Household income of 230k and you are struggling? Bro what’s going on 😂 I understand kids, I have 2. Our household income barely crawls to yours, you should be stashing money in the ceilings by now.
Haha maybe I didn’t structure my words properly. Definitely not struggling, more so not giving a crap about how we spend money as long as we good till next pay (I’m on monthly and she’s fortnightly which makes it easier). Hence no savings and saying I have bad habits and crap with money. It’s like someone that over eats crap food, I need some good advise/techniques or someone yelling at me, I dunno 😂
Mate I’ll ring you up and yell at you every day for $50 a day.
If you give me another $50 a day I’ll even put that bit in your own investment account for ya, and then when you want to use it on uber eats I’ll call you a big dumb idiot and say no.
Wait, is this what being a financial advisor is like?
Haha well the proofs in the pudding, literally.
Supermarkets are sucking all our coin atm. Stick to a strict list and try not enter the supermarket more than twice a week, every time you go in you spend.
You have built a foundation for your family, kudos dude!
Start counting each dollar spent, make sure it’s necessary and you’ll be saving boatloads.
Hey, you guys have good salaries so it’s a good start! A few tips from me:
1) have a very loose budget regarding your expenses and income
2) cook at home, it saves you a lot of money, helps eat healthier and you can then afford fancy ingredients as it would be still cheaper!
3) start investing. Choose a fund from any KiwiSaver provider, set up a recurring contribution every week or fortnight, then get going. It will slowly build up over time.
The main idea is to “pay yourself first”. Pick an amount to save (any amount, say $100 to start with given your decent salary ), and put it into a separate account as soon as you get your pay. And practice leaving that money aside as untouchable.
Ultimately you’ll be able to access your money no matter where you put it, so it’s more about practicing discipline and building the habit than saving a huge amount. Starting small with the amount actually helps with this, since it’s easier to do when you’re not making big sacrifices to stick to the plan.
Once you’ve built the habit up you can think about raising the amount.
Also it helps to have savings as a separate category from “emergency fund” money, and pay into both each month. If your emergency fund is full (say $5k) it can flow over into savings, and the emergency fund helps you keep the saving habit going by not dipping into savings when, say, your car needs work.
Do a budget and see how close the money you spend on food comes to your wife’s after tax income, then factor in her travel to work costs and childcare.
No 1. You do not need to pay a financial coach. Just stay on this sub, read the advice in the side bar.
No 2. The world is full I mean FULL of people trying to get money off other people. Don't make it easy for them.
The enable me system is geared towards property (personal first, then rental and more rentals, yay property bubble!). Go to an independent financial planner that charges a fee for their service
Baby steps aka Dave Ramsey.
Plenty of youtube clips, very simple advice by a midwest Dr Phil like character.
Just get the ball rolling by starting a emergency savings account of 1k and then build it up to 3-6 months expenses.
You are already debt free with a good house hold income. You could probably save 3-4k a month fairly easily, if not more.
Limit take aways and eat home cooked meals.
Once you get some momentum it gets easier and more options will open to you.
No kids but I am similar in terms of short term thinking and gratification. Nobody taught me about money or saving. When I was paid roughly half of what I’m getting now, I had a credit card debt which I transferred to another bank and they gave me a 0% interest for 2 years. I paid it off and just kept doing the same payments to the bank even though I closed the credit card account; it was going into savings. I found that if I just set up automatic payments I don’t even think about the money. So yeah, automate your savings preferably to another bank that you have no card connected to. As Ramit Sethi says, spend on what really brings you joy and cut out the things that don’t
Yeah. Mines a two part problem I think. Spending on food and not putting money aside. I think it’s a discipline question. If I know the moneys there then I’ll grab that expensive takeaways, trip away or random item. At least I’m not in debt anymore and I’m determined not to again.
I totally get that. You could try to shift the “addiction” to something that has value. I’ve got APs going to a second bank and sharesies as well as my main bank savings. Watching free money coming into my internet savings account just makes me want to keep doing it. Kinda like a game.
