Millennial finance guru Victoria Devine’s top money tips to get you saving for the future

A millennial finance guru has revealed the tough lessons she has learned when it comes to saving money.

As a millennial financial adviser, Victoria Devine is used to untangling people’s messy money lives and correcting past decisions.

And it’s advice crafted from learning the hard way herself when she took out an expensive personal loan while studying overseas.

“What I didn’t comprehend was that I had to spend $700 of my personal savings every month on loan repayments. It stunted my ability to save,” says the 29-year-old finance influencer.

Devine’s newly-released book She’s on the Money – inspired by her award-winning podcast which has more than 4.5 million downloads – covers topics from the cost of starting a family and buying a home to tips on how to budget and build savings.

Victoria Devine. Picture: Miranda Stokkel Photography

“After starting a community group on Facebook for people to discuss their money issues, I found a gap, particularly for millennial women,” Devine says.

Finance books were not “tailored for the demographic I was speaking to,” she says.

“I wanted to create a book that could make women feel empowered to save and invest, and be financially secure. Finance can be really jargony and overwhelming and I don’t want it to be like that.”

Here Devine shares her top tips to help millennials navigate their way to a secure financial future.

PLAN EARLY FOR FAMILY

Devine says it is critical for parents to start planning financially for a family from early on.

“It’s essential to be making financial plans for your child because in the long run, they’re going to cost you a lot,” she says.

According to the Australian Institute of Family Studies, the average essential costs of raising one child is $297,700.

But paying for your children’s education can be a bigger investment, costing as much as $500,000 in private school fees for each child.

“While government schools are free for children, you will probably have costs between $60-$1000 a year for extracurriculars and additional costs,” Devine says. “Making sure you know what kind of education you’re aiming for allows you to budget accordingly. It definitely helps ease the burden to start saving as early as possible.”

Costs for having a baby in Australia vary depending on whether you go through the public or private health systems and what kind of birth you have.

“Giving birth can cost anywhere from $0 to give birth in a public hospital to $14,000 to have a private patient C-section,” Devine says.

“You also need to take into consideration the additional costs for items like prams, toys and clothing.”

Jade Paskins and her partner Jacob.

GET READY FOR RETIREMENT

Think you’re too young to start to save for retirement? Not true.

Millennials are in an ideal position to get started, because whatever they set aside will grow and accrue interest greatly over time, and can create an immediate sense of security.

Saving as much as possible has been a consistent goal for Jade Paskins and her partner Jacob. And after losing their jobs last year, they started to become more conscious of their spending habits.

“We have both sat down to discuss our expenses and what areas we can cut back on,” Paskins says.

“Now that we are both working full time, we have committed to putting about 25 per cent of each fortnightly paycheck into savings and later, a retirement account.

“We are trying to make smarter decisions about our income now that we are in more permanent work and are looking to secure a future together.”

Devine says millennials should think about planning for retirement now.

“The sooner you start investing, the less you need to invest consistently over the long term,” she says. “Future You is relying on current you to put them first. The longer you have your money invested, the longer that compound interest has to work its magic.”

DON’T CLASH OVER CASH

If you want your relationship to last, start talking about money and get saving.

Couples who work as a team to get on top of money issues can make a big difference to the quality of their lives and relationships.

“It’s you and your partner against the problem, not you and your partner against each other,” Devine says. “It’s important to plant a seed and start a conversation about money, like ‘I’d love to talk about how to budget together’ in a constructive way.”

She suggests creating a shared budget, setting goals and structuring a no-fail cashflow strategy.

“Having this visually laid out in a spreadsheet means you’ll be able to say, ‘It’s not in the budget for us to do this activity, and here’s why’ or ‘Does taking on that extra payment delay us from reaching our goals?’.”

BE YOUR OWN SUPER(ANNUATION) HERO

It may not be cool for the younger working generations to think about superannuation, but it could be the biggest and most important investment they will make.

The purpose of this is to grow your wealth over time so that when you get to the age of retirement, you have more money available than what you originally contributed, Devine says.

“The interest you’re earning on the balance of your fund compounds over time, which means the sooner you can start contributing, the better,” she says.

“For example, if you are 21 and start saving $500 a month until the age of retirement, you will have $240,000. If you had taken that same $500 a month and contributed it to your super or invested it instead, you could potentially have an investment portfolio of $1.2m.

“Superannuation is an investment for Future You, and while it may feel too far off to be worth your full attention now, the sooner you start taking your super seriously, the sooner you’ll be working towards your wealth for when you retire.”

Originally published as Millennial finance guru Victoria Devine’s top money tips to get you saving for the future