She's on the Money. She's on the Money.
Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. One in five Australians are turning to the sharing economy to supplement their income. But what exactly is the sharing economy? How is it transforming the way we live? And importantly, how can it make you money? My name is Georgia King, and joining me as she does each and every Wednesday, is financial advisor Victoria define V. What exactly is the sharing economy and why should our listeners care?
Because we're doing a whole episode on at Georgia, So like, obviously we think it's important, so you should too, because that's what this podcast is for forcing our opinions on you. No, that's absolutely not correct. This is all about education. There is no such thing as the right or wrong when it comes to stuff like this. So the sharing economy g is essentially the system that we are all relatively familiar with, but likely haven't given a whole heap of
thought too. So this is a system where individuals get to share goods and services and it's facilitated by some kind of platform or app. So a popular example of this is Airbnb, where homeowners are able to use an app to let their homes out to strangers, or even Uber, where passengers are connected with drivers and vice versa. And more recently, our Melbourne based listeners might have noticed the electric scooters that have been popping up around the place.
I've seen so many Instagram stories of people writing them, and I kind of like, I don't have a need for that mode of transport at this point in time, but I kind of have fomo like, I'll go out find a scooter and have a fun time. Don't want to give to see you just like rocking the Gucci on on a little scooter on your way to the office.
I don't want are you joking? The start? Turn it down?
Neither go to spriends.
Wow.
But essentially, Gee, these are examples of products that are part of the sharing economy, which is really cool.
So why should our listeners care? Because obviously you've said we all know what it is, but I guess we've never really thought long and hard.
Why is this episode interesting?
Gee? Because we said it, but also because you get to save money by utilizing the sharing economy. Plus it's changing our spending behaviors and is impacting the way that we live our lives, which is what we're going to be talking about all todayzing.
So, how big is the sharing economy exactly be? And is it going to continue to grow?
All right? So it's like really really, really big. But according to Forbes, this sharing economy is projected to grow globally from fifteen billion dollars, which was valued out in twenty fourteen, which is already pretty big, to three hundred and thirty five billion dollars in twenty twenty five. Crazy massive, those big numbers. We like that. I feel like this industry or this area, I don't even know if you
can call it an industry because it's so diverse. I think it's just going to become ingrained in what we do because it's just so much more flexible and so much more accessible for so many people. But of course,
sharing isn't new. It's existed for some time in various ways, shapes or forms, and of course the advancement of technology over time, especially over the last decade or so, has really played into this, and the fact that a majority of us now have computers quite literally in our hands that connect us and allow us to access systems like this is probably why the sharing economy is able to thrive.
Like how often do you pick up your phone and you know that you've got the Airbnb app on there, so you're like, oh, I wonder what it would be you like to get an Airbnb in this location over this period of time, Like you are instantaneously engaging in a sharing economy and the amount of times that I pick up my phone and we're not going to judge me on this, but auto uber eats and have dinner delivered to my door, Like, guys, I'm single handedly keeping this sharing economy alive.
But it's weird, isn't, Like, because obviously delivery services existed fifteen years ago, but Uber eats didn't. But it's now so much more convenient. You don't have to talk to anyone. You could just whip up your app. You can look at all of the ranges of food that are delivering near you, Like it is so convenient.
It's literally the accessibility of it right. So it's absolutely as you were saying, it's not new, like you could always have a pizza delivery or not always. But for as long as I've been alive, I know that we have had pizzas delivered, but like the Fish and Chip shop didn't deliver, so it was always I guess niche to a particular area. But now it's so accessible because we've got other people doing it. It's not just calling up a pizza shop seeing if they could deliver a pizza.
It's now an absolute plethora of different companies and different things that you can have delivered. And g you know, recently I had COVID, which was a wild time but ge, you know, recently I had COVID and that meant that I could not leave my house and I was a bit worried about, you know, things that I needed to do and get and organize. And I knew that we had access to Uber Eats, but the amount of things that I could actually access while I was at home.
