The Vault with Financielle - “I’m Changing Careers — But I’m Sad About Slowing Down My Money Goals” | The Vault Episode 87

Episode Date: October 22, 2025

Send us a text“You’ll never “save” your way to wealth” - we unpack this week’s controversial opinion, then dive into your dilemmas:💸 ”Should we contribute equally to our Christmas Sinking Fund?”💸 ”I’m Changing Careers — But I’m Sad About Slowing Down My Money Goals”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] 💖💸#AD Get your ✨free will✨ here (Available until 31st October, 2025)The cost of the will is covered by Octopus Legacy & their charity partners. Many people choose to leave a gift to charity in their will as a thank-you, but this isn’t required to claim the offer.Connect with our Partners*🫶 Get life insurance with our friends at Lifesearch. Speak to a female advisor here.✍ Write a will that is tailored to you with Octopus Legacy.🏡 Meet our Financielle approved Mortgage Brokers.*The above are tracked links, which tells our partners we sent you and may in future result in a payment or benefit to our site.The 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

Welcome to The Vault with Finance Child. This is a safe space where we talk all things, life and money and no topics are off limits. Hello, everybody. Hello. Good morning, good morning. How are we feeling? Good. I feel like we're getting into like spooky season.

There's like Halloween stuff. Oh God, I love. Like last year I made, right, last year I promised I'll be, which is middle one, that we'd do the Adam's family. You know, like you said it. Yeah. But now that's a great idea. It's all right.

But then I used to just do a smash and grabbing. do and go that cat that'll do which that'll do but now we're talking like the whole family so then me and Ava just saying like I was like I could be cousin it because of my hair but she was like I'll be cousin it because I can't be like me and daddy can't be like more tissue and gomez I'm like yeah that's weird and alby wants to be Wednesday of she's watching Wednesday on Netflix and loves it so I'm like I've got into what used to be a seven pound in the charity shot I'll take that outfit like we all have to get dressed up and be part of the other family I do a vintage.

We're not out of time. Last year, you have to jump on it. Last year, Woody was like, I want to be. And I was like, oh, God. And he was like very specific, a skeleton pirate. And I was like, that's mixing like two genres. Anyway, when I'm vinted, found a skeleton pirate outfit for like six pounds. I was like, it's done.

And it arrived and it was the best. It had like, the hat and the sword and everything. And this year, he was like, I want to be a policeman. And I was like, okay, we can have a look at that. It was a great policeman. So I went on vintage and the outfit that he stopped, I was scrolling through, he's like, stop! That's the one.

And I was like, and Neil came in and he was like, what are you two talking about? Because I was like, you can't wear that. That's a sexy police woman's outfit. So we'd seen, he was only, all he was doing was... Slutty police officers. She was a girl that was literally with a, like, taking a selfie in a tight police officer's outfit.

And all he'd done is look at the accessories around her so he was like that one and I went you can't have that one it's this sexy police woman he's got a bat on and he said she's got handcuffed I want the handcuffs I was like I'm not the irony is it probably fitting better than uh I don't want because he'll be skimpy I was like I'm not ordering the sexy police girls out mom what a crotchless tights no oh my god Neil came running in I was like nothing to do with you you don't need to look you're missing out on the conversation your child wants to buy this outfit because he wants the handcuffs I was like tell you what, I'll buy the appropriate six to seven year old policeman's outfit and I'll

buy you handcuffs separately. Not 50 ones. What do you? Because, you know, you two, you've not going to do what we're going to do. Well, unless you go trick-treating, you might do. Are you hide us? Are you curtain shut? Are you bowl of sweets at the door? Like, what are you do you going to do? Do you embrace it or do you? We get like a bowl of sweets and stuff. Do you leave it outside? No. Or you, she's like, because one, but I want to do the delivery in life. Yeah, I do actually enjoy that. Oh, do you? Yeah, which is weird.

I guess. I'm not like you. I shocked myself. That is like one of the... I always buy a stash and then eat and they're beating it. Have you, I mean, usually in my... We've not bought it yet because I have to buy it and hide it because my husband will eat it, especially if it's harrow-bo.

What about you and Jacob? Do you like, would you give the sweets to people? Would you hide the curtains shut? Drink a treat. No, I feel like I'd be pretty generous if I didn't live on the 50s. you're like no one's coming do you get a night you get dressed up every year and then no one no one knocks shouting out the window like we've got kids we've got ringed doorbell so like last year we've left the sweets outside because we're taking our kids trick-a-treat and so we're not actually

there but you better believe if the doorbell goes the kids like fighting to get to the door like falling out the door trying to answer it for the trick-a-treat and then we had the ring doorbell on and teenage boys came and someone one of the boys picked up loads and he'll watch back because He was like, God, the ring doorbells going crazy. He was like looking at the outfits and stuff. And he heard one of the boys say, don't do that. Don't take them all leaving for the people. Oh, my God.

