71. 19 Year Old Goes to Polytech Debt Free

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT: Episode 71 - SEP 7, 2022

When I did a shout-out a few episodes back about hearing from people aged 30 or below, you didn’t disappoint, and as a result, you are going to be hearing from a few more of them over the coming months. Youngest so far to get in touch was 19 year old Nathan, and it’s his story that I’m going to be sharing with you today. In November of 2022, he will graduate from Polytech with a Diploma in Quantity Surveying, with two years of industry experience, no debt and a job lined up. Added to that, he is also helping to pay for his partner's tertiary studies as well. 

I think his story is worth sharing with high school students wondering “where to from here” as they gear up to leave school.

If you have been following my podcast for a while, you might remember the podcast I shared about Aria and Dave in Episode #51.

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 like many of their friends and whanau. When we spoke they were in their mid-forties, they had reached a point where they could work part-time and afford to be generous with their time and money to help others while taking care of their immediate family. 

Well, the apple does not fall far from the tree; Nathan, my latest interviewee, is their son.

I went back and listened to that episode AFTER I’d written this episode up and it was really interesting to hear it, having now learned a bit about their older son Nathan. And Nathan, please go and take a listen to it yourself, I know that lots of the conversations we had and the questions we covered were equally well covered by Aria.

Having spoken to his Mum, I feel I already knew a little bit about him, but I’ll give you a quick rundown. He was born in west Auckland and spent the first ten years there before moving to Bay of Plenty. He recalls it as being a big lifestyle shift, moving from New Zealand’s biggest city to a smaller town, but he remembers coming home with mud on his knees and sand in his shoes after a busy day at school or with friends in the park. Plus, he remembers that when they moved, his parents stopped working as much, it was quite a significant change. 

There was talk about money in their whare, and his earliest memories are from the age of 7 or 8 and getting pocket money. He had to save up for weeks on end before his parents would take him out to buy the toy he had his eye on. They would encourage him to shop around and buy at the best price, and he said it was ingrained in him since day one to save his money and look for the best price. And when you find that thing you want, make sure you are 100% happy with your purchase because money is finite. 

Nathan said it would have been easy for him growing up in a double-income house to take money for granted, but because his parents came from less fortunate backgrounds, money was something to be managed and scrutinized, and he said that he took to it like a duck to water.

I asked if he worked a job while at school, but he said he didn’t work a day until he graduated high school. Given I know he is about to graduate debt free, this surprised me, and I wondered why he didn’t work during school.

And I should point out that I don’t think that all kids should work while at school. It works for some and not for others.

He said pragmatically, “you don’t get your childhood twice”. So your focus should be on schooling and everything that it involves. He wanted to take on extracurricular activities to the fullest, and a part-time job would get in the way of that. 

His parents were encouraging Nathan to get a paper-run job, but he pushed back, reasoning that he had plenty of time ahead in his life to work; thanks very much!

Instead, he threw himself into playing in video tournaments, cricket, and taekwondo tournaments. He won gold medals and created fantastic memories, none of which he regrets.

He knew too that his parents, and sometimes his grandparents, had been putting a little bit aside each month into a savings account to be used after he finished school to help him ease himself into the next step. And this saving for the future was very much talked about. 

His Mum, Aria, would always tell him and his brother that the account was there for them when they went to tertiary education, and they were also encouraged to add money themselves to this pot. So, a strong theme developed that there would be some financial backing from parents.

I found this really interesting for two reasons. 

I advocate setting aside a small yet consistent sum of money each week for your child for future use once they leave home. And secondly, I’m an even bigger advocate of telling them about it. I have invested a small amount for my daughter since she was born, with the purpose being to give her a financial step up AND teach her how earning, saving and investing work.

The reason is that I can see that life is only getting more expensive; my child's chances of saving up enough to pay cash for tertiary education is getting harder and harder. But it is doable if you start saving early and get them to add to the pot as well as they start to earn. I think you should always tell your kids about this because they can see the effort that has gone into growing this money, and they won’t take it for granted when it is given to them. Nathan knows that since he was born, his whānau put just a little bit each week into a savings account for him.

Many parents don’t tell their kids because they think it will make them lazy, but I think it teaches them the value of compounding returns. And if you make them put some of their own money in along the way, it gives them ownership of the investment, meaning they won’t waste it. If you secretly save up a stash and then hand it to them at 18, they have no awareness of the time it took to earn it; they are more likely to blow it.

