MONEY DIARIES: A leave of absence to find her dream job! - podcast episode cover

MONEY DIARIES: A leave of absence to find her dream job!

Apr 08, 202234 min
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Episode description

This powerhouse community member realised that she was climbing a ladder that was not right for her, so after a leave of absence and some serous soul searching, she redefined that ladder and is scaling amazing new heights!


This year our Money Diaries are being brought to you by the legends at Shopback! Check them out at https://app.shopback.com/aus/partner/SOTM and you'll get a cashback bonus when you sign up!

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 financial decision. Victoria Devine is an Authorised Representative of Infocus Securities Australia Proprietary Limited ABN 47 097 797 049 AFSL - AFSL 236523.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Speaker 1

Just before we get started, we'd like to acknowledge and pay respect to Australia's Aboriginal and torrest Rate islander people's they're the traditional custodians of the lands, the waterways and the skies all across Australia.

Speaker 2

We thank you for sharing and for caring for the land.

Speaker 1

On which we are able to learn. We pay respects to elders past and present, and we share our friendship and our kindness.

Speaker 3

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

Speaker 4

Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast Millennials who want Financial Freedom.

Speaker 2

Welcome Back.

Speaker 4

It's another shotback Money Diary Monday, where we get to chat to the community, learn about you, your job, your money, your hopes, your dreams, all of the fun things in between. Victoria, we love to get the juicy deats. We do, indeed, and I'm excited about this one.

Speaker 2

Me too.

Speaker 4

It's a goody, our diarist wrote, I'm an executive who landed in this role by sheer coincidence following a twelve month leave of absence. I took my leave of absence after a near burnout episode where I realized that I'd put myself on a ladder that I didn't want to climb. I always had a story in my head that exec strove Mercedes and had mansions, But throughout my career, I've quickly learned that these sorts of stories actually limit what's

possible more than enable it. Deciding to take my leave of absence was truly a play it safe or just take a leap and see what happens next decision, where everything on paper is telling me I should say, but I decided to take the leap.

Speaker 2

Oh my gosh, I know, very very interesting. I have a lot of questions.

Speaker 1

I never get to hear or read the emails that Jess does, so I'm always like, what's this one about?

Speaker 2

How does this one? How interesting?

Speaker 3

Is that?

Speaker 2

This is going to be an epic money diary?

Speaker 5

Hopefully I'm hoping I can help you guys out.

Speaker 2

Oh yeah, totally can. Can we dive straight in?

Speaker 5

Yeah? Go for it.

Speaker 1

Okay, So first question, tell us a little bit about your money story.

Speaker 5

My money story.

Speaker 3

So, I grew up in a household where money wasn't spoken about, and I now know as an adult that actually money was used to avoid conflict. So I've never really had a healthy relationship with money, not until I actually, I guess, became an adult myself. I'm not sure I classify myself as an adult.

Speaker 5

I still I'm going to be when I grow up.

Speaker 1

It's a real weird concept, isn't it. People are like, oh, my gosh, you're getting married, and I'm.

Speaker 2

Like, yes, I feel like a child bride, even the way I'm dirty.

Speaker 3

Pretty much, I'm not in that same boat. But I am thirty one now, just realizing that when kids look up, they're like, oh, she's the adult in the room.

Speaker 2

That's so strange, isn't it.

Speaker 5

Yeah, it is.

Speaker 3

So. I grew up fairly naive, didn't really ever speak about money, learn about money until I was in my kind of late twenties. I'd always focused on growing income because I had, funnily enough, a cousin at a Christmas event at one point asking me if I was making six figures.

Speaker 5

Yet, So that then became my kind of goal in terms of growing my income, which just shows how naive I was.

Speaker 1

I feel like that's common though, Like this idea of six figures is something that a lot of people go, oh, by x age, I want to be earning six figures. I remember a girlfriend of mine, or actually my ex boyfriend sibling said, yeah, one of my goals is this is like going back like ten years, she was like, yeah, I want to earn one hundred grand before I turn thirty. And I was like, oh wow, okay, yep, that's a goal. I would like that too, and yeah. It's strange how we pick up on those things.

