All in Money Journey
Today I am really looking forward to sharing the financial ins and outs of Rachael, a wonderful wahine who has been listening to this very podcast for years. In mid-2020, her partner of eight years, Tony, died suddenly and without a will. Coping with her grief was hard enough; sorting out the settlement of his estate made it doubly hard, and she wants you to avoid this same situation at all costs.
Helen and Scott have lived a life common to many of us, with good bits, not-so-good bits and, to a large extent, following the crowd for whom managing money is a struggle. With five tamariki between them, they have known each other a long time, yet only became a couple a few years ago. Both carry the scars and financial lessons from previous marriages, including reliance on consumer debt. Working harder was always their way out of a financial jam, but finally, they are learning to work smarter.
Back in September of 2021, I released episode: 60. First Home Buyers, where I detailed the rollercoaster that Kiri and her husband John had been on with their money and their life. That episode was all about the lead-up to buying a home. Today’s episode is what happened after that; it’s much less house focussed, much more life-focused, but it’s safe to say that the rollercoaster continues.
Today, I have the pleasure of sharing the story behind how Tony and his wife Karen came to create a net worth of $2.8 million and retire aged 49 and 54, respectively. They own one home and have a large retirement fund which they built from always investing a portion of their take-home pay from their 20+ year careers in the New Zealand Police. There are still many unknowns as they try to work out how to structure their money to support them during their long and adventurous retirement.
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 episode, we hear from Jess, a single 52-year-old woman who reached out to me in early 2022 when she sent me a lovely email telling me she had been using my blog and podcast, plus The Barefoot Investor, to learn more about money to help her keep on track with some long-term money goals. Today we explore how Jess went from a house being out of her league to owning one.
Through luck and good timing, 29-year-old Dylan found himself buying his first property, an empty section, aged just 21, and then one thing led to another; he stumbled upon a cracking good deal, paying just $18,000 for a second section. Today I will share not only how he purchased property but the numbers behind it, the lucky breaks he has had and the fact that since he learned about FIRE, he is now diversifying by investing in KiwiSaver and ETF share investments. This late 20-year-old is on an excellent trajectory for a great financial future.
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.
37-year-old Tui described herself as someone who has worked hard to get her financial house in order, and in the last three years in particular, she has made great progress. She had spent her teens and twenties gathering life experiences by living and working overseas, getting an education, beginning a career and buying a home with a friend. But more recently, she has increased her understanding of personal finance, and when she added that new knowledge to her situation, she has moved ahead, now with her partner Marcus, in leaps and bounds.
Nic described herself as a 42-year-old professional who sometimes has to pinch herself at the job she has. It’s a tough demanding role in a field she loves that pays really well. Her money journey got off to a slow start, full of bad decisions but a lot of good luck and some great times. Now she finds herself in the very fortunate position of earning an above average income, which up until recently, she spent. Nic has come a long way, but the journey is not over yet, but she has a plan now, something she never had before. She has her WHY and the HOW defined. She now just requires the discipline, focus and drive to pull it all off!
When Rachel told me that she had very recently moved from a super consumer to thinking instead that saving was the new shopping, I knew the story of this single, city-dwelling, dependent-free, self-employed 54-year-old was one worth sharing.
This week I’m sharing the financial life of Ngaio and Ben, a Coromandel couple in their early 30s. They struck a chord with me because I love seeing examples of life enjoyed a little bit differently to most, in their case, choosing to build and live in a tiny home, work part-time, take mini-retirements and do a lot of adventures.
This week I caught up with a couple in their mid 20’s, Richard and Jane. In 2019, they purchased a home when they were just 22 years of age and are now setting about paying it off. Buying a home so young is unusual, but having the goal from the beginning to pay it off as fast as possible is even more unusual. My first question to them was, “how did you get so smart?”
