talking about. As much as Lucy would like it to be. Oh, it's tracking. Costs and tracking expenses. I have no idea what we're talking about. I have no idea what we're talking about. Oh, it's tracking. It's tracking expenses. I was like, why are we here again?

Where do we go? Right, okay, we're back in the room. So yeah, I go through cycles of tracking money. Same, same. When it gets a bit extreme. Okay, first dilemma. Okay, listeners, I've got a controversial money opinion for you. Where you put your money won't have an impact on the world. What do we think team? Is it important to have a

say where we invest our funds? 100% our money carries weight and power. For too long women especially have been left out of the investment conversation. In 2025 we should feel empowered to put our money where our passions and interests are. People don't realise that you can have control as to where your money is invested and that you can invest in a pension plan with purpose. I love the fact that with Pension B, I have control over what pension plan I invest in. You can invest in plans that align with your values, whether it's their climate plan or their Sharia plan. There's something for everyone.

Do you feel inspired to take control of where your money is invested? Download the app today to get started or head to pensionb.com forward slash uk for more information and remember when investing your capital is at risk. Should I cancel my student loan? Hi all. Firstly, I'm a massive fan of the pod and the app. I've completely changed how I manage my money over the last year thanks to you guys. I have a dilemma about student finance, so a bit of context. I'm a relatively new homeowner where everything expensive seems to be breaking. I'm a PhD student getting a stipend, so I have a fairly low regular income, but I also get a post-grad loan. I got myself into quite a bit of debt last year, around £8,000, and when I found out about the loan I felt

so much relief that I could get out of the debt sinkhole. I now have zero debt, track my spending, and have all of my sinking funds. I can survive on just my stipend, but everything is strict with no excess. I also have okay emergency savings, £3,000 saved from the loan. The question is, do I cancel the rest of the loan? I really want to for future me, but I also know I'm one house emergency from draining my emergency savings and being back in the debt cycle, which I really don't want to do. I have also half convinced myself

that I should use some of it to pay my national insurance slash pension as neither gets any contributions during my PhD. My student loan is already mega with an undergrad loan, one from my master's and my current PhD loan. Am I being delusional by convincing myself I'm being sensible by keeping it?

What would you do?" So just to clarify, she said she'd run up some debt last year and now she's out of a debt sinkhole but it's because she's used the post-grad loan to clear it. So because I was listening to that going, well, where did that go? And she's actually, she's still got it

but it's kind of parked in more of a student loan than it is in like credit cards and stuff. So that makes sense. So she didn't pay it off, but she, she paid it off with the student loan that she got. She's not gonna like what we say. She's a super fan and we're a super fan of you because you've already done amazing. But there's two things that debt shouldn't be used for, nevermind student debt or credit cards or whatever, shouldn't be used for emergencies. We build up emergency savings and she's got 3,000 pounds, which is from the loan by the way.

So there's part of me that's a little sad for her that she hasn't yet herself with her income, which at the moment is only a stipend, which for those who haven't heard what stipend before, it's like an income. They don't class it as income. It's like expenses covering. So it's like during your PhD will help you with living expenses and bills and stuff. And so that's why you get a stipend. But she's not shown us that she can save ever. All I've heard is loans, loans, loans. I mean, she's bought a house by the way, and I'm not judging about how you bought that house. And so perhaps you have been able to do that before and how you've been able to do that, quite frankly, being like a such a student for a long time, that sounds like that would have been hard as well.

But debt should not be used for that. And it shouldn't be used for pension contributions. Like you can't borrow. It cancels itself out and it's just taking on extra risks. So you shouldn't be borrowing to put into your pension. I think what you've realized is for a period of time, you are on a limited income with this stipend. It sounds like there's no excess, but she can pay her bills. But she's like, what if? And I just think, let the what if happen. You have some emergency savings. I mean- Savings though, like-

Well, she's got it now, so it is what it is. The big problem is, it feels like her expense, like there's no room. And when you're on a PhD, unless there is capacity to take on extra work, take an extra tutoring, do some delivery, I've heard that's how some students get this little bit of extra money. And that might be a good little exercise for you. Like take, if there's a particular time during the PhD where it's not as intense, if it's not as heavy,

and if you can take on extra work, you need to bring some income in. And that's your emergency fund, not borrowing. All you are doing is pouring fuel on what's already quite a big fire with the loans. Yeah, it's called like borrow Peter to pay Paul. Like you just basically at the moment moving money around and unfortunately-

It's robbing Peter to pay Paul. Robbing Peter to pay Paul. And then you'd be borrowing and not stealing from the bank. So they'll lay you off on that. You're not, you're just moving money around that I'm gonna do, spoiler alert, isn't actually yours. So you're like, oh, I've paid off the thing. I've done emergency savings.