So, given the fact that this kid ain’t keen on working, just who paid for Nathans's sports tournaments? His parents did; they set money aside for this purpose and were always happy to front up and pay; they saw it as part and parcel of him having the best childhood. They encouraged him to find the savings where he could, carpooling with his peers and to be 100% all in on all his endeavours. 

While money was being openly discussed at home, it was being talked about amongst his peers during school as well, and he shared a few experiences where money and life interacted. During Year 12 in High School, Nathan and his friends set up and ran a food delivery business where fellow students paid them $5 to run down the street and get their food from a local takeaway joint. Nathan was the money man behind the operation, tracking and recording the incomings and outgoings, which gave him some practical accounting and management experience. Before it was even a thing, they were Uber Eats, realising that some people are willing to pay others to bring them their kai.

In Year 13, he was part of a group that put on a broadway musical, and he was in charge of fundraising and budgeting, giving him real-world experience in running a small business. They sold 600 tickets over three nights, making about $3,000 for New Zealand Childrens Charity KidsCan.

So, while he didn’t have a job of his own with his income coming in, he was getting some excellent experience from being part of a group that was. I love this, especially the philanthropic nature of what he and his fellow students did for KidsCan. Philanthropy was not specifically taught at home, but he said that definitely his Mum’s big thing was being grateful for what you have and acknowledging that others don’t have the same support systems. But that you can help out.

Any parent will know that there is a lot that goes into making sure your child is choosing the right subjects as they progress through NCEA. And it’s really hard to know what to choose if your tamariki don’t know what they want to do in life. I’m 48, and I’m still trying to figure that out!

But Nathan said he was one of the lucky few who found what he wanted to do very early on. 

Since the age of 14, he has known about quantity surveying and wanted to do it. 

At that time, his Dad was working as a builder, and he took Nathan to work with him one day and let him experience what that work and environment was like, showing him as many aspects of the industry as he could. 

He got the unique opportunity to speak with the CEO, who said that as long as you have attained your NCEA Math and English, that is all you need to join an apprenticeship programme and start to work. 

He learned that in the building industry, it's about managing money, people and projects; from there, it is a good launch into business management and project management. 

He quickly worked out that this industry really called to him.

Great parenting, right? 

I think that any career advisor listening to this would be high-fiving Nathan’s Dad here. We don’t know what is available to us unless someone takes the time to share, and that simple step of taking his son to work for a day exposed him to a myriad of opportunities. It just broadens horizons.

Fortunately, Nathan stuck at school to the end of Year 13; he took the position that youth only comes once and he would not leave after level 2 NCEA (which is what the CEO was advocating). He could see that it would have made sense financially, but his childhood was finite and he wanted to make the most of it, the money could wait. 

Because he knew what he would be going on to study at Polytechnic, he let that dictate the subjects he took at school, leaning more into the business, math and geography type subjects. But surprisingly, given he knew what he wanted to do, he actually failed some of those subjects, so in Year 13, his final year of school, he actually pivoted into other areas that he had really enjoyed in his earlier years, drama and history, doing really well in those.

I’m pleased he did that, getting to explore a whole range of subjects, but gaining himself enough credits to do his polytech course, showing that you don’t want to niche down too early in life.

During Year 13, he applied for the Diploma in Quantity Surveying course at his local Polytechnic. 

He also applied for the scholarships that they were offering and received $2,500, which he used to buy himself a laptop. I often hear it said that scholarships are only for the top students, and it's a waste of your time to apply if you are not that student. That’s incorrect, and as Nathan pointed out, the Polytechnic had a system where they had $5k to split between two students for every secondary school in the region. 

He got one of those. 

For his year of school leavers, going to Polytech instead of university was not a popular choice. People wanted to go to uni and have that ‘halls’ experience, so by applying to the local polytech; he had far less competition. 

Plus, he was the whole package, with very good grades from school, plus lots of good extracurricular activities to round him out, so he knew he was a good bet for the Polytech to take on. 

While his grades were good, he passed all his subjects with a merit endorsement, and he got a couple of excellent endorsements as well, he was not in the top percentile. He said that being top of the class is NOT necessary, and he thinks it's not even the top thing they are looking for when you apply to a course.

He continued to live at home while he studied, and his parents charged him a token gesture of $30 a week to live there. 