Speaker 5

Hey, yeah, big time.

Speaker 3

And it's funny because then when you finally get there, you realize, oh wow, particularly in Sydney where I live, six figures isn't actually a big income because of sustain a whole lot. And then as you learn and kind of more and more at least, I was in a position where I started to think about more than just money.

Speaker 5

I was thinking about what this is actually facilitate for me? Is this what I want?

Speaker 3

Am I willing to put in what I need to grow my income to this sort of level? And then I came across a podcast, Coultures on the Money threw a girl who was in my team at work. She was one of my juniors, and we had this thing in our team where every Friday we'd share, you know, something that had come across that week that we thought was kind of helpful with.

Speaker 5

The team that was part of the kind of culture I was trying to build. She shared the podcast and I had this really weird moment where I was like, hang on.

Speaker 3

I should probably know more about this and what I do as the leader and the team. That was always a story that I told myself that kind of the leader had this shit down pat essentially, but I didn't, so I just stayed very quiet.

Speaker 5

I learned I had some very kind.

Speaker 3

Of open, transparent conversations with people that I had kind of developed trust with, and then from there started to I guess refocus my energy on growing wealth over just growing income.

Speaker 2

Oh my gosh, how cool.

Speaker 5

It's cool in hindsight.

Speaker 2

Look, it's cool in hindsight.

Speaker 1

At the time, I feel like that is quite relatable in a way. I guess I'm a boss of people and manage people, and sometimes I feel like they look at me and go, oh, she must have her stuff together so well. And when I get asked a question, I'm like, oh, I don't do that. Am I meant to do that? Like you feel a bit more pressure because You're like, I'm the person they look up too. Surely, surely I should have it together. Is that a bit of what you were going through a little bit.

Speaker 3

Yeah, I mean I was quite privileged. So I'm a psychologist by trade. I actually took the route that I think you narrowly avoided. I'm currently doing my orkcyche.

Speaker 2

I'm lucky. Oh my gosh, I'm so mby.

Speaker 1

I still I would love to go back and do ork psyche, but the barriers to that industry so hard to get through that I'm like, oh, I can't take on that. In addition, I'd love to one day call myself an organizational psychologist.

Speaker 2

Oh that would be delightful.

Speaker 5

That is a goal that I will achieve come November.

Speaker 2

Oh my god.

Speaker 1

That leads so perfectly into the next question money, dirice, What do you do for work?

Speaker 2

How much money do you earn?

Speaker 6

So I am a psychologist by trade, but I work in a family office, which is a particular type of investment management, looking after a business portfolio of a high networth individual, which is bite ironic given how naive I was about money until a couple of years ago.

Speaker 3

So I help him look at each of his businesses and figure out how we can use behavior to drive high performance. So I apply my understanding of humans and how we operate in the workplace to help him make sure that his businesses are performing and that there are places that people actually want to work, which is great.

Speaker 2

How does it feel to be living my dream?

Speaker 5

It feels pretty good.

Speaker 3

I kind of I locked into this role, so I post study, fell into consulting and actually ended up on the corporate ladder in a global consulting them. Loved all the people components, loved the like true consulting components where you genuinely.

Speaker 5

Got to partner with people to solve problems.

Speaker 3

Really hated the kind of money making nature of consulting, so spread tentacles.

Speaker 5

Try and make yourself stick.

Speaker 3

Yeah, And I find myself like so fortunate to be in this role where I actually get to be a consultant day in, day out and do I guess what I've been.

Speaker 5

Trying to do. It's not often these opportunities come about, so I feel very grateful.

Speaker 1

That's quite literally the dream. And I don't mean for everybody. I mean on the pathway that you were on. I also was in consulting, and I'd always look at like BCG and be like, oh my gosh, Like that's the goal, that's the dream, and then you're like, oh, this isn't really my vibe, Like, I don't understand.

Speaker 2

Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1

If I had your opportunity, there's no way she's on the money would have existed. I would have thrived. That sounds so exciting. I have so many questions for your offline, but money direst.

Speaker 2

How much do you earn?

