As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a software developer shares his approach to spending and saving.
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Gender: Male.
Age: 34.
Ethnicity: NZ European.
Role: Software developer.
Salary/income/assets: Salary is $124k annual, which is the unfortunate spot of good for NZ and could do better remote working for bigger Anglophone countries. Assets are about $80k in savings, and a house bought with my partner 2019, with about 200-300k of equity built up.
My living location is: Suburban.
Rent/mortgage per week: Mortgage is $1,600 a fortnight, split between my partner and myself so $400 per week. We’re trying to pay above minimum because compound interest is such a killer.
Student loan or other debt payments per week: No other debt.
Typical weekly food costs
Groceries: The two of us fluctuate between $120 and $150 of groceries a week. We plan out our week of meals and do one shop to make sure we’ve got all we need and can use perishables that a single cooking won’t finish. That said, we’re partial to throwing in a few impulse additions.
Eating out: Rarely would we go out to dinner, maybe once or twice in the past three-ish months? Say it comes out to $10 a week once you spread it out like that.
Takeaways: Maybe once a week if shopping and cooking don’t line up, so ~$15.
Workday lunches: $30. I try to be good about bringing a lunch to work, but currently there’s two nights a week where I don’t have time or, to be honest, energy to prep and will get something bought.
Cafe coffees/snacks: Work has a full cafe-grade espresso machine, so my coffees come with the job.
Other food costs: Protein powder! Even buying in the big tubs, it’s still $150 for a two-month supply, so that’s $18 a week. But it’s cheaper than trying to alter my diet with more meat.
Savings: I’m pretty good at saving, in that I’m bad at spending money above “small” ranges, so larger purchases get put off until they either pass by or are considered pretty well. This means I can “save” about half my take-home salary, or 800 a week. As a result my savings between savings account and transactional comes to about $80k.
I worry about money: Rarely.
Three words to describe my financial situation: Comfortable.
My biggest edible indulgence would be: It would have to be a sushi lunch. It’s not that much more than a lunch from Subway, but it’s now $20+ for pick a roll, and getting harder and harder to go to. Absolutely love it though.
In a typical week my alcohol expenditure would be: <$10. A can of craft beer or a couple of bottles from a 12 pack, had at home.
In a typical week my transport expenditure would be: My typical week involves taking the train to and from work, so about $35 of train pass, and one or two incidental trips in my partner’s car.
I estimate in the past year the ballpark amount I spent on my personal clothing (including sleepwear and underwear) was: I am a notoriously infrequent clothing shopper but I would say ~$200, between some replacements for everyday staples that have worn out and a bulk order of print T-shirts.
My most expensive clothing in the past year was: A pair of Hallensteins shorts. $35 on sale, plus another $25 to get them tailored. The tailoring is simply because my poor sewing machine wouldn’t handle resewing the hems of denim.
My last pair of shoes cost: $210. They’re Saucony running shoes which are my everyday wears, so they’ll get worn to death in a year or two. There’s no value in cheaping out on everyday shoes, so I’ll always pay for comfort and performance.
My grooming/beauty expenditure in a year is about: $250 maybe? A trip to the barbers every few months with a fade now costing $40+, then a few sundries like a decent moisturiser and nail polish.
My exercise expenditure in a year is about: I get a subsidised gym membership through my job, so $16 weekly, $832 annual. To support that I’d probably also buy four to six tubs of protein powder, so $600-$900, and three to four of creatine powder so another $120-160.
My last Friday night cost: Most Friday nights are just spent at home: $0.
Most regrettable purchase in the last 12 months was: $40 on a onesie that turned out to be horribly shaped and just really poorly constructed to the point I wore it once and want to throw it out.
Most indulgent purchase (that I don’t regret) in the last 12 months was: Flights to Sydney and tickets to see two nights of my favourite band’s final tour. Totally worth it.
One area where I’m a bit of a tightwad is: Anything in the $50+ range, I’ll clamp down on impulse spending, so I’m known to be pretty terrible at buying fun things just for me.
Five words to describe my financial personality would be: Sensible, generous, and willing to go for quality.
I grew up in a house where money was: Money wasn’t talked about. It was clearly a comfortable household, but it wasn’t a topic of polite conversation. Looking back it’s something I can only guess at in terms of what was afforded, but we never lacked and had some luxuries.
The last time my Eftpos card was declined was: Years and years ago: in university or before?
In five years, in financial terms, I see myself: Building household equity, resenting the generational change in fortunes and employment. I’m lucky to be where I am, but I’m years behind where my parents were at.
Describe your financial low: I’ve had a pretty comfortable life without having any real hardships I can’t take on with a healthy savings account, but that’s a real privilege. The last time I had to be serious about money rather than casually budgeting would have been in my final year of university, as savings ran down and post-graduation earning seemed so far away.
I would love to have more money for: By IRD metrics, I’m in the top 10% of salaried people, but feel like “this is middle class”. That’s really the question, isn’t it? Does money buy happiness? Or just more expensive toys. My daily life is pretty secure. I can indulge my hobbies, at least at a reasonable scale. It’s when I think about projects like renovations, home improvements, new cars or big overseas trips it enters a different scale of cost. I’d love to go back to Europe on a serious holiday, but it’s one of those “it’s double glazing or the trip” choices.
I give money away to: My friends who aren’t as fortunate as I am. From shouting a lunch out to more serious support, I’ll help where I can.