Hello.
My name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr the
Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Let's get into it.
She's on the Money. She's on the Money.
Hello, and welcome to She's on the the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. My name is Becksided and today on the show and on the eve of end of Financial Year, we are doing a finance health check with Victoria.
Divide on the eve of eo f y. Oh my god, is there a better birthday? They like, there anything more exciting than EO fy.
I'm so excited.
And if you guys don't agree, well that makes a lot of sense. Its sense is actually kind of lame and it can be very daunting for same, but like, let us have our moment, like we're allowed to get excited about the content that ignites our fires.
I just think it's so funny that you're born on EO.
FY, that my dad was an accountant. Your future was written for It was written in the stars, it was written in Excel code.
It really was.
Do you want to talk about EO F Y? I feel like, please, now is a good time to do a little mid year finance health check, new financial Year, new Yu. I feel like we're going to embrace that every single year, Like why not have every six months the winter new year, New you vibe, Because I feel like by six months into the years, so many of us have like fallen off the bandwagon, and we just we need a little help. We're the stepping stool that's going to help you get back on the horse. Yeah,
I really we need to help you. So most people they create their goals and look at their forward planning like January in line with a fresh new year, but like we don't review them enough, so we do fall off that little horse.
Yeah, we should do an ins and outs list.
We should. In July one, twenty twenty four, an out I did that a couple of years ago and it went really well. So maybe that's good content are you're a content creator.
Beck, You wouldn't think so, but I might have it in my bone.
You might have it in your bones. You're the next big thing on TikTok Huricans.
Yeah.
I mean you're really funny, so it makes sense. You're really funny, and I feel like everyone who meets you just wants to be your friend. That is so sweet thinking it's not even sweet, Like I'm not even being nice. It's just a fact. Payd but co. But back onto the show. I really like to use the end of financial year to review my goals, make sure I'm on track, if not reset. Some new ones also review the goals that I set, because some of the goals I set,
I don't even want that anymore. Beck, Yeah, I changed my mind.
You grow a lot in six months.
Yeah, Like I'm a different woman than I was six months ago. And I want to give myself like a financial midpoint check up. And we're going to look at this like midpoint check up, like we're servicing our car right, Like it's vital to keep yourself on the road for financial security. And when the little warning light comes on. It doesn't mean we're completely off the road. It just means you need to top up your oil. Right now, we're just topping up our oil totally.
We're just giving ourselves some attention, giving ourselves a little checky.
We deserve so much attention, so it just makes sense.
And after the break we are going to talk about mindset and goals. But now we'll run through a list of practical things that you should be checking in on.
Yeah, well that's very me, isn't it? To make a list? Very made it in Excel. But I've got a list ready for you of all the things to do. But my is that I recommend you make this exercise as sexy as possible. Beck, So maybe you'd like set yourself up a little date night and get takeaway? Yeah, do all the things make you feel good?
Maybe a red wine?
Yeah, a little red wine. That's very me at the moment.
Yeah, a milky foot maybe?
What's a milky Oh I'm ill? Or do you know what? The first time I ever did a milky foot, I took it off and I was like, well, this did nothing, and so I just assumed it did nothing. Yeah, two days later I'm like, well, that didn't work. Three days later, I'm about to go to a friend's wedding, Like you know, I'd put on my trainers, I'd gone for really nice walk that morning, and then I was like, I'll come back or do my hair and on my makeup. We'll
be a bit this wedding. By three, like, oh good, take off my trainers and half my foot was stuck to my sock and I had to change my entire dress because the shoes that I was gonna wear were really strappy and if you've used a milky foot, you know what your foot looks like. I had to like go full floor length dress and like more of a close toe shoe because I was like this my skin sock, get the dogs out today, H cannot.
So do be careful.
If you do, be careful if you're going to do a milky foot on your finance date night, But if you want to, you do you boo. I was traumatized from one though.
I haven't tried it yet, but I will. I feel my gosh in honor of eof Y, I'm gonna try a milky foot.
Okay, well that makes a lot of sense. And if anyone's on social media, and like trying to draw the conclusion or the connection between milky foot and finance. Don't worry, there is one.
There is one.
There is one. But let's go back to my list because I feel like that's a little bit more expected on this podcast. So first things first, I feel like you're going to see this coming, but we want to review your spending patterns. Costs have gone up across the board, and believe me, you guys have been noticing it. You're in my DMS telling me all of the ridiculous things.
In fact, I had a conversation with Glenn James from the This is Money podcast the other day and he was reviewing his book, which, by the way, his book is very good. You should definitely go and purchase it. But he was reviewing his book and he had to update that a coffee costs you five dollars because you're right, Oh, I probably should update that to like seven dollars.
That same.
