Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud Yr
the Order Kerni Whaltbury 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 you be pervy about other people's money stories for educational purposes of course, Welcome back to another one of our Money Diaries episodes where I get the absolute pleasure of sitting down with one of our beautiful She's on the Money community members and chatting to them all about their journey. Let's jump straight into it, because this week I got a message and it sounded exactly like this, Hi, she
Is on the Money. I recently found your podcast and have become a little bit obsessed with it. It's become my ADHD hyperfocus. If you know, you know, I have a budget and even a fancy spreadsheet in it. We've allocated seven hundred dollars per fortnight between my husband and I to spend on whatever we like, but I normally spend ninety five percent of that, plus about another five
hundred dollars that I hide from my husband. I am full of shame, but the dovermine chasing is real, and I just don't know how to switch my thinking and focus on paying down my mortgage, which is actually our main goal. Money Diarist, I am so excited to be talking about this because I think that some people are listening to this going, oh my god, relatable, Like I've got questions. But as always, I'm going to start the money dory in the same way I always do. Money Doris.
If I asked you to give your money habits a grade from A through to F, what grade do you think we would give them?
Actually think at the moment I've risen a little at an as.
Still an a minus. All right, money Doris, I need to know tell me a little bit more about your money story.
So, growing up, my family was very frugal, like walking around the shopping center with a calculator, just making sure we didn't go over budget. I was always told we didn't have very much money, so I never asked for anything. What that sort of caused is as I became an adult, all of a sudden, I had things, and I was never really taught to manage my money particularly well. But I met my husband when I was seventeen.
Oh my god, cut We've been together for twenty years now, no stop it.
And he was always really good with money, so I tried to learn from him. In twenty eighteen, we built our first house after saving really hard. And then a few years ago I approached a financial advisor just because I felt like, you know, we had no insurances, had no will, My super was a mess. So I engaged with them, and I hated every minute of it. In the sense that they were wonderful, but they took my control away, and it was everything they were telling me
was right. It was just that I didn't want to be told how much I could spend. I didn't want accountability.
That's very adhd of you.
I was paying them a lot of money to give me that, so they did my will they changed my super they put me on Income Protection Insurance TPD, basically just secured my life for me. And then at the start of last year, I became very mentally unwell and I required six weeks of hospitalization. While I was in that hospital, my financial advisor just put on a cape just like looked after me and my family, and he did all the paperwork and I don't only ever have
something slid under me for a signature. And I ended up getting nine months of income protection because of him, and we would have been an absolute strife without that. Then I was able to return to work November last year, where actually now we've sold our old house and we're building our dream house. Oh yeah, so in the past twelve months it's been really turbulent. But come out the other side.
Oh my goodness, how are you feeling now, because that feels like a whirlwind. And I mean, I don't think anyone is ever prepared for, like mental illness to take us kind of take us down like that, like six weeks out for the count, Like that's big. You can't plan these things. So like, how's life now?
I still have some of the I guess scars you could say my feelings can get hurt a little bit easily. I don't have the resilience that I used to, but I'm also a loe stronger in a lot of ways. I know that I can come from essentially not wanting to be alive to thriving. And I'm really proud of myself for that.
I am so proud of you. We haven't met in person, but I already know I've obsaysed with you. But also this self awareness, like for someone to be able to say, yeah, look,
my resilience is really down, like I'm sorry. People don't usually have that level of self awareness about themselves to be like, look, my feelings can be hurt a little bit easier, Like most people just deny until they like that is not something that people are willingly going to admit most of the time, and if they do, it's after like twenty years of therapy, babe, Like they're like, yeah, actually, maybe my therapist was right, Like my feelings do get
hurt a little bit easier, Like do you know what I mean? Like that self awareness that's iconics. I adore that, and I mean I don't adore that you went through that, but I feel like you are definitely on the right path and doing things that you know are hopefully making sure that you are thriving into the future. Now you said that you've recently discovered the podcast Welcome to the Family. I'm very glad that you are here. But you're also an ADHD queen, and I get that, Like when I
find a new podcast that I am obsessed with. I'm not so much a money girl, because like I was a financial advisor, I'm like a true crime girl. But you best believe I'm listening to every single one of those seven hundred episodes that that place has. It's basically all I'm going to live and breathe until it's done.
