The Vault with Financielle - Save Money or Travel the World? | The Vault Episode 72

Episode Date: July 9, 2025

Send us a text“Putting yourself last isn’t budgeting, it’s self neglect” - we unpack this week’s controversial opinion, then dive into your dilemmas:💸 ”Should I buy my next car in cash or finance it?”💸 ”Do I keep saving or go live my 20s?”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 💖💸Connect with our Partners🐝 Consolidate your pensions with PensionBee (capital at risk)🫶 Protect yourself and loved ones with our friends at Lifesearch✍ Write a will that is tailored to you with Octopus Legacy🏡 Meet our Financielle approved Mortgage Brokers💸 Commission-free investing* with Trading 212 (capital at risk)🛒 Cashback on your shopping with Jam Doughnut (use code FINC)*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 Finite Child. This is a safe space where we talk all things life and money on no topics or off limits. Good morning. I don't even know why I say morning because it's currently 1 24 when we're recording this. I just say good morning. It's like fresh.

Yes. Good morning. You have to sing it a little bit. Well, happy Thursday everyone at home. What an amazing week. If you are watching online today, you'll see Lucy's got a very, what's the word, bold, yeah, t-shirt on.

Do you wanna tell our listeners what it says? It says, reading is sexy. And she just confided in us that she had it on a Pinterest board, so when she, the t-shirt, so when she saw it in the shop, she was like, that is for me. Was it in the budget?

Alex bought it for me. So yes, it was. It was in the budget? Alex bought it for me. So yes it was. It was in our budget. It wasn't in yours. It was a budget hack. It's like one vibe, you know like the big. Yeah, choose love and knowledge. Big capital letters and shouting and I like it.

But giving pajama top, in like three months. It will be a fake tan top and a pajama top. But we don't have to see you in colour. When it gets all crackly. Yes, it will. It will do because at some point you'll have, yeah. Yeah. That's a great future pajama top as well.

But I wasn't getting that vibe. She's got potential. I've got pajama tops that are like fake tan tops, just big t-shirts, the history that they hold. I've got Cavos. Oh really? Cavos like what are they called? Like the booze crews? Yeah. All of these tops. The rep ones. I am fucking Nappa. Like Harry Styles jog merch. Do you know when you get outside and it's like, five pounds? I'm like, yeah, give me ten. Take everything you have.

I remember taking my kids to watch the Hot Wheels live and all outside of the stadium they had the flags and stuff and I was like, we'll get them inside, it's fine. Literally like five pounds outside, like 20 quid for a crap flag inside. And I was like, sorry, you're not having any. Sorry about that. Should have got them on the outside. Yeah. Not as a budget. Okay. So today's controversial money opinion is putting yourself last as in parent or in a relationship isn't budgeting, it's self neglectneglect. Putting yourself last one, what do you mean like give me an example?

So I feel like we've spoken about it recently. When a couple splits up or when a couple gets divorced. Oh, we did. Yeah, it suddenly comes to the woman that that point is like, oh my God, I've not been looking after myself. I've had a list of things that I've been wanting to do, but just not been a priority. I've had a list of things that I've been wanting to do, but just not been a priority.

I've been seeing this and I feel like, I don't know, I feel like I have seen a lot of female empowerment of people that have been single for a long, long time, but like looking after themselves and taking care of themselves. And to be clear, most of this isn't aesthetic, by the way. I'm not talking about like post-relations relationship glow up where that is very welcome as well. If people wanna feel better about themselves and look a different way or like cut their hair or dye it or do whatever they want, I'm here for this as well.

Like this like reinvention is something that sometimes we do feel a little bit lost and we need that. But a lot of people are investing like in their health or they're going cold water dipping or they're gonna get into yoga or they might decide they're gonna be veggie, or if you're gonna make a change that they think is good for them. By the supplement that was probably,

like they've had a lot of symptoms for like the perimenopause, or whatever, and they go, do you know what? I just put up with it. Like I just felt unwell for a very long time, and I'm not doing it anymore. And no one said to me, let's use the example of a couple, like long-term relationship, been together years and I've seen this multiple times in the past couple of years actually,