Speaker 3

So I make substantially less right now than what I have in years gone by in consulting. So at the moment, I'm on a base of one eight five. I've got a couple of benefits wrapped around that. But a large part of the reason why I took my role at the salary that I did was because of the people.

Speaker 5

That I would get to work with.

Speaker 3

I was after an environment where i'd be kind of pushed and respected more so than an environment where i'd earn big bucks, even though what i've technically do burn is quite big bucks comparative to them.

Speaker 2

It was about to be like one eight five, Okay, sit down, what were you earning? Yeah, we want to know what were you earning when you were doing consulting? Still the beans, Yeah, so I was on two ten base.

Speaker 3

But I also had various kind of plans in place that included shares and a bit of equity. So actually taking a leave of absence and making the decision not to return and.

Speaker 5

To take on my new role. I lost sixty.

Speaker 3

Grand slip of shares, but it was, you know, a decision where I had to prioritize. I guess my energy and my longevity over my immediate earning potential over the kind of two years that those shares would take the best.

Speaker 1

So I feel like you were really glowy and no one else can see this because it's a podcast, but like you were really glowy when you were explaining how you loved your job to us. I feel like you made the absolute right decision like I would.

Speaker 4

Oh.

Speaker 1

I just feel like you're in the right space for you at the moment, like it's so obvious. I love that for you, money dearest, Speaking of money, what is your big money goal?

Speaker 5

My big money goal is to actually have a goal.

Speaker 2

Cute. I like it.

Speaker 5

Yeah.

Speaker 3

I am fortune enough to have bought my very first property in the last two years.

Speaker 5

Okay, good Sydney, Yeah, which is exciting.

Speaker 3

I have a partner who makes as much as what I do, who isn't so good with money, so we can come finance is separate, which limits what I can do comparative to potentially other women who were kind of in my age bracket in a similar relationship.

Speaker 5

Type situation to me.

Speaker 3

So my goal is to using this as an opportunity to get more comfortable with talking.

Speaker 5

About money and bringing that.

Speaker 3

I guess in the forefront of my relationship, we've kept everything intentionally separate, which has made it really easy, but we're now at a point where we need to change that.

Speaker 1

So yeah, that is such a pivotal part of a relationship as well, where you're like, oh.

Speaker 2

We kind of should do this, hey, and then you do.

Speaker 1

You get forced into money conversations that often make you feel a little bit uncomfortable.

Speaker 2

But it doesn't have to be uncomfortable.

Speaker 1

I promise we're going to ask you about that after the break though. I want to know right now, do you have any investments, my friend?

Speaker 5

I do. So.

Speaker 3

I was fortunate enough in my previous role to be given chares, so at the end of every performance here they would reward kind of certain achievements, and I always took the option to take the reward.

Speaker 5

In terms of shares rather than as cool that would be smart.

Speaker 3

What I didn't know at the time was that they were essentially slapping on handcuffs and therefore, when I went to leave, it made it a bigger decision than it probably needed to be. But now that I head up HR for a company, I know exactly why they did it because I do it as well. Essentially, so I have a sizeable amount of shares, but my portfolio is

not diverse. The other thing that I have in the portfolio is a property, so that's the house that I live in, and I think a logical goal for me would be to try and add an additional one, which I think I just need to get better at talking abouts actually sat in staying.

Speaker 2

That's so exciting.

Speaker 1

I love that you've done this and you're a young woman just going you have a butner. I'm still going to do it on my own. I've got all of the It's just so cool to see women who are thriving.

Speaker 2

I love it doing my best. And the next question, my friend, do you have any debts?

Speaker 5

I don't.

Speaker 3

The one money tip I did pick up from my family was don't ever get a credit card if.

Speaker 5

You can't afford something. Now you can't afford it at all. The only place to break that rule is when you buy property or when you go to UNI. So I broke that rule to go to UNI.

Speaker 3

I've now because of the amount that I make paid off my heckstat which was sizeable.

Speaker 1

Yeah, she'd be gone really quick at your income see yours, but.

Speaker 3

It also hung around for a very long time, so doing an undergrad and then an honors and then a master's.

