Would you tell anyone if you won $1 million?

Maddy: [00:00:23] Hello and welcome to You're In Good Company, a podcast that makes investing accessible for everyone. I am Maddy Guest and for the 100th time I am in some very good company with my co-host, Sophie. 

Sophie: [00:00:36] Mads. Well done. 100 episodes.

Maddy: [00:00:39] Not only 100 episodes, but it happens in full in our last episode of this year. 

Sophie: [00:00:43] I know, but we did have a couple of like mini series which pulled us over the lines like a weekend series and stuff. But 100 like that is huge. Crazy to think that we started this during COVID and then we're still doing it now. 

Maddy: [00:01:00] Still going? 

Sophie: [00:01:02] it's so much fun. Otherwise we wouldn't be doing it at all. And you actually told me a funny story about your weekend, which kind of, like, gives you, like, cadence to, like, why were you want to keep doing what it is like, right? 

Maddy: [00:01:14] Yeah, that. Right. That was perfect. 

Sophie: [00:01:17] What happened on your weekend?

Maddy: [00:01:18] It was funny. I woke up to a great audio on Sunday morning and so I was out on the town with my mom's house and my house that night and we had had a few drinks and we were walking up Smith Street in Collingwood and we decided that we wanted to go for a dance. Good way to end the night. So we heard great music and we followed the music and we ended up in this club and we walked in and I'm sort of like, you know, when you walk in, you're getting bearings and you feel like, wow. And this guy looks at me, throws his arms in the air, and he's like, Maddy. And I'm looking know, thinking, oh, my gosh. Face, face, face. Come on. Like who are you? I am like, hi. I'm like, oh, you know, hot bike like me out in this big hug. And I'm like, looking back at my house at being like, Oh, I know who he's like, Oh, my gosh, help. I'm thinking, work. No, blah. Anyway. And then he turns around, introduces me to all his friends and he goes, This is Maddy from You're In Good Company, my favourite podcast. And I was like, Oh my gosh. And I tend to know it. And her eyes are like, What on earth is going on? Anyway, Rich, honey, he was so lovely. It honestly made my entire week. It was just like the best interaction notion I have, and it's like taking photos of our thing. Like guys, like Pose was hilarious. And then as I'm walking, like, going to, I'm like, Oh, I'm going to go get a drink. You guys say hi to Sophie for me.

Sophie: [00:02:47] I think it's so nice.

Maddy: [00:02:48] It's like you get that human interaction. People that want to, you know, we're all like minded people. We're all listening and watching and talking about the same things and it's so nice and you get that human contact. 

Sophie: [00:02:58] It was the best. 

Maddy: [00:02:59] So that's why we're here for our 100th episode. Amos is our last episode for the year. We have been very busy working on a summer series for you all. 

Sophie: [00:03:06] It's going to be coming out from the 10th or the week of the 10th, the 10th of January, somewhere to confirm the 10th of January. And it's going to be all about industries to watch in 2023 as we set up our portfolios and maybe realign our goals, our strategies. So we've had you guys vote about what you want to hear about so it's coming to you. 

Maddy: [00:03:27] very exciting. Definitely keep your eye out for that. But today for our final episode of the year, we did want to pay homage to one of our favourite podcasts, The Imperfect. We did a Vulnerability House style episode earlier in the year and we got lots of messages from you guys. We know that you loved it just as much as we did. It was such a fun episode. But if you are not aware of how the vulnerability house works, I will give you a quick rundown. So I'm going to give Sophie three prompts and she has to pick one of them that she wants to talk about. And then I'm going to do the reverse. Now we're going to put a little sort of finance and money spin on the prompts to make sure that it is relevant for us. But should we get into it? 

Sophie: [00:04:11] We shall we shall get into it. So you're going to give me three prompts and I choose one of them and then I have to detail one of them. 

Maddy: [00:04:21] Exactly. Let me discuss. Let me just chop, chop, as we always do. All right. Number one, do you think money is unfeminine? Number two, how do you feel after spending a large amount of money? Number three, how would you live your life differently if money were no factor? Talk us through. What are you feeling? What are you thinking? 

Sophie: [00:04:52] I want to answer all three. I think they're incredible questions. I think off the bat I will cancel out number two, which is how do you feel about spending a large sum of money? Just because I don't think I have a lot to say about it, to be honest. Usually when I'm spending a large sum of money, I've thought about it for a while. Once I've done it, it's kind of done it over. And my biggest sum of money that I've ever spent is probably not as big. You know, I've never bought a house or so maybe it's not as interesting at this point in my life. Do I think money is unfeminine it is so interesting. But I don't know how much I could give you right now without having a real think about it now that I'm on the spot. But I do really want to talk about it. 