That money's not yours and will have to be paid back. So with what savings are you going to pay that money back? Plus interest. Plus interest. And what job are you going to get out of this PhD that's going to give you the breathing room to be able to pay your expenses like your house and your living, and just living and then paying off

this massive debt that's building in the background. So the question of the dilemma was, should I, sounds like she's in a good place, she feels like she's in a good place, She feels like she's in a good place. Should she give the rest of the loan back? It's not back, it's like, should she not take anymore? And I don't think she should. And listen, they love to borrow.

Yeah, sorry, they love to lend. And so if you changed your mind and said later when, oh, can I get the next one? You know, I'm sure, I'm sure you could get credit. Credit's quite easy to get if, you know, but cutting the umbilical cord now, cut, you know, cutting the card up mentally and saying, actually, I don't want to borrow anymore

is a massive decision. And it's kind of saying to yourself, never again. When you have that lifeline, you use it. There will always be an emergency. And quite frankly, as a homeowner, especially if you're a solo homeowner, by the way, emergencies come up and the stress of managing all that yourself is quite a lot. I think making sure that you have the right home insurance and even paying a little bit

more for more enhanced policy to make sure that whatever could happen in your home, you're covered. But then otherwise you make do. And what's interesting is these things that are emergencies, it's kind of subjective depending on where you're at. And so if you've got three grand sat there and you don't want to spend emergencies, it's kind of subjective depending on where you're at. And so if you've got three grand sat there and you don't want to spend it, it might not be as much of an emergency. But if you've got six grand in the bank, you might think, oh, I'll fix that gate because I've got the money. So because you're not using the money

from cash, you're using it from a loan. there's just the extra risk that's not needed. So emergencies do come up, but making sure that you're as protected as you can. And I just think if one thing I could, there's two big things I really want you to do. One is to play around with extra income for a month. What can you do? Because even people, like, PhDs are super hard and I can't even believe how much studying you've done. You're amazing. I literally couldn't do any more than I've done. But people do have to get extra jobs. People have full-time nine to fives and then do jobs in the evenings and weekends.

So can you do anything, especially even with your PhD, like I said, tutoring or whatever extra work at the university that can bring you extra income and practice that building up emergency savings? That will one, give you confidence that you can handle an emergency, but two, it's gonna give you extra money. The other thing is that post-grad plan. So after the PhD, what's next? Because income is game-changing for you. You will need a plan for post-PhD as everyone does. And so what is that and what's the earning capacity like? Because it might

just be a case of holding on until then as well. And then you'll get past this stipend point and you'll get proper income. But where possible, don't borrow to give yourself a backup, but you be your own backup. Yeah, it's really difficult. I'm not, I did a four year degree and then that was it. Whereas it's not the same for everyone. So it's really difficult. It must be difficult when you see people moving on,

like financially going and getting a well paid job and you still feel like a student. You know, it'd be interesting. I do wonder whether universities get a lot of flak at the moment because, well, you went through university and COVID where you paid way more than we had to. You didn't even go into lectures. You didn't get that experience.

There was a, you know, and they were stuck, but the fees for universities are astronomical, especially for international students as well. They make a lot of money for international students, but yet when it comes to PhD students, they're not employees. So they're getting paid a stipend to cover their expenses. They're not getting national insurance contributions, which I wasn't too worried about that for her because basically for in the UK to qualify for full state pension, I think it's 33 years national insurance contributions you need. Most of us will hit that number and you can top it up later if you don't. So I certainly again wouldn't be borrowing to pay if you had out of pocket and you had the money to

if you wanted to, but they usually say wait until you're much older and do an assessment on national insurance. But you know, why aren't these to, if you wanted to, but they usually say wait until you're much older and do an assessment on national insurance. But why aren't these universities, if these people are essentially like employees, like they're doing work for the university, why aren't they paying into pension contributions? Yeah, it feels a bit like uncomfortable. We're not paying them enough to be able to, and we've had a question on this before about pension. Someone was like, I'm behind, what do I do? And it was like, the problem is you are still in debt. Not just this person was in consumer debt as well,

not just student debt. It wasn't should I borrow to pay into pension, but she was worried about it. And it was just one of those things that, fortunately, like when you go into a PhD, you go eyes wide open. I do think the universities could do more. Yeah, definitely.

