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March 30, 2025 41 mins

The average hourly wage is $42.57, the average annual salary is $88,500. 

The average home is worth $912,904, the average mortgage is $318,151.

The average KiwiSaver is $37,079, depending on your age. 

But does it really matter if you stack up to the nations averages? 

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News talks'd be.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
I want to see you alone. I want to shop.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
I want to pounce a part. I want to sweat,
I want to.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
See it.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
I want to preacher here and I want to plant
sweat it.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
I want to against class. I want to talk with
the clown who wanted to parties down the PREMI of
pound and take a class. And I want to play
the man. I want to I want to see you. Okay,
there's only so long you can wait for the chorus
in a song, and it wasn't coming. But this welcome
to the back to the show. I'm Tim Beverages. This
is the Weekend Collective that a starburst by the fonte

(00:47):
of the Fontaines. And what we're trying to do is
with I guess just bit of fun is you know,
find out what they're preferred tuns, which is why you
heard yesterday a little bit of motive was the creatine
of the property here anyway, joining me today it is
a financial specialist and author Ian Morale. Hello, Amanda, how
are you doing?

Speaker 4 (01:07):
Leice deceited?

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Now we're going to talk about the topic we're talking
about today and we want your calls on eight hundred
and eighty ten eighty in text nine two nine two,
and the conversation is really around milestones and what your
financial milestones have been through life. Did you aim for
your milestones? And I need to be this is what
I want by my thirties, this is what I want
by my forties and my fifties, which sounds incredibly organized.
I can imagine a lot of you listening going, God,

(01:29):
I'd never thought of it in those terms. But there
might be those of you who did have financial milestones
for the generations or are you feeling that you are
playing catch up? And so if you are playing ketchup,
we're going to address some of the things that maybe
you can do when you sort of think, oh gosh
that that horse has bolted and I'm miles behind. So
just for a few figures for you, and Amanda's going
to chip in in just a moment with some interesting

(01:51):
stats about our savings. But the average hourly wage in
New Zealand's forty two bucks an hour, roughly annually eighty
eight thousand dollars a year. The average home is worth
nine hundred thousand, average mortgages three hundred thousand, average key
we save with thirty seven thousand depending on your age,
but average this and average that it can Actually I
think when people hear stats, they either feel like they're

(02:13):
well behind or maybe you have a moment of feeling
pretty slight smug. But if you're feeling that far behind,
how do you catch up and how do you go
about genuinely changing your mindset? So we'd love to hear
from you about milestones and are you keeping up with
yours and how have you set them? But to discuss it,
Amanda Morale's with us and Amanda, you've got some other
stats around, which is this is going to make us

(02:35):
feel not so flash?

Speaker 5 (02:36):
Is it?

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Because we've got savings rates in New Zealand the average
saver and you've got some stats around comparing us with
Australia and I get the feeling that they are going
to be big brother in every respect on this one?
Are they?

Speaker 4 (02:47):
I know? So this is kind of coincidentally on the
heels of that survey comparing how happy Australians are versus
New Zealanders and we got slammed in that regard. We're
not as happy as you can imagine. And for a
whole number of reasons. But when it comes to financial
sort of comfort and preparation for retirement were well behind

(03:08):
our Aussie peers and.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
So is so is this all because of super you're
talking about serving separate to.

Speaker 4 (03:16):
That, Well, I'm talking about superannuation, which is most people's
primary savings vehicle, and you may be surprised. And I
don't like averages. I'll have to just kind of I
prefer medians, but I'm working with averages today. But so,
the average for men over way Upond in Australia is
one hundred and eleven thousand. That's for men people.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
But anyway, that's not well, you know, it.

