Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr
the Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through 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.
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She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Hello, and welcome to She's on My Me the podcast Millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another Shopback Money Diary Monday, where we get to chat to one of our beautiful community members to learn about them, their money story and all of the fun bits and pieces in between.
Victoria, helloy going, I am excited.
I've got a fun one for you today.
I know because we've been speaking to her beforehand. I don't know what the story is, but she's got a puppy, so ten out ten.
We're obsessed with her so let me tell you her story. She said, coming from a single parent home, financial trauma, and young care situation, I've flipped my life around. I now run my own business and only have eighty thousand dollars left on my mortgage after buying in twenty twenty.
Sorry what By.
Using a few savvy methods, I want to inspire people who have had a hard financial start or are doing it without help from their parents or a partner to know that if you keep working hard, eventually the seeds you plant will fruit. I'm twenty seven, single and one hundred percent self made, but still always learning and growing. I would love to share my story with the commuit need to help others.
Oh my gosh, welcome to the show money Diarist. Are you kiddy? What a story?
Thank you for having me. Yeah, it's a little bit of a rollercoaster ride, to be honest, but a good while.
My gosh, let's dive straight in. I'm so ready. My first question off the bat, Can you tell us a little bit about your money story?
Yeah? So basically it starts off positive. I was kind of that finance kid that would literally search the house for money and I would put all the money together and at the end of the year I would go to like the two dollars shop and buy my family, like just you two dollar pieces of rubbish super cute, and that was kind of my love language, I suppose. However, in two thousand and seven, this is where it all
kind of changed into a negative attitude. I was just finishing primary school and my parents announced that they were getting a divorce. I knew that money was tight and there was always arguments over it, but it was getting even more tight now, and money was now being used to persuade, manipulate, control, and kind of rule my situation, and as a twelve year old I was just left feeling kind of a panic, extrass, sad, and kind of helpless.
It took about one or two years when my parents divorced to kind of settle, and eventually Mum and us kids got a family home, which was great, but it came out of really high cost in terms of a high interest rates and high repayments, which were really hard
for Mom to maintain as a single parent. So we seeked out a mortgage broker, which is the first time I heard about that, and basically this was the anly way that we could really keep the house with a lot of pressure on mom's shoulders to be mom dad, you know, the sole provider and all that. This experience for her was too overwhelming, so basically she kind of gave up and I kind of stepped in and took over.
So at the age of fourteen and fifteen, I learned very quick clear out interest rates, deposits, equity offset accounts, terms and conditions of praise lenders, house valuations, credit scores, everything and one's situation was pretty complex at the time, so it took six to nine months, but I successfully financed the family homes at such a young age, which was crazy to look back on. So from then on
I was very finance focused. I would work in retail and I would basically have my savings as a way to build mum's emergency funds, like I was her emergency funds, and that's how I kind of learned what that was. And then I kept a part time job throughout UNI and university just basically for my family's financial situation, just
to kind of give a roof over their heads. But it did come at detriment to my mental health, as I would you know, work weekends to get maximum pay because of the penalties, but it stopped me from being a social life and kind of having a break from UNI or from school that I would work during the week. As time went on, the family situation got worse and worse. Things got more and more expensive, and kids grew up,
so we got more expensive to look after. I did think about dropping out of UNI multiple times to help with money, but I decided to kind of keep going, and even though I was burning the candle at two ends, eventually would pay off. I graduated from university and got a job as a therapist. However, all first jobs were pretty rubbish, so the working conditions are pretty poor, and again my mental health started kind of declining, but the
pay was good. So from kind of the financial trauma, I was so financially driven to just kind of get more and more better jobs for high and hire pay, regardless of what the conditions or environments were like to work in, just because I was so financially driven to succeed for my family. After a really big rinso and repeat cycle and numerous burnouts later, I decided this is enough. I need to flip the script. I need to stop my story from being such a negative story. That I
had to make it positive. So the first way I did this was to use money to bring happiness enjoy And the first thing I thought was because I was only in my early twenties at this point, I thought I came going to travel, but COVID popped that dream, and so I turned to property, which I knew through and through had given my backstory, and so in twenty twenty, I bought my first apartment at two by one with river views. It was kind of the worst house in
the best street approach. I spent years renovating it, saving freach Renno and doing as much as I could myself while spending all my money and Renno's I kind of wanted to get some profit back after I had finished it, so I airbm beat it and to my surprise, that took off, and so now I have full time airbnbit to help with my mortgage.