Speaker 2

Girl, I feel you.

Speaker 1

Yeah for those listening along at home, I still have a six figure hex step bye.

Speaker 3

Mine was six figures, but now that is gone, which is fantastic. I have a mortgage, but I consider that like good debt as opposed to that debt.

Speaker 1

Oh good.

Speaker 5

Yeah, I don't have credit card. I don't use any of those sorts of services.

Speaker 3

I will probably need one at some point because I'll end up with a company card personaliability attached to it.

Speaker 5

But I'm trying to avoid that for as long as I can. It's just kind of forces me to make good decisions essentially.

Speaker 2

Yeah, how exciting.

Speaker 1

Next question, she makes probably too many good decisions to be an online shop address. Do you use shot back?

Speaker 5

I don't don't. I don't understand it. I really like, I'm frugal and I'm.

Speaker 2

Practical, so you need shot back. What are you doing?

Speaker 4

That's one of the most honest responses.

Speaker 2

I love that.

Speaker 4

Do you not understand why you would use it or do you not understand how it works?

Speaker 5

I honestly don't understand how it works.

Speaker 3

So I tend to when I'm buying fashion use cash because it really makes me consider cost per wear and weather.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I can't use it with cash. Sorry.

Speaker 5

Yeah, I'm really willing to make that decision.

Speaker 3

That was just a bludgeting tip that I picked up in my teams that I've kind of held onto.

Speaker 5

Yeah. Of course, has good.

Speaker 1

Behaviors makes the transaction a little bit more painful, so you really think about whether you want that jumper or not exactly.

Speaker 3

But it also makes me very naive when it comes to different things that I could actually be using that would.

Speaker 5

Save me money.

Speaker 1

I feel like that's really common. But it's essentially it's an app, but it's also an extension. I never used the app in the way that everybody else was using it because I was like, I don't want to have to go shopping through an app. But I added the extension to my browser on the computer, and now whenever I'm at checkout, it literally pops up and says, hey, if you you know your shop back to this, you'll

get a percentage back. And it's essentially a referral that shop back get for you shopping on that website, and then they share that referral with you, which I think is pretty cool because sometimes they have really good cash back rewards on things.

Speaker 4

Yeah, sometimes they do, like twenty percent on places like The Iconic and stuff because they carry a lot of brands, which I think is probably the other thing paying cash you miss out on is the ability to shop different places for the best deal unless you're going store to store. So I mean, shot back definitely doesn't work. You're paying cash. The sad thing is, but if you ever online shop, definitely worth it.

Speaker 5

Okay, fabulous.

Speaker 1

Yeah, And it's not like I'm saying go shopping and just use it because it makes shopping reasonable. It's I think it's just so cool to save additional money on things you're already going to buy anyway, and you're getting the best deal and you're also getting money back, Like we love that anyway.

Speaker 5

Yeah, and thank you.

Speaker 3

For explaining it, because I understand business models. I understand deal flow, so now I get it.

Speaker 5

That's great.

Speaker 4

Now you understand shop as well.

Speaker 1

Yeah, like literally, they get paid to referral, they share the referral with you. I'm like, oh, this is much more simple than I thought it was going to be. I thought it was some big complex model when I first heard about it, and then I was like, oh, that's really easy.

Speaker 2

That makes sense. I love it when it makes sense.

Speaker 1

Money, Diaris, was your best money habit paying for things in cash? If not, I want to know what your best money habit is.

Speaker 5

I think my best money habit is being frugal.

Speaker 3

So I am quite happy to rock up to a board meeting with ridiculously high network people wearing a tops from Kmart.

Speaker 2

Oh my gosh, me too.

Speaker 3

Yes, I do splash occasionally, but I don't think that you need to kind of I guess make rich to be more about kind of what you bring into the room in terms of kind of impact and value.

Speaker 5

I mean, that's a mindset thing that's so good good to money habits.

Speaker 4

Yeah, your impact and value doesn't rely on how much you and I really really like that.

Speaker 2

Oh my god.

Speaker 3

I mean you still have to take care of yourself and you still like, you know, need to the part in these rooms.

