My Relationship With Money
Dai Le is the founder of DAWN, a not-for-profit that champions inclusion and diversity, and a Fairfield City councillor in Sydney’s south-west. She tells tonic how her financial understanding came later in life.
Describe your relationship with money
Historically, not great. As my family fled Vietnam, ultimately ending up in Australia, I had a disruptive childhood and teenage years trying to figure out my identity. Managing money was not on my mind. But my husband is excellent with managing money and I learnt by watching him. I now do our annual family budget planning.
Are you financially better or worse off now than you were a decade ago?
We don’t have a mortgage and we have a reasonably manageable investment property giving us positive returns. Over the past decade I’ve learnt so much about budgeting and the importance of being financially independent, especially after having a child. We are more secure than many people we know.
What’s your greatest financial regret?
That two decades ago, I didn’t have the financial knowledge that I now have – I definitely sold off properties too early!
Describe a difficult financial moment and how you managed that.
For me it was deciding whether to get a nine-to-five job or just focus on building a not-for-profit organisation with the support of my husband, while trying not to eat into our investment.
What’s the biggest win that you have had in your life as it relates to money?
Buying our first home in 1992 and working to pay that off as quickly as possible. This allowed us to do so many things in the past two decades, including providing a good education for our only child.
If you were in charge of the finances of our nation, where would you invest?
Entrepreneurial and small business skills, in particular for migrants and refugees. Small business is the backbone of our economy and governments still haven’t gotten it right with cutting red tape and taxes. We need tax reform – it has been said often but not much has changed. It seems that the working class, the small business owners, pay the most tax to sustain the nation.
How would you address the gender pay gap if the decision sat with you?
Ensure we actually implement policies to close the gender pay gap. Governments, institutions and organisations talk about this a lot, and we have lots of policies and legislations about how to address this issue. Let’s act on it and make sure that irrespective of a person’s gender, they receive the same pay for doing the same job.
What worries you most about your financial future?
My health and the care I may need in old age, while my husband worries more about our financial future as he would like us to travel more regularly, and have the financial means to do that.
If you won Lotto, would you spend or invest it?
I would invest and also give to my family here in Australia, and relatives in Vietnam.
What does financial independence mean to you?
To be able to do what I love and not be stuck in a nine-to-five job. To be able to support my extended family in Australia and in Vietnam, and to know that I can support my son financially, so he can study and do what he loves. To have time to give back.
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Interview with Dai Le by Marina Go
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