Originally from Lebanon, Taghrid arrived in Australia 10 years ago with her husband and one-year-old daughter. Keen to start her own business making special occasion cakes she took part in Stepping Stones, completing MoneyMinded in the process. MoneyMinded taught her about prioritising her spending and deciphering between ‘needs and wants’.

She also learned about the value of having ‘emergency money’. Since completing MoneyMinded Taghrid regularly transfers $50 into a specific savings account, ‘just like paying a bill’. With these savings she was able to buy a replacement car when hers broke down – before MoneyMinded she would have been without a car for several months.

MoneyMinded has also changed her attitude to money. Taghrid is careful with her money, but she is also finding alternatives so she and her family are not missing out on enjoying life.

“I’m not cutting anything, I’m not suffering. But at the same time, if I need something, I have money to buy it in a different way. I cut my coffee, but I enrolled in a gym,” she said.

Taghrid has clear financial goals now too – a short-term goal of saving for materials for her business and a longer-term goal for her family to buy a home.

Image: MoneyMinded participant Taghrid