Like I even ordered from Chemist Warehouse and it was at my house in three Hoursly, what yeah, because no, they've partnered with daughter. You have to like order from the Chemist Warehouse website, so it's there, but you pick the instantaneous like delivery thingacha three hours. So I was like great, because there are some products that you can't
get from the supermarket that I get from Chemist Warehouse. Anyway, long story short, sharing economy is great, and I am genuinely surprised on a regular basis of how much more convenient it gets. Like I thought it would stop at pizza and pasta, and now you can have like rat delivered, Like what is the world coming to?
I guess you touched on a major benefit to the sharing economy there v in its convenience, But what are the other major benefits?
So there are heaps, and obviously there is one that I really like. It's obviously very good for our planet because sharing services means that people are you know, we're talking about uber eats and stuff, but people are genuinely very less likely to buy new things. It's really helped, I guess, reframe our relationship with or I think, with consumption.
And it also means that the items that we might have thrown away or maybe had sitting in the back of our wardrobe for a really long period of time or in a shed that we haven't been using, are going to be able to get use out of it, and I guess bring down that cost per wel cost per use and potentially give it a second lease of life.
The other one, which I think is really good especially because we are she's on the money is we can increase our income, like we historically haven't been able to increase our income without negotiating another role with an employer or going and starting our own businesses, which obviously includes like massive startup costs and like going above and beyond and having to be relatively creative in our thought patterns.
But now in twenty twenty two, people can make money with relatively little effort, Like you don't have to be creative. You just have to have the time and access to a phone with an app, and you can start creating money, be that renting out clothes by platforms like release it, or by driving ubers at night.
It is a super great.
Option as a side hustle for people who don't have a heap of time but also want the flexibility in their lives to choose their own hours and you know, choose how they actually manage that, because if you're picking up an extra shift on like a Thursday and a Friday working in hospitality or something like that, like that's
an ongoing commitment. Or if you're like, you know what, on Thursday or Friday nights, I'm going to drive ubers I'm going to do uber deliveries or I'm going to go pick up people, Like, there's so much flexibility in doing that. Something comes up, you don't have to do it. Want to work late? Great, do that, don't want to work late, don't do it? Like it's so flexible, And I think in twenty twenty two that's become an expectation
of a role. But also we expect the flexibility in our lives nowadays, especially after COVID, I feel the other is increased to affordability. A good example of this is things like Airbnb right where now it often is actually cheaper to rent out someone's entire house than booking a three by four meter hotel room and asking a friend to sleep on the trundle. Across most of these platforms is relatively low overheads, which means lower prices for consumers,
which gee, we love. We do the other thing which shares on the money. We're a community. The sharing economy. It promotes a heightened sense of community, which we adore. And there's certainly more of a personal touch in the shag economy, whether that is sitting in someone's car and driving it, renting out their home for the weekend or renting address that someone else has worn. There's just something really nice about that, and I don't know, I really
like that. But I also know that some people are going to be like, ben't want want to sit in someone else's car. I also don't want to wear their dress, And I'm like, oh, I really like.
That, So each to their own. Absolutely.
Another benefit is obviously g convenience. It's hard to argue that delivery services and apps that are now transport us from door to door and snacks from door to door is much more seamless and a much more affordable option than it used to be because previously we had higher price points to have things delivered, Like there was no way I could have had you know, something couriered across the city for the amount of money I can now, Like nowadays, George, if I need to drop something off
at your place and I don't have time to drive over there, I can book an uber. I can chuck it in the uber and have them cory it over. Like it is crazy the amount of convenience I get as a business owner but also personally out of this, And I guess that's a massive appeal for what the sharing economy can actually offer us, right, And the last one ge I've been trying to think of a whole heap of these because I knew you'd ask me, like,
what are the benefits? How does this work? The last one is efficiency, So I've written down efficiency because we wouldn't be using apps like Uber or Airbnb or release it if they weren't really seamless in the service that
they're providing and provide us a good customer experience. So from my perspective, they do an amazing job of making life easier for us, and I guess that's why we're all so drawn to them, Like I am a creature of efficiency and comfort and convenience, and as much as that might not be what you're up to, for me, this is perfect one hundred percent. And yeah, I don't
think we can underestimate how impressive. I mean, this episode is not sponsored by Uber, but I feel like we've all had canceled trips and you know, the driver hasn't turned up or whatever. You pop through a complaint and they always they generally offer you a credit. They're very good, and I mean that's not their fault that the driver canceled.
