She Was Told She’d Never Make It. 200 Rejections Later, She Proved Them Wrong.

My name is Tatasha Bamblet. I'm a proud First Nations woman and I'm here to acknowledge country t Glenn Young Ganya Niana, Kaka yah Ya bin Ahaka nian Ar gay In Mbina yakarum jar dominyamiga Umagahawakawaman damon imlan Bumba bang Gadabomba in and now in wakah ghana on yakraum jar Watnadaa. Hello, beautiful friends, we gather on the lands of the Aboriginal people. We thank acknowledge and respect the Aberiginal people's land that we're gathering on today. Take pleasure in all the land

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

Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast that lets you be pervy about other people's money situations.

For educational purposes of course. Welcome back to another one of our Money.

Daries episodes where I get the absolute pleasure of sitting down and having a chat with one of our beautiful community members all about their journey. Let's jump straight into it, because we got a message this week and it sounded exactly like this, dear, she's on the money. I went from being a small town country kid where there were only eight people in my year in primary school to being a big tael lawyer who is finding her feet financially after applying for two hundred jobs to get.

My first law job.

I have savings and investments for the first time, and I no longer spend every single cent on random items, and of course I have big career goals too. My money story is and I would love to share it with the community. Money Diarist, Welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me.

I'm very excited. People aren't going to know this, but I saw your name out producer book to you because you obviously had a great story. And then I saw your name and I'm like, hey, we're internet friends, like we talk in my DMS all the time, and I was like kind of low key excited because you've messaged me along this career journey of yours.

Being like, Hey, what should I do here or what does this look like?

And I think we've bonded over it, so I'm excited that you've come out of my dms and now you're on my show, Like this is so exciting.

The way I squealed when immering me, I was like, no way. And then I've told literally everyone.

It's a good story.

And it's one of those things where like I'm obviously quite active on socials, but I'm also very active in my dms, Like I love having a yap with my community, Like it's not you know, I just post random stories and then don't reply to you, like if you ask me a career question, I'm like, all right, sit down, babe.

Stop stressing.

And so now I'm glad that we're talking about this on the podcast because I'm hoping that those dms become an episode that help other people feel confident going through this, because it can be heartbreaking to be like I applied for two hundred jobs like so many people would have given up before then.

Right, Yeah, I am definitely known for my grit end my never giving up. But if I could just even help one baby, lawere, just know that it's so common, you will. I love it.

So our friend from across the Ditch is on the show now to give us a lot of confidence. But before we get there, and before I dive further into your story, my Nita Aust, I need to know what grade'd you grade your habits from A three to F If I forced you to give them a grade.

I would give myself either an A minus or a B plus. Considering where I've come from, I'm definitely reckon. I'd be about an ANS B plus good of range.

I'm very excited to learn more about this. I know a little bit about you, but now's your time to shine.

Tell me. Tell me a little bit more about your money story.

So I grew up in a very small town North y Keatto, much like what my money story. See if here was eight of us in my class. So when I started having big city dreams, it was you're not good enough, you won't make it. Tall poppy syndrome was rife that kind of thing, and I grew up in a i'd say probably middle class sort of household. We weren't riding the poverty line, but we also weren't going on yearly holidays. We weren't splurging on big items and

What do you mean it doesn't like that makes a lot of sense, Like you just have an area that you flourish here. Yeah, it's like some people they're like, girl, I couldn't do financial management, what the hell? But I'm actually really good at marketing and economics, like we all just have something that somehow just makes sense to the way that our brain is wired.

Had just clicked and off I went. In the end. During my four years at Yoni, I dealt with my dad being terminally ill. As you know, he's from our Deans. He's going down hellative care end of life at the moment, which is really sad and hard, but unfortunately it is the way of life. My ex fiance was in a motorcycle accident and almost died, and I set exams on the hospital.

For you literally cannot say that you're not committed to your studies or your career, like no knowing you in the background, like this woman, holy gockamole, Like she's told me so much about it, which I'm so grateful for, but I'm just like, sorry, what do you know what I would have been doing trying to get an exemption, like trying to get out of it, like not doing it. And you're like, oh no, Like I could do it on the hospital floor, that's fine. I was like, is that even an option?

You just your make though, And I attribute the way I am to my mother. When I was in high school, my dad had a workplace accident and slipped into depression, in a very very bad depression. So my mum became a single mum. Well dad was there, but she took over the reins of e briefing and I think I only ever saw her breakdown maybe twice that entire time. And during that time, I was the feral teenage daughter and she had my two sisters to deal with at

You're from a small town.

I didn't ask before, but what did your parents do, Like, was this something where they had higher education as well, or are you like one of the first in the family to go through that journey.

