Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud Yr
the Order Kerney Whalbury and a waddery woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Let's get into it.
She's on the Money.
She's on the Money.
Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another one of our very special money diaries where I get the absolute privilege of talking to one of our incredible She's on the Money community members all about their journey. Let's jump straight into it, because this week I got a message and it went a little bit like this.
Hi, She's on the Money.
I'm a vet student who is steadily growing my investments both shares and full legged, trying to save for rotations while my animals are trying to bankrupt me. I'm a third generation farmer who started listening to She's on the Money on a tractor and would love to share my story from beautiful rural Australia.
Money Diarist, welcome, How are you?
I'm well, thank you?
Oh my gosh, I'm so excited to hear about your full legged investments like that is?
I mean cool?
I'm confused, but we will get there. Let's dive straight in though. Are you ready to do a podcast? Yes, I'm very excited.
All right.
As always, we start by asking what grade would you give your money habits on a scale from.
Eighth to F.
I'd probably say C C.
All right, let's learn more about that.
My actually favorite question of the entire show ever, is tell us a little bit more about your money story. So, Money Diarist, can you give us a little bit of a deep dive?
So?
Like I said, i am a third generation farmer from rural Australia, and I'm also currently our fourth year that student, halfway through or more than halfway through my degree now getting to the pointy end, and I've got twelve months left of classes before I head off for twelve months worth of rotations which are going to be probably a little bit expensive because we're not paid to do our rotations, so I've got to start saving between now and then.
But that's sort of where my special four legged investments help. My parents. Well, my dad is primarily a farmer. My mum's actually also a teacher. Oh cool. Yeah, she works at the local tape in town. So dad likes to call her his diverse So she's a smart income smart man. And so for the first sort of ten years of my life, we were in quite a severe drought, so mum's income from being a teacher's sort of helped float the f a lot.
Yeah wow.
So yeah, and then if you don't come from a farming background, I think one of the riskiest things about farming is just how inconsistent income can be. Like income when you're farming can be really really good one year, and then you go through a drought for a few years and you're just not financially.
Equipped for it.
And that doesn't just impact like your lifestyle and you know, your ability to save and invest. It actually impacts the animals, It impacts your crops, It impacts the soil for the future, so's it impacts you know, being able to actually invest in more animals in the future. And it's just this very downward spiral, which is why the drought that happened more recently was so catastrophic. I suppose what happened coming
out of that drought. Was that something that you know, really weighed heavily on your family or was it sort of okay, or is it something that you knew how to get through, Like I just want to know a little bit more about that.
We're probably a little luckier than some other farmers just in where we're located. We're actually located on a creek that we can use to lift water and then irrigate. So we've got well, our farms seventeen thousand acres and about twelve hundred of those is flood irrigation. So if it wasn't raining and there's water in the creek and Dad's got a certain amount of percentage of allocation, you can then irrigate and at least have some form of
food for the sheep and the cows and stuff. And where because where we live is always sort of there's drought years. It's just the ongoing cycle. It's either drought or it's good fodder conservation is a big part. So we've in the past made silage and then buried it with the hope of never seeing it again. But should it become necessary, we can always open it and then
feed shit that. So, like I would have been twenty eighteen, I was doing my gap year, and that was quite a drought year for us, So I spent probably six months driving around in the feed trailer feeding out corn and loopins and favor beans to our use to just give them energy to keep on going. And then it did eventually rain, and it often eventually rained, so it's sort of just a waiting game of sticking it out
for long enough. And you know, some people you can sort of like my grandfather, he's been living here for I think it's sixty sixty or seventy odd years now, so you know, he can sort of see the cycles, and Dad's the same. They can sort of say, oh, if it hasn't rained by this time of year, Like this year, up until probably two weeks ago, I was looking a bit dry and we're all a bit worried, And then we've had some which has made it a
lot easier for us future planning. It's just always a continual cycle in the back of your mind, like do we need to lighten off numbers, sell some stock now and then, Like you say, it's so volatile the market. So the wall market and the sheep market and the cattle market at the moment are all sort of down from where they've been. But when Dad likes to say, when you think about it historically, it's still up from say ten or fifteen years ago. Yeah.
Wow.
