Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr
the Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Let's get into it.
She's on the Money. She's on the Money.
Hello, and welcome to She's on the the podcast. Are millennials who want financial freedom. Today is Friday, my friends, which means it is time to get our little team together and celebrate you our incredible She's on the Money community. Today, Jess is going to be sharing our favorite money wins. We're going to be helping to ads a juicy money dilemma which this week is all about hex and indexation, and we're going to be unpacking something that you slid
into our DMS about this week. We're going to be talking about what to do when you have a friend who always claims to be in quotation marks poor but has a new bag or a new dress every single week.
Bick.
Is this something that you can relate to, like kinder to a degree. Oh, it's a hard one because I'm probably that friend. But I feel like whenever I do get a little bit of extra cash to splash, I will buy nice things for myself because I don't usually get to.
So it's hard to say. But if someone like has something new every week, they're like, oh, maybe you've got.
Well waiting till we hear the DM.
Yeah, okay, good idea.
Yeah, really dive into it. How have your weeks been my friends? Well, pretty good. It's the last week of the comedy festival and I've just been cramming, cramming. Yeah, you would have been so good at UNI. That's exactly how he got by.
Yeah you got to cram. Yeah you gotta wait till last minute. Yeah, you gotta get it all done.
Adhd is literally the only way I functioned us. Yes, anything we ever do, good luck getting it from me only not us.
Booking our flights for a hotel internationally from the tarmac of the plane to the hotel. Oh my traumatic experience.
Yes, that is so funny.
Yes did you get there?
Yes?
I did, and I stay to Sea Land. So not a word of a complaint from me.
I don't know what she complains about. Honest to god, that was a good experience. It was very funny. Actually, now you bring that up. We were literally on the time. I just like if you booked and I was like, no, let's do that.
Then we went to do seal triggered. That is so stressful on the edge.
Baby, It all worked out, That's what matters. No, Well, how's your week being, jes Not as stressful as the time I did that to you.
Not as stressful as that. Thankfully it's been good. I've been tasked with renovating my boyfriend and his brother's childhood cubby house for my new baby nephew. Oh my god, very fun right on my alley. Can't afford to renovator house, Well, renovator.
You know what there what you get and you don't get up yet.
Yeah, but this week I scored a kids like play kitchen for free of Facebook market Place free. Yeah it's well loved, but I'm going to upcycle it and make it really cute, and it'll go in the cubby and it'll be a nice little addition that cost us basically nothing.
So good it is that you've got to keep an eye out because I bought a kid's kitchen a little while ago. You guys have heard about this a million times if your she's on the money OG's. But they also give away all of the kid's kitchen new tensils on Facebook marketplace, So keep an eye out for that, because like they need their cuts and sauces to sell their eight dollar alertos.
Of course they do. That's fair means.
No, absolutely, it is not. Let's get into that though. That was a cute segue. You did, good, honey, Jess. What have you got when it comes to community money wins and confessions for us this week?
Well, speaking of coffee, my first money win comes from Nicole, who said money win. My boss took everyone out for lunch today and paid, so I got free lunch and coffee.
That's a good money in very good money.
In In other news, I made my last payment on my after page day and I closed my account.
That's actually queen behavior. That's better than free lunch.
Yeah, I would say so as well. Well done, Nicole. My next money win comes from Sarah, who said she's started a new way of saving, call to the fun tacks. Every time I do something a little this like a cheeky Woolies run for dessert or a kmart trip, I get five to twenty dollars cash out and chuck it away. It's not about doing less but saving more, and it's what works for me.
I had so much fun reading through the comments on that because the comments on that particular comment were people being like confused, because I was too like the.
Child Wouldney every time you're at the the market.
And then the comments were why would you chuck money in the bin. It turns out that's not it. She meant chuck it away into a savings account, stash it away. Yeah, like save it No, I see put the money in the bin.
Okay, well when I read that, throwing out all my money?
So you get what you get here, we get The next money wind comes from Gladys, who said I finally gave notice on what is now my previous rental, and after a bit of back and forth with the whole situation.