I'm one of the first in the family.

That's so sick, isn't it.

My mum was a horse trainer growing up, and then she moved into dairy farming and that kind of thing as a kid. My dad did dairy farming and truck driving, and then he had his accident and didn't work for ten plus years, and then he ended up working for a government role and has only recently retired in the last four years.

I hate so.

Yeah, I'm the first one to go to UNI, the first one to get a big girl degree, and it was definitely the biggest middle finger to everyone that I grew up with that said you wouldn't amount to anything.

And did your parents love that?

Because like, I just I know my parents were really proud of me, and like, I went through that journey, but I didn't face nearly as much adversity.

Were they like jumping for joy? Because I just would have been like, yeah, that's my daughter. She's gonna be a lawyer, Like, ah, how cool.

Yeah, that was definitely my parents. The day I graduated, I was dancing in the car park in my sixteen hundred dollars Valentino rock duds.

Yeah, yeah, I love this for you so much.

And then yes, I got my law degree. I then was teaching and dairy farming to bring money in because those don't stop.

No, that's crazy, rude. I didn't you just show them your degree and they just waved away bills?

No, unfortunately not. I did try that. Yeah, and I was applying for job after job after job from I think didn't need in right up to Auckland, including my hometown. Despite the fake I said.

I'd need a return, but like I would for a good job.

Yeah, and I given a chance in South Canterbury, and me and my partner went from living together and working together to not living together and not working together and going long distance. And now I get to be grace with my presence again because I'm moving back.

Absolutely talk to me about You said that your ex fiance was in a motorcycle accident, nearly died. You did your exams on the hospital floor. What happened there with that relationship was us another spanner in the works before meeting the one that you are going to marry.

So we met just before I moved to christ Itch and he moved down with me, and it was all well and good. The relationship was just popping along as it does. I don't think his sister or his mother liked me very much.

They've just got terrible taste. It's fine.

And then he crashed one of my cars. I didn't think much of it. And then he had a motorcycle accident one morning on his way to work, and he had one of the worst open book pubt fractures that his doctors had ever seen. Oh god, basically yeah, absolutely harrafic. He had to learn how to rewalk, He had to learn, like relearn everything. And the accident itself wasn't exactly the beginning of the end, but it was his attitude towards at all. So I very vividly remember the day of

Can we not do this right now?

Can you take five seconds to be like, holy shit, this has just happened. And then he crashed a second car of mine, which was my first adult car that I had managed to buy myself, And that was sort of the beginning of the end. And I very vividly remember paying for the deposit for the celebrant and I had my drinks and everything at this point in time, and my gap just going you and making a mistake, do not do this. And it was then and there that I was like, now I'm done.

There was just something that you were like this like, because it's not about the accidents and I know that what you've said, and I'm just trying to read between the lines here a little bit. I know what you've said is like, you know, he crashed my car, So like if my husband crashed my car, I feel like my attitude is going to be very different because I'd be like, holy shit, like you're my husband and I'm obsessed with you and like, you know, but I'm assuming

Your car and how that worked and all, like is that right?

If I'm reading between those lines that it wasn't like that he crushed your car, because I feel like if I crashed your car, you'd be like, oh my god, the like what happened?

Are you okay?

Like let's get through insurance and we'd work it out. I wouldn't stop being my friend I crushed your car. So is that the right pathway that my brain is going down?

Definitely the entitlement. I'm trying really hard not to because he's not a bad guy. It's just his attitude was.

Just you're anonymous right now, so you could trash this man and I would allow it.

But I think it's important because it's interesting and I'm just stepping aside. Maybe this is a little side quest conversation. Obviously, I've got shees on the Money, and you listen to this stuff because you want financial literacy, and you're so interested in people's money stories, but intertwined into our money stories,

Yeah, because you.

Could be like this guy cheated on me, did this, did that, And you know, I want the goss, so I want the juice. And yes, we're not going to trash talk somebody that you don't want a trash talk. But I also think it's like, let's read between the lines here a little bit. There clearly was something more than oh, he just crashed my car. So I broke up with him going on because I wouldn't want someone to listen to that and just pragmatically go, well that's what she said.

So no. So he was so blase about the fact that he had crashed two of the three cars owned, and his attitude was the bike accident where he almost died. And I was at the hospital eight am to eight pm every day with him, helping him learn how to free walk, deal with the hospital, the said and the next thing, and then his mum would swoop and take over and he'd be so grateful for her, But at the end of the day, it was like, Okay, I'm the one putting everything.

On whole being taken for granted here, what.

