MONEY DIARIES: Making Change from Classroom to Boardroom!

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 on the Money the podcast Maliles who want Financial Freedom. Welcome back to another shot back money Diary Monday, where we get to chat to one of our community members to learn more about them and their lives and most importantly, their finances. Victoria, Today, I've got a good one for you.

Do you want to hear?

Oh?

I haven't heard that line in a while. I have no doubt it's good though.

Let me tell you all about our diarists, She says. I am a dedicated humanities and social sciences teacher with a commitment to evoking a passion for social justice, especially equality for women. I am a director on a board of a nonprofit NDIS service provider, challenging the status quo for recruitment in this space. Life is not without challenges, including managing a chronic health condition, endemitriosis, with the ever

Oh my gosh, I want to know so much more. Money dorist, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much, Victoria.

Oh my gosh, no, thank you for coming. Oh let's dive straight in. I want to know more about your money story. Please elaborate, my friend.

I guess, yeah, my story is kind of diverse. It's a little bit different. You could say I have one of those stock standard public service kind of professions, but outside of that, I'm also heavily involved in volunteering, and I'm also facing the day to day challenges of having a chronic health condition. So yeah, I feel like I could share a few tips and a few experiences.

Of course you can. How long have you been working because obviously I don't want to elaborate too much, but how long have you been working? And I guess how long have you known about your ENDO?

Yeah?

So I've been teaching, I mean my eighth year now, which sounds crazy.

It just it's gone so quickly.

I had to actually look it up before I spoke to you guys today, and my indo matrices diagnosis. I was fifteen at the time now, so almost fifteen years. It's definitely been a huge part of my life. But fortunately for me, I was diagnosed early and was given that opportunity, whereas so many other women I speak to go many many years without any diagnosis.

Yeah.

Wow, all right, we want to know what do you do for work? How much money do you earn?

So I'm a high school teacher and I earn one hundred and nine thousand gross per annum plus super anuation.

Now how good is that?

Yeah, it's a quality of remuneration, but it's definitely something that's stepped so it's a salary. So as you build experience and accreditation, then your wage grows as a teacher.

Oh of course. And you said before you've done it for eight years now, which I can absolutely sympathize with In a way. I was thinking about how long I've been doing my job, and I got an email a couple of years ago for my tenth year reunion for my high school, and I was like, ah, I feel like I'm going to opt out of tracking, and I'm also going to remove my year of graduation from weekedin. So we're moving on from that. Take from that what you will. All right, money, dirist, I want to know

So I don't know if I'm allowed to have two, but one of my big money goals at the moment is that I'm saving to do some renovations to my house. And I also have another big goal, which is saving to travel overseas to Europe. So sort of got two things happening at the moment.

Air pic al Right, next question, do you have any investments, If so, what are they?

Yes, So I have my super which is tugging along nicely despite the little bit of downturn at the moment. And I also invest in a couple of index ETFs.

Oh how did you pick those?

Basically through a lot of research, like based on my study while I was at university and then reading and listening to podcasts, and yeah, just decided more of a passive approach is probably most appropriate for me.

I love that. Jess and I have just finished a series where we talk about like passive versus active investing and what might be right for you, And I'm loving hearing how clearly you're like, Yeah, the passive approach works for me, and this is the asset class I've chosen. Like that makes me so happy because sometimes people will say things like, oh, well I have this index ETF because that's what my friend said she was using, and You're just like, no, no, no, I did my research.

Yeah?

Like, I have a couple of Like I invested in two different shares and that's just like a very small amount as a bit of an experiment, and one's been quite good, and I'm like, oh, that was a good one, and then another one's performed because that particular company has just had like turmoil hit them in an unexpected way, so I don't think anyone would have picked it.

So yeah, it's a bit of trial and error, isn't it.

But I guess that's where you can go. And I would call what your strategy currently is. I would call your strategy a core satellite strategy where you have your core investments and then you satellite invest around it. And that's exactly what I do because it's just to me, I want to invest in direct shares, but I also know that's not where I want my majority of wealth and the wealth creation because I want the stability. But I also I have fun in the share market, Like,

So I only have my mortgage, and I say only because obviously that's quite a considerable debt.

So yes, I have a mortgage, but a mortgage is a good wealth debt. So talk to us about how much is left on your mortgage and what you purchased that property for.