So I told the parent. Did we know who it was? Yeah, we told the parent. What you were like telling him to tell me who it wasn't? I think, well, next week we'll do fancy dress, shall we? Yeah. What are you going to be? I, well, my dream.

Dream? Fancy dress. Is that a bit strange. Dream? No, my dream fancy dress would be hocus, the three witches. But I'm not going to do that because I can't be asked. but the thoughts there. I've not seen Hocus Pocus and someone

I remember mad at me the other week for that. Holly's going to have a word. Consider this your homework. You've got one week. Hocus Pocus is the best Halloween film ever. Like it's so wholesome, it's the best. It's really good.

You've got one week. Okay. Sorry, I was like Halloween. Halloween rabbit hole. And I'd want someone to wear the bald cap. And I'd want someone to be hand. But I don't know how to do that. Maybe a half.

Hand on the head. So I can't be the sexy police woman. Yeah. Imagine that. Niel, so what are you going to be, Holly? Hand. What is it, Thing? Is you called Thing?

It's thing, isn't it? It's not a hand. I think he's called Thing. I thought that was Adam's family, isn't it? Yeah, no. I'm saying I would be, my second option. So if I could be asked. Yeah, I'd have a ball cap or I'd be Thing and have the hand on my head.

Because it's like. Sexy either way. Yeah, that's what I know. feels like oh that's what that's what you went for sexy police woman hand what's the mean girls quote I feel like Lucy'll know oh I'm a master

oh yeah when it's like Virginia Halloween is the night we're at all the year we're allowed to be a total flag and I know no one's allowed to say anything let's see tune in next week guys

oh don't do I don't know what we wear okay controversial opinion you'll never save your way to wealth. Ooh, I like that one. You will not. Not going to.

Not controversial. I mean, listen, you could have a really, like, I bet Christiano Ronaldo could save his way to wealth because of his salary, like, I'm just going to move it to a high yield savings account. You know, I'm sure he doesn't. But when you, like, if you get in chunks of cash, then you're going to be able to stack up that cash. But history tells us it won't,

as well as if you invested it in whatever you choose to invest in but especially if you invest it in the market obviously like there's so many caveats always with that and you'll always see caveats because like past performance isn't a predictor of future gains and so like just because it always has been that way doesn't mean it's the case but we always say this to people like we when inflation means that what things cost us today if it's going up the same things cost us more next month and then next year. And so that's why we always talk about making sure that you beat inflation because if inflation's running at 2% and you're getting 1.5% on your savings. Just because your savings grew, like the cash amount grew, what it can buy

you decreases. Yeah. And people don't get that. That's what people always don't get. It's because we don't see, and some things, you know, and there's inflation skew, isn't there? because inflation, we've talked about this, it doesn't always mimic what you actually buy. Like, apparently for females are worse off sometimes with inflation because the products that we may have to buy that may be going up more quickly. Or I think the shopping basket that they use doesn't reflect, like, family life.

And so if, like, bread and milk and eggs are going up or meat's going up more, then you are impacted more by that than you are, like, the standard shopping baskets. I've seen that before. But that's why we say, like, when you save him, all you're doing with saving is piling up what you've piling it up and storing it and if you're making a little bit of interest great but if inflation's higher than that interest rate

going backwards, going backwards. And, you know, I'm not going to talk about returns but you can do your own research on like, you know, what has the FT100 or what has the S&P 500 in America increased by over the past like 20, 30 years versus like savings rates and you'll see the difference and so what people that are investing are doing is making free, extra free money.

And this is a really long-winded explanation, but I think it's important. I've talked about this all unlocked before. I think there's an investing episode. When you invest in, typically like an index fund that spread around the whole world of stock markets or particular stock markets, what you're doing is you're buying a little piece of all the companies. And so if you take a step back and think, how do I know that the stock market's going to go up? And how do I know that my investments are going to go up? What you're doing is you're placing a bet on strong companies to do well.

And some of these companies are new and exciting and fairly new like the Tesla and Apple and Amazon. I mean, it's been around a lot of while now, but still fairly new. But some of them are like ASDA and Coca-Cola and Johnson and Johnson and companies that kind of know how to do well. And they've got lots of cash on the balance sheet and they've got lots of brains working there to make sure that and shareholders that hold them accountable. And what you're betting on is that on average there's going to be. some winners and losers and a big thing they're talking about at the moment is the heavily reliance on like the S&P 500 in the States is

heavenly reliant on like four or five companies. It's like... Invita, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, that's scary. Yeah. Like Tesla's probably in there as well up there in the five. Like they are outperforming and so it looks like the S&P is doing really well, but if you tuck them out it's maybe not as growing as quick.

