Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud your
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.
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 Millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another shop back Money Diary Monday, where we get to chat to one of our community members to learn about their money story and their finances and all of the other fun bits and pieces. And of course I've got Victoria. Hello, how are you going.
I'm very excited for this money Diary because you said it was a good one earlier and now I want to know.
I feel like money Diarist. We know you really well because we got to meet you at one of our events this year, so that's really fun for us, not that anybody else knows anything about.
They don't know which person that was, which state that was in, or even which event it was, so ha good work working that one out.
No, but exciting for us. But let me tell you all about our gorgeous diarists, she said, from being raised by my gorgeous single mum, to having a spinal fusion surgery at thirteen, to running away with the circus, studying in Montreal, nannyingham Paris, bartending in London, performing in the South of Italy. Then, as we all know, spicy cough hit, I had to move back home at the end of
twenty twenty. I'm now twenty two years under, thriving. I've bought two properties, married the love of my life, started renovating our home but good investing, and most recently quit my job to go back to my passion for circus and travel.
Is that not very fun?
And you're only twenty two years old? Money dos? Welcome to the show. How many lives have you actually lived?
Feels like one hundred at this point. It's been a long twenty two years, well, actually twenty three now I just had my birth Happy birthday.
Thank you.
Oh my gosh, how fun. I cannot wait to get into this. This feels like it's going to be.
A wild one.
So let's start off the way we always do. Can you tell us a little bit about your money story.
Yes, So, as I said in my money diary, I grew up being raised by a single mum who is like a wonder woman. She left home at sixteen and has been just doing her own thing ever since. Then. She worked full time, studied full time, and raised me, putting me through private school and traveling overseas and whatnot on her single parent income. So I learned a lot from her. She was accountant, so she knows a little bit about.
Money around and.
Basically taught me that you can have everything, you just can't have everything at once. So I lived and I still live very much by that, making sacrifices in different areas of my life continuously so that I can achieve the things I want now and I can also achieve the things I want in the future.
Oh my gosh, I feel like I get along really well with your mum, So ten out of ten for her.
I want to know. Now, what do you do for work, how much money do you earn?
So for work at the moment, it looks a little bit different.
I recently quit my full time job that I have been doing for the last year, so I could take a step back and focus on training to get back into circuits.
But obviously I had bills to pay, two mortgages and whatnot.
So I basically worked out our budgets and what we needed between me and my partner to pay each week. So it comes about thirteen hundred to cover all bills including tax between.
The two of us.
We split that evenly, and we're both required each week to make six hundred.
And fifty dollars.
So I do that at the moment through working in hospitality, so I work as a catering chef or as a catering waitress at different events. I also work at a fast food franchise, and I also do uber each driving, so each week looks a little bit different. But as long as I'm making that money, we pay our bills.
Oh my gosh, I love that you're so specific about that, but you're also so flexible in it. You just know how much you need to earn and you do it in whatever way works that week.
That's actually so cool.
Thank you.
Yeah, it's really nice having lots of flexibility with that, so I can focus on training or some weeks, you know, we might have extra bills or things we want to buy in particular, and then we work a little bit harder to make those goals happen.
Yeah, of course, all right, Next question, what is your big money goal? What are you working towards?
So at the moment, our overall big money goal is financial freedom.
I feel like most people would love.
That, And that's just kind of at the moment, little steps because we have some other bigger, sooner goals that are happening, but working in the background on investment properties and investing in the share market that's still new. The other big money goal is we want to go traveling
and potentially move overseas next year. So hopefully by June next year we will be off traveling, and then how long we go traveling for and whether we move depends on what income we can save or what income we can produce what we're overseas.
Love Lura, talk to me. Do you have any investments, If so, what are they?
Yes, So I have one investment property, which the rental income on that covers the mortgage as well as the property management fees and rates, so basically water and body corp poratepies aren't covered, but majority if it is. However, we pay the mortgage ourselves through our own budget on that property, so that the money can just go into the property to pay all the other bills and just
sit there in case something comes up. We also have our home that we live in, but from next year onward it would be an investment property, and the rental on that one, looking at the moment should cover everything surplus, so we'll cover all bills and mortgage on top of that. Then we have about one thousand dollars in chasas that's still new. We've put about one hundred dollars a week into our Chezea's account just to kind of play with the market a little bit, which has been fun. And
then I have Super. It is really low because, as I said, I spend a lot of time overseas, so my Super really has just been the last you know, two years that I've been back in Australia. Yeah, that's about five thousand dollars.