Now, this is the good bit; the Diploma in Quantity Surveying course he signed up for was/is completely financed by the government as part of their targeted training and apprenticeship fund, which offers free trades training. It is specifically targeting areas that need more workers. Just google it to find out more.

For Nathan, this was a happy coincidence that he willingly signed up for an industry with a shortage of workers. This was a really lucky break for him.

Had this scheme not been in place - and do note that these free training courses change as the employment needs of particular sectors change - he still would have had the first year of his course fees free, as per the Labour Government's commitment to tertiary education, and his fees for his second year would have been about $8,000.

When he signed up for his course, his last hurdle before being accepted was an interview and during it, they gave him some really clear directions on how to make the most of the course.

They advised him to go out and get a job in the construction industry and that the best way to get his foot in the door was to go to one of the merchants: Bunnings, ITM, Mitre 10 or Placemakers and get a part-time job. So, he did.

His Dad, with his connections in the building industry, helped him get a job interview, and the rest was up to Nathan. He got a job at Placemakers.

I love this parental support.

In case you are wondering, it was not nepotism; he got the job because he was inherently employable, but having a parent or adult help create a pathway is what good parenting and networking are all about. I see this form of a job application as being a win-win; the employer doesn’t have to go searching so hard, and when someone like Nathan does knock on their door, they are already a quality applicant. Remember, none of us really knew how to apply for work; we all had to learn the skills somewhere, so I’d encourage you to call on your own job application skills and help your kids here. 

And for anyone new to job hunting but with no idea how to find a job, just start asking some trusted adults how they went about it. 

Straight out of school, he started working just a few hours at Placemakers, but as he picked up what was required of him, they bumped him up to about 25 hours a week, which he continued to do throughout his first year of study and into his second. 

Coming back to that bank account that his parents had been saving up for him over 18 years. Their small weekly savings, by my calculations, it was probably about $4-5, grew to $4,000, a meaningful amount to help him get started. He used $3,000 of this to buy himself his first car so that he could get to and from his course and his place of work. 

I bet you were thinking that the amount would be a lot higher right? But, if you listen back to his parents episode, for the first ¾ of Nathans life, they had their own financial challenges to deal with, but still, they had obviously committed to this small saving account for each of their kids. And Nathan, when he received it, didn’t blow it, he used it carefully indeed. 

His classes were generally 3 days a week, and he would then work full-time 2 weekdays and a half day on Saturday.

But, I had to ask, how did he do both, isn’t it impossible to both work and study? No, not impossible at all.

He said that his coursework was not massive, outside of his three days of classes he probably did about six hours of study at most, completing assignments etc, and he could fit that in during the evenings. He said that most weeks, he would go to class, pay attention, and apply himself while in class, and that was enough. 

When he first started at Placemakers he was making about $19 gross an hour. Then the minimum wage increased to $20, then $21 per hour. All the while he was gaining some really practical experience to apply to his coursework.

In his second year of study, he stepped things up a notch, once again with the help of his father, who by this stage was off the tools and working in a training role himself. He actually ended up taking one of the classes Nathan attended. He got the worst marks of all his classes he said, ruling, out any thoughts of father handing out top grades to his son. But what he didn’t give Nathan in grades, he gave him in life experience instead, taking Nathan to each construction company in their town and waiting while Nathan walked in the door, CV in hand and asked to speak with their Quantity Surveyor. 

His pitch was, “I am studying and will end my course this year. Would you please take me on for one day a week to do some work experience so that when I graduate, I have a year's worth of industry experience?”

This is a genius move because Nathan knows that when he graduates at the end of 2022, there will be 20 other fresh graduates asking for work. He wanted to get the edge on them.

He got an interview with a company, and it turns out the interviewer's son used to do taekwondo with Nathan - all those different things he did at school are now connecting him with others in the working world.

They gave him a day a week, starting in January of 2022, and they paid the minimum wage. He juggled that work with his Placemakers work.

And I’m pleased to say, that things are panning out as he hoped they would.

In mid-2022 they said, “you are coming to the end of your course, we have had a staff member leave, and we have a big job coming up that requires someone to do project administration work. They asked him to come on full-time for his mid-year break. 

So he left Placemakers and started working full time in his new job, then cutting down to 20 hours a week when his course started back up.