That's so gross, but it's so true, right, Yeah, But costs have gone up everywhere, and I'm a really big fan of automation, but you should go through your last three months of bank statements and just see where you're spending money. We're not going to judge ourselves. We're not going to crucify ourselves for the decisions that we made in the past, because like, Beck, where does that get us nowhere? Literally nowhere? So we're just going to look.
We're going to be insightful and we're going to see, you know, am I actually spending in line with my values? Or are my values a little bit different to what I keep saying they are. Like we talked about this a little while ago back and you were like, I just really need to save and I was like, okay, well let's look at your spending. And when you did, you were like, turns out, I just really like hanging out with my friends. And I was like, I get that totally. I want to know have you had a budget?
If so, are you actually sticking to it? And if not, is it because it's an unrealistic budget. Too many times I think we're too aspirational with our budgets, and like, you know, I want to be aspirational, but we need to be more realistic than aspirational. We need to sit down and be like, Beck, I know that you only wanted to spend you know, X amount on this, but you actually really enjoy it and therefore if we take it off you you're going to feel like you're missing out.
Yeah.
True, And we need to balance it with your lifestyle. So like, I'm never going to be one of those financial independence retire early girlies, yeah, because that's just not going to work for me, because like, I am not good at delayed gratification. If that's you like all hail, like you win, I lose. But I think that we need to make budgets that are actually realistic. So even if you have a really aggressive savings goal, if you're checking in today and it's six months into the year
and you're like, well, I haven't met it. Instead of going all right, well, I'll just get back on the bandwagon and you know, aggressively save for the next six months, ask yourself, is that actually realistic? Or should I change my goal or my time frame? Like should I be going, you know what, saving ten gra by the end of the year. I just know I'm not going to achieve it. So I think the best thing here is to either push the timeframe out on that goal or change it.
I mean, if you really want to knuckle down, I've got you. I want to back you to the hill. But I also don't want you to get to the end of the year and go, oh my gosh, Beck, I'm so bad at money, Like I set this money goal and I didn't achieve it. When the reality was it's not you being bad with money, it's you going, oh, I want to do too much, but I also want to leave my life. Yeah, does that make sense exactly.
We don't need to set ourselves up for failure. Let's not do that, because the easiest way to be really disheartened with money and think that you're bad at it when you're not is to set goals that are unrealistic for your lifestyle totally.
Like if your goal is like ten thousand but you only save two, imagine your goal was to save a thousand instead of ten thousand. You'd be stoked with yourself.
Exactly, and then it kind of like plays into the momentum, Like if you set a goal back of saving your one thousand dollars, you'd be like, oh my gosh, I did it. I'm going to move on to the next goal and maybe make it a little bit bigger. But I think sometimes and this isn't meant to be disheartening, sometimes we bite off more than we can chew, and then when we can't chew it, we're surprised and we're like, oh my gosh, I'm so bad at money. Like my friends,
you're not bad at money. We're just not setting goals that are realistic for our lifestyles. And like, it would be so nice to have ten grand, Yes, so nice, Like I want ten grand. And if I said to you, Beck, do you want to be able to you'd be like, oh yeah, Like who doesn't want that? But we also need to be realistic because we don't want to make ourselves feel like trash along the way. Yes, like you
don't deserve that. Nobody deserves that. So let's just make sure we're setting enough into our budget aside for groceries and petrol bills and rent and your discretionary spending. We're still trying to take account of our goals and what we're working towards, because at the moment, it's really hard I find for people to be balancing life costs and
your goals. Like you might have life costs and you didn't get a pay rise this year, and then you've got these goals, but because everything else is costing so much, more. You're not adjusting your grocery budget and you're just going well when I achieving my goals like I was able to last year, Like sometimes we need to like just move the goalposts a little bit and actually review it
and go Beck. I know that you only you know, hypothetically want to spend one hundred dollars a week on groceries, and I know you keep working towards that, but every week you're going over it. It's not because you're spending too much on groceries, it's just cause groceries are more expensive. We actually now need a budget one hundred and thirty dollars for groceries. Like that's going to take the pressure
off significantly, right. You know, groceries aren't the be all, end all, They're not the thing that's going to save you when it comes to saving money, but it's a good example. Right. The other thing when it comes to bills is have you recently done like a service comparison with your provider. So in Victoria we have the VIC Energy Saver compare and we will be getting those rebates on the first of July, which is very very soon
and very very sexy. So make sure you're with the right supplier so that you get a rebate, but you're also saving some money along the way. I also really like to have look at my plans for the next six months, so make sure that I'm setting enough aside for that. Like, yeah, Beck, are we going to Meredith? Yes, you know, like we got that plan. Because if you're like, oh, that's like two or three months off, I don't have to worry about that. How quick does two or three
months come up? And I say, Meredith, not to like throw you under the bus, but it's a really good example, Like you had committed to that so long ago. You're really excited about it. But I bet if I asked you, you just feel like it crept up real quick and you're like, oh my god, I feel out of control now, like I don't have enough.
