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.
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She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podc calast for millennials who want financial freedom. My name is Beck Sayed and with me is Victoria Vivi. Ohoy ahoy vic di. We are talking today about changing your financial decisions. I'm excited about this one.
Yeah.
I'm pretty excited about it too, and I think that maybe some of us might need it. Definitely me, that's what I know for sure. But something happened recently and it made big news. You might have heard about it, you might have even wrote about it. In your weekly Age column. Oh yeah, all right, what was it? So? Dan Andrews, the premiere of Victoria, canceled the twenty twenty six Commonwealth Games, due to be held in regional Victoria. Why did he do this?
Neah?
Why are you going to do this to us? I don't know.
If you asked the comment section on the Age, it's a bit different.
Actually, no.
I was really impressed with how many people are in support of me, because it's so often that I post content online and mediocy middle aged white men jump into the comment section.
They're like, what would she know about anything? And I'm like, that's fair, that's fair. People are you know?
What?
Just keeps me humble? Keeps me humble, And I think that's really important. So medio committally aged white men.
Keep doing you. You are me needed. We love you, Thank you for keeping me humble.
But Danny Andrews, yes, he decided, do you interesting choice?
Moving on?
Oh yeah, okay, So the twenty twenty six Commonwealth Games were meant to be a twelve day sporting event and the original budget set for that was two point six.
Billion dollars net.
Okay, and it has recently been revised to be around six to seven billion dollars. So they clearly didn't use the Victoria divine budget and cash flow system, did they.
Someone's not been listening. Someone's been listening.
To the show Danny Boy, Get on it. So that is basically a whopping four point four billion dollars over budget. I've been like four dollars over budget before. I've been forty dollars over budget, and you know what, in some instances, I've been four hundred dollars over budget. How anybody goes four point four billion over budget.
Not very relatable. I've never ever been four point four billion dollars over anykay.
That basically makes it an unsustainable burden on the state's economy, which, to be honest, with Victoria's debt forecast currently being at one point three five point four billion dollars in twenty twenty four and the expectation that it rises to one hundred and seventy one at point four billion dollars by twenty twenty six to twenty twenty seven, it kind of was a decision that needed to be made when it came to the games, Like, I totally understand going back
and saying, you know what this is actually going to cost so much more that it's unfeasible now. And I feel like that is why I wanted to write about it in my article. That's why I really wanted to talk about it, because how many times have we committed to things beck and been like, oh, great, you know, let's, for example, say we're going to go to the.
Snow with mates. You've never been to the snow before.
One thing leads to another, you go, oh, just be like accommodation, get up there. You know, won't be too bad, right, And then you realize that accommodation the snow is really expensive.
That's starting to blow the budget. You realize you have to hire.
Snowboard or you have to hire skis, and that gets expensive. Wow, you forgot there was a lift pass involved, and like resort access and all this other stuff, and it becomes unfeasible and you might need to turn around and be like, oh, guys, I was so pumped for this, it's no longer feasible though,
Like you guys, go have fun, but I can't be involved. Yes, And I think so many times there have been situations in my life where that has happened, like that exact circumstance where I budgeted one thing or it just expected one thing, and then another thing happened and I wanted to back out of it, but I felt really bad, so I thought today it might be a good day to talk about how it's actually okay to change your financial decisions.
Yes. Absolutely, but I am curious as to why so many people were quite upset about this decision.
Look, a lot of people online were not very happy with Danny Boy and they were jumping up and down.
A few journalists said We're never gonna let him get away with this, and then the Commonwealth Game's Chief execut his name's Craig Phillips, said that the government had quote jeopardized Melbourne and Victoria's standing as the sporting capital of the world, as well as get this disappointing athletes, the excited host communities, first nation Australians who were at the heart of the Games, and the millions of fans who would have embraced a sixth home Games in Australia.
I see that's heavy. That's a big call.
That's a massive call to be like you're a disappointment, yeah, and like you know, it seems like it just kind of got out of hands, like what are you meant to do? I feel like there's a lot of Yeah, there's a lot to it, yes, but absolutely a lot to it. And I think Danny boy my friend should have been baby a little bit better at budgeting. And I totally understand the disappointment, right, like it's a loss to the athletes as a loss to the community, without doubt.
But I guess our job.