Good education piece, dilemma for people to listen to if they're considering doing a PhD and listening to what that person's kind of going through and the realities of it, not paying into a pension, still racking up student debt. Like it might make- Not getting paid a lot of stipend won't be enough. But don't people think long-term enough

about what is this going to deliver in terms of like a monetary value or a salary? Yeah and it's really hard in certain fields like that's how you progress and so you have to really question what the ROI of a degree and the post-grads are. And ROI is I don't know 90% finance but 10% of it is also what you'd like to do. So for some people, if you want to work in biomedical science, a particular field where a PhD is kind of what you have to do to get ahead. You have to accept that you've done something quite selfish is wrong because it's for you anyway. But niche maybe?

Niche and it's specialized. Well, there's consequences to it. So if I decide I want to be a doctor, I know that I've chosen that if I decide I want to be a doctor, I know that I've chosen that. I can choose not to be a doctor. But if I choose to be a doctor, I've just chosen seven to 10 years of long hours, long study, really poor pay.

Even if it comes back later, I've chosen that. Same with academics. Some people are just born to be academics and the compromise is you might not own a home. You might have debt for the rest of your life. You might not have a great standard of living because that's a consequence to choosing a particular field. So I think as long as people are eyes wide open, there are some careers where all this post-grad stuff is required or just part of it. I do think we've got the other side

of it where people are doing master's degrees in just the most random things because they kind of want to defer childhood. Sorry, elongate childhood, defer adulthood, sorry. And that's a separate and bigger issue that we have that people are coming out of university with hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of debt and no clear plan and no ROI, no that financial ROI on it. So yeah, I definitely love you to be your own emergency fund and to have an eye on what's next for post-PhD to build some confidence. I said you've obviously saved before

because you bought a house. We wanna see you moving through that with that financial method, like that building that emergency fund and. And extra pension contributions can come from delivery. Like people, again, you do not need to, this is a really simple product, you can just open up a pension and you don't have to direct debit, you can pay as you go. You can go, oh, I did some this, what would my earnings be?

What's my income tax? What do I need to put away for this? And then put money into a pension. You can flex it up and down as and when you income. Side hustle your pension. It's a good thing to talk about. Yeah. Okay, I've got a good thing to talk about. Yeah. Okay, I've got a good community win this week.

I'm meeting with my mortgage broker next week to sort my remortgage and I was checking in on my debt payoff journey. I discovered not only that I'm a couple of months away from clearing off one of my credit cards, but I'm actually ahead of my debt free date of September 2026. It could all be sorted by May next year. Oh, that's a real jump forward. I'd better do it quicker than that. I like, I would love to be a fly on the wall in like a mortgage broker appointment where someone's done financial. Yeah. It's like, Oh, Oh, so I'm paying off my debt. Oh yeah, good. Like a nightmare for a mortgage broker

is when people have like two cars on finance, sofa on finance, Klaana payments everywhere, maybe a bit of gambling, you know, just like, oh. How do we even start this process? But when like a financial A-star student comes in, like, here you go, it's like Elwoods. Here's my doughnut. And it's scented.

Yeah, just have my doughnut. Cause it's scented. Yeah, just have my doughnut. Cross the table. Yeah, on my way to being debt free, saving loads of extra, loads of money, loads of ruining my budget, come at me. Go and get me a mortgage, please, lady or mister. Oh, well done. That's amazing.

And keep an eye on that journey, because you, I think you'll beat me already, just with the, I don't know the numbers, when you get a vibe for if it was September, now it's May, usually you can bring that forward. But the fact that this time next year, you'll have paid it all off. We had someone the other week, didn't we?

That was like, I was on a five year debt free journey and I did it in 11 months with you. We always like under-egg it for ourselves, but the minute like you put a methodology and a system in place, it's so easy to beat, because it's a proven method that's worked with thousands of people across the world. You are not unique in any of these situations.