I got my bond back fully refunded.
Yeah, that's a win.
That's a hard one because they come for your money.
That is very hard. When we got our bond back in full from our last rental, I was shook. Didn't expect it was like that never comes back, you never get it out. It doesn't matter. They always find some reason why they can't give it back.
Yeah.
No, definitely have been there not on. My next money wind comes from Cassie who said huge money whin. I saw the sheets on the money Instagram story just in time to book all of my japan accommodation for my holiday later on this year, which I've been putting off doing. And I scored myself four hundred and seventy two dollars and seventy three cents back in my shop back account because they had the fifteen percent cash back.
Fifteen percent cash back on a holiday. Beck amazing in I'm going to start using this thing. I only just really learned about it. I mean, I know you guys talk about it sometimes better. So do you know what I did earlier today? This is so lame. This isn't even sponsored sounds it it's not. I gave Beck and Maddie. Maddie's new to the team. You guys will meet her soon. A tutorial on shot back and how to.
Use it very cool.
I was like, this is how it works, this is where the money goes, this is how you cash it out. This is like where you can see where the good discounts are. How's it work? Like we did a full tutorial. It's really fun. I love and I've been using shop back back a new marketing manager.
I've been using them for years. They're so good And if you're not following us on Instagram, I would highly recommend it and join our Facebook group because we do obviously work with shot back from time to time, and we always cherry pick the best deals to share.
We're not going to share one that's not going to excite you. I don't want to put up a deal and be like you get half a percent back on this good deal. No, that's embarrassing, Like I'm not going to promote that.
But a lot of the time the good ones are like a small window only like this holiday one was I think ten am to six pm. So make sure you join the group, follow us on Instagram because when there are really good ones, we do try our best to share them, even if they're not sponsoring. Because it is just four hundred dollars back for doing.
It's a lot of money.
It's free money, so much money. But anyway, enough about that, let me continue on. My next money win is from Sky who said, money win, My partner went to buy tickets for the AFL gather round off marketplace. I mean you mean the gather around is some kind.
Of someone somewhere is laughing very hard related inability to understand what this is sports woho.
She said the man gave them to him for free because he couldn't make it, which I thought was just really nice.
So he's actually really cool.
And then my last money in this week is from Carra who said I got married this weekend. Big life win. Congratulations, congratulations. A few weeks ago, I realized I didn't have a jacket option for Melbourne's unpredictable April weather, so way to side to look into faux for options. The ones I liked were all in the three to four hundred dollars range, so I decided to put my sewing skills to use and trot it off to spot see what the fabrics.
They had found the perfect option and spent seventy dollars to make everything I needed for a cape And there's a really cute photo showing their wedding that they put on the spread. So good, how nice? Congratulations Caakara, Cara and mister Kara.
And he's just Ken.
Yeah.
Alright, let's go to a really quick break and after the break, we're going to talk about our juicy money dilemma. But we're also going to be talking about hex and indexation. So I mean, given that's basically the hottest topic in our Facebook group, Oh my god, I know you guys aren't going anywhere. Welcome back, everybody. Let's jump in to the Money Dilemma for the week.
Hi.
There, have you got a money dilemma you just can't solve? The She's on the Money team is here to help. Every week, we tackle your dilemmas, both big and small, to answer your most burning money, career and life questions. To get involved, simply head to our website and leave us a short voice recording and you might just find yourself on the show. Now, let's take a listen to this week's money Dilemma.
Hey, guys, really love the podcast. Just wanted to ask a quick question about hex and the indexation. There's been rumors that the indexation is going to be at seven point nine percent this year, and I have a hex set of about forty five thousand. I'm just really wondering whether it's worth paying off some of my hex stet to reduce the indexation just because I don't want a snowball effect. If you could just give some advice, that
would be really greatful. A lot of unique students who are in the same situation as me.