Like I know that there's always going to be things that could be ironed out, and it usually comes down to, I guess, the user experience, so like it's usually with the people involved, not with the platform. Like the platform didn't make the driver cancel. The driver probably just didn't
know how to get to you. And like, I've had a couple of times where you know, on Uber it's the food has arrived and maybe something's missing or it was stone cold or something like We've all been there, but every time I've spoken to Uber, like it's been refunded immediately or redelivered, and I'm always like, oh, that's kind of efficient, Like I didn't expect that, like especially so quickly.
One hundred percent.
Sophy back to kind of the idea of the sharing economy in more of a rental space. I guess, do you think our behavior is going to change and the way we purchase products, because we're going to be thinking of them as investments that could potentially provide us with
some income, some extra income. So for example, I might strongly consider buying a one thousand dollar dress that in the past I never would have considered because now I can get a few weares out of that amazing, and I can also potentially rent that out, so the value is higher. Like, do you think our behaviors are going to change and how we value things?
G Are you using that particular example because you were privy to the conversation I was having with Jess earlier this night, I feel like you were you were flying, so talk to me all right, So, Jess, I don't know if you want me to share this because, like you know, we're talking about very expensive dresses, and like when I say very expensive, I mean like a thousand dollars for a dress. Anyway, Jess has found online the stunning dress and we are both obsessed with it. Here
a Zimmerman girl, you would know. But Jess found this dress that she adores and wants to wear to as she's on the money event next month, so we're doing the International Women's Day events, which we are super excited about.
But Jess is like, they I really want this, and she's been doing some research and like came up with some platforms like release it where she's like the if I put it on there, like I could get cost per wear down and I could you know, if I rented out four times then actually covers the cost of the dress, and then I get to wear it, and then the dress is essentially free for me. And we were like negotiating how she could essentially afford to buy
this dress. And yes, like literally yes to the question that you're asking, because you just said, would it change the way that we view things totally? There's no way Jess would ever have said, you know what, a thousand dollars on a dress? Easy or wear it, pop it in my wardrobe. But now for her, if she does the extra work, it becomes a really feasible option, Like
that's a popular dress. Yes it will rent out, like I would rent it from her Closet's stunny, But it's one of those things where you go, hey, you're right, that could potentially, you know, one become a feasible way of owning something that you couldn't have owned before, but also a way to generate some income. Like I feel like people are going to be altering the way that they purchased because now they're considering the other uses their
purchase could potentially have. For example, if you're like, oh my gosh, you know, Steve and I are doing DIY around the house at the moment, we're about to do a really big renovation. Like maybe when I pop down to Bunnings to purchase a tool, I'm going to rethink about the quality of it because I might want to be able to lease it out or you know, put it online for somebody else to use at some point, as opposed to just like, oh, just get the cheap one.
We'll use it once like and pop it in the shed. It's not going to be you know, of value to us long term. It's not worth the extra investment, like may we now we are going to consider it as an actual investment and buy more quality items. I don't know, how do you feel about that? Do you think that that would change the way that you purchase?
Yeah?
I think I do V, which is kind of exciting because it means you can justify, as may well do you can justify a more high quality, more expensive product and kind of feel like you're taking one for the planet because you will then rent it out. But I guess off the back of that V could then the businesses who create these products, would they then potentially hike up the prices in anticipation that people may expect them to be more expensive?
Does that make sense?
I don't know. I hadn't really thought about that, but it's a good point in saying that I feel like everything's getting more expensive at the moment. Like I'm looking at dresses and stuff for events, and I'm looking at you know, buying different things, and I feel like everything at the moment is just a bit more expensive than what I had anticipated it to be. But maybe that's
just me because overall, I want to bargain. Like I'm very likely to just buy dress that I can find a dfol because I'm like, yes, money, like that fits, it's on sale, it's very cute. But for me, I yeah, I don't know. G what do you reckon?