Speaker 4 (03:39):
Does seem very high compared to what men in New
Zealand have and their KISA accounts by comparison, which is
forty two two thousand on average. But what's what's what's
really sort of clawed me when I looked into the
data and compared it with some other countries as well,
is that women by comparison on average have sixty eight
across the pond thousand and women here and their keys

(04:03):
havever AC counts have on average thirty four. So between
those two countries, as long as a thirty eight percent
gap with men and women in Australia and a twenty
five percent gap here. But regardless, we are well behind
or Australian counterparts for a number of reasons. So and
it was a similar pattern in Canada, the UK, the

(04:25):
US with men well had usually by a minimum of
twenty five percent in the savings department compared to men's
So there's a separate issue here with gender divide, So
we can maybe tackle that. But when you asked, you know,
what's your milestone? Where are you aiming for? You know,
I think the first thing is you should have a goal,

(04:46):
You should know where you're at.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
Did you have a milestone when you were a as
a young woman? But did you think did you think
it through and go you know what, by the time
I'm thirty, I want to have saved up this amount
of money, and by the time I'm forty, I want
to have I don't know, maybe I'll hopefully own a
home or of course we have personal goals as well
as to you know, relationships and all this stuff, but
did you have financial goals?

Speaker 4 (05:07):
You know, I don't think I was born thinking I
wanted to be a billionaire or anything like that and
I would have fallen short anyhow if that was the case.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
But but but.

Speaker 4 (05:18):
There is really something to that mindset if you want
to then achieve and work towards that goal. But no,
I think for me, when it became, you know, a homeowner,
you know the goal for me when you start to
look at how much you're going to be just paying
off the interest alone and not the capitol, and you
see how much that house really costs you. For me,
I became very driven about I would like to become

(05:40):
mortgage free, and so that was sort of my focus.
I'm again one of these sticky note junkies. Always in
my book, this is what I want to achieve, you know.
So I again I think is important whilst you're assessing
any sort of goals, but especially financial, to articulate them
really clearly, have the like visibly in front of you.

(06:02):
You know, did you ever sticky notes mirrors? You know?

Speaker 1 (06:05):
When did you buy a house?

Speaker 5 (06:06):
Then?

Speaker 4 (06:07):
I had my first house back in Canada. Gosh, I
got to go back here now, but just time just
to come for the birth of the birth of my son.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
And I don't say how many years ago, A long.

Speaker 4 (06:20):
Time ago, twenty two over twenty years ago, so that
you know, and I wasn't ancient at the time.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
The reason I was digging into that, apart from just
being generally nosy, is because I was while you were
talking about it. I thought, did your decision around I
want to become mortgage free or I want to have
a house? Did it come about because you had planned
or thought about this by a particular age you wanted
to do it, or did it come about And this

(06:47):
is a question for you if you're listening as well.
Did your financial goals simply come about because you thought,
I'm paying all this money in rent and this is silly,
I should buy a house. And then when you buy
a house, you go, gosh, if I keep this mortgage
going for thirty years, I'm going to spend all this
money on interest. Therefore, I'm going to set a goal.
So what I mean is I'm turning my question that

(07:08):
I started with on its head. That some people might
have goals about where they want to go, but maybe
those goals that we arrive at are simply driven by
financial realities that hit us as we're moving through life.

Speaker 4 (07:21):
So yeah, I agree, I think there's a bit of
both there. I think some people may you know, just
got this burning desire from a young age, or this
particular event happens in their life that they determine this
as the course I'm going on. Equally, the moment of
sort of plotting that path may arrive when you sit
down and you look. You have that moment of shock
when you realize how much, again like the mortgage, for example,

(07:43):
how much you're being an interest before you even touch
the principle and what you owe. So that becomes a
very motivating factor for anybody who's done those numbers and
then really lights of fire under your butt to move
things forward, because I think at the end of the day,
most people you aspire towards financial independence and freedom, and
that is the ability to do what you want want

(08:05):
to do it. And you know, if you're in a
miserable whatever it is, job, marriage or something, having the
you know, the the capacity to say okay, I'm not so,
you know, having that freedom to take that action is
muchly enriched by having your bank account at a certain

(08:26):
yeah status.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
Muchly, I love that.

Speaker 4 (08:28):
I appropriate words, it's quick enough.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
But now I love that because Muchley is sort of
part of the New Zealand Mexican.

