How much are we all earning? How does your profession add up? How are women your age spending their money? Is everyone in debt? And is the cost of living crisis biting everyone?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s time for some honest, candid conversations about money and budgets as we steer down a recession \u2013 so welcome to our new series \u2018Money, Honey\u2019, where we\u2019ll be diving deep into the bank accounts of wahine across the country to truly get a sense of what\u2019s going on in our piggybanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Up this week it\u2019s Auckland teacher, Penelope!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Name:<\/strong>\u00a0Penelope, 33<\/p>\n\n\n\n Location: <\/strong>Auckland<\/p>\n\n\n\n Living situation:\u00a0<\/strong>Living with husband, two young kids and two pets<\/p>\n\n\n\n Job:<\/strong>\u00a0Teacher<\/p>\n\n\n\n Salary per year:<\/strong> $140,000<\/p>\n\n\n\n Any other income: <\/strong>Contractor and property investor<\/p>\n\n\n\n Take-home pay per week:\u00a0<\/strong>$3,700 (net)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Investment returns: <\/strong>$95,000 (gross) on rental properties<\/p>\n\n\n\n My situation:<\/strong> I’m living in Auckland with my husband, two young kids and pets. My husband and I combine our finances (we don\u2019t split the bill). Both our earnings are put in the same account \u2013 this means we can track down where our money is going and what is left. It allowed us to plan strategically in terms of investments. We have a multi-million dollar property portfolio in Auckland that we manage ourselves (we are also property managers) and a shares portfolio, as well as our KiwiSaver that we never used. We like to diversify our investment and not put our eggs in one basket. We are working hard to build generational wealth for our kids since we grew up poor and we hope to work part-time and do more volunteering work when we reach mid-40s as well as travel the world with our kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Weekly budget:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rent\/mortgage:<\/strong> $800<\/p>\n\n\n\n Food:<\/strong> $350<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bills:<\/strong> $250<\/p>\n\n\n\n Childcare: <\/strong>$320<\/p>\n\n\n\n Investments:<\/strong> $1000<\/p>\n\n\n\n Debt payments:<\/strong> We don\u2019t have other debts apart from mortgages<\/p>\n\n\n\n Savings:<\/strong> $1000<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spending<\/strong>: $600<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s inside your bank account?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Savings:<\/strong> $150,000 (shared with my husband)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kiwisaver:<\/strong> $85,000<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anything else:<\/strong> We have a property bank account with savings also shares savings and emergency funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How do you approach budgeting? <\/strong>Always believe in paying yourself first – this means putting away money for investment first before spending on other things. It’s also the “planting a seed” mindset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are you a spender or a saver? <\/strong>Saver<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you have any debt, and what is it from? <\/strong>No \u2013 For university I had a scholarship for the whole four years worth $40,000 for studying teaching. I used some money as a deposit to buy our first home when I was 22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How has the cost-of-living crisis affected you and your spending? <\/strong>No. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What are your financial goals? <\/strong>Build generational wealth for our kids and grandkids and so on!<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s the best thing you\u2019ve bought in the last three months? <\/strong>Pants from Kmart (haha). <\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s the thing you regret buying the most in the last three months?<\/strong> Temu products (some are bad quality!). <\/p>\n\n\n\n What (if anything) are you saving towards? <\/strong>Another rental property and a family car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aside from the big stuff (rent\/mortgage, bills etc) what\u2019s your biggest source of discretionary spending?<\/strong> Tattoos!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you worry about money?<\/strong> Not really<\/p>\n\n\n\n How much money (honestly) do you think you\u2019d spend on an average day? <\/strong>Not much maybe $25?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where do you think it\u2019s worth spending money, and where do you think you can save it? <\/strong>I think its worth spending on extra curriculars because it\u2019s for self-development and mental health \u2013 also health care, health is wealth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you have any money-saving tips you\u2019d like to share that work for you?<\/strong> Put away as much as you can for investments\/savings and spend the rest \u2013 not the other way around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s the first and last thing you would cut from your spending if you had to make some savings?\u00a0<\/strong>Junk food and short trips to the supermarket buying random things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How much are we all earning? How does your profession add up? How are women your age spending their money? Is everyone in debt? And is the cost of living crisis biting everyone? It\u2019s time for some honest, candid conversations about money and budgets as we steer down a recession \u2013 so welcome to our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,127,102],"tags":[233],"yoast_head":"\n