I mean, I think it'll be really interesting to see what happens in the next ten twenty years and how much the sharing economy really does infiltrate the every day because it certainly already has to a degree. But yeah, I'm just really fascinated as to where this is all going to go and how our behaviors is just going to continue to change.
I don't know, I'm scared.
It's a lot, right because they feel like historically, obviously you could hire things like tools, but do you remember when like dress hire started to become a thing, and it was incredibly novel, and there were companies like glam Corner that popped up where you could hire a dress instead of purchasing it, and that was kind of like, I don't know, at the start, it was a bit strange.
Now it's just second nature. Like a lot of my girlfriends will just hire address for an event instead of paying full price because they're like, well, I would only wear it to that wedding once, so why don't I just hire it? And then that kind of extended into these other websites and other ways of hiring where it's not a company that you're hiring from, it's individuals. Like you go on these websites and Georgia King has uploaded
a few dresses that she owns. You send an inquiry, it goes straight to them they posted off to you. And it's kind of like this platform and this hiring culture has come completely evolved from your hiring from a company to you're now hiring from individuals, and like, I really like that because I know that they're making money. I'd love to know the margins of these things, like how much do you get if you rent out your dress, Like, what's the profit margin of the platform that you're listing
it on? How does that actually work? But also I feel like a company has the ability to take more risk than an individual. Right, So if a company owns a thousand dollars dress and they've like collected your credit card details and know that if you ruin the dress
or don't return the dress, they can charge you xyz. Like, I feel like there's maybe a little bit more scope for people to be taken advantage of if they're kind of like smaller fish sending out individual items and don't know their rights and don't know how to protect themselves. Like I don't know. That just pops into my head because I don't want people to be taken advantage of.
Definitely, definitely, And we will talk about that a little bit later on in the show. The transport, hotel, and even the fashion industries, as we kind of pointed to, just have all been disrupted by the impact of the rise of the sharing economy. Do you think other industries could be impacted when tech advances further? Like healthcare springs to mind. We were speaking before the show. I don't really know how it would work.
How healthcare would were, well, it was actually very funny, and I like throwing people unto buses, And you said, oh, if you could get like a platform and like doctors could go on there, and I was like, like hot doc.
But I meant more like freelance doctors a bit us. I don't know if that.
Well, no, it would have to be entirely regulated. Otherwise I could like pop on a little lab coat, a little stethoscope around my neck and that doctor Jean kind.
Of service George up if we're going to play dress ups. But I do think that other industries are definitely impacted by this, right, So I was saying before to you as well, like it's not just transport and hotel and individual things like the She's on the Money office is quite literally in a share office space, Like yes, we have our own individual office suite area and so like if you're watching it on social media, you'll be like, that's their own space, and it absolutely is, but we're
inside a bigger office space. I suppose of literally hundreds of different types of businesses that all want to somehow collaborate and bring down the cost. Like it doesn't make sense to me as a business owner anymore to go do you know what, George, She's on the money is growing. Let's go lease an entire office space and have to pay individually for internet and for you know, services and utilities and cleaning and all of the other things that you would require for an office. And she's on the
money is in this share office space. So we've built into the cost of rent, like our internet and all of the services and like coffee that our team drinks like, it's all shared, which ultimately brings down the cost. So from my perspective, like, it works really well, and I don't know why it wouldn't, you know, stretch across different areas of the world, because I can definitely see in
the future even jobs being shared. We already know the concept of job sharing exists, but I can see as tech advances there being a more seamless way to job share where potentially you might be a marketing professional but you actually work across five different businesses one day a week. Like, how cool would that be if that became the case? So I do think that lots and lots of different industries are changing.
George.
There's even like an uber nowadays for private jets, like you can just go on your phone and work out how to fly in a private jet, Like, like, I just can't see any industry that couldn't adapt something similar.
Is that, Like, is there any danger in that though? Be not in private jets specifically. I know they are hugely problematic.