But you're also betting on like Coca-Cola to know that they're doing and the trend changes then they're going to innovate and bring out a new drink and asda And Walmart's going to always make sure that they're going to be the leader in food. And so what you're doing is you're placing a bet on, on average, those companies increasing in value. And that's what's happened over years. And so if you invest in that, then when you want to take that money out, the money that you put in and has gone up.

And that's kind of how it all worked. And so when you come back to wealth building, you need an awful lot of money to stash your way in savings to build wealth. but you can get free money by growth if you look to invest it in a way that's right for you. So it's why, I don't know, we're from a working class background. And so we weren't taught this. Our parents weren't taught this. And the biggest thing that people say to us when they meet us and they've been through financial is, why didn't I hear about you when I was 18?

Why didn't I know about this when I was 21? You know, you guys are both testament, Lucy and Lydia, to people that have done this much earlier than we did. it. I wish I was like Lucy's bank account. Just that knowledge as a confidence thing even to be like well part of my budget is made up of investments and like

I couldn't say that in my early 20s. Lucy had to go through that journey. And Lydia's going on that journey about the confidence to go at what point do I lean in like right this is the heavy focus. How have you found that? I think it's quite exciting to me like it genuinely does interest me and I don't think

that's like super common for everyone like in your like demographic yeah yeah um does it help that Alex has a really yeah I think so like he's literally like he lives and breathes it yeah he loves it and like that's his hobby as well so it's a bit hard isn't it because like is yeah so like that's kind of like leaked into me and I'm like oh that that's like oh this is I like keeping up with everything so I think that's helped but I think genuinely being comfortable with like your emergency fund and some like initial savings and like having sinking funds for everything that's going to get spent like genuinely just being like in a good place here gives you the confidence like right I can like not mess around

but like it's like risk it could be deemed as high risk but because you've got all the foundations in place and that's one thing we always talk about people want to jump to the investing thing because like this is so exciting and I'm missing out on it and inflation's gone up so I should really be doing this and we're like but you're in debt over here and you don't have any sinking funds and you've got no emergency funds so that is deemed very high risk for you whereas if you get you all these things in place and you get more comfortable, it doesn't feel as high risk and you've got more confidence to deploy some funds over there. We do always encourage people to follow. That's why the financial playbook exists. It's like moving you through these stages

from survive to grow. And once you get and grow, that confidence is there. But it's a big safe savings is a safety blanket, isn't it? And it's like how can you be comfortable with a certain safety blanket to then try and reach those bigger, still moderate turns like this isn't kind of boom or bust we're not talking about individual stocks we're not talking about trading where you don't understand what you're doing this is like keeping it very very simple but history tells us that you know investing in an index fund or something that spreads across the market and then forgetting about it and leaving it in there will perform better and build wealth more easily than just depositing savings because other than a tiny interest rate

it always relies on that initial cash and it doesn't work hard and so And you can make it so passive. I think people just overthink that, don't they? Like, I've made it passive so I don't worry about it every month or think about it. Sometimes I go, oh, can I put more in? Yeah. Like it will be more like, what can I do in my budget to generate more access that I can put more in? But I at least have an initial passive journey whereby I've set up like direct debits to kind of do it.

And I'm not every month going, right, we do do that. We go, right, what are we going to do this month? But there'll always be a proportion of it going to invest in. But I can only do that because I've followed the steps and the guide that I've got those emergency funds in place. A big thing that we're passionate about, though, is even talking about the word wealth, like I don't think, you know, women especially, but enough families, especially working class families, people that aren't from wealth, are comfortable saying on building wealth, like, because I am, I'm tracking my net worth once a month. I'm constantly thinking about, oh, we're making sure we're taking

advantage of things. You know, Carl and I have a joke every so often because, like I said, over the summer, we built this outdoor gym, and Carl's like, what next is like, the outdoor gym we built was because we built a Pagola. I wanted a comfy seating area outside that I can use all year round. Like, oh, you're just as a boy. He's always outside. Like, I've learned from Holly. Like, I'm going to be outside. But so it, obviously, it rains a lot. I want to be cozy. I want to sit out there with a cup of tea. Like, I love sitting there. You all know what I'm like. And so we built this. But there was this useless area at the side of the house that really either would have let rain in if it wasn't covered. But then it's just this like random bit. So I've put a little

bit of an outdoor gym in there. And I have to be careful with Carl because Carl then will be like... So I built a tree house. Yeah. And then we need a drug. And then what about a screen projector? Like it's like what else? What else can I spend, spend, spend.

And then because he'll get, it will get carried away. And I have to remind him. It's like, yeah, we did that. So then we pulled back a little bit. Like, again, if... And he, we have this debate, so he's like, well, if like 200 grid on a heater makes those use it all winter, like that makes sense. like, yes, but the then extra random gym machine that you found, like, we just don't need that.