multiple times. We've seen it where a long-term relationship has separated and the woman has finally gone, actually, and it's happened in our own family, wider family, dad, not mum and dad, just telling him that he's all right. I'm like, what? Wiede family where someone special to us went for a big breakup and she decorated a bedroom and she said, I've wanted to do that for years. And she just never felt she could, whether there was something, I mean, listen, like in a relationship didn't work out and I'm glad that she isn't in a place

where she feels like she can't do something that she wants and she couldn't have had a chat about it and maybe she could have done, but just that, I've heard that exact example across multiple relationships where feelings come out of the relationship and gone, I am gonna, yeah, I'm gonna look after my health. Like she could have been limping for years and gone, finally gone, right, I'm actually gonna see

a doctor, but no one's ever said, do you think you should get yourself checked out? Like, do you think you should put yourself first? It's like, no, no, no, I'll suck it up and I'll get on with it. And- Because life's busy and you look after everybody else because that's what females tend to do.

They'll just put themselves to the bottom of the list all the time. Self-degelect. Do you think it's a similar thing when, say like your children move out of home and it's like, I've got all this time on my hands. I think loads of people split up when that happens because it's the kids and the activities

and the busy life that kind of keeps you going. Yeah, you're also in 50s is massively up. Because then you realize, you look at each other and you go, I don't even really like you anymore. I'm not talking from personal experience, by the way. But they say that that happens. Over and over again, I've heard that. The thing that kept you connected.

Kids held you together. You never really had time to sit and chat because you were like taking your kids to football there and taking the kids on holiday and saving up what mortgage should we get. And you get so used to it. And blah, blah, blah. And then suddenly you go, got nothing in common.

We literally have nothing in common. Just been going through the motion. And what I said, when people finally do something that they feel they couldn't do, whether know, whether it, like I said, is appearance thing, it's a particular haircut, it's a redecoration, it might have been like something in the garden that you always wanted, or it might have been a trip, like you always said,

could we go here, you always said, but for whatever reason, you were happy not to put your foot down and say, no, I want it, you put yourself, like she goes to the bottom, that people have a bit of eat, pray, love about it. And so. I'm just gonna say it's giving eat, pray, love. Like she split up with a boyfriend

and then she traveled the world and she found herself. Like. We are really lucky our generation because the boomers, you ever called me a boomer the other day? Are we boomers? No, no we're not. Okay boomer. I'm nothing against boomers.

We've got a really good boomer. But we're not boomers. That's my generation. And I made a comment and she went, nowhere near. I'm nothing against boomers. We've got a really good boomer. We're not boomers. That's my generation. And I made a comment and she went, boomer. I said, I beg your pardon, which I sounded very much boomer like. I am a millennial. I say that to my dad. We were told that the world was going to end when it turned from 1999 to 2000. I vividly

remember everyone being like, hold on. You could buy a Millennium Bug. You could actually buy a Cuddly toy. Exactly, so Millennials, she called me a Boomer. I think the Boomer generation, which is our parents' generation, were like, had to just suck it up and definitely generations after that,

like staying in relationships they weren't happy with or the female, whether they were a mother or not, would constantly put themselves at the bottom of the list by default. Like a lot of patriarchy conversation comes out about like the default. You end up like just sucking up and getting on with everything else. And this is just the way things is. Our generation is one of the first where it is a lot more balanced and it's easier to challenge that balance. I think like our partners and husbands, if we have them, will have had a father figure that have has acted a particular way. And it's really interesting, I think, to see the differences amongst our like friendship groups, family groups, where someone's had like a hands-on

dad and a very active dad and someone that shared some responsibilities and not my mom was going, oh, yeah, what did he do? It's a joke. But actually mom worked really hard and used to go to America one week in four and our dad looked after us. We'd do the school drop-offs and pickups and would make us whatever food we needed. And so we're not boys, but we have had that in our life. I think you can see a big difference

of men of our generation that are influenced one way or another. I had someone that wasn't very hands-on and they're like, I'm not gonna be like that. Or they've got a good relationship with a partner, which is from the off, we share things. And, you know, I'd like to think that because of the, what I think,

moms still put themselves last a lot of the time, still put themselves last a lot of the time, women put themselves last a lot of the time. But when we're brave enough to do our hobbies and to do beauty that we wanna do, or have that confidence, again, this comes back to money, being brave enough to have that budget and date night and say, do you know what? I'd really like to improve my diet

and I'd like to buy organic, or I'd like to- Get that gym class pass. I'd like to buy organic or I'd like to get that gym class pass. I'd like to go to the gym. Makes me go because I buy six things and I have to do use it six times. Exactly. And you might, and the partner might go, you can just go for a run. It's like, no, but I want the pass. I want to see my friends. I want to go to the gym. I want to be accountability.