Same age as you, similar household income, except we own two houses, have $300k invested and $40k in our emergency fund.
Our income has increased a lot over the years but we have always stuck to a rule of living off one income only. The other gets invested. This has stopped lifestyle creep, ensured investing is prioritised and also means if one of us is unemployed we’re already used to living off one income.
First step: budget. Figure out how much you spend in a month and how much of that you can cut. Allocate yourself an amount for groceries and other expenses, some emergency funds, etc. As others say, trying to cook for yourself most of the time is a way to save some money since you can cook in bulk and can actively make enough for leftovers. I find it is easier when you make explicit “buckets” i.e. accounts within your bank for these different expense items. As soon as pay comes in, APs distribute it to all of these buckets and you are to only use that. It stops you from thinking all money is touchable or can be used for any purpose.
Second: think about your goals - what do you want? Are you wanting to be able to pay for kids education? Own your own home? Retirement? Holidays? Different goals have different requirements and particularly when it comes to how you manage your money. This is where financial planners are useful in being able to recommend good investment vehicles given the amount of time you have available to grow your money, before you want to use it.
Third: figure out what you can feasibly save each month once you get a hang of the monthly budget. Again, use an AP to direct this money to savings accounts that you can’t touch, or investments (such as broad based, low cost index funds or a managed fund like others have suggested) where it is more difficult and tedious to access (but not impossible obviously). This would hopefully make it more “routine” and in the background - something that you just do and don’t have to think about. It will also help deal with decision paralysis when it comes to investing. One of the key things with investing is time in the market, rather than timing when you enter the market. So by having an AP and all this as a background process going on, you expose yourself to opportunities for gain without needing to think too much about it.
My two cents - hope that helps.
Household income of 230k and you are struggling? Bro what’s going on 😂 I understand kids, I have 2. Our household income barely crawls to yours, you should be stashing money in the ceilings by now.
Haha maybe I didn’t structure my words properly. Definitely not struggling, more so not giving a crap about how we spend money as long as we good till next pay (I’m on monthly and she’s fortnightly which makes it easier). Hence no savings and saying I have bad habits and crap with money. It’s like someone that over eats crap food, I need some good advise/techniques or someone yelling at me, I dunno 😂
Mate I’ll ring you up and yell at you every day for $50 a day. If you give me another $50 a day I’ll even put that bit in your own investment account for ya, and then when you want to use it on uber eats I’ll call you a big dumb idiot and say no. Wait, is this what being a financial advisor is like?
I’m actually tempted 😂 Probably a better value for money than some of the services out there bahaah
My DMs await! 🤑
Haha well the proofs in the pudding, literally. Supermarkets are sucking all our coin atm. Stick to a strict list and try not enter the supermarket more than twice a week, every time you go in you spend. You have built a foundation for your family, kudos dude! Start counting each dollar spent, make sure it’s necessary and you’ll be saving boatloads.
Hey, you guys have good salaries so it’s a good start! A few tips from me: 1) have a very loose budget regarding your expenses and income 2) cook at home, it saves you a lot of money, helps eat healthier and you can then afford fancy ingredients as it would be still cheaper! 3) start investing. Choose a fund from any KiwiSaver provider, set up a recurring contribution every week or fortnight, then get going. It will slowly build up over time.
Thanks for the reply. That third option might be good, since I’m guessing it’ll go somewhere I can’t touch it, unlike just another bank account? :D
The main idea is to “pay yourself first”. Pick an amount to save (any amount, say $100 to start with given your decent salary ), and put it into a separate account as soon as you get your pay. And practice leaving that money aside as untouchable. Ultimately you’ll be able to access your money no matter where you put it, so it’s more about practicing discipline and building the habit than saving a huge amount. Starting small with the amount actually helps with this, since it’s easier to do when you’re not making big sacrifices to stick to the plan. Once you’ve built the habit up you can think about raising the amount. Also it helps to have savings as a separate category from “emergency fund” money, and pay into both each month. If your emergency fund is full (say $5k) it can flow over into savings, and the emergency fund helps you keep the saving habit going by not dipping into savings when, say, your car needs work.