So I think there's about two hundred and ninety thousand dollars owing on my mortgage, and when I purchase the property before COVID, well before COVID, I think it was about three hundred and thirty five thousand.

Mm hmm.

That's not bad at all.

Yeah.

Yeah, so I live in a regional area, so obviously I'm in that position where I'm not paying a million dollars to enter the market. And obviously before COVID and the big increase in prices house prices, I've worked.

In my favor.

Yeah wow, ur right, Next question, my friend, do you currently use shot back when shopping online?

Yeah?

I do have the extension on my browser, and I feel like I go through spades where I use it all the time and then you know, won't buy anything for a while. But yeah, I definitely use it and it's yeah, it's great free money.

We love free money. That is the money win all right. Next question, we want to know what is your best money habit.

My best money habit is like automating my finances. So I am just a very busy person and I hate having to manually pay a bill or you know, actually have to have things in my head and think, oh, my gosh, I've got to do this, so I automate all of my regular bills, my mortgage, you know, contributions to super, investments, savings, all of that kind of thing. So it avoids that temptation of oh, you know, I'll get to it one day, like I'll contribute to my super one day, or I might inverse one day.

If it's just gone, you don't really notice it.

I feel like that's also one of my best money habits. I kind of feel like it's out of sight, out of mind. If it's set up, I feel secure. I know a lot of people don't feel that way though, They're like, no, I really want to manually, and I'm just like, no, sir, that's not for me, not for me at all.

No.

All right, let's flip that narrative on its head. I want to know what is your worst money have it?

Ah, it's almost hard.

And it actually came to me as I was putting the garbage bins out the other day and I was like, oh my gosh, you need to stop buying excess food. I think I have best intentions. What am I going to half for the week. Let's put a meal plan in place and then it gets to Thursday and I do not want to have that, and so you go to something else and then yeah, so I think food wastage and have falling into that trap towards the end of the week. Well, I might just get something for dinner.

Yes, last week's money darist had literally the same Habit is so funny because I'm exactly the same like past me, who food preps on a Sunday. She's so healthy, she has the best intentions for the week. She believes so much in future Victoria. But future Victoria she just wants to eat pizza. She wants the pizza man, the food to the couch in a perfect world, so she doesn't have to cook that really healthy meal. Because it's also

I think I definitely like, particularly for health wise, it's so much better to prepare food at home, and you know, usually you can get a couple of nights out of it and that kind of thing. But yeah, it's definitely something I need to prioritize. And I think if you come home and you prepare dinner, since you walk through the door, it's easy. As soon as you hit the couch or whatever, it's gone, it's.

Done, totally, all right. I want to know this last question before we go to a quick break, well deep dive further into your money story, but what grade would you give your money habits if you're forced to give yourself a grade?

Oh well, this is my specialty.

And every time I hear people like, oh my gosh, you're so under undercutting yourself, like you should give yourself higher. I think for knowledge, I would give myself an A just based on you know, every day, my education background and that kind of thing. But in reality, I think a B because there's a lot of things I could be doing better and there's always room for improvement.

So I don't think I'm like a solid A. I would say a B plus to an A.

I like that you just faltered to like a Rubricu're like in this category.

I guess this category and the feedback on that, and we'll talk about it at Parent Teacher Info nite. So tell us Money Direst what would mean that you, as a student could go from your current mark up to an A plus. What would it take less talking in class?

Yeah?

Maybe, Like I was definitely a talker in class, so yeah, definitely one of those people. But yeah, probably I think, like, particularly if interest rates increasing, I think I need to move around a few savings accounts. I definitely need to go back to my mortgage broker and get them to check my interest rate.

Oh I can do that for you. I've got a good mortgage broker.

Yeah, I know, I've seen that. Yeah.

So it's just like little things that I've sort of set every six months that I'll revisit. So I think there's a few things that I need to reevaluate, and particularly in the new year, of revisit everything again.

And make sure it's all all chugging along nicely.

I love that. All Right, with that, let's go to a really quick break because I have lots of questions and we'll get through them in a very hot minute.

Alrighty, welcome back, everybody, Money Dorus. I want to kick things off by talking through your endometriosis diagnosis. And the impact that that's had on you. Because we've touched on on the Pod before, endometriosis is one of those things that is extremely commonly misdiagnosed.