So I kind of get that. But talk to me about your budget and your spreadsheet because I kind of want to slip into the conversation about how you managed to find five hundred bucks to hide from your husband. I just need to know, you know, asking for a friend. I suppose my.
Husband leaves one hundred percent of the finances to me to pay the bills, so he never checks.
He trusts me, so it's not really hiding it from him.
Yes, it's easy to hide when he ate checking.
Yeah exactly.
So, Yeah, that was definitely a feeder of my shame. And I've actually I had an appointment with my therapist about three weeks ago and she said, we need to like weaponize your ADHD.
So in seve hundred percent.
Chasing the dopamine change for spending, I'm going to say that I don't think you can save for six weeks. I think that you're going to buy shoes and you're going to buy clothes, and I don't believe you can do it.
And I was like, right, this woman is using reverse psychology and goal it is working.
I knew I was being manipulated, but I have not purchased one thing discretionary in three weeks.
I'm obsessed. And then it just becomes a hyperfocus.
Yes it has. And the issue with that is I'm such an all or nothing person. Now I'm like, do we really need that extra bag of peas?
Yeah?
Isn't it crazy how far you go? Like I feel like it is very hard to explain to somebody who doesn't have it when we say we're all or nothing, like it can be to our detriment, Like we're not just like, oh yeah, we can like lock in on a savings goal. Well, we can but we're also not eating for the week like we can. But also, I just sorry I sold our house, Like there's so many things that just like it's likely spiral, but like in
the wrong direction to achieve the goal. So we might have achieved the goal, but like, sorry, we actually have nowhere to live and I sold all our furniture on Facebook marketplace. But we did save, and I did what I told you I was going to do exactly. So money Diarist, talk to me about that seven hundred dollars per fortnite, Like, how did you come up with that? Because clearly it wasn't enough.
It was actually my financial advisor came up with it, doing the percentages of how much myself and my husband earned, and that's what he decided was enough. And honestly, when I'm not being silly, it is more than enough. And we roll over to the next fortnite and we're able to save. But it just shiny things and new things and that lifestyle creep, which I've learned about through your podcasts. The new job I got in November was a significant pay increase, and all of a sudden, my skin care,
my clothes, everything has followed it. So I'm really trying to pull that in.
So tell me a bit more about you. You told me that you went back to work in November twenty twenty four. What do you do for work? How much money do you win?
I'm a social worker and I specialize in domestic violence and sexual assault.
Oh, my goodnurse, no wonder, she's so self aware. Oh special human being.
Yes, when they say at least to burnout, they're not joking. I earn one hundred and seventeen thousand a year.
Wow. And is that what most social workers in that space are getting paid? Or Yeah, I know you've been in the workforce for a while, Like how long did it take you to achieve that income?
Yeah, it's definitely not. Social workers aren't paid great, generally, more around the eighty mark. But I've been in the space for twelve years now, so I've worked my way up a little.
Yeah. And I'm assuming that when you said, look, I had like a mental health crisis, I'm assuming that burnout helped lead to all of that.
Yes, it did. One of my clients died and I just I was so disempowered and so sad that women keep dying. And I was working as hard as I possibly could, and it kept happening and I just hit a wall and it took a really, really long time for me to come back with any kind of passion because it just feels like you're running up a hill and you can never reach the peak. Yeah.