For this exactly. I thought I would be a bit different this here, but now I'm like, oh wait, that's actually coming up, and I haven't prepared for it, but I will any place.
You and I we sit down and do our budgets. At some point, I keep saying that you and I are going to do this, and then we don't find time. So wine's on me, Okay, and you don't even drink that much wine. But the spicy water is on me.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, I'll buy you the bubbly water. What a tree, I don't worry. I've got more where that came from. Also, once I've reviewed everything that I've just mentioned, I'm then going to set up all of my direct debits so that they orderically help me align with the updated plan that I've got. So like again, Meredith is a good example, I think because you were so genuinely disappointed. You were like, oh,
this sucks, like I hate this. But if we had set up a direct debit, it's kind of out of sight, out of mind, and then that money's over to the side for that goal at the point in time that you require it, right, So then it's just set and forget for another six months. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I love that and I think it works really well. And so many times people will say to me, but I really want to be in control of my money, and I go, you can be in control of your money with direct debits.
Just always check in on them and make sure that they aren't, you know, direct debiting for things that you shouldn't be direct debiting for or like you've got your Netflix account direct debiting, but you haven't been using it. That's when we need to get rid of it. You don't need to necessarily log into your bank every month and make that manual transaction, even though you think that
that might make you quote better at money. If you're not actually going to log in and make the transfer every single month, you only do it when you remember, sure, because sometimes out of sight, out of mind totally.
And it kind of feels like when you like see a ten dollar Netflix subscription fee come out of your regular account, it's like, oh, I've just spent ten dollars, But then when it comes out of the dedicated Netflix account, it's like, huh that's free money.
Yeah, there, it's planned money. I was meant to spend that. So that leads into point two, which I've just touched on, which is like review your subscriptions and point schemes. So are you paying for apps that you don't use or don't need? So do you know that on your phone?
Beck you can go and you hit settings and then you hit your name at the top, and then you hit subscriptions and it will tell you all of the subscriptions that you currently have and what you're paying for and when it expires, So whenever I download like a free trial for something or I've got you know, at the moment, Sorry, dueling go, I love you, I follow you on TikTok. But that's expiring on the sixth of June for me. But that's expiring because I canceled my
subscription on purpose, so it didn't automatically renew. And then if I decide but wait, I'm still using my duo lingo, I can then pay for that subscription at that point in time by choice instead of having it direct evident. Yes, so now is the time to go through those subscriptions and basically cancel them all so that you can make those payments by choice, because it'll come up like let's say I'm looking at mine right now, beck, and I can see that my Binge account is going to renew
automatically on the thirtieth of May. Sorry, Binge love you. Still, I'm going to cancel it literally right now, because if I'm not using it and I go to log in, I can repay for it. Then yes, but it might be a little bit of a practice in do you actually use this?
Yeah, kind of like you're twenty four hour thing. Yeah, but it's with Binge when you go to log in you haven't paid for it, and you're like, I don't really need it, yes.
And it's like that check at that time because like I don't know about you, like and this is so off track. But sometimes I'm like flicking around, I'm like, oh, Netflix is boring, Like I can't find anything I want to watch, even though there's like thousands of hours of good content on there. So I'm like, oh, just for covid a Binge, Yeah, I'll have a check of what's on there. Maybe I'll find something that piques my interest.
Like if I flicked over and I hadn't paid for that subscription and it said, you know, you need to update your payment details, I'd be like, yeah, I'm just gonna go back and find something on Netflix. Oh yeah thanks, though, whereas Binge, like I might re download it later. If I'm like, oh, there's a specific series I really want to watch and it's available on binch, like go do it.
Then I know that that sounds lame, but like that's the conversation we need to have because from little things, big things really do grow, like and it sounds lame, but like, I know my mentality and then if I know you're very similar, so surely it works for other people as well.
Right, Oh yeah, and it's not just binge if you're doing it for multiple things, like it really all adds up exactly.
And then what's your gym membership doing for you? I know you love your gym membership. I do, but if I was paying for a gym membership, that would be money literally being flushed down the drain. Right, So we need to be a little bit real with ourselves. Are you using it or nah? Yeah? Like if you're not using it, maybe you cancel it and then when you get your motivation back, then you can gift it back
to yourself. Yeah, because like what's the worst You go without it for a couple of months and then decide you're back into it. You didn't pay for it for a couple of months. Money win. Do you have some points that are going to expire? If so, can we spend them on something or can you email the company and ask them to extend your expiry date on those points? Like,
we don't want to miss out on anything. And then what are your points or cash back balances and can you use these to save on expenses that are coming up. It's like, I've got a few dollars sitting in my shop back account. Still, could I cash that out and allocate it towards something or cash that out and throw it straight in my savings towards the goal that maybe I haven't met yet.