People are naturally impatient once you get on a roll. Yeah, it's addictive, we always say, don't wait. Well, and it's gamification, you want to move to the next stage. And so when you get angry about your debt, when you get frustrated, you move more, like you're more motivated to be quicker. If you'd like to tell us your win,

head to the community in the app or email it to the vaults at financial.com. Now time for our next dilemma. We're also going to have to lock in for this one. It's a little bit long, so stay with me. 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. OK, I'm done. Let's go back to the vault. I have my emergency fund. What now? Hi ladies. I started my money journey in November 2024 after discovering your app on TikTok. I'm 23 and from Australia.

I run my own personal training business, so my income can vary by $200 to $500 each week. This makes it hard to stick to an exact budget and my bills are quite high. I currently have around 11k in a high yield savings account and 4k in my business savings account. I've built up a good safety net using your app but now I'm feeling lost about what to do with my money. I have a 7k car loan, I pay 250 dollars per month and add an extra $100 when I can, but I'd love to clear it by the end of the year. I'm also building sinking funds so I can start paying for things guilt-free and within budget. I'd like to keep a minimum of $300 in my spending account for weekends and small expenses, but

this usually means I can only put the bare minimum towards my sinking funds for car maintenance and insurance. I feel like because my beauty and fun money sinking funds aren't fully funded yet, I need this $300 in my account for anything I do or need during the week. Should I a. be putting all of this money into sinking funds and be super frugal until they're built up b. pay double for everything for a short period of time or C. Focus on just the essentials and throw everything else at debt. I know financials says all of your money should have a job.

I just struggle putting all of my money away. I don't understand what to do about essential spending whilst my sinking funds aren't completed yet. I'd really appreciate your help. G'day. Welcome from Australia. We have loads of Australian users. We do. And self-employed PT, thank you for your work. Yeah, doing the God's work.

Absolutely. And it must be so difficult. You've already done amazing with, she's got 11K in a high yield saver and she's got 4K in a business expenses, because obviously it must be so hard on a month to month and a week to week basis to know what you're making. And I think that's the biggest challenge. And I think that's the biggest challenge. And I think that's the biggest challenge.

And I think that's the biggest challenge. And I think that's the biggest challenge. And I think that's the biggest challenge. And I think that's the biggest challenge. And I think that's the biggest challenge. And I think that's the biggest challenge. And I think that's the biggest challenge. And I think that's the biggest challenge.

And I think that's the biggest challenge. And I think that's the biggest challenge. And I think that's the biggest challenge. And I think that's the biggest challenge. And I month to month and a week to week basis to know what you're making. And there's like the financial method and then the sinking funds and the sinking funds do change. And so she has her emergency fund, it sounds like, I feel like that's a high yield saver, but $11,000 sounds like a healthy enough emergency fund that she's done that. So now she's in the debt payoff phase and she's only got the car loan it sounds like,

and she's trying to throw a little bit extra at that. Sinking funds go from basic sinking funds to bougie sinking funds at different stages in the financial playbook. So when you've built up your mini emergency fund of at least one month's expenses, higher of yourself employed sometimes, it depends however you feel, whatever you feel there, but at least one month's expenses, you then want to pay off your debt and you order them smallest to largest, or you go interest rate highest to lowest, whatever's right for you.

And so when you're doing that, you need as lean a budget as possible. So the rule is, if you're going to spend it, put it in a sinking fund. There's no point lying to ourselves. So if you are going to spend $1,200 at Christmas, put $100 a month aside. There's no point putting 50 if you're going to spend $1,200, be true to yourself. But don't put $2,400 away. What's the leanest you can have. And it's the same with like beauty expenses or going out expenses. Like $300 actually doesn't stretch that far when if you're going out seeing friends, if you're doing some beauty treatments, like if it's all London together, grocery shopping in Australia can be really expensive, especially

for fresh stuff. So it doesn't go that far, but is it too much? Is it you booze your sinking fund rather than your lean one? Because the quicker you get rid of the car loan, you get $250, $300 back in your pocket. And so the sinking fund thing is, people do like to get ahead on them and go really, really

tight and top them up. Really, we did the paying double where you pay for the thing monthly and you put aside monthly and eventually you catch up. You only have to do that for a period of time. You catch up and then you've then always got a full sinking fund because you're always putting into it, if that makes sense. So I think the bigger question here is, how lean do you wanna go?