Speaker 4 (08:35):
Is it I apologize for making Dan this maybe I've inherited.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
Well actually because what that you? I'm sure you have
because I think actually there are certain milestones that are
more generically accepted by different For instance, I would say
that a lot of people would give a lot of thought,
regardless of their optimism about reaching the target, about what
a sixty five look like for them, because the obvious

(09:01):
milestone is where am I going to You know, what
are my one of my go was going to be?
Or how much money do I want to have? Or
what's my minimum standard of what I want to have
achieved by sixty five, which would be I would say
for many people, they would hope that at the bare
minimum that they would have paid their mortgage off if
they've been lucky enough to buy a house. But you know,
it's almost like you trace that backwards, Whereas I don't

(09:23):
think i'd know many people, or would have known anyone
who expressed any particular goal in their thirties or their
twenties about this is what I want to do. That's wondering.
Have you ever had a moment where it's kicked in
for you? You go, right, Okay, ten years time I need.

Speaker 4 (09:38):
To do this again. I think for me, the you know,
the wake up moment was becoming a homeowner when you
owe a lot of money and you see, you know
you're going to be married to your bank for many
many years before you have that point of financial freedom.
So that that was a very motivating factor for me personally.
I mean, you know, goals are goals, right, so they're

(09:59):
not just financial. I mean maybe your goal is I
want to see X number of countries before the time,
you know, before again, but you know you might become
a travel writer and figure out a way to do
that for free. Things cost money exactly. So what of
those goals are you know you are going to have
to come up with a plan to achieve those goals
or to get there, and that may be in tandem

(10:21):
with you know, having your house by mortgageree by sixty
year or whatever it is. It's highly individualized. I mean,
did you have a burning desire to achieve x.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
By Well, well, that's the thing I mean I went
in for I threw up away every everything in terms
of financial practicality when I had a career in the arts,
when I decided I want to I want to go
on the stage, and so I got used very quickly
to the idea of financial instability of although, funnily enough,
my first few gigs, I think my first gig is

(10:55):
a singer. I got paid more than I was earning
as a lawyer, but that's not saying a lot. So
it was just a first year, second year's staff solicitor.
But yeah, it's it's a difficult one to put my
finger on because I became everything financially is a struggle
when you're work trying to make a career in the arts.
So I don't know what particular goal I had. I
probably have my wife to think that when we got

(11:18):
when we had our first child, that you know, she
was driving the move to with let's think about buying something,
and we were very lucky the way that worked out.
But yeah, because I was I'll be honest, I think
I was pessimistic. I thought, God, I'm screwed and less
and I kept on thinking, at some stage I'll work
something out. But I never really came up with a
particular plan, which.

Speaker 4 (11:38):
Is you know, you know how to details go well,
somebody in the relationship usually well, I'm surprised it is women.

Speaker 1 (11:46):
No, I am actually the I'm the details guy on things,
but I just for many years I was following a
different priority. And so the worst, the best advice I
never listened to was when I was in Melbourne with
a show called Sunset Boulevard and I don't know how
I met. I think I signed up with a bank
and I met the guy, the bank manager, and for

(12:07):
some reason, it was the end of the day and
he said, oh, whereabouts you living? Because I was about
to catch stream, says I'll give you a lift, and
as he's driving home, he said, the best advice I've
ever got, and this is the advice I ignored. He said,
you should try and buy a house in Melbourne while
you're earning good money. I remember thinking, ah, yeah, maybe,
but god if I wish I'd taken that advice.

Speaker 5 (12:26):
But yeah, I know.

Speaker 4 (12:28):
Hindsight twenty twenty.

Speaker 1 (12:29):
Hindsight for me, actually, the most important thing to setting goals,
I think was it's only just recently even it's just
getting good information. So I've just restructured my mortgage a
little bit and paid a big chunk off from my business.
And I actually made that decision and have determined a

(12:50):
few goals by chat GPT. I put it into chat
GPT and I literally said, I've got this amount sitting
in my business account. I'd like to still be able
to use it, but I've got this on my mortgage
and I'm paying this off. Can you give me some
different scenarios on what would work and what would help
me pay the mortgage off quicker without me having to

(13:11):
be too you know, with that too radical a change.
And it came up with all these scenarios.

Speaker 4 (13:16):
I've got to say, I use it all the time.

Speaker 1 (13:19):
Wow, It's incredibly powerful.