Oh how good.
I decided to change my employment story as well as my current job started cutting hours, I decided instead of getting another job and kind of popping that cycle, I decided to start my own business and have to have my mental health and work life balance as the main focus. And I also stepped away financially for my family because I felt like they're in a good enough spot now.
So right now, it is a very positive attitude towards money, and I'm finally kind of reaping that fruit from those seeds that I've kind of sewn.
Yeah wow, oh my gosh. Well, I want to know, now you said you flipped your employment script. What do you do for work? How much money do you earn?
I am a therapist in the ndis realm oh cool? I earn about one hundred and eighty five K a year.
WHOA one hundred and eighty five K? How epic? I feel like that is one you deserve every penny of that because working in that space is so special. But I feel like so many people wouldn't think that that was possible. I want to know, how do you earn one hundred and eighty five K in that role? Did you have to work up to it? Is there a like specialty that you have because I know it can be super varying.
Yeah, I mean I do have a lot of year's experience under my belts, Like I'm not just fresh out of UNI. I've definitely got seven plus years of experience. But also I do work very very hard in terms of like, I do a lot of hours at the moment, just because we're kind of kids coming at me and I kind of keep accepting it. But it's one of those things where I think the Ndis Ray is very very good to us. And I don't have any overheads, so I don't work from an office, so I'm basically mobile,
so I just go straight to my clients' houses. And I don't have any sort of like people like bigger bosses that kind of take out from that pie. So I just have my bookkeeper and then I can charge the full rate and just basically take that.
Yeah.
Cool, all right, talk to me, what is your big money goal, because it sounds like you've done a lot already.
My big money goal is just to basically create numerous streams of passive income by basically owning numerous properties outright dividends, shares, interests on saving accounts, just whatever means possible.
Awesome, So talk to me. Do you have any investments currently?
Yeah, so obviously my apartment is my biggest source of investment. I do have just some safe shares that I've had since I was about fifteen, so they pay me dividends every six months, which is great. And I do have a bit of crypto, and I feel like I'm educated enough in that realm, so I kind of just put my toe into it, but not very much there. And I also get like an interest from saving accounts, so I would like to think that's form of investment as well.
I feel like at the moment everyone's talking about not getting good rates of return on their savings accounts, what are you using? Are you getting good rates of return at this point in time?
It depends to me. In my previous retail jobs, I used to only earn like twenty dollars an hour, and so when I got like twenty dollars of interest, I'd be like, oh my god, that's a whole hour's pay. Who So, I think for me, I kind of look at it. It's more like how many hours is that free money? That makes sense rather than exactly like, oh I made this much or I made that much.
Ye know, it's epic. Yeah, I love that. All right. I know that you've got a mortgage, but I want to know do you have any debts? If so, what are they?
Yeah, so my mortgage is my good debt. My Okay, debt is my student loan, but that should be paid off by next year, and that's basically everything else has been paid in full.
You spoke before in your email submission that you had eighty thousand dollars left on your mortgage? How much did you buy for? Because we're all pervy, we want to know how quickly you've smashed that down.
Interesting sorry for my house was that they wanted it for three hundred thousands, but then obviously COVID here and no one was buying, and the house market was just absolutely crashy. So then they wanted two fifty and I negotiated it for one eighty three.
Wow, one eighty three? What are money? I want to know so much about this circumstance without breaching your privacy, Like, how did you get an apartment for one hundred and eighty three thousand dollars? That's wild to me?