It has been a really awesome experience he said, feeling part of the team. He feels very lucky for the opportunities he has been given by the construction industry, given he is so young.

He considers getting this cadetship as his biggest financial triumph. Taking the initiative and going out there to find a job in the industry has given him invaluable experience. Even if, at the end of this year they say they can’t take him on, he can go out to the industry saying I have a years worth of QS experience, plus one and a half years of experience in the distribution side of the construction industry. It’s a unique selling point compared to his peers. 

I wondered what his tutors thought of how motivated he is. He said that some of them worried about his work load, but his Dad in particular is chuffed about how it is working out. 

And whereas he said no to working while he was at school, because of all the skills those extra curricular activities and the school workload itself would give him, he embraced working while studying at a tertiary level, because he would see how much of a leg up it would give him.

But “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”, so how does Nathan have fun? He and his girlfriend do lots of house sitting, taking care of other peoples homes and pets and he is still actively involved in taekwondo, less of the competing though he said, more of the watching others punch each other in the face. He enjoys online gaming with his girlfriend and a bunch of friends, and just generally sounds like he enjoys this stage of life. 

So, where you might ask, is all his money going?

He still lives at home, paying $30 a week. For a budding student, if you can stay living at home while you are studying, you will save yourself a fortune. It is more expensive to live, than study, so those with parents or extended whanau living in the town you want to study in, take that opportunity and live cheaply with them. You will still get to make a bunch of friends through whatever course you choose to take.

His partner of 3.5 years lives walking distance away from Nathan with her whanau and she is studying early childhood education full time, a three-year course. She also works part-time, but apart from her first year being fees free, she is covering all her other course costs which are about $7,000 a year. 

While he has been earning money, with no fees and little to no board to pay, he is contributing $100 a week to keeping her out of debt too, working together to pay cash for her course, and has been doing so since about December 2020. This is both rare and kind.

Whereas he has had the benefit of parents who have worked themselves into a good financial situation over many years, his Mum in particualr has had a big focus on personal finance and has shared the things they have learned along the way with Nathan and his brother, his girlfriend has not had that exposure. 

We didn’t talk about her too much, in hindsight it would have been fantastic to have her on the call too, but he explained that she has had a lot of hardship in her upbringing, and part of that was her family always living in a rented property and the uncertainty that comes from that, them buying things on finance, taking out personal loans and generally going down that path due to lack of income due to only one income earner in the home. So, Nathan is sharing what he knows about money and helping her build good financial habits of her own. 

I love this. No matter your age, having a responsible friend come alongside you and help break the cycle of ‘not so useful’ financial habits is wonderful. I asked Nathan if he expected to be repaid for the money he has given her. No, not at all. This is a practical way he can support her and together they talk about money and she has come to have a really good financial head on her shoulders too.

With koha of $100 for his girlfriend, the rest of his income goes on the usual things in life: petrol, and insurance on his car, coke and lollies and about $100 a week that he generally spends on clothes, food and fun stuff. Otherwise, his plan is to stay living at home once he is working full time and rapidly save up a deposit to buy a home for him and his girlfriend to move into.

From his current income, he puts 3% into his KiwiSaver. Once he works full time - and he expects to earn a salary of $60,000 off the bat, he will raise those contributions to 10%. He then plans to move his KiwiSaver, which is with ASB with a balance of $5,000 from a Growth fund to a Conservative fund. And he is doing that in readiness to pull out the money for a first home.

After paying into KiwiSaver and paying tax, he estimates that he will be left with about $800 a week. 

He plans to keep his expenses as low as he can, but build his emergency fund - or what he calls his war chest up higher than the $500 that is currently already there. 

How on earth does a 19-year-old know all this? 

Kōrero with whanau, that's how.

Nathan said that his Mum and him have crunched some numbers and come to the realisation that he can save $600 a week; over 50 - 75 weeks that should get him enough money for a 10% deposit on a 2 - 3 bed standalone house worth $650,000. They have settled on this house value by keeping an active interest in property sales in the area he is looking to buy. 

It goes without saying that when I asked him the question of “If you were given $10,000 right now, what would you do with it? It would go straight into his rapid savings account, house deposit fund.

After our chat, I had an email from his Mum in relation to something else. She thanked me for having a chat with Nathan, but did point out that she was pleasantly surprised that he did get in touch and speak with me. She said of her two kids, he was the 'not interested in money child'. She was happy that he did get the chance to korero with another adult, because sometimes you can hear a lot better when it's not your mum talking she said! 