The actual hell is going on? I was there so often that some of the very lovely nurses would actually order me dinner as well. They were brilliant. They were probably the people that got me through. But yeah, I couldn't deal with the attitude. And no matter how much I asked for counseling, this, that, and the next thing to work through it, he just didn't care until I told him I was done. And then he was like, Oh, go to counseling. I'll do this, I'll do that.

I'm like, no, I'm too late.

I've been asking you that for six months. I'm done. Fair.

So then you met the love of your life? Yes, and how did you meet them?

So? I coached his little brother's football team, and it's definitely a meet care. Yes, I coached his little brother's football team, and his little brother was at boarding school and their parents had gone overseas, and I needed to pick I'll call him Pip Squeak because that's his nickname, and there's only a handful of people that know that I call him. I picked Pip Squeak up from his brother.

That's such a key we nickname. I'm loving this.

I call him Pip Squeak because when I met him, he was shorter than I am. Now I have to look up and not finished growing yet. So he's going through so much taller than what he is. So yeah, I picked Pip Squeak up from my now partner and that afternoon I was like, I was sitting here, I was thinking. I was like, huh, he's kind of cute. I just continued a conversation.

You got a cute brother? Nice?

Yeah, and he thought similar and he shot his shot. I was like, ah, if you want me to repay the coffee favor, just you know, because I had brought him a coffee that morning, just to be nice because I was we were meeting at Starbucks and who would have thought three years later, here.

We are a door or I love that? Do you want me to repay the coffee favor? Doesn't mean that we get to go get coffee?

Toget that.

Yeah, that was pretty much.

I love this.

I literally love love like I would love a whole podcast on just like how people meet.

Like my story is kind of boring. I met my husband on Tinder, so like when I ask other people and you didn't meet on Titter, I'm like, oh my god, tell me how did it work?

Because like I'm so blast in real life, like someone could have been like, I really like you and I'll be like, yes as a friend.

Goodbye with that.

Yeah, So moving on from that, that's kind of like, I guess your money story and where you've come from. Tell me a little bit more about today. So what happens when you have to apply for two hundred different jobs? I feel like that would be really hard, especially on your confidence.

It is so hard. I remember setting a rejiction email after addiction email, being like and looking back, now, it's not about you, it's about the situation. Were just not a good set for the job. But at the time, I was like, what is it about me that they don't want?

It?

Tore into that little light year old that got told she wasn't going to amount to anything.

No, I hate that.

But there was just this little voice in the back of my head going, there are far too many people sitting here waiting for you to fail.

Keep going yeah, And it's rough because I think you take it so personally, but like, at the end of the day, it's genuinely not personal.

And like the job hunting period of time, you go, oh, it must be me, you know what.

They must have seen straight through my resume, into my personality and into my soul, and that's what they don't like and in reality, I'm so sorry to downplay it to this, but you were one of hundreds of applicants with exactly the same flipping degree and it probably had nothing to do with you personally and everything to do with luck or application timelines or oh my god, like their dad used to be a lawyer as well, and they got to do a little internship at a law firm,

How did they know?

How did they look into my soul and see the things that I am self conscious about and hate that too.

I don't know what it is, but it was just straight to the a stagger through the heart. I couldn't get over it. I was like, this sucks, And if it weren't for my partner, I'd be like, I could go. There are other jobs out there, Someone sometime somewhere is going to give you a chance.

Exactly, And like applying for two hundred, that's a long slog. Tell me a bit about this, like process, though you're applying for two hundred jobs. Right, How long a period was that?

Was that?

Like you did that all in one week? Did you do that in a couple of months?

Probably between a year and a half to two years. Yeah, So from the time I graduated to getting this job.

Yeah, And so tell me a little bit more about your strategy. So did you change your resume? Did you update things? Because, like you know, if you and I always talk to people about this, like your resume might not be terrible, but it might just be hitting the mark in your particular industry. Were you like redoing your resume or changing the way you do cover it as well? Were you just like, you know what, I'm just going to have at it and it's the same as you may for the entire two years.

It was a bit of both. I was very very lucky. I went to lunch with a friend and her daughter's father and we were discussing me applying for law jobs, and he goes, oh, I know someone at all firm. I'll put you in contact. And then I went to a conference. I met this very lovely lady. We had a chat and she went over my resume with me and she went change this, like make it bullet points, don't make it pages. That's that and the next thing.

And then it did. So tell me about that pathway.

So I am currently a criminal defense and family lawyer.

Bougie. That sounds so bougie. I love it.

It has its perks, it does have its downfalls. But the job that I'm doing at the moment, I am very sad to be leaving. But yeah, absolutely love my job. At the moment.

We're not sad. We're not sad because we've just got our new dream job we have. So tell me what you're currently being paid and then what you're going to get paid in this new role.