It's always, you're just dropped into the family. Me, Laura, and Carl and Neil have got the road that we live on, a street WhatsApp group, because it's like, we don't want to bother my mum and dad with like, can you get the kids? Like, are you getting, are you walking to school, blah, blah, blah, and Carl will just, and it'll be like, pull up machine. I'm like, no, there's no room. Can we not have this conversation here? Yeah.

Take this offline and I'm like, no, you can't have it. But at the same time, I have to, he's, Carl is like us. we're from working class families where investments aren't at the forefront, we're not trained to think. So we have our automated investments, but we have our other goals as well. And the financial playbook teaches us about making sure that you put your access towards your goals. And outdoor living room was not our goal. It's not the goal. It's our nice thing that we've chosen to indulge in. And it's meant that our investing slowed down over summer. But now every payday is a decision. And so it's like if we were going to build wealth, which is

our goal. We want to build wealth so that we're financially independent. We can't have it. We can have something every day or every week or every month. But he can do a bank switch and he can sell something on Vinton and Facebook marketplace if he wants to get that £200. If he's desperate, you know what I mean? And it doesn't have to interfere with your investment goals. If you want to get that, you go find it. And then I'll benefit from it. Yeah. Okay, first dilemma.

Although your life can sometimes feel like a Hollywood blockbuster, weddings, divorce, death and scandal. It's the mundane life admin that can protect you from turning it into a horror film. Here at Fine and Shell, we feel really passionate about making sure our community and their families are protected. Be honest. Do you have a will? And if you do, when was the last time that you updated it? We've been working with our pals Octopus Legacy for some time now and our gal Harriet from Octopus Legacy has dropped us this helpful voice note to help you stay in control when it comes to protecting you and your loved ones. Hi Financial is a quick tip on how to make sure your loved ones are looked after, no matter

your situation. Make sure you have an up-to-date will in place. Unfortunately, the law doesn't always protect blended or non-nuclear family structures the way you'd expect. So without the right plan in place, your home, savings and assets might not go to the people you'd want, and the people you love might not get what you want them to. That's why writing a will, or for extra protection and control, creating a will with trust, is so important. It lets you decide who gets what, when and how. Like letting your partner stay

in the house while still leaving your share of your home to your children, or ensuring you've provided for your whole family, not just your immediate relatives. And if you've already got a will, you should make sure it's up to date and matches your current wishes. Thanks for letting me interrupt, ladies. I'll let you get back to your podcast now. P.S. Love the show. A helpful reminder from our girl Harriet to get that important life admin nailed when it comes to protecting you and your loved ones. And right now, it's simpler than ever to do so. Until October 31st, Octopus Legacy has teamed up with charities from across the UK to cover the cost of your will, up to £150. You and your family can write a simple will at no cost

or get a will with a trust at a discounted rate for a short time only. Let Octopus Legacy help you nail the important life admin so that you can go about living your life with the people you love. head to the show notes to get started now let's get back to it should we contribute equally to our christmas sinking fund hi girls my partner and i are trying to get ahead for christmas this year and we're not sure how to handle our christmas sinking fund he has three kids from a previous relationship and i have one should we both contribute equally to the christmas fund or is there a fairer way to split it i want all the kids to feel included but i also want the contributions to feel reasonable for both of us How do blended families navigate this without causing stress?

This is a really interesting. Yeah, it is, isn't it? That we've never had before. And I'm here for it. I just talk about this all the time, like, where I start listening and then I've decided, I'm like thinking about them and I'm picturing their faces and I'm picturing where they live. And then I'm like, did she say how long they've been together?

Did you say how long they've been together? No. No. Feels fairly new, not new new, but to be asking this now, unless it's like, we've always done it split, and now I'm sat here going, and I'm doing financial, I'm doing sinking funds.

What was your initial thought? I'm not even telling the truth, I'm like, because I don't know. Mine split it. He's got three kids. She's got work. Proportionately. Yeah. Not split.

I'd be like, what's the budget per child? You've got to pay three quarters. I think if they've been, because I'm presuming the daughter of combined finances and on that basis, yes. So if they have combined finances and they've been together a long time, like it's in the park. Well, it's not even a question then. I'm answering my own question like, you idiot. Of course they're not. Why should you be asking this question?

It's combined finances because it just goes in. So it's not combined finances. So yes, I would say proportionately is fair. But it is interested in like, is that the money for, because I think in our household, each child has a budget and you roughly try and stick to that. Because my mother is a pain because she's like, Ali needs five more pounds.