But having that conversation then means you don't have like 20 years later, this resentment that might build up and go, do you know what? I have never done something for me. It's similar to trips. It's like a lot of people might not say, I'd like to go on a girls trip, or I'd like to go with my friends, or with my mom or something,

you just kind of suck it open. If they don't ask, then you don't ask. And then years later you go, do you know what, I've always wanted to go on a city break. I've never done one. You should have done an annual trip with the girls. Why did we do that? You should have raised it.

Yeah. And the other person might have sat? You should have eased it. Yeah. And the other person might have sat there going, not caring at all that you wanted to go on the trip. I'm relaxed. And you've overthought it and thought, no, there's plenty of other things as a family we should be spending money on, no. I would like to think as well that, yeah,

if we asked some of our boomer women who have gone through that, I would love the advice to the younger self. Maybe messaging actually, that's a really good thing to messaging. If you're listening to this, for any age that you are, someone's younger than you,

what do you wish you'd done differently? Because to your point, you're sat there going, I wish I could paint this room or I wish I could go to Paris if I was going to go to Paris. You never asked, you never made the plan, you never, fair play,

if you get knocked down and go, no, no, what do you need that for? Then that's just more of an indication about, is there a 50-50? Is it, like, there's not that conversation, but yeah, what would people say, I wonder? I think as women, we just make an assumption that that wouldn't be accepted.

Yeah. We're the problem a lot of the time. Yeah. Like, because we just, you just automatically put yourself to the bottom of this list, and that is a societal thing, that's not something that's just been born out of nothing. Like we've lived lives and seen, you know,

parents and grandparents kind of see this like patriarchal like figure, but times have changed. And I think this is the first generation whereby it's been challenged, the male role, the female role within the household and making it more even and highlighting the gender pay gaps that we've got and the household and making it more even and highlighting the gender pay gaps that we've got and the household responsibilities that a female has over a male and being the default parent and nursery's always ringing the mum when the kids are at school. My school

no to ring Neil. They no to ring my husband as well. Absolutely. I answer the phone. I know you do. Because your mum's a little younger than our parents, but do you think she's compromised over the years for something that she would like to do? Because she's in her wellness era, she's investing in the health. She's like, yeah.

She's always in a wellness era. No, definitely not. I think my parents got divorced, I'm going to say, nearly 15 years ago. And they, I can't even think, they're such different people now. And my mum is so like focused on herself and it's so nice to see it's nice to have, for me to have that, like she's single and she just has herself to focus on. And it's nice

to have that, not to look forward to, but as like an inspiration. Role model. Yeah. It's like... Positive role model, yeah. I don't just want to be like a girlfriend or a wife. Like I am my own person. Like if I have these interests, it doesn't need to be shared interest. I can be interested in this and this will get funded. Yeah.

Somehow. Yeah. Yeah. And I, if I want to do these things, I'm going to make them happen. I'm not going to be like, um, reliant on someone else to have to fund them or someone could take it away. Yeah. You know, I want to be able to do that thing. And I, and I also like, I don't know, I like to think that each other's independence in a relationship can help as well. Like there's also, there's so many amazing things about having joint friends, joint interests, joint this, but also the time to like,

even with the simplest, I wanna take myself upstairs and I wanna go read my book and I don't need you all here that I'm going doing that or I'm going to go for a walk, I don't need you to come, I'm gonna go and like, uneven budgets, my beauty budget is higher than your beauty budget in the budget, but it doesn't mean to say that if you wanna have skincare, fine, have it, but I really want this and I don't have to compromise on it and not have it because either something's in my head or

because you've sent a signal. Yeah. Definitely important. Okay. First dilemma of the day. Should I buy my next car in cash or finance it? That's the dilemma. What's your answer? Right in cash, next. Hey girls, love the podcast. I've been listening for around a year now. Since buying my first

house at 22, I opened up a Monzo Flex account. I was stuck with repayments of around 300 pounds every month for two years. Since I discovered you guys, I've paid off all of my debts and saved a healthy emergency fund of over a year's worth of expenses and began investing in a stocks and shares ISA. My dilemma is I commute to work and my car is on its way out. I dabbled into looking at finance options.