It's often ignored.

There's like a really significant problem that I've seen, even just within my personal circle of friends, of people having the symptoms, and they're pretty severe symptoms and more often than not being chalked up to just really bad period cramps. Have you taken a panetole like not necessarily being treated

So it was really challenging because at the time that my family and myself started seeking some answers, I was really only fourteen and in the in society and dometriosis like it was known about, but it really wasn't talked about, and there was among the medical profession a sort of unfounded assumption that a young person as young as fifteen wouldn't have endometriosis. So a lot of the presentations to the general practitioners were, look, it's just bad period pain.

And it sort of went from there.

And once I saw this gynocologist who was like, oh my gosh, you're ticking all of the boxers. I want to book you in next week for a diagnostic laparoscopy. Once that was undertaken, I woke up and I think I'd reached the point where I thought I was crazy. Like I remember saying to the nurse, you know, like, did they find anything? I think my fear was they'd say there was nothing there, and I'm thinking like, like I'm going crazy, there's something wrong.

No, but you're not, You're not crazy.

I remember her saying, no, we definitely found quite a considerable amount. So they removed the end of metrisis during the surgery. So that obviously made a world of difference to my pain levels.

Wow, that's crazy that it took your mum stepping in and really advocating for you. And you know, that's amazing for you. But so many people just either don't advocate for themselves or have somebody who really talks up. Because I feel like too many times people get told it's just period pain. You just need to, you know, maybe lay in bed for a little longer. Have you tried a weep pack, Like a weat pack might really help you.

Yeah, definitely, And when you say to people like I remember when I was diagnosed and I'd returned to school, and you know, everyone is trying their best to be supportive, but because young fifteen year old girls, sixteen year old girls, they don't really understand what it was at the time, and they're like, oh, okay.

Fantastic, you've had your surgery, you're fixed.

And it was so hard to explain that this is an ongoing condition and a huge percentage of women actually have a recurrence, which I have and have had to have five surgeries since then. So yeah, it's such a struggle and a lot of women do fall into that. I want to emphasiz with you so they'll say things like no, oh, I have that period pain too, like oh, I do yoga and like I eat you know, clean, and I do this and that. Have you tried it?

And it's so undermining when people like have you tried eating clean? You're like, this is a chronic illness, Like you're clearly not seeing how chronic this is. Like eating clean might make me feel better for a week, but it is not going to fix the problem. And I think it can be you know, obviously from you, it would just be emotionally exhausting having to deal with questions like that or comments like that so consistently because it makes you feel like your situation isn't as valid but

Yeah, I mean it is getting better, like I have noticed progressively as time has gone on and I've become an adult and in adult spaces, there's less of a tendency for the people I engage with now to say those things. But definitely, as a young woman, a very young woman, I was just, yeah, I felt like there was nobody who really understood.

I'm so sorry you had that experience. It's not one that I wish on anybody. Talking about chronic illness, how does that still impact your day to day life? Like, Endo's obviously something that's just not going to go away. So does that impact your teaching ability or your ability to work?

Like?

How does it impact you day to day?

I suppose, yeah, So I since I've been diagnosed, I find I have, you know, eighteen months to two years of what I call it I refer to as a honeymoon period where I feel quite well, and then in that sort of third year, I start to get the pain recurring quite badly, and that's when it starts to

Feel so exhausted. So it is really tiring.

It's a really an illness that really wanes on you, and you get to the point where you're just like, is there ever an.

End point for this? Yeah?

Wow?

And one of the financial impacts you mentioned earlier obviously taking time off work, using your slick leave, maybe taking unpaid leaves. But you kind of hinted at it in your earlier letter that any chronic illness, the ENDO as well specifically, does have a big financial impact on your life. Can you talk us through that a little bit.

Yeah, So, endometrisis, it has so many direct and indirect costs. For example, I could not be without private health insurance with enometrosis because if I didn't have private health insurance, I would be on public weight lists that are in my region eighteen months two years long. Because surgery for endometrosis is not considered a priority. It's an elective surgery. So with COVID, for example, I wouldn't have had my surgery last year. I would have still be on a

That's insane. It's insane to me that that's elective surgery, Like that is not elective surgery. That is Oh, that frustrates me. And I guess that opens a whole other can of worms of discussion that I could have with you today, which is not what this is about. But it just it blows my mind that things like that aren't prioritized, and you know, to dig a bit deeper into that for a hot second. If it was happening to men, it would already be top of the list, right.

