Launceston born Victoria Devine of 'She's on the Money' podcast is changing lives

Her podcast, She's on the Money, consistently sits in the top 20 podcast charts across the country - offering millennials advice on how to take control of their personal finances, reaching the ears of more than one million people in January.

From her home office in locked-down Victoria, Victoria Devine is taking a lunch break amidst a busy schedule.

A financial planner, a qualified psychologist, podcast host and author - Devine still fondly thinks of Tasmania as home.

"It's really a Tasmanian thing isn't it," she said.

"Whenever I say that I'm looking at going home, it's Tasmania. It's Greens Beach, and it's where my grandmother is.

"All of my family is in Tassie, and before COVID I'd be there four or five times a year."

Devine grew up in Launceston, attending East Launceston Primary School, memories she looks back on fondly.

"It's still my favourite place," she said.

"It was always a thing on the weekends to bring in The Examiner, and we'd have Vegemite toast on dark brown rye bread from the Beaconsfield bakery with tea.

"Once I get to be financially free and I have the funds available I will own property there one day, it's Greens Beach for me."

Devine started her professional career working in organisational psychology after completing two degrees.

"I thought I had my dream job, but at the same time I started discovering my passion for money and finance and what we can do," she said.

"I was working as a culture and engagement consultant, someone who goes into other organisations and talks about engagement and improving culture.

"Every time I had conversations with employees about engagement results, I found it had nothing to do with their actual job or their workplace it was just because they were stressed about money, about their finances - big bills, not earning enough and trying to save."

People ended up turning to Devine for financial advice - which she quickly realised was something not easily accessible by the masses.

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"I was giving out what I knew, but I didn't have the impact that I thought I was able to - so I started being a pest, learning about money, teaching my friends things like how to budget," she said.

"Those conversations I was having with people about their stresses, that was a roadblock, and people for some reason felt comfortable sharing their financial lives with me and opened up.

"Becoming a financial advisor came naturally."

That meant more study for Devine - who soon after began working as a financial advisor.

"I started my journey towards becoming a financial advisor, and I haven't stopped studying.

"I'd say I'm a bit of a nerd - but I feel like the more I know, the more I can help other people, the more holistic my education is, the more advice I have."

Devine started working in the financial advice space, working with high and ultra-high net worth clients.

"Most clients I worked with off the bat, alongside a mentor, had a minimum of $10 million they were looking to invest - often family money, and they just didn't have that level of financial literacy," she said.

"I saw this mass amount of advice that was given because people could afford it, and thought how cool it could be for my friends to have it - but most of the time, we don't have the funds behind us to spend on a financial advisor, because that's what we have in savings."

Devine started offering corporate workshops, going into workplaces and talking with people who wanted to understand their finances better.

"I pitched to places and they said it was something they needed - and I noticed that the questions asked on those workshops were all the same, and thought maybe I could create a group for that," she said.

"People started messaging me, asking to be added to the group and that started to grow.

"I had around 1000 people - 100 which were my friends because that's how you start, and I thought it was wild - that's a lot of people, and imagine if I could change their money stories."

"I asked the people in the group what they wanted, and the response was videos or a podcast - I wasn't confident enough to do YouTube, so I thought I could work on a podcast as a project," she said.

"I recorded 12 episodes on what I think are the basis of financial literacy - I did the 12 episodes, and we just never stopped, we're now up to episode 60, and our community just grew and grew."

She's on the Money - consistently in the top 20 podcast charts across the country - is a success Devine never imagined.

"We now have nearly 140,000 people in our Facebook group with 400,000 conversations a month - and the podcast in January had more than one million downloads - more than the 1000 I thought we'd have at the start," she said.

Devine said she believed COVID helped with people tuning into the podcast.

"We've grown and we've upped the ante - we've gone from one episode a week to three, and by the end of this month I'll have launched a second podcast called Property Playbook," she said.

"It's a podcast for people who want to buy property and do it the right way, have the skills and the tools that we can't afford as millennials trying to buy a house - like a buyer's advocate in your back pocket.

"I brought my first property in December and used a buyer's advocate, and I asked her to be on this podcast with me so we can give everyone access to that information."

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Devine is also launching another podcast at the end of the month, directed towards people wanting to set up a small business and needing the know-how. She's also just finished writing a book.

"It's going to be in bookstores at the end of financial year - by June 30, my 30^th birthday - if I wasn't born to be a financial advisor, I don't know what I was," she said.

"It's a book that I hope will be able to change the financial journey of people, from money stories to everything about budgeting, cash flow, investing... understanding exactly how to do it, because other financial books just haven't been created for our millennial market."

Even after running a successful podcast and Facebook group, her own personal finance company Zella (named after her grandmother), and writing a book, Devine said she is the most proud of the team she has working with her and the community created by She's on the Money.

"We're a small team, but we're so passionate about what we do and I'm so glad to have attracted the people that we have," she said.

"We've got so many lovely people, including Ryan John, who started as a producer and I dragged him into our episodes, his energy just elevates the whole thing."

Devine wanted to clear up a common misconception about the podcast - it's not just for women.

"I'm the she in She's on the Money - our community is made up of so many diverse people and we celebrate all of that, the more people the better," she said.

"We've heard so many stories from people we've helped - I'll be up until 3am some days writing back to people because they've taken the time.

"My proudest moment is when people listened to our episode on financial abuse - people have realised they were in this type of relationship and didn't know, and they found the courage to leave with the tools and resources we've given them.

"It's just so special, if I don't do anything else, that for me has meant we've done amazing things."