I’m no longer embarrassed about the bus I couldn’t afford, but at the time was genuinely shameful. That being said - the most recent episode we just released with my full money story had a few sticky bits I felt a little apprehensive to share.
A few years ago, I was standing in an airport in tears. Not because anything terrible had happened. Not because of a family emergency, or I’d missed a flight or a lost passport (both of which would be on brand for me). I was crying because I had absolutely no money for the holiday I was about to go on.
It all started a few days before when I realised I didn’t even have £30 to book my bus to the airport. I had to call my best friend Ella and ask her to pay for it. It sucked. I felt ashamed, I remember crying in the corner of the pool while my friends floated around with their cocktails.
For anyone who hasn’t heard this story before - basically I had £10k sitting in a trading account. But I had no money to access for the trip I was about to fly away on. The Curve had been going for a few years at this point, and I’d FINALLY started investing. I had been religiously transferring money out of my account every single month, and because Vic had told me we were investing for our 65 year old selves, I had taken that so literally that I had forgotten I could actually if I needed it.
Vic always says “invest the money you don’t need right now”, in the same way if your 20 year holiday fund (Kiwisaver, super, pension etc.) comes out before the money hits your account, you don’t even realise it was there in the first place.
In my eyes, I had been an A++ student and taken that so seriously, however I made one giant faux pas and that was - rather than taking a consistent amount out each month that didn’t impact me too severely, I was instead transferring random amounts. I was over investing.
The trip to Italy was with Vic, and 17 other friends. We rented a big house in Italy and were planning on eating our body weight in pasta, and drinking litres and litres of Aperol Spritz. How on earth, did I think I was going to pay for this trip when I couldn’t even get myself to the airport? It feels kind of funny now, but was such a disaster at the time.
Vic eventually calmed me down at the airport. She gently asked what money I had, and where it was. Through my tears I told her I had been trying so hard to invest, and that I’d actually built up a lot in my trading account. She said “nice how much is in there?” and was shocked when she heard it was over £10k. She was like, “sorry, you have ten thousand pounds? What exactly are you panicking about?”
I had to explain to her, genuinely, that I didn’t think I was allowed to touch it. I had learned the rule. And took it so damn seriously.
That trip illuminated something I hadn’t realised before. Not just for me personally, but for The Curve too. We had been so focused on the long game of investing, that we had completely skipped the part about how to actually manage your money. And if I had ended up in an airport in tears over a bus ticket, then we had a learning gap. A big one.
From that moment, The Curve started talking about personal finance properly. Budgeting. Splitting your pay. Emergency funds. The boring, unglamorous stuff that nobody really wants to make a podcast about, but that actually changes everything.
I’ve told the Italian holiday/bus story before but not my whole money story. It’s come out in bits and pieces, but there were so many moments like this holiday. Total financial blow outs that are kind of funny, but also kind of sad. In the most recent episode of Raising The Curve we told the whole thing - my full money story - every chapter - including my earliest memories about money being STEALING...
My parents weigh in, and there are parts I’ve never said before (out loud or on the podcast). I’m a little nervous about it, but I hope if you have grown up a financial disaster like me, that listening to the full chaotic Sophie Hallwright money story, makes you feel less alone.
FEEDBACK WELCOME + ENCOURAGED PLEASE, Soph xx
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