Oh my gosh, Jess, So I'm not gonna lie.
When I asked a twenty two year old talk to me about hearing the vestments, that is not the response I was expecting.
I am very envious the where you are. It seems like you're doing incredibly well.
I'm just so impressed. I want to keep asking questions. I'm like, what is going on? Save it after the app? Okay, okay, sorry, sorry, all right? So next question you mentioned mortgages before. How much debt do you have and what's it made up of?
Yes, so I definitely have more debt at the moment than i'd like.
But we have two mortgages.
So one of them is two hundred and five thousand, and then the others one hundred and sixty seven thousand, so they were smaller properties, so the mortgages on them aren't too bad. And we pay about two hundred and fifty a week on one and two hundred and ten on the other. And then we have recently installed solar panels on the property we live in and we're paying about interest free for five years, so that's about nine eight hundred. Then we have a personal loan at the moment,
which is kind of new. We got that a couple months ago, just to help us our renovations. We have like a lump sum in one of our accounts that we don't touch and that could have gone towards renovating. But with me deciding to take a step back from working and focus on training, I was a bit nervous to put all that money into our renos and then not have anything if something was to come up with either properties or just life in general. So for us,
it made more sense to pay the extra. I think over the two years of the loan, which is ten grand, we pay an extra five hundred dollars, and I was happy to put an extra five hundred dollars into that to save us that extra money on the signing case something did come up. We do have our small emergency fund, but that's kind of an additional I haven't visil line, so I've been paying that off for the last two years, a little bit each week into a three four thousand dollars.
Four thousand dollars for invisil line. That is a money win just at that side.
Note not quite, that's what I've got left to pay. I was like, okay, yeah, alright, story four.
But yeah, I'm yeah, four to go, And then I have hex, so that's about six grand. I did a couple of subjects while I was overseas by a correspondence and that's a he's left on them.
Yeah, very cool. That story didn't check out.
As a recent Invisile Line graduate and Jess being a current invisil Line student, we were like four grand.
That doesn't check out.
I know.
I was about give me your number details, like we need to get in contact with them. That stuff cost us eight grand each.
Absolutely not, But moving on, I want to know you seem pretty savvy when it comes to money. Do you use shop back when you're shopping online?
Yes?
I do.
I heard it.
And it took me a little while after listening to the podcast get into it convert, but I have been getting into it. I don't shop a lot online, which I hear often in your money diaries, but I do my best. I have the Chrome instension and the apps,
so whenever I am shopping, there's being used. So I've got a few things pending at the moment, but I've got about twenty five dollars in that's been approved, and I've been keeping an eye on the gift CUD percentages to buy some more Bunning scouchers and Jetstar gift cud that's really Sprout Renovations and our travels.
Did you use our code when you signed up to get yourself ten bucks as well?
I did? Yeah, which was nice.
Genius smart.
That's free money if anyone's doing stuff shot back, SotM, that's the code. I used it when I signed up to get the ten dollars like you might.
As I didn't. I didn't get it. Maybe I should hit them up.
I had to get it and test it and then tell whom I wanted to work with them. They didn't give me ten bucks for signing up. Sucks for you, Yeah, what a stooge. If anyone else wants to get ten bucks when I couldn't go for it, ten out of ten can recommend as a solid money win. Next question I have for you, I feel like this is going to be a goodie jess. What is your best money habit?
So I think my best money habit is that I'm continuously working on my budget and kind of the money that's coming in. Working in the various jobs they have over the last couple of years, haven't been earning a set income weekly, monthly, yearly, at all, so I have one hundred different notes for pages on my computer writing out different budgets and all of our bills and when they come out each week or whether they're paid monthly, and yeah, that we have at the moment, we have
three different budgets styles. One is if we've just made the minimum that week and it pays our bills and a little bit towards investing, a little bit saving and our emergency fund, and then there's comfortable, and then there's like extra plus and then our money gets divoted across the different areas of our budget depending on how much
money we've made each week. So that definitely, I think is probably one of my best money habits is that, Yeah, I'm just always on top of it and trying to make my money go as far as possible.