Speaker 4 (13:21):
Great for scenario testing. You need to kind of check
it against you know, don't bet your house on chats, correct,
But no for for that kind of those kind of
things that are brilliant again for if for for those
of you who are struggling to figure out how much

(13:41):
they're going to need for retirement based on their current
contribution rates, et cetera. I mean, Chat and AI is
just as only as good as the prompt. So if
you instruct it intelligently about the different scenarios that you're
kind of exploring mentally, it can come up with some
very good solutions. And so that takes a lot of

(14:03):
the pain away because I think is king, isn't it
one hundred percent? And I think a lot of people,
particularly in New Zealand, are very reluctant to get paid
to pay a financial advisor or if they are probably
getting stung in really high fears. So this is going
to be a real moment for everybody out there who
wants to get a bit more confident in their finance.

Speaker 1 (14:25):
For instance, looking at that milestone question back when I
I mean I was, I did worked in Australia for
a few years in musical theater, and I had there
was a compulsory pension scheme I paid no attention to,
which is actually funny enough. I didn't put there wasn't
much put into it over the years, but I look
at how much it's grown. But if I had actually
bothered to or got advice about, say, for instance, if

(14:48):
there was a chat GPT back then and I'd said, hey,
I want to have a million dollars in my bank
account by the time I'm sixty or sixty five, how
much do I need to start putting away now, assuming
a growth rate of such and such percent, it would
have given me an answer that probably would have made
me think, gosh, that's actually quite doable. Maybe I should
make that sacrifice as opposed to thinking I needed a

(15:10):
million dollars one or a time. Where do I begin?

Speaker 4 (15:12):
Yeah, and then you just spend every mony all your
money at the pub.

Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 4 (15:18):
So now you can have some hard numbers to hang
your hat on, or at least some soft numbers to
work towards, and so use it. It's a great tool.
Again there, I always harp on about SWORTED, but I
was on there again before the show, and they keep
updating their calculators. So you know, if you're trying to
test the limits about what you know at your current rates,

(15:41):
where you're going to be and how much can you
spend and how much will New Zealand super be On
top of that, feed all those numbers in, you're going
to get some really good indicative results that will tell
you, you know, you've got to do a better job saving equally.
I love to experiment, and I would encourage people to
do it. You know, the difference over time of contributing,
you know, for six, eight, ten percent of your income

(16:03):
towards UKV siviies huge differences over time because of compound interest.
So I think if people kind of just gain feed
on that information. It may spur them on to make
more immediate decisions, which you know, time is your friend
when you're investing, So don't wait until you're fifty five.
You know, if you're in your forties or younger listening

(16:24):
to this, you know, start just exploring. It doesn't take
a long time. You don't have to sit down and read,
you know, toms of novels on personal finance. This stuff
is readily at your fingertips now, so great for young
savers who are interested in goal setting.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
So we'd love to hear from you on this. What
are your financial milestones? Have you ever actually had a
financial milestone a little bit like what we Amanda and
I talked about that you when you realize how much
you're paying in renting, you think, goodness, may I should
be putting this into a house. Or you realize, gosh,
I've been paying all some mortgage. Maybe I should try
and pay out off quicker and I'll save. How much?
Did you have financial milestones you aim for? But if

(17:02):
you're paying catch up, We're going to dig into that
a little bit as well.

Speaker 5 (17:05):
Us.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
I think most people probably, I would say, be interesting
that if we could do a formal survey on this
on how many people feel they're playing financial financial catch up,
I'd love to know what those results would be. But
I bet you it's quite significant. We're going to significant.
We're going to dig into that. But yes, from you,
how did you assess your financial milestones? And yeah? Or

(17:27):
is it different? Do you just find that you stumble
across goals as you live go through life? Oh wait,
one hundred and eighty ten eighty text nine two nine two.
It's a twenty four past five news talks. He'd be,

(17:56):
it's welcome back news talks. There'd be there's a Smart
Money the weeking on the weekend collective and Beverage. My
guest is a financial specialist and author and commentator of Amanda Morale.
We're talking about how important it is to have financial milestones.
Did you have financial milestones and did you manage to
achieve them or did you just find you stumbled across
your goals as you lived life? Give us a call
on eight hundred eighty ten eighty just before we go