Thank you when I say we have had so many dms on this topic. We have had so many dms on this topic I can't even tell you. And I'm kind of curious because I don't have a HEC step, but my partner does. He recently graduated and VD I'm very interested to hear it.
To say on this. So I really don't want to talk about this because it makes me really mad. And I feel like, as much as there's you know, a beautiful education system here in Australia, and that is, from my perspective, a really great process, like indexing it by seven percent, like it feels like a revenue raising tactic,
like why would they increase it? Anyway, We've got a lot to say about this, So your hex slash helped it or like any vocational loan, is expected to increase by this saying up to seven percent on the first of June, which is in line with the rising cost of living. There has been a lot of talk about it, and the Green Senator last year actually introduced a bill to pause indexation and increase the repayment threshold, which is
very very good. But last week that bill was rejected, so we know that now that indexation is going to come into force, which is a little bit disappointing. I don't know, I feel like there should have been an outcome. The freezing would have been really good, But to be honest, the freezing, what that would have actually done, is just
like kind of put off the inevitable. Wouldn't have happened now, it would have happened later, and in this economy, to be honest, let's just get it over and done with. At the same time, I don't think families that are already struggling to pay mortgages and put roofs over their heads and pay the grocery bills needed this. Like it just it's obscene to think that the government's like, do you know what, while you're down we might just give you a little kick, a little bit of another nudge
like it just why why? So, the number of HECX and Help loans in Australia has gone up sharply from six hundred thousand loans in twenty sixteen to nearly eight hundred and thirty thousand loans in twenty nineteen. This is going to impact eight hundred and thirty thousand Australians, which
is a lot of people. And when it comes to the proposed changes, it really really depends on what your personal circumstances are, because I think a lot of us, you know, we've always spoken about the difference between good, bad, and okay debt, and we've always said on the podcast, hex shouldn't be seen as a bad debt because it's something that's constructive for your financial future. It doesn't have quote an interest rate, does have indexation, which at this
point in time is really important to talk about. But at the end of the day, we really need to talk about what this indexation rate actually means for you personally. So let's go back in time. Last year twenty twenty two, the indexation rate was three point nine percent that we weren't happy with.
I remember us being annoyed when that happened that we won't spoke about it on the podcast.
We spoke about it on the pod because we were really really salty about it because the year before it was point six percent, and it was point six percent because the year before it was one point eight and they did a little bit of a freeze because of COVID, So they're like, let's just not do this, Like we can't do this, and for the previous years, like if we go back twenty twenty, twenty, nineteen, twenty eighteen, twenty seventeen, it's like one point eight, one point nine, one point five.
I have one point five. So this seven or potentially seven percent increase, that's wild. It is in line with the rate of inflation here in Australia, and we've talked about it on the podcast before. Cash rate increases in Australia can sometimes be a good thing because the reason the cash rate is increased each time by the RBA is essentially to stop the rate of inflation. The RBA is actively trying to make sure that we don't end
up having our hex stets inflated by seven percent. They don't actually want that because it's not actually good for the economy because at the end of the day, jess if hypothetically you're paying seven percent more on your hex stet, that's seven percent more income that you don't have to spend on disposable things, and disposable things that helps the economy go round. The economy isn't just held up by
us buying toilet paper in mass amounts, right. So I think it's one of those things where we need to talk about the rise stinging because it is going to sting. But at the end of the day, getting a good education is still the best thing in the long term. I'm not here saying you have to go to university to get a good job. I didn't exactly I didn't, But I am the biggest advocate of you doing you
and what works for you. And as somebody who is arguably over educated and has a team of people who I would say, yess what, most of our team didn't go to UNI, and if they did go to UNI, they're not working in their field. Like I just don't think in twenty twenty three it is as important to have an education to be successful. If you are tenacious and driven and have the grit to get there genuinely. But if you want to work as a doctor, got
to go to UNI. Can't just decide, oh, well, I don't want to go to UNI, but I do want to do that job. You want to be a nurse, Great, you've got to go get that degree, and that is totally okay. I mean, you might not even know what you want to do, but you do know that you want to study. Great, go do an arts degree. I started there, I transferred over to psychology because at the start, I was like, do I don't know? I don't know. I think it's really important to just choose your own path.
