About Jane

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got to talking about money?

I was lucky that I came out of university at a time when 10% of people went to university. So, if you had a university degree, it actually was a way to get to a job. Now, 30% of people go to university. And while that’s a wonderful thing, it has meant that the currency of a university degree has, to some extent, been debased. I got a very average English literature degree from Macquarie University, so I was not what you might call a ‘highly sought after graduate’, but I had no trouble getting a job in marketing. In those days, in the 70s, you were only competing for jobs against everybody else in your city. These days, you are competing against everybody else in your country, but also against everybody else in the whole world to get a job. It's so much more difficult now. 

I didn't really start talking about money until I started to get older, and I think what alerted me to it was much less my own situation. I know I've been very fortunate in that I've been with my husband for 46 years.

The best financial advice I can give anyone who partners up is: work on your marriage. Because if you maintain your relationship it will save you the most extraordinary amount in financial costs. Men and women both take a hit when there is a marriage breakup, financially, but men usually recover within 7 to 10 years, but women never recover financially from a divorce. I would never argue that you should stay in a sh*thouse marriage for the money. But I do think we need to be more pragmatic about going into a relationship and how we're going to safeguard our own economic future.

A decade ago, I was being a bit smug. I realised that my generation of women were the first generation of women ever in the history of the world who have worked for money for most of their lives (not because their husband didn’t earn enough, but because they were encouraged to do so). And then I heard that statistic about the fastest growing group of homeless Australians being women over 55. And I went, “hang on, how can those two things both be true?”

That's what led me to write Accidental Feminists and to do the research to find out how, even though women have broken down a lot of barriers, we haven't actually been able to break down the absolute death grip men have on money.

Can you give us three words that come to mind when you think about money?

Choice. Fun. Anxiety.

“My final piece of advice? Be a feminist. Say it out loud. This is the only thing that will change things for women. Asking nicely has never cut it.”

What’s the biggest money ‘faux pas’ you’ve made and how’d you fix it?

Lots of them, and most of them, happened when I was young. That was lucky, in a way, because when you're young you've still got time to repair the damage. If you're older and you stuff up, that's really difficult because you can't as easily go out get another job and build back what you've lost. 

When I was first in the workforce, there was no compulsory super. So I bought a superannuation product that then collapsed, and I lost about $30,000. Eventually I did get that money back, but it took a very long time. 

That made me really suspicious of any kind of super product. So I don’t have nearly enough super on my own, but my husband and I have a joint super account. It is only because of our joint enterprise that I will end up with heaps of super. 

The other blow I had was when my husband and I bought our very first property in our 20s. It was a one bedroom flat and we bought it just before Paul Keating got rid of negative gearing. It was a disaster for people like us because our one bedroom apartment just totally lost value because most of them were investment properties.

That was just bad timing and it’s really just the luck of the draw. No one has a crystal ball, so you shouldn’t punish yourself if that happens and you shouldn’t let mistakes put you off from taking action with your money.

What are your top tips to help more women have conversations about money?

Listen to the older women that you know. Don’t listen to the men in your life, they will discourage you from having conversations about money. 

There’s nothing intrinsically wrong or bad about wanting to have financial security. Financial security is about being self-responsible, it’s as important as being responsible about what you eat and drink and how much you exercise. 

It simply means making sure that you don’t spend more than you earn. If you do have a credit card, always pay it off in full or just use a debit card so you never spend more than you earn. 

Don’t have any debt that isn’t investment debt. So that means avoiding personal loans and saving up to buy a car or go on a holiday. Money should allow you to have fun, but don’t borrow to ‘get’ those things because that eats into your financial security. 

Know what you owe in tax and pay it. I’ve seen friends absolutely ruined by not paying their taxes and it catching up with them. Especially if you’re self-employed or run your own business, make sure you’re saving and paying for tax and contributing to your super. 

If you’re earning good money, consider salary sacrificing into super. And never take any money out of super, no matter what the stupid government encourages you to do. 

Don’t be afraid to ask for a pay rise, but don’t blame yourself if you don’t get it. There is copious research that says that women are in a ‘no win’ situation: they won’t get a pay rise unless they ask for one, but they’re less likely to get one even if they do ask because they’re seen as ‘difficult’ if they ask for one. And if you don’t get it, start looking for another job. Sometimes the only way women can rise in a career is to move jobs. 

My final piece of advice: be a feminist. Say it out loud. This is the only thing that will change things for women. Asking nicely has never cut it.

Other Ladies Talking Money is an interview series created by Ladies Talk Money to showcase some other incredible women and non-binary people who are also working to change money for the better. We don’t have any direct affiliation with those featured, nor do we recommend or endorse their services. We just happen to love what they do, and choose to show our appreciation through this series and doing what we can to spread the word.

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Any finance info discussed in this seriously fab feature is general advice only. You should consider your personal circumstances before acting on it or reach out if you’d like to discuss your individual needs.