As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a 34-year-old former homeowner explains why he doubts he’ll ever make it back into the housing market.
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Gender: Male
Age: 34
Ethnicity: Pākehā
Role: Head of compliance (financial markets)
Salary/income/assets: $147k gross salary, roughly $30k KiwiSaver plus a smattering of investments with Sharesies.
My living location is: Small town
Rent/mortgage per week: My share of rent is $525. I live with my ex-partner (amicably) in far outer east Auckland and we split evenly. I’ve got pets as well which pushes up rent generally.
Student loan or other debt payments per week: $137 p/w car loan, credit card payments maybe $230 p/w (it’s not really but I never pay just the minimum). I managed to pay off my student loan just before my 31st birthday.
Typical weekly food costs
Groceries: $150 if I’m good and do a weekly shop but it also depends where I go. The local supermarket seems to charge roughly $2 more on everything due to the area I live but the next closest supermarket is a 30- to 40-minute drive away.
Eating out: I eat out maybe once a month but it’ll cost more than $100, so I guess $25 a week.
Takeaways: $0. I can be pretty impatient so waiting for takeaways when I could’ve already cooked something quick and easy grinds me a bit.
Workday lunches: $18. Maybe I’m basic but I’ll have deli chicken with rice on the days I’m at the office with a Red Bull as a daily treat ($2 a pop at Woolworths). On WFH days I’ll usually just have toast or something.
Cafe coffees/snacks: $8. I go through a bag of plunger coffee a week but I don’t buy coffees out.
Other food costs: $0
Savings: Currently $1k but I just had a month overseas. I try to save $2k a month and put $200-$400 into Sharesies. I have a few savings goals – the next overseas trip (a few years away now), a small emergency fund, and eventually a house. Usually something comes up though like an insurance claim, new tyres etc and takes it instead.
I worry about money: Always.
Three words to describe my financial situation: Comfortable, anxious and stuck. I know by NZ standards I have a good income, but it feels that I’m only treading water. I don’t have to worry about being able to keep a roof over my head or food in the fridge but there’s not much left to save for the future. Housing inflation seems to be a point of national pride at this point but it feels unrealistic to aspire to own property again as a single person even at my income level.
My biggest edible indulgence would be: Wine. That counts right?
In a typical week my alcohol expenditure would be: $30-$40. I usually only have one bottle of wine a week but I like it to be a decent one.
In a typical week my transport expenditure would be: About $100 p/w (ignoring the costs of owning a car like WoF and insurance etc). The ferry pass is most of that, coming in at a heavy $370 a month. I barely drive further than the supermarket so a tank of gas can last more than a month.
I estimate in the past year the ballpark amount I spent on my personal clothing (including sleepwear and underwear) was: Generally about $300? I’m not a clothes person and I get a decent amount of hand-me-downs from friends. That said I dropped several hundred on a new wallet recently.
My most expensive clothing in the past year was: The aforementioned wallet at €240. It’s beautiful though and will hopefully last many years (assuming I don’t lose it like its predecessor).
My last pair of shoes cost: $99. Running shoes that were 50% off!
My grooming/beauty expenditure in a year is about: I do my own hair (or what’s left of it…) but I have a solid skincare routine. Roughly $1,200 a year.
My exercise expenditure in a year is about:$150 including the aforementioned shoes. My exercise is usually walking daily or runs.
My last Friday night cost: $0. I stayed in and watched TV.
Most regrettable purchase in the last 12 months was: A robot vacuum. We didn’t want to drop serious money on a decent “smart” robot so we got a basic one from Briscoes on sale. It does a decent job of picking up pet hair and whatever, but it’s “dumb” and just bounces off walls and misses patches because it has a random approach. It was constantly getting stuck on rugs, under chairs etc. We should have just spent the extra $300 for a good one that could scan the room, now we’ve wasted the $300 we did spend on something we don’t use.
Most indulgent purchase (that I don’t regret) in the last 12 months was: The overseas trip. Between two of us (this was pre-split) we spent maybe $25k all in?
One area where I’m a bit of a tightwad is: Eating out, takeaways and clothes.
Five words to describe my financial personality would be: Paradoxical. Cheap and bougie. I hate wasting money on takeout or clothes but I also won’t buy cheap wine or appliances etc I perceive as poor quality.
I grew up in a house where money was: Tight. I grew up in a single income household – we never had to miss out as kids (school camps or whatever) but there wasn’t money left for holidays or Sky TV once the bills were paid.
The last time my Eftpos card was declined was: I can’t remember… before the rise of the smartphone. I frequently check the balance in my spending account so I know before I get to the till what I can afford.
In five years, in financial terms, I see myself: Unfortunately in the same place. It’s hard to see the way forward when all your money goes to keeping your head above water (or under a roof rather).
I would love to have more money for: Retirement investing and saving for a deposit.
Describe your financial low: I was made redundant near the end of Covid and was unemployed for several months. I’d recently sold my first house (I bought in Christchurch just before Covid for sub-300k and sold in 2021 when I moved to Auckland for work for sub-400k) so I was thankfully debt free and had about $40k cash but being unemployed (and single) in Auckland blew through my entire life savings keeping the rent and bills paid. I have a lot of strong negative feelings about the benefits system from that experience, and I also feel shut out of the housing market since I used the first home support structures when I bought in Christchurch but was forced to use the proceeds to keep myself housed and out of debt (not that the proceeds were enough to buy in Auckland but it was a solid head start) while I was looking for work.
I give money away to: Auckland City Mission, and I like to treat my parents when I see them.