Oh absolutely absolutely.

I think if a male with complaining to their GP, like I'm in this amount of paid like a cart work, I can't go and play goal.

For whatever it is, Oh yeah, straight to the top of the list, like that's.

Correct, and they'd be like, oh my gosh, like we must do something for you.

But if it's a woman, it's like, oh my gosh.

We complain, Just get back in our boxes, I suppose is the summary of that, which is honestly really gross. And I just think that that's you know, putting us even further behind, because that impacts your ability to progress your career at the end of the day and generate

I used to tutor. In twenty twenty peak of COVID, I was tutoring as well, and I just burnt myself out and ended up leaving it. But I definitely, you know, a side hustle with the workload and with the chronic illness. It's just not something that I would contemplate at this point in time.

Yeah, wow, was your experience with chronic illness? What kind of pushed you to become a director on the NDA sport that you're a director for?

Not directly, No, Like it wasn't something that they even knew about, And I would say, they actually don't know about that diagnosis. I was approached JUDA some involvement that I had with some fundraising locally and the board had a couple of vacancies and so they were looking to diversify the board, particularly women and young women. So that's why I was approached, and also my educational background, so they were looking for someone who could bring that knowledge

Oh my gosh. So it was a little bit daunting. Particularly with the men on the board.

A lot of them had an accounting finance back out, so you know, they were very up to date with budgets and cash flow and just all of the lingo basically. So I remember my first meeting. I came in and I'm like, oh my gosh, like they gave they'd email me all these spreadsheets and all these documents, and I

I find that really interesting because I guess too, I want to say sympathized, but I guess back you up on that. I sit on a board as well. I'm the treasurer for TLC for Kids, which is a children's charity that is very close to my heart. I've been doing that for what now over three years, which is crazy.

They sounds so familiar, Like I think I went in over prepared and I knew that they always read the budget and all of that kind of thing and all the financials for the month. But as soon as it came to oh, has anyone reviewed those risk management plans for this client? Or has anyone reviewed that grant application or that letter, They're like no, I'm sorry, like I

And it's not true, like you are so adequate, you've just never done it before, so it makes sense that it wouldn't make sense to you. But I think that that's the difference between you know, men and women, and we talk about it on the podcast all the time, like women will only apply for a job if they think they meet one hundred percent of the criteria, and men are just kind of like floating along. They're like

Yeah? Definitely.

Before I was approached, I would never have seen, you know, an advertisement and thought, oh my gosh, like I should apply for this board. I would have thought that is for a male who is.

Super experienced in their field.

You know, obviously has a finance background, and you know, it's been one of the best experiences because you are an advocate for vulnerable groups in our community and you bring such a wealth of knowledge being from an educational background, like you can look at things and say, well, what is the value in this particular service that we're providing it?

Yes, And do you know what baffles me even more earlier you told me you didn't tell me the statistics, but you told me the numbers. You said it was yourself, another woman and nine men on the board, right, And I was like, sorry, So while you were just talking, I did a little bit of googling. My friend. In Australia, male teachers make up twenty two percent of all teachers in all classrooms in Australia. And to think that then the saturation in your board is majority made all to me.

Yeah, definitely, And I've said it to a lot of my friends and some of them are younger and a couple of them are on boards as well, and it's just so great to see that. You know, they are applying, but we're trying to encourage other women as well.

And you can start small. It might be with your local.

Football club, network club, you know, a really small provider of a particular service, and you can branch out from there. I think, you know, look for those opportunities, but also ask you know, if you see advertisements for annual general meetings being held, you can go along to them. You can express an interest beforehand, particularly if they do say, look, we are calling for nominations. So yeah, there's definitely opportunities out there.

And it's cool to have an impact in a space that you're passionate about as well. And it sounds like you're doing that and I'm just I'm proud to say that you're part of our shes On the mining community. You sound like a stellar human being. Thank you, Money Dorest, Thank you so much. For joining us today. It has been an absolute pleasure learning more about you and your journey and everything that you've been through. I feel like you are so impactful and so young and have so

Thank you so much for having me.

No, of course, all right, Jess, that is all. We will see you guys for another episode of Money Diaries next week.

Bye.

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