Maddy: [00:05:38] Maybe we'll talk about down for the next day. 

Sophie: [00:05:40] Yeah, because I think it's an incredible question. And I do think money potentially has been a construct historically more for men. But then I don't want to say that as a general statement and then be held to that because I haven't thought about it enough. So. Incredible topic, but I'm probably going to go to question three. How would you live your life differently if money were no factor? It's so hard because I want to think about it. If money wasn't a thing, is does that mean that I had, like, endless amounts of money to spend or. Yeah, it was like it wasn't even a concept. 

Maddy: [00:06:16] Yeah. Let's say you've got a black enough money to do whatever it is that you want to do. 

Sophie: [00:06:20] Yeah. Okay. So I think like when I was growing up and thinking about my uni career, I was always and ever since young age, I've always been really driven by money. I'm one of those people that like money in a sense, you know, could bring me happiness because it allows you to buy the things or do the things or experience the things I want to do. Yeah, it gives me freedom, gives me the freedom. And so I've always had jobs like since I was 15 because I want money. So I think when I first think about that question is like I would probably be doing something really different with my life if money was no object. Because even though I love the job that I mean, I really get so much out of it. And I honestly, I'm so lucky to say that I go like into work every day, happy to be there, happy to be around my team. I know it's not as common as people think, but I think I would be in a different career. I think I would be in like photography. Which is so random. But I've always thought the coolest job in the world would be someone who gets to travel and take photos of really cool things. And I am very drawn to like photos and like places. So like when I see like amazing photos on Instagram or on TikTok or wherever, they are always like, I want to be there, I want to experience that. I want to be able to capture that and like give it to other people. Because I think it brings me so much joy when I say it. 

Maddy: [00:07:45] You know it is funny. We went to school together at high school together. And I just have a really distinct memory of your older sister as we were growing up. But she was two, three years above us.

Sophie: [00:07:57] Yeah. three. 

Maddy: [00:07:58] And she did photography. She was quite good at it. From what I remember. Wow. You know my friend who was I mean, I'm sure she was great and I'm sure it was down. It was pretty like. But I would say there's a distinct memory of Charlotte doing photography. Like, it's one. Like, it's so sharp in my head. 

Sophie: [00:08:15] Yeah, well, it's interesting. So my older sister now paints this beautiful picture. But anyway can say, but if you've ever watched Instagram photos, you see a blue picture with a painting of the daisies. That's my older sister who's painted that. So talented, so talented. And she does on the side shout out to her Instagram charpaints is so creative and that's where she like has her outlet. And then my youngest sister is really similar. She has a little scarf brand that you wear is tops and she designs like just a little off brand. Well, yeah, she's got a scarf brand called Emur. EMUR And she. you're welcome Dicker Family. But she does all the graphic design and then like, you know, she's younger, she's now I think she's 21, she's 21. And you know, she went to the effort of like finding a supplier and like she's really creative in that sense. And I always have said, like, I'm not that creative. But then this year I went and bought a little like old school, like 35 millimetre camera, and I went to a guy in Carlton and he taught me about how to actually use it in all like the settings because it's not like a, I don't know, wind up and click one. And so yeah, I'm going to use horrible technology, I mean photograph terms, but you know, you've got to learn how to do the aperture and the lighting above. And I like when I took the photos, like I found so much joy in it. So linking back to the money side of it, I think I would even I love what I do. I think I would get more joy out of potentially doing something more creative. I don't know. I think there's a big part of me that's like I'm sitting in front of a screen every single day. And like, I think you and I had a conversation about this because it's the end of the year. When you look back at this year, it's all been even though we've done so much, all of it's been such a big kind of blur. And I think a lot of that comes from we work our day jobs, we work for the podcast, and then we study. And it means that 90% of our times in front of a screen. so I think, yeah, if money was no object, I'd probably be outdoors seeking a bit more adventure and seeking a bit more like beauty maybe in my life. 

Maddy: [00:10:24] Yeah, I think for me, like it's I've found doing the podcast really fun because that has been quite a good creative outlet and like it's honestly very different to photography in terms of creativity. Yeah, like photography is a much more pure form of that. But I think, you know, I'm the same. I love my job, I love what we do every day. But I think being able to do the podcast and sort of have another, you know, even if it is sitting on camera and making Instagram posts and making our grid look nice or yeah, you know, trying to come up with fun ideas for how we can structure episodes. That sense of creativity and just thinking differently instead of being in my spreadsheet day. Is like it's been a good outlet. But yeah. Again, very different from like I feel like photography is a very pure form or outlet of creativity. Yeah. 