I find that so interesting because I just having grown up in Tasmania and I did move over when I was relatively young, but having farmer grandparents, like I know a bit about it, but not necessarily enough about it,
and I just find it so so interesting. I remember my mum telling me a bit about how she would get pocket money growing up living on a farm, and to me that was mind blowing because it's such a different way to get pocket money because I guess side story growing up, mum was allocated a whole paddock and she had to look after that paddock and look after the animals in that paddy and make sure they were fed and then take them off for sale, and that ended up being her profit and her pocket money for
the year, right, And so that's very different to me doing the chores and emptying the dishwasher, right, So I want to know money, Direst. Don't really use your name, I'm sorry. I want to know how did you get pocket money growing up, if there was any, and how did you discuss money as a family.
Pocket money growing up? I mean, probably didn't really have pocket money as such properly until we sort of went to boarding school. But it was just like from however old we were always or probably since we could walk, we were always outside on the farm. Like if mum was working, she'd throw me and my sister, we're pretty close in age, we'd go off with that and we'd sit in the front of you and go feeding sheep or just helping. And then you know, and you get
a bit bigger. We're obviously doing all the jobs, feeding all the animals at home here, and then like helping with landmarking, helping with calf marking, helping just in the yards and stuff. And I suppose because I've been doing it for so long, I just that's just my life. I don't really see it as any different. But yeah, it's really just been helping out. And like now I'm
a bit older. It's I almost say that UNI gets in the way of me helping at home, but I come home on most weekends if Mom and Dad need a hand around, and then all my holidays are sort of spent working at home on the farm.
Amazing, All right, talk to me. The next question is what do you do for work and how much money.
Do you earn? So all my work sort of casual work because the degree that I'm doing is so intensive that I don't really do any don't really have time for a job as on top of my studying in order to not fail any subjects and sort of delay my graduation. So yeah, in any of the holidays, all the small holidays, so like midsem and middle of the year, I come home and give mom and dad a hand
at the farm. It's whatever we're doing. And Dad sort of just pays us a day rate, which is two and fifty dollars a day, so depending on how many days of work we do, we'll get paid. And then I do actually in the summer holidays because it's a bit longer. I've spent the last three years seeing on a chaser bin for harvest for a family friends, and
that's a very intensive job. It's sort of big hours, sort of averaging a fourteen hour day for thirty dollars an hour, and then you sort of just keep going until you finish, or if there's a wet day, you might have that day off or stuff like that. And then I'm also fortunate enough, I well, it wasn't necessarily the choice, but I did two gap years, so I was able to be assessed as an independent when I went to UNI. So I've been receiving setlink for the entirety of my UNI degree, which.
Is how did you swindle that one.
I was always going to have one gap year, and I did that at home, and then I was sort of going to the end of the year and I was like, oh, someone mentioned to me that they were going to go work in a summer camp in America, and I was like, oh, that sounds like a really interesting idea.
That's cool.
So I hope lied for that and got that job. So I had two gap years, and then coming back, the accountant was like, well, you only needed to have worked for fourteen months full time, which I did before I went to America to be assessed, and I mean, stink did give me the run around as I often do, but we got there in the end, and yeah, I was able to be assessed as independent, which was great.
That is so helpful, especially at UNI. I feel like it really helps you feel a lot more independent, like less reliant on parents and a little bit more freedom to actually spend time studying and you know, getting the degree that you want to get done done. And I mean at the end of the day, you're going to be a VET. So sorry money dirist, but you will be paying a fair amount of tax. So kind of what goes around comes around.
Yeah, that's it.
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely tell me a little bit more about I guess your annual income, So what do you think each year you're taking in and how much do you think you have to save to do all of these placements that are coming up.
So I did look the other day and for this current financial year today, it's probably been my biggest financial year income wise for a long time.
Oh a big dog energy.
Yeah, and it's just sort of sitting just under the twenty thousand for that's just for like my harvest work and work at home and then obviously settl links around that eighteen you know, eighteen thousand, two hundred mark.
So it's what thirty eight thousand, Yeah.
So it's not too bad. And then in terms of the rotations twelve months of rotations, they sort of I think I've heard from this above that they tell you to sort of budget around one thousand dollars a week and it's a third three week what.
A thousand dollars a week?
Yeah, that you're meant to pay for accommodation to get a degree and you're not being paid for you rotations. I cannot, like, I know that obviously vets are the same, but the amount of friends that I have in nursing and Midwiffrey, it blows my mind that these placements are unpaid work when obviously, if you're a nurse, you are probably going to hear this and go, yeah.