Wow, I'm listening to you talk and I'm just like, I've like got goosebumps because I'm like, oh, I like I'm not on the frontline of that, right, Like I am so privileged to get to hear these stories and you know, be part of supporting our community and we hear parts of it, and we definitely are replaced where people do feel safe to ask us questions about these things that they're experiencing, and we have this beautiful panel
of people that we refer to. But like, you are such a special person to be in this position, to be able to give this advice and work in the domestic violin and sexual assault space and that would have been so traumatic, but the fact that you care so much. Oh, I can't think of a better person to be in this space. Like, can you imagine if after twelve years that didn't impact you, Like I would not want to
be that person. Like you are an icon and the fact that you're back there, girl, be for real, Like you're like, okay, cool, I've gotten over that. I have work to do, i have people to help, like you are one of the best people. I adore that. Like, I'm just so excited to have met you. Thank you. Tell me a bit more. Obviously, thankfully you had income protection during that period of time that you were off work. But what are you currently when it comes to finances?
What are currently your big goals? What are you working towards.
My goal is to pay off our mortgage, which is currently one point one four five million, and I want to pay that off in fifteen years. So that's going to work out to be around seventy grand a year on top of the mortgage.
Need to know more because a one point one million dollar mortgage is a lot of money. Does your husband or partner have a similar income?
Yeah, he's on one hundred and forty.
Oh very nice.
Yeah, so we're just you know, I have all my spreadsheets. My spreadsheets even have pie charts. They really help me to stay focused. And we've got little mini goals along the way, because one point one million dollars is a really that's a long goal. So we have like every five years we want to go on a really big international holiday. Every one year we want to go, like to the Gold Coast or something like that. And I really want a Louis Vuitton never fool.
Oh, I get it. I get it.
So it's just about getting that across the line somehow.
Oh, it'll get across the line at some point. Like it's an investment, Like the price of those keeps going up. So if I buy it now, I'm actually saving money in the future by not buying it in the future, because it would be way more expensive. Right, exactly, go math, give me your husband's number. I'll call the man up. I'll let him know. We're basically making money here.
Exactly.
So money, darst. Are there any other big goals that you have in mind? I'm making the grand assumption that you don't have children.
I do.
Oh, we haven't talked about them yet, and we don't have to talk about them specifically. I'm just interested in your cash flow. So I was like, are they double income? No kids? Do they have kids? Like, how aggressive can we be on smashing this mortgage down? Like I'm just being pervy? Yes, I have a six and a ten year old, gorgeous.
The six year old is a boy and is currently eating my house out. It's unbelievable how much boys eat. We have like seven hundred dollars a fortnight for groceries, two thousand dollars a fortnight for bills. Yeah, the seven hundred for splurge, and then I've just started investing fortnightly too.
Who are you? Tell me? I need to know a little bit more about groceries because I feel like groceries a hot topic at the moment, and I mean, we're all feeling the pinched when we come to the checkout. Tell me a bit more about a seven hundred dollar per fortnite grocery budget, Like is that for you? Guys? Is that bougie? Is that, you know, just cutting it fine and getting enough week bix to fuel a six year old?
Like?
What does that look like?
It was just enough, but since I was rudely challenged by my therapist, it has become more than enough, so where I'm currently doing my full weekly shop for about one hundred and fifty dollars a week feeding all for people.
Excuse me? Who are you?
We shop predominantly at Audi, of course, and just like little things like butchering your own chicken. That saved us heaps of money and it was not something I ever ever occurred to me. So and just making lunch box snacks at home rather than buying them, and just trying to be really creative.
Tell me where did you get these tips and tricks? Because like, obviously your your therapist sounds like an icon and was like, oh, I bet you can't do it, and you're like, oh damn it. Now I have to prove you wrong. So how did you learn about butchering your own ches? Because I feel like those things. Lots of people are like, oh, I can't save you that much, but I actually can. Who taught you that? Or did you just decide that was a thing? No?
I follow this Instagram page called that money Mum.
Oh no, let's go find her, and.
She just basically talks about how she saves money and does like fifty dollars a week challenges and gets you to follow along. So I can't do fifty dollars a week, absolutely, dairy milk doesn't allow that.
And we've got it, like, sorry, that's for our mental health.
