What is your net worth? 1,100,000
Are you filling this out as an individual or a couple? Couple
At what age(s) did you become a net worth millionaire? 43
What region of New Zealand do you live in? Bay of Plenty
How did you accumulate your net worth, what are you invested in? Kiwisaver ($150,000 combined), plus current home worth $1,000,000 with only $140,000 mortgage. Also currently buying an investment property.
What was your highest average household WEEKLY income after tax? $4,150
What is your career? Self-employed IT Consultants
Do you have children? YES
Do you have a tertiary qualification? YES
Did you inherit any of your money? NO
What's the approximate value of your house? $1,000,000
Are you debt free now? NO
If NO, how much debt do you have and what is it for? $140,000 left on mortgage, which will be paid off in less than 3 years.
Are you in KiwiSaver? YES
Were you taught about money? YES
If YES, how were you taught? Don't go into debt apart from a mortgage. Save if you want to buy something. Don't spend if you don't have the money.
What is the most enjoyable thing you do with money? Live life, go travelling overseas to see family, try to get mortgage-free to invest more to be work optional in about 10 years. Being able to only work part-time and spend lots of time with our kids.
Do you use your money or your time to help others? YES
If YES, can you please elaborate. I try to talk to friends about money, but it is difficult as they think we are lucky to earn a lot of money.
What is your greatest financial win? Moving out of Auckland and banking $300,000 savings in mortgage.
What is your worst financial mistake? Mindless spending in our 20s and 30s
What advice do you have for others? Spend within your means and try to put some money away for savings. This will give you options now and especially later in life.
What is the point of having a net worth above $1,000,000. What does it mean to you? Being financially independent and we are able to choose our work. We are currently lucky to both work on good projects we enjoy, but I had to change projects last year due to lack of funding. In our position, I was able to not work for 3 months without being stressed about money and enjoying the summer off with the kids.
Finish these sentences: If you want to build wealth do this… Work hard on accumulating skills that are useful to others and that pay you well. Work hard in your younger years to be able to step back a little later on.
If you want to build wealth avoid doing this… Avoid going into debt and only buy a house if you can afford to. Always buy way under the limit the bank tells you to.
If these questions don’t adequately tell your story, feel free to briefly elaborate here: We moved to NZ from Germany 14 years ago to live a more relaxed life. We were both lucky to find jobs easily. We made good money from the start and had amazing pay rises over the years. We work now in our own company as independent contractors using the network we built over the years. We came with about $10,000 savings to NZ and slowly built our wealth up. We met many helpful Kiwis along the way which we used as role models and aspired to be like them.
We initially bought a house in Auckland for $647,000 in 2013 (which we thought was crazy money) and initially moved up the ladder as our needs changed. In 2021 we had the opportunity to move to Papamoa and haven't looked back. We always owned new build houses as they are closer to German standards and are good value for money as you don't have repair bills for a while. We downsized from our last house in Auckland and now live in a warm 3+ study home with a small section. This allows us to repay the remaining mortgage in a short amount of time.
We are investing in a new build home in Te Puke that will be finished next year, and although it will be cashflow negative initially, we expect it to be positive in a few years. We invest a little in KiwiSaver and once I am finished with the Rebel Finance School course I plan to invest some money in the sharemarket.
We have a financial advisor that helped us over the years to make a plan to be able to retire at 60. Although that was our goal it looked unachieveable at the start (32). I now think I will be able to retire closer to 55, and feel semi-retired now as I only work part-time.
I feel lucky that my husband is on board with things and we both work towards a common goal. We always had shared finances since our first trip to NZ in 2005 and we always see it as our money.