That's absolutely true.
You're doing so much work that should be paid, like you're doing the work of somebody else. And in VET, I'm just going to make a stab in the dark and assume that you're probably doing even more because there's, like, let's be honest, slightly less risk because it's not human lives, but also there's less hands on deck, like you're not in a hospital, and I'm assuming money dirests. Given the information you've given us, you're probably going to be rural,
so you're probably doing one on one. You're probably going to be functioning basically as a vet, right.
Yeah, yeah, no, that's it. Like the last twelve months you basically send you out as a baby vet and you learned from everyone else and yes, doing surgeries and stuff.
And you're not being paid for it. Like this blows my mind because there's such you know, you're doing really well. Thirty eight grand is such a nice amount of money, and you know, we'll get to what you're saving and what you're investing for the future and all of this. But there's such a privilege to being able to do that, Like there are so many people who would be listening to this and going, I would love to be a vet.
I am so obsessed to live animals, Like I would you know, die to do that job, but I just can't afford to do the placements and the rotations. Like it breaks my heart that that's the case, because so many people would be so good, but they just can't make that sacrifice and the amount of planning that goes into you just doing it wild, Like it blows my mind. Have you got friends that maybe are in a similar position who might not be able to study what you're
studying or take the rotations that you're taking. Is that a common thing in your I guess let's call it an industry or your study.
I think the industry like even though we don't get paid, A lot of vet clinics because they like this is almost like the year where you sort of can tribe for you buy for your first job. There's obviously scholarships and stuff you can get to help with it.
But they're not guaranteed, right, No, but a lot of vet clinics they'll either have accommodation for vet students or often like people who work in the vet clinic put up vet students or you know, you cause you can sort of pick some of your rotations.
You can pick, you know, if you know you've got a friend of a friend or a family friend who lives there you can stay with for a few weeks. But yeah, definitely I reckon. Because my university is more of a rural university, we might have a lot of my friends like we're all sort of thinking about it now because we've got twelve months until then, Like, how can we make the most money, especially over summer, so that we can afford afford to go on rotations.
Yeah, totally. Oh my gosh, it stresses me out thinking about it. And yeah, it just reminds me of the privilege that exists around study. Like it's not just around being able to pay for the actual units, it's like
the time and the energy and the effort. And not to mention, you're from a farming family, so that time out of the farm as well is time that I mean, you're probably not being paid on the farm when you're hanging out with your parents doing some work, but like that's work that's not being done that your parents might actually have to replace at some point, and that can have further financial impact that I think not many people
think about and it's very frustrating. But at the same time, again, I mean, they're probably going to be pretty happy to have a fully qualified VET on hand because like my friend farming vets, there's beeno.
Yeah, no, dad's he says, I can't wait till you graduate so I never have to pay an absent for a VET bill.
One hundred percent, Like that's exactly what I'd be doing.
I'd be like, all right, money direst I am investing in your future so that I don't have to pay vet bills because that's expansive and running a farm.
They're sick every second week, like there's something going on.
Someone's hoof's upset, someone else is not eating, someone else is having a baby.
Like everything is going on on a farm. Vets right in.
Yeah, No, he's probably more excited than I am.
I love it. I love it.
At least he and I are on the same page. We can see the vision, we can see the investment that we're making today.
All right, tell me a little bit more. I want to know.
You're obviously saving for rotations, but what is your big money goal?
What are you working towards.
I'm a bit weird. I don't really have a big money goal. One thing that it's sort of sitting in the back of my mind talking to a few of the lecturers and stuff, is my university accreditation is slightly different to some of the other unis and it doesn't actually allow you to practice in North America. Oh once I graduate.
So and is that a very big restriction for you at this point in time?
No, it's not, But I have been like chatting with a few of the lecturers at UNI. Some of them have said, if you want to sit your North American exams straight after you graduate, because that's when you know the most because you've already been studying for your final exam. You've been cramming so and then once you sit it and if you pass, then you can work anywhere in the world. So it's sort of half in the back of my mind. I've got a brother who's moved over and is living in La and.
Oh Okay, so there is a connection there. I was like, where are we going with this? Like, are you moving to the US? Is this like your pipe dream You're going to run away from farming life and you're going to live that big La life as a vet for tiny chuaurs.
No, No, it's more of because I've been to America and I really enjoyed the countryside. It kind of be a bit of fun to go over there for a year or two. The option, Yeah, that's it.