But at the end of the day, I want you to be in the best possible pause And the best way to create financial freedom for yourself is to create a career and to create a cash flow system that works. And a part of a good cash flow system from my perspective, is having an income stream. And usually that is a job. It's not usually upfront an investment. Because I don't know about you guys, not a trust fun baby can't relate to that. I wish I would love
to be a trust fund baby. My dog acts like a trust fund baby, and I say every second day, I'm like, I want her life like that looks lid Bluesy's my favorite NEPO baby. Yeah. Honestly, when I have real babies, they will not be nearly as entitled as Lucy. She can have whatever she wants. My kids say, I don't have to work for it. Yeah, like NEPO baby dogg Oh yeah.
So what about the people like this listener who have completed their course, They've got their forty five thousand dollars of debt or whatever and are going, oh, my gosh, seven percent? Do I pay it off? Do I not pay it off? What were your thoughts kind of around what they could maybe consider.
Yeah, look, at the end of the day, it's going to be different based on your personal circumstances. So, if you're earning more than forty eight thousand, three hundred and sixty one dollars, your employer should be deducting a percentage of your income from your pay slip to actually go towards that HEX step.
You have to tell them to do that. They don't just know that you have HECTA. You've got to check the box.
Oh, you've got to tip, you've got to chick the box. If you have hextet, you need to tick the box. If you're not sure, email your HR manager or whoever is in charge of payroll and go, hey, am I paying Hex? You can sign into your ATO portal and see if you have or haven't paid HEX for the last financial year. Keep in mind, though, that these figures often are only updated maybe once a year by the ATO because they only consolidate all that data when you
do your tax return. So if you haven't done your tax return and you're trying to see how much hext you've paid, the ATO is like, well, I don't know, because did you have any additional deductions? Did you have any additional contributions? Like we haven't you know, done the maths on that yet, So it's not going to be there. Complete sidebar. If for some reason they're not paying it and they should have been paying it, talk to fair Work,
have a chat to them. Fair Work are brilliant. So this is called a pay as you go with holding, and that would be on your pay slip and that amount is kind of like applied to your compulsory payment. So it's just at a base you'll have to pay a certain amount of money each and every single week based on what you earn right. Anything above and beyond that is called a voluntary payment, and that's where I
guess this conversation opens up. Should we be making voluntary contributions to paying down our hex stet if inflation has gone up by seven percent? Obviously this is a very stressful question to answer because it is you know, one, I can't give you personal financial advice because that would be wildly irresponsible. But it's also going to depend on your circumstances. I think we need to look at, well, what is seven percent of your hex step, how much is it going to increase by? How much do you
now need to contribute to keep up? And could that money have been used somewhere else. I am a very big advocate of, you know, paying it down if you've got the free cash flow. And I mean, I've got some people in our community I've been talking to and they are paying down their hextet at the moment with additional voluntary contributions. And the reason that they're doing that is because they know that their hextet at the level it's at impacts their borrowing capacity for purchasing a house
by one hundred thousand dollars. I get that, Jess. You're in the process of potentially buying a house. If I said, hey, do this, you'll get an extra one hundred grand, oh done? Yeah to borrow. Yeah, you would smash that out because that's a value to you. There are going to be other people, Like, let's look at my personal financial situation. I still have a very large hex step. My hextet I think today is sitting at about eighty thousand dollars.