Yeah, because we were talking about this before we came on set. On air. On air, on set. The only thing I pay from a beauty perspective, apart from physical beauty products like cleanser, moisturizer, toner, makeup, whatever, is getting my hair done.

And I was like, and other people my age care so much about their appearance that their beauty sinking funds will be nails, toes, eyelash lift, because that's what you were talking about. Microblading for their eyebrows, tan. Both tats. Both tats, aesthetics.

Skincare. Be really honest with yourself when you're like, I can't afford to put money away or pay off debt, whatever. Really have a look. Like really have a look at yourself and challenge yourself on, like you said, is it a bougie sinking fund or is it a bare essentials one when you're trying to do something for a period of time?

For a period of time, yeah. That's so true. You have to be so honest with yourself. So this could be the same with groceries. Lucy might have to put a butter obsession aside for six months and buy Le Pack, God forbid. Or leave it as an offer with a nectar card. Because she's got bigger things at hand

or you want to move progress onto the next stage. Like I think it's really good for you to talk about the sinking funds one. I've got like a question. She's got a car loan for $8,000, is that right? And she's got savings of 11. Would you clear it? I would.

So she's self-employed and you don't know the living situation. So I think that's a good point. What she needs to look at, because high yields great big tick, but it's more what do you need in an emergency? And so because she's self-employed and say she's got rent, if she, hopefully you've got insurances as well in place

in case you get hurt and you can't be a PT or you get poorly, but what does it, what are her expenses like if she, if something happens and emergency came up? Yeah, because I was thinking maybe like, would it be three, eight, nine, 10, yeah, three K, $3,000 might not be enough for emergency funding. It might not be, not like I said, we say a minimum of one month's expenses,

but that helps if you're in a couple and there's two of you putting it together. It's all about the risk involved. So yeah, I think that's a point because she could be going, and I've got a leather and gate grant and a high yield saver. It's like fake. We always say to people, they go,

I've got 12,000 in savings, 10,000 debt. And like you haven't, you've got 2000. Sorry, Laura's microphone. I'm very excited today. It's kind of animated, Kelvin. I'm sorry, I'm getting very passionate. I'm really excited about it already. But yeah, I think firstly,

and do you know what that does? It scares the shit out of people when you deplete your savings to pay off debt. It makes you super serious. and that's a sacrifice. And I think what's happening here is you're probably not sacrificing a lot. And honestly, you get a massive buzz from sacrifice. It's like you've earned it in a sweat way.

There's something about you've done the work and you've done something over and above. You've done more than everyone else. You didn't do it slowly and surely. You didn't just add an extra hundred dollars on. You took your savings, you cleared that loan today, and then how quick can you build it back up to 11? Let me tell you, you can build it up very quickly,

and it will just, if the sinking funds is a thing that's stressing you out and you've not got enough to put in each one, the excess that you'll generate each month by not paying that loan will go to that and everything will get built up much quicker. Honestly, things move much quicker when you do this. I've seen it before, we talked about it on the pod,

we gave it as a dilemma when we said to someone, clear this, clear it. You've got enough. Well, you did it. You had the car loan and you had the savings. Speaking from experience, I think, I was like, oh, I really, that was the day that I totally took my money journey seriously when I wasn't having pots of money everywhere

and thinking that I was boxing it. Point of no return. Yeah, you're making a commitment. You're literally going, and this is me being intentional. Oh my God, that's exciting. I'd have to do it. Well, that's what I, yeah, I would actually do that. I think in my head, I was more like,

pick the number, is it 11? Is it five? If it's five, then take six and you've got $2,000 to go. You know, like whatever it is, bring that number down as low as possible and then clear that debt. Because like Holly said, then your point is to build up emergency savings that you'd be in build then,

you'd have passed survive, you'd go to build. Because if there's a real emergency, you've not built it back up again, sell the car and get a cheaper one. You've got assets. Yeah, you've got assets. I'm a hustler, tell me now. But it just gives you options.

You've got options. If that car's yours and it's in your name, and it goes to shit, you can sell the car and get a cheap one. If you're a PT and you've got to have a car, I'm not saying, sell the car, you don't need it. You might absolutely need it. Yeah, but you've got options.