Financially, what does that mean for you? Like are the exams expensive? Do you have to go there to sit them?
Like?
What does that look like?
They are expensive? I haven't looked it up exactly, but when talking to lectures. They said it's probably about fifteen thousand Australia just.
To do the exams. Yeah, fifteen thousand dollars.
Yeah, and I'm actually there's a local vet who's from France who's having to sit his Northern Australian Accretation to be licensed to work in Australia. Yeah, and he's he failed one exam and he's got to reseit it, and so you've got to pay to reset it again.
No, what is it in Australia in comparison.
I'm not even sure, But.
That's not even a study.
Like that's like worth what a unit's about five grand ish, give or take, depending on what university you're going to and what you're studying. That's three units just to sit an exam. Yeah, that's like a whole semester, nearly worth of money that is just going to be flushed down the drain so you can write on some paper and get an a credit.
I can't.
I can't. That's so expensive.
Yeah.
No, so your big money goal is to sit the North American Exam potentially.
Yeah, potentially, failing that, I might buy a new horse or something instead.
Yeah, like that's exactly what I was thinking. I was like, if I don't do the exams, I'm just going to buy a horse. Do you already have horses?
We've got five horses at the moment, but they're a mix of bag got two that are sort of being able to have written and then an old retiree or two old retirees, and a miniature pony who's basically just a companion.
Oh. I love old horses.
I feel like they have so much attitude and then kind of already know. They're like, you're not going to ride me, You're just gonna feed me, and you're gonna pat me, and you're gonna brush me, and I'm going to live my best life. And also I'm going to have the attitude of a young horse.
I love them.
That sums up our thirty year old horse exactly. They know.
It's like they're way smarter than we ever are.
They're like, we've gained the system, We've gotten to this age, and now I'm going to live my best life.
Mm hm, that's them.
Horses are expensive, though.
Is that something that you have to allocate in your personal budget or is that like a farm expense or how does that work?
It's sort of between the two. If I want to go riding at events or anything that's personal. Same with any gear that I need to purchase, I sort of I kind of own well, I do own two of the five outright, and then the others are more of like a able to be well. They're stock horses, so part of the farm sort of we go fifty to fifty. But like a lot of the time farrier costs, which are every six six, six to eight weeks, it costs probably around the five hundred dollars.
And is that for each horse or is that no, that's for all five, all five, so it's about one hundred dollars a horse every six to eight weeks. That's an expensive haircut. So for those of you following along, farrier costs where a farrier comes in and like cuts the horses nails and puts new shoes on and makes sure that they're all okay. They're kind of like, I don't know, a horsey pedicure.
You would say, yeah, yeah, that's it.
So five hundred bucks, that's so much money.
And that's probably cheaper than a lot of other people pay. Costs very depending on where you are in the country, but it's not a cost that you can skimp on, because obviously horses are big animals and if their feet aren't right then they'll go lame.
And yeah, no, absolutely, And you mentioned before you might buy a new horse. I'm just going to take a stab in the dark and make an assumption that most people listening to the show right now have no idea what a horse costs. So could you tell me how much does it cost to buy a new horse?
Well, just for the horse itself, it really varies in depending on what you're looking for. You could get a horse for free, but often what you pay is what you get. I'd probably be wanting to buy a new stock horse, and at the moment, prices are a bit ridiculous, and.
They kind of like use car prices at this point. That's relatable.
Yeah, that's exactly it. They're probably for something that's not too old, had a bit of experience. Your sort of minimum would be ten ten thousand dollars.
Ten grand.
Yeah, and then they cost you five hundred bucks every six to eight weeks, or one hundred dollars, let's be honest, every six to eight weeks. And I'm assuming you don't have any adjustment costs. Because you keep them on your own property, right.
No, I don't have any justment costs at home, but I do take one horse back to UNI with me. They go to UNI with you, Yeah, I take one to UNI with me.
Yeah, that's really relatable. What does that cost you?
That cost me for a single paddic, it's forty dollars a week.
Forty dollars a week doesn't sound too bad. I mean it's cheaper than a gym membership at this point. But do they have to share their paddic with other horses, and like what kind of care and keep happens there?
Like do you have to visit every day and feed them.