I didn't realize you could cash it out. I think you use it.
No, you can cash it out. Cash back, like literally on shop back is real dollar use.
That's exciting.
Yeah, but it's like not like fake money where you just like put it towards something else. Sure, like beck, you can put it in your bank account. Once we finish up here, you're going to be running oh yeah, all right. So number three, if you are in the privileged position of having purchased property, we're going to look at our home loan and insurances and make sure that
everything is up to date. Irrespective of whether you own a home or not, you need to be reviewing your insurances and making sure that your will is up to date. But the first Tuesday of every month has been like a bit of a dread day for many because of the RBA interest rate hikes. Right, you probably haven't noticed. It's tuesdays. I have, but as a finance girlie, I am on my phone at about eleven am on a Tuesday, like, what's going on? Sure, what are you going to give us?
It's been pretty good this year. I mean they haven't dropped it significantly, which would be a sleigh, but like they haven't been throwing update after update on us to increase it. But the media point is another really good prompt to ask your broker or your bank for a discount on the home loan and the investment property loan
interest rates that you might have. Like also, if you don't ask, you don't get like, if you have a mortgage, you're gonna save some money If they say yes, is that not worth being like, hey, can you review this totally?
What's the worst I can say?
I'm like, no, Like I've heard about a million times totally that's fine. So ask the question because it could save you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. And what do your insurances look like? Right? Do you have the right cover for your life insurance all of your personal insurances? If not, go talk to Phil Thompson at Sky Wealth.
I'm gonna put his name and his contact details in the show notes, because I don't know about you, Beck, but I'm wildly passionate about personal insurances and the protection that they give you. Also, some of your insurances tax deductible. There you go, money win, huh. I mean not all of them, but like talk to them about that, because it's nice to know that you can claim something at tax time. But then I also want you to make sure that your house, in your car insurance and stuff
is all up to date and relevant. Like if you're having an invoice come in from your car insurance company, being like Beck, it's time to renew, and you're not calling them up and saying, give me a better deal, doing yourself a disservice, because nine times out of ten they do give you a better deal. They're just hoping that you'll pay that amount because you know you sent the invoice.
Yeah.
True, we always ask. And then is your will up to date? A bit lame, a bit boring, a bit morbid, but like it needs to be up to date because circumstances can change really quickly, and God forbid, something happens and your wishes aren't reflected in your will. Obviously you're not going to be around, so like you won't notice, but your family will, and like it can be a monster of a task to deal with someone who doesn't have a will. So your will is a very very good idea.
Okay, that's good to know. And I imagine you should just sit any.
Age, irrespective of your age, I think everyone should have a will.
Okay, that's good to know.
Also, what makes you feel like you go shit together? Yeah, that's true. If you just want to feel like you got your financial shit together this year, that's a really good, like big ticket item that you could.
Do if you want to feel like an adult. And I think I do want to feel an.
You want to feel like an adult? I think so we'll have a will soon and I like it. What do you want to know about superannuation?
Beck?
It's now before.
Okay, what do I want to know about super? Can you do anything about it?
Yeah? You can. I mean what we want to do is just review our super so log into our account and check if your employer has been making the right contributions. Okay, like just make sure that you're dotting all your eyes and crossing all your teas. Even if you do trust your employer, because sometimes it can get away from them. Maybe somehow they have the wrong details. Maybe they are just not paying it because they're a little bit cheeky. So we want to do a check and don't forget.
Guess what, we get a pay rise inside of our super Oh you on the first of July, it goes from eleven percent to eleven point five percent because we're on the way to twelve. So next year we are going to get twelve percent in supernuation. And we need to make sure that we understand our salary package. So I know you're applying for jobs and looking around at the moment. Yes, And when we talk about salary, they could say it's salary plus super or it's a package
of all of it included. So if your employer pays you salary plus super, that's a money win because they won't take that additional point five percent out of your take home pay to pay it into super because the contract they have with you is plus superannuation and that would be at the rate that the government has outlined SUPER to be at. But if you have a salary package, and I think this is really sneaky and employers shouldn't
do this, but they're probably going to do this. They might go, all right, well, Beck, you've got a salary package. I'm just going to shift that point five percent from your income over to SUPER. And I would be having a conversation now with your employer about what their plans are. If you're not sure, ye, So send a nice message to HR and be like, hey, I'm assuming that you will be increasing my SUPER and not decreasing my take home pay. What does this mean? Can I negotiate that
and see what that means? Because I don't want people to be in a worse position because you're investing for your future, like future, you gonna thank you for that one, I promise.
Of course. Speaking of investments, fee, Yes, what's up next?