And like I said, there's nothing like seeing those savings't need it. Like you might absolutely need it. Yeah, but you've got options. And you know, like I said, there's nothing like seeing those savings go down and you go, oh, need to, I mean, like, we've talked about your dental journey, Lucy, for all, not your turkey teeth, but your- I wish. You wish, yeah, no, your- It's all that bust up.

Beautiful but painful teeth. You had to deplete your pride and joy. And how did that make you feel? Awful, worse than going to the dentist. Which is saying something, she's not a, sorry to all dentists. You mean generic emergency fund, because now you've got a dentist one, haven't you?

That's super exed. She's got a dentist one that she won't use for the dentist. She said that's phenomenal. Yeah, because that's just for regular, like a couple of fillings a year. I love that she's like, sprinkle a couple of fillings a year. I love that she's like, sprinkle a couple of fillings in over the year. She didn't want to use the dentist one for the dentist

because she wanted to protect the dentist one. I need like specific ones like that. I need like an implant sinking fund in case I need an implant. I need like an extraction fund. I'll take those out for you, for free. Oh, but yeah, like, there's nothing like depleting an emergency fund to make you go,

shit got real. I know, like I've built it all back up now and I've kind of proved myself that I could probably be saving more and like making my excess a little bit bigger because I'm like, oh, I need to get this done. Maybe a little bit of healthy pressure. Yeah. Because you also recently had to use some of the

emergency fund, didn't you? When you, the extension was more than planned and you had to go, oh. I used it for some of the house and I was like, I've got a house fund, like I should have had more in that and had to deplete the emergency savings. And then so annoying when you feel like

you're at this really good place and people talk about in the community all the time, the frustration of using an emergency fund because you've so good in every other area of your budget. But if you're a financial, every other bit of money is being paid to do another job. It's not like that money's just like swishing around. It's got a job.

Financial poor. Yeah, it's got a job. It's going to my car, annual car insurance, and that's coming around. So I'm not gonna dip into that because it'll put me back there. That summer holiday, I've got, you know, I'm going in six months.

I know that I need exactly that amount for then. So the emergency fund, it's what it's there for. But I've been, I'd be curious to know the dynamics of her emergency fund and whether we could utilize it to pay off that car loan and then the payments that you're making towards car loan, helping you either get your emergency savings up back to where you want it or putting it

into the sinking funds that you're feeling a little bit stressed about. When you, and the putting it into the sinking funds that you're feeling a little bit stressed about. When you, and the big thing about the sinking fund point, I think everyone listening should question where they're at. Are your sinking funds too bougie for the stage you're at because it's a period of time it's meant to stop. When you get to build, you save your big emergency fund, you save for a house deposit if that's in your plan and if you want to. And we call it big life goals. And what that really is talking about is we look at your budget now. And you probably do that after the first two, but build up that emergency fund. And then you go, actually, how do I want to be, want to be spending time? Because

I don't want to go backwards. I don't want to be using credit. I don't feel like I'm missing out. Have I got a clothing budget that suits my needs? A beauty budget? Am I traveling how I want to travel? And then, out. Have I got a clothing budget that suits my needs, a beauty budget, am I traveling how I wanna travel? And then, cause once you kind of set that budget, you move to grow and grow is about getting this investing journey going whilst still not compromising life cause we're all about that balance and we don't want people to go all fire

and do one over another, unless that particularly brings them joy. So there's phases and she'll get to the bougie phase. So she probably needs to feel a bit of pain. Option one, to complete the emergency fund. Option two, reduce the sinking funds. Option three, do them both, go nuclear and set yourself this like mini, mini intense journey. But either way, please let us know what you do and then give us any tips for glute bridges or triceps or anything, we'll be shy if you could help.

Just like a big well done to you. Like I really admire. Self employed, female, rocking it. Bringing like a good, like sounds like you're bringing really good revenue. Got an emergency business. Living a good healthy life. How many self employed people have you spoke to

that don't have any money in their business account and they fly on the seat of their pants. Like you are doing amazing to have 4K in their business account and they fly on the seat of their pants. Like you are doing amazing. To have 4K in your business account as a savings like buffer type thing is incredible. Incredible. Yeah. Good job.

Right, that is all for this episode. The vault is now logged. And just a quick disclaimer, the vault is just a chat around life and many topics. We're not giving financial advice.