Mine's a private paddock, so it's just my horse in the paddock. I do typically go out daily just to double check. I'm luckier than some in that we produce our own hay here, so if I need to take supplementary food over to care, I just take hay from home. But if I didn't have that option, you'd probably be looking at like a big round bowl of hay which might lost a horse a couple of weeks. That could
be anywhere from sixty to one hundred dollars. So I'm very very in that being from a farm, it reduces the costs of my horses dramatically compared to people who aren't as fortunate, but there's still a very expensive.
Habit they are and that's why I was like, all right, tell me a little bit more, because they are so expensive and it's one of those things that adds up all the time, and if you don't live on a farm, that cost can be astronomical. And I'm assuming money direst that because of where you're going to UNI, because you're
going to UNI regionally as well, it's much cheaper. Whereas I've got friends and this is probably going to shock you who live closer to the city and they're paying five hundred dollars a week for a paddock close to them because they obviously, you know, they're inner city and they want to make sure that they can ride all the time. And I'm like that provily just showing my friend.
Yeah no, that doesn't really surprise me at all, because yeah, well, my adjustment place is someone's farm around the town. With the UNI is they've taken advantage of a bit of land they weren't using and divide it up into horse paddocks and obviously because the UNI's there, you got influx of kids who've got horses, so it's a bit of extra income for the farmer.
Absolute genius. I love that so much. All Right, let's get back on track.
I've got a lot of questions for you, and we're going to get to them right after this break. All right, money, dirist, we are back, and I am loving this conversation. I feel like it's very educational, but it's also very wholesome, like it's very salt of the earth. I'm very excited to learn a lot more about you and your I guess journey.
In your letter into.
Us, you said that you are steadily growing your investments, both in shares and four legged investments. So my next question is what are your investments, how do they work and how do they walk?
So I have a couple of shares accounts. I have one with Westpac that I've got about thousands dollars in, and then I also so open to Chazy's account this year just for that ease of the smaller transactions, whereas WESTPACX obviously limited to a five hundred dollars minimum buy.
Yeah, that's hard, hey, especially as a UNI student on a lower incown. It's like, well that's not that common, guys.
Yeah, no, I thought I loved the idea of, you know, investing with as little as a cent from chass.
It's pretty sexy, isn't it? Just the idea, just like it's not even coffee money. It's less than coffee money, like the coffee I'm drinking right now. Five dollars fifty what an absolute raw? Do you know how many shares I could have bought?
I know it's been awesome. I love chair Zya's for that. I also love I've set up so I've got about I think it's a checked this morning. It's worth nine hundred and eighty dollars at the moment, and I've set up a auto invest for ten dollars a week, which is I've give it up into be I think it's a dollar per ten shares that I've gotten there, and they're mostly dividend shares.
I love this so much because you just told me that you have a Westpac investment platform right and there's a thousand dollars on there right now, which means you've probably invested let's say twice, or you've done like one big lot, right. But you said, oh, I went to chare Z's because I couldn't afford the west Pack. But you've basically got the same amount on Chaz's as you do on west Pack, because I'm assuming you didn't realize how quickly things would add up and from little things,
big things really do grow. So it's basically going to overtake what your west Pack is if you keep doing that all to invest of ten dollars a week, right, and it just feels so much more, I guess, palatable and easy to invest. So I'm making a grand assumption here that your Chares's account is going to overtake your west Pack account, and then it won't make a lot of sense to invest at a five hundred dollars minimum, because you're like, well, I've got the same things on both platforms.
Yeah, no, it is. I used to look at west Pack a fair bit, but now I sort of almost giving it flick at the minute. I'm focusing on Chazas because yeah, it's just exciting watching it.
Grow and the platform.
I mean, I obviously work with them, so I'm quite you could say bias, but I also invest on chaseeas I just feel like it's so aesthetic like it looks cute. I feel like a pro investor. That's like aesthetic. At the same time, it's ten out of.
Ten from me.
Anyway, what else do you invest in? Because I know it's not just Westpac in chairs, eas, I do.
Have about almost ten thousand dollars in my super at the moment.
Oh what, that's so good for your age, and so good for the fact that you've worked internationally and haven't really worked let's say, like full proper jobs. You could say you've been doing a lot of farm work, which often is a little bit cash in hand, a little bit on the side.
How good's that ten grand? How have you managed that?
I don't actually know. I suppose it was probably most of it's been kicked in from the eighteen months of my first gap years I worked full time at home. Yeah, and then obviously I do guess a fair chunk that goes in when I work with Dad every year and then harvest as well. So it's just been exciting to watch that grow.
