What is your net worth? $1,118,800 (depending on cash flow of the month )
At what age did you become a net worth millionaire? 33
How did you accumulate your net worth, what are you invested in? Lots of little things but the big wins were a rental property when I was 19, a restaurant when I was 25, family home at 29, building company when I was 31. We are currently cashed up (properties are sold), aside from KiwiSaver and $30k in index funds.
What was your highest average household WEEKLY income after tax? I haven't had a weekly pay cheque for a while, last year was my biggest year earning around $250,000.
What is your career? Hard to pin it down, I now tell people I am a "director" - aside from the mini-retirement.
Do you have children? YES
Do you have a tertiary qualification? NO
Did you inherit any of your money? NO, but…
If YES, how much did you inherit? We did get a $25,000 gift from my wife’s parents for our first house.
What's the approximate value of your house? We just sold it for $685,000, it was mortgage free. Now looking at building a new house.
Are you debt free now? YES
If NO, how much debt do you have and what is it for? We paid off our mortgage when we were 33 (me) / 32 (my wife)
Are you in KiwiSaver? YES
Were you taught about money? YES
If YES, how were you taught? At the age of 5 my dad helped me make and sell bookmarks door to door, he then encourage me to mow lawns, do a paper run etc. In saying that, aside from doing jobs to make money we never discussed investing (or what to do with the money once you have made it) much. I am self taught in the sense that I purchased and read "Rich Dad Poor Dad" when I was 17 and have read many books since then; however that undervalues all the amazing people that have given me advice and support along the way. I have completed a couple of finance based papers at Massey University.
What is the most enjoyable thing you do with money? Eat it haha, travel, we don't really live a luxurious life, I really do get a kick out of helping others with small gifts, or solving a problem.
Do you use your money or your time to help others? YES
What is your greatest financial win? As mentioned above there have been lots of little things. The one that gave me the final big push over the line was my last business project, a housing company I was involved with.
What is your worst financial mistake? In my blog www.boundlessblog.nz I write that I was in about $25,000 debt when I was 19 years old. This culminated in the court taking my car from me to pay for all my driving fines. They turned up to Maccas (McDonalds where I was working) one lunch rush, asked for the keys, and towed the car away. I was left with a personal loan for the car, lots of driving fines, and no car to drive. In the end, it was a massive turning point, but at the time it felt like my world was crashing down around me.
At the time, almost 100% of my income was dedicated to paying off this debt. After my basic living costs, and then paying off debts, there was about $10 a week leftover. It was like that for about 2 years until I paid off the final debt and vowed never again to borrow money to live outside my means. Since then, we have always used savings (except for buying a business and a house, both of which we paid off very promptly).
What advice do you have for others? All the little decisions add up to be a lot, literally “1 million” a lot, there was no magic bullet, sure there were some big things that helped, but it was a tonne of little decisions that added up, I am currently writing a blog post about it but here is a 5 point summary:
#1 Only use debt to buy assets
#2 Live within your means
#3 Create a budget, check it, tweak it, adjust it
#4 Set small goals that add together to make a big difference
#5 Big goals like paying off the mortgage won't happen immediately but chip away at them
What is the point of having a net worth above $1,000,000. What does it mean to you? Good question. I have not really stopped to think about this much even though it has been a milestone that I have aimed from a young age.
Early on it was a target because I thought it would give me a "sweet life" and as I grew up and realised money is not everything it became a milestone that represented a combination of skill (in business) and discipline (in finance).
Finish these sentences:
If you want to build wealth do this… Spend less than you earn, invest the rest.
If you want to build wealth avoid doing this… Consistently spending more than you earn and trying to keep up with others. There is a quote along the lines of “those who understand interest, earn it. Those who don't, pay it”.
If these questions don’t adequately tell your story, feel free to briefly elaborate here: Hey, I wasn't sure if I was going to fill this out as I took a hit after leaving my last business and I knew I was going to be close to the $1 mill mark, but I did the maths yesterday and still cracked it, it's funny, I felt like if I was only just over $1 mill it wasn't worth submitting, but then I thought about it and whether I am just above, (or even just below) it’s still a massive achievement!