Bonus or Inheritance? Here’s How NOT to Blow It with Jess Brady

What should you actually do with a bonus or inheritance? 💸 Jess Brady breaks it down.

Got a work bonus? Or maybe you're expecting (or received) an inheritance? In this episode, Molly chats with award-winning financial adviser Jess Brady about how to make the most of unexpected lump sums — without blowing it all on a new handbag and a holiday (tempting, we know).

Because let’s be honest — most of us spend the money in our heads before it even hits our bank account!

We cover:
✅ The best way to think about a bonus or inheritance
✅ How to split up lump sums using the buckets method
✅ Whether to use it to invest, pay down debt, or boost your home deposit
✅ The mindset shifts that stop guilt or decision overwhelm
✅ And Jess’s #1 piece of advice for anyone receiving a financial windfall

This episode is brought to you by InvestorKit, Australia’s #1 Buyers Agency for 2023 and 2024. They specialise in helping investors find high-growth properties utilising industry leading AI and data driven research process across Australia. 70%+ of the properties they purchase are off-market and they have consistently outperformed national average capital growth rates by over 49%. Whether you’re looking to build your property portfolio or secure your first investment. Check them out here.

CHAPTERS

00:00 – Welcome to Get Rich
00:17 – Spending It in Your Head
00:41 – Meet Jess Brady
01:24 – The Bonus Breakdown
02:49 – The Bonus Pie Chart Method
04:28 – The Designer Bag Moment
05:34 – Tax & Bonuses: What to Expect
08:06 – The Truth About Debt
10:00 – Tackling Debt Strategically
11:20 – Visualising Your Progress
13:00 – The Power of Visual Reminders
14:11 – Wrap-Up & What’s Next

LINKS AND RESOURCES FROM THE EPISODE

LFC Free Resources - https://www.ladiesfinanceclub.com/money

CONNECT WITH JESS BRADY

Website: https://courses.jessicabrady.com.au/
Instagram: jessbrady_financialadvice
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-brady-21165812/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552351622335

CONNECT WITH LADIES FINANCE CLUB

Join our free Facebook group - Ladies Finance Club Money Chat
Website: https://www.ladiesfinanceclub.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ladiesfinanceclub/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ladies-finance-club/

TAKEAWAYS

• Bonuses are a reward for hard work, not free money.
• Create a predetermined formula for spending bonuses.
• Allocate 50% of bonuses to important financial goals.
• Invest 30% in personal development and skills.
• Set aside 20% for joy and sustained happiness.
• Wait for the bonus to hit your account before making plans.
• Understand the tax implications of bonuses before spending.
• Debt can be categorized as good, bad, or toxic.
• Focus on paying off the smallest debts first for motivation.
• Visualize financial goals to track progress and stay motivated.

SOUND BITES

"You can start to snowball your debt payments."
"Coloring in is not my thing, but just try it."

TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Molly: Welcome back to another episode of Get Rich, the podcast helping you do just that. Get rich and stay rich. Woo. I'm your host Molly Benjamin, and today we are talking about something which is both exciting and a little bit dangerous. Bonuses. I dunno why it's a little bit dangerous, but let's stick with it.

[00:00:17] Look, we've all been there. The money hasn't even hit your account, but you're expecting a bonus and boom, you've already spent the money in your head. But what if I told you how you use that bonus could change your financial future? Now joining me is Jess Brady. She's a financial advisor, money expert, and most importantly, someone who knows exactly what to do when a lump sum lands in your lap.

[00:00:41] She's gonna be sharing the smartest ways to make your bonus work for you without sacrificing the fun. Plus, we're also gonna get into the truths about debt and how to make sure it's not secretly eating away at your future wealth. This is such a great episode. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed the conversation.

[00:00:59] [00:01:00] Hi, Jess, welcome to the show. Always a pleasure to have you on.

[00:01:04] Jess: Oh, thank you so much, Molly. Always, always delighted to be in your company.

[00:01:09] Molly: Love it. So today we're gonna be chatting about bonuses. So when you get a bonus, it's very tempting to spend it all straight away. And it's also very easy to spend it all in your head before you've even received it or actually have spent that money.

[00:01:24] 'cause you're like, well, I know I'm getting this bonus. So what I wanna find out from you is when it comes to our bonus, how. If we are lucky enough to get a bonus, what is the best way we can make sure we're using it wisely? Do we save it, spend it, invest it? Do a bit of both? What do you reckon?