How good?
And is that something that you have had an eye on or is that something where you're like, oh, I just know I've got ten grand in there. Have you actively chosen your super account and what's going on there or is that just something that's just kind of like.
Rolled on well up until recently, it was something I just signed up for a while ago. But this year, chatting with an aunt of mine who's been a bit excited about talking investments with me, I love her. Yeah, no, I love her too. I've actively changed it this year to the lowest fees still with a growth seventy five percent growth account through host plus, So trying to minimize costs and maximize growth.
Of How smart? All right, four Legged investments? Tell me a bit more about how that works. Are you trying to tell me that you are classifying your horses in investments?
No?
No, I mean they're not, because they're costing you five hundred dollars every six to eight weeks, and I mean they might increase in value, but you'd have to sell them. And judging by the look on your face when you were telling me about your horses, I don't think they're going anywhere, my friend.
No, No, they're definitely a cost rather than an asset. No, my four legged investments are actually my cows, which I have fifteen of currently.
How does that work? Did you buy the cows? Did you get given the cows? Like, what's the process as somebody who has never owned a cow as an investment.
So in my first gap year twenty eighteen, it was a draft iss year, and just by chance, when our cows were carving, there was one calf that none of the cows wanted. We didn't know if she was a twin or if her mother had just rejected her.
Oh you just found her out in the paddic all alone.
Yeah, my grandparents found her and was sort of like, oh, we don't actually know whose mum she is. Oh ba, I was gifted her by my grandparents because she was out of one of my grandparents' cows to raise as a potty calf. And then a couple of weeks later, another coward calve, but the coward died, so the calf was without a mum, so I got her as well.
So now we were at two cows.
Two cows. And then a couple months later neighbors who were selling some cows who had just happened to have carved, but they weren't going to sell the calves. He rang me and was like, hey, I've got a calf here for you so I told him I wouldn't mind one of his. So I got another calf for the price of a.
Rum slab for Oh, that's a pretty good deal, it is, So.
That's like eighty bucks or something, and then the other two for free, and then obviously raised those three. And then because they were all females, they were whatever age they were ready to be joined, we're joined. And every year since then they've all had a calf for me, which is pretty exciting.
Oh my gosh, have you've just been multiplying your little car.
Yeah, that's it. And so if we have a girl who have a heafer calf, she stays here and has bred when she's old enough. But if they've had boyclves, they all get sold to the feed lot. So I'm at fifteen now, which is five adult cows with five calves at foot, and then five sort of teenager winner cows, four of which are heifers, and one is a steer who's actually due to be trucked out tomorrow, so that'll
be a bit of money in the bank. But everyone else is will be nine joined this year for so potentially nine more calves born next year, so it's sort of growing itself.
Oh my gosh, they're multiplying.
So tell me a bit more about the financials of this, because I think farming is really important to have a bit more transparency around, because I feel like a lot of it is lacking, and I feel like a lot of people are going to be confused and go by Victoria.
You're a vegan, you don't eat.
Meat and I don't, but I fully believe in good farming and making sure that the animal is respected. And while I might not eat it, this is people's livelihood and we aren't going to be talking about I guess whether you would or wouldn't, Like, I'm not against it by any stretch of the imagination. So I want to know what does it cost to raise a caulf? And then obviously, if it's a girl, it stays with you and then it grows into I guess a cow that can produce more calves.
But if it's a boy, it gets sold off. What's that cost? What are we making here?
Like?
What type of investment returns have we got? Should like we be at cheese on the money, start considering cows as an investment asset.
Well, the first, the original three probably were the most expensive in terms.
And they were all girls, weren't they.
Yeah, all girls. They were probably the most expensive because they were orphans. We were feeding them milk repliser for the first couple of months, and that stuff isn't particularly cheap. It's around I think one hundred to two hundred dollars for a twenty kilo bag. Yeah, sort of only lasts Oh no, a week maybe or two, it's been so long and can't remember.
But this is going to sound really dumb, really really dumb. Why are we buying milk replace I can't they just drink milk? Can't we buy milk?
Like?
Is that an option?
Not? Really? Sort of got to feed the milk place. It's got all you know, proteins in facts that are very similar to what they would have been getting. Okay, our own.
Mother, I told you it was a dumb question.