Yeah, no, I think I was really lucky. Like I did go for another apartment, but that fell through, and I was pretty bummed about it. So I kind of knew that I had to act quite quickly if I wanted something. And basically I said to Mom, come with me, let's have a look at it. See what you think, and we'll go from there. And we walked in at like three o'clock on a Wednesday afternoon, and by five o'clock I had bought it. And it was kind of one of these crazy things that like it was just
meant to be. So the realtor basically was like, look, there is someone looking at this property as well. You know, if you're serious about it, please put an offer in. The lady who sold it to me, I think she had had it for about twenty five years or something, so it was it's a pretty old complex and she just wanted to liquid eye, I think, and she just wanted it to go to a good home.
Yeah, that's really sweet.
Yeah, And it was just kind of one of those things like when the realtor kind of spoke it was like, oh, you know, she comes from a good family, and she's worked really hard, and she has a big deposit because I had I had twenty percent at that point, this is what she's going to put down, blah blah blah. And she's like, Yeah, I just wanted to go to a you know, a good home and that someone's going
to have a lot of good memories there. And I initially said I offered one hundred and eighty one, but then she was like, oh, I really want one hundred and eighty five minimum, So I was like one hundred and eighty three, was like okay, And then she wrote me a letter just saying like, you know, she wished me all the best and all the I have really good times there, and it was just it wasn't more like a profit sort of thing for her. I think it was just more about finding the right person to
give them a start in life sort of thing. So it's a bit wholesome.
Yeah, yeah, No, it's so wholesome.
Yeah. So I had a twenty percent deposit and my mortgage was one hundred and forty six four hundred, so I've paid off what is that like sixty thousand or something like that. God, I can't do quick math.
No, that's so fine. All right. You sound like you are pretty good at money. Do you use shop back when you shop online?
I do. I'm not a big online shopper though, but I do use it for like travel and flights and things like that when I can, and I do kind of recommend it to friends and family. But yeah, I'm not a big shopper.
That's okay, love to hear it next ques and I've got for you. We want to know what is your best money habit?
My best money habit is that I kind of save everything. So everything I kind of have bought, I try and like save in full and then I can pay it in full. So like all my reno's, like I saved and did it as I went, so then I didn't have a debt. And so like my car, like wanting a car, I was like, right, I have to save for it first and then pay it in full, so I didn't have any sort of those loans kind of looming.
Epic and to flip that up on its head, what's your worst money habit?
Oh?
Okay, So basically I kind of focus on the want, like I want to save this much money a week, rather than I can save this much money a week. So even though I'm like I want to save like you know, two hundred dollars or something like that, so I can't because I've got like big bills coming in, I kind of get like really stressed and like it
makes everything really confusing. So like that everyday budgeting is kind of really murky because I have like this sort of like I want to do this, but then that realistic I can only do this is tricky to manage understandably.
So and last question before we go to a quick break, what grade would you give your money habits if we forced you to give yourself a grade.
Or I would probably do a B plus just because of that worse habit, which is like the everyday budgeting is not super clear or realistic or automative. I would like for that to be more clear to decrease the stress I have around finance.
Yeah, fair, fair, I like that, and I like that you told us why you would want it to change.
That's really powerful. All right, I've got a lot of questions for you right after this really quick break. All right, Jessica Toacci, let's jump straight back into it. Money dist you have such an interesting money story. I feel like you have lived the lives of a thousand She's on
the money community members. You've been in a care position, you have refinanced your family home at the age of like fourteen or fifteen, You've bought a home, you've paid off a significant percentage of the mortgage, and now your airbnb in your room's out to make even more profit, which is so savvy it's not funny. But I want to go back. I want to be a little bit
more pervy. On your family circumstances, how did you find yourself in a position where you were fourteen fifteen and having to deal directly with a mortgage broker to refinance your family home, Like why do you think that you ended up being the driving force in that circumstance.
