MONEY DIARIES: Dream Job, Dream Salary

Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud your

Let's get into it.

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

Hello, and welcome to She's I'm the Money the Podcast Millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another shot back Money Diary Monday, where we get to chat to one of our beautiful community members to learn all about them and their money and their story and all of the other fun bits and pieces in between. Victoria, I have a little bit of an international one feature.

So when International Money diaryest I love this.

Well, now she's here, but let me tell you all about it. Let's go, she said, I migrated to Australia for the first time in twenty twelve from Spain. My family did not believe in me. I learned English and I took on a fifty thousand dollar loan to do the master's degree of my dreams in psychology. I finally got the English score needed to get in, having failed that English test seven times.

Oh my gosh, what a hustler.

I said about paying for the loan, working night shifts in disability care while studying. I am about to become a clinical psychologist and a brand new Australian citizen and have the goal salary of my dreams.

Oh my gosh, what a queen. Imagine doing something seven times. If that's not the definition of lockdown and just getting back up and trying again, I don't know what it is.

I know.

I'm so excited to hear all from our money diarist today. Thank you so much for joining us, Thank.

You for having me.

Welcome to the show. I am so excited that you are here. Can we just dive straight in? I want to know talk to us. Can you tell us a little bit about your money story. Yeah.

I grew up in a family of five in Barcelona, so I have two sisters and my parents came from quite humble backgrounds, so money was tight in the family growing up, but we always had food and a place to live at I feel like my parents were really good budgeting, so I didn't really see that much struggles with their finances, but I felt a bit restricted, like doing extra things like extra curricular activities or buying things

Love or I want to know what do you do for work now? And how much money do you earn at the moment.

I'm a general psychologist and I aarn between eighty and ninety thousand.

Very cool, And how long have you been earning that?

Not long? I believe it has been over a year now.

That's so exciting. And you said in your email that that's a goal or your dream salary. That must have been so exciting for you to have worked so hard and taken that test so many times and done all of your study to finally hit that. What was that moment like when you got the job offer or the notice that you were going to hit the salary that you had been dreaming of Yeah.

Well, my goal salary is a hundred thousand, so at the end of this year I will become a clinical psychologist and then they'll put me between aundred and one hundred and ten. And yes, that's going to be a very special moment.

Oh, I'm so excited for you.

Congratulation, that's so exciting. Oh my gosh. All right, I want to know. Obviously that was a big money goal, but what is currently your big money goal?

I have a few, So when I think of money goals, I imagine myself having both the property in Barcelona and also a house an investment house in Brisbane before the Olympics, and being able to have the means to spend ten months in Australia, working in two months in Spain every year and living comfortably.

Love or I want to know next, do you have any investments? If so, what are they At the moment?

I think my biggest investment is the master's I did, which was my education that got me to where I am and I'm still paying for it a bit. And another investments that I have I have a long term deposits account, savings account and the superannuation as well.

Superanuation is a big one. Yeahs filling people. It's their first investment.

It is their first investment. How has your super been going? Have you been tracking along nicely or is that brand new with your brain a new job?

Well, I know I haven't been tracking on it much until I became more educated listening to the podcast, and then I have been keeping an eye making sure I get paid on the superanoation on time and seeing how that grows.

Oh good, keeping an eye on it is so important because as much as it's meant to be always looked after, as we know from the show, sometimes that's not always the case. Good that you're keeping an eye on it.

Next question I've got for you is do you have any debts?

I do? I have some money that I had. I have to still pay for my master's loan. So I took on a fifty thousand dollars loan and at the moment, I believe it's under sixteen thousand dollars.

How did that work you?

Were you a citizen when you started your master's or were you doing it as an international student?

That's a good question. So I had to ask for a loan in Spain because they want to give it to me, so money had to co sign.

Oh my goodness, Oh my gosh, how stressful.

Yes, and she thought because in the Spain and masters can be like five thousand euros.

So she really.

Yes, she thought I was completely crazy taking on that much money.

Yes, I want fifty thousand dollars. And she's like, what for it?

Would you want that? Especially, as she said before, she was really good at budgeting and saving and you know, being good with her money. She would have been like, oh my gosh.

