What is your net worth? $1,400,000 approx
Are you filling this out as an individual or a couple? Couple
At what age(s) did you become a net worth millionaire? 34 & 35
What region of New Zealand do you live in? Auckland
How did you accumulate your net worth, what are you invested in? Our family home. We purchased our first home the week we got married, in 2007 (peak at the time). We had been to 60+ open homes and I had looked at hundreds more on various websites during the time we were looking. We lived there for about seven years, did some minor modifications and worked really hard to market it well when we sold it to maximise our return. We didn't want bridging finance so we put on a three month settlement during which time we would hopefully find our next property. Due to the research I did while our property was on the market, the week we sold was the week we purchased our next property. I knew what we had to spend and the market we were spending in so it didn't feel rushed even though it appears to be. We did extensive renovations at this property, taking on boarders, students in our spare room and having our first child. We sold this property just before COVID-19 hit and again purchased our next property within the week of buying. We all have KiwiSaver funds with Simplicity (one of the lowest fee's and non-managed) and until recently a separate super fund.
What was your highest average household WEEKLY income after tax? about $2,000
What is your career? Until recently, Police Officer and Teacher
Do you have children? YES
Do you have a tertiary qualification? YES
Did you inherit any of your money? NO. We didn't inherit any money but were lucky enough to live with our parents until we purchased our first home for little to no rent.
What's the approximate value of your house? $1,420,000
Are you debt free now? NO
If NO, how much debt do you have and what is it for? $68,000 is our mortgage but we've decided it will be gone within the next 18 months approximately. Paying down $2,000 month and hopefully saving close to the same amount to pay off when the one year mortgage term ends.
Are you in KiwiSaver? YES
Were you taught about money? YES
If YES, how were you taught? Debt other than mortgage is not something you want. Always save for what you want to buy.
What is the most enjoyable thing you do with money? Wifey likes fine food, film, pottery and travel so her weekly allowance usually goes towards a combination of the three. Travel is usually something saved for. Hubby likes outdoor activities (surfing, mountain biking), film, and travel so a portion of allowance goes to some/all of the above. Family holidays are something we like to spend our money on together.
Do you use your money or your time to help others? YES
If YES, can you please elaborate. I first studied a bachelor of business and had a fairly high paying job at a young age but didn't get satisfaction adding to the consumerism environment working for a fortune 500 company selling computer peripherals. Instead, much like the wife, I wanted to give back, joining the NZ Police. I did 10 years loving the majority of my time there leaving to join another government organisation even more focussed on those less fortunate. We both spend time over and above what we are paid working for children and families within New Zealand to try and educate and house them. It gives us both real joy. We've also helped those less fortunate in our families when they have fallen on tough times. And we donate to various organisations sporadically when we see a cause we think aligns with our views.
What is your greatest financial win? Accidentally timing the market with my withdrawal of super fund from NZ Police. With the bear market well and truly upon us now I am so glad that about a month before resigning earlier this year I put my entire super portfolio into conservative and then withdrew it to pay down the mortgage a considerable amount as the rates were heading up and our gains were heading down.
What is your worst financial mistake? Not investing 50% of what I earnt as a child in index funds or other low fee funds. I had the capacity to earn a fair amount at a young age but mainly used it to fund travel, alcohol and food.
What advice do you have for others? If we can do it so can you.
What is the point of having a net worth above $1,000,000. What does it mean to you? Financial freedom is something we are working towards still as our net worth is unfortunately in our property, so not as tangible as those investing outside of housing. Not having to work as many hours and having the “choice” to work rather than as a necessity. Time to spend with tamariki and friends.
Finish these sentences:
If you want to build wealth do this: Live below your means and save as much as you can each pay day.
If you want to build wealth avoid doing this: Keeping up with the Joneses. Change your mentality around money! Make it work for you - don't work for it.
If these questions don’t adequately tell your story, feel free to briefly elaborate here: We're not high wage earners or special in any way with what we've done really but we seem to be a minority amongst many. We've always lived within/below our means but managed to travel the world for three months less than a year after buying our first property. Sure we sacrifice eating out daily but we splurge on expensive dinners from time to time and have taken our boy to Japan before his sister was born and travelled on our own before children to a number of different countries. While we don't have a strict budget we do have an allowance of only $50 weekly and we are both allowed to spend it on anything we want. We've recently done a new budget as we feel we have spent a little too much with children arriving and not wanting them to 'miss out' which is a trap for young parents especially those earning better wages and coming from humbler beginnings.