Yeah, it's a good question, basically, Like, I do have an older brother and two younger brothers, but I think when it came to responsibility, it always kind of felt on my shoulders. I always was one that I think my parents knew that I was really financially driven. I knew about the basic things. I knew how to say, I knew what interest was. When I found out about
compound interest, I was like, what is this magic? I think that just when push came to shove and I could just see Mom not coping, and I knew that basically this was either sink or swim sort of thing. I knew that, all right, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm going to give it a go. And I had a really really good mortgage brokeer like kind of identified the situation in my family and what was kind of happening. And my older brother was not at all
savvy with money, he's only two years older. I guess it just kind of fell on my shoulders in terms of, well, this person knows what she's doing, I'll walk her through it. I'd run down and get mums sinnature and come back and then kind of thing. So it was kind of just something that I think always happened, like when Mum was ill, Like I said, I'm a young kerr, I would always be the one, you know, taking her to the hospitals or taking her to her medical appointments or
making sure the family unit was still running. So I think because I had that responsibility on my shoulders, I think that it just kind of fell into my lap. And I think also like there's a part of me that just wants to sort of fix everything and save everything for my family's sake.
So that sounds like a really big burden to carry. Are you okay now with that? Like? How do you feel when we reflect on that?
It was really interesting to reflect on it at the beginning because I was getting quite like emotional about it. And I was like, Wow, I've forgotten that I did all this, and in a weird way, I kind of normalized it all. And so when when I was looking for an apartment, like, I already had lots and lots of experience behind that, so I already knew what I was doing. But then I talked to my friends and they'd be like, they wouldn't have the knowledge so that
I had. And I kind of found that always really strange. But looking back, you're like, Oh, that's why you have that knowledge, and that's why that experience shaped you the way you are. And I guess I'm very determined on using hard experiences as a way to flourish. I suppose, you know, taking like, Okay, this whole situation happened to you.
You know, you were forced to step into a kind of co parenting role and adult responsibilities, but you know, let's try and use that to your advantage, you know, later in life. So I can I answer your question.
No, it totally answers the question. I always feel bad when I'm like asking really perfect questions that involve other people. It's so easy to be like, oh my gosh, money dires like you did X Y and Z tell me about it. But when there's a caring role in there, there's often a sense of obligation. And we're not saying that you had to, but like there wasn't anyone else in your circumstance, I'm assuming that could step up and
take that role. You're usually thrown into that circumstance and obviously you didn't have any other option but to embrace it. But I think you did it beautifully.
Yeah, And it's one of those things that I think that I have to always remind myself, you know, like you did that. You're amazing, Like that's incredible. And I think now that I'm getting older, I'm sort of really making sure that I do a appreciate myself and I
do look after myself. And I think from your previous podcast like identifying, Yeah, you do have financial trauma, Like what you went through was not just your typical like you know, twelve year old life and kind of working through that and I do get psychological help and I do pack it a lot. And it's interesting because it's like a love hate relationship with money, Like I love kind of earning it and building it and you know, using it to travel and to build my investments and
things like that. But then there's also like this trauma around do I have enough of it? Am I working hard enough? Is it all going to blo up tomorrow? Sort of things. So it's kind of like still work in progress, but definitely doing a lot better and just kind of taking those mental breaks when I need them to kind of be like, Okay, don't check the mortgage numbers today, and don't panex so much about only having this much in your savings, so kind of putting those boundaries around finance.
Which which is really important, really really important. I want to know, at what point did you realize that the circumstances you had been through were traumatic? So obviously trauma carries a lot of different meaning for other people, but obviously on the podcast, as you said before, we've been talking a lot about financial trauma, and I don't think
people realize how significant it can be. Was that a bit of a jarring experience when you're like, wait, no, that was a traumatic circumstance as opposed to just how you grew up?