So what can I get in? I'm like, oh my God, he doesn't know. But then I find something and that's 15. So it's up the ante on all the others. And there's 10 million to be spent. Yeah. Right, my nanny still does that for me and my brother. And he's nearly 30. And he's nearly 30. One time she bought him like a coffee machine.

Not not a coffee machine. Do you know there's like aeropress things? So my nanny had to like slip me like 40 pounds extra on Christmas day. Just like slip it around. But she was literally came over to me. She literally was like, shaking your hand. It's obviously a thing. But presumably all that there's a budget per child. And so fact factoring that and it would be funny though because our sinking fund is like wider than gifts it's also like experiences and like yeah yeah and like if I see like but I want that nice red wine and you don't drink and that's an extra 30 pounds you don't want to split hers but I feel like it can get expensive with kids and presents so like protecting herself a little bit that

she's not paid because really you were going to buy his kids gifts anyway she was she always might have bought his if that's your partner you want them to have gifts oh I'm really torn with them. That's just going back. Maybe two Christmas sinking funds, one for gifts, one for everything else. One for children's gifts. And the one for everything else is, yeah, and it's for food, experiences. And that's really good point. If people listen to this and you're, you might be having a light bulb moment which is like, mine's just for gifts. And don't forget all the things that happen at Christmas. And depending on the age of the kids, you know, you might, and who's with you all the time. You know,

you might take your child who might live with you both more to pull their X back. To this like, you know, to Partridge takes Christmas, you know, fun fair or whatever. But you then don't take the other three kids, so then you've spent it once, you can split hair, so like it's... Don't be a dick, but I would... Because it could be like, they want an iPad, they want this, and you're like, hang on a minute, you're like, I'm paying for three kids that aren't mine, even though if you are joining as a family eventually, that might be, that might be the case, but it might

not, if you've only been together, six months, we don't want you to be spent... don't want you to buy his kids an iPad. No. But then if you end up being married and you together, fees and years, you end up, if you come, like Laura said,

your finances are probably going to end up combining. You're going to pay for it anyway. I think we go back to the beginning and we go, you follow how you budget. So if you budget stuff proportionately, like versus salary versus not, you don't follow that logic, but it's more like,

do it proportionate as to how many children you have. And then that helps you guide that budget as well. Like when you're spending it, you know, every child's got, we're putting £200 in per child, we're putting £100 in per child, whatever the amount it is, and then stick to that budget per child. Yeah, and that's a way to make it fair. And she had one, I'd be like, don't worry about it.

But it's literally three. And what if he pays are three teenagers. And then hers is like a four-year-old, he could be like, do you want colours? Slime. Yeah. iPad. Slime. They love slime.

200 pounds worth of slime. Yeah, this is what you want. Then he would do. Yeah, he would like, swim a bottle. my kids would be in the bath. Oh, I hope that helped, but I love that question. I'm not being like, what's your husband's mind. Like, I don't want to be like that.

Austin, it's a common sense approach, isn't it? It's like, you're not being odd. We don't want him to be in ours and be like, they're both, they're all our kids. Like, so I'm kind of like, ooh. Can you come back to us? Because it's not quite Christmas yet. So, like, if we need to do a backwards and forwards, let us know what you do on. Get a group conversation going on this.

Yes. I don't want, I don't want to be that person, but it seems a bit excessive three against one. Okay, time for a community win. I'm officially debt-free as of yesterday and I celebrated by putting 2.5K in my savings and buying a $40 dressing gown. A dressing gown! You need to go back two episodes and watch our dressing gown episode.

I now get to save and keep using your fantastic app. Dollar. She said dollar. She said dollar. She's Ozzy or American maybe. That's cool. putting two and a half thousand into her savings on debt-free day. As a celebration.

I'm like, what is it for? Have you got a separate emergency fund? Should you put some investments? No, no, this will be her big emergency phone, won't it? If she's debt-free, this is her building the big one, like three to six months of stuff. Do you know what? That's what you can do when you debt-free, the amount that you can put towards savings, house deposits, investments. It's the amount because it was never that much before.

because it was always going to payments or going to car payment going to credit card payment going to loan payment so when you've suddenly not got those payments if you've got quite a lot of debt right now if you've got a lot of different payments

total it up and then think about if that was just going to you because that's what happens when you do the snowball when you pay off the or the avons you know if you pay off your debt and you then have money

and that money literally gets paid to you because eight payments might be quite small split up but have them all together to show all right why the time I'm debt-free that will be coming to me, what am I going to do with it?

And make a plan, like Laura said a few episodes ago, loads of people make budgets years in advance because I love it. I'm going to have, probably because I'm on a debt-free journey. They're like, okay, in six months next year, I'm going to have £300 access to my name because I'm not paying debts. Do your debt-free budget. That's such a good idea.