Sophie: [00:11:12] I also think the other part of that question of like money was no object. And I'm taking it as like I had enough money to kind of just do what I wanted and not have to worry about it. I think I would spend time like a little bit differently as well in terms of with friends and family. I personally just get so much joy out of like being able to do really nice things for the people that I love. And I feel like I'm often restricted potentially more in the past, like six months to a year, we've gone back to normal life. We're spending more and going out. Inflation's run rampant. Like, you know, we feel the pain every day. Like we go to the supermarket and it's like everything is so much more expensive. And I feel like I would just do I would just love to do nicer things like, you know, just for example, like having people round to my place and like cooking a really beautiful dinner like which you can definitely do. And I do that already, but like I feel like I do those things more often because I love doing it, but, you know, doing it, you can't just house people for dinner every single weekend, you know, rent money. Yeah, I do run you. Yeah, but I think a different side in terms of career, but like spending time with people is like, I just love hosting things, I love it and I just wish I could, like, put on events all the time and come and enjoy the home and like, you can't do that. Like, it's totally yeah, I totally don't remember actually having a chat before we recorded an episode like an hour ago and then we went downstairs and you just gave me a glass of wine and cooked me did. I was like, This is so nice. And you're like, Yeah, well, it's so nice when you have someone in your home. It's like, We had to do this for the while. Yeah, I love it, you know, like, I hate cooking. So then go. Yeah, but like, honestly, I. That's one of the things I get the most joy out of when people are like in your home and they really enjoy like your space. So I think, I, I think that, yeah, the other aspect would be like giving more, but I don't want to say I don't want this to sound like I wish I had more money because money will bring you better time, quality time with your family and friends. That's not what I'm saying. I just wish I could host more and, like, be more generous. And yeah, but generosity comes in so many ways, and I already know that some of my most generous, generous friends in the whole world haven't spent a penny on me. They just give you all the time and love and attention in the whole world. But yeah, I think too so. Two sides, career and then relationships. 

Maddy: [00:13:27] I love them. 

Sophie: [00:13:28] Yeah, but I mean, do I ask you back? So, Mads, I'm going to ask you three prompts. First one is, if you won $1 million tomorrow, who would you tell and what would you do with it? Like, you have to decide tomorrow how you exactly spend the million dollars. Second one is to what extent does money control your happiness? And the third is, would you rather go back in time and fix your biggest money mistake or look forward to the future to see where you end up with your money? 

Maddy: [00:14:20] All right. I'm going to say no to number three. Yeah, because I feel like my money mistakes that I have made, you know, relate to investing. And I have learnt so much from those mistakes, so I wouldn't redo them. Yeah, I think they have made them the investor I am today and they were important lessons to have. 

Sophie: [00:14:42] Yeah, that's a good take on it. Oh so when I, when I read that, when I was writing that question, I was like thinking of someone who's like lost like hundreds of thousands. 

Maddy: [00:14:52] Yeah. Yeah. I haven't had that much money yet. Good luck for the future. So the other ones are if I won $1,000,000 and what was the other one? And to what extent does money control your happiness? Money and happiness. I want to answer that, but I just don't like you said, there is money on phone, and I think I need time to think about it. Yeah. So that leaves us with if I want $1,000,000 tomorrow, who would you tell and what would you do with it? Potentially controversial. I don't think I would tell anyone. Okay. Not anyone. Not at all. Yeah. Okay. I am behind it because it obviously is a massive like it's huge. It's amazing. And it opens up so many opportunities and so many doors. But I feel like I am quite a rational person with money and I actually don't think like in terms of what I would do with it, it wouldn't change a thing. Like I, I wouldn't blow it on it. Like I wouldn't, you know, spend it on anything big. I wouldn't, I don't think I would do anything crazy with it. So I think I would want to just keep it to myself. I would invest like I would invest quite a bit of it.

Sophie: [00:16:18] But when we're talking investing like let's break this down. Yeah, like what are you investing in? Why you investing in it? Are we talking you're talking the stock market. Are you talking property? Like what's like really think about it. Where are you putting this exactly? Where are you putting this money? 

Maddy: [00:16:32] I would put quite a large portion into the stock market because I have been really trying to put as much money aside as I can at the moment to invest in the stock market because of the downturn. Yeah, I relax and I'm not like this is obviously no. As to what is going to happen with the market. But you know, after the last couple of years, which is the extent of my experience of investing, you know, the market has gone really high and we've seen record, you know, record highs, in fact. And I think this drop off is a great opportunity to invest at a point where it's lower. That's going to pay off, hopefully big time in generations to come. 