Yeah, she didn't believe that after you do that course you get a good salary, because in the Spain it's hard to find jobs even though you are very well trained. And so she made me take the loan in two different parts, one for the first year and the seconde for the second year, being very cautious and it took a lot of effort to get her to call sign.

Oh, but you did it, and I'm sure she's very proud of you.

Now. Yes, yeah, I have proved her that it was useful. So yes, she's very happy.

Oh I love it all right. Next question I've got for you is do you use shop Back? If so, what are you buying.

I've only used it one and I bought the tickets to see you guys.

No, did you actually up?

I love the EU shot back for she's on the money event like that is that is artest way to do it. That is she's on the money through and through.

Absolutely it is all right. My next question, my friend, is what's your best money habit? Do you think? I think the.

Best money habit is the long term the posit I have the savings I have is when I pen my student loan the first of each month, I also pay for those savings, so it's like a bill. It's a car direct transfer. So I need to make sure I have the money every month and I take it as a bill, so I always have that money ready and it just accumulates on the savings.

Love. I feel like that's really smart. Next question I have though, what's your worst money habit?

I mean, I have money, but my partner says that I buy tickets for the Price Home Lottery, so I have a membership.

You have a membership with it?

Yeah, I have the VP membership. So every month I did like sixty dollars, I think for you and I get tickets and.

Charity thing, isn't it?

Yeah?

Yeah, you consider it a charitable contribution, which I think is not the worst.

Yeah, that's what I say to him.

Oh my gosh. I love so hard when they say that their money habit is that, because obviously it's like not that detrimental, but it's also just like so in opposite to what we do. But who are way to judge your money values. If you know what you're doing and you're excited about it, I want you to spend your money on that, as long as it's in an educated way, right. Yeah.

I think this comes from my partents when they were working at the same company and the company went bankrupt. So then they want a little bit of a local lottery and they could start their own news agency business.

Did they really?

You always have the hole?

Yes, what are the chances that they won, like a local? How much did they win? Was it a I mean for them to be at a stuf business, I would assume they want a little bit, right.

Yeah, what my mom never told me she really Yeah, she doesn't give exact numbers, but yeah, this gives me hope that people win this.

Yeah, I can't believe you know someone who's done that. I was about to say to you, Oh my gosh, if you win, please call us, because we've never met someone who's won the Home Lottery. So what we're calling out now is, if you want the Home Lottery, call me. I want your money to die. Yeah. Okay, oh my gosh, how good? All right? So really quick question before we go to a quick break is what grade would you give yourself if we forced you to give yourself a money grade?

I feel maybe B minus, B minus you reckon? I think I could be investing more. I feel like I make the most of the morney I get, but I could be a bit better.

What would it take to be better in your world?

Maybe reducing my lottery membership? And sometimes I like to buy things for people budgeting on that well, or when I see something that I like sometimes I also by it. So cutting down on those things.

A bit smart? Smart? All right, We have a few questions, but we'll hold off on them until we're back from this really quick break.

All right, money, direst, I want to ask you about English being your second language, which you can't even really tell, like your English is incredibly good, but to fail in English tests seven times, and obviously you needed to pass that test to be able to complete your degree, which was really important to you. I being honest, if I failed something seven times, I don't know that I could have the will power to try it again. How did

I feel like my mom saying this, it gave me more motivation to try again. So I look for when I fell six times, I look for a really good English school, and I did a preparation again for the exam. And I remember having a child with my mom and my mom said, open your eyes and you might not be able to go on Australian University. You're from Spain, and that gave me the strength to say, yes, I can do this. And I said to myself, I tried just one more time, and that time I got it.

Oh my gosh, Oh yes, Queen, try I try and try again. It obviously pays off. I love that so much. I just I agree with you, Jess. I don't think I would have the tenacity to keep going on. I would love to think I would, right, like in a perfect world that's what we all do, but that would wear me down like three times, and I think I'd be like, you know what, this maybe isn't for me. But I'm so proud of you, even though I do

So did you have to pass that test before you started your masters or was it like at a midway point before.

So it's a test that you need to get certain scored in breathing, listening, speaking, and I wasn't getting that score in writing over and.

Over writing is hard.

