The Happy Saver Christmas Gift Giveaway!
21 Nov, 2021
I’m delighted to tell you that Christmas is imminent!
At the time of publishing this blog post, it’s just 34 days away. Yes, indeed it is.
This Christmas season will probably be a little different this year due to Covid, but it is what it is, and it’s our job to adapt and make the most of however the festive period pans out. My whānau has three scenarios as to where we might spend our Christmas break, all dependent on how the country is handling things:
Home
Close to home
Away from home...but we can drive home!
As long as I get to eat homemade Christmas pudding with lashings of custard and cream, somewhere, I’m golden!
You will no doubt have noticed the headlines telling us to shop early for Christmas and stock up due to a predicted lack of supply?
Therefore, I have been doing a little bit of shopping for the readers of my blog.
Jonny and I have come up with a plan to give away a bunch of goodies, all of which aim to help you in your journey to financial independence. All up, we have $1,700 worth of giveaways - which I have to admit feels pretty freaking awesome! We are getting in early with this blog post because, if you win, we want you to receive your gift well before Christmas. That way, when the 25th of December does arrive, you are hopefully taking a break from work, and you have time to dedicate to improving your finances and putting some plans in action.
I like to give gifts that I would like to receive, gifts that are:
Useful
It can be used up
Little, none or recyclable packaging
New Zealand Made if possible
I’m also keen to help others come up with ideas for gifts. We thought that all of the prizes below are things you could also buy for someone on your gift list; a book someone could learn from, money they can invest, a peace of mind family plan or a coffee they can enjoy.
Jonny and I have purchased a number of my favourite books to give away, plus we have approached several companies in New Zealand that we enjoy working with, all of whom have offered up prizes.
Feel free to enter to win the specific gifts that you think you would find helpful, or enter them all, and we will draw the winners at 12.00pm on Sunday, December 5th.
The Happy Saver Christmas Gift Giveaway was a HUGE SUCCESS. CONGRATULATIONS to all the WINNERS and a BIG THANKS to the companies that supported us by offering prizes!
I’m sorry to those who missed out on winning, but you can follow any of the links below if you would like to find out more about each company and where you can purchase the books for yourself or a friend.
The Happy Saver Christmas Giveaway GIFTS
Coffee Supreme
A delicious aromatic “holiday blend” blend to kick start your morning!
What on earth does coffee have to do with personal finance, I hear you ask? I simply could not write my blog without the help of this delicious coffee. Yes, I’m an early riser, but coffee sure does help ease me into my day. I love the origin story of this Kiwi company, and I look forward to hearing the postie pull up to my mailbox with my fragrant package (indeed, she tells me she looks forward to its heavenly aroma as well). More recently, I love their bigger 250g bags, and my compost bin loves their 100% recyclable packaging.
Coffee Supreme has four 250g bags to give away to FOUR WINNERS.
The Simple Path to Wealth
JL Collins
Many an email that I send contains a link to this book. This book has probably been to more places in Aotearoa than I have because I post it to blog readers all the time (and it always finds its way back to me 😊). If you want to take a short course in “what on earth index investing is all about”, then this is the book for you. I credit it with kick-starting my investing journey, which made me understand that I don’t have to pick companies to invest in. If I could invite anyone I wanted to dinner, it would be JL, the most cruisy laid back guy in the personal finance space and the one that showed me that investing and growing your wealth should be neither expensive nor difficult. So, yeah, I kind of rate it pretty highly.
We have one book to give away.
The Richest Man in Babylon
George S. Clason
This book is a classic and boils good money management down to the basics. The very very old world basics! First published in 1926, you might wonder what this fictional tale based on parables from the 8,000-year-old city of Babylon might teach you. The answer? A lot. This book holds the secrets to acquiring money, keeping money, and making money earn more money. In today’s terms, handling your money is freaking well confusing, but if you boil it down to the basics as this book does, it gives you a much clearer path to follow. I rate it exceptionally highly. It’s a short book worth reading more than once and worth sharing with your friends. In the interests of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’, this book is second hand. It’s hard to find, so when I did, I snapped it up!
We have one book to give away.
The Total Money Makeover
Dave Ramsey
Some say that the author is a fundamentalist Christian, gun-totting republican whose primary news source is Fox. All of this is true, and I can’t relate to any of it, BUT I still rate this book. Dave Ramsey has been helping people get out of debt and get ahead for 30+ years, and he does so by giving straight-up common-sense financial advice, which I really like. This book is for those who may have had an “ah-ha” moment and know they want to change how they handle money but have no idea where to start. If you are worried about money, are carrying debt and can’t see a clear financial future, you will get a lot from this book.
We have one book to give away.
The Barefoot Investor
Scott Pape
If I were to invite a second person to dinner, one that I’d like to have a chat over a glass of Pinot Gris with, it would be Scott Pape. Like me, he wants to share stories and dwell not so much on where people went wrong but on what they did to fix it. Because we can learn from those people. Once again, like Dave Ramsey, no ‘get rich quick’ schemes are to be found within the pages of this book, just common sense advice and a plan to follow to get you heading in the right direction. I’m fortunate to have blogged long enough to meet people who picked up this book and followed his advice. I’ve stayed in touch with them as they got their act together and, in just a few short years, got a sense of peace around their money. I love this book and have given it as a gift many times.