On this show is to look at the money side of things and why that might have been a good decision, and I actually think it was a really responsible decision, and I really want to, I guess explore that underlying narrative of why embracing change should be seen as courageous and necessary, because in this moment, this isn't a political podcast. It's not really about whether you lack Dan Andrews or not. It's not really about whether you agree with his past
decisions or not. It's more about that was a pretty courageous thing to do, because I don't know, Beck, if you're going to cancel the Commonwealth Games, you know that there's going to be a wrath to follow, right.
People are going to be pissed.
People aren't going to be happy he knew that was coming. But I think the cool thing about that decision in isolation is that he was putting our community at the heart of that decision and going, I don't want our state to be in even more debt. I don't want our community to be absolutely crippled by this. And the way that he articulated it was literally I'd prefer that money to go to teachers and nurses then go towards games, fair enough, And I couldn't agree more good on.
Him, honestly, I mean, it would be scary, it would be hard, right, I'm wondering, do we have a tendency as people to like stick with a plan the more we have invested in it, even if it's wiser to abandon it.
Yeah, it's called the sunken cost fallacy. So there's actually a thing. It's kind of like where you throw good money after bad like I've already come this far, Like
we've all been there, we've all done it. The sunk cost fallacy is essentially a phenomenon, the worst word in the entire that is arguably the phenomenon for exists whereby a person is relatively reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they've already heavily invested in it, even when it's clear that abandonment would be more beneficial to literally everybody involved. And it is super prevalent when it comes to financial decisions.
I can relate to this. You throw money after bad. Before I was gonna do an exhibition, it was kind of one of those things you know when you tell everyone about it and you feel really satisfied because you told everyone and all this money went into it. And then it got very close to the date and I told every single person that I've ever met in my entire life and realized I actually couldn't afford to go
along with the whole thing, so I canceled it. And it can be very very sad and kind of embarrassing. So I'm assuming embarrassing about that.
Thank you, V.
You made the right decision, right, Thank you. I believe I did exactly. What's embarrassing about that, Well, this is maybe how Dan feels at the moment. And it feels embarrassing. You're going back on what you had already spoken.
To me totally, and some people are like, how did that? God?
But also I think it's funny because it's also the level of conviction that you are startting with you, I'm going to do this exhibition. It's going to be so sick. You've got to come totally.
You've got to go by the way, it's canceled, by the way. Why the way here is four hours of everyone's day back in their pockets.
No.
I think it's really important though, because if you think about the circumstances.
Let's role play for a hot second.
If you told me that, do you think i'd meet you with like, oh, Bank, that's so embarrassing.
I know that you wouldn't, but would anybody else?
No? But why not?
But just the person in my head would be like wow.
Wow, Wow, heck, we've got to remember she's kind of a bitch.
She is everywhere else is a safe space. That voice in her head. Ah, don't trust her. She's very mean to me.
She's very mean to me, like my ones mean. I feel like everybody's voice in their head is not mean. Like if you wouldn't say that to your best friend, why are you saying it to you?
True, that's a very good point. Yeah, the rules, But on that me, I want to know because I feel like sometimes we stick with ideas that aren't good for us in order to not be flaky. Is that a thing? Yeah?
I think that flakiness is I don't know, I looked down upon, but I don't see this as being flaky. Being flaky is saying oh yeah, Beck, let's go out for a drink tonight, and then like five minutes before being like.
Ah nah, yeah, like you can do it, but just can't be bothered at You're just.
Being a little You're just wasting somebody's time, right, Like, And I think it's about consistency as well, right, I think a lot of the time, you know, if you think about a person who has a flaky personality, we're looking at an individual who consistently does that. Like, I don't think that I would be categorized as flaky even if I bailed on you for something, you know, next week, Beck, I don't think you'd be like, oh, V's so flaky total because that would have been the first time that
that had happened. And that's okay. But I think it's about also how big that decision is. I think often we feel super trapped, but it's really about communication. So let's use that example of going out for a drink. If I said, oh, Beck, let's go out for a drink tonight, and you go, yeah, yeah, let's go, let's go, And then I call you later and go, oh, can't come, Like maybe you'd think that was flaky.
We've got a bec. I actually checked my bank account. I kind of hard to go different, that's different, that's completely.
Communication is absolutely key, and I think that often what is trapping us in these situations isn't just the money. Sometimes it's really the fear of judgment or the perception that we are changing our mind around a financial decision is embarrassing. And that's how I'm saying to you before, Like what's embarrassing about putting future you first?