Yes exactly, but yeah, we've halved our bill just by being mindful and eating before we go shopping. Because if my husband goes out shopping, he always gets LCMS. It's like the warning sign that we need to leave him reaching for LCMS.
I feel like that's a good thing, like you clearly know this man well, like mine's a slippery slope. If I take my husband shopping to the supermarket, like we're buying everything, like not in a good way, He'll be like, oh, yeah, we should get a roast chicken. I'll be like, we don't need a roast chicken. Oh yeah, we do. Anyway, let's go to a really quick break because on the flip side, I have a lot of questions because you told me just before that you are investing, and I
want to know about that debt. I need to know how much your house costs to begin with, and then we're going to talk about your best and worse money habits. So guys, don't go anywhere. Are at money dist We are back and before you mentioned that you've got you know, I think you said seven hundred dollars in groceries, two thousand dollars in bills every fortnight. Then you've got like your seven hundred dollars in splurge every fortnite. But then
you've started investing how much and in what? And how did you start that journey?
So we very first started investing with my financial advisor through Hub twenty four.
Oh yeah, and.
He recycled debt through our mortgage and we got a one hundred thousand dollars investment loan and he invested that for us through Hub twenty four. But once we wanted to buy this new house, he pivoted and said, we really need to get this mortgage down, so we took that out. And it's only been since listening to you that I dabbled in Chersias a little bit, but I didn't love it, and I was trying to find a platform that worked for me, and then I found Vanguard.
So now I invest five hundred dollars a fortnite into Vanguard all growth.
Oh, I love this for you? And how did you choose that? Like, I'm just being really pervy, So we do apologize, Bill, you can't be like I investing Vanguard or Growth, Like how did you pick that?
I did a few quizzes on my risk profile, and since I've become much more educated on finance, my risk profile is actually pretty high. I have a really high tolerance. And then I just did a little bit of googling and listened to a few podcasts and lots of people were speaking about Vanguard and that they quite trusted They've
been in the game a really long time. So I went on their website and just went with all growth and I made twelve dollars today, I logged on it's just gone up twelve bucks because I'm good changes in tariffs.
So that's a money win. I love that for us. I feel like Trump at the moment is definitely just playing like roller coasters with our share markets. Like the impact of this man is having is making me feel sick like it is actually terrifying. Anyway, we will not go on about that because it will take our way
the rest of the episode. I need to go back to your mortgage because I think for a lot of people, hearing our mortgage is at one point one four five would make a lot of people sick like and that's cool, but I need to know how much did you purchase for? How much of a deposit did you need to purchase a house that big?
We purchased it for one point five?
Oh okay, Queen.
And we used the proceeds from the house that we sold as a deposit. So it's just amazing how big prices have gotten. We built house and land in Adelaide in twenty eighteen for five hundred thousand, and now I live in Canberra and the prices are just astronomical. So we're building again, but it's one point five seems to be like a discount in this state.
I feel like this is now the way of getting into property and like building our dream home. And you said earlier, like, oh, my husband and I building our dream home, and that is so flipping exciting. But I need to know more about the journey because like these days, it's not like back in the seventies and eighties where our parents could just purchase their dream home off the bat and be like, oh, well, we tick tat box,
We've got a family home. Like nowadays, we're having to purchase a house, you know, wait for it to increase in value a little bit, using the proceeds of that to get into a bigger house. And like, I own a mortgage breaking business, so I see these literally every day people going okay, we're going from an apartment to a townhouse from a townhouse to our dream house, Like it's not a linear pathway of like, yep, I'll just
go to Victoria's business and get some finance. Talk to me about this house and land package that you purchased. First you said it was five hundred thousand dollars, So tell me you purchase for five hundred thousand dollars when and then what did you sell it for?
So we purchased for five twenty eighteen and then we sold at the start of this year for eight forty five.
Oh my goodness. And was that when you were building your house at the time, were you like, this is our dream home or were you like this is a stepping stone? Like what was the thought process of like picking that location in that particular house and land package.