Sophie: [00:17:10] Yeah. So do you have a dollar figure? 

Maddy: [00:17:13] So. Okay, let me explain why I would say no. I would also probably want to think about property. Yeah. The reason why I'm conflicted is it feels like quite an uncertain time to potentially be buying property. And I haven't like way focussed a lot of attention on like investing in the stock market and I don't feel like I know enough so I'm not sure whether I would invest that now into property or sort of put it aside and hope like, you know, put it into the stock market for a few years and it goes up and then in five years time, whatever, take it out and use it to invest. So interesting to say. I mean, of course, I would have some fun. I'm trying to think what I would do. The issue is not telling anyone is I can't really be like I'm taking my family on a holiday. I feel like what. 

Sophie: [00:18:06] I was going to say, like my first thought was like, ladies we're going to the Bahamas. 

Maddy: [00:18:09] Yeah, I know. I guess. Okay, we have a problem. We've encountered an issue here. Do you know what I think I would rather and I think maybe this is a this is due to not really having a good concept of how much money $1,000,000 is. But I really resonated before with what you're talking about in terms of like doing really nice things for your friends and like not necessarily doing anything one grand thing. But I almost feel like I would love and I'm just thinking of this now, but I would love to have like a fund that I put aside that I use over like the next years and years. Yeah. Or, you know, not years and years, but next few years and just like, do really nice things for my friends. Yeah. I'm like, I can make up lies. Like, I can be like, Oh, I got this voucher for this place. Let's all go out for dinner. 

Sophie: [00:18:58] Podcast paid well? 

Maddy: [00:18:59] Yeah, exactly. We had a room. We had a room up on the podcast. And I really want to like trade all my friends because you got to size 40 that in age nine. Yeah. Then I need to know where the money is coming from. But I think maybe instead of doing like one really grand thing and maybe I can do this, a lot of don't know how much is $1,000,000? Everybody dies a lot. How far does that go? Yeah, I think maybe I would like to do lots of just really nice things and have zero guilt about it. Yeah. Have all my friends over for dinner and cook an amazing dinner. Maybe even higher, chef. Yeah. 

Sophie: [00:19:30] Yeah, that would be so nice. It's interesting what you said to that answer, because I think anyone listening and even myself, I have a really completely different answer. Yeah. And I would love to know what other people would do with $1,000,000. Yeah. Because yeah. Wow, you've said something so different. So I think it's something we should actually put on our Instagram and into our Facebook community of getting people's thoughts of like what Your Break-Up would be. 

Maddy: [00:19:56] Yeah, I feel like mine is maybe a little bit boring. 

Sophie: [00:19:58] It's I don't think it's boring. I think it's really rational and smart. It feels like but it feels responsible, which, you know, like, to be honest, my first thought was like putting all of it into property and not having a mortgage. So it's like it's cash out, like gone. Yeah. But then I but then when I hear you say like you get gains from your million dollars in the stock market, like I'm also like, oh yeah, that's well, it's weighing up the options, but I think what's going to get you a better return potentially. [00:20:26][27.7]

Maddy: [00:20:27] So it's also it's a funny one, right? Because obviously, like $1,000,000 is so much money. It's so much money that I can't I can't fathom how far it would go and what I could do with it genuinely. But at the same time I'm like, what's the average property price in Melbourne these days? Like if you're buying an $1,000,000 home without a mortgage, like, you know, it's, you know, it's not like you're getting a mansion. Yeah, no, you're not like that's like that's money gone in a blink. Yeah. And you know, you've probably got like a, you know, a really nice little house in a neighbourhood somewhere. But you know that like it's funny, $1,000,000 is so much money, but it's also when you're thinking about property and things like that, it disappears very quickly. Well, it depends. Yeah. 

Sophie: [00:21:06] I guess where you want to buy. Yeah. Are you have you ever been one of those people where you sit on like realestate.com.au or whatever domain and like look at properties?

Maddy: [00:21:13] It's funny, I'm not I really have pretty much never done that. I think because there are so many things that I want to do before I buy property. Yeah, I'm like, it's probably partly a like limitation thing. Like I'm not in a position to be buying property. So I, I'm really focussed on investing in as much as I can into the stock market. Yeah, but I feel very comfortable with that and I'm kind of like I'm going to keep doing that and property is in my future, but like I don't feel like I need that as an investment at my right stage in my life. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. 