Yeah?
Yeah, true. If you can't afford it, why are you doing it? Totally?
And that's an okay thing to do, Like I don't think anybody is going to look at you and be like, oh my gosh, you didn't do that exhibition for financial reasons. Oh and the more you talk about it, the more ridiculous it seems. Right, the more you go that's absolutely insane. Like I used to have a car loan right and it would LRD over me. It was the worst thing in the entire world. It was a car loan stacked with some personal debt. She was eight hundred and eighty
three dollars. I believe each and every single month that made me feel sick. But what I can tell you is that toxic mindset was keeping me in that position. Yes, I didn't want to change. I didn't want to go, oh, I'll get rid of my car. At the time that was too embarrassing. Yeah, Like I didn't want to have to sell my car, so it stuck with the loan. If I look back on it, do you know what would have absolutely saved my butt back?
Possibly selling the car.
Getting rid of the car life, get rid of the car, either get a cheaper one, catch the train for a while. Do you know how much freer I would have felt like not having that loan over my head.
Oh, it would have been so freeing.
But I only see that in hindsight, don't know, because at the time that would have been mortifying to Who though, which one of my friends would have cared if I got rid of that car or exactly not one of them. But I think it takes a lot of courage to confront something that is relatively necessary. Yes, have you ever been in that situation?
Many many a time other than the actual like exhibition situation, There's been so many times where my friends want to go to stay an airbnb or go away for the weekend, and I always think I have enough money, or at least if I don't have enough money at that moment, then I will avengely somehow have enough money.
To get it terialize, right, Yes.
And I'm always in the worst position. I literally went to Sydney with a friend a few months ago, committed to everything, had to borrow five hundred dollars from her because I just I just gonna happen. It wasn't gonna happen. It got to the time where women to take off by a car and I was like, I'm so sorry. I have zero dollars on me and we make it work. But it's always stressful and it shouldn't be just don't do it if you can't.
I suppose I think that's absolutely relatable the amount of times historically that I have made or it's sake, bad financial decisions, because like, you work with what you've got, and if you have different tools and resources, the outcome will be different and that's why I'm so excited to sit down with you and do your budget and cash flow, Like I'm just raring to go and the opportunity, but I think it's really important to understand that it is
eroding your financial stability. And while the smartest decision on paper might be do you know, let the cargo or not go on the trip to Sydney, or you know, you're worried sick about what other people might think. Like I'm sure in that moment you were super worried about like, can't let my friend down. It's actually better to borrow money than cancel the trip because she'll be disappointed as well, and then you're kind of overlaying their emotions onto you
and their experience. And I totally get that, because I also think it's kind of important to care about other people at the same time. But if you're only just got the car, surely you can't just give it up after six months, right.
Laby. I had mine for a little bit longer.
But I've spoken to people in the community before where they are crushed by debt and they're like, oh, but I only just got this car, Surely I can't give it up right now?
Like I've only had it for three or four months, cancas you can, you can get.
Rid of it. You got the car, get rid of the car, get rid of it, so it's easy to get rid of it, as is to get it exactly. Another hypothetical might be that you've been planning this is really big European like summer ak, like you're gonna have hot girl summer but in Europe. Yeah, and you've been working towards it for years, and you've been planning every
single moment along the way. However, life kind of changed recently, like you might have been made redundant, or you and your partner broke up, or the cash flow you assumed was going to be there isn't there anymore.
What do you do?
Do you change your plans or do you stick to the original ones because you're super worried about what people might think.
Well, you can absolutely cancel the trip if you need to, or just like, by cancel, I'm literally saying, like postpone for a day. That's completely fine, but you know it would kind of be like irresponsible not to if you can't financially do it anymore. There's nothing stopping you from going.
Maybe in years to many people do that, right, Like they've got hot girl summer planned, they're going to Europe. We've all wanted to do something like that at some point, right, but money's too tight and you decide, all right, well, you know what I deserve this, you know what I'm gonna do. I'm just gonna get a person alone so I can still go.
Yeah, you come.
Home, you've got this massive debt to pay off that Literally, once you've paid it off, you don't get anything. You already had the experience. It's not adding anything to your life exactly. So much better to just put the trip off and go in a financially stable position where you come home and all you've got is memories, Like you don't have debt, You've just got memories and you're vibing
and you're having a great time. Because do you know what takes the shine off your hot girl Europe summer coming home.