That's a really cool idea for people who are living with a variable income, having like a track client system almost for your your budget of where it's at, because we get questions a lot about variable income, and that's such a smart way to do it because like your base level would be bare minimum covering costs. That's the most important thing any of us need to do, right.
But then on the times or the weeks when you do have more money, it's nice to know where that's going, because otherwise that's when we tend to just like spend it on whatever and it just disappears exactly.
Yeah, in your mind, it becomes like extra money, exactly, extra money you actually this week, and it should go somewhere, right. Yeah.
I learn that word on this podcast.
Fungible.
Yeah, I know, I really do you know what? That word gives me the ick? I know it's legitim.
Sounds like fungus.
It's just it's gross, right, Like it's a gross word like fungible.
Like could you guys not have thought of something cuter?
They could have, but they didn't. One out of ten do not recommend? All right, I want to know. Let's flip this narrative on its head. I ask every week, what is your worst money habit? Give us the goss because I feel like you're good at everything.
My worst money habit is definitely, I would say impulse buying. It looks a little bit different to other people. When I really want something, I will just buy it regardless of whether i'd like, you know, I could have saved up for it, Like I don't know if you can see in the background this little tank here is my sake.
Oh my god, bought it one day. He just came home with.
A same That is very funny. How did your partner feel about just coming home to a snake?
Well, he actually is studying to be a zoo keeper, so she's in the circus.
He's at the zoo. Like it's like a match made in heaven. It's an obsessed with this couple. I want to know so much more.
Last question before we go for a really quick break, what grade would you give your money habits if we forced you to give yourself a grade?
I think I give myself a B plus.
I think I've been set up and I've continued some really good habits. But when it comes to a little bit more of a structure, because I haven't had one before, I do struggle with that, especially, you know, when I have had full time work or structures like you know, increasing super for the future. I think that is where I need a lot more work.
Yeah, okay, I like that, but I also feel like, as a woman who is twenty three now years old, like a bee, I'm not nah like I'm just throwing you straight in the bin.
There you are very close to an A plus, my love.
Let's talk more about your zookeeper partner straight after this break though. All right, we are back and I want to dive straight in over the top of you, Jessica Ricci. I do apologize this is a bit perfect, but I want to know more about your zookeeper partner. Where'd you meet? How'd you meet? Like, how long have you been together? You're already married and you're twenty two. So to me, this is just wild because at twenty two, I was not the most responsible human, if we put it like that.
So, if I do say so myself, we have a cute little.
Oh love, sorry, oh really wanted a more there.
So we met in Sunday School when we were children and became best friends and we were in separal for many years, and he actually told me when we were twelve that he would marry me, and I was like,
your little creep stops. But then, you know, through life, we hadn't seen each other for about six years and mainly due to my traveling, and I hadn't seen him or his family or had any contact, and then on Valentine's Day last year, we ran into each other and then Yeah, basically within that week we were like, we're still as obsesses we were when we were twelve, and then we got married August last year, six months between us meeting and getting married, but obviously we did have
that history. So yeah, because he told you when you were twelve that he was going to marry you.
Did he say I told you so for that one?
Yeah, like did you have very cute you know what? Anybody else would have seen that as a red flag.
Our money directs is like straight on in, let's go, let's marry this man.
Yeah, that's so safe.
What are your plans for when you're traveling with the circus?
Is that?
Like, will you be traveling, you know, state to state because that's how you know, circuses generally will perform on like a roving schedule where they're traveling around. What does that look like for you and your partner because I'm assuming being a zoo keeper there's a little bit less flexibility there and he'd probably be based in one place.