Sophie: [00:21:48] I just always look at it because I'm so obsessed with the houses. I think it's so interesting and I'm now I'm actually in my rural phase. Oh, so rural. And I'm looking at like the little huts. 

Maddy: [00:22:00] that actually gets me a lot more excited. Like, I wouldn't be surprised by not being someone who like rents in it's area that I want to live and then maybe buys like out of town to rent it on the beach or on a property somewhere. And like some are a bit more random and hopefully cheaper. 

Sophie: [00:22:20] Yeah, interesting. I like these conversations. You really do get a bit of an insight of like how other people think. Yeah. Oh, so, so interesting. You wouldn't tell anyone, but I think what we should do is really put this into our community and get other people's thoughts. Yeah. About what they're thinking. Let's poll that. But oh it, I love having these chats. Like I feel like we have them all the time anyway, but it is so nice to like document them and get a bit deeper. If you are listening and you have any questions you'd want us to answer in this kind of setting, please send them through either through on Instagram at YIGC podcast or in our Facebook community at YIGC Investing Podcast Discussion Group. 

Maddy: [00:22:59] And if you're involved with the imperfects and you want to, you know, do a collab of some sort, we love you. Let us know. But a big thank you for that, Inspo, because I think we are seriously enjoying doing these episodes.

Sophie: [00:23:14] So Mads going into summer. I mean, we're in summer, but if you're not. Yeah. If you're listening from somewhere other than Melbourne, explain. Right now I'm looking outside. It's 13 degrees. I'm Emma. I actually am worried about this episode that the sound is going to be bad because it's pouring so heavily outside. Pouring. So it's summer, but baby, it's a wind. Touched anything. It's different. It's light. Yeah, right. Well, it's your summer recommendation going into the period where we all get a bit of a break, hopefully. 

Maddy: [00:23:45] I'm going to recommend probably my favourite book that I have read this year. Oh, okay. Let's go home. It is called A Red Notice by Bill Browder. I'm not sure. I feel like maybe I've mentioned it on the podcast before. Yeah, but highly, highly recommend it. So it is told from the perspective of the author of Bill he was I am pretty sure he's from the UK and he was living in Russia, investing in the Russian stock market. And he was finding like all these incredible opportunities because the stock market or the whole financial system was quite sort of corrupt and there are a lot of things going on. He was being abused. So he was able to take advantage of like seriously undervalued companies. And he made heaps of money out of it for his fund that he had people investing in. Anyway, I won't give too much away, but the premise of the story is he becomes Putin's most wanted man. And I'm like, That is not an exaggeration. Like, yeah, he seriously had a target on his back. And I read it before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. And, you know, you had stories of what Putin was like. But I don't think I ever really had a proper understanding of that. And we now have a lot more perspective of what he's like because of what's been going on this year. But this book gives you some seriously hectic insight into the kind of things that this mamoudou and yeah, I would highly recommend. It is fascinating. So Red Notice by Bill Browder. Yes. Also, it would be remiss of me to say that the Equity Mates guys actually interviewed Bill Browder on an episode. So go and listen to that one too. Just what are you recommending for us?

Sophie: [00:25:30] I wish it was insightful. Is that I mean, that's okay, but I'm actually recommending a product. Yeah. So I'm going to be recommending the app. Who gives a crap Christmas edition toilet paper love. So if you haven't heard of Who Gives a crap? They're an incredible company founded in Melbourne and they are doing a Christmas edition of their recycled toilet paper and they donate 50% of their profits to sanitation projects. So like building toilets in developing countries and that's such a cool company and this really cute and fun and it's just like a fun way to decorate your house. Like, we haven't really bought any decorations because I actually love that. Yeah, that just not it's not a sustainable and whatever and it's just they're fun. So that's my product that I'm recommending. Nice. Simon Griffiths, the CEO and co-founder. If you're listening, we'd love to have you on the programme. So if you've got if you go to the end of this episode, we have recommended you very, very, very cool company. So I would love to learn more about your background. 

Maddy: [00:26:29] Anyway, I think that brings us to the end of our final episode of the episode 100. We made it. 

Sophie: [00:26:36] Guys, thank you so much for joining us throughout 2022. We know markets have been rough. Let's all pray and fingers crossed for a better year next year. We have so much amazing content coming our way, so I hope you are continuing the journey with us in 2023. We are very appreciative. Yes, of course. We hope you have a relaxing break. We'll be back in your ears in a few weeks time. But until then, happy holidays. Stay safe. Stay with your loved ones and enjoy. Have a little glass of champagne. 

Maddy: [00:27:06] So we'll see you in 2023. Bye.