Al Right, it's investments. Because you're reading my lifet my shoulder. You're a dirty dog, all right, So we want to review our investments. So it's a good time to check in with your investments and adjust any ongoing contributions. So the goal for investments is obviously going to be very different for everybody, and it kind of segues in from superannuation because as we know, most of us do have superannuations.
So we are already investors and is your money, so you have to take care of it, Beck, like if you're not logging in Like, Beck again, I love you dearly, but I know you aren't the best savor in the world. Yes, so are you currently saving eleven percent of your income?
No?
We know you're not, and that's okay, that's so fine. But you are inside Super. And if you were saving eleven percent outside Super, I'm sure you'd be checking and making sure it was a high interest savings account and like doing the best thing for it. But we don't do that inside Super. Blows my mind. You need to care about it. They're the rules, it's your money, it's your choice. You have complete control over it. Look at it. Just log in one time. It'll put you in a
better financial position, I promise. But you're going to review all of your other investments. And because your goals are different, you might want to do a number of different things. But you might want to consider whether you can increase your ongoing contributions or we're in the middle of the cost of living crisis, BAC, do you need to decrease them for a short period of time so that you can feel a little bit more financially stable, Right, that's
actually a fine thing to do. Like I'm giving you permission to decrease how much you are investing if it takes the financial pressure off at home, if it means that you're not so stressed about the groceries, Like, just do it. Do it for this short period of time. I know it's still a priority to you, but it's going to impact the rest of your finances and your mental health. Into me, that's really important.
Oh absolutely, it's number one.
Life's about balance and sometimes it's a little bit off balance and you can't work as aggressively towards your goals. And that's okay, it's okay, you're allowed. That's all right. Next six, Yes, you're not going to see this one coming. Oh, review your privacy. Privacy use the start of the new financial year to enhance your online security and safeguard your
personal information. I know that that should not be something that you hear on shees on the money, But the world is getting wild and there are so many scams out there, and it's probably been a while since you change your password back, like stop updating your password does the same word with different numbers? How did you know? I just know, I just know do you know the most common passwords still is one, two, three, four, five, six?
Really wild? Well, well, well, if I I ever had an original thought in my life, but I want you to consider changing your passwords and updating that. Consider updating them and enabling that two step verification for your online accounts, and think about whether you need a password manager. So I have one, in my opinion, the answer is absolutely yes, but think about whether you need one or not. I have two step verification on my phone and I feel like that makes me feel really safe even just to
like log into my Instagram and my Facebook. We're not even talking about bank security at this point, because so many of my friends recently, like I keep seeing them be hacked and like, you know, random stuff going up on their Instagram story about bitcoin, and like it's so common, Like just safeguard yourself. We're cleaning our little financial house. Yes, and if you can be hacked, it can impact you financially. So we're just noted down for that, you.
Know, or maybe your coach has made you forty seven thousand dollars in bitcoin. If that's the case.
In which case, please carry on posting it. It's not a hack, babe, call me.
Yeah, seriously, I think you would have a conniption if you saw restored my passwords. But oh, my Goshy's story of another time.
Side note. I went to my parents' house the other day and thankfully this is not a thing anymore, and I saw all these random words sprinted out on a piece of paper on their kitchen Bench's good, dad, what's that? He's Oh, it's just still my passwords? Good in the communal space, worries well for it's like, oh, I just didn't want to forget the.
Well, no one else will either.
No one else is going to forget that either. Anyway. Moving on, clean up your filing cabinet. I don't know if you ever have one. Clean up your shoe box or that draw at the bottom of the cutlery draw Like, clean up that bottom drawer where all the receipts and bits and bobs end up going. Because according to the ATO or the Australian Taxation Office, you should keep financial records for five years, so you can't technically throw them out.
But like, let's just have a storage box or a nice container and keep them all together, because they're everywhere and I'm just making it easy for financial you next year, Like, it's going to be much easier, I promise, But shred paperwork that is older than five years, and then file everything else, so bills invoices, bank statements, and then remember that any filing system you implement should be quickly and easily maintained so that you're motivated to keep your records
in order. So I take lots of photos. You guys probably already.
Know I started doing that.
Actually, yeah, I think it's a good way of doing it. And then I just put it into a folder on my phone, yes, and then I know where they are. And then also I know that I said, you know, shred financial paperwork that's older than five years. Sometimes the bank still sends me like paper bank statements, and like, I know that that's easily accessible on my internet banking. So I just read those two like, just don't carry
things you don't need. But also, if in doubt, just put it to the side, put it into your filing cabinet if you have one.
If in doubt, print it out.
No, don't print it out. That's so bad for the environment, that's bad for you. Right right, you're canceled. Let's go to a really quick break on the flip side, we're going to be talking about reevaluating your goals and money mindset, which I think is honestly going to be the best part of this show. So thanks for sticking around.
Us far.