So I'm currently being paid fifty five thousand a year with Kiwi Saber. My understanding is my new role is going to be sixty thousand a year plus kiwisaver on top, I think is what it's going to be.

Yeah, So tell me a bit more like give me a little bit of a I don't know baseline, because in Australia, if you said I'm a baby lawyer and I'm getting paid fifty five thousand dollars, I would say that's about graduate rates. Is that where you're sitting at the moment, Like what does the career trajectory look like? Like what are your I guess financial goals for your career or in general. We'll get to that because I've got questions.

So what I'm being paid is about right for where I am. I'm fifteen months into my first job, so it's it's pretty on par with graduate role. Unfortunately, criminal lawyers don't get paid what they should.

It's almost like criminals that criminals, and they actually don't have heaps of money.

That's crazy, right, Yeah, I made just between you and I, the drunk business is feeling lucrative.

Well yeah, absolutely, but only if you're successful. If you're making it to court, you probably didn't do that.

Well no, yeah, So at the moment, I do a lot of legal aid work and even then we don't get paid what we personally should I think we should be paid. I can go into court on a Tuesday at ten am and I'd walk out. I've had days where I've walked out at quarter past five at night and in between then I would have been yelled at. I've been used. I do have really really lovely clients, but everyone's lovely when they need something. But yeah, I don't think we get paid enough for what we deal with.

Small goal. My small goals making partner, okay, sit down.

On My medium goal is owning my own practice. I think that would be pretty sick.

To put it politely, it is pretty you know what, working for yourself is pretty sick. That's how I would explain my job.

And then my big time goal would be becoming a judge would be probably my old goal.

That's a big dog job. How do you become a judge in New Zealand?

Like it's a bit of a different system than Australia, but I think that they're pretty similar.

What do you got to do?

So my understanding, I don't have a whole lot of understanding of how to get to judge level because I just a baby, so I haven't quite met that out. But my understanding is you can either be nominated or you can put your name forward, and then they go through this big hold breaking role. They look at what you've done over your career, they look at cases you've been on, what your impact has essentially been, and in yeah, they go yeah, no kind of that's what that's my understanding.

Do you know what, I'm going to give you some unsolicited career advice And if that's what you want to do, fantastic, we can do it. Like literally, this skuy's our limit. But what I would do is look up all the judges that you know and that you respect, look them up on LinkedIn, look up their career trajectory and see what the hell they've done. So how did they get

Did they make partner? And you might start to see a theme of okay, So.

Most judges in my area they go through this semi similar career trajectory of doing this job, doing a more senior job, making partner, being partner for ten years, then doing like this, and it might give you a little bit more of a guide of how to get.

To where you want to go.

And I give this advice to so many people who are like, oh, I really want to be in, you know, head of HR, but I I have no idea how to get there. And it's like, well, go snoop all of the heads of HR and see what their previous jobs were. He's twenty twenty five. LinkedIn is free, and the only thing you need to worry about when it comes to LinkedIn is literally that they might see that you were on their profile. And I don't even think that's a bad thing, Like a baby lawyer was on my profile.

Yeah great, I'm definitely going to be doing debt because there wasn't actually something I've thought about dewa stork.

It's public information, it's actually market research.

All looks like I'll be doing that once I finished work today.

Girl, I am sneaky, like I just don't take no for an answer. So that's one of the things that I've done. Also, I've looked at people who were previously in jobs. If I wanted an in to the business, and I'd be like, oh my goodness, like connect with them, be like, hey, I really wanted an into this business.

I see that you used to work there.

Do you know anyone that's still there? And then they might go, oh yeah, oh my god, like my friend Shari is still there. Let me introduce you to her.

Wow, I've got a connection in the business. And I didn't have to go through the front door.

I like that.

If there is a backdoor, I'm finding it.

I like that. Actually that's really handy.

I feel like when there is a will, there is a way, and you've got to be a little bit sneaky, and it turns out you don't just get paid for being complacent. So if I want to work with the brand or I want to work with the company, and like going through the front door isn't working for me, I will work it out.

That is fine. How do you think I got the Prime Minister on my podcast?

Babe?

You think we went the koshaway?

No?

I don't, No, No, where there is a will, there is a way anyway. Back to your story.

You want to be a judge, which is really exciting, and you don't really have like solid financial goals for your career, but what about your life? What are the big money goals you're currently working towards.

So my short medium term would be paying off my car low and my partner apparently wants to look at buying a house this year, so probably think about coming round to that decision and hea more in depth conversations about that. I'd also like to travel more. I've spent in the last eight years of my life stuck in Uni. I'd like to experience the world a little bit.

I love that. Tell me. I want to know about your partner. What does he do and how much does he earn?

He works in civil construction.

Okay, that sounds kind of sexy.

