What is your net worth? $1,050,000.
Are you filling this out as an individual or a couple? Couple
At what age(s) did you become a net worth millionaire? 48 and 50
What region of New Zealand do you live in? Canterbury
How did you accumulate your net worth, what are you invested in? House and investments
What was your highest average household WEEKLY income after tax?: $4,150
What is your career? Supply Chain Manager and Teacher
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? $1,380,000
Are you debt free now? NO
If NO, how much debt do you have and what is it for? $690,000 left on our mortgage. We should be debt free in eight years.
Are you in KiwiSaver? YES
Were you taught about money? YES
If YES, how were you taught? Saving is important. Our parents were frugal with money. Because debt was hard to get, they didn’t teach us about debt being bad… we had to learn that for ourselves!
What is the most enjoyable thing you do with money? We have a child with behavioural challenges who we can afford to support. Travel.
Do you use your money or your time to help others? YES
If YES, can you please elaborate. We regularly donate to charity and have helped out family who have had financial difficulties.
What is your greatest financial win? We have been very lucky with timing of house purchases. Putting extra into KiwiSaver. Downsizing our house and our lifestyle.
What is your worst financial mistake? We had a 10-year period where we only paid the minimum on our mortgage, sometimes borrowed more, and spent excessively. When it came time to sell the house, we made a $200,000 capital gain, but the mortgage was only $20,000 less than when we started. It was a real wake-up call. Now we are paying off our mortgage as fast as we can and won’t ever borrow more against our house ever again! We cut out the unnecessary spending and are not missing a thing!
What advice do you have for others? Have a simple financial goal and review progress regularly. Don’t spend more than you earn, ever. Have an emergency fund. If you can’t pay off your credit card each month, get rid of it. Don’t ever use your house equity for consumer spending. Before buying anything, wait a day and always ask, “is this necessary, or are we just trying to keep up with the Joneses?”
What is the point of having a net worth above $1,000,000. What does it mean to you? It doesn’t really mean that much to us. Our goal is financial independence and making work voluntary, and we still have at least 10 years before we reach this goal.
Finish these sentences:
If you want to build wealth do this: Start investing $100 a month into a low-cost index fund after you get your very first paycheck, and increase this amount every time you get a pay increase.
If you want to build wealth avoid doing this: Spend more than you earn.
If these questions don’t adequately tell your story, feel free to briefly elaborate here: Ruth, love your work! Your podcast has been a big motivator for us.
*Ruth here - thank you SO MUCH; you are very welcome. As I was reading through your answers here, I was thinking to myself that for anyone out there who is not quite sure what to do with their money, your simple advice is actually all they will ever need. Keep up the good work!