You could have fooled me, I knew there were two kids in the family, I knew one was interested in PF, and I could have easily thought that Nathan was him! The rate I’m going I think I might need to chat to him too. Nathan was one of the most coherent young people I’ve ever spoken with and I feel it just goes to show that as a parent, you might not think your kids are taking it in, but they absolutely are. 

He said in an email to me that he is so incredibly grateful for how his parents have set him up on such an amazing financial path. They have given him such a huge amount of useful knowledge about money, and a stable home life.

I think that Nathans parents are going to listen to this and realise that they have had a lot of really positive influence on not just their son, but also on the people he comes into contact with. And that is a parenting win and should be motivation enough to stay engaged, even after he eventually leaves home.

I used to work in the new home building industry, so I’ve worked with a number of Quantity Surveyors over the years. Whenever I think of them they are sat at a huge desk, surrounded by piles of paperwork and elaborate spreadsheets. They are planners. Nathan is a planner, so is his Mum.

So, when I wondered out loud why on earth a 19-year-old would be so focussed on owning a house, when it’s not on most young people's radar, he told me how he is planning out his future. 

He has been living at home for 19 years now, loves his family to pieces and considers himself lucky he said that he is still able to stand living with them! But he is ready to have his own space with his girlfriend, but that takes planning. He is so right, in today’s housing market, if you just up and decide you want to buy a home, chances are you can’t, because you don’t have the deposit money. Nathan knows he wants a home in a few years time, so he is actively planning on how to save his deposit.

Secondly, he considers owning a home as an investment; if he started to rent, that would all be an expense. And it would make it harder to save $600 a week towards a home deposit. 

Thirdly, he and his partner both have ambitions to have a family and the sooner they have their living situation stable, the sooner they have the option to do that.

Is she on board with this idea I asked? Yes, apparently, she is a planner, just like him!

When we agreed to a chat, as I do for all the people I interview, I offered him the chance to ask me anything he wanted and I promised I’d help where I could. 

We ended up having a long chat about tapping into his KiwiSaver for his home deposit. With only $5,000 in there at the moment, I encouraged him to try to leave that balance intact. After all, just another 8 weeks of saving would get him that $5,000. I encouraged him to do several things with his money at the same time, and that included saving for retirement AND saving for a house deposit somewhere else.

Once he is salaried, he wants to also begin investing into an index fund, just $30 a week and he asked for suggestions from me. I encouraged him to use it as an educational tool, starting with $10, not $30, while he was saving up his house deposit AND saving for retirement. I encouraged him to not take on too much at once. If he is contributing to his KiwiSaver, don’t forget that he is already investing. That spare $20 is probably better spent being stashed into his house deposit bank account than invested. Soon enough he will have a home and once he settles into life with a mortgage, AND while he continues to save into his KiwiSaver, then he will create some wiggle room to think about investing. And having invested $10 a week for a couple of years by then, he will understand how that works and be comfortable upping contributions. OR, he might decide to smash out his mortgage instead? Who knows! Take one step at a time Nathan.

As to where to put a $10 investment each week, I’m not a financial advisor and can’t give financial advice, but I would be looking to invest in just one ETF that buys an entire market. The best lesson on investing I can offer anyone is to google JL Collins The Simple Path to Wealth Google Talk and give yourself a crash course on index fund, or ETF, investing.

More lately he said he has had some conversations with peers about building a credit rating to increase his chances of taking out a mortgage. My view on a credit ratings are they are more a US thing than an NZ thing and you don’t need to go out and actively take on debt, to show you can pay off debt! His parents motto is to avoid credit card debt, and he has never had one, and there is no need to start now.

He would be better off going and having a meeting with a mortgage broker, or someone in the mortgage department of a couple of banks to get an idea of what they are looking for when someone wants to borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars for their first home. Take their guidance. A philosophy that has done me well is “don’t take financial advise of people who have no money”. Seek good advice from those with the experience to give it.

Once he does buy a home and takes on the big financial commitment of a mortgage, I wondered what his intentions were about paying it off. Fast or slow?

It will depend he said on his income and outgoings and he will first concentrate on raising the deposit and then put a plan in place closer to the time.

Given the fact he has been with his girlfriend for over three years already and is actively supporting her studies, I asked if he will buy this home with her? Will it be a joint asset, given they are planning the years ahead together?

