Kia Ora and Welcome
I’m so glad that you found me!
I started The Happy Saver back in 2016 because I had a lot of questions about money.
How do ordinary New Zealanders invest? Do I really need a financial adviser? What should I do when the bank keeps offering to lend me more money? How can I work less, live more, and still pay the bills? And why does talking about money sometimes feel so difficult?
I went looking for answers and found some fantastic personal finance blogs and podcasts. The problem was that most were from America, the UK, or Australia. The principles were useful - spend less than you earn, invest the difference, avoid unnecessary debt - but I couldn’t exactly put money into a 401(k). I wanted information that made sense here in little old Aotearoa, where we have KiwiSaver, PIE funds and a national obsession with buying property.
So, with my husband Jonny's help, I created The Happy Saver.
Ten years later, through this blog and The Happy Saver Podcast, I’m still talking about how everyday Kiwis can use money to create a really good life.
For me, that means enjoying what I already have rather than constantly chasing more. It means spending freely on the things I value, ignoring plenty of things I don’t, investing the difference, and letting time and compounding do the heavy lifting.
Because ultimately, I don’t want more money just for the sake of having more money. I want what money can give me: freedom, choices, and time.
Life is pretty good here in beautiful Central Otago. I’m Ruth, a fit, positive and friendly 52-year-old woman, married to a fantastic bloke called Jonny. Together, we have a fabulous daughter who has now left home for university.
Our life probably looks a little different from that of many Kiwi families. We have deliberately structured our finances so that neither of us needs to work full-time, and we are now CoastFI - our investments are on track to fund our future, even if we don’t add another dollar. For years, we’ve referred to ourselves as semi-retired. I’ve never really signed up for the idea of working 9-5 until 65. Instead, I’ve worked hard at creating a life where I work because I want to, not because I have to.
We live relatively simply. Our Central Otago home is mortgage-free, we have no debt of any kind, and over many years we’ve built a substantial investment portfolio. These days, our investing is deliberately simple: a low-cost, passive, and globally diversified ETF. I invest consistently, ignore the noise, play the long game, and let the share market do its thing.
It took me years to arrive at something so simple.
I’m not an economist or a financial adviser. None of my qualifications are in finance - I have a Psychology degree, a graduate diploma in Management, and a diverse collection of other bits of paper and life experience. When I first started learning about investing, the whole thing seemed like a crazy labyrinth of corporate offices, jargon, and people in suits. It felt like a world I didn’t belong in.
But month by month, year by year, I worked it out.
And that is a big part of why The Happy Saver still exists. I want other ordinary people to realise that you can work this stuff out too.
You don’t need a complicated financial life. You need to understand where your money goes, spend less than you earn, get rid of debt, set aside some cash for when life inevitably throws you a curveball, and invest the difference simply and consistently in the share market.
I’ve now spent a decade talking with Kiwis about money through this blog, my podcast, emails, events and countless conversations. Again and again, I meet people who are perfectly capable of managing their own finances but simply need some knowledge and confidence to get started.
That’s what I hope you’ll find here.
I share what Jonny and I have done, what has worked, what hasn’t, what I’m learning, and how our financial life continues to evolve. My hope is that something from our experience helps you make better decisions with your own money - and ultimately gives you more freedom to live your life the way you want to.
If you have a question or a topic you’d like me to explore, head over to my Contact Me page. I’m always interested in what’s playing on your mind.
So, have a look around. Read the blog, listen to the podcast, and, most importantly, take what is useful and put it into action.