It was one hundred thousand dollars, like more than one hundred thousand dollars a little while ago, and then I like partied when I logged in and saw that it was like not six figures anymore. That was hot, nice, really hot. I haven't made additional financial contributions to that because I don't need the borrowing capacity. But also I'm just looking at it going my money at the moment, with the rising cost of living, with the fact that I have a mortgage, And please do not think for
even two seconds I'm complaining. This is just an example. My mortgage has more than doubled in its interest repayments in the last eight months. I just go, you know what, I'd much prefer to start paying off my house, and I would happily just watch my hex stets sit over there and tick off at the minimum amount over the period of time that it's going to be paid off in. Right. Yeah, So for me, it's not a driving force. I know that by making that decision, though, the indexation of my
hextet is going to increase by a fair few thousand dollars. Yeah, it's not like a little amount of money. We're not talking about, okay, Victoria's just a couple of one hundred bucks, so it's ten bucks. It's going to be a fair few thousand dollars. Is that okay in my eyes at
this point? Yes, Because even though on my approximately eighty thousand debt at seven percent of an inflation rate, it's probably like six and a halve seven thousand dollars ish to me paying additional I'd actually prefer seven grand on my mortgage at the moment. I'd actually prefer seven grand to go towards a big financial goal that I'm working towards, because in the grand scheme of things, I know how the indexation on a hex step is going to work in the future, and in the future it's going to
drop back down. This is like a once off kind of thing. It might go up, it might go down. But at the end of the day, from my perspective, for my own personal circumstance, I know, okay, cool, I'll cop that so that I can actually just continue on with the financial goals. I've got right to pay off an eighty thousand dollars debt. What's the plan there? Do I pay off another seven grand this year? Do I pay half? What does that actually look like? And what
could that money have actually been used for? In let's call it the real world. Right now, the ATO aren't coming for you to make additional voluntary repayments. If for some ungodly reason, I become completely unemployed and have absolutely no income, I know that my hex stet is not something that someone is going to chase me for.
Yeah, I was gonna ask, actually because I this might seem really ignorant, But when I did say I didn't go to union. I mean, I don't have any degrees or any qualifications, but I did when I was younger, go to like start things and then never finish them.
Very common in our community, and I never stressed about hexts will happen if you don't pay for it. I heard you say that something about borrowing power, like it maybe influences that, But what really is the.
Worst that will happen if you don't pay your hex debt at a reasonable time.
I mean, if you don't make the compulsory repayments right like which are taken out of your paycheck, and for some reason you told your employer that you didn't have a hex stet and they gave that money to you and they weren't making those payments. At tax time, they'll give you a debt, so you have to pay that.
That happened to my friend he over It wasn't even he missed his payments. He earned more than he thought it. He's a tradee earned more than he was predicted to earn because he was doing hips overtime and the end of the financial year, they were like, you have to pay off your entire outstanding hext step, which is pretty scary. That's obviously a very extreme circumstance. Like he worked crazy amounts of overtime.
Because yeah, it can be scary. That's why we're saying check like, make sure that if you have a hex step, you are making contributions. They actually won't chase you for more than the minimum contributions each year, and you only have to make those contributions if you make over the minimum threshold. And it is the only debt in Australia. Morbid, But it's the only debt in Australia that dies with you.
If you have a personal loan that will pass on to your estate, and you know, any profit that comes out of your state will have to pay off your debt. But your hex stet is just wiped if you die.
I think that's relatively amazing. I mean, we could also use the example of should I make additional superannuation contributions or pay off my hex stet or should I same situation slightly different because of the tax ramifications, but should I be investing in the share market or should I be paying off my hex stet?
Too much to cover right now? Episode don't know.
Yeah, let's do an entire episode. But I guess the grand scheme of things. Let's just put two examples on the table and you guys can tell me what makes sense. Your HEXTEBT is sitting at X amount and you're going to get indexed seven percent on that you have an additional thousand dollars that you could either contribute to your hextet or put in the share market. The Australian share market over the last twenty years has returned an average of eleven percent. You will get an average return of
seven percent. By putting your thousand dollars into your hextet and paying that off early, you will get an eleven
percent return. If you put it into a share portfolio, you would probably also get a higher return because if you put it into the suberannuation environment, there would be a whole heap of other tax benefits associated with that, and at a minimum, you're probably making an additional what twenty one percent if you are at the lower marginal tax bracket or the average marginal tax bracket and you are contributing to Super, so your money is immediately worth
twenty one percent more inside Super than not because the superannuation environment is fifteen percent instead of your marginal tax bracket eleven percent plus that twenty one percent or seven percent on your hex about There's a lot to think about, but I think it's all about where is the power Because right now that example of that thousand dollars for Jess might mean a lot more because her next big
financial goal is buying a house. Might mean nothing to you, Beck, because you're like, I'm not paying off my hex stet also not buying a house, So like, why would I want a seven percent return when I can get an eleven percent return for the money that I want to, you know, quote invest Except so, I think it's different horses for different courses. There is not one answer to this. It's going to be very different. Does it suck? Absolutely?