No. The plan is to keep any money she has out of the property. He will make the down payment and it will be his asset, therefore there will be no dispute over it if something were to happen such as their relationship ending. She will live there and pay for utilities and groceries, much like a flatmate would. 

I have to say, that this confused me, having spent so many years intertwining their lives when they are dealing with $100’s of dollars, why split themselves apart now, just because the sums are getting bigger?

He is not entirely sure why they will split it.

Because her studies have another year to go, he would be the only one who could put money towards the downpayment he does not want her to put a small amount of money in and then have 50% ownership.

I have to be honest, this just sounded like short-term thinking to me. 

Unless there are sound reasons why; such as financial abuse, any kind of abuse, or maybe businesses, or childen from a previous relationship being involved etc. I can’t see why people are so hell-bent on keeping their money separate these days. When every other part of your life is intertwined, what’s the big deal about sharing your money?

Everything he told me about his spouse pointed to a long-term relationship of 3.5 years, with no signs of slowing down. He talked about a home for the two of them to live in, and possible children in the future. He is helping her financially already, because he cares about her getting through her study without debt.

But that is just the first chapter of their life together. There are many more to be written.

From 2023 he will be working full time, with a starting salary of $60,000. His income will only grow. From 2024 she will also start to work full time, I googled early childhood teachers and their starting salary is about $49,000 up to $72,000. So, within two short years, these two are going to have similar incomes and both will equally be able to contribute to their relationship financially. 

I know in my own relationship with Jonny, he had finished studying and was working full time when we met, I was in my final year of uni. About three years into our relationship, we pooled our incomes - but he created the deposit from his saving while working full time - and we bought a house TOGETHER. 

I think for Nathan, he needs to talk with his partner about where they are headed as a couple, and how each of them will feel in say, four years time, when she is paying him rent, on HIS asset, yet they are a couple. How is she going to grow her own wealth? Also, if they go on to have children, will he be paying her a salary to care for his children while she is off work? If he wants it to be ‘his house’, then they both need to visit a lawyer and get a relationship property agreement in place at the time of purchase. 

All I’m saying is that, it is much easier when you have a shared vision and a shared goal and are not counting what the other is contributing because that is going to vary so much over your lifetime. I’ve said it before, but I have noticed that couples who combine money, discuss it openly and just get on with life seem to be a lot more united and content.

Nathan might need to just ask his own parents about how it's been for them perhaps?

I honestly think that it is vital in a relationship, from the get go, to talk about money a little and often. This will lead to conversations about the day to day ways you each handle money, but also lead into talking about what the future of money looks like between the two of you. Will you buy a home, will you have children, how many holidays will you have, and will you be staying in a tent or a resort, will you get a $3,000 dog that needs a $120 haircut every two months or the short-haired no nonsense SPCA breed? Do you buy Evian water, or drink tap water. Which is more of an investment: a DeWalt power tool or a Yu Mei handbag? We each value and use money in different ways, and it is logical to me to tune in to each other early on. And end the relationship early if you are not liking what you see.

I often talk about combining money with your partner, not because I’m religious in any way, just that I’m really practical, and I have experienced myself and have seen in others that combining your finances has emotional and financial benefits for both parties. I asked Jonny why it makes sense to combine our incomes and he said “it’s just easier”. He is a man of few words.

I think that Nathan and his partner both have the ability to plan ahead, and I would encourage them both to continue to build a future together, not separately. Currently, they are both very low income earners, but that won’t be the case for much longer. And I think that technically in the eyes of a property lawyer, they already have shared financial lives, so why not build upon that foundation. 

Talking with Nathan I said something along the lines of “are you in, or are you out?” Sharing your small income with your partner since 2020 would indicate you are in. Excluding her from a future house purchase would indicate you are out, plus I don’t know without speaking with her, but I would imagine that it could feel hurtful to be excluded from such an exciting life event. Team work works, so perhaps it's worth stopping trying to be so independent, try to work together, as you have already been doing. Talk about it now and if you decide to financially go your own ways, while staying in a relationship, go and talk to a lawyer and get an agreement signed up so that you both understand what the financial agreement is between the two of you.

Enough about that, time to move on!