But I've also had literally no experience with private jets, Like that's a different salary bracket, Georgi.
King, But do you think, like I don't know, all certain industries collapse or like, is anything bad going to happen because of the sharing economy or is it all looking pretty dandy.
I don't know. I feel like there's a lot of scope for people or individuals to be taken advantage of. Though, So as things grow, and you know, as businesses are trying to be more I guess economical, and even I am looking at it from this perspective as a business owner, I go, well, how do we save on rent and share space? No problem? But as that increases and as people are trying to find cheaper solutions, we have to remember that sometimes the people actually delivering that service aren't
being paid minimum wage. So I'm sure we'll get into it at some point. But you look at how much people might make for doing Uber deliveries, and then we might compare that to the minimum wage per hour in
Australia and it might not actually equate. And I think that there's a fair bit of scope for people to be taken advantage of who are trying to like side hustle and do their own thing and like put their all into it, but maybe not be remunerated in the way that they should be because these companies don't have them as employees, so they don't have minimum standards that they need to adhere to. And yeah, I just I feel like that is probably, from my perspective, the biggest risk.
But to be honest, I haven't put a lot of thought into how it could be the downfall of other areas.
Okay, yeah, so more on an individual level, I guess these people are probably not being paid super they'll have to pay their own taxes, et cetera, et cetera.
So's there's a lot more responsibility on people. And then you look at how much money you're paying for a delivery, right George, So, like we ordered ty Fhood the other night, and I think I ended up with free delivery because like there was a promotion going on and you're like, well, how much is the driver being paid? How does this work? Like is it economical? Is it actually fair? Like I just I worry about that.
But then even say the small business, the small tie restaurant that you ordered that Uber eats from, are they being penalized through using uber eats because if they're not on Uber eats, then no one's going to order from them because that's just the way things are now, and like uberts is going to take a cut.
Yeah, for small business, that could be really disruptive because also uber EAT's obviously charge a fee, and that's a percentage of the purchase price. And so I know that if I went to pick up that tie just because it's my local tie shop, I know it would be cheaper. But I know that on Uber they are slightly more expensive. And I'm making the grand assumption that's to make up for the fact that uber take quite a large cut, so they have to charge more, which I'm totally fine with.
But then does that put customers out? Like, does that then you know, turn away some customers who might be like, well, I only wanted to pay twenty dollars an hour, it's like close to thirty because of this service, it's now unobtainable, Like I don't know, it just feels like a really
interesting space. And then obviously the rental space is being impacted by Airbnb because nowadays it's obviously so easy to put your apartment if you own one on Airbnb, but then it minimizes the amount of apartments that are available for people to rent on an ongoing basis. And obviously, if you're a landlord and you own a property, you're trying to maximize how much it makes. So it's kind of like a rock and a hard place because it
benefits one person, but disadvantage is another. But then you've got to think about the responsibility you have to the economy, like I don't know, I know.
A tough one.
That is such a hard one, and it is a point flagged a little further on in the show. So we'll get to that when we do, but let's take a little break here. But on the other side, we will be chatting through how we can both save and make money via the sharing economy, as well as what those potential downfalls are. So please don't go anywhere straight back into it, vd onto the exciting stuff. How can and the sharing economy actually make us money.
Oh, these are the good questions. We can essentially now make side hustles and up our income from things that we have laying around our house or in our shared or in our garage or sitting in the garden or literally the actual house that we're sitting in. Unlike selling unused items that we have around the house, which we obviously promote you do to, we are now able to make money from them, which not only pays off those items, but also contributes to increasing your income on an ongoing basis,
which we love. And gee, you and I we speak about side hustles all the time, and we often hear the feedback like, oh, I don't have a skill set that I mayble to monetize, or you know, I don't think that I could do that. I just don't have any creative ideas to start a business. But the beauty of this model is that it allows making money to
become more accessible. Like, sure, you still need to have the items, like you need to have the clothes that you want to run out, or a car to put online or a house to offer for airbnb, but you don't actually necessarily need a ski. You just need the time to set it up and organize it and get it done. Do keep in mind, low G, this is
like financial advisor me kicking into gear. If you are going to do that, you will need to pay tax because there is a very big difference between making money as a hobby and also trying to make a commercial effort to actually increase your income, and those two things are very different. But if you have any questions, you absolutely should ask your accountant.