Speaker 4

You can do that affordably, of course, Yeah, I wouldn't wait on moves to work or or anything like that.

Speaker 5

You kind of got addressed for your day. But I don't think that you need to.

Speaker 3

Try and match other people who are in, you know, significantly different situations.

Speaker 2

How did you get there?

Speaker 1

How did you get to that mindset, especially in the space that you're working in. When I started in consulting, one of the first things I did was go and spend more than one thousand dollars at Sabah. And I couldn't afford that at the time, or I shouldn't have been spending that at the time, but I was really like, oh my gosh, I'm going to really need like some crispsuits I want to fit in.

Speaker 2

Like everybody else was so.

Speaker 1

Well dressed and was carrying Priora handbags, and I was just like, oh my god, like, I don't go here.

Speaker 2

How did you get to that level of mindset?

Speaker 5

I was really lucky.

Speaker 3

Quite early on in my corporate career, I started working really closely with a woman who is incredible.

Speaker 5

She headed up Human Capital for a huge consulting firm. She was the type of woman who had a beautiful in.

Speaker 3

Losman and well kind of Chanel necklaces every single day and had a handbag that was worth more than my car. And one day I complimented her on her handbag and she's like.

Speaker 5

Oh, it's really cheap.

Speaker 3

I got it on sale at a warehouse in the US while I was traveling at some point. And I think that moment really kind of, I guess, opened my minds to the fact that even people and those sorts of situations do have to make certain, you know, decisions to be in the situations.

Speaker 5

That they're in.

Speaker 3

So from that point forward, I always questioned whether I genuinely needed to do something or.

Speaker 5

Whether it was just reinforcing a story that I was telling myself. And I guess it's a side. I'm quite privileged because.

Speaker 3

I tend to think up those sorts of things more so than the average folk.

Speaker 5

But yeah, that is one of the moments for me that made me really question it.

Speaker 2

How cool is that? For you?

Speaker 1

That seemed to be some kind of like core memory that has shaped the way that you now interact with the world. And to her, it was probably a flippant comment that's just like, oh thanks.

Speaker 2

Girl, like I got her on sale. Remember, she would have no idea.

Speaker 1

How cool is it that everybody's experience of the same event can be so wildly different. So cool to flip that. We've spoken about good money habits, and I love that yours is being frugal. I think we can all take a leaf out of that book. We need to find out your dirty, dirty laundry. What is your worst money habit?

Speaker 5

Probably avoidance. So for a long while, when I was.

Speaker 3

Focused on growing my income, I avoided life admin to do with my finances, which I think helped me back.

Speaker 5

Because I was focused on growing my income, I was.

Speaker 3

Always comfortable, so I know about really had to face the consequences of going back and not doing those things. But now that I know more about money and what it can unlock, kind of have a bit of regret around not acting sooner, and I do still have a bit of that avoidance.

Speaker 2

It's easier to have you heard in the sand, yeah exactly, to go out.

Speaker 3

For dinner and have a really nice sinner that I can enjoy because it fits within my budget, but not really think about, well, actually, I probably should have been sitting down at home.

Speaker 2

No, no, no, no, you deserved the dinner.

Speaker 1

We make sure that that's in the budget, because it's without the journey, not the destination, my friend.

Speaker 3

Yes, but when there's too much destruction and it actually, you know, gets in.

Speaker 5

The way of a good progress. Yeah, so the problem. I'm at a point where I probably should see a financial advisor.

Speaker 3

And it's been on my list for three years and it's one of those items because it's a mean thing and I tend to prioritize other people. It goes on the to do list from one year to the next to the next. So that's probably my worst I no, my god, probably my worst money habit dis avoidance.

Speaker 1

All right, to wrap up this part of the show, money, darist, I want to know what grade would you give your money habits if we forced you to give yourself a grade.

Speaker 3

I would probably give myself like a B plus, trending towards an A minus. I feel like I'm that kid in primary school where the teacher writes the report card that says, such and such could be so amazing if only they applied themselves.

