FRIDAY DRINKS: Valuing Our Frontline Workers

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.

Let's get into it.

She's on the Money, She's on the Money.

Hello, and welcome to She's on Money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. Today is Friday My Loves, which means it is time to sit back with the girls and a bev in hand so we can unpack our favorite moments of the week. And of course we are also going to be celebrating you how incredible She's on the Money community. As always, we are going to

Monday's episode went out to all of our below Deck fans, like Victoria Divino.

I'm the biggest below Deck fan.

We spoke to a girl who moved to France to be a yochti for Amazing and she was telling us all about what the experience was like living on a superyoch working for the richest of the rich, giving us little insight into what that was like. Turns out, when you own a superyocht, expectations are high. Yeah, as you would kind of imagine.

I mean, you're serving billionaires. It was staled. We asked her so many perfect questions as well, and like did she get along with the family He's still friends with a family and try and marry their son. I didn't ask her that, but I should have, like she should see, yeah, one hundred percent, that's Unbillia. Marrying into it, marry into it. That is the crux of this podcast. The outcome of how to Create Financial Freedom is actually just marrying rich. Absolutely, man,

On that exactly right.

So on Wednesday, ladies, we spoke about the five finance books that will change your life.

So we took this one of my favorite things ever to record, really only because I love talking about the books I read, and I feel like you gave me the perfect platform.

Well, there were a lot of good ones in there, but what kind of what I got out of it was that all of these books, apart from one, were about fifty to like seventy years old, and that really told us that the finance essentials kind of don't change, like the rules are the same.

I mean, I wish I could pretend that I had coined that compound interest. Can you imagine? It could be called Victoria interest perfect and it's like the best kind Sadly it is not.

True divine interests.

That's why I want to do a PhD one day. Like my goal is to one day study a PhD so I can become a doctor. So my name would be doctor Divine. And I just think that flows really nicely. But to make it easier, if there's any universities out there that want to give me one of those ornorary doctorates that they sometimes handed out to people who do a lot, which I haven't done, I'll take one for the team. Perfect, I'll take one for the team because

Yeah, good one.

Sometimes doctors have money wins. And that is how we are going to segue today into our money win segment. Georgia King, what have you got this week? Let's do it, ladies.

Okay, So the first win from today comes from Christie money Win. I nearly fell over when I saw my gas bill this month? Can relate lucky, she's the doctor. No, well that'll come. Yes, So I know gas prices have increased, but my bill was up five hundred percent on last month.

Five hundred percent.

That's a lot of percent, surely not. I called my provider, Globird in Brackets, who confirmed that the meter read hadn't been conducted by the gas wholesaler this month, and the bill was just based on an estimation.

Oh yeah, I estimated, yes, five more, Jess, because I couldn't read your meeting a joke.

They immediately canceled the bill. They got to supply a photo of the meter, and then reissued her bill for the actual read. Super helpful customer service said they were great, and she got her bill back on budget.

I'm with glober and I'm waiting for my gas bill.

So my gas Yeah, that's a lot. That's actually a lot.

Good reminder though, that that is very normal at the moment, isn't it.

Yeah.

I don't like that estimation. That just feels a little bit savage. What is the next money win, Gie?

The next win?

It comes from Emily Money Win I asked my boss for a raise to reflect my experience and value to the business approaching my one year work adversary, and he agreed and is going to discuss it with the executive director. So I should hopefully be earning a little bit more in a few days. I would never have had the courage or knowledge to know I could even do this without this podcast. So thank you for empowering me to ask for what I deserve. Always ask for what you deserve.

I love it. I love it so much. It makes my heart so full.

The next win comes from Angie, biggest money win of my life. I submitted my last assessment for my degree on the weekend. Congratulations Angie, and I've been offered a new role in line with my new qualification. That means an extra eleven dollars an hour. That's fanatic lot. That's going to add up real quick, kick mass. That's eighty eight dollars a day, times up by Fridays. I'm done four hundred and.

Did you see your faced, jo I was on a roll.

At the start.