I asked Nathan what was one piece of advice that his parents gave him that has stuck with him and he said that they advised that 10% of earnings go into savings of some description. No matter what. Whether it is an investment, your emergency fund or just saving for a new thing. You must never spend your whole paycheque. 

Now, I wondered if someone so young has managed to have a financial flop yet.

He had been saving up for a new Nintendo Switch games console. At that stage he didn’t have an emergency fund or his war chest set aside, but he had saved up the $500 to pay cash for the console. So, that was all his available cash, gone. That very night someone tried to steal his car, they didn’t manage to, but he was left with a very costly repair to fix the window and the ignition barrel. It taught him that by not prioritising his war chest money or having that stash of cash to solve a money drama, murphy’s law will come for you. And it got him good this time. Now, his war chest is stitting at $500, plus he has some additional savings and the support of his parents (as a last resort) to fall back on. 

His bank account structure is relatively straight forward, although with time I suspect it will grow in complexity:

A general chequing account where his income and expenses come and go from

He has a savings account to put towards his girlfriend's studies

One saving account so he can upgrade his car

An Emergency Fund account

Plus his KiwiSaver account

As for tools and resources, I wondered if he had any recommendations. No, nothing specific. He figures that if you are taking in media about personal finance, any money chat basically, you are in a good place. And of course, the more you look at it, the more will show up in your social media feed. 

I’m excited for Nathan to complete his course and get out into the workforce and begin to experience what it is like to make a good amount of money. I think that when he does, it is really going to broaden his range of experiences. For now, his world is relatively small, as is appropriate for his age and he lives life close to home, but with more life experience and with more income, he is going to get to experience some cool stuff which obviously includes a home and maybe a family, but I’lm sure he will also get to go out and explore more of the world too.

I was thinking back to the end of my schooling, and my transition on to the next thing. It was really hard, because unlike Nathan, I didn’t have a clear direction. As the fifth of five children, my parents wanted the place to themselves for once, which was fair enough, and I was advised that leaving home might be an excellent idea so was out flatting by 18. It was the right thing to do, let’s just say that my social life was not compatible with theirs! I was also at Polytech at the age of 19, but I certainly had very little career idea or financial clue. I did have some really good tutors though who were instrumental in helping me find work after my course, and my parents, were really supportive in helping me find work.

It was interesting to talk to Nathan, having spoken with his Mum a while ago. It sounds like there is a healthy amount of distance between the two - teenagers need to explore life on their own after all - but enough of a foundation and a home for him to always return to. 

I’m always looking for parenting tips and the tip I take away from the really enjoyable conversation I had with Nathan is that small, yet frequent conversations about money pay off in the long run. And whether you are a parent, a teacher, a mentor or a friend, you might not think that they are listening to you, but if the advice you share is sound, they are. And they will apply it to their life when required. 

Nathan knows he doesn’t have it all figured out just yet, but he knows a tonne more than the average 19-year-old, that is for sure. He is a teenager with a lot of common sense and in our conversation, when he found a piece of the puzzle of life, he set about putting it into place. Like finding that course he is doing, getting his first job at Placemakers, then transitioning on to his cadetship. But as any good quantity surveyor does, he is putting all the pieces together and asking a lot of questions too. He asked me a lot of excellent questions about money, things he had been wondering about, things he thought he might need to start wondering about. 

What he wishes had been more advertised during high school is the number of options you have in terms of your career. If you are in high school, the options you think you have are just a fragment of the options available. Just in the construction industry alone, there are so many layers to peel back. His advice to school leaves is not to worry, you don’t have to know what you are doing straight out of school, but just know that something is out there for every one of you. 

Honestly, he had his head screwed on straight, he seems to be living life, right where he is at, making the most of each stage and I like that. No doubt that things will go well for him in the future, and no doubt some things will go wrong as well, but he seems level-headed enough to work it all out.

Getting qualified debt free is a huge deal. Huge. It means that once he graduates and joins the workforce, he won’t have to put 12% of each pay cheque towards debt year after year. He is free and clear, looking forward, instead of paying off something that he has finished with. I want people listening to this to change their mindset about “oh you have to have a student loan”, as Nathan has shared, that is just not true. With a bit of fortuitous course choice, living at home, plus actually working a job throughout his course have really propelled him forwards. And with a bit of planning, it will work for others as well.

So, thanks Nathan for taking a few hours out of your day to share your situation, I think that for others at your stage of life, it’s going to give them another perspective on the options available.