As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a nearly-retired company director explains how they save, and what they spend on.
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Gender: Woman.
Age: 63.
Ethnicity: Northern European.
Role: Company director – in charge of admin.
Salary/income/assets: $200,000 for the household although this can vary as we are self-employed. Mortgage-free home. Debt free. KiwiSaver x2 (myself and husband), other cash and investments. We are getting very close to retirement.
My living location is: Urban.
Rent/mortgage per week: $0 – mortgage free.
Student loan or other debt payments per week: All loans have been repaid including, a $30,000+ student loan.
Typical weekly food costs
Groceries: $400. This includes all eating out. Two person household (myself and husband) plus two dogs and one cat.
Eating out: $50-$100 – some weeks nothing, other weeks $50 for lunch, sometimes dinner at $80. We have been cooking more at home as time goes by because we have time to make food that is as good as eating out.
Takeaways: $17 for a takeaway lunch with my son. Not sure when the last takeaway was for dinner – probably pizza and would have been about $70 and lasted for dinner and lunches.
Workday lunches: WFH so leftovers, cheese toasties, homemade sourdough bread.
Cafe coffees/snacks: We have a coffee machine that we’ve had for about eight years and have had it repaired a few times. It’s been a great investment in the long run.
Other food costs: $0. We may begin growing veges when we retire.
Savings: Whatever is left over at the end of the month. For the household that may be $4-5000 if we haven’t had an additional expenses. Saving for retirement.
I worry about money: Rarely.
Three words to describe my financial situation: Secure for now. However, retirement could be another question – we are saving as much as we can and hoping our investment decisions have been wise and will serve us well in the future. My husband and I are what he calls retreads (second marriage for both of us in our early 50s). We have paid off a lot of debt from my husband’s prior life, we also paid off debt from a prior business failure ($207,000). We paid our mortgage off as quickly as we could (7.5 years). I was fortunate to get an inheritance which went into the deposit for our house. We only started our KiwiSaver in the last five years, but have been saving at 10%.
We have not had many holidays together other than at home over Christmas. We’ve been overseas twice since we’ve been together (Oz and Vanuatu), which is almost 19 years. We have also given money to my son to buy a house (a very modest two-bed flat). Better he has the money now than later. We have been marketing our business for sale for over a year and the value has declined with the change in the economy (construction related). So many things in life we cannot control. We really hope it sells before we retire. We feel grateful that we are where we are at right now – debt-free and with savings.
My biggest edible indulgence would be: An almond croissant, when I can find them.
In a typical week my alcohol expenditure would be: $0 – I rarely drink. My husband has a wine subscription which is about $900 a year.
In a typical week my transport expenditure would be: $0 for work. Petrol is $150 a month maybe. I belong to book club, I volunteer at a Repair Cafe and have another monthly group that meets in the city (30km each way).
I estimate in the past year the ballpark amount I spent on my personal clothing (including sleepwear and underwear) was: $25 (underwear), I make all of my own clothing, knit and sew. I repair our clothing to keep it going as long as possible.
My most expensive clothing in the past year was: $0.
My last pair of shoes cost: $250 – a pair of floral Dr Martens (bought two years ago on special). They then needed repairing this year (after little use) as the soles had delaminated. The repair cost $109.
My grooming/beauty expenditure in a year is about: $150 in skincare. I don’t buy makeup, I buy when I can get 3-for-2 deals on my skincare favourites. I cut my own hair. I use bar shampoos and conditioners which I have a stockpile of due to special deals.
My exercise expenditure in a year is about: I replace my walking shoes every 2-3 years or so. Last one cost about $180 which was over three years ago I think.
My last Friday night cost: $0 – cooked at home. No alcohol.
Most regrettable purchase in the last 12 months was: Getting our house painted by a contractor who didn’t supervise the work and we are still awaiting remedies (being managed by the Master Painters).
Most indulgent purchase (that I don’t regret) in the last 12 months was: My very cheap trip to Melbourne. I go to visit the art galleries.
One area where I’m a bit of a tightwad is: Almost everything. We buy quality, but only when needed.
Five words to describe my financial personality would be: Frugal most of the time. However when we spend, we support local as much as we can.
I grew up in a house where money was: Tight. We immigrated to NZ from the UK when I was 12. We never had anything special – homemade or cheap non-branded clothing. We always had enough for food and my parents saved hard to get into their own home as soon as they could. I don’t recall any childhood holidays in NZ.
The last time my Eftpos card was declined was: Not for a long time. I check our bank accounts regularly to ensure there is always enough for automatic payments. I also keep an eye on things to ensure we haven’t been scammed. Scammers are a scourge and our credit card has been compromised a few times (not due to our fault).
In five years, in financial terms, I see myself: Retired and able to do the travel that never happened when younger.
I would love to have more money for: Travel, and donations.
Describe your financial low: 2008, when the money that I earned from my contract job went to pay the wages of our employees.
I give money away to: SPCA, Starship, Givealittles, UNRWA, Wikipedia. As we downsize a bit at a time, we donate books and other donation worthy items.
