Millionaire #127

What is your net worth? $1,169,000

At what age did you become a net worth millionaire? 30

What region of New Zealand do you live in? New Zealand

How did you accumulate your net worth, what are you invested in? Started working as a police officer at 21 years old. Invested heavily in the police superannuation scheme right from the start and never touched it for 9 years.  

Once I met my partner at age 22 we have financially done everything together, worked together to achieve our financial goals. We purchased our first home at age 25 in Hamilton while we were still working in Auckland but were priced out of Auckland already. We ended up renting that house to a relative as work kept us in Auckland for longer than anticipated. We both used KiwiSaver to our advantage to buy the first house and get a home start grant. We are pretty frugal and careful with our money. 

When my dad died last year my mum gave me $500,000 which we decided to use to purchase a second home which we live in and have renovated ourselves to be a nice place to raise our young kids. The first house is still a rental which my relative lives in. I recently withdrew $30,000 from my super to complete house renos which was a very hard thing to do but we are thinking of moving to the South Island next year so we have to finish our house in order to sell it and get a fresh start.

What was your highest average household WEEKLY income after tax? $1,700

What is your career? On leave without pay from Police. Raising kids. Studying towards an accounting degree. Partner is now an IT Developer after being in this field for 10+ years.

Do you have children? YES

Do you have a tertiary qualification? YES

Did you inherit any of your money? YES

If YES, how much did you inherit? $500,000

What's the approximate value of your house? $950,000 is market value for our house and $600,000 for our rental property.

Are you debt free now? NO

If NO, how much debt do you have and what is it for? $510,000 debt for mortgages split over both houses.

Are you in KiwiSaver? YES

Were you taught about money? YES

If YES, how were you taught? My parents were self-employed, and very hard workers. Working in family business from a young age could see how it all works. Also taught to live within your means, don't get debt for anything other than mortgage for your main home, investment property or to run a business. No credit cards. Pay bills automatically. Get a job and buy a house as soon as possible. I worked alongside my mum every weekend as a teenager. She paid me weekly and that was my money to save for a car, spend on gas, sporting events etc. They did not invest at all in shares. Only investment they did was residential and commercial property. They had rentals for a time which we all worked on to make nicer, a lot of time and effort, bad tenants, all the hassle of making the house nice again then selling. They never did rentals again after that. We only have a rental as our relatives live in it. If he moved out we would sell it. Also, my parents spoke openly about money, what they earned, what our expenses were etc.

What is the most enjoyable thing you do with money? Before kids, it used to be triathlons and running events. Now it's going on little outings with my kiddos to get something from the bakery or a coffee when we go on walks.

Do you use your money or your time to help others? YES

If YES, can you please elaborate. I donate to St John Ambulance every year. Before kids we used to volunteer regularly at triathlon events, not very doable at the moment but will do volunteer stuff again when they are older.

What is your greatest financial win? Police superannuation scheme was my first introduction to non-KiwiSaver investing. I'm so glad I read up on it when I joined the police and contributed the max I could while I was working for NZP. I had it in a growth fund, contributed 10% of my salary and kept contributing when I was on maternity leave. Also buying our first house when we did was good timing because if we had waited until we were living in Hamilton to purchase here prices would have been way higher.

What is your worst financial mistake? Nothing really noteworthy. I have purchased clothing that I've regretted but nothing worth a lot of money.

What advice do you have for others? Get a job. Pay bills automatically. Live as frugal as you possibly can until you purchase a house. Buy a house before having kids. Limit your commuting time as much as possible. Have one vehicle or no vehicle. Have financial goals and stick to your savings plan to achieve those goals. Allow money for your hobbies and holidays and don’t wear yourself out being too frugal.

What is the point of having a net worth above $1,000,000. What does it mean to you? We are obviously very fortunate to have inherited a large sum of money which has got us over the one million net worth point at our age. However, our day to day lives have not changed from before we had the inherited money. I was already a stay at home mum and doing part-time study towards my degree. Partner loves his job and covers all our expenses. I suppose the greatest thing is freedom to make changes with our lives if we choose to without worrying about money so much and financial security for our family moving forwards.

Finish these sentences:

If you want to build wealth do this… Own your own home as soon as possible. Have KiwiSaver in a growth fund and contribute to it at least the minimum to get govt contributions. Have another non-KiwiSaver growth fund and contribute to it regularly and leave it to grow. Like Simplicity, or ASB. Live within your means.

If you want to build wealth avoid doing this… Buying things with credit cards or hire purchase. Using loans to buy cars.

Millionaire #128

Millionaire #126