It was just a really nice place to raise children and it was a little bit country like right on the cusp of the city. And we never ever thought we would sell. But then my husband got moved to Canberra for work. We've been renting while renting out that home and we're renting it for six fifty a week, which was, you know, more than we ever thought we would get out of it. But we're just tired of renting and want a house where we can put holes
in the wall and do all that stuff. So we sat down with our financial advisor and just said, like, can we afford to do this? And he said yes, and it kind of went from there.
But we're going to have to dispose of that asset and flip this over here and do a little bit of a backflip and then we can.
Yes. Bless him.
It sounds like he's got his head screwed on. Like when you said, yap, he was doing debt recycling, I was thinking, oh, that feels a bit risky for that level of mortgage. After you told me your income and I'm thinking okay, like no judgment, I haven't seen your plan. And then you said yes but my advisor told me to extinguish this to do this, I'm like, oh, okay, Like he sounds smart. And then when you said Hub twenty four, I was like, yeah, I used to use
that platform as well when I was an advisor. And for those of you, I guess playing along at home. Hub twenty four is basically a commercial version of like a sharesis or a vanguard, where your financial advisor will say, oh, invest on Hub twenty four, and your financial advisor can essentially log into the back end and I could see all your reporting and you know, make trades and stuff on your behalf. But then there's the client side, which
our money direst would have been able to see. So like, it's not something that you're like, oh my god, should I have that. It's more just a like that's usually what advisors use because it has that back end access money dost I want to know a little bit more about debts. So you just have the mortgage that you have at the moment, and the plan is to get out of it, ideally in fifteen years. Yes, that is very exciting. Do you have any other debts? Have you ever been in other debt?
When I was nineteen, I got a five thousand dollar loan to travel overseas that was really tricky to pay down. I just didn't understand interest. I didn't understand any of it. I just wanted to go overseas, which I know you can emphasize.
In Oh, absolutely I can. Like, what do you mean compound interest is basically what happens with debt. That's a bit rude, Yes, and dishonor fees.
I was getting smashed with them all the time. But my husband helped me pay that down, and then you know, we've bought a secondhand car here and there. But I've never had a credit card. My family always instilled in me that if you don't have the money, then you can't afford it. So I've never had that and I've we haven't got any debt except for the house.
Now, that is a good position to be in. I feel like having ADHD not having a credit card is probably a very good thing because like when you're chasing that dopamine high, Wait, you mean I can tap it and it's not even coming out of my bank account either, Like that five hundred dollars that you and I were talking about before that your husband doesn't see like that literally being on a credit card would be the worst thing for you.
I think Apple pay is the worst thing that ever happened to my bank account, just to double click on the side of the phone and boom.
You need to completely disconnect it because, as a fellow adhdre if you make it really hard, then I don't even want to do it. Like if I have to go get my credit card, then I have to face the reality that I probably didn't want that because it wasn't worth going and finding my credit card for. Yeah, you're right, slippery slope though, because this genius now knows oh credit card numbers and no CVC like the back
of her hand. Yes, me too, slippery slippery slope. Money direst I need to know, though, what is your best money habit?
My best money habit is that when I have a clear goal, I am a machine at saving. After I had my children, I had significant ab separation and I needed to have surgery to repair it, but Medicare didn't cover it, so it was going to cost sixty thousand dollars. What I know, Tony Abbot said, women just want free tummy tucks, so we took it off Medicare.
Oh yeah, that's totally it, Tony Abbitt, you absolutely honestly.
So in eighteen months, I saved sixty thousand dollars and I was earning about sixty thousand dollars.
So we need more info, like how do you save sixty grand in a short period of time? Like are you hustling? Are you doing side hustles? Are you selling your entire contents of your house on marketplace? What's going on? It?
Was just sheer determination of like we don't need the heater on, put a jumper on. We don't need to go visit our friends. That's going to cost fuel. Like we just locked down, and I was in a lot of discomfort a lot of the time, and it was just a daily reminder of why we need to save, and so we just put our heads down and every way we could think to save money, we did it. We had no streaming services, like we're making our pet food at home. We were doing everything we could think of.