Yeah, brilliant.
Just on the tax theme, be if we do choose to use a service like release it and rent out our goods, or maybe if we're using like a skill based provider like air tasker, do you have any tips for just how to stay on top of that tax.
It can get away from you really really quickly because it all adds up, and if you're using the same bank account that you usually transacting, it can intertwine with all your other expenses and you're like, well, I don't know how much I made because my pay goes into that as well, and I've also been spending money, so it goes and it comes, and I have no idea.
I think from my perspective, I like clarity. So if you are going to use a service like release It, and you're going to start putting things online and making money. To be honest, one of my top tips would be getting a separate bank account and tracking all the money through there, and any money that you need to spend on that particular service comes from there, just so you've got really clean records for tax and then understand what
the taxable income rates are. So I have another podcast, Subtle Plug Georgia King the Business Bible, and we actually take you through how much you need to hold for tax if you're a small business, and these things would apply to you because it's essentially like operating a small business, but you will need to make sure that you hold back some tax because you don't want to be stung at tax time with a really hefty bill.
Gotcha, Okay, I guess yeah. It can be really complicated, especially if you like are on air Tasker and you are on release It and you are uber driving at night and you're renting you on that on the weekend. Like it is a lot to stay on top of, so hot tips.
Set and keep track of and like that's a small business tip in general is just don't use your personal bank accounts, like have a separate bank account. It doesn't
have to be with a different bank. You just set it up so that that income is captured in a separate location, so that you know what it looks like and you can kind of go onto your online banking happen, look at how much in total you've made over the year, instead of having to print out all your bank statements and work out what that actually looks like, because I promise it can get away from you really quickly.
Brilliant.
Okay, so we've chatted through the major benefits, of which there seems to be plenty when it comes to the sharing economy. We have pointed to a couple of downfalls, but what other downfalls are there?
Look to me, the downfalls are more related to each service rather than the model on a holistic level. Like from a holistic level, I think that the sharing economy is fantastic and it gives us so much opportunity, But it goes back to what I was saying before about like Airbnb and stuff, and it goes back to the housing affordability crisis that we can't in. So, for example, I'm going to use the Peninsula as an example because
George and I are from there. So many houses have now turned into Airbnbs because homeowners can make so much more money from that asset by offering short term rentals over the holidays compared to leasing their homes out the old fashioned way. And this actually means that long term rentals on the Mornington Peninsula are much harder to come by, and the prices are arguably a lot more expensive, and people who need homes can't necessarily access them as easily.
And you know, this crisis is everywhere. It is not just the Mornington Peninsula. But that's an example that I know quite well, and it's conversation I've had recently with lots of friends who are looking for new houses to move into and genuinely they're like, everything is an Airbnb and it's really frustrating. And I mean, the nature of capitalism means that people will be driven by whatever can
make them the most amount of money from something. So if they can make more money by renting out their home a few weeks a year on Airbnb and then have access to it personally, rather than leasing it out to people who need to live their long term and they can't use their property or have that flexibility, Like, most people are going to choose that option if it's viable for them, which is really tough. But at the end of the day, that's how people are wired. And
I'm not saying it is right. But on an individual level, if someone is making an investment decision about a property, because let's be honest, if you have a property that you don't live in that isn't an investment property, you're going to want to get the best return on your investment.
Right, totally, Like it just totally, it.
Just makes sense for you to want that, even though you know, if you step back and look at it from a macro level, it's a really big issue. But on an individual issue, George, if you bought a property on the peninsula and weren't living in it, like weighing up the pros and cons of how you individually earn an income from that property. Do you want to earn minimum long term rental yield or you know, the penicial
goes wild at Christmas time? Do you want to earn that amount of money over the Christmas New Year's Easter break and then have access to your own holiday property over the winter. Like, yeah, I'm not saying that these are the right decisions to be making. You can absolutely see why people are making them if they're in that privileged position.