Speaker 1

Did you pick up my report card? Did my mom give you my report card? Does it stay right under that she also talks too much in class and distracts all the other kids.

Speaker 3

You must yeah, yeah, I'm not a psyche that prescribes to psychometrics. They actually really hate them, and I know that there's absolutely no science behind ay types. But I feel like, you know, we all know someone that had that report card, and they all tend to be in similar life situations when they reach certain milestones, and that's definitely me.

Speaker 5

I need to just knuckle down.

Speaker 2

So none of the verbs have ever had an original experience. Let's go to a break, and when we get.

Speaker 1

Back, I have a lot of questions for you, money diarist. I want to get a little bit personal and ask about your relationship and how you're talking about money and your relationship, because before you mentioned you have an income that's basically double what your partners is. You don't share income, and you said that your partner doesn't have as you know, as stable money habits as you do. How are you negotiating that, What does that look like moving forward anything?

Speaker 3

It's kind of taking the mindset that I project in a kind of work environment and trying to bring that.

Speaker 5

Into my relationship in a really healthy way.

Speaker 3

So I had a very open conversation with my partner quite early on in the piece about money, what my kind of mindset was around that, the fact that I can be a little bit avoidant. We kind of spoke about how it was used to manage conflict in my family and how I don't want to establish those sorts of bays, And my partner was really open about his financial situation, why he was in the position that he was in, what he was willing to work on, and what was just an nogo zone.

Speaker 5

We probably need to readdress that at some point.

Speaker 3

That was quite a while ago, but since then we decided to actually keep everything separate except for our mortgage.

Speaker 5

So I've bought our place, my partner is buying in as he helps me pay off the mortgage.

Speaker 3

So we drew up the really often ready agreement between us to make sure it was all above board. But we keep absolutely everything separate, everything if you feel, regardless about financial situations, except for the mortgage, which he is futting into over time as he helps me kind of pay it down. So I'm kind of using that, I guess, to help him a little bit, but also very much protect myself, which feels wrong most days, but I.

Speaker 5

Know that it's the kind of smart thing to do.

Speaker 4

It's funny you say that because we did an episode actually not too long ago, on managing finances on different incomes, because it's something we've seen mentioned in our Facebook group a few times. And it's interesting that you say it feels a bit bad because there is that icky feeling where you don't want to be like, well, I'm better than you because I earn more, and that's absolutely not the case. But I think it's important to think about.

And something I say all the time is prepare for the worst, but expect the best, because you hate to be in a situation where something did go wrong and you're like, oh my gosh, if only i'd put that agreement in place to protect myself. Once it's too late. It's too late and you can't do it. So I think it's really healthy that you have had that conversation and that it's in your mind that you want to revisit that, because yeah, you should, God forbid something go wrong.

You have to look after you because nobody else will exactly exactly.

Speaker 3

I moved out of home when I was sixteen and have been kind of paying my way since then, So I've always had a bit of a hard line on looking after myself everybody else.

Speaker 2

It was ingreat it's so important? Then, Yeah, I really like that.

Speaker 4

I want to ask about your leave of absence because that is something else that we see a lot in our group. And the conversations that we often see are women who are in roles, and more often than not.

Speaker 2

There are high pressure role Yeah.

Speaker 4

And the thing that people usually say is, you know, I'm earning a lot of money, or I have really great benefits, but I have this setup, but I'm feeling burnt out, or but the culture is really poor. How do I decide whether or not I walk away from that? And it sounds like that is exactly what you did. You had this great, high paying job that on paper people would undoubtedly kill for, but ultimately you decided to walk away. How did you come to that decision? How

did you reconcile? I guess that change in lifestyle and is there anything that people should consider now that you can look at it from the perspective of hindsight.

Speaker 5

Okay, there's a couple of things to this.

Speaker 3

The very first question I had to ask myself is will I actually come back.

Speaker 5

So I was approaching burnout and I.

Speaker 3

Had to ask myself the really honest question, do I just need to step away for a moment or do I actually need a fresh start? And stepping away for a moment is an la stepping away forever for a fresh start is a very different kind of conversation altogether. When I kind of put it all down on paper, I realized that there were some components about my job that I really really loved and about the life that had afforded me that I really really loved, and I wasn't ready to step away.