Can you make voluntary repayments at any time you want? Absolutely? You can? Does it mean you should know?
So?
I think it's all about what you want to do. And at the end of the day, everyone's personal financial circumstances are different, and it's all about even whether you have that. Please do not feel guilty or upset if this indexation happens and on the first of June you are so upset because your hex was indexed by seven percent you don't have the free cash flow to pay more off. Baby. It's fine, It's fine, is what it is.
It is what it is.
We're just going to keep on keeping on that you can exactly, We're all doing the best that we can. This is only if you had additional funds. Yeah, yeah, which if you and far between at this point in time, tell.
Me about it. And it's exactly and.
This economy indeed, speaking of having additional funds, though someone slid into our DMS this week, didn't they about a friend who may or may not have some of those funds available.
I feel like this is a really judge you one. Are you ready? Are you ready? I don't know if I'm ready. I feel like the judgment is coming out so our DM this week. Jess, You're right, I feel like it's going to get a little bit spicy. Alright, Hi, ladies. I have a close friend who spends heaps of money on what I would view as unnecessary items. Say it be a nice bag or nice jewelry. I suppose a lot of materialistic things. But then she always complains about
being poor and having no money. When it asked her to catch up for bunch or for dinner, she tells me she can't afford to do this with me as she has no money. I also know she hasn't been able to make her rent payments some months and has to do it sos to her parents. I get super frustrated with this and feel like she's prioritizing money to
the wrong things in life and neglecting our friendship. I know I shouldn't judge her on what she chooses to spend her money on, and I need to deal with my feelings, but this is so hard for me to watch and to watch her do this. Any advice is appreciated.
It's a complicated one, isn't it.
Yeah, it's a while time at a housemate that was like this, how frustrating because then it actually kind of like impacts you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, And.
It was kind of weak because I don't think she like I would feel really awkward asking someone for anything, even to like pass the salt on a dinner table or something, but she would very comfortably and casually ask to borrow money every now and then. And I'm like, it took a while because it's very awkward and someone asks you, it's awkward to say no. But I could see that she was like anyway, and buying this new car, buying this e scooter and also can I borrow money for rent?
And scooter?
Is so specific. I hope she'll evencause she's great. She's a great person, but very very funny with money. Yeah, so I can definitely relate to this, and I think we've all had a friend, yes, at some point.
Yes, I feel like until you said the rent thing, I was kind of like, oh, like, let her do what she went with her money. You know, it's not our place. As soon as you said the rent thing, though, I was like, it's not our place to judge other people's spending habits. But it sounds like at the same time, she's being enabled by the people around her, like her parents and things like that, to make probably questionable financial choices. I can understand how the person who's into us, the friend,
is feeling neglected. And you know, it's hard to say, oh, I can't afford to go out for dinner with you, which would be maybe fifty dollars, but I can buy this expensive pair of shoes and you go okay. So I'm not feeling like the priority here, and that's maybe what she's feeling extra gross about rather than the actual semantics of the spending habit.
Yeah, I would argue. I guess from my perspective that you know, we all have different values, Jess. You and I love a brunch, so to you and I not going out for much sorry, not an option will be doing that.
It's probably why Jess hasn't bought a house yet, let's be honest.