It's such an ethical dilemmavie because I totally understand how, on an individual level, you want to make as much money as you can. You worked hard for that investment, et cetera, et cetera. You deserve all the riches in the world. But then if you look beyond yourself, you know, there's a homelessness crisis, people can't access housing. But we're like, oh, well, you know, I've got an investment property. I want to make more money from that. And it's like, what's happened.
I sound like some kind of I don't know, preacher, but it is. It kind of is a bit sad that we're choosing money above humanity. But at the end of the day, that's capitalism and here we are.
Yeah, and it's really hard because that means there's no right or wrong, and lots of people. I have colorful opinions on people who own multiple houses, and from my perspective, like if they've worked really hard and they've earned that themselves, Like, we live in a really beautiful country where we can do whatever we want essentially, and so like, I'm not opposed to people being landlords, but we know that a lot of people are, and that's like, that's okay, that's
personal opinion. But that's also why I think councils and the government more broadly is starting to really work out what is and isn't available for airbnb. Like they are now zoning things to say no, these properties cannot be leased out as airbnbs, and I think that they do need to be a little bit more clear on that because I think a lot of people are now purchasing property with the intention of leasing it out and that
could obviously then impact property prices. So how do you rezone an apartment Like let's say we bought a house on the peninsula together, George, and at the time that we purchased it, we purchased it with the intention of leasing it out as an Airbnb and making a certain profit. So therefore that property is worth more to us and
it would have gone for more. But then if it's rezoned, is that fair on that person who purchased that investment that their investment's now worth much less because of a decision that was made that you know, at the time
was not something that they had signed up for. Like, I get it, and I don't get it, and I think that it's a rock and a hard place where we need to do the right thing at a more macro level, like at a more holistic level, but we also need to respect the fact that individuals should be at a base level be able to operate however they would like in a way.
Yeah, yeah, that's a tough one. Food for thought, goodhash.
Yeah, look that's Airbnb, Like that's the housing affordability crisis. But then we also know that there's been past huge issues with companies like Uber who haven't treated their driver as well and haven't put them in the positions that they should be in. And we're not just talking about pay, we're also talking about safety here. They've both been big issues. And then a lot of these platforms do take a cut of your earnings, so that's the cost of using
the service. Like at the end of the day, I think that they absolutely should, but we need to make sure that these are fair and reasonable and that you're familiar with them. And I know that a lot of companies like air Tasker is another one, but they make sure that you don't take the client off the app, so you can't build a business and step away from that.
So they do have I guess catches in a way to make sure that you do stay on those apps, which I think is absolutely fair because that's their business model, right, Like, they don't want you to use that platform, build your own business and buger off.
Yeah, one hundred percent.
This is kind of a little bit of a side step, and maybe it's not necessarily a downfall, but I'm curious to hear your opinion. So the theme of gentrification is kind of interesting to me. So again it comes back to Airbnb. But I remember a couple of years ago, pre covid, I went to Europe with a couple of girlfriends and we went to a place called Benelaria and it was in the It was in Spain, yes, in the hilltops. It was not the hilltops in the mountains. It was amazing, but it was so remote. It was
not a tourist destination. No one spoke English, which was fantastic, but it did kind of feel like we were aliens and like we were stepping into someone else's space that maybe we weren't that welcomed there because yeah, and I wonder if Airbnb now allowing us to stay in places where there aren't hotels, that aren't tourist destinations, that are just these gorgeou little communities. I wonder if that is a positive or a negative thing for these communities.