So when, do, copy it in the app, you can copy a budget and create a new one and call it debt-free budget and then delete your debt payments. What does it look like? Do your excess do? I mean, your doughnut will look so nice. It's a bit more motivation, you know, to keep going as well. When it feels hard and it feels like, what am I actually getting out of this?

Well, that's what you're getting out of it. So exciting. Yeah. If you'd like to tell us, you'll win. Head to the community in the app or email it to the vault at financial.com. Okay, next time. I'm changing careers, but I'm sad about slowing down my money goals. Hi, girls.

I'm a long-time fan of the podcast. Your advice always feels like a big sister giving a real talk I need. this isn't exactly a dilemma but I'd love some perspective and motivation as I enter a new big phase of my life. I've just paid off my credit card so the only debt I have left is my car loan. I'm so chuffed with how far I've come. But this is also my last paycheck on my current fairly high salary because I'm leaving my job to retrain for a new profession. It means a significant pay cut while I retrain. I can afford it otherwise I wouldn't be doing it and I know this change will make me happier long term. But financially, it means living with very little excess for at least

a year, maybe longer. Over the last 18 months, I've been so committed to my financial journey, living frugly, clearing credit card debt and getting close to the build and grow phases of the financial playbook. If I stayed in my current job, I'd be debt-free in a few months with a nice big excess, so it feels bittersweet. My car loan will be paid off in 18 months if I stick with 200 pounds a month. I already own a home and I've got one month emergency fund and a decent holiday sinking fund to tide me over. Both my current and new job have good pensions. On paper, I know I'm in a good position and I'm incredibly lucky to even have the option to make a career change. But emotionally, I feel sad that I won't progress as fast as I'd hoped and will be stuck in this frugal stage a bit

longer. So my question is, how can I stay positive and motivated during this slower season? And can you help me see how far I've come as, and help me feel as proud and grateful as I know I should. Thank you so much. With pleasure. I know. Where do we begin? Yeah. I hate that she feels like, but I totally like empathize because you're like running to the finish line effectively. Like we're moving to the money. She's used to the dollar. She's used to being able to have that room. I can put some money there. It's a real privilege when you've earned it, but when you're in that place where there's room.

Do you know, like where there are choices, there can be bouginess? You know, I reflected on that. I tell you all the time I can never put enough money in my grocery budget ever. I just like, I'm mentally, I'm the worst. The worst budget to hear. I always tell you this, my grocery,

I'm mentally, I go, I'm not paying that. But I do. So every month I move it from fun. Yeah, I was going to say where does it come from? Fun and eating out, which I think I've merged a little. bit but um because eating out could be like we don't know i used to have a separate eating out and fun and i was like putting it together it's the same thing it's called entertainment now yeah but um

but i do like we never yeah that's i don't picture like going to show like a like a carnival whereas really it's just buying a croissant yeah but i and i really should just follow my own advice and budget appropriately um but it's quite it's so privileged to have room in your budget to go, here we go, right, 150, can you come from over there, into there, and that's that last, like, bit that you need. And it's also really privileged to be like, you should go out for tea tonight. Like, that is a real, real privilege. Quite frankly, that never happens because we're always, that's some children's activities or something. But when you have been used to that, you're in this, like, safety zone, not safety zone,

but you're like, relax, chill. You're comfortable. And so you're like, oh, financially well. It's part of me that think she's going to enjoy the challenge. Yeah, I think. Tell Laura she's got to go back into survive mode and she'll be like, do you know that? TikTok thing. That's Lydia. That's Lydia.

That's Lydia. Was it when someone cancels plans you did? Oh, yeah. We all know the TikTok trend. But like you're in the trenches. It's very emotional. Set something on fire. Yeah, yeah.

Just can set something on fire and I'm in there. I am absolutely. half my potential. That grosser budget should be like, rice and beans. Yeah. Honestly.

Rice and beans. Maybe I should get a credit card. We're going on with celeb vibes, guys. There's no, there's no food budget tonight. I'm going to use carbon. All right. You could never.

I could never. No. That's the kind of, oh, that's so funny. Just imagine that. I'm like, give me the debt I want to pay off. Yeah.

Well, in investing as I'm like, automation. Yeah. It's not a sex. Everyone thinks investing sex. It's not. It's not. It's so much of it.

The only thing's actually about investing is when I do my net worth and I go, yes! That went up by more than I was paid this month. I'm rich. I told you that's the, it's other than that, it's absolutely boring. But I think like it is a privilege and that's what she should see it as, that she's in such a good financial position

that she can take a step back and do a job that she actually really wants to do because how many people can say, I'm turning down the paycheck because I'd rather do this job and eventually it'll all come good because she said it's going to be about a year that she has to be a little bit more.