(18:17):
to we'll continue the conversation. Douger's text is saying, I
think this is sort of probably indicative of quite a
few blocks. I had three goals as a young man.
One was earn enough to attract a woman interesting. I
think invest in personality is a good idea too, to
get to the point of no reliance on state funding
for anything. Okay, yep, and three payin no tacks. He's

(18:43):
achieved the first two, he said, dear. By the way,
did I have to tease you just lightly? Because when
you gave the information website, I've misheard you. I thought
you were advertising something that sounded a bit naughty when
you said go to your accent assorted, and I thought
you said sordid as a dirty You're familiar, you have

(19:04):
this know, But I was just like I heard. When
I listened, I thought, all right, yes, sorted sort of
dot org dots in.

Speaker 5 (19:13):
That's right.

Speaker 4 (19:15):
It's got such great retrees, so I highly recommend it's free,
and you've got your friend chat.

Speaker 1 (19:20):
And by the way, if you're listening and you want
to know where you sit with everyone else, because sometimes
they're having a bit of a comparison, can well it
might not be good news if you're matching everyone else
in your age group. But we're going to dig into
some of the key we save with data as well
darted data. Right, let's take our first call, Jam.

Speaker 3 (19:35):
Hello, Hi, I'm a bit nervous.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
Oh, you'll be fine. It's just you and me and Amanda.

Speaker 3 (19:46):
My mum and dad used to work, and Mom had
me for one week at the school holidays and dad
the other week. And when I was with Dad, i'd
go down the local head dresser by him. And at
the age of eleven, I decided I wanted to have
a be a hairdresser, and by salon, I ended up

(20:06):
having about three or four salons, not at once, and
with the money I made from that, I was the
dumb Dora of the family. With the money from that,
my dad found a little state unit that I bought
and would have paid off by the time I was
forty one, and I am now seventy five living in

(20:32):
the Ryman's Village. My family has been amazing and I'm
just very fortunate.

Speaker 1 (20:42):
I can hear a little bit of emotion in your
voice because you're feeling a bit of grateful for having
such great family and all that sort of thing is
that's what's sort of triggering you think about your lovely,
lovely family and the great advice you got from your dad.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
Yes, I borrowed two thousand dollars off them, and now
I'm in the village. I paid it all back. I
paid it all back.

Speaker 4 (21:05):
Was it?

Speaker 1 (21:06):
Do you look at back and go thanks Dad, great
for helping me. But you you did the hard work.
You had all those salons, you got some money in
your bank, and you got some advice from your dad.

Speaker 3 (21:16):
I must tell you one thing. My dad did all
the book work until he died, and then I had
a good accountant. But my dad used to go away
overseas with mom on holidays. When they'd come back, he'd say, oh, Jane,
you've done us again, And I'd say, what's I done?
He's you paid on the invoice and the statement, Oh.

Speaker 1 (21:42):
Well you're in credit. You were in credit. I was, actually, Jane.
It's lovely to hear from you. And how long you
been in Rhyman for.

Speaker 3 (21:55):
Five years?

Speaker 6 (21:57):
This month just gone good stuff and it's wonderful good
and sounds like you're you're feeling gratitude for that as well.
Isn't it funny when you can be triggered with a
bit of emotion when you suddenly realize, oh my goodness, you.

Speaker 4 (22:09):
Know, I get it. Because family and you know, relatives
or friends who can mentor you along the way. It
can make such an incredible difference to your quality of
life over the years. So there's so much to be
said for that.

Speaker 3 (22:25):
I had such good Christian which term is not keen on,
but they were good Christian, living parents, goodales. How many
times I let them down? I just carried on.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
I almost want to make you call of the Week
if we had such a prize. But I appreciate you calling.

Speaker 3 (22:48):
Thank you so much, Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (22:51):
Take care.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
Oh, I think because Jan's heard me say that I'm
an atheist, I'm not anti. I'm not anti. Well some
religions are the anti theism, but no, she's just referring
the fact that I'm.

Speaker 4 (23:03):
Not religious, not worshiping anywhere.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
No, No, although of course I wiship my wife and
my family.

