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Le Anna, her partner, and their three young children live in their own home in Otorohanga, around 50 km south of Hamilton. They live pretty comfortably, budgeting carefully and being very intentional with their money. They’re happy with where they are financially, but it was a big journey for them to reach this place. Le Anna’s partner was made redundant during lockdown, just before their second baby was due to arrive. This is a snapshot of where they’re at.
Name: Le Anna.
In my household there is: me, my partner, and our three young children.
Location: Otorohanga.
Income: I’m not currently in paid work due to having three young children. My partner earns $1300 each week after tax. He’s a project manager for a construction company here in Hamilton. We also get $468 in Working For Families tax credits each fortnight too.
Expenses: Our mortgage is split into two different parts, on two different interest rates. Combined, they work out to be around $750 a fortnight. We budget around $200 for groceries a week and often come in under. This is because we bulk up and stretch out our meals as much as we can. We have a quarter of a beast in the freezer, so we really only buy chicken from the supermarket. Including our mortgage, all of our bills come to $1450 per fortnight. This includes life insurance, rates, water, and our $19 Spotify subscription. Childcare is $80 per week. Our daughter is four, so she gets 20 free hours. When our two-year-old turns three, he’ll get 20 free hours too which will help bring the cost down. Transport-wise, my partner’s vehicle is completely covered by his job. They pay for fuel and servicing. We just pay for any big personal trips like when we visit family in Whanganui. With my car, it varies, especially if we’re driving into Hamilton a lot. Typically I spend about $70 per week on fuel. I also spend $7 per week on health insurance through Southern Cross. This is hands down the best investment I’ve ever made. I wasn’t taking care of my health as much as I should have been, but since getting health insurance I’ve felt like I can justify it. They cover 75% of GP appointments, dental visits, contact lenses etc. It’s great! My partner's phone is also covered by his work. For my phone, I choose the cheapest prepay plan at $10 per month. This gives me unlimited texts, some minutes, and not much data. But I’ve found that plenty of places have free public wifi if I need it while I’m out. Otherwise, I don’t really need much data anyway because I’m busy with the kids. I also budget $9 per month for a Patreon subscription. I have a second subscription too, but this one is covered by what I get from running my own Patreon.
Debt: We don’t have any specific debt aside from our mortgage. We bought both of our cars outright, the second one using money from the sale of our previous home. Occasionally I’ll use Afterpay if I want to stagger big purchases. This saves me from messing up my budget too much and having to do multiple transfers. I’ve never gotten in trouble with it, however, and am very responsible about using it. For example, for Christmas last year we spent around $300 on gifts and paid this off over the next 4 - 5 weeks. We tend to pay the first automatic payment, and then manually pay off the rest sooner than the automatic deductions.
Savings: We have shared household savings of $2900 which covers family stuff like takeaways. Basically, anything that’s not a bill. Our groceries come out of this account too. This kinda helps as motivation, because the less we spend on groceries, the more we can do as a family. For personal savings, I have $1500 and my partner has $1600. We both put $100 into our personal savings accounts each pay cycle. My partner mostly spends his on food for his lunches, and mine tends to be either on fuel or food too.
Investments: My partner’s KiwiSaver is currently sitting at $20,000, and mine is at $1000. This is because we put it towards buying our home and I haven’t been in paid work since.
What would you do if you needed money in an emergency? This would come from our other savings; we like to have a buffer in our accounts. My partner also has life and income protection insurance, so that could help depending on the emergency.
How would you describe your financial situation? It’s comfortable to a point. We don’t stress about money, but only because we are very intentional with our finances. We make ongoing, specific choices to keep us in this position. For example, with the cost of living going up hugely, we canceled subscriptions and are always looking for new ways to stretch meals to keep our position “maintained”. We also borrowed far less than the maximum we could get for our mortgage, because we knew that the interest rates would probably rise and we wanted to maintain our lifestyle. We feel relatively comfortable money-wise because of our efforts to be conscious and intentional, alongside our privileges in life. In saying that, however, we don’t feel comfortable enough to not be looking at costs or finding ways to cut them. Needing to have a good grasp on money stems from my CPTSD (complex post-traumatic stress disorder). This would make me anxious, panicked, and stressed about everything. My trauma, interestingly enough, actually taught me good money habits. I needed them to get through it.
Do you feel in control of your finances? Yeah, definitely. I tend to know what’s going out on what days, and have rough account balances in my head.
Do you worry about money? Not much anymore. I worry a little about daycare costs, because we have a minor disagreement with WINZ going on. Our most recent water bill was also $50 higher than we anticipated, so that took us by surprise. Overall, we don’t worry much though because we have buffers in place and try to make the most of what we already have.
Any money regrets? Yes! My first car. I set a budget, took out a loan from the bank, and maxed it out without doing research first. I got a VW Polo which of course ended up costing more to fix than it was worth. I paid $5200 for it, plus interest, plus $3000 in repairs. Eventually I traded it in for parts and got $200 out of it. I also regret putting myself in a position where I supported my ex financially. I didn’t set any boundaries with money in our relationship and ended up paying for almost all of our expenses and groceries, as well as a big trip to Indonesia.
What was money like growing up: We didn’t talk about it much. My family moved overseas because they could earn more on just one wage than here in NZ. They earnt a decent amount but would spend a lot, and not really keep money aside as a backup.
Toughest financial situation: This would have to be when I was 18. I’d just moved back to NZ after living overseas with my family. It was the first time I’d lived out of my family home, and I decided to go flatting. I hadn’t found a job yet and only had $2500 sitting in my account. There were a few weeks of, “shit! I’m going to run out of money!” until I got a job. It was pretty stressful.
Proudest financial moment: Right now I’m feeling pretty proud. We’re on top of our money right now. A year ago, our savings were zero. But we built them up slowly, adding $50 a week. It was pretty cool when they hit four figures. Being able to purchase our car outright was cool too. It’s a good feeling.
Best financial advice: When you’re sorting out your budget, take it one step at a time. Don’t try to cut everything out all at once. It’s kind of like when you’re trying to eat healthy or start exercising. Just pick one thing to focus on, and get that sussed first. Like if you’re overwhelmed with your money, pick a debt to pay off first. Then the next. Then focus on saving. Your chapter one will look different to somebody else’s chapter five, so don’t compare. Just start small and focus on what you’re doing.
How do you think most other Kiwis are doing financially? I reckon most are struggling hard. Probably more than we realise - some people are definitely too proud to say they are. I also reckon that some people don’t realise that they can change their money habits. If you’re complaining that you have no money, but then you’re going to concerts all the time and stuff, well, that’s on you.
Where do you want to be financially? Our biggest goal is to buy some land and live as sustainably as we can. This is coming from a big place of privilege. We’d love to be in the position where we have excess produce to share. I’d also love to be in a place where we can buy the things that matter to us. Like ethical peanut butter instead of whatever is cheapest! I’d like to buy local without destroying the bank. Basically, just being able to live in a way that aligns with our values.