And I think that that's where the community has to have a say on that, right, yes, if they're not comfortable with that happening, that's about local government getting involved and you know, negotiating where the airbeam be and services like this should be able to go to these locations. And you know, I've been lucky enough and privileged enough to travel before as well, and Airbnb has been a really big part of that and arguably one of my
favorite parts of that. And you're probably the same. Where I went to Paris with a couple of friends and we got this gorgeous Airbnb together and it just felt like we got to immerse ourselves in the culture in a way that you couldn't immerse yourself in it if we'd stayed in a hotel like we just wouldn't have
been able to have that experience. So finding our feet in a location where you know, we could go and get our own breakfast in the morning and have a little apartment with a little kitchen and kind of live there for a little while, as opposed to a hotel where it is a little bit more clinical and it doesn't give you the I guess, ability to live in a little apartment with a dingy old lift that was terrifying and had those great doors, like it was just
an experience. But you're right, where's the line with that? Like in the center of Paris, I feel like that's really reasonable, Like I didn't feel out of place, but I can absolutely see how in an incredible remote town in Spain you did feel that way. And I would love to see on the flip side, how other people felt about that, Like did other travelers feel the same way?
What about the locals? Did they like that? Like, because some locals might turn around and be like, yeah, like we're not a tourist town, but it's so nice to have different faces around and they came to our cafes and they brought a little bit more business. But at what point does that become too commercial? And I guess this is a conversation that is really stretching into something that it wasn't before. But if you had traveled to Bali.
Twenty years ago it was this gorgeous, really I guess, cultural experience where you got to experience their culture and what they were doing. And now you go to Bali, I don't know what it is like post COVID, so I do think that maybe it has changed very significantly. But you know, twenty nineteen, if you went to Bali, it wasn't that cultural experience because it's now been saturated with tourism. And that doesn't mean that it's a bad place to go, but is that what the locals want?
Is that what they wanted for their communities, and you know that would have started off in the same way as you go into that remote town in Spain. But at some point Bali wasn't a tourist location and then it became one. So I think that there's a lot of conversation to be having around that, and I do wonder if it is a concern for more remote townships and places that you know, maybe want that, but also
don't know what the implications of that are. Right Like, they might love the few little tourists that come through and grab a coffee at their local cafes, but then it gets out of hand and what does that look like and how do we manage that for them? Because I do think that homes should be respected and that communities should be respected. But yeah, I just don't know what the rules are or what the ethical dilemma there is.
Yeah, it's going to be very interesting to see what happens moving forward. V. I have loved this chat today, my friend. I feel like it's been very ethical, we have really changed.
It's very much around our own personal values, isn't it.
I'll be interested to hear what the feedback is on this one, if you guys have got stuff out of it, or if you just want us.
To shut up. Probably both.
My final question for you today, V is I guess for anyone who is sick of their nine to five, we know the great resignation has been a massive thing over the last six months or so, would you say that maybe working within the share economy could be a viable option or would you say maybe it's just a better thing to have on the side.
Look, I think it could be both. It depends on the time and energy and effort that you're willing to put into this, Like there are people who do these things absolutely full time. If you're considering it, I wouldn't jump your nine to five job until you've worked out what that could look like viably for you. I would give it a few trial tests and see what's going on. Like if you're planning on driving Uber like, go and see how much you're actually able to make and at
what times you're able to make that money. Because if you're planning on replacing your nine to five job, are you going to get the amount of you know, Uber drives that you want to get during the hours of nine to five if that's what you're replacing, or are most of them going to be nine pm to one am because that's Friday and Saturday night for you? G Yeah, what does that actually look like? How would that work for you? What sharing economy are you going to be
engaging in? Like you're going to get a whole heap of dresses and put them online. You're going to get tools and pop them on release it? Are you going to be just driving ubers? Are you going to do Uber eats deliveries? Like? What does that look like? Absolutely?
People could make an entire career off this, And I've seen people from our Shehes on the Money community actually g make a lot of money on platforms like Air Tasker by putting up tasks that they're able to do, and then they end up creating a full time income for themselves and being able to charge more and you know,
actually have a bit more flexibility around it. But it's an interesting question, and I love the fact that so many of us now have so much more power in our hands when historically that wouldn't have existed.
All right, well said that, V thank you again for this chat. I loved every second, but I do think that is all we have time for.
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And remember guys, 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 on to make an investment or a financial decision. And remember Victoria Divine is an authorized representative of Infocused Securities Australia Proprietary Limited a b N four seven zero nine seven seven nine seven zero four nine AFSL two three six five two three.
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