Speaker 4 (23:08):
There you go, right answer.

Speaker 1 (23:10):
Actually, you know what she's nailed there. And I've realized
that financial got milestones and all that. It's all a
bit intimidating. But I mentioned it just with chat GPT
and Jan mentioned it with getting the mentorship of her father,
and I mean, it's quite funny. Paying the voice on
the statement she obviously liked to pay her bills. But
at the heart of it, your first financial milestone, and

(23:30):
it's not for me to lecture, but I'm going to.
It should be financial literacy. You should just know what
the stakes are.

Speaker 4 (23:37):
A percent, and that's something that continually gets raised as
being a big problem in New Zealand. People still don't
even understand the basics of KiB sever and it's been
going since two thousand and seven. So but you know what, again,
I think with AI it really could prove to be

(23:58):
transformative for people's finances. Again, you have to kind of
understand there's still people kind of holding back at the
edges because they don't they think that they're intimidated, bitter
or whatever. They just need to kind of get into it,
ask a few questions, refine those questions, and get confident
with the prompts, because really the greatest output is in,

(24:18):
you know, the questions that you're asking, So it's more
about those you get some clever answers.

Speaker 1 (24:23):
Well there's a second and maybe it's a maybe there's
the lessons you should learn. I don't want to and
I would already smug about this. We don't want to
lecture people about things, but the question around milestones. But
the other one is you've just I think you've got
to overcome your fear, because I think a lot of people,
if you're feeling you might be behind the eight ball,
they don't ask the question because they don't really they
think that what they hear might not be what they

(24:46):
want to hear. It's fear.

Speaker 4 (24:49):
And I say this all the time. The twin enemies
of personal finance are fear and procrastination because quite often
people are fearful and then they'll put off doing what
they ought to be doing. And you know, what they
ought to be doing, it might not be as as
scary as they think, and the difference over time could
be huge. You know, something as simple as putting in

(25:09):
four percent into your quips ever rather than three if
you can afford to do it, those kind of things.
I mean again, I really encourage people to explore some
of the scenario testing that you can do and sort
it dot org, dot n Z or through chat and
look at the differences. Equally, experiment with the different fund
tapes that you can be invested in and the dollar

(25:30):
figure difference that will make over time because of compound interest.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
Yeah, actually, yeah, and as I mentioned for me that
just simply when I literally when I asked chat GPT,
I thought, because they've got a voice function now, and
I thought, oh, and I've typed it and initially and
just came up. But then the end I dictated and
tooked to normal language and said this is what I want,
and it spat out what it thought. My question was,
have I got this right? Are you asking me x
Y and Z would you like me to put together

(25:56):
some scenarios? And I said yes, I've got to say
I'm a convert.

Speaker 4 (26:01):
Well, can you can imagine what it's going to be
like in five years from now? I'm I mean, I've
got a version on my phone that's free. I downloaded
being it's got this co pilot thing. You can talk
to it. It talks back to you. So if you're
on a dog walk or whatever, you know, what would
you like to know? I always have these thoughts in
my head, So I'm like, we're asking this, asking that,

(26:22):
and you know, so you don't. It's really blowing apart
the rules of what people used to think they needed
to do to get themselves financially. It's so tort or informed.

Speaker 1 (26:32):
It's so good. Because it's so good. I was almost
worried about hurting its feelings when it misunderstood me. Because
you choose the voice, and the first voice that presented
to me, I thought, I don't like this dickhead, so
I chose I've got. It's a young woman with a
slightly not cockney accent, but it's an English act. She's like, Hi, Tim,
how are you sort of talking about? She goes, thanks
for asking, but that's funny. You end up I think

(26:54):
I even say sorry. I think I'm the sunder.

Speaker 4 (26:57):
You're in a relationship ten years from now? Where is
it going?

Speaker 2 (27:05):
Hey?

Speaker 1 (27:06):
Now, I did say we were going to give some advice,
some info on where are we at with our New
Zealand ki we savers?