Welcome back everyone. So we're talking about our media financial health check. Now let's talk about money mindset and goals. What should we be doing this time of YEARV.
All right, So I've given you a list of like checkpoint things that I think you should be doing, But one of the most important things I think is re evaluating your goals and your money mindset. So we touched on this before, Like maybe your goals have changed, maybe you're not working towards it as aggressively, and we need to do a little bit of inner work and go weoll Beck, you said that you wanted this, but do you really want this? Like is something else more important?
And that's okay if it is. But we just need to be honest with ourselves. And I think that being honest with ourselves is the best way to be moving forward. You don't have to tell anyone else, Like you don't have to say, oh, I don't care about this anymore. Like we're not having these deep conversations with anyone other than ourselves, like do your goals still serve you? Are
you still excited about working towards them? Like you know, you might have had a holiday planned and you're so excited about it, Beck, and you're like yeah, yeah, and then all of a sudden you're like, I just don't care anymore, Like I just I don't want to go anymore. So you like follow through on the motions of it, and you might still go on the holiday, but you're like, well, I could have gone without, and I like much would
have preferred to save for a house. Yeah, And like that's not saying that you have to do that, but you might have like rediscovered a different goal or discovered something that you want to invest your money in, and it's okay to change, you can cancel. Do you need help from a professional is also a really good question here, because sometimes we're in a bit over our heads. Do you have debt that is completely getting in the way
of your money mindset? Is it something that you need to call our friends at the National Debt Helpline and just go all right, well what am I doing? Like I feel stuck in the mud here? How can you help me. I promise they are the kindest people in the entire world. They are used to helping people, and I know that this is not what they want me to do in terms of their branding and marketing. But
they're not paying for this show. But Becky, if you called, I can guarantee they've seen people in worse situations, right, So it's not that bad. They're not going to pick up the phone and be like, Wow, that's embarrassing. Like they're going to go, oh, babe, that's easy. Let's work through this together, and you'll be like, oh my gosh, I feel so much lighter, Like I feel like I can do this now. Like sometimes just reaching out and getting a little bit of a helping hand is a
really good idea. But the other thing I want to talk about is the key to achieving any goal is to be really smart about it. Hover I know, right, smart goal methodology, But I'm not going to talk about the smart goals. And I don't talk about the SotM goals because our podcast goals, so obviously being specific is important. We need to be really clear and define our goals. The next is optimistic, So we want to be optimistic because if we're not excited about a goal, why are
we working towards it? We also need to be optimistic because we want to back ourselves. Like, Beck, if you don't believe you can do it, why are we here? Are we being optimistic? Is this goal reasonable? Is this goal something that you can actually achieve? Like do you think you're on the right pathway? Have you worked backwards and been like, all right, well, if I want to save ten thousand dollars this year, let's break it down
into the smallest possible. That's twenty seven dollars and fifty cents a day.
That does not seem like a lot.
Actually no, but twenty seven dollars and fifty cents a day? Can you achieve that? And you go, well, maybe I can. Like, if you break down on a big goal into very small, manageable, bite sized pieces, it seems a lot easier, right Like if I said to you, Beck, let's be really aggressive and save twenty seven dollars fifty every single day, you might go, well, that's achievable, whereas if I said, Beck, save ten grand, you'd be like, but be on me, not having absolutely not no thank you. But also the
goal might feel overwhelming just because it's so big. Yeah, So I think it's important to understand and be optimistic about what you can achieve and find a way to be optimistic about it. Because, like beck, if I said, are you optimistic about saving ten grand, You'd be like, no, way, no, not keen. But if I said, do you reckon? You could do twenty seven dollars fifty a day? Go, I reckon, I could do that.
I reckon I could do fifteen dollars every half a.
Day, fifteen dollars every half.
Day out of the day, end of the day, fifteen buck.
But isn't it wild how much they add up? Yeah, it's actually really confronting. Right, we should do a whole podcast episode on like five dollars a day on the way to wealth or something like, and how that's they're gonna die? Yeah, let's talk about that later. Like might not be five dollars, It might be like a bit more than that. You know, whatever you can do. Maybe we can do lots of different ones, like what two dollars a day would get you?
Yes?
How good? Anyway? Moving on? The next is t so timely? We want to set a time that you want to achieve this goal? Is it a fair time, like, cause, if I say it, Beck, you need to save this ten grand by tomorrow, that's not going to work. Like, but if we've broken it down into small enough goals and we have the time, it'll be achievable. And then the last one is measurable. So we need to ensure that it is measurable so that we know when we've hit that goal. So if your goal is I want
you save more money, that's not specific enough. That's not measurable, Like, I don't know if you've been able to save within your capacity or not. I don't know if you've actually achieved. Like, at what point do we start celebrating, Like how do
we pop the cork on a bottle of champagne? If you set the goal I wanted to save and I keep using ten thousand dollars, which is probably a really rude number at this point in time because we're in the com middle of a cost of living crisis, Beck, And then you might go v stop saying ten grand. That's so overwhelming.