Yeah, well, I mean I kind of flagged financial trauma actually a couple months before I heard your podcast, and when I heard your podcast, I was like tic, tic, tick me, me, me me. And it's kind of interesting because when you look back on your behavior, you think, oh, that's just me, but then you're like, actually, no, there's a reason why I have a bookkeeper and I don't want to know anything about the financial so I'm just like, yep, you guys thought it. Oh God, just tell me how
much tax to pay. It kind of like is one of those things where like I'm very big on kind of figuring out why things are making me feel the way I'm feeling. Like I do have anxiety, and I've been battling and managing that for many, many years, and I think that's what came first. So kind of that time that I said back in my money story around I didn't know whether I wanted to stay in UNI or if I should drop out and go full time
and retail to help the financial situation. That was really where my mental health kind of broke, because it was like what do I do. Do I help myself or do I help my family? And I felt really uncomfortable with kind of letting my family down but also kind of pursuing me, And so then I started getting psychological help instead of managing that, and my anxiety grew into what you call generalized anxiety, which means that it's not just triggered. It means that you're in this general state
of anxiety all the time. And I think I've worked really hard at kind of like understanding why. But recently I came around the topic of financial trauma and I was like, what does that mean?
What is that?
And I realized that my anxiety is very much built on that, and so that was really interesting to sort
of be like, oh, here's a light bulb moment. A lot of your anxiety around finance is because of basically not having a lot of it growing up, and it always being used as a like way to sort of like control your situation or dictate your situation, and you know, if you don't have it, you're going to lose everything you and lose the house, You're going to lose this, that and the other, and always making sure that I
had plentiful of it. So it was one of those things that when I kind of found out about it, when the light bulb kind of came on and I realized this is what I had, it was upsetting at first, because you know, no one likes to have trauma in their life, but as well. It was kind of like, right, how do I unpack this? How do I kind of grow from this? How do I use this as a strength. Now I can't undo the past, but I can't change the future. How do I sort of manage this? How
do I use it as a strength? Basically?
I love that. I think that's so important. What would you say to those people who are going through a circumstance you know that either replicates or feels a little bit similar to yours, but maybe hasn't reached out for help yet.
Reaching out for help was the hardest thing that I had to do. It took me a lot of time for me to reach out and say, hey, I need help. Given the family situation that I was in, I was always the one that, you know, when stuff hit the fan, it was we go to me. And I never felt
like I couldn't not be okay. And it took me a lot of time to like pick up the phone and call a counselor, and eventually I did, And then I kind of like got used to being like, you know what, I can askly help all the time, and I can always express my feelings and being a therapist. I'm very good at. I've kind of just communicating this is how I'm feeling, this is what I'm and doing, and soon to normalize that between my friends, like, hey, this is how I'm feeling today. Hey, this is what's
going on. Hey, this is kind of where my headset is at. I think for anyone that's in a similar situation to me is to always value your mental health. Like there were times where I was like very financially focused, and it was like, keep working in this job, even though it's got rubbish conditions and you're shaking all the time and having panic attacks. Don't worry. You'll pay off because you'll get a bigger amount of salary in the
next job. But I think, looking back, I really wish that I could just have a bit more patience and just be like, Okay, you need to sort of like just stop look after your mental health. It might take another six more months, or it might take another year to get where you want to be financially, but that's not the important thing. The important thing is your well being.
Your important thing is that you know you feel okay when you wake up in the morning, and that you feel happy and that you don't feel like this heavy chest feeling. That's what is the most valuable thing, and that should always be your focus. So it's kind of one of those things of like just reaching out for help, but also reevaluating what's important to you. So I think like valuing finance is super important, but valuing your mental
wealth being is going to get you everywhere. Finance is a long term game, you know, it's not a short term as much as you might be going through really hardship. It's a long term game.
Oh my gosh, well, I think that that is a beautiful place to leave it. Thank you for that. Thank you for sharing your money story with us. We loved it. Thank you.
Thank you so much for having me. Guys. I very much appreciate it. And I hope that my money's theory can inspire other people or if anyone's going through that situation, that they can, you know, get some help or just know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel always.
I am absolutely certain it will. My love see you on Wednesday, guys. Bye. 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. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS TMD and obtain
appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Divine and She's on the Money are authorized representatives of money Shoper Pty Ltd ABN three two one six four nine two seven seven zero eight AFSL four five one two eight nine