However, I just can't bring myself to pull the trigger. I think this is because I've always bought my cars in cash. So should I A, take money out of my emergency fund, buy a car outright and sell my current car to top it up? B, put a huge deposit down to make the repayments under 100 pounds. This is what I'd feel comfortable with. Or C, run my car into the ground

and wait until it goes bang on me. My house is currently on the market so I'm hesitant to finance anything and I don't want to mess up my additional borrowing. So the house on the market sounds like she then wants to buy another one, like she wants to move up in house. Yeah, it really, really massively will impact the amount you can borrow. I mean, it's all about affordability. And if you were going to finance, you're going to finance anyway, then don't delay because you always need to know that you can afford

car and house. So what you don't want to do is buy a house based on the affordability of no car, buy the house, then go, right, I'm going to finance the car now. And suddenly budgets stretch. And so I do, you know, the banks and mortgage advisors are super good at affordability. But don't go backwards. Don't go backwards. She has a car, run it into the ground. Yes.

Save up in the meantime and get it ready for when, not if it's going to need something or when you're going to have to upgrade. But like at least the next home you're going to buy as an asset is going to go up in value, cars go down in value and they, they're just not a representation of you and your financial wellbeing. They're like, they're a status symbol or like a comfort symbol. Like the idea of financing means better and bigger. And what it actually means is you buy a car you can't afford. There's no reason why you couldn't save up to buy

the same car in cash that you would finance. But you wouldn't. You just wouldn't. You always buy the more expensive one. Oh, years expenses as an emergency fund is quite high. So I would say, but it's whatever you're comfortable with. It's really subjective. I don't know if you're an only person living on your own.

So you want that bigger buffer, like I would understand. But maybe like you could compromise and pull it down to like a nine month one and take three months of those expenses and put it, if your car's about to go bang and you're like, it's pretty imminent. But yeah, please don't, please don't. I definitely a fan of, she's gone straight to the finance.

She's, this is a very female thing by the way, because I don't think we give a shit as much, but she's not mentioned the car. No. It's like, she's already come up with about a hundred a month. Like she's already done some research, but like what is the car she wants? What's the car she wants?

What's the make? How old is it? How many miles it has got on it? And most like, what is the car she wants? What's the car she wants? What's the make? How old is it? How many miles has it got on it? And most importantly, what's it gonna cost? She's priced up the finance, but she's actually not priced up what it would cost to buy. And I think having a look at what I would like a car of around this amount of money, and like Holly said,

at the right moment, switch it out, and maybe use some emergency fund if you're struggling with your current one. Because you've got a really healthy one. Because that is a bit of an emergency. You've got a really healthy one. Exactly.

You're not taking like key ones. But yeah, I don't do it. You've done so well. Do not go back. Do not fall trap and fall victim to... And Monzo Flex. Screw you Monzo. Yeah.

Oh my gosh. Like anyone watching from Monzo, because I know that some of the big banks do watch this program. We know. They tell us. You tell us, yeah. Just that product needs looking out because so many people get sucked into it.

Like young people especially, which is the thing that drives me mad the most. Like it's the first brush with like taking on credit because it's just so easy to do. It's a pretty overdraft. It's a glamorized overdraft. Like that's literally what it is. I know it's about like advancing, you know,

before you get that money. No, no, it's an overdraft that's been called Monzo Flex. I get marketed so much of it. Like, yeah. Can you send them on? I like, this is where I get like, I want to know what they make, because they wouldn't publish it,

because they're not listed, but I'd be really interested to know the revenues that they make from Monzo Flex, but also how often they hammer it to their customers. A lot. Okay, community win time. After being inspired by the app and the podcast, I have spent the last few weeks getting my finances together and I'm sitting back tonight with a feeling of calm. This week I have opened a stocks and shares ISA

and invested 500 pounds, unpaused my pension contributions when I came back to work after maternity leave. I didn't get the flexibility I asked for, which meant I took a pay cut and then paused my pension contributions just whilst I got settled to being back, but that was nine months ago. And finally, my husband and I sorted out our will. These things have been weighing on me in the back of my mind for months. So thank you to the podcast for giving me the kick up the butt I needed. Winning at life. She must feel so much better. Yeah.