Hey, drive staggers for fun, so he gets to be a little boy and a big boy's body all the time.

Perfect. My son would be very envious.

Yes, Iver Hin Harvey would love the diggers.

Every time.

Every time we see a truck truck truck Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right, we can look at it for ten minutes, can we go now?

Yeah? And he earns, so he's variable because of it's very weather based. But I think we worked it out that it's seventy to eighty thousands a year is what he's on at the moment. He's potentially moving up to a more managerial role in the next months, which is really really exciting considering he's only been there less than six months already. Yeah.

Perfect, Now, tell me a little bit more about this goal of purchasing a home, because if you're on a sixty thousand dollars plus Kiwi Saver and then your partner earns between seventy to eighty, like, how realistic is home ownership for you in New Zealand. I don't know as much about the New Zealand market as I know about the Australian market.

So my partner's got a decent chunk in his Kiwi Save because he's been working since he was siventay.

And for context, for those of you listening along in New Zealand, your Kiwi Saver is your retirement saver, but you're allowed to access the cash that's in it for your first home deposit, So like, is that what you've been kind of using them for along the way?

Yeah, So I don't have a lot in my KIV Saber because I needed a surgery that I didn't qualify for publicly. So I took money out from my kV sab to get that, but I do plan on paying that back because compound interests and all of that course fun stuff that I'm currently listening out on. So we will be looking at that, and we're looking at buying slightly out of christ Church where the houses seem to be more manageable and potentially closer to our reach than what buying in christ Church would be.

Yeah, no, that's fair.

I'm just interested about your country's market and what that looks like and how that would work, and then show Yeah, I don't have like New Zealand clients, but like I do snoop things and a lot of our KeyWe pals ask us a lot of questions about the home buying journey, and yours is honestly like your housing prices are astronomical at the moment, Like it's actually wild thinking.

And that's why I was like, is this reasonable? Is this logical? Like, I don't know, you're the one that might have done the numbers.

I personally want him to pay off all of his dick first before we talk about going into home ownership, just because I have heard horror stories of people getting to the final stick and the banks like you've still got the line. No.

And that's why I think that even in New Zealand, you should be talking to a broker now, so like, not necessarily just assuming, but if you're like, oh maybe we will maybe we won't, go and talk to a broker and be like, what would it take to get us into home ownership and they can maybe give you a plan, because they might say, you actually need to smash down all of this debt and have this amount saved and we can take XYZ from your Keywi saver, but you're going to need this amount of cash to

No, don't do that. I have told him that f he is serious about wanting to buy a house, we need to go talk to a broker exactly. But I mean, he doesn't want to listen to me at the moment.

So I'm like, okay, well we're not buying a house. Buy that's fair. That's absolutely fair.

Apart from like buying a house and traveling more. Was there anything else that you would add to that when it comes to money.

Goals, probably paying off my car loan? Yeah?

Yeah, I feel like that's a really good one, especially before property ownership. All right, let's take a really quick break because on the flip side, I want to ask a little bit more about investments. I want to know a little bit more about this car loan. I need to be really pervy and then what your best and worst money habits are. So guys don't go anywhere, all right, money direst We are back, and I want to dive straight into talking about investment, as you guys know wildly

If not, why not? What's going on?

So I have Kiwi savor and I wrote down the specific numbers because thank you for coming prepared. I know that my favorite money diaries are when they give the numbers and I'm like, oh.

Yeah, but I never press it. I'm always like, whatever you're comfortable with, I will take. If you want to trash your ex partner, I will take that. If you want to give me specific numbers, I'll also take that.

My keyw WE saver is currently sitting at thirteen one hundred and fifteen dollars. I took eight grand out of it for my con selectomy and I am planning on paying that back once my Carlow has paid back. I also have invested in shares and I have one thousand, two hundred and ninety one dollars and seventy one seeds and at the moment, and I started a majority of that probably since I started listening to She's on the Money, Oh yay. And I have a regular fifty dollar Fortnite

That's fun, especially if it keeps you engaged in investing.

So it's automated, but I also get that ten dollars of fun money where my brain is like, oh, I'm spending money, but I'm actually getting dividends for it.

Yeah money when we're like also investing for our future and that's a lot of fun. Is that ten dollars per fortnite as well?

Yes? Yeah, so it's forty dollars gets automatically invested and then the ten dollars a fortnight for fun money.

And and talk to me about how your key receaver is constructed. So you guys don't have as structured of a system as we do in Australia with superannuation. What does your Kiwi saver look like? How is it made up?

So my Keiwi savor is done through my bank, which is one of the big four. I think it a big And I am in the growth fund which is known for high returns and large ups and downs and value love.

