What is your net worth? $2,900,000
Are you filling this out as an individual or a couple? Couple
At what age(s) did you become a net worth millionaire? 43 and 46
What region of New Zealand do you live in? We did live in Levin, Manawatu. Now we travel full time and are currently in a caravan traversing New Zealand.
How did you accumulate your net worth, what are you invested in? The accumulation phase was primarily residential property. Now we are slowly switching into a diversified portfolio of index funds, bonds, and cash.
What was your highest average household WEEKLY income after tax? About $2,400 per week household income after tax.
What is your career? We are both retired. He retired at 50. She retired at 53. He mainly worked in manufacturing management, working 4 days a week for the last 15 years. She was a primary school teacher and reduced her hours to part-time relief work in the later years.
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? $0. We sold our home and travel full-time.
Are you debt free now? YES
Are you in KiwiSaver? YES
Were you taught about money? YES
If YES, how were you taught? His parents role modelled spending within their means and going without certain things to be able to buy other things more important to them.
What is the most enjoyable thing you do with money? We feel free. We can make choices about our lifestyle that we wouldn’t be able to do without money. For example, being able to choose to work... or not 😊
Do you use your money or your time to help others? YES
If YES, can you please elaborate. Historically we were very involved in church; 10+% tithing, donated a lump sum of 10% of our net worth to a project, and a significant amount of time. Things have changed and we are no longer involved with a church. Now we prefer, and really enjoy, talking with others about how to achieve financial freedom and living life by design.
What is your greatest financial win? Timing - To have invested in the property market when it was so easy. Our best return was our first property bought in 2000 for $87,000 and sold in 2022 for $635,000. The property was cashflow positive from the first day covering all expenses including renovations. The only "expense" not covered was our own labour and time.
What is your worst financial mistake? We both made our worse financial decisions before we met each other. His was a $400 radio when he was 14. A small amount now but huge at the time. A valuable lesson was learnt that he has applied to many decisions since. She invested in a scheme which lost money in her late teens. Since then we have both been conservative, only taking calculated risks, and we have been fortunate enough to not have had any major mistakes.
What advice do you have for others? Know what you want from your life and how wealth plays into this. Understand where your money goes and be intentional with your spending. Start investing "today".
What is the point of having a net worth above $1,000,000. What does it mean to you? It means we have choices available to us and we can design our life in a way that is the most fulfilling to us.
Finish these sentences:
If you want to build wealth do this… Spend less than you earn.
If you want to build wealth avoid doing this… Take on too much risk trying to achieve wealth quickly; time is your friend. Don't invest in things you don't understand.
If these questions don’t adequately tell your story, feel free to briefly elaborate here: We have built wealth slowly and steadily from age 20. We invested in things we understood with a clear plan and purpose. We achieved our goals and have begun the next phase of our journey.