[00:01:43] Jess: Well, I think firstly, especially when you're talking about something like a bonus, it's not free money.

[00:01:49] It's normally because you've worked really hard. And therefore you've either met your KPIs or exceeded expectations and you've been remunerated for it. So like, let's be very clear, this is not free [00:02:00] money that's just fallen from the sky. You have worked your butt off for it, and therefore we need to make sure that we've got a game plan that really respects your time.

[00:02:07] Now, Molly, if you ask me as a financial advisor, what should you do with it? Of course I'm gonna give you like a boring, you should do all of this prudent adult financial things. However, I've been doing this too long to know that that's really not something that people get wildly excited by, which might be a surprise to you.

[00:02:27] So I think instead we need to do a bit of. Everything. Now, this isn't an exact science or formula, but what I have seen work best, and this goes for, I don't know, be it a bonus, a commission, a tax return, any sort of lump of money that you get, we wanna have a predetermined formula. For how we spend it. So I like to think of it almost like a pie graph.

[00:02:49] And if you're a visual person, like I am, like actually make a little pie graph. And the reason that I think this is important is anytime I find where we have an [00:03:00] opportunity to self-sabotage. We sometimes do, whereas when we can take the thinking out of it and we know, okay, great. Any additional monies that I get, here's my strategy for it.

[00:03:11] It means that, A, we take that sort of burden, if you will, off the table, and B, we can get excited about how we're allocating our joy money. So practically what I would say to you is 50%. Should go to an important financial goal, be it, I don't know, boosting up your emergency savings. If you don't have that nailed just yet, maybe you've got bad debt that you wanna get rid of, maybe you're saving for a house deposit, whatever it is, let's give a giant chunk of that lump of money to that really important goal of yours and think about how good it's gonna feel when you achieve that goal.

[00:03:42] Like really think about how that's gonna feel. So that will motivate you to be like, yep, a big chunk needs to go to that. I then think about 30% needs to go to investing in you. So you are. The goose that lays the golden eggs, if you will. And so think about what could you do that's gonna improve your skills either to mean that you could earn more [00:04:00] money in your current role, get a promotion.

[00:04:02] Maybe it's going and doing more education. Maybe it's learning how to invest in investing in going and doing programs like you and I have something that's going to pay dividends in the long run. And of course, we're human. I think you're allowed some joy money. So I think about 20% should go to things that are going to give you sustained happiness.

[00:04:20] Not like a quick sugar rush fix, but like something that you're gonna invest your money in that's gonna make you happy. Not just for now, but for later.

[00:04:28] Molly: So one of the reasons I started Ladies Finance Club in the uk, and I remember it so clearly, it was a conversation I had with one of. The girls are in my team and she had just got a bonus at work.

[00:04:41] And I said, awesome. What are you gonna do with it? And she said, I'm gonna buy a designer handbag. And I said, okay, great. I said, do you have investments? She said, no. I'm like, do you own property? She said, no, I don't. I'm like, do you have emergency money? She's like, A little bit, so I'm gonna buy this handbag.

[00:04:58] And I just remember being like [00:05:00] this. Feels so wrong. Mm-hmm. And it was from that moment I was like, again, as I very, I say very openly, this was in a bank as well. So I was working in a bank, and this was one of the ladies who worked in the bank with me. And for me, that was one of the turning points to be like.

[00:05:15] That's just, there's gotta be something better you can do. So I love that, where you get to spend a little bit on yourself, so you get that kind of sugar rush, you get that, you know hit, but then you've got that money going towards the long-term goals as well. As far as putting money aside from tax, how does that work?

[00:05:34] Jess: Yeah, so I think whenever you get a bonus and they give you the number, yeah, just take a deep breath and remember that that is not going to be the number alas that lands in your bank account. It's going to be washed through the tax system. So normally you would get a bonus in one big hit and you tend to be taxed as.

[00:05:53] At a higher rate almost thinking that like that's your normal income. So sometimes you can get a little bit sad and despondent when you [00:06:00] see the amount that kind of lands in your lap after it's been through the tax, uh, net. So what I would say is like, don't make any plans until that money goes into your account.