I am so impressed and also just like so happy that you got that, but like, I'm not gonna lie. I did not know that those surgeries were so expensive, Like had no idea. In fact, I am quite mad that that's the case, because it's like, sorry, that to me sounds like an essential surgery. I know, like that sorry, you just said that you were uncomfortable the whole time, Like, and that was one of your motivations to save. Is that not a required surgery in that case? To me?
I agree?
Anyway, I need to know, let's flip this, what is your worst money habit?
My impulsivity Instagram is she just reads my mind and I might be talking about slippers, and then slippers will pop up, and then I have to have those slippers. So I'm just really impulsive. I've tried doing that twenty four hour thing that he goes, I can't do it because I so badly need it right now, and so that's something that I'm really working on.
I feel like, if you're in that position, I know that it's like, oh, just don't do it for twenty four hours. Go put it in your note section of your phone, or put an alarm on your phone so that it doesn't feel like you're going to miss out. Because I think they're with Adhd as well. We know that we're going to forget, like we know that that's something and you kind of I think that's a lot of our impulsivity because we know that if we don't do it right now, it's probably not going to happen.
So like, put an alarm in your phone at the same time tomorrow to remind you to go look at those slippers again and see if you want them. Like that way, maybe you don't feel as much like you're going to miss out. And that has historically helped me a little bit, and I'm much better at it now, but it is very hard to manage sometimes, especially when you get that dopamine high, Like, how do we redirect that? Why can't it be like a dopamine high from cleaning
my fridge out? Why so rude money darist? At the start of this episode, you said, I reckon, I'm an A mins. What makes you an ans? Like? What would make you an A plus? Because it sounds like, honestly, you've got it pretty together. I know that you're spending a bit more than your husband realizes you're spending, but you're still on track to pay off your mortgage early.
You are still investing, and you seem to have a really good handle of your budget and cash flow, Like I don't think it's as bad as I thought it might be from your diary entry.
I think to be an A plus it would be being able to trust myself with my money and know that that dopamine is not more important than my values, because that's something that really that was the instigator of me messaging you, listening to an episode about values and looking at my bank and seeing that all the things that I buy did in align with them, and what I really want is a safe and beautiful home for my family and to be able to afford to send my kids on school camp and all that sort of stuff,
And what I was doing was going against all of that. So yeah, to become an aplus would be to trust myself and stick to my values.
I'm excited for that because I think that you're on the track to do that. Like it sounds like you've got a lot of good people on your team that support you, whether that is your family or like your therapist, Like you're going to get it, and obviously your therapist knows how to push the right buttons on you, and like I have met therapists before who just don't know what to do with me. So I'll call you after and I think I might need her details money test.
This has been beautiful. I feel like this episode is going to really resonate with a lot of people in our community, like not just the ADHD, but just like the sneaky spending, like maybe being able to hype a focus on things. But then also thank you so much for sharing so much information and just like parts of your journey of like having to be hospitalized for mental health, because I think we need to talk about this so much more often. Because like, it is challenging, but it
is a reality of our situation. And I'm obsessed that your financial advisor came in and was like, write, sit down, I will organize all of this, because not many and this is so good, but not many people get to see their financial advisor actually in action, like you would probably remember sitting down with them in initial consults and then being like, look, if anything happened, i'd come in and make sure you're okay, and you're like, yeah, but cool.
But they do right, Like they just fly in and go, okay, cool, We're going to sort this, this, this and this, and I need you to sign here so that we can get this done and I'll call you if I need anything.
Yeah, I've told him. I sent him an email and said, I think that you saved my life because without that income and without him just taking it all, it wouldn't have got done, and I would have felt like I was hurting my family. So I'll be forever grateful for him.
I'm obsessed. Well, thank you so much for sharing your journey. I'm very very grateful that I got to hear a small part of it. And I know that our community is going to feel exactly the same way.
Thanks Victoria.
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