Wait, let's official. But the, you know, getting back on the investing train after pausing, like it sounds very like, like passive and temporary, I'll pause. Can we just, can we just pause those? I just need to get my head started, I need the money back. Like we've just had a baby, it's really expensive, I'm back to work. We'll pause them nine months later.

Nine months of contribution and growth that she's missed out on, on top of the maternity leave. Because in the maternity leave, her company would have been paying contributions, but she would have been paying them at a reduced rate. So she's already had X month mat leave, reduced pension contributions, then she came back and paused. It's another nine months.

And did your partner pause? No, I'll answer the question. I was just about to say, I love this win, but it's now turning into a dilemma for me. And did your partner pause his? No, I'll answer the question. I was just about to say, I love this win, but it's now turning into a dilemma for me. Only because it's very personal to me because I went through something similar where I didn't realize that when I was on my term to leave

that my contributions from my employer continued, but mine didn't. So I missed out on nine months of my contributions into my pension pot, which is, as we know, compound interest and time in the market, all those things. I would really like you to go back, maybe go back and work out whether you could ever make that up.

Like how could you model it and work out the missed contributions and try and make it up? Like I know you just put 500 pounds in the stocks and shares, is it a shared one? Like I know it's an individual, but are you seeing that as a couple thing? Could you put those? Yeah, you don't get the tax from the government.

It depends on salary sacrifice, obviously, but if it's not salary sacrifice pension, if they'd have put that 500 into a pension, they'd have got the tax top up. So would it be more beneficial for me maybe next month, instead of putting 500 pounds in the stocks and shares, I should try and make up what you've missed, work out what you've missed on your,

both maternity leave and the pause that you've had, and maybe focus your efforts into that. But that is subjective, it is not five, five, five. It's like, I've got some notes. Yes, because I love the win. So I'm like, amazing, you're back on the train, but could we maybe look at where we've missed out? It's just so savvy to get that money.

I'm so glad you've shared that because someone will be listening who's preparing for Mat Leave right now. And they're gonna listen, and they're gonna learn from your decisions that you now obviously highlight and trying to correct and trying to crack on with. They're gonna learn from that.

So when we get a dilemma about things like that, like same with the will, just getting that done that when we were able to do, get hundreds of you got wills, like it was just one of the best things earlier in the year when we kind of pushed them and we'll continue to push them because you just get this peace of mind that all this stuff is sorted.

We're gonna dig into more topics on it. I might do some more unlocks on it because like stepfamilies are really interesting dynamic, different intergenerational stuff, what things you can put in place if like you're a bit worried about, I was doing this. If I die and you remarry. Yeah, it's a worry for people.

I don't want my children not getting, I, yes, exactly. I don't want your future step, like Carl's like, what's that there, sorry, what? And I'm like, your future step-wife's not having my children's. Sharon's, she's not having. Her and her dog and her wicked daughter. Well, I was already giving them names. Oh, definitely.

Where you're moving, she's gonna move you out of the village. Yeah, in fact, it's over because I've already planned them names. Where you move it, she's going to move you out of the village. Yeah. In fact, it's over because I've already planned this to happen. So annoyed at you, Carl. I thought better of you. Poor guy, just sat there like what? Carl's found his own business. Yeah, he's having a great time. He's just gone yesterday.

I didn't know he wasn't listening. He was enjoying himself. But yeah, I think we'll go into more of it because it's fine if you have, you know, a very straightforward situation, but there's lots of things that you can do to navigate what's quite difficult. So well done on doing that as well. It's like tick, move on, next thing and there for people listening that the financial sacrifices that families make,

but especially women tend to make around maternity are not small and they can have big consequences later. So well done for un-pausing your pension. If anyone's had the similar situation, like you might just be tight on money and you decided to pause them. It might not be a maternity thing. Un-pause them, like just do it.