Exactly, But if her values are on something that's not that, Like some people don't care for going out for brunch. Some people don't care about spending lots of money out socializing because it's just not their vibe. And then they go, you know what, I really want to invest in these clothes or this bag or some jewelry, Like I mad respect for that. I think that if that's the case, you need to just have a chat with your friend
about well, how can we catch up? What's the best way to catch up, Like we've talked about it on the pod before. Maybe you could go for a walk with your friend, make coffees at home, and take them to the park and have a mini breakfast picnic. Like there are so many things that you could do with a friend that does not involve money. I don't know. I think that if you think that you have to spend money to catch up with someone, you don't have
a good relationship. Like I just think that good relationships. I don't care. I'll go wherever you want to go, back John to sit in your car and talk for two hours like that, I would do that, Like do you know what I mean? It's I just want to see you as an individual. I don't care about the experience. If it's the experience you're craving, maybe you need to find a friendship that also has the exact same values
so that you know. When Beck you say I don't really like brunch, I go, oh, well, maybe I'll just do that activity that I want to do with Jess.
So I think it's about that, But just that overlay you mentioned about the rent, so you're saying it's a bit irresponsible at a layer of complexity because then you go, well, is it my job as a friend to kind of point out that perhaps the choices that she's making are you know, if you continue that habit, your parents aren't always going to be there to value out right, and so at some point she's going to have to learn to prioritize the more important things from the less important things.
But then it's hard because you're like, well, I'm her friend, not her mum, and so you know, where do you how do you make the choice? And we obviously know nothing about this girl's financial circumstances, in exactly the same way as this friend who's written in has no idea about her financial circumstances. We have not been told what she earns. We don't know what on average she spends. You could look at me and go, oh, he's really irresponsible.
I love a nice pair of shoes, adore. You might have heard me say something, and actually you never would have heard me say, oh, I'm so poor, Like that's just not something that would come out of my mouth because it's just not true. Let's be honest. And I also hate when people say things like I'm so poor and you want to shake them and be like, you have an emergency fund, you have access to money, you have a job. Sit down like, no, no, you're not poor.
You have made some poor decisions, which means the one thing that you want to do right now is not in reach. Like it does frustrate me. And obviously, in this circumstance, if she's not able to make rent, I'm assuming she also doesn't have an emergency fund, which then tells me she probably needs to learn a bit more
about budgeting cash flow. Personally, I don't know how you guys are going to approach this, but personally, I would not be bringing it up with my friend because I don't think it's my position, Jess, to tell you how to live your life. If you said, oh, I really wish I knew more about it, I will help you. If you showed any interest in that, I'll be all over it. Maybe i'd even share as she's on the Money episode and be like, oh my gosh, Jess, I really enjoyed this episode. It was one of my faves.
Yep.
But I don't think it's your position because who knows. Maybe her parents have a relationship. When we talked about this on the Bank of Mum and Dad, what if her parents are the type of parents that actually really really really want to give their child that and feel as though that's their obligation. I don't know, what are cultures like. Maybe that's a part of it. Yeah, I don't know, but it's not my place to judge, and I think that, Yeah, I just don't think i'd be
bringing it up. What would you guys be doing.
I feel like I would probably be touching on the how I'm feeling in the relationship thing, saying that I'm feeling neglected and feeling like I'm not a priority. Because you're happy to spend on other things and not things that I want to do. Where do we meet in the middle have that kind of conversation. Yeah, it is hard to jump in and give someone advice on something if I haven't asked for it, particularly on finance, because some people are not as comfy talking about it as
our team is because we do it every day. So for some people it can be a really tough conversation to broach as well.
Yeah, that's true. I think that I kind of do this. I don't think i'd be able to mention or bring it up to them either.