And because obviously it's nice and warm when I make it up, make it up with warm water for them, So it's a luxury.
Oh so they're spoiled.
Yeah, that's it. That's why pottycas love whoever's raising them.
Yeah, because they're getting the good stuff. They know what's up. They're not silly.
Yeah, No, it's not silly, so probably to raise those three might have been my time. We wean them off. The milk could have cost up to two sort of twelve hundred dollars.
Oh my gosh, that's so much money.
But factoring in that they were all females, we sort of an average price you get for a steer who we sell to the feed lots. We sell ours into a it's a specialty program for short horned cattle, which are the breed that we have, and they're sort of branded their end products, like the steak and stuff is branded with a special like thousand guineas program, which basically says that it's of a certain quality. So we're probably getting a slight premium.
Yeah, because they grew up on milk replacer. They're no little cows.
Yeah, so obviously the price fluctuates, but i'd say on average for maybe a three hundred kilo steer, which is sort of three hundred and fifty kilo steer, which is the weights that we're sort of sending them off at, it could be depending on the year, between one thousand to fifteen hundred dollars for a steer, but al my steers, if they've come from mum. Don't cost me a great
deal in terms of productions. It's just sort of management costs that go in, so vaccination and drench which might be roughly maybe thirty dollars ahead.
Oh okay, that's not too bad.
And I mean you obviously already have this setup, so this isn't something that that's normal people can do, Like you've already got the paddock, you've already got like a farm y. It's all good to go from there. And this is, yeah, obviously an absolute privilege. But I find it so interesting to know the difference between genders. Is that normal? So is that what everybody else does? Like, if we are eating steak, is it very likely to be male as opposed to female because females are kept to breed?
Yeah, it actually is.
And the feed lots want the males for sort of growth rates and I'm assuming they're bigger, right, Yeah, bigger, grow a bit faster, and you actually get premium for male carcasses when they go through like an avatar or something.
Yeah, I don't really want females.
Oh, so, like the gender gap exists even in the farming world. Interesting, it's it.
I'm just rallying for everybody now, not just the two leg good friends. I'm also rallying for our four leg good friends.
But yeah, I'd rather be a female.
Yeah.
Same.
I want to know next, do you have any debts? If so, what are they.
My only debt is my HEX debt, which is quite substantial. At the moment, it's sitting at around after indexation the other day, it's almost thirty nine thousand.
And what did you think about indexation? Obviously it's a bit of a shock to be told. Alright, Hex and healthdats are going to be indexed at seven point one percent. What was your thought pattern around that, because at the end of the day, thirty nine thousand dollars is basically your entire annual salary.
Yeah, I mean it's obviously not ideal, Like I think ours went up by almost two and a half thousand dollars it was the indexation. But for me at this point of my life, I don't see that help debt as being such a bad thing because I know I will find a job once I graduate and I will
start paying it off. Obviously i'd prefer it not to be so high, but probably fortunate in that position that I'm in an industry where they're currently is a shortage of vets, so I'll be able to find a job and negotiate a pretty good, you know, starting salary because people just need vets.
What kind of salary do you expect that to be?
Well, just looking around at the moment at a lot of new grad jobs that are sort of being offered at the moment, I think a lot of them are starting at that seventy thousand dollars a year upwards, depending But you know, if they can't offer you a great salary, like well, if they've got a certain salary cap, a lot of them have you know, extra like you know, a work vehicle or even some might have accommodation and stuff like that that can sweeten the deal.
How good?
I finding this genuinely so interesting. I want to know, now, though, what do you think your best money habit is?
Sometimes I think I don't have any I.
Beg to differ.
Like, having heard a lot of your story, you wait till we get to the end of this episode.
There will be some debate around that.
See, my friends, I've probably actually setting up like my auto investments with chess, and then I've also got I've set up whenever sudden Link comes in, I send forty dollars into my savings account and just sort of maybe taking an active interest in what my money is doing and just trying to think about ways where I can grow either the savings or the investments. Yeah, and what.
Do you think your worst habit is?
Well, just big picture horses is probably my worst habit. With most expensive habit. Sometimes I go for a bit of an impulse buy. It's either actually no, I've weaned myself off horse related impulse buyers in the last few years and instead impulse buying of a garden, so plants and stuff like that feels Yeah, I'm a sucker for a good plant.
I can relate to that. Absolutely.