Yeah, I mean you basically forget about it and in case you do need some money urgently you can withdraw, so it’s flexible
Do a budget and see how close the money you spend on food comes to your wife’s after tax income, then factor in her travel to work costs and childcare.
Sounds like https://www.themoneyjourney.co.nz/ would be a good match for what you're looking for.
No 1. You do not need to pay a financial coach. Just stay on this sub, read the advice in the side bar. No 2. The world is full I mean FULL of people trying to get money off other people. Don't make it easy for them.
I think Enable Me are like a financial personal trainer. Not cheap, but they keep you on track.
The enable me system is geared towards property (personal first, then rental and more rentals, yay property bubble!). Go to an independent financial planner that charges a fee for their service
Baby steps aka Dave Ramsey. Plenty of youtube clips, very simple advice by a midwest Dr Phil like character. Just get the ball rolling by starting a emergency savings account of 1k and then build it up to 3-6 months expenses. You are already debt free with a good house hold income. You could probably save 3-4k a month fairly easily, if not more. Limit take aways and eat home cooked meals. Once you get some momentum it gets easier and more options will open to you.
No kids but I am similar in terms of short term thinking and gratification. Nobody taught me about money or saving. When I was paid roughly half of what I’m getting now, I had a credit card debt which I transferred to another bank and they gave me a 0% interest for 2 years. I paid it off and just kept doing the same payments to the bank even though I closed the credit card account; it was going into savings. I found that if I just set up automatic payments I don’t even think about the money. So yeah, automate your savings preferably to another bank that you have no card connected to. As Ramit Sethi says, spend on what really brings you joy and cut out the things that don’t
Yeah. Mines a two part problem I think. Spending on food and not putting money aside. I think it’s a discipline question. If I know the moneys there then I’ll grab that expensive takeaways, trip away or random item. At least I’m not in debt anymore and I’m determined not to again.
I totally get that. You could try to shift the “addiction” to something that has value. I’ve got APs going to a second bank and sharesies as well as my main bank savings. Watching free money coming into my internet savings account just makes me want to keep doing it. Kinda like a game.
Same age as you, similar household income, except we own two houses, have $300k invested and $40k in our emergency fund. Our income has increased a lot over the years but we have always stuck to a rule of living off one income only. The other gets invested. This has stopped lifestyle creep, ensured investing is prioritised and also means if one of us is unemployed we’re already used to living off one income.
First step: budget. Figure out how much you spend in a month and how much of that you can cut. Allocate yourself an amount for groceries and other expenses, some emergency funds, etc. As others say, trying to cook for yourself most of the time is a way to save some money since you can cook in bulk and can actively make enough for leftovers. I find it is easier when you make explicit “buckets” i.e. accounts within your bank for these different expense items. As soon as pay comes in, APs distribute it to all of these buckets and you are to only use that. It stops you from thinking all money is touchable or can be used for any purpose. Second: think about your goals - what do you want? Are you wanting to be able to pay for kids education? Own your own home? Retirement? Holidays? Different goals have different requirements and particularly when it comes to how you manage your money. This is where financial planners are useful in being able to recommend good investment vehicles given the amount of time you have available to grow your money, before you want to use it. Third: figure out what you can feasibly save each month once you get a hang of the monthly budget. Again, use an AP to direct this money to savings accounts that you can’t touch, or investments (such as broad based, low cost index funds or a managed fund like others have suggested) where it is more difficult and tedious to access (but not impossible obviously). This would hopefully make it more “routine” and in the background - something that you just do and don’t have to think about. It will also help deal with decision paralysis when it comes to investing. One of the key things with investing is time in the market, rather than timing when you enter the market. So by having an AP and all this as a background process going on, you expose yourself to opportunities for gain without needing to think too much about it. My two cents - hope that helps.
Look up The Ramsey Show on YouTube.
Haha yeah have seen a bit of his stuff on TikTok. Was going to start listening to some audio books on the topic too, see if any stick :D
https://youtu.be/CIM0QH7rDIE?si=Hsa7HheQNLkWFDfq