You were really confident, but then you looked at me. You looked at me, and you were like save me, and I was like, ah, not today, sir, not today. You were four four hundred and.

Four forty you are, so let's times up by fifty two?

Is that twenty two eight eighty dollars before?

Exactly?

You know what? Nobody asked you to get involved, miss h what's the next money.

The medal of the story is well done, Angie. The next money win comes from Maddie. I guess this could be a win or a loss, depending on how you look at it, little sweaty face. My finance for a home loan got approved the last couple of years to be able to buy my first home at twenty six, and I'm so proud of myself.

So money, that's a big money win, but also a money loss. Absolutely, it's financial freedom, my friends.

Yeah, that's good. Debt baby.

The next wind comes from a lease. I accidentally let seventy five dollars of country road rewards vouchers lapse. I called them and a annoying nicely if they would reinstate them. The lady was so nice she put them back on my account and gave me an extra month in case I forgot again. If you don't ask, you get a Queen's everything to do that.

That's so much money as well, Like you could get like a whole top, or like a pair of pants or something for that. Absolutely a lot of money. We love it.

The next win comes from Meg.

I got my private health cover renewed today. Now instead of thirteen hundred dollars a year, I'm only paying three hundred and eighty one dollars a year. She just got rid of all the things she didn't need us.

She's doing the work for all of us. Say we should do that, we don't do it exactly right, smart baby like Meg. Next week, it comes from Rose money win. I booked tickets to go to Melbourne for a family holiday to celebrate my dad's at seventieth. It was a massive moment for me as we booked without own savings and not with a credit card.

I can't remember the last time we did that. I'm so so happy.

That's actually so sweet.

Yeah, sorry about the weather down here though, roast ferocious. The final win of today, Ladies comes from Beck. I have been working my butt off saving for a house deposit, and I hit the twenty thousand dollar mark this week. I'm on track to have thirty thousand dollars by the end of the year. And I'm so very proud of myself.

Oh we're proud of it too.

How good?

What a good place to leave at Georgia King Just so much. Unfortunately that is all we have time for when it comes to money wins. It has been so good celebrating some of your budget direct money wins for reward winning insurance search Budget Direct, Budget Direct Insurance Solved. Now let's go to a breaks. I want to talk about Hex later and Jess, you've also found a juicy segment to talk about that really benefits our frontline healthcare workers. It sure does.

Don't go anywhere.

All right, we are back and this week we are going to be talking about what are we talking about, Jess, because you haven't shared it with anybody here on the pod, just you. You've just been hoarding this.

I like to hold the information and I know, just kidding, no gatekeeping here. There's going to be a one off payment of three thousand dollars for health workers.

I knew that, So what are you gatekeeping?

Nothing? We're sharing that information right now, Okay, all right, right. I think it's super nice because, as we have said on this podcast before our frontline workers across multiple industries over the course of COVID quite literally put their bodies on the line, like they are pulling quadruple shifts, they are working long hours, they're dealing with cranky people. They were at high, high, high risk of exposure to COVID, and I think it's really lovely that that we're doing

Oh, I definitely know. I absolutely know it is not productive. So we're not sharing it on the podcast because that would make me look silly.

So we've eat three thousand dollars lots of cash. Holder, that's amazing, but it's a huge amount to receive all at once. What would your advice be, your non specific general advice.

Are we giving advice to the state premiers or are we giving advice to the to the frontline work workers receiving this. Then I come back to that first point. I'll give the former advice later or ladder that I'm just confusing everybody in. Else, I would just make sure that when it comes in, you are doing something really constructive with it. Whether it is paying off debt fantastic, it is putting it away for a rainy day. If you don't have an emergency fund, bam, you're now in

Interesting you say that, because they actually in line with this grant that they're giving out. Also announced they had agreed to lift the cap on wages to three percent this year, increasing to a possible three point five next year.

Yeah. I think it's really important that they're doing that. But if we then look at inflation, they're basically making less money than they were last year based on the costs of goods and services. Yeah, So I just I feel really pressed. You could say, when it comes to frontline healthcare workers, because I just don't think you guys are getting the rap that you deserve, like you are so special. Like imagine waking up every day and going, I'm gonna go put other people in a better position.