And did you go in and change that or is that a default? How did you get into a growth fund?

So I changed that. We had it was on the one that was just slightly lower than that, but I was like, I'm twenty seven, I've got time. I'll just chuck it in. What's the worst that can happen? And I contribute four percent, and my employer contributes as.

Well I do, And so what kind of percentage does your employer contribute?

I don't actually know the proper percent of what they contribute, but moment it's about fifty five dollars a fortnight from them.

Awesome, all right, talk to me.

Are there any other investments that we've skipped over that we haven't discussed.

I have savings, but I don't know if you've really classed them as.

I do want to know.

I was going to ask about debts and then savings, but I want to know what is what's in your savings account and my emergency account.

I have one thousand dollars sitting in a term deposit, I have eight hundred and sixty one dollars at my emergency front, and then I've probably got two three hundred dollars sprinkled between the short term savings accounts that I've got.

And why have you got so many different savings accounts?

Because before you were like, oh, you know, we've got these goals of maybe buying a house and stuff. Are they specific savings goals for that or are they just random accounts?

How have you structured your bank.

So much like what is set out in the shees on the money Book. I've got a fund for my car account, so ensuring Rejoe, this, that and the next thing. I've got a travel account, I've got short term whatever, I've got a medium term, and I've got my long.

Term perfect love. Now talk to me about debt. So you mentioned earlier in the episode, I have a car loan. I want to know what's your car, what's the debt? How did it work? How did we get into having a car loan?

So my car is a twenty fifteen mester Excelo. I have nine four hundred and eighty dollars and eighty one cents left on the car loan. I got the car loan because I was driving a Corolla, but I was also driving a significant distance weekly, so I needed a newer car that I knew wasn't going to break down on me. I got the car loan. I knew that I'd be able to service it without putting myself into detriment. And I just got it because it's a new car, it's only ten years old. I'm going to have it

So the thing is, I think people think I'm like real negative on car loans, and yes, I do classify them as bad debt. But then when we get into our situation, some of us we just need a car loan, like we just we do not have the cash to go and buy a whole use car outright, like I'm not delusional. But what we then need to do is, Okay, what is the best situation we can put ourselves in for this? And it sounds like you've been really reasonable

Was eleven thousand dollars. I sold my Corolla and I put one thousand dollars. I transferred them a thousand dollars, so I got a ten thousand dollar loan and I pay that back fortnightly at one hundred and thirty dollars a fortnight. That is going to increase in two weeks time because.

New job, new income.

Yeah, a new job, more money. And then by that point as well, I've got the amount that I want in my emergency fund, so I can divert that money to the car loan. Get that done. That money can then go back to the emergency fund, but that up to the two cade mark that I want, and then go from there.

So tell me, do you know the interest rate on your car loan?

Thirteen point sixty five percent? And I got a discount on it because I'm a member with the Law Society.

I love that. Look at her go She's like, actually, yes, sit down, Victoria and talk to me. What's the structure of that loan? Look like?

So, is that one thirty per fortnite going to pay off the entire car? Will you get three years into the loan and have a balloon repayment? How's that going to work?

So that'll just pay the car off completely in how long? I think it's four years, but I plan on having it paid off by the end of next year, pending my funny working the way I want it to.

No, I like it, And you said something before that I think is also really important because I think so many of us get hung up on debt reduction.

And yes, debt reduction is so flipping important. Get out of debt. The sooner you get out of debt, the sooner you can thrive.

But I also want you to have an emergency fund because if you don't have an emergency fund and something happens, we get into more debt and then we create our own cycle, and that's really bad. So the idea that you are really prioritizing your emergency fund. Yeah, you're paying your minimum repayments, but you're gonna bump that up. Like, I just think you've got so much strategy. Like I'm just like, oh, she does know, Oh what's your interest rate? Oh yeah, okay, Like this girl is switched on.

I combined quite a lot of so I follow a reasonable amount of financial people, and I combine bits and pieces from each of them. So I've got the Dave Ramsey thousand dollars emergency funds being going to the debt reduction.

Yeah, I don't like Dave Ramsey, not gonna lie. There's a bit anyway. We can talk about that one off air.

But the whole one thousand reduction and then go back to the emergency fund.

That's got the theory is solid. His attitude is not goodbye. No, this is just for context. If anybody's like, what's Victoria talking about, look up Dave Ramsey on TikTok and see all of the content that gets created about him. He's the same person that says that people who are in debt do not deserve to eat at restaurants and I.

Just sorry, sorry, get off your high horse. He also forces his religious beliefs on his team members, which I think is insane.

I didn't know that.

Oh gol, I'm going to blow your dams up after this. So is his financial advice at the end of the day a terrible thing?

No, you know what.

