All in Money Education
Lucy, Steve and their two teenage children openly talk about money in their family. While I understand that failure is a good teacher, I just don’t see why you would willingly set your kids up to fail with money when it is far easier to do as this couple is doing and instead just teach your kids some basics from the get-go.
In this week's episode, I wanted to revisit an earlier episode with an update on Nathan from episode 71, and introduce a new guest, Sam, a 16-year-old Year 12 student who is starting a financial journey similar to Nathan's and already demonstrates a forward-thinking mindset towards his financial well-being. He recognises that financial stability is vital to achieving his goals.
Australian based Kiwi Dad of two Jon went through a relationship separation and a financial crisis some years ago but is now on track to be mortgage-free within the next four years. The key for him has been self-taught education about how to handle his personal finances.
In today’s podcast, I’m doing a revisit with Bella from Episode 52. She shared the realities of student loan debt in New Zealand and how you can meander your way into student loan debt, but you need to fight your way out again. Bella has not been idle, smashing out $66,000 of her $85,000 debt in just 14 months. Yep, you read that right. If she can do it, so can you!
For the last episode in this series, I have once again reconnected with a few people that I’ve interviewed before. I like to check in on people and get a feel for the progress and changes they have made and I know you do too.
When Julian and Sophie met in 1999 they each had a car, a very small amount in savings and no debt. Just 21 ‘short’ years later they have an approximate net worth of $1,500,000. So, how did they do it?
Bella shares the realities of student loan debt in New Zealand and how you can meander your way into $85,000 of debt, but it’s far harder to meander your way out again.
Aria and her husband Dave didn’t grow up with much so once they got together they knew they didn’t want to live paycheque to paycheque. When asked what financial independence means to them they said it means “we don’t have to worry about money” and that is a sentiment that they want for everyone.
I first heard from Hamish when he sent me an email in late 2020 telling me that back in 2018, at the age of just 24 he had saved up and bought a $379,00 house in Palmerston North with a big deposit of $125,000. No surprises I was pretty keen to hear more from Hamish about the how and the why of this.
“Well this is awkward” I thought when some guy called Chris started secretly emailing me without his partner’s knowledge! Big long emails with tonnes of questions about personal finance, my favourite topic for sure! That is how I came to sit on the sidelines of the transformation of not just Chris but of his partner Rosemary’s financial life.
Jen freaked out at 49! She considered herself to be halfway through her life and had big concerns about what the other half might look like. A divorce halved her net worth and becoming a single mother introduced a whole heap of new challenges. She is now fast tracking to an early retirement at the age of 55 and is a wonderful example of showing just what a woman on a mission is capable of!
Nina was homeschooled and part of her education involved investing in the share market and preparing from the age of just 13 to cover the cost of her future university degree. Now in her late 20’s and with a husband and three small children, she is feeling content with the journey ahead and that includes paying off their home and then starting to invest for the long term financial wellbeing of her and her family.
There were many points during Ella’s 40 plus years that her gut instinct told her to make a few changes to the way her family handled money. 2020 has been a huge time of change and these changes all stemmed from her wanting to be able to financially help her kids and once she worked out that she needed to be in a strong financial position herself in order to do this, the rest is rapidly falling into place.