[00:06:10] And if you can, I always advocate for having like a master income account. So that account just has one purpose, it gets your money and it feeds it to other accounts. And so it's really easy then for it to be. I hate using the word in this post era that we live in, but quarantined, can we say that word anymore?

[00:06:28] Yeah, I think we can, um, hopefully that too many people go into like post-traumatic. Yeah. Sorry if I've like now triggered you. But what it will mean is that it doesn't just land in your everyday spending account for you to, you know, open. At the shops and be like, oh my gosh, the money's landed. Now I can go and have that spree and buy the bag and all the things like we wanna be really considered.

[00:06:47] Remember, it is not free money. You've probably traded off your most precious resource, which is time to get it. Yeah. Even if it's not based on your specific performance metrics. Let's say your business has done really well.

[00:06:58] Molly: Yeah. You

[00:06:59] Jess: are still part [00:07:00] of that ecosystem, and so it is really important that you think through, okay, it's not free money.

[00:07:05] I've worked really hard for it. How do I be considered? And of course you can taper tho and change those ratios however you want. I just have always found looking after future you, investing in you and having. Some money for fun because otherwise what I know is people go rogue and spend the whole damn thing.

[00:07:22] I think it's a nice way to feed lots of different areas of your life without sabotaging one completely.

[00:07:29] Molly: Yes. I love that. And I think as well, it's such a, as you said, wait till it hits your bank account because you might be, it might be a different figure to what you were gonna spend. Especially if it's

[00:07:40] Jess: a large bonus because let's say you are on a tax bracket that, I dunno, let's say you're on the 30% tax bracket, but you're getting a large amount of money and it means that for that particular pay cycle, you know, you've been taxed like you're on the highest tax bracket, you might get a little bit of a shock to the system and it's better to be excited and rejoice at the number that's in your account as opposed to, [00:08:00] oh, dammit, that's nowhere near what I had mentally.

[00:08:03] Math it would be, yeah,

[00:08:06] Molly: which I think probably happens a lot from conversations I've had. And with debt, like let's talk a little bit of debt. So obviously there's different types of debt. You've got your bad debt with the high interest rates, so your credit cards by now, pay later, all that kind of stuff.

[00:08:20] And then you've kind of got your good debt, which is when you've invested in yourself. Maybe you've bought a property, you've bought an asset with it. So in regards to if you get a lump sum and you've got debts, how does that work as far as like what should be the priority? Yeah, so

[00:08:37] Jess: as you say, like there are different types of debt and debt as a concept.

[00:08:42] Is it gets a bad rap. Like debt is neither good nor bad. It needs to be respected though. It's how you use it. So if we're buying, frankly, like shit that goes down in value, it's the technical term. And buying shit is normally like, you wore it, you drank it, you partied it, you holidayed it, [00:09:00] you drove it. Like anything that does not increase in value does not provide us with an income.

[00:09:05] I class that as bad debt, you can come at me. 'cause people love to tell me that a car debt's not a bad debt. And I'm like, you drive that thing out of the showroom and it goes down in value. It costs you money. It's not an asset. It sits on the liabilities side of things in my mind. So what I tell people to think about is, yeah, breaking them into categories.

[00:09:21] I actually like to break them into three categories. So I look at good debt against an asset that either grows in value or gives us an income, bad debt, as you say, like a car loan, a personal loan. What have you. And then I have created my own new category called toxic debt, and that is this wildly addictive, that sugar rush that I was talking about before.

[00:09:39] And that's like your buy now, pay later schemes, I guess loans, debts, because we become really addicted to them and we go around in cycles. So the practical thing you need to think about when it comes to debt is what is the purpose of the debt? Which category does it fall into? And then if you've got multiple debts, we've gotta get a bit strategic, which is on the highest interest rate.

[00:09:57] Now there are different ways you can tackle debt [00:10:00] again. The numbers part of my brain and most financial advisors will say, cool. Tackle the highest interest rate first. That makes the most sense. Research into the human in component of us actually suggests that you tackle the smallest debt first. Mm, yeah.

[00:10:15] And that is because it gives us that little dopamine hit that's like, we have paid this off. I've nailed it. I'm so clever. Now, obviously the pro tip here is to burn that card. Like, yeah. Plastic surgery. Plastic surgery, cut it up, get rid of it, cut it up, and then start on the next lowest one. But you do wanna do a bit of an audit.