He gets lots and lots and lots of people out of debt every day. But the way that he often drives that is through shame, and I think that is abysmal.

Yeah. No, you shouldn't be shamed for that kind of thing.

Absolutely not, like, sorry, you're doing the right thing.

Like if you were on Dave Ramsey's show, he would say, right, well, you can't have a life until your car Loan scorn, Like that's embarrassing, that's disappointing, Like he would slam you for no good reason, And how does that help anybody?

No, No, it doesn't help anybody at the end of the day anyway.

Sorry, who else do you follow?

I follow you, I follow Sammaron. I'm going to pronounce the last time role no budget babe. She's an American base.

Oh she's cool. Yeah, I love I love everybody else. You can keep all them.

She's no shit and I love her. Yeah.

Yeah, she's very direct. I really love that too.

And I love talking about these other people, not because I like to slam Dave Ramsey, but because other people might listen to this podcast and be like, oh, there's more people out there that I could engage with this type of content with, Like I am.

Not trying to gatekeep.

Like, there are so many finance content creators out there, and I actually want you guys to follow heaps of them because I want you to consistently be thinking about there's stuff and taking everybody's advice with a grain of salt and working out what works best for you, not what Victoria Devine just thinks.

Yes, because I can be idiot too, so you know how it goes.

Get the whole range of advice from here, there and everywhere. Which is pretty cool.

All right, Do you have any other debts?

I have my student loan which is currently sitting at one hundred and five thousand and sixty nine dollars in.

Ten Zis that's really sexy or it hurts?

You know what?

Really relatable?

Though?

Given you have a very very good.

Higher education, How does student loan debt work for you? Do you pay an interest rate? What does that look like in your country?

So it's interest free while you're in New Zealand, but if you go overseas and you've got to pay interest on it, I'm not entirely sure how much the interest is.

Don't leave the country.

I don't know, not at least until it's probably below fifty thousand dollars.

Now, I heard before, at the very start of the episode you said I was dancing in the car park in my Valentino rockstar shoes and I thought, you're a queen. I'm a shoe queen too. I get it, but I also need to know how do you save and spend on arguably a sixteen hundred dollars pair of shoes. I feel like you might be a little bit savvy, so I need to do you have any good money tips. What's your best money habit?

Probably the way I shop the groceries. So at the moment where I live, so I live in two different places. I go back to christ Hitch on the weekends, I have pack and save New World countdown in the warehouse, all within walking distance, or I drive past.

Oh money win.

Yeah.

I have a spreadsheet where I've got my grocery list on one side and the shops on the other, and I will spend twenty minutes. I'll go through each website and then I'll look at whatever's cheapest, and then I'll be like, right, I'm going to peck and save for this. I'm going to count down for this. It's in the warehouse for this. My partner hates it, but I love it.

I'm sorry, but you're saving money, Like that's smart and if you've got the time and you enjoy doing it, that's a great way to do it.

I've said twenty thirty dollars on groceries before, Oh.

My god, I'm obsessed.

And every single week you're like making the time to do that, the small things will add up. Like that's where you're investing money is coming from. If you're saving that per week, like girl, like no wonder you can afford to invest and you know, save and pay off your car loan and get everything done on a fifty five thousand dollars income like you're getting it.

I love this.

Yeah, it's all about I don't say priorities, but it's important to me and I want to hit the financial freedom and I have proven time and time again, but I can make a fortnight's worth of food from one hundred bucks.

I am obsessed. Let's bring down the mood, though, what do you think your worst money.

Have it is? I ask my partner this because he says that he reckons that I made budget myself too. Then so yeah, okay, over the week, everything's accounted for. But come the weekend, if I want something, I don't not have the money for it, but that money's already accounted for. But that's also going to change with the new job because I won't be trebling so much. I'm going to have that spare money that was already accounted for forget.

Oh that's cool as well.

Yeah, so most of my expenses are being cut in half of this new job, so that money's going to be here.

So talk me through that because I think that's a really important thing to discuss, because you're going from a fifty five thousand dollars income to a sixty thousand dollar income both a plus keywi saver, and a lot of people will be like, oh, it's only five grand, but did you go ahead and do like a budget and work out you know, well, if I take this new job, yes, I'm getting a pay rise, but I'm all also going to save in all of these other areas, Like, have you've done those financials so I.

Haven't gone down to the dollar yet because I'm you sent me the key we say the calculated websites, they were pretty on par. But I don't want to budget and catch myself out, So I had that buffer where my final paycheck from this job is going to be the first week of my new job, so all of my bells will be accounted for. Also, come the first pay I'll be able to be like, Okay, cool, this

Tell me more about that, because you just said something that I haven't picked up on before, and that was that you're paying two lots of rent?