I did, I opted out. So in fact, I didn't opt out. I just didn't opt in because it wasn't auto-implemented when I started work. But I was living in City Centre Manchester, I'd started my graduate job, and there was this, all I heard was, oh, do you want to pay pension contributions?

And my response was, I'll do it when I'm older. Didn't know anything about compound interest, didn't know anything, like no one around me was like, well, that's a shit idea. And luckily, within about nine months, I went on a study journey and learned about it, I went, what the hell have I done? So luckily it was only a handful of months, but yeah, because I wanted more money,

because I had to go shopping and wanted nice food and nice drink and had a nice gym. So I had all the, literally my gym membership cost more than my contribution would have been. But we passed that story down to make sure that someone else doesn't do that. So great win. Well done. But we passed that story down to make sure that someone else doesn't do that. So great win, well done. And happy pod year anniversary, you'll be over that now probably. If you'd like to tell us your win, head to the community in the app or email it to the vault at financial.com.

Okay, final dilemma. Do I keep saving or do I go live my 20s? Hi ladies, I love the pod and have now listened to every single episode. I wonder if you could help me out. I'm 24 and have been freelancing in the film and TV industry for three years. While the industry can be unpredictable, I've been lucky to land consistent work. I earned 43k last tax year. That said, things like COVID and the writer's actor strikes have given me a real

scarcity money mindset. I live fairly lean. I budget around 1,600 pounds a month, but can survive on 1,300 for rent, bills, flexible spending. The rest goes into my sinking funds, my emergency fund, and my cash Lysa. Cash Lysa? Yeah, your lifetime Lysa could be cash or stocks and shares. Yeah, your lifetime ISA could be cash or stocks and shares. Right now, my net worth is around 25k. 13k in my cash Lysa, 7.2k in my emergency fund, which is almost six months expenses, 4k in my pension, 1k in sinking funds and 630 in my stocks and shares ISA. I live in a low rent city and haven't spent loads just a couple of holidays, but I've not done any proper traveling. My question is, what should I do next?

Do I have permission to finally have some fun? I don't plan on buying a house for a few years, so I'm thinking of pausing my cashed Lysa contributions. I'd love to go traveling while still in my twenties. I'm also considering opening a stocks and shares Lysa to keep getting my 1k government bonus, but invest it instead. Coast fire also really interests me. The idea of sorting retirement early and letting compound interest do its thing. Being freelance makes me crave long term security, but I also want

to live my life. So should I build my emergency fund to 12 months, focus on investing in my stocks and shares Lysa and aim for coast fire, prioritize traveling experiences or try to do a bit of everything? I'm just not sure what my next financial goal should be." Oh. She's like a set one maths, this girl. Yeah, definitely. She's literally like ticked all the boxes. I think it's a girl, well done. And being obviously in the film and TV and media industry, it's so transient.

I was so shocked at how, you know, temporary contracts really are. Lots of people aren't employees. They work for themselves. They move around different jobs. Sometimes they're really exotic. Sometimes there's gaps. You just don't know necessarily

when the next contract's coming in. So I'm forever asking them like, what would you have an emergency fund and what would you do if you didn't get a contract? And with them, you know, whilst you might have like the Netflix and the Disney's and the Apple's of the world, like funding stuff, local TV and national TV really is struggling. Like they've not got the budgets. Because if you think about it, people aren't watching as much TV. So the advertising isn't there, which doesn't fund the new projects. And so I would also be nervous in that industry. Having said that, she is just, she's playing that industry well. She's understanding that you need emergency

funds and she needs that stability. You're definitely try to do too much at once and so there will be a compromise. I'm gonna jump straight to the travel thing. I would definitely go traveling. 100%. I would definitely make that happen. We just talked about like when you get older, like what regrets would you have?

And I imagine a lot of people would be like, in your early 20s, like I wish I had gone traveling. Before you get piled with responsibility, a mortgage, a family, a partner, like anything, it sounds like you're on your own and what a fantastic situation you put yourself in. You sound very financially well, you're financially astute. You're not gonna go and just spunk loads of money

and then kind of like give up any sort of good habits that you've kind of created. And you definitely, I said, I do a little bit of both, but I felt you've got really good financial foundations at the moment, so I would say that you could go a little bit ham on maybe the travel budget, so you're not going into debt, and then when you come back,

I would have a little sinking from when you get back, because you need to hope that you're gonna find a job the minute that you land and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, well her emergency fund would do that, but I think she definitely double counted, because I think there was a point where she said, so shall I start putting into my Lysa, but then I want a stocks and shares Lysa so that it grows.