Yeah, the grammar and stuff, and I've yeah, I totally yet why that is really challenging. How did you find studying a full master's degree in a language that's not your own, Because that's crazy again, Like I I couldn't even imagine doing a master's degree, let alone. If you said to me, can you take it in Spanish, I'd be like, poor quere Like, I mean that was good Spanish though, good work for one word. I know.

It was definitely challenging and quite draining putting all the mental effort. But at the same time, being in psychology and having a lot of placement, I always thought that emotions are universal, so there was all of this part that had nothing to do with the language, and it was more about connecting with a person. And with all the assessments. I had teachers who could help me as well review my assessments and give me advice, so they

Yeah, Australia has a really high level of international students studying here, which is awesome. Did your university have provisions in place to assist you, like, did you have resources that were available to help with like translation, or to help with like any of those little things that might come up that you wouldn't be prepared for while you were studying.

Yeah, I believe they had services to help with the writing and taking the assessments. At that time, I had been in Australia for a few years, so I didn't use them that much, but they did have a lot of help.

You said before, the goal or your end goal was to spend you know, ten months here and two months back home, which would be amazing. That sounds like an absolute dream if you did that, would you take those two months as a holiday or would you want to be working over there as a psychologist at the same time.

Yeah, that's a good question. I haven't figured out yet, but I think being able to work there it would be great. It's always an open door if I want to stay any longer, or if I want to see clients for a month and then take a month off.

Yeah, incredible. How does your mom feel now now that you've completed your degree? She was a little bit dubious at the start, and then obviously you've done it, You've now got a job. Is she I mean, I have no doubt that she would be really proud of you. But does she now kind of go, oh my gosh, you were right.

Yes, I think she's very proud, and I don't think her comments before were coming from a bad place. She was more like trying to protect me and she doesn't want me to struggle. Yeah, so I feel like now she yeah, I have proven her that I could do it, and she feels quite quite proud and talks about me with the friends and everything. So yeah, I think she, Oh, I happy so much.

How about your siblings, any of your siblings over here as well or they all still back home.

They are back home. They are my older sister, so I'm also like the baby of the family who moved here. But yeah, I like them to visit me more. But a ticket to Australia, just a flying ticket, is like a whole month, the salary of a month in Spain, so it's harsh.

Yeah.

How is a flight from here to Spain? I feel like that's quite a big trip to make as well.

Yeah, it's actually the Antipote. I think it's the name, like the opposite part of the war. Yes, yeah, so there's two flights from here to Barcelona. There's a fourteen hour flight and then a six or seven hour flight, so around like twenty twenty one hours.

Yeah, that's a huge so much. That's massive because you don't just get to go direct right, Like, that's so stressful. How often do you get to go home at the moment.

I've been quite lucky and prioritizing going there once a year, so I've been there a fair bit.

Were you able to travel over COVID as well, or was it a couple of years during that period where you couldn't.

No, I went luckily in February twenty twenty before everything started, and then as soon as they opened in Christmas last year.

I went, yeah, how do you find I Sorry, I have a lot of questions because it's something I've like. I love the idea of picking up my life and moving to another country, but I am very risk adverse just as an individual. It's something that I would find really hard. How did you go setting up a support network in some way that you had never been before?

Yeah? Well, I just when I landed here in Brisbane, I moved into a shared house, so I made a lot of international friends there and I also was very lucky got my first job when I could barely speak English in a retail store in my second week here, and I was working with these wonderful girls who were like very friendly, and they were my first friends here in Australia, and I felt really happy and supported to have a group of people here and a group of people in Spain as well.

Yeah.

Are you still friends with those girls that you lived with when you very first got.

Yeah we talk sometimes so. Last year, for example, some of them came to my bad h and you know, we met a long time ago. But yeah, they always have a very special place in my heart.

Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh, you are the sweetest human ever. But unfortunately, Jess, I think that's all we have time for today. We've got to let you go, but we'll chat more later.

Yeah, yeah, okay, Oh my gosh.

Thank you for being on the show. We are always so grateful for our money diarists. It has been a pleasure, my love. Thank you for having me, Jess. Could you wrap the boring but important stuff?

Absolutely, don't forget guys. 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 exist purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or a financial decision. And we promise Victoria

Three See you're on Wednesday, guys.

Bye.

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