Speaker 5

From that completely. What I did need, though, was a bit of time and.

Speaker 3

Space to figure out what actually gave me energy and what sucked it.

Speaker 5

Which sounds really funny, but when you're on the wheel, on the.

Speaker 3

Core, but it can be really difficult to actually take the time to think about these things.

Speaker 5

And it does take time to think about these things, and.

Speaker 3

Mental health day here or there really is you're going to help you figure out, you know, what gives you energy in life. It might fill your bucket a little bit, but it's not going to help you figure out whether you're putting these in the right buckets.

Speaker 5

So I answered that question and decided that I needed to step away just for a period. I wasn't ready to let go completely.

Speaker 3

The next question I had to ask myself was do you have enough cash or cash flow to support yourself. At the time, I was looking at buying property because I was in a situation that actually afforded that, and I realized that that goal might be impacted by taking unpaid leave because mostly the absences are unpaid. I really envy people that get the opportunity to take a paid leave of absence. It just seems like a fairy tale.

Speaker 2

Yeah, yeah, totally, who gets that? No one?

Speaker 5

Honestly, where are these bosses that run their businesses with that much chat?

Speaker 3

Anyway, I want to go hang out with them. I can do some really cool things. So I had to myself, like do I have enough cash in the bank and have a really kind of good look at myself to figure out whether I was, you know, living a lifestyle that I was happy with and whether taking I guess a bit of a hit from the cash would impact that in a way that would impact my energy more than you know I might potentially get back from.

Speaker 5

Taking away of absence. The next question kind of once i'd sorted that out.

Speaker 3

That I needed to ask myself was that can I do this in a way that isn't going to close the door or burn a bridge. When you're in a corporate environment, there's generally, at least in the consulting world, there's very clear career and progressive frameworks, and most of it is based on kind of you know, value that you create for the business and achieving certain milestones, but

some of it is genuinely tidy. So I had to think about the impact to my next career progression step and whether I was willing to kind of, I guess, negotiate and kind of throw caution to the wind that's the only way I can really put it, or can I actually time this in a way it's going to lead the door open so that I can then return and kind of step back into a similar position, or at least just back a little bit, not you know, completely back at the start.

Speaker 5

So I had to sort.

Speaker 3

Through that, which talking to a lot of people really understanding the business, how it was growing, who could take over certain things that I was responsible for, really starting to actually enable.

Speaker 5

Those people to step into those roles.

Speaker 3

Even before I'd kind of broached the conversation about an LA, and then the last question I actually had to ask myself was what do I actually want to get out of the year, Because if I'm going to take that period away, I need to be sure that it's actually going to achieve what I needed to achieve. Because it was a big decision, it was a big financial hit.

So I had to, I guess, ask those four questions, which are not like, I mean, one of them is money related, but most of them were more about I guess, life and how I wanted to live it and money I need to be able to service.

Speaker 4

That was that leave of absence that was twelve months you were originally going to take and then you ultimately decided to walk away, right, correct.

Speaker 3

Yeah, so I've got eight months in and I got introduced to someone just a sheer coincidence, which then started a little bit of work that I could use to get a bit of cash flow going, which then just kind.

Speaker 5

Of turned into a broader conversation.

Speaker 3

So I made the really difficult decision, even though I did actually genuinely want to return when I left to to.

Speaker 1

Leave, Wow, so what did you do for those eight months? Like, what do you do on a leave of absence, I feel like so many people say, look, I took it. You know, I wanted to spend more time with my kids and my family, and you're not in that situation where you have kids, So what were you doing with your time to find your feet and I guess recover from being almost burnt out.

Speaker 3

I would love to say that I had like a bee trip planned, and I had all these amazing plans, you know, buy a van and take off for in Australia. But honestly, once everything was locked and loaded and I finally made the decision orchestrated everything to be able to close the laptop and not be able to open it again for twelve months, I sat on my couch on that Monday, going what the.

Speaker 5

Hell am I going to do with my child? I got, I guess, really into exercise.