I wish I would stop killing them because they are becoming very bad investments. Money Diarist, we have talked a lot. This is going to be a very long episode. I apologize, But if you're still here and you're still listening, you've probably found it just as interesting as I have. But at the very start of this episode, I asked you what would you rate your money habits, and you.
Said s C.
But then you went on to tell us about how you've been casually working and absolutely hustling and doing farm work and doing casual work. And then you told me about your two gap years, and how one of those gap years, you know you were earning a full time time salary and you're currently saving for rotations, and you care about your superannuation like you've even gone and put it into another account, like you've set it all up
so it makes sense for you. You're currently investing in Chasias and in Westpac and in four legged friends, Like, I feel like you arguably have your shit together, my friend, Why do you think you're a C? And if you still think you're a C, what do you think would get you to an A?
I probably think still see just why for the fact.
So many people are yelling right now, my friend, can't you hear them?
It's probably more to do with I probably don't save enough of my money, like from the settling that comes in fortnitely. I think I sort of am often in that first week spending it on a lot of things, whether it be food that I don't need, impulse buys at the supermarket, and then so by the time I get to the end of the second week, it's sort of like oh, do I need to transfer out of my savings account to make it through? And yeah, I
think horses. Horses. Horses are the bane of my savings account at the moment, because just when I think I've grown it back up, someone will need some kind of emergency vet bill that brings it back down again.
That's farm life, right, like, it just can't all go well. I understand horses. They are a very expensive habit. I understand impulse buys. I feel like we could rain that in a little bit. Everybody could write like, I am so good at the supermarket if I'm not hungry. If I'm hungry, though, oh my gosh, I buy absolutely everything. But you said something before that I think is really important.
To touch on.
And I mean, you are in a very different position than a lot of people, just because obviously, like you've got the farm work, you've got a lot of other stuff going on. But you said you're not saving enough of your scentiling, and I just need to reframe that. And you're probably not going to like this, and please know this is coming from a place of love. But if you are getting scentiling, you're not meant to be saving it like you are. And that's great because you're
obviously like saving up for rotations. But I don't want people listening to this going, oh my gosh, if I'm on Centilinc, I should be saving often. Centerlink is not nearly enough to save and invest and create a secure financial future. It's enough to get by. It's enough to do the grocery shopping and put a roof over your head. And that's kind of the intention of it, and I
mean that in a really nice way. I promise money direst It's like a take a little bit of pressure off yourself because you're not meant to in this season of your life be able to save and invest and be a baller and do all of those things on thirty eight thousand dollars. Like, unfortunately, that is not nearly enough to create the life that you've told me about.
Like the idea that you're going to have to budget a thousand dollars a week for rotations blows my mind, Like that is so much money, and that's actually so much more money than most people in our community earn
each week. Like that to me is insane, and I'm so glad that you're doing it, But I don't want anyone listening to this and feeling like, oh my gosh, like oh, I'm on Centerlink and she's saving that so great, Like obviously for our money direst there's so much much privilege, and that's really beautiful and it's really great, but money, do I just take some pressure off, like your uni, you're being a bullet in general, you're gonna become a vet and vets my friends they do quite well, so
we're gonna be okay. I mean, you might not make a lot of money if you just do all of your work for your dad, so we probably need to negotiate that because I have a sneaky suspicion he has no intention of paying you. And if I was your father, I wouldn't either, you know, like you were born into a farming family, Like you didn't come here to get paid,
my friend. But I just think everybody needs to take a little bit of pressure off themselves, and this is one of the first times they don't want to be like, no, you can put your seat in the bin, because I don't believe it. Usually I tell people, oh my gosh, like I would never argue with you over your grade, like your grade is your grade.
My friend, Nah, you're off the mark. Absolutely not.
Yeah, no, no, I'm absolutely in a privileged position. I just feel like I think I need to not so much as save the settling, but maybe even move half of it so that I don't spend it all at will.
Yeah, so you can, like, you've got a lot to pay for in the future. So I can completely understand where that anxiety is coming from. I just didn't want anyone to listen to that and go, oh my gosh, I should be doing the same, because that's not the intention at all.
But money doros.
This has been a beautiful episode. I am so grateful. Unfortunately I do have to run away, but thank you so much for your story.
Thank you so much for your time.
I am so grateful that we got to spend arguably this whole hour together.
No, thank you so much for having me. It's been fantastic.
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