I don't think where were gonna get there.
It's just an example, right, like, and it's not meant to be. And you know what I was at a speaking presentation the other day and someone put their hand up at the end of my presentation and they were like, Vie, how much, Like should I be saving in percentage? Like you never talk about percentages? And I was like, yeah, and I'm glad you bring this up because I will never talk about you need to be saving in terms
of percentages. Because Beck, if I turned around to you and said you need to be saving ten percent of your income. I mean, we talk about this eleven and eleven and a half percent when it comes to suberunuation, but that's because it's government mandated and we don't actually have any control over it. Right. But if I said to you, Beck, you need to save ten percent of your income if you were earning four hundred thousand dollars, which is astronomical amounts of money, is that reasonable.
I guess it depends on your circumstances.
Yeah, But like four hundred thousand dollars save ten percent, Beck, I'd like, oh, can't you save more? Beck? Like if I sat you down and did your budget in cash flow, like we're not talking about you know, your mortgage repayments and stuff, but if you're on an income a four hundred grand and you're saving not ten percent, I'd be like, well, where's that money going? Like you've got a lot of it.
We need to just get our stuff together now, Like I would actually expect someone on four hundred thousand dollars as an ex financial advisor, you're saving more than that guarantee, Like, that's just how it works, right, unless you are blowing it all on hookers and coke, which, to be honest, as an ex financial advisor, I have seen, but I'd probably have a little bit like I have high expectations
for you on that salary. Right, But if we flip it and you are a mum and you are single, and you are earning forty thousand dollars, is it fair to then say you need to be saving ten percent of your income? Right? No, you can't do that. In fact, if you're in that season of your life and you're not able to save a dollar, I get it, Like,
I fully go will that makes sense? Of course, you can't save a dollar because you're in that season of life where you're putting food on the table for your kids, you have a low income, and it would be bloody hard. I'm not going to come out and say all right, Well, you need on average to be you know, saving this percentage and investing this percentage, and this percentage goes to your fun things like that just skews it in a way that you're setting unrealistic expectations for what you can
achieve and what's there. Like if you're in a season of life where you can't save a dollar slave queen, Like, at least you have a budget and you know that that's your current situation. It's not going to be your situation forever exactly, and that's okay, and we'll work towards it. But if you're comparing this percentage system and going, well, V, I'd really like to have a goal, and it's like I want to save ten percent of my income and you're on four hundred grand. By make it higher, ye,
Like I expect a bit more from you. Sure, But if you're in a season of your life where your income is equal to your output, yeah, I get it absolutely, And I think we need to touch on it there too, because it needs to be measurable when it comes to
goal setting. But that's so that you know when you're achieving a goal and whether it's achievable for you, because if we go through this methodology and you go sot M and you go you know specific, and then you've gone optimistic, and then it's time bound and then you look at measurable you go, well, I could set that goal, but I'm probably not going to be able to achieve it in that time frame because right now money's tough.
Exactly.
Well, that's okay, big kind to yourself, like give yourself a little bit of slack, Like you don't deserve to be treated like trash by yourself. Yeah, Like ill, no, we're talking to ourselves like we are our best friends now.
Beck mm, that's great. That's a great like.
If you would say it to me, you can say it to you, But if you wouldn't say it to me, then you can't say that to you.
It's a great rule to live by.
I think it's a very good rule.
Now, just shifting is a little bit because I'm hoping I'm getting a tax refund this year and I'm thinking about like what I should spend it on or like you know, and I think it's the wrong mindset obviously, but I'm like, already, I know what am I spending it on?
Yeah? I know you Instead of what am I saving? And that's okay, We're all different, right, Like, and I think it's best to actually sit down and go all right, So when I get a tax refund, I'm not going to make a decision immediately because I think we get a little bit spendy. Like you see the money and you're like, let's go, let's go, baby, like, lock it away, lock it away for a week while we make a decision.
That is the best decision for you in your personal situation, because there's no right answer, right, you could have a thousand Let's pretend you get one thousand dollars back from the ATO, right, that would be nice, And you have a thousand dollars zip pay Maybe you want to pay that off, yeah, Or maybe you owe your mum money, maybe that's more of a priority. Or maybe you're going on a holiday and you want to put it there.