To absolutely crushing debt?
Yes, yes, cannot recommend have done it, don't do it now. This is a podcast for people to learn what I think they should do, not do what I do, worrying from my mistakes.
Friends, totally do what I say or something Yeah, do what I say, No, what I do because I can't get my words right. I think it's a great time for us to go to a quick break. I love a break. I love that. Let's go to a break. We deserve it. We deserve it, We deserve it. Okay, we are back. So we are talking about changing your financial decisions, and I feel like generally we tend to shy away from change, clinging to the comfort of predictability.
But this means that we might find ourselves trapped in bad financial situations that limit our growth and happiness. I feel like that's absolutely true. Good summary of where we're at. Thank you, Yeah, genius.
Maybe we can use this canceling of the games from our friend Danny Boy as an inspiration. Like, I think it is relatively inspiring to, you know, be able to make a decision and then go back on it. It doesn't matter whether you're twenty or forty or sixty. No financial decision is too soon, yeah to make, Like whether you have just made it and you've decided it's not good, or you've been doing the same thing for the last thirty years, Like, no decision is too soon to reassess.
I don't think no and I think that it's actually really intelligent and shows how you know, financially savvy you are to be, like, you know what, this might not be serving me, I don't care how soon it was. I think we should embrace the empowerment that comes with take charge of our destiny, and I guess releasing ourselves from this idea of crushing debt or unsustainable commitments as we assume we need to keep them because oh well,
the decisions already been made. Beck, like I already got it, like, can't go back now, Like it would be rude to write.
I think it's probably as good a time as any because something big has happened. Daddy Andrews, I shouldn't say that, right, No, you can say that. Can I say that? Absolutely?
You can call him daddy Andrews. Imagine if one of his kids sends him this podcast and it's just like, who are these women who think that they know stuff? Yeah, and maybe that's really bad, says to meet you, daddy boy. I'm Victoria, this is Beck, and we are really smart.
We are very smart, and you are very much our father. So that's not what you meant by daddy. I'm very sorry to everyone listening, but I did just want to say, you know, when someone does something really bad and you kind of want to do something like that. Not bad, it's not bad, but the public seed is bad, so him can sling their coming with games. This is every time for you to be like, oh, but I just got rid of my car. Yeah, this is knowing you
as bad as that. So I'm just going to go ahead and cancel this thing, cancel this trip, cancel this car Loan whatever. It's like a little bit of permission exactly, this is the perfect time to do So, not that any time is not a good time, but anytimes it's a vantage.
I think at any time is a good time to reassess the position you're in, if it's not making you happy, or if it's not serving you, or if it's not actually working out in the way that you thought it might. Yes, Like I know so many times I've done things and thought, you know what, this is going to change my life.
I'm so excited.
Like Beck, if you were working towards getting a brand new car, you're gonna be like, this is going to be spanking brand new. I'm so excited, right, and then what you get it and You're like, I don't even keep it clean, like it's always running out of fuel. All I do is get parking tickets with this piece of junk.
Sounds completely accurate so far. Yeah, I know this is a hypothetical, but I'm like, this is my life. Yes exactly.
I was actually just explaining my life. So maybe maybe we're just I think, but so many times we just assume that when we buy something, these materialistic things are going to make our lives better and they're not. No, material things don't actually make you happy because they might represent something to you, like getting a car loan might represent freedom and actually saving up a deposit and you know, being in a stable enough position to be granted that loan like that is really exciting.
Yeah. Yeah, then you get.
It and it's not as shiny or exciting as you thought it was going to be, and your mind goes on to the next thing and you go.
Well, they've got that new car.
Really should say for X, Y or Z, or I really should do this that or the other, and you're not actually in a better or happier position at all.
Yeah. Absolutely, But we do see this in a community a lot of the time, don't we.
It makes me insanely proud, Like I adore that people are changing their lives and taking charge instead of being held back by the assumption that they've already done their own graves. And you know, they have to live with the consequences of their own actions. Like I mean, if you murdered someone, yeah, you probably have to live with the consequences of your own actions. But like, if you've got a car loan, you can just get rid of that.