But I mean lived with someone and you didn't bring it up. You just cowardly were like no exactly. But I'm wondering if they were a little bit closer to me than maybe I would. But I guess, like it really it really just depends, because like I can't tell if this person coming from a place of like like you're saying, Jess, like they're feeling a bit neglected and they're feeling like they're not a priority, or if they're coming from a place where they're genuinely concerned for this
person's financial wellbeing. And I think it's probably a combination of both. I could be wrong, though, but I would say it seems like this person is lucky enough to have the bank of mom and dad and be able to, you know, still make rent, you know, with like kind of filling in the gaps with their parents' money, and they seem to be doing okay. But I would say, if it is more so you're feeling neglected, I would
kind of say the same thing. Just kind of broach it, or try and find a way where you don't have to spend money hanging out with this person and.
Then for everything else. It's far too complicated, Like they don't seem to have much financial literacy. It feels like maybe they were they didn't grow up with that, and that's okay. I'm certainly there and I can certainly relate to that. So maybe they have a shopping addiction as well. Who knows.
It's all going on?
Really unpacking this one, Yeah, Jesus, let's talk about what the community had to say before we let you, you guys, give us your two cents. We asked do you have a friend like this? Sixty percent of you said yes, pretty common. But the second question we asked was do you find yourself sometimes judging your friend on what they spend their money on. Yeah, ninety percent of you said, yes, we've been there. We've all been there. Thank you for
being honest, like we're not mad. Then our next question was do you at times prioritize spending money on your wants rather than your needs? Sixty eight percent of you said yeah.
We do.
Again, we've all been there, We'll be there.
Then we asked you for your two cents, and so we have a heap of responses which happen inside stories. But then we also actually had fair few dms, so we'll get through a lot of those. Very popular opinion is it's not your job to save your friend or bail them out. She'll change her ways when she wants to and feels like she needs to. Other comments said things like it's her money, so it's her business unless she starts to ask you for money, which is a
good I guess segue. I mean, jessef I then was talking to you about, Hey, Jess, can I borrow money? Then it's like, hey, I feel like this happens a fair bit. So's a soft launch. Yeah, because you've been invited into the conversation about money with them. A lot of people just said, not your problem. Other people's habits and priorities are not your business. Someone said, isn't she just prioritizing her money on things she wants to spend
her money on. So the good point my friend. Then in some of the DMS we had, someone said, if she's truly her friend, she should keep her opinions to herself. Her friend's choices as to how she spends her money are hers to make, and the consequences she'll bear is slash when the well eventually drives up from her parents. Just live your own life according to your own values and let others live their lives too. If it means her friend isn't able to afford to come to brunch
because rent is due were then that's her problem. Maybe one day she'll wake up and get real about her finances, or maybe she won't. If it bothers this girl that much, probably best to move on from that friendship. Another person said, comment, you didn't ask for ve I worry my friend's like this with me. I have a weekly spend for anything recreational,
and I usually spend it each week. So planning to spend one hundred and fifty dollars on cocktails and an art class next week, for example, is so hard because I'm already in this week and have used what I could and have put a side for that. And on the flip side, my friends see me do things that they don't realize I had the budget for, so I stress that they think I don't want to do things
with them. I do, but it has to be the week in advance, so I can manage myself and my money and take into consideration my previously made plans.
It's a good point, a very good point, for sure.
It's a good point. And I think that that's where I wanted to like end it with the like community comments, because it was from the flip side. It was from the side of well, actually, maybe my friends think like this type of stuff about me, because sometimes they ask me, oh, jess can you out to brunch? Well, maybe you in your food, fuel and fun account have nothing left. Yeah, and that's so fun because you've been budgeting properly. But if you know Jessica Ricci well Beck, you know she
has her food you'll in fun account. You also know she keeps a very strict budget for fashion and other items. That she's saving to buy because that is in line with her values, so genuinely, in the same week that Jess might say no to me to go into brunch, she might go, I'm gonna go buy address because she's been saving for it.
Yeah, always another side to the story.
Yeah, I feel like that's the perfect takeaway from it.
Perfect takeaway.
I don't know what's going on with someone else, You don't know how they've structured their.
Life, and it's none of your damn business.
And on that note, let's go.
I hope you guys have the most beautiful weekend and we'll see you for Money Diaries on Monday.
Bye guys, Bye,