That's true. You're so lucky you get to do that. Not many people, like, and no, you say, you're acknowledging it. I'm not going, you're so lucky. You're saying, you know, I understand them in this position. But when you're a proper financial community member, there's nothing worse than feeling like you're going backwards on your money journey. No, but it's not linear, is it?

We talk about this with life, with career, with ups and downs, you know, whether people have illness, whether people have children, take time off, where people lose their job. We don't have a trajectory. No, it's not like a line. An earning trajectory. It doesn't always follow that way. No, I think earlier in your career it does. And then she just hit this, I don't like calling it snakes and ladders.

But in my mind, it's always like that. Sometimes you come down a little bit. Yeah, yeah. And to go up. People, you can't go backwards forever in snakes and ladders. Eventually, you play the system and you do come up top. I love playing snakes and ladders. I'm terrible at it.

I don't know. You could be terrible at snakes and ladders, but it's a game of luck and I'm bad at it. You're really rubbish throw of the dyes. Do you ever like it when you're like, that's not a snake. that's not on that one, it's on that one. Fine, leaving it there. But there is that, like, sometimes you have to take a move sideways or sometimes you have to leave a job and take a pay cut to go ahead

and sometimes you've got a choice in it, sometimes you don't. And it's not linear. Hopefully what you've done, like you said holly is either second and a step back to then, like there might be a big earning potential in this career, but she has to come in at a bit more of a junior. Or you have a different earning amount, but you're happier. And you're not going to burn out.

It's not reflective of your worth. No. Like what you weren't isn't reflective of your worth. And I think so many people and society has made us feel that way that it is. Like if you're a lawyer who's to like, oh, prestige or get loads of money, like they must be really intelligent. They must be really like ambitious. No, you can still be those things and not be on a really high-earned trajectory. You can still be amazing at your job.

But your own potential's capped. And that's okay. We just have to work out a budget that enables you to be financially well and do the things that you want to do. She's also got quite a stable and regular income because for people that are contractors or for people that, well, I imagine the people that I work on with the BBC, obviously I do the BBC, but some people do telework, so I don't do telework,

I just do that, and then I'm at Fan and Shell. But some people, especially the people, not everyone that works on the show is an employee because they don't want to be, like they want to work on this show and then that show, and there's breaks. Yeah, yeah. I always think that what did you do on the breaks? Yeah, go and get another job somewhere.

Sometimes they take a break, but sometimes they need to take a nut. And then you might not get your job when you come back. Absolutely, yeah, yeah. I'm sorry, I can't work on that one. So it's so transient. So there's some months where they don't earn at all. And then there's another month where they can earn a lot because they're back-to-back shows

and they might overlap with another show. And it's super interesting to think about, you know, again, some of our self-employed community members, whether they're, you know, a designer or a nail technician. You have a good month or bad months, like there's no saying. And that, I guess where I was going to go with it is, and I've been there where you're, every month is a different budget. And so what she's probably doing is, I'm used to this and this is our second budget,

but actually lots of people have ups and downs budgets. So sometimes we have a higher one, sometimes we have a lower one. What you do is that's why every budget is new. Every budget is different because you take what you've got, you put it at the top and you work your way down. She may be able to take an extra jobs and this stuff. If she fancies, bumping that income up once in a while during this time, But she doesn't, it sounds like she doesn't need to.

She sounds okay. She's scared of getting behind. Yeah. Falling behind. One thing I would say is that just rings a little bit of alarm bell for me. She's only got one month's emergency expenses. I'm sure she's had that. I'd like to have a little bit more.

Yeah. I would definitely want a buffer. Especially when you're reducing your income for a period of time. One month emergency fund and a decent holiday sinking fund. Because it could mean that your expenses are still the same. Yeah. It's not saying that our expense. Yeah, that's true. So your ability to kind of work her emergency might be decreased.

So I would have limited to just what's in your emergency fund. I would want a bigger buffer. That's all. That's what I. That's my piece of advice. And you could do that through the bank account switches or the Facebook marketplace. You're not going to be able to get it from you salary. You've acknowledged you're getting that's a point. Like if she's kind of in principle misses the idea that she's behind. You can do it in other way. Say there's a two, three hundred pound a month difference. Like working, what could you do to close that if you wanted to? Yeah. But also accepting that like said, sometimes, you take a period of unpay and they're unpaid leave or like you're not paid for a period of time and then you jump forward and it's it's not linear and just because if you're really into this you're like you're modelling it a lot and so you go oh we're all overthinkers at financial because we can plan ahead we can look back so she's thought about that both both jobs are good pensions are your personal contributions might decrease if your salary's gone down so it's like you're earning potential and your pension has decreased

We're going to play a game, right? So, it's not really a game. It's not very well positioned. Sorry. Sorry. It's not fun. Oh, we were all excited then. We're going to play a game.