That's not criminal, you know, Yeah, Like, if it's not criminal, we can fix it. That's a good life model, very good life motto. If it's not criminal, we can probably get ourselves out of it. Yes, yes, And I know you can change your life for the better. And while it might be a little bit uncomfortable to make that decision.
You don't want to get rid of the car, And I guess the car is just an analogy, right, Like it might be the exhibition, it might be the trip to Sydney, it might be a trip to Bali with your girlfriends, it might be literally anything, right, I think that it is uncomfortable to make that decision, and you might.
Honestly, you might annoy a few people, that's all right, because they're only going to be annoyed for a little bit of time, but that loan would have lasted.
If they are true friends. Yes, they might be like, oh, I really wanted to do that thing. I really wanted to go on X y Z with Beck. But that makes sense. She's putting herself in the best possible position, and because I'm her friend, that's what I want for her too. Yes, And if they don't trash friends need new ones exactly, this is a really good way to.
Weed out those who maybe don't care.
And I think future you is absolutely thanking you for how comfortable they're going to be once that decision starts to pay its little dividends. Right, And Danny Boy his choice to rude to call him Danny.
Boy Danny boy, I think is okay. I mean you called him daddy, So I think it's probably a little bit. It's much much worse, I think, So I think Danny's fine.
Dan Andrews's decision I think was actually really really good because it prioritized healthcare and the well being of Victorians over the Commonwealth games, and I think it should be commended, not condemned, in exactly the same way that I think your personal financial decisions should be if you're putting future you first.
Like, that's real sexy.
I do never think that I use the word sexy and Dan Andrews in the same sentence.
Yet here we are.
There.
I could have seen it coming, but I've got a very different taste.
Yeah, look, honestly not your vibe. I mean I thought maybe he could have been.
When you were like, hey daddy, I was like, wow, where is this going. I'm mainly gay, but I have a very special place for Dan Andrews. That's oh, that's so hard. I'm I'm sure he does not want to know that he did. He did, he did. He's so lucky. I think it's so important to understand that.
Embracing change, which is really uncomfortable, right, Change makes us feel icky because humans at the center of it, we don't like change. Change is uncomfortable, and change makes us feel like, oh, this is pushing me out of my comfort zone, and that's normal. But change and embracing it is this powerful act of personal growth and empowerment, and that is very sexy. So I think challenging this toxic culture that shames us for making really necessary adjustments to
create a brighter and more sustainable future. Everyone should be jumping up and down and being like, heck, yeah, this is so good. But because we don't like change and other people don't like change, like, it doesn't feel as good as it should. And I think that you need to remember at the core of it that your financial wellbeing is in your hands, and your hands solely. Nobody
is going to come and save you. And I think that that is this idea that if you're in a lot of debt, or if you have things that aren't working out for you, sometimes we just throw our hands in the air and be like someone else is going to fix it. Right, No one else is coming to fix it, Beck, You've got to fix it yourself. And I mean, I'll hold your hand the whole way that like I can hold your hand the whole way, and you might not make one single change, in which case
I'm just wasting my time. But I think you need to understand that you're the one that needs to make the change. It's like when people write into the show, right, it's my favorite thing in the entire world. Please don't stop. It's my favorite. But people will say, oh, thanks, Beck and Victoria, you've changed my life. I'm out of debt. I'm this, I'm that I didn't do that. You did that. Do you know how many people listen to our content
and don't make change? Do you know how many people listen to our content and go, that's too hard or that's too uncomfortable, and they never pick our podcast up again. But you pick up the podcast, or you pick up our content, or you pick up the tools and resources that we've directed you to and you used them, Like that's on. You don't thank me, Like I'm just putting
the information out there. And I think it's so important to give yourself that credit because your financial well being it's not in my hands.
I might have.
Introduced you to it, but like lots of people could have introduced you to it, and you might not have been ready to hear it. But I was just in the right place at the right time with you. But it was totally up to you, and you need to give yourself credit for that. And it's totally okay to change your mind to put yourself in a better position. And I think that is so sexy, but it's also
it's not me, it's you did it. So like if you're going to make change, you need to give yourself the credit for that.
That is powerful and so truly. I think it's a great place too.
I think it's a fantastic good place to leave it because I've run out of inspirational things to say to that.
That's a real shame because I will need some after this. But that's okay, we'll work on it. I'll cut up with your own said list.
Thank you so much, no worries, have a good day, guys, will see you next week.
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