What is your net worth? A little under $5,000,000 (together with my husband)
At what age did you become a net worth millionaire? Around 33
How did you accumulate your net worth, what are you invested in? Property and residential real estate.
What was your highest average household WEEKLY income after tax? £3,000 for about a year but usually much less.
What is your career? Accountant
Do you have children? YES
Do you have a tertiary qualification? YES
Did you inherit any of your money? NO
What's the approximate value of your house? $2,700,000
Are you debt free now? NO
Are you in KiwiSaver? YES
Were you taught about money? NO
What is the most enjoyable thing you do with money? Has allowed me to stay home with my children for 10 years with no pressure to go back to work. It has taken away a lot of stress and allowed us to spend quality time with our children.
Do you use your money or your time to help others? YES
What is your greatest financial win? First home purchased for £250,000 and sold for £750,00 12 years later. We got money back to NZ just before Brexit so made $1,100,000.
What is your worst financial mistake? Not buying a property in Auckland in 2002 for $230,000 before going to London. We were too nervous and couldn't decide which one to buy, buying instead $50,000 worth of shares that halved in value in the next five years while the property values in the neighbourhood we were looking at doubled. It wouldn't have mattered which property. Any of them would have made us $700,000 by now.
What advice do you have for others? Work hard to earn a good income, save even harder and invest as much as you can. Property can have amazing returns because of leverage but your time horizon needs to be long, approx 20 years. There are risks if you are forced to sell at a bad time but over a very long period of time property is very forgiving.
What is the point of having a net worth above $1,000,000. What does it mean to you? We don't have a personal mortgage and we are not putting money away for retirement (except for KiwiSaver) we feel we have enough invested now we just need to let time do its thing. So we feel our future income from our jobs can be used to give us freedom and choices about what we do. It is also used for fun and meaningful activities like travel, kids, renovations, charity donations, hobbies etc.
Finish these sentences:
If you want to build wealth do this… Live extremely frugally when you are young. Travel and search out high paid work. Invest most of what you make.
If you want to build wealth avoid doing this… Spending money on your lifestyle. Renting a flash house when you can live with parents for free. Buying flash car when you can use the bus. Taking lots of time off work to travel.