Speaker 3

I did actually jump on a plane to Tuzzi, where I'm from, to spend some time with my family. I then spent a lot of my time talking to different people. So I needed to figure out how to fill my bucket, where my energy was coming from, how I was going to supplement that was.

Speaker 5

Going to deplete from it. So I spoke to a lot of people. I reached out.

Speaker 3

Basically and seek mentorship, and through that landed some very very casual work which required me to set up my own business so I could operate a trader. So that kept me busy for a little bit setting that up. That's quite a kind of learning. I involved a number of sessions with an accountant and all of the kind of admin that comes with it, as well as actually naturing in a relationship to make sure that it then

results in work. So I did that, did some work, and then kind of repeated that process until I ended up meeting the guy that I now.

Speaker 5

Work for today.

Speaker 2

How cool.

Speaker 1

That's a journey and such an interesting one one from my personal perspective, obviously, because we have very similar backgrounds and now both work or I don't anymore. I don't think I can say I work in the ultra and net wealth space anymore purely because I've moved more into podcasting.

Speaker 2

Still have ridge rich clients though, does that count?

Speaker 1

But I just feel like that makes so much sense, Like the burnout, the stress, the pressure, it all makes so much sense. But you mentioned before, and I know that jess and and Elisa are probably trying to wrap me up. But you mentioned before you left home at sixteen. How did you financially support yourself during that to then come out as this awesome human who has this epic job and is basically killing it at life?

Speaker 2

Like, how did that happen?

Speaker 3

I worked at a Delhi in a local Ida, so I'd love to say, Look, it was all kind of hard work and careful planning.

Speaker 5

Who was literally just went out tried to end some cash.

Speaker 3

I worked crazy hours, I studied really really hard. I knew that education would be a ticket to a better life. Lie, so I paid my way, buckled down, started UNI, started training as a psychologist.

Speaker 5

Realized part way through a they don't make very much money and it's a very very high pressure job that requires a very special sort of person.

Speaker 3

Are not.

Speaker 5

Yeah, I worked in a residential mental health facility.

Speaker 3

It was actually amazing because at the time I was hard on money. They actually paid me to sleep on site so that I could be around for people who needed to support at all different hours. It was a recipe for burnout in hindsight, but at the time I was like, this is the best you mean you're going to pay me to Like, it's like the dream for someone who needs to support themselves and it's kind of studying full time in that sort of space.

Speaker 5

So I did that for a while and then realized that it just wasn't something that I could build a life around.

Speaker 3

I looked for a job and learned around a role in hospitality, working for a guy who was an ex consultant, and the way that he ran his restaurant was just like top notch.

Speaker 5

Everything was really slick, and I ended up in conversation with him about what's happening in.

Speaker 3

My other job and he said, oh, you'd be pretty good at consulting. You should look into ork CYC and kind of made the switch from there.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I love that, and I feel like that's how I got into it as well, like quite literally when and did a child psyck placement was there two weeks and I was like, this ain't my jam. I cannot do this. This takes such a special person and like this obviously so much more to that story, and I freaked out and had a meeting with somebody that I really looked up to and they're like, why don't you do orczych And I'm like, what, what's that? And they're

like it's like the science of people at work. I was like, what I can do that, and it just made so much sense. I feel like you and I have very very similar career journeys.

Speaker 5

There are a lot of people in ORXYCH who have a similar story.

Speaker 3

It's always you know, going in with un attention and kind of you know, finding yourself in.

Speaker 7

A situation where actually people are motivated to make change because it's a big things for them in life. Yeah, it's au cheesier place to work for people that take the hard I feel like I took the easy path in some cases, but it's still equally It's.

Speaker 1

Oh my gosh, I have loved this money diary, thank you so much, but unfortunately I do think that that is all we have time to capture today.

Speaker 4

Awesome, and don't forget guys. The advice shed 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 is an authorized representative of Infocused Securities Australia Proprietary Limited, a BN four seven oh nine seven seven nine seven O four nine AFSL two three six five two three See you Next Money Diary.

Speaker 2

Bye,

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