Maybe you have an emergency fund and you want to top that up or put it in your offset account to offset your mortgage. Like, there are so many different things that you could do with it, And I don't have the answer back, Like I wish I could be like, all right, so the best thing to do is to X, well, that's the best thing in my mind for me and my personal situation. But everyone has like all these different moving parts, and like, again, let's go back to the
mum example that I had before. Let's say you've got a mum earning forty grand Beck. She has two kids and she's putting them through school. Money's really bloody tight, and she has one thousand dollars come in. If I said, use that to pay off your debt, like cool, that's really good advice, Like it's solid, there's nothing bad about it. Ye, But she's had a really shitty year. Beck, Maybe she needs to spend one hundred dollars to take the kids out go the movies, like finally take a little bit
of steam off. She still got nine hundred dollars. Put that in your bank account. I know you've got a really big zip pay. But maybe what she wants to do is not pay off her zip pay, but have an emergency fund so that she feels comfy. So she's spoiled her kids a little bit. They've taken the steam off together. They're really excited about that. She has some cash in her bank and she still has that debt.
But like life just feels a little bit lighter. Yeah, do you think that that is for her maybe a better decision than paying off that debt in its entirety, it sounds like it. But at the same time, is that right for everybody? No, and I can't make that decision. That's not my advice, that's you know you. And this
is why we set goals. This is why we keep budgets, This is why we dive deep into our situation so that we can go, Okay, well this looks like this and this, but money is inherently emotional, so I can't just go, oh, well, technically the best thing would be to pay off your debt, makes sense, But like if you're telling me that having an emergency fund is going to take that pressure off, and I genuinely believe that everyone that has a debt needs an emergency fund, irrespective
of whether the debt's paid off or not, because that emergency fund means you're not going to go into further debt, like something else comes up. Well, you're not whacking it on your aft to pay, are you, Like you're actually paying for it with cash. And you know what that does creates this cycle of going, oh my god, I paid for it in cat Yeah, I've got some debt over there, but like I've paid for that and I did that, and historically I had to lean on my
credit card for that. Like that is queen behavior. That is putting future you first, because you're starting to build up your confidence when it comes to money. Exactly, how about future goals? All right, so we're going to sit down and we're going to decide what you want to each in the next year. Now, from my perspective, is the perfect time to be taking stock of where you're
at financially. Perhaps you'd like to start paying off that debt we're just talking about back, or maybe you're commencing a new savings plan because you just really want a new family car. Maybe you want to buy a house, Maybe you want to go on a family holiday. Like, I don't know where your goals are. I support all of them, but the main thing is to be really decisive, so we can't just be wishy washy with our goals.
My favorite thing in this entire world is an emergency fund, and I think that everyone needs one, So, like you know, my advice is to start there because I think that that gives you financial freedom immediately, Like don't get me wrong. You can't quit your job just because you've got an
emergency fund. But if you know that you've got five hundred dollars or one thousand dollars or some people have like twenty thousand dollars emergency funds, if you knew that was sitting there, life just feels a little bit more cushy. Life feels easy. That's like the first step towards creating financial freedom is this kind of like emergency fund, which I think is the gateway drug of financial freedom and
being in good financial standing. Like it gives you that taste of like, oh I can do this for myself. That's slay. I think that's slay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I feel like this is my year for that.
I think it is too. I feel good things for you. Bet you think so? Oh no, I know so, I know.
So Now, Vid you have any final words?
Yeah, I think we're nearly done. We're nearly done for it threatening with me. Do you have any final words? Yes?
I do. So. I would love everyone to just do one thing to educate yourself or making some money outside of your job, so like out of your nine to five Monday to Friday, or like outside of it, Like what can you do, whether it is like signing up for an investment newsletter or like reading a book or you are you know, learning something about investing as accumulating knowledge, it takes time, you know, just gonna like automatically be able to create money outside of that, but like maybe
Google investing in chairs or watch your money show or like listen to more podcasts or you know, knowledge just at your fingertips and it is free days, which is wild, Like you can literally listen to every single one of my books for free if you have a Spotify membership, Like that's a money win. Yes, Like I know my books are pretty cheap. It came out nowadays, but like free or cheap, like I still want to go with free.
I get it. And I wrote those books not so I could make money, because lord knows, you do not publish books in Australia to make bank, Like that is not how it works, sadly, back, I did it because
I want you to be in a better position. So I want you to absorb more content because if that means that you're learning about selling things on Facebook marketplace, or just like decluttering your house, or you're talking about like you know, taking up shifts on uber or like you know, investing so that the money that your money has made starts making money. Like I just want you to be in a better position, so you've got multiple sources of income. Everyone deserves that. That's very sexy to me.
So do one thing that educates yourself about making money outside of your job. That's great. That's what we're going to do. Great advice, power, knowledge is power. We love this for us anyway. I think that that's a good enough rand about putting yourself first this coming financial year. And that's a really good little media finance health check, Hurrican. I love you did all that slake way.
If you've made it here, you're a little bit ahead of a lot ahead thirty minutes ago, a lot ahead.
I love this for us. All right, Well, we will see you on Friday, guys for a little bit of a catch up on the week that was. Had the best remainder of the week. We love you byes.
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