You have to put money into stocks and shares Lysa for it to grow. Like, yes, it will grow a little bit, but for the compound property to work, you put money in, you've got money in, and together that produces a growth based on like the percentage growth and so on and so forth. And so you do have to keep contributing.

I think there's a couple of things. I think she wants to travel, this is time to travel. This is the time, like you said, not a partner start waiting for you, not a mortgage, not such a good stable job, no children. They can't possibly leave. Amazing house, maybe you might get amazing rental property. Like I don't wanna give up this property.

You are just, this is the season of your life to travel. If you want to travel where it's kind of very free will based and doesn't need stupid amounts of money, stupid amounts of planning, you could probably do it on the cheap. So it's for a defined period of time. This is the same for if you had, were poor for a period of time, or if you had a child for, you know, that maternity leave or whatever. So pick an amount of time, whether it's six, nine, 12 months.

And I really wouldn't push it past that because then that's more turning into like the digital nomad lifestyle. Like most people can't, couldn't travel for longer than nine, 12 months without their needing to earn money. So that's changing the dynamic. I'm not saying you don't get 12 months and go, I quite like to live in Italy for a year. That's different. But I would say, how long do I travel for and how much money do I need for that? And if that's what you want to do, I would pause everything and stack up cash for that.

Because a one-off, you are not gonna be doing this all the time. And I'm telling you this because you say you really want to go traveling. If you're a bit, I fancy going traveling, then I wouldn't compromise the other stuff. Another money podcast would probably say to you, oh, make sure that you steep investing,

make sure you seek compounding. But what we know works really well is one thing at a time. And so set that goal and hit it as quickly as you can, because you need to save that before you could then start this year of traveling. So I would recommend that because the alternative is to put money aside into stocks and shares, Lysa and continue this growth and compound for like, you know, coast, what did you say,

coast fire. Coast fire. Yeah, yeah. It's like compound interest. Well, and it's, listen, she's absolutely right. The younger you are, the better. Yeah. But you can't travel in the way that you're wanting to easily later.

Like there is an order to this. You can't have everything. What a traveler. Oh, she'd be awful. It'd be great for a bank balance, she'd come straight home. She'd have built a big savings. Or it'd be horrendous because I'd be like, I'd never get there. Because I'd be like, my sinking fund needs to be like 100 grand for that. I'm not flying on that plane, I'm

not going on that bus. Like, do you only do a race across the world? Like I sit and watch it with our eldest, Teddy, because he just loves it. And he's like, well, this looks great. I'm like, yeah, we're never doing that. Like, we'll live by carousels with these people who are on night buses in Thailand. I'm like, no, no, no, no.

We are going to a coastal, like, family villa in Phuket. We are not filming it in Bangkok. Lydia, you're about to go on holiday. You're joining people that are traveling, aren't you? Yeah. What's the, like, do you have a pull to travel in the way that they're doing, or you're quite happy to jump on

and do the whole, what feels like a holiday bit? What do you think? I'm quite excited to just have it as a holiday because I've been traveling after school and it is like a very different, you're not like, you feel like you should feel like you're on holiday but you are quite stressed about money the whole time

or like getting it, you are working out there and stuff. I don't really feel that. Like I think I'd rather work and then really enjoy it when I'm out there rather than be doing the night buses and stuff, horrific. I've heard people do that where it's like, it sucks the joy out of it because they've not saved up enough money,

they've not planned efficiently. Like they'll just say, I'll just pick up some bar work and I'm there. So actually the time that you should be enjoying it, like it's a holiday, you're getting cultural experiences, they're sending out CVs, like the pod in the street, they're going into bars, like trying to ask for bar work, they're going to the, you know, Australia is famous

for going to mining or going to fruit farms. I'm so glad I did it when I was younger though. Yes, there's time and a place. But actually to your point though, she's probably got options which is, you say, this is my time to do it, I've not got another time and I go for this period of time and this is how much I need to save and you've got a number. Some people do, especially