We have one book to give away.
PocketSmith
This Kiwi Made (they’re Dunedin based) but global budgeting software (sign-up and get 50% OFF the first two months of a monthly Premium subscription) is for the budgeter who never gets around to updating their own homemade spreadsheets. That’s me! This is the one budgeting app that I’ve stuck with because it requires little manual updating but provides me with a comprehensive financial picture of where I earn and spend. I’m not going to lie, it took me a few months to wrap my head around it, but three years in, I could not be without it, and I use it daily to guide my decisions around money.
PocketSmith has kindly donated one annual Super Plan valued at $169.95 to give away.
Sharesight
In the early days of my investing journey, I was trying to create my own spreadsheet, using my own formulas to work out if investing was actually working or not! I failed miserably. My basic spreadsheet knowledge was just not up to the job, I’m afraid. In stepped Sharesight (save 4 months on an annual Premium Plan) where a Kiwi father and son team combined their collective knowledge to create software that would do all the math for me. Yippee! I’m pleased to say that YES, I can now clearly see that my investing plan does work, and with just 10 minutes of maintenance each month, I’m kept up to date with my investment portfolio.
Sharesight has kindly donated one 12-month Investor Plan valued at $279 to give away.
Peace of Mind
A friend of mine once spent a week searching his deceased uncle Roger’s house for his stash of gold. They were pretty sure he had one, as he’d always mentioned that he did. But do you think they could find it? Nope. Had his old uncle Roger been the recipient of a Peace of Mind folder (get $10 OFF with code HAPPYSAVER), a step by step guide for having all of your financial information in one place, he could have solved his descendants the trouble of a lengthy and fruitless search! I’ve met many people who are left to sort out the rubble of a relatives financial life, and they soon realise that a comprehensive document like this can make it easier for those left behind. Paige created it from South Canterbury, and it’s a comprehensive guide detailing what you have and where it is and those who complete the document feel better for having done so. Old uncle Roger might have been having a giggle at his nephew's expense with all his talk of treasure, but most of us want to spare our loved ones the hassle and heartache.
Paige has kindly donated one Peace of Mind folder valued at $49.99 to give away.
Kernel
I first met Dean Anderson, founder of Kernel (sign-up to Kernel and get a $10 top-up), in about 2016. He was the first person I met in New Zealand who was an advocate of index fund investment, was approachable, talked in plain English and wanted to see me succeed. I’ve followed his journey ever since. One of my smaller (satellite) investments is in their Kernel NZ 20 fund. Every Wednesday, I get a jolt of satisfaction when I get the message, “your weekly auto-invest was processed successfully”. Hoorah, another deposit was added to my index fund to be left to grow and compound! “Out of small acorns, mighty oaks grow”, and that I think sums up my own investment AND the trajectory of Kernel.
Kernel has kindly donated a $150 account top-up to a current or future user.
And they have also offered - and I think this is really cool and indicative of how approachable they are - a one on one chat with them, either in their Auckland office or over Zoom!
Sharesies
This crowd don’t require any intro these days. They basically got the ball rolling in Aotearoa to make investing easily accessible and cheap to all of us. A rolling stone gathers no moss, and they continue to encourage both Kiwis and now Australians to invest. I have a weekly set and forget investment into an ETF using Sharesies (sign-up to Sharesies and get $10 in your wallet), but it’s actually been my 14-year-old daughter who is embracing this platform. It’s become one of the best teaching tools in our whare where she can ‘learn by doing’. With 50% of her pocket money being invested each week, she is learning first-hand what slow and steady investment can look like as the years go by.
Sharesies has kindly donated a $50 gift card to a current or future user.
Hatch
A great place to start on this digital investment platform is with their Getting Started Course. Like the others mentioned here, they don’t just want you to invest your money with them. They want to educate you in the process to grow comfortable, like I have, with being a long term steady and consistent investor. Their site is full of educational tools, plus every American company or fund you can possibly think of to invest in. (sign-up to Hatch and get a $10 top-up) I only have one holding with Hatch, in the SHE index fund, a fund made up of female CEO’s. Coincidentally two of the co-founders of Hatch happen to be wahines themselves! Love this!
Hatch has kindly offered a $200 account top-up for one lucky person to kickstart (or continue on) their financial journey.
Plus, you will also receive a free coaching session, valued at $149.
The Happy Saver Tertiary Scholarship
Perhaps not strictly a Christmas Giveaway, I still thought it appropriate to put the word out that Jonny and I at The Happy Saver do offer a tertiary scholarship. Have a read of the blog post I wrote about it, and if you feel you would be a worthy recipient, please do get in touch and tell us a little bit about yourself. GET INTOUCH
We have one $500 Tertiary Scholarship to give away.
Kia ora and Thank You to all the providers who have donated to this giveaway. We really appreciate your support!
Meri Kirihimete, Merry Christmas!