Yeah, so the circus. I've yet to work in a traveling circus. It's definitely a goal of mine, but I've worked in more like corporate spaces of circus. So if you have a big corporate event, people hire performers for those, or I've worked in like stationary shows or but once I have like residency contracts, So that does make it a little bit easier for if I was to get
a contract that's traveling. We've already talked that he would, you know, come with me and he would either be a roady and help you know with pack up, pack down that kind of like manual labor site because he's done that in the past. He worked in sound and learning prior to working with animals. Or I am trying to convince him to do a surface acting with me.
He's not so keen.
He has done knife throwing in the past. And I don't know if you've ever seen, but there's.
A wild I just came home with a snake. Oh yeah, my partner's got to be a zerologist.
What do you do? Oh I'm in the circus and my partner throws knife.
Yeah.
But all of that supported by good financial underpinnings like what you've got mortgages as.
Well, live your best life, Live your best life. I want to be you when I grow up. What would you guys do together?
And also what do you use because there's like a lot of different areas within like I guess the spectrum of circus that you can specialize in, right.
Yes, So I'm an aerialist, so that's my main thing. So I do anything that's in the air, silks, trapeze, lira, etc. So I've worked in the circus professionally since I was fifteen. So I took a year off school, did a full time course, and then started working in the circus. Did go back and finish school, but yeah, I've been working since then, so that's like my main thing. I do a little bit of ground stuff, but I'm a bit clumsy on the ground. My safe place is in the air.
Oh my gosh, I'm obsessed with you. I love this all right. When it comes down to it, I want to know how did you end up with mortgages so young? Can I be a little bit pervy and ask, because obviously, when you're twenty two and you obviously have quite varied income, it's not as easy as going to the bank and saying, hey, I have a twenty percent deposit, give me a loan. So I feel like there might be a little bit more backstory there that I would love to know. A bit more about my love.
I'm glad you asked, because I love telling people how I got into the property market because it's a little bit different, and the kind of asterisk I'll put on it is that I was not looking for my dream property and I was happy to be flexible with what I was finding, so that gave me a lot more opportunities.
But when I was overseas, I was studying, and I was one day, I was just sitting in my room and I was like, you know what, I want to move back to a show and I want to buy a house, which is really weird.
I was really enjoying living.
In Europe and never thought I would ever come back, and so I on that contract. It was all the despenses paid, so what we earned from that contract just went straight into savings. We didn't have any bills, which was really amazing for about nine months that I was on that contract, and so I saved up a pretty penny. But then COVID hit and I was stuck in London during majority of the first sint of COVID, and so all of that money went down the dream.
Oh so that was a bit sad because that.
Was meant to be, you know, my deposit for a house. So when I came back, I was feeling a bit deflated. I only had I think I came back with only about two thousand Australian.
Dollars understandably so though.
I'm not going to get you very far on a deposit for a house. But I came back and I started working at a restaurant as soon as I got back, and I worked as many shifts as they would give me, so I think I was working fifty six hour weeks. Towards the end of that, I took a second job on the side. I was living with my month, so I was really lucky not to have to pay for rent, and I would mainly just eat the carcasses of what grocery she was buying, so I didn't have to buy
a lot for myself. And I took the bus even though I had a car, to save on those expenses, and I saved about twenty grand. And I went to the broker when I only had about five saved and said, hey, this is my plan. I'm fast tracking to save twenty grand in the next three months. Right now I only have five, but I promise you I will get there. What mortgage can I get and what do I need to set up my finances to make sure that that
will happen early next year. And so I started looking for properties about four months after I got home and I had that savings, but as we all know, the property market has been a bit crazy, so a few of my offers were rejected. But finally I found a place that was about one hundred grand less than they said they would loan me, and I was like, perfect because it's a much more affordable mortgage each week.
So I'm glad I did that.
And I bought the property on my own, so my now husband wasn't a part of that at all. We kind of met during that process, but that was my thing and I saw it through on my own. And then the second property we did buy together, we used that equity on the home I had bought on my own to pay for everything for the other property, so we had to put no money towards that. We had
quite a bit of equity. I think it was about fifty grand in those six months between when I bought this property and when we were looking at the other property that we had to play with.
So holy moly, do guys share your finances fully as a couple.
Yes, I know that lots of other couples don't, but for us, it just makes it easier. He is happy for me to take the reins with that. When we met, he didn't work very much. He had a lot of after pays, it paid debts and we kind of worked together to get better habits and he's now like super interested. But by putting it together, it just gives us a little bit more money to work with each week and stretch a bit further.
