Rachel's Money Story

Tune in with Rachel, as she discusses her family experiences and how the transition to parenthood is shaping her her money story.

What experiences have shaped your money story ?  

There's been a number of experiences that have shaped my money story growing up.  I think the first that has to be mentioned is that I recognise I was born into a place of privilege. My parents could afford to give me and my brothers plenty of opportunities. So that has definitely shaped my money story so far and I don't want to downplay that. The other major piece has been we have learned to not take advice from people, even though they might be well meaning, to not take advice from people who don't necessarily know it talking about. So there's lots of podcasts and things out there that you can definitely use to sort of up skill and learn more about. But, I would recommend taking advice from a financial advisor who is qualified to give that advice.

How would you describe your relationship with money?

I've recently had a daughter she's 18 months and my focus is definitely shifted in my relationship with money to be more longer term. So I used to sort of think more short term and not think about 10, 20 years in the future. But now I'm starting to think about what sacrifices we can make now so that we will have more money saved up in the future, so that we can afford for her to participate in sports, go to university, maybe support her into her first home. All things that I definitely wasn't thinking about even for myself necessarily before I had my daughter.

What advice has shaped your money story?

Advice I received to shape my relationship with money,  I know it's probably something that people hear a lot, but investing for the long term. Even though it was a piece of advice that I've only really just listened to now, that has definitely helped to start to build some wealth and some savings and some back up money for us. For example I used to have my long term savings sitting in a bank account but with everything at our fingertips these days I was able to see that amount with my Internet banking. I found I just kept sort of dipping into it even for things that weren't necessarily justified in me spending that money on. So I chose to instead invest that money in a pie fund, sitting there working away for me and it means I don't have to do anything to it. I'm now starting to see the benefits of that and seeing that monetary amount grow faster than it would have if it was just still sitting in a bank account. And it's easier to be disciplined thinking about that sort of long-term picture as well, that long-term timeframe, when it's not sitting in your bank account.

Are there any financial goals that you’ve been proud to achieve?

We’ve recently bought a house in Auckland, which I think is no mean feat for anyone in this day and age. I guess we sort of did it in a little bit of a roundabout way, we recognised we couldn't afford necessarily to buy something that was brand new. My husband's a builder and I'm quite willing to get sort of stuck in and do some DIY so we've used those skills to our advantage and bought something that was quite rundown. We’ve spent a bit of time getting it a bit nicer and adding value in that way, so I guess thinking about other ways that you might be able to add value and access a house that maybe you can't afford to otherwise with a monetary amount.

What advice would you give to your younger self about investing?

Advice for my younger self would be to just start investing. I used to think that I needed to save up and get a big amount before I put that in a PIE Fund or in an investment but knowing what I know now any amount is good to start with. Just start, just put it in and get that money working for you. Don't check it every day either, you know the markets do go up and down. But if you're investing for the long term and you know you're going to leave it in there for five years, then don't check it every day, check it after five years.

What financial goals are you working towards now ?

The financial goals I am working towards now are building an investment fund for my daughter. This will allow her to maybe use it for her buying her first home in future, so starting to build that for her. One way I'm doing this for example is that she's got enough toys and she doesn't need a lot of toys, so for her birthday getting people to give us $10 in cash instead of buying her a toy, and putting that in the fund because every little bit counts. And she's not going to be touching that for maybe 15 years, 18 years so starting to build that wealth for her now.