Speaker 4 (27:12):
Right, So I earlier shared what some of the our
Aussie cousins are doing with their savings. But if you
come back home and look at the categories by age,
so in the twenty six to thirty year olds, you
know they're well under average savings of TWENTI smoted right

(27:34):
around the eighteen thousand dollars mark, and again.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
All along, so who's got eighteen thousand dollars?

Speaker 4 (27:39):
These are twenty six to thirty year olds, so you know, yeah,
they've only been working well, they've only been working you
know whatever, ten years. I guess if you're going right
out of you know, tertiary, some people start longer. So
but again, women are well behind. They're usually they're about
twelve thousand, whereas the men are about maybe fifteen eighteen,

(28:00):
and then you know, it goes up in increments of
about five thousand or after. So the average let's take
what your category fifty fifty one. If I'm guessing tim here,
you know you do look thirty one, but fifty one
to fifty five. So men are up there on average
at fifty and women are actually blow at probably about

(28:23):
thirty seven. So this is where it gets a bit.
I'm surprised bumpy for women because but you can imagine
during those years somewhere in between, you know, the late
thirties seven have children. Yeah, there's gaps, you know.

Speaker 1 (28:39):
Yeah, I'm surprised that we're not seeing more of the
influence of compound interest in there because of how it
can grow, because we're just talking about increments of fifty grand.
But is that also because the older generations have not
been in key we saber can we save, it goes
back on and how long did have that is.

Speaker 4 (28:55):
Two to two thousand and seven was when it was introduced, Okay,
so yeah, I mean that Again, Australians on average get
paid more than us, so that puts them ahead. And
they been at the savings game far longer than we have,
so that also accounts for some of the differences there.
But again and their contribution rate is closer to twelve percent.
So some of the things that the regulators are considering

(29:16):
are you know, making it compulsory right now, it's a
soft option, auto enrollment, you can get out after three
months if you don't want to be in it. And
you know where our minimums are so low, they're half
of what people are contributing over you know, across the Tasman. Likewise,
in other countries, sort of the general theories that you

(29:38):
should be, you know, at the minimum, putting away ten
percent of your gross earnings to get it up there.
I find that again relative to the financial literacy levels
of Canada, the US, the UK, you know, we're still
a little bit behind in those terms, so we do
have a long way to go. The conversation is out there,

(30:01):
which is encouraging but again, you know, don't wait for
the government to force you to do this or that.
I think, take account of your own future and look
at some of the scenarios. If you can afford to
contribute more, do it. Make sure you're in the right
fund type for you know, your savings goals, and just
get yourself on track. And don't, like you said, if
you're fearful, the worst thing you can do is put

(30:22):
your head in the sound and think this is all
all the way. It just doesn't get better asking for
a friend.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
You know, hey, look, actually, if you know what I'd
love to know, I'd love to know how many people
that you can just call and text us on this.
I mean ten percent. I wonder how many people are
actually sticking away ten percent of their income because when
you look at because that's after texts, I guess ten
percent of after text income, I'm guessing.

Speaker 4 (30:44):
Ten percent gross is sort of I mean, there's no
golden rule. There's just ballparks or recommended sort of idea,
you know, suggested amounts. Right, But again, everybody's situation is
going to be a little bit different.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
So see, that's that's why it doesn't fit all. I
guess my thing I've come up with. I've worked out
that really the best thing I can do is cane
my mortgage as quickly as I can and then raally
stick the money into it. I mean, I guess because
if you are taking that money off your mortgage, say
if you are paying six ish percent, between five and
seven percent for most people, I think, then you have

(31:19):
to if you are putting that in savings, you'd want
that money to be making more than that because you
have tax to pay on that. It's hard to earn
that return, isn't it. So are you better to pay
it off your mortgage if you can?

Speaker 4 (31:31):
As many people who argue that there's no better return
on investment than hammering your mortgage as fast as you can,
and then you know, then put yourself in that savings
position where you're invested.

Speaker 1 (31:41):
Maybe I'll ask chat GPT in the break, but I'll
get her to change your accent to French and speak
in French or something.

Speaker 4 (31:46):
Just make it educational.