It's just whatever works to you, Like, there's no right or wrong. Like you said, some couples that doesn't work, but for you guys, it does and that's awesome.
Yeah, I love it so much. So what's the property plan moving forward? Is the plan to build up some equity and purchase some new houses or what are we doing when it comes to creating passive revenue?
Yes, so that is the plan.
We are plenty on sitting down with a broker again in a couple of weeks to see if there's a potential for us to buy another property before we go overseas next year and see if that's something we want to do. So obviously our finances don't are definitely not
in a position at the moment to buy somewhere. But by the end of this year, we'll be ready to go back to full time work, and so we'll probably sit down with them and ask, Okay, what do we need to be earning, what do our bank need to look like, how much equity do we need to have on the property to buy a third or a second investment property, and just see if that's something we want to push ourselves to do or if we'd rather just
relax and not. But we're definitely keen if we can do it to do that, just because once we go overseas, we won't really buy for a few more years. So yeah, there's definitely the opportunity to get another property. The valuation on the house that we live in has gone up since we bought the other property, so there is a little bit more equality to play with again, which was quite nice.
Yeah.
But yeah, and just by year at the moment and working with someone to see if that's a possibility.
Oh my gosh, I'm obsessed, Like, that's crazy to me that you're in such a strong financial position because you know, me being me, knowing enough about mortgages and how it all works. I genuinely thought you were going to come in and be like, okay, cool, like there was some family help there. But you're a little stellar saver and I should never have doubted you.
What a queen.
I love this well, there was a little bit of family help, you know, having your bills paid for and not having to pay you know, MP and groceries every week definitely, you know, makes.
It much easier to save the deposits.
So very grateful for that at the beginning.
Of course, of course, how did you find working overseas in terms of income and tax because that's something we get asked a lot. A lot of people are really interested, I think now, especially after being locked up for a couple of years during COVID, people want to know about I guess that more nomadic lifestyle where you do you
get to trouble around and do things like that. Did you find it really complicated, you know, living in one country earning money, but then obviously, like your Australians, you've got tax responsibilities here. How did you navigate that and figure out, you know, what the right thing to do was.
So I buried my head in the sand Noorday.
Yeah, honesty, I'm probably not the best method.
I I think kind of end of last year, I finally did all my tax returns for the last you know, six years or whatever I had, but I haven't been done. But the kind of benefit of me doing that, or how I was able to do it without getting into too much trouble with When I was overseas, I was under my British passports, so I'm a dual citizens.
Yeah, Okay, So most.
Of the time when I lived in Canada, I didn't work, so I didn't have to worry about tax implications there, and then the rest of the time was in Europe, so I was under my British pastplort. There's definitely a few things that I am drew to look at over there in terms of like, I'm pretty sure one of our contracts we had some sort of like insurance or taxes that were under like a Germany umbrella, and we have some money that we were owed back, but it was all in German on the piece of paper, and
so I just never looked at it. But I'm sure I've got some money over there that either needs to be paid or I need to get back. Yeah, Yeah, definitely was the best attitude I had towards it. But yeah, definitely moving forward when we go overseas next year, we're kind of already setting up how that will look and how I meant to do, you know, the right thing, rather than you know, me just putting my head in the sand and hoping for the best.
Yeah, okay, great plan.
I lack the sound of that.
Oh my gosh, I think that's all we have time for today, Jess, unless you had some sneaky last minute questions.
No, that was such a fun die that was sharing with us. That was just so interesting.
I feel like we were on the a roller coaster literally, or we've been thrown literally into the circus love lovell.
Thank you for.
Having me, all right, Jess, Unfortunately it is time. Can you wrap the boring but important stuff?
Of course, don't forget guys, the advice shed on She's on the Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exist purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to
make an investment or a financial decision. And we promise Victoria Devine and She's on the Money are authorized representatives of Infocused Securities Australia Proprietary Limited ABN four seven oh nine seven seven nine seven O four nine ASL two three six five two three.
See you on Wednesday.
Guys.
Bye,