It's probably also worth noting the percentage of women that are nurses. I've just put up a stat and it's almost ninety percent.

So are we surprised, No, we're not surprised. I just I really want to rally for the people who in our community are doing good and being good and being those pillars of society because you do so much good work and you work so hard for little to no recognition.

You know what that means. People want your votes, and you know what politicians exploit us.

Why they're back.

Yeah. So if there's something.

That you do really want to advocate change for, if anything, now is the time to be getting a little bit vocal. And I think if enough people kind of said, hey, let's celebrate those people who really copped it on the chin during lockdown while the rest of us got to work from home and give them something as a thank you, because I really do think that they deserve.

It one hundred percent. The other thing I wanted to say, which is just like based on stats, you said, what if one in ten people like be the one in ten? Because if you're the one in ten and you're listening to this podcast and that actually converts, that's more than one hundred thousand letters that will go out incredible, Like what can you imagine? I just I also think that this segment has been really important. I hope for frontline workers to I guess here as well that people who

Cam No, and that goes out to everybody who kind of kept plugging along during lockdown. And again, if you do want to see change in that space, and if you do want to see our services industry is recognized in the way that they deserve, get on the phone, get on the emails, do a little type you type were also quick these days, you could fire it off in less than five minutes and potentially make real change.

Already, guys, on that note, I think it is time for a little money dilemma hit plagy. Hi there have you got up money to Lemma? You just can't solve the Sheese 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 quick voice recording and you may just find yourself on the show. Now, let's take a listen to today's money dilemma.

How can we best manage the new help loan three point nine percent indexation rate? Because it used to be much lower and it was always told sorry about it as it was the safest plane to have, and now having other debts and credits as well, how is it best to be paid? Should we up our payments on it or make a big repayment? What should we do?

Okay, this is a really good question because I think so many people are super stressed about what this will mean for their cash flow. And to summarize it, it doesn't actually mean anything for your cash flow. Just because the interest rate or the index sction rate has increased doesn't mean that your repayment amounts are going to change

Work for me or not?

What are my other financial goals? Because HEX still has the same criteria, right, it's still an interest free loan. Technically, obviously indexation is applied, there's still no time limit on that debt to be paid off, and if you earn under forty seven thousand and fourteen dollars you don't have to pay it back. So there's no other loan like that where you know, if you've got a mortgage, g if you earn under forty seven grand, you still have

Like.

It's quite flexible. And I think that the thing I like about that is the only thing it impacts when it comes to buying property is your serviceability. And when you look at serviceability, it's kind of like a grocery bill, right, So they'd sit down and be like, gee, what are your expenses?

Oh?

Okay, cool, So your expenses are one hundred dollars a week on groceries, one hundred on HEX. No problems. They take that into consideration. They're not looking at how much HEX debt you have. They're actually only looking at the portion that you have to pay back and the impact on your cash flow there. So I don't think it's

No?

You're not going to be out more cash. Am I going to have to pay it off quicker? No, it's still the same amount of time. It might just take a little bit longer. In that case, is it going to stop you from achieving financial goals. No, but it could stop you from achieving financial goals if you prioritize something that's not in line with your immediate goals, if

You do you.

It's all about your values. But what are your values? Let's think about those, not get overwhelmed about the indexation rate.

That was very well answered, my friend, Is that okay? Yeah, I feel like those the questions. I feel like the moral of the story for the question your honor, Yeah, no, for the questions you'r honor, it's just it's completely up to you. But generally speaking, that money could probably be put to better use in other places because.

Depending on your values and no help, DEEBT is still not bad debt. Like the idea that we are only experiencing indexation it's not a real interest rate, I think is quite helpful. I think people just get really overwhelmed looking at it, going, oh my gosh, it's this spiraling out of control. I don't think so, but yeah, think

Of the four Steck. Go on, let's do it already.

Guys.

Remember that the advice shared on She's on the Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or a financial decision. And we promise Victoria divine and She's