[00:10:32] I dunno about you, Molly, but what I find really fascinating, a lot of people that do my programs who come to me in debt, they actually don't, they're so scared about their current situation. They don't have a total view of the debt that they're in. They don't know the interest rates and they don't really have a plan.

[00:10:46] It's almost become so burdensome. They dunno where to start. So they don't, and if that is, you just start with the smallest amount of debt, obviously pay your minimums on everything. Yeah. And then the idea is that you can start to snowball once that. Smaller debts done. Use the money that you were paying off [00:11:00] for that card or whatever it is to then fight the next one.

[00:11:03] And I think progress over perfection. You're gonna mark up, you're gonna have days where you don't exactly stick to plan. That is not your signal to just like throw the baby out with the bath water. Yeah. I love you can go online and find these beautiful like debt. Artworks, I dunno if you've seen them. Mm.

[00:11:20] Print them out, put your debt amount on them and maybe you wanna split it by card or type of debt. And every time, whether it's you pay off a hundred bucks or a thousand dollars, depending on where you're at, you visually draw it so you can actually chart your progress. I think it's a really. Great way a, to visualize where you are at on that journey, but also to be really proud of how far you've come and to fight to keep going because, you know, I've watched people in 10, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars of bad debt.

[00:11:46] Sometimes it can feel like there is no light at the end of the tunnel and that, that the slog is hard and real. You need to be able to look and see. You know, in the repeat mirror where you've come from. Yeah. And give yourself that boost to be like, [00:12:00] holy shit, I've done so well. There is no way I am stopping after all of the hard work I've done thus far.

[00:12:05] Molly: Absolutely love that, and we actually have a similar debt template people can download from free, and it's a bottle of Prosecco and you color in the bottle of Prosecco. Then when you get to the top, you can buy yourself that bottle of Prosecco. Celebrate. Beautiful. I love that visualization and that, especially everyone's brain works differently.

[00:12:22] I'm a visual person. And I think as well, once you write that amount down, you color in that section, it's very hard to go back on

[00:12:30] Jess: that. Totally. And it sounds silly. Like I've had a number of people be like, oh yeah, that sounds cute, but like coloring in's not my thing. And I'm like, neither. Same. But just try it with all of these things.

[00:12:40] Just try something. And then if it doesn't work for you, as long as you're consistent about trying it, yeah, that's fine. You've just gotta figure out what sticks for you because money and managing money is going nowhere. Yeah. So you best figure out what. You are gonna do, and what hacks really make your journey a happier, healthier, smoother one.

[00:12:59] Molly: Yeah, [00:13:00] absolutely. And just on that visual reminder as well, I've started doing this 'cause I saw a stat the other day that we look at our phone 58 times a day, which is crazy. I mean, I totally believe it.

[00:13:12] Jess: Mm-hmm.

[00:13:12] Molly: For me, it's probably even more. But I'm like, every time I put on, I open my phone, I get hit with my vision board.

[00:13:19] So maybe if getting out of debt is something that you are working on, it could be a mantra, it could be a quote. So then you are getting hit with that like 58 times a day for X amount of times. It's gonna keep your brain primed, it's gonna keep you on track. It's amazing how powerful that daily hit can be.

[00:13:36] The RAS

[00:13:36] Jess: system of our brain is insane and it's done at a subconscious level. So having that as your screensaver, as an example, yes, sure. You may have the, the thought of, oh, all of those things are really what I'm working towards, but even if you don't. Actively note that that's your thought at a subliminal level.

[00:13:53] What the research shows is that you are subconsciously, if the goal is really what you want, you are making micro [00:14:00] decisions whether you realize it or not, to push you towards that goal, which is fascinating. Like yet, let's use all of these science-based brain hacks to get us on track

[00:14:08] Molly: faster. Love it.

[00:14:11] Awesome. Well, Jess, that's been such a great kind of download of what we can do with a bonus and then also chatting about debt. Guys, make sure you check out the next episode with Jess, 'cause we're gonna be talking all about Hex debt because you guys have been hitting me up with lots of questions around hex.

[00:14:26] So we're gonna be breaking it down with Jess. Thanks so much, Jess. Thank you.

KEYWORDS

 bonuses, financial planning, debt management, investing, budgeting, tax implications, financial goals, money management, savings, personal finance