Monopoly, don't. Yeah, like, there's no, this is rubbish. Think about, you've got high pain job, high stress, low pain job, no stress. What combo, like, what are we thinking? What would you want to create? You don't have to pick one or the other, but like, what are the ups and downs of both? Because we've seen people do want for a period of time and I'm going to get the money. I'm going to like they go work in their minds in Australia or I'm going to go work on the Ollarigs or I'm going to, you know, like what?

Like an unhinged job to get the revenue. Is that okay for a period of time? I know people that have jobs like that forever. And I just look at them and the poorly and the ill and the tired and the stressed. And honestly, nothing could make me want to do that more. But I'm just talking from privilege. I can't. My financial brain, I took the Matrix pill or whatever he does and I'm still in the Matrix.

Do you take a pill? Yeah, I'm in the Matrix. I can't see a black coat. Is that the Matrix? Yeah, it does your bullets. Like, he likes like that. I think John Travolta, that's not Matrix, is it? That's the what's one of, kill Bill.

Hairsprit. Face off. Hair spray. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, financial tinted glasses, so I will always just be like, no, go go do something nice, there's an animal or something, don't know, so I flick the mic, I was like, is she angry? Is this thing on? Yeah, I'm skewed. I've got financial rose tinted glasses, so I will never get the people

that, like, kill themselves for a bit more money because I'm like, I don't need more money because I manage mine really well, but I get for a short period of time. doing something unhinged to get ahead, like whether it's to save an emergency fund or I don't know what it is, but, or to go on holiday or whatever. In that case, there'd have to be like an ending site for that. Whereas I see people really unhappy in very well paid jobs. And I just look at them and I'm like, because I know that they don't manage the money well. Or they're stuck. They used to a lifestyle. Like, yes, they couldn't possibly take less. Yeah, it could be the cars or the home or the holidays or school. Like, so people will get stuck with the kids in an expensive

perspective as well they couldn't possibly take any less because we're always meant to want and strive and get the next promotion yeah i think they're really lucky people are those that have um because a high paid and a high stress job is still okay if you like it it's still okay yeah yeah yeah some of my best friends are in those positions where like you know you know you might not speak to them all the time when you do they're always stressed but actually they just love like they love the position of power like it's not it's not it's not it's when you see someone stuck into where they hate, but they need to keep earning.

They need to keep earning. They need to keep earning. And the ability to, like, it sounds like how a viewer, how a listener has been able to switch to something that, like, she likes better. It would be more fulfilling.

Yeah. But for a period of time, it doesn't pay as much. It's hard, like, you know, earnings is a privileged position. Earnings is incredibly important. And I am, am I earning less?

No, maybe I'm not now. Do you know, like, I have been earning less than I have to earn. passed but I've got a different lifestyle now where I mean I'm probably not employable anymore because I just don't think anyone could tell me what to do and I would actually do it but but again if I would have to at some point maybe but maybe I can't decide I've probably some years earned more and so therefore could be more aggressive with money journey and maybe I would have been further along on that money

journey but I'm doing something I'm much more prefer and and we'll fall the end of my nose but do you know what I mean about that question like it's an interesting like What do you tell someone's the right thing to do? Like, are we, go out there and earn as much as you can for the thing that you like? I think we have got a bit of an impending doom of young people about loss. Like, what do they want to be? And how do they earn money doing it? Because things are changing so quick.

But no, you are not behind. No. You're doing it amazingly well. And it's a called chapters of your life. And this is a chapter where you sometimes you go sideways before you go up. It's not that like incremental. linear. The rug wasn't pulled from you like you've proactively made this decision. So like that there's power in that and

control and not many people get that. We usually get dilemmas it's like been made redundant, the world's ending, I don't know what to do, I was really happy, I was getting a well paid job, you've gone, I would rather you've consciously said I would rather take a pay cut to go and pursue this career. Yeah, yeah. That's a privilege and something to be really happy and proud of that you've managed to do. And don't necessarily really, she's not done this, but for anyone else thinking this, that don't be self-limiting in your beliefs that if I move into that career. I mean, you might be like, oh, I'm a, you know,

I want to be a nurse and I know that I'm capped out at that, but you could become a nurse specialist, you could become a nurse practitioner, you could take an overtime, you might move to Dubai and be a nurse. There's lots of things that come with being, as a nurse, you might work, like part-time shifts and build up a rental portfolio. Don't think that, because I've chosen that I'm sealinged out, and sometimes being creative and thinking outside the box can bring you the income that you deserve and that you desire in a different field. So keep us updated. Let us know what you do. It's a really good dilemma that one. Interesting. Yeah. Okay, that is all for this

episode. The Vault is now closed and just a quick disclaimer. The Vault is just a chat our own life and money topics. We're not giving financial advice.