Have you noticed that I never really talk much about real estate? Except to say that I own the house I live in and I have never really gone too far down the path of writing about property as an investment. With the equity that we have in our house, the ‘obvious’ thing to many Kiwis would be to borrow against it and buy more property that I then rent out to other people. For many this has been a way to successfully grow their wealth. To many, it has not.
It was inevitable that one day I would write a blog post about Dave Ramsey, but it has taken me over three years to get around to it. This month I finally read his book The Total Money Makeover. He created a simple plan which he called The 7 Baby Steps to help others change the behaviours that were keeping them poor and to help them get out of debt and stay out of debt, forever.
I’ve been interviewing people for my podcast and every time I do this I learn something new from each and every person I speak with. But a recent conversation really had me thinking because it presented a completely new and different view on how I could help my daughter (or you could help your child) through her tertiary study once she finishes school.
This week I received an email from someone who has stumbled upon the big wide world of investing and at the age of 40 has suddenly had their mind blown with the possibilities. He specifically asked about index funds and I also knew I had met a kindred spirit when he said: “compound interest is a new favourite term”.
So far, in 2019, we have spent exactly $240 on eggs. We buy them from a woman who lives up the road who has chickens (obviously) and every Monday she drops them (or places them gently) in my mailbox, then I jump online and pay her $5 a dozen. That means we have eaten 48 dozen or 576 eggs this year to date. The moral of the story? PocketSmith can give you some detailed figures IF that is what you are looking for.
Sharesies has lowered the barriers to entry for those wanting to enter the share market and they set about serving a previously underserved demographic. Sharesies has helped people see that becoming a share investor is another viable way to grow your wealth in New Zealand. They are now giving you the chance to buy shares in individual companies and spend as little or as much as you like.
There are no two ways about it. Overseas travel ain’t cheap. It’s awesome. But it sure ain’t cheap. We said to ourselves that 2019 would be a ‘stay at home’ year because we have bills coming up, there is not enough in our travel fund and we can’t afford a trip this year. But how have we managed to do it, despite saying we couldn’t afford it this year?
I might as well cut to the chase. I loved this book! None of our lives are linear, we all have twists and turns along the way and everyone is on a different journey. For the author of this book, Scott Rieckens, one big fork in his road came when he stumbled upon the concept of FIRE while driving to work listening to a podcast.