Why when? Where?

How?

I know that you're living between two places? But how does that work logistically?

So I pay for a flat in South Canterbury, where my job is, and I also contribute to rend where my partner lives, because I mean it's a glorified storage unit at this point in time, point in time because it's got all my stuff there, but I'm not there. But I only pay one hundred dollars a fortnight for the place in christ Church because I'm only there on the weekends. I'm not doing a whole lot up. Yeah, but that'll change when I move back.

Yeah, And I'm just being perfect because like I don't know the distance. What's the distance between where you work and christ Church? Like how long does that take you to get.

To and from?

About two hours?

Oh that is a big drive. Yeah.

Yeah, So I will leave five pm on a Friday, I'll get home about even thirty, depending on traffic, and then come Monday morning, I'll leave at six And yeah, no, definitely not not not fun. But I've done it for fifteen months. I did it to get my foot in the door, and now I get to move back to crash it and I'm not going to have to do the two hours worth of driving on a Monday morning.

That's so exciting, and that means you get to like live with your partner permanently. Like ah, I love this view.

I feel like everything is just getting better and better. And it's because you took so much time and put in so much energy to like just solidifying this. You were so like, no, I am going to get the career I want to get, and I am going to be able to do it. And yes, I've had to make a whole heap of compromises to make this work. But like now it just feels like that's not really a compromise anymore, is it.

No. I was talking to my counselor last night and I was like, if I took a sit back and I looked at my life and I overlaid it to the plan that little light year old me had, it's stand their spot on. I've got the career, I've got the partner, I've got first DAT and the next thing. And I'm like, this is actually my dream life? What is this? When did this happen.

I'm and you know what, I just love that, like I feel like you remind me of me, where we clearly have some insecurities. You said something before that I wanted to like pick you up and hug you for you like I'm really used to not being liked by people, and I was like, no, like you just haven't found the right people. You haven't been in the right rooms, and if you're in those rooms, like you're in the wrong ones.

That I wanted to pick you up and be like no, no, no, no no, but I didn't want to cut you off.

And like there's just been a lot of like goings on and you're like saying, now I have my dream life.

And just like listening to you is like.

Oh my god, yes, queen, like she is leaving her life and that is just so cool, and You've got so far to go, and I can't wait until you're like the sliding into my DMS. I'm a judge now, and I'll be like, is this illegal to DM? Like are we allowed to talk still? Like it'll be just so exciting. At the start of this episode, you said, v I reckon, I'm like a B plus or an AS, and like that is very good grade to begin with.

But what would it take to get you to an A plus?

I think potentially getting rid of my carlow with definitely help and sorting out my cash flow so I'm not caught short at the end of the way.

Yeah, I'll do that for you.

I'll give you my money master class and then you can go do the money master class right before you do your new job, and then you can get all of your budget and cash flow and carloon and everything sorted and it'll be really attractive. And you already told me in the She's on the Money Book, I structure my money like this, so it's actually going to work for you already because it's the same kind of structure. It's just way more gritty, and I do it for you.

I'm so excited for you.

Thank you for that, but I really really appreciate that.

Actually, oh, I'm so excited for you paying a carlon off, and I think potentially having like the fully funded emergency fund because I'm so growing up I had the scarcity mindset and I had two younger sisters, so my coins would disappear.

So I'm still used to that, Oh it's it's going to disappear eventually. So yeah, potentially paying the carlan off and sorting the fully funded emergency fund out would bump me up a grade into.

That's so exciting. But I like that You've got so much clarity around where you're going and what that looks like. You're like, well, actually to get to an A plus. Sometimes we talk to people and they're like, oh, I don't know, I just don't feel good at it, and it's like, well.

Let's make a plan you can be good at money.

Like being good at money isn't it up being smart or having some kind of financial backing. It's just actually about choosing to be good at money and then just diving in, like you just choose to and there's no start point that feels like the next day you've got

Thank you for being available for big sister advice. Because I'm the oldest, so I don't have someone to go to for big sister advice.

I got you, I got you, and I've got everybody else who wants to slide into my DMS and be like, so what about this? Like I think people think that because I've got like some followers or something like, oh, she wouldn't want to talk born to Yeah, born to give unsolicited advice.

That's where I thrive best.

I'd solicited advice advice in my opinion, and I.

Mean you asked for it, so like wasn't even unsolicited. You solicited that advice and I gave it to you for free. Anyway, guys, I think that is all we have time for today, money Dorist. It has been a pleasure, and I just know that the community is going to love listening to this episode as much as I loved recording it, so I really appreciate it. But for everybody following along, we will see you right early on Wednesday morning through Deep Dive.

Bye.

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