As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a community lawyer explains how open conversations about money shaped their financial outlook.
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Gender: Female.
Age: 24.
Ethnicity: Pākehā.
Role: Lawyer + Rōia Kaitūao (volunteer lawyer) at Community Law.
Salary/income/assets: $96,200 annual salary, no further assets.
My living location is: Urban.
Rent/mortgage per week: $245 a week, rent is split between three flatmates.
Student loan or other debt payments per week: I pay $166.44 off my student loan a week, which comes out of my salary automatically. My current loan balance is $43,700, which isn’t too bad for five years of study (helped by receiving a partial student allowance for three of those years, then working two jobs the other two years and not taking out any living costs).
Typical weekly food costs
Groceries: I budget $150 a week for kai, which covers all my groceries and sometimes a meal out.
Eating out: Usually covered by my grocery budget as I don’t eat out that often, maybe once every two to three weeks? This will typically be for an event like a friend’s birthday dinner. My girlfriend and I also do a First Table dinner once a month and this is usually around $50-$70, covered by what I budget for date purposes ($50 a fortnight).
Takeaways: I buy takeaways maybe once every three or four months, and probably spend $30? Again, I like cooking, and don’t like spending $$ on average kai!
Workday lunches: $0, I can’t remember the last time I bought lunch at mahi. I always have leftovers from dinner the night before, and they are always delicious.
Cafe coffees/snacks: $9ish – I’ve recently allowed myself to buy one matcha a week. I don’t drink coffee but do drink a lot of tea (provided by work or my pantry).
Savings: I currently have $20,400 in my KiwiSaver (Pathfinder), $10,000 in a term deposit, $2,100 in shares (Simplicity), $1,000 saved for travel, and $1,000 in short term savings. Any savings kept in my bank are in interest bearing accounts. I’ve recently started a new job and experienced a crazy $30,00 pay rise, so my budget and savings goals have changed. Now that I have $10,000 in a term deposit (which I treat as my long term savings), I’m focusing on saving for overseas travel.
I save the following each fortnight:
– $550 towards travel
– $200 towards short term savings (once this reaches $2,500, I’ll put more towards travel)
– $150 towards shares ($100 to my general shares account, $50 toward a new shares account which I am growing to pay off the interest on my loan while I am overseas)
I worry about money: Rarely.
Three words to describe my financial situation: Secure, prudent, privileged (I can’t quite believe how much I am earning in this new role).
My biggest edible indulgence would be: I never skimp on fresh fruit or veg! I try and buy in season but seem to buy cucumbers and tomatoes all year round (checkout lady at Pak’nSave once informed me that my one big tomato had cost $7 …. YIKES).
In a typical week my alcohol expenditure would be: $25/30? Have recently had a few sober months, but I might have a couple of drinks at the pub on the weekend, or a bottle of wine/few cans of something twice a month.
In a typical week my transport expenditure would be: $0. I live centrally and walk everywhere which saves me so much money. I’ve also never owned a car, and will bus if I need to get anywhere not in walking distance.
I estimate in the past year the ballpark amount I spent on my personal clothing (including sleepwear and underwear) was: $1,000 or less? I buy 95% of my clothes second hand from op shops, but (now that I’m no longer a student) do indulge in the odd sale item from Kowtow/Alpha 60 etc. I can’t remember the last time I bought clothing that was brand new and not on sale.
My most expensive clothing in the past year was: A pair of leather knee-high boots from Merchant, $280 down from $460. I had been looking for knee high boots that fit my calves for so long, could never find any second hand, so was happy to pay that price.
My last pair of shoes cost: $70. Brand new leather loafers off Designer Wardrobe, RRP was $250ish and they were in perfect condition. Was very happy with this purchase as I’d wanted some loafers for a while.
My grooming/beauty expenditure in a year is about: Maybe $350? The only treatment I regularly get is a haircut, and that happens like twice a year. I tend to chop and change my hairdresser, but they are usually about $90 a cut. I probably spend another $150ish on various makeup/hair/skin bits – it’s all kept pretty simple. I recently got a facial for the first time in my life as a treat, which cost $200 and (imo) did absolutely nothing. Will never be doing that again!
My exercise expenditure in a year is about: $1,435 – gym is $27.60 a week which is kind of steep but I tend to go four or five times each week and really enjoy it.
My last Friday night cost: Went out for dinner and to the ballet, but cost $0 as it was my girlfriend’s turn to plan date night. Thanks darling!
Most regrettable purchase in the last 12 months was: A new iPhone. I upgraded my iPhone 11 to a 16 and had so many problems with it (freezing, glitching, lagging text). I was able to exchange the 16 for a 15 but the problems persist? No idea why, perhaps its my data that’s causing this, but it infuriates me that my brand new, expensive, absolutely involved in child/slave labour phone is glitchy. I sense a brick phone somewhere in my future…
Most indulgent purchase (that I don’t regret) in the last 12 months was: The knee-high boots, looking forward to getting them out again next winter.
One area where I’m a bit of a tightwad is: Eating out – my mum was right, I do have food at home, and it’s often better than whatever cheap thing I’d buy eating out.
Five words to describe my financial personality would be: Thrifty But Still Fun, (and) Open! I love talking about money with people, whether this be budgets with my friends or salaries with my coworkers. It doesn’t benefit anyone to be whakamā about how we earn, spend and save our pūtea.
I grew up in a house where money was: Tight, but me and my siblings weren’t aware of this. My parents were somehow servicing a mortgage and supporting a family of five on a single salary of around $70,000. I genuinely have no idea how they did this! Money was often talked about (but not in a stressful way, although I’m sure it was stressful) and the positive relationship I have with money is absolutely a result of this. We were encouraged to save money and avoid debt where possible – Mum always said that you should never buy things that you can’t pay for in cash.
The last time my Eftpos card was declined was: Sometime recently, forgot to transfer money into my spending account. It never has more that $125 in there (my weekly spending budget).
In five years, in financial terms, I see myself: Returning from overseas travel, so likely with significantly less money! I’m aiming to have approximately $10,000 sitting here for me to come back to though, so hopefully it’s not too bad.
I would love to have more money for: I have plenty of money for myself, so more money for others. I want to be more generous with my money, but this doesn’t come naturally as I haven’t always had money to spare.
Describe your financial low: Start of 2024, when I returned home after travelling with $500 to my name. Rebuilding my financial safety net after that was stressful! I was on the Job Seekers benefit for eight weeks but it was largely fine – I had enough to get by, I’m sure my parents would have helped if I had asked, all was well.
I give money away to: I’ve recently started budgeting $50 a fortnight into an account called “Awhi” to help care for others. I want to shout my friends treats, buy my parents gifts, give kai to unhoused people and put money towards orgs that support Palestine.
