New Zealand is a fabulously multicultural place and I often find myself speaking with people who were not born here but have chosen to make this place their home. Today is no exception because Lucas was born in Southern Europe but has called New Zealand home for the last ten years. Lucas had reached a bit of a cross roads. He appeared to have what seems to be the Kiwi dream, a house and a rental property but he has come to realise and understand that for his situation he will need to keep handing over money month in month out to banks to pay down debt in order to make himself and his family comfortable in 25 to 35 years time and the thought of waiting this long actually no longer aligns with his goals in life. Will Lucas stay on the treadmill that is the New Zealand housing market or will he step off?

28. To stay on the million dollar mortgage treadmill or not?

Your friends might not want to talk about money, but I do! Hi, I’m Ruth and I’m a blogger on Personal Finance and in this podcast I tell the stories of Kiwis and their experiences with the money in their lives. How do they use it or how does it use them? Where do they save and invest it and does it work? What are their financial triumphs and financial train wrecks? How can you extract the most out of life and spend as little as possible while doing it? Join me as I ask the questions everyone else is too polite to ask but is dying to know about New Zealanders and their money. Happy Saving! Ruth

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Welcome to the first episode in a short six-part series. On my blog, thehappysaver.com, I created a comprehensive Financial Independence Series of six blog posts where I mapped out a plan to help you on your way to becoming financially independent. Because I know that there are some in my audience who only read my blog and others who only listen to this podcast, I wanted to make sure that both parts of my audience got the same information, so what I've done is I have turned each blog post into a podcast episode. Part 1 focuses on ‘Net Worth’. How much wealth do you have right now? If you added it all up and subtracted what you owe, what are you worth? This can be daunting if you’ve never thought about it. However, the objective is not to objectify wealth; it’s to create a level of wealth that makes you feel comfortable and in control of your present and future.

Part 1: NET WORTH

Today, I have an update on Nic from Episode 78, released in March 2023. A lot can happen in a year, which I wanted to share with you today. When Nic and I spoke in early 2023, Nic was still very new to the whole concept of personal finance and long after we had finished the episode, I wondered how she was getting on. A year after we spoke, an update email arrived in my inbox. She said it's been an interesting 12-plus months, and they are slowly but surely getting ahead. It seems like a case of one step forward and then half a step back, as on occasions in the last year or so, it seemed her luck had deserted her. But even with some upheaval thrown into her life, plus some pretty ill-controlled budgets, she said they are still managing to pay down debt, lower their mortgage, and increase her KiwiSaver balance. I wanted to share her update because many of you listening will relate to her progress.

93. Revisit with Nic: In the process of making a financial U-turn!

I met 19-year-old Josephine in mid-2023 when she emailed me with some questions about money. I actually already knew a little about her because her Mum and I have been in contact for a number of years, chatting about personal finances over email. Josephine hoped that I might be able to answer a few of her questions too. She mentioned that her Mum had sparked an interest in personal finances in her, which had led her to do a lot of reflecting on her money skills. She had been out of school and working for a couple of years, managed to save up a solid chunk of money and was planning on heading into study in 2024. Her intention was to get through her study with no student loan, which is entirely possible to do, if you plan well ahead. However, there was one small problem. She had caught the travel bug, and with a huge urge to travel, she knew it had the potential to be pricey. Her question to me was how could she balance living in the now while planning for the future and how could she set herself and her pūtea up to do both. So, the emails back and forth began, and I learned enough about Josephine to know that she would make an inspiring guest for my podcast.

92. An adventurous 19-year-old

In early January, I was lucky enough to have a long chat with Grace, who is now in her late 20s. Grace has been following my podcast since 2019, which is when her money journey did a sharp U-turn as she moved out of about $40,000 of consumer and education debt and onto a new path of saving up to buy a home by the age of 30. Listening to money stories on this very podcast from people all across our motu gave her ideas of where to start because, for her, this whole ‘money thing’ was pretty overwhelming, so hearing from others has been imperative in helping her plot her path.

91. With only $100 in the bank, something had to change.

I’m particularly excited about today’s podcast because it is a revisit episode with Bradie and Paul. This is actually the fifth time we have caught up on their money journey. The elevator pitch for them is that they felt they were drowning in debt just seven short years ago, and now they have just completed their first year of early retirement! The entire point of this podcast is to show you that becoming financially independent is entirely possible. Bradie and Paul did it, Jonny and I are well on our way to doing it, and you can too! Today, I’m really happy to give you an update on a story that keeps getting better over time.

28. To stay on the million dollar mortgage treadmill or not?

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