with the work that she does have, she could do three months and then come back and then do three months next year. And I have seen people do that and you don't have to work, you can really enjoy that time. But especially if you've got this, it is very much a transient freelance life, TV and film. It doesn't kill your career to say, you're not going to say into your reliable stable job, I'm going and I won't be back or I'm having a sabbatical. Like it's very, you come to the end of the contract, you just don't basically, it's really scary. They're like, well, I've not applied for one yet, but I'll see what I get. And I'm like, what? And it's like, yeah, and one just appears, but it's just the way of the

industry. So yeah, I feel like it's deciding, if you wanna do that thing, scratch that itch, because you will compromise on short-term investing unless you can fund both. So do the model. And if you can save up for your traveling while still deploying stuff into either a pension or stocks and shares ISA, do it, but don't worry and don't overthink because it's for a period of time

and it's what you really want to do. It's when you don't do either,'t overthink because it's a far period of time and it's what you really want to do. It's when you don't do either, or you do want it. You don't wanna be like, I've loads of investments and have not lived your life. Yeah. No. Like.

Go and watch Eat, Pray, Love and then come back to us. Yes. But like we don't want you to do the other thing which is spend all your money on travel and not think about these things that you're thinking about. Like we need to pull you back a little bit and let you like enjoy. The fact that you've got this like really good foundation

makes me think that like, as soon as you get back from traveling, you're gonna get straight back into that again. But it would be nice for you to be able to still, if you're really interested in investing that compound interest, to get really go hone in on that travel fund and then have a little bit.

The minute you feel that fund, you jump straight back over. Yeah. You'll get there quickly. I love that. Because you're focusing on one thing. That's the beauty of this methodology. You focus on one thing, you get there quickly, and then you move on to the next.

It's, you know, I didn't, we were very well traveled through holiday. And I'm like you Holly, like it's kind of regret and kind of not. Like I think I would have liked to have lived and worked somewhere else at some point, but I would have gone city. I would not have. Maybe somewhere that's accessible that I could hop around and travel. When people have lived and worked in different countries, I'm always a little bit jealous and like, oh, I think I would have liked that.

But I also like the idea that the kind of financial independence that we're planning is the idea that there'll be a point in the next 10 years where we won't need to have a full-time job and we'll have investments and we'll have different interests and the children will be at an age where if we wanted to go with them or we wanted to go without them, we're going to see a bit of the world as well. So if you're not in your 20s, hope is not lost, I'm sure. But you probably can appreciate, once you're there, it's difficult. So everyone now that either has a mortgage, a stable job,

people in their family that are poorly, parents that need them, or children that are going- Screaming. Yeah, screaming at this podcast. Do it and don't regret it because you'll come back and you'll double down and catch up on that compound before you know it. Yeah, we're not like Laura said,

any other finance podcast would be like, ugh. Oh, terrible advice. They definitely would have said, don't, that's so irresponsible, don't travel. Or like, don't eat when you travel. Ethic mentality. I like how we've mentioned Julia Roberts twice in this episode as well.

She deserves it, she's a queen. I've never watched the film, but I know what watched a film. But I know what it's about. But I know what it's about. Okay, we've got a prescription at the end of this podcast. It's for Laura to go and watch Eat, Pray, Love. Okay. I'm not going either, maybe she wants to. Oh my God.

Lucy. Oh my God. I think there's a book as well. It was a book. There's a book as well. It was a book. It's always a book. Apparently there's a book as well. I think they made a book out of it. Okay, we out of it. It's like three different movies in one. It's excellent.

It's worth a watch. Oh my God, it's so good. We want to see it. I thought you would have watched it, Lydia. I thought about a review, Lydia. I think you're gonna really like it, and it's got your vibe, and I definitely want to watch it, but she's a bit yogi in it, isn't she?

Is she a Thai-lander, Bolly? I've seen bits of it but like she's a bit yogi in it isn't she? Is she a Thai or Bali? Bali. I've seen bits of it I think you'll really like it. I'll definitely watch it. Yeah it's our homework. Okay. You can play love. Okay that is all for this episode. The vault is now locked and just a quick disclaimer the vault is just a chat on life and many topics we are not giving financial advice.