Speaker 1 (31:49):
Anyway. I'd love to know from you. But about your plans.
We've got a few texts on this. We're going to
dig into the milestones. But the more I'm learning about
this chatting with Amanda to me the milestones. The first
milestone you should have is understanding financial literacy and so yeah,
that would be my one. Anyway, we're going to take
a break, come back and just to take it's well,
gosh time it's flying, isn't it? Eighteen and a half

(32:11):
to six News Talks it'd be yes, Welcome back to
the show. Tim Beverage with a Madame Morale talking about
financial milestones. What are the milestones you should set for

(32:33):
yourself and have you managed to do it? But also
just the quick question on how much you've been sticking
away and your key we save it because received wisdom,
which is a way of saying that's what we think
is good common sense, but receive wisdom. Of course from Amanda,
is that ten percent? Really it should be a gold
should aim for and let's take some calls on that.

Speaker 2 (32:51):
Kevin, Hello, yeah, hi guys, I just wanted to pouring
out for me. Fine. I was a bit slow getting
in the sea. We'd say were by about ten years.
And when I got into it, I was doing its money.
So I put mine out. But can you imagine if

(33:13):
you made it compaltry, how much more poppy they would
be in this country.

Speaker 1 (33:20):
Well, yes, I mean in terms of people not being
able to have money for other things.

Speaker 4 (33:23):
Yeah, no, it's a it's a fair point you raised,
and I actually this will be the first time I've
going on record saying this, but I'm not for that reason.
I do have concerns about it being compulsory, just because
there's some people who simply are struggling to get their
kids to school with breakfast in their bellies. So I
agree there are some cases where it might not make sense.

(33:44):
So it's a tricky word in today's environment.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
I think you'd find there's a lot of cases. Oh look,
I hell of a lot of New Zealand at the
moment couldn't afford to put in the key retailer.

Speaker 4 (33:59):
Yeah, well, that obviously would only apply to those who
could could afford to hit that mark, but you know,
for for younger people who are in a position and
they're working and not frittering away all their money on.

Speaker 2 (34:13):
Yeah, I understand that completely. But if they made it compulsory,
it would increase the probably, right, I really don't know.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
I don't think I don't we advertise, I don't think
we're advocating for making it compulsory.

Speaker 4 (34:29):
Although some people who are advocated for that, and it
is an issue that's been raised to as you know,
something to get us up on par with our asio mates.
But I agree with you there's a risk there.

Speaker 1 (34:44):
And what have you gotten terms of people? I wanted
to catch up a few basic sort of ideas for people.

Speaker 4 (34:48):
So your producer, lovely produce attire, thank you for playing
the Fontaines. I saw them a couple of weeks ago.
They're amazing, so shout out to you. But she was
wondering why she's done obviously a very good job, she's
very an exception to the Rocks, she's doing everything right,
and she was wondering why her balance was much higher
than you know, other women her age, and they said,

(35:11):
you know, would there's a few variables there probably, But
so step one, if you are feeling like you're behind,
you know it's a no brainer. Make sure you're paying
at least one thousand and forty three into your kiserver
account so you can get the five hundred. That is
an absolute no brainer. So you should be doing that.
If you go on matt leave or you've got a

(35:32):
workplace gap for make sure you're continuing to do that.
Maybe get your partner to help out if you feel
like you too stretch to make that to make the
five hundred and twenty one cut off, if you stop
working for a few years, contribute that at the bare
minimum so you're still getting that.

Speaker 1 (35:47):
So you know, that's just that works out to how
So if you put in how's it? What's this?

Speaker 4 (35:52):
So it's a fifty percent return on your investment rate there,
So you put in one hundred, one thousand and forty
three annually, you'll get from the government five hundred and twenty.
I mean, maybe we'll take that off the table, so
take it while the going is.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
So that's twenty bucks a week for you in the
government puts another ten dollars a week, so that's thirty
bucks a week. I'm going to give that to check
GPT and see what they come to do for our.

Speaker 4 (36:12):
Kids too if they're you know, and that's the other
point too. I was going to say, invest from our
early age. You know, the there's no bigger advantage than
being a youth when it comes to investing. So the
earlier you start, because of compound interests, are better off
you're going to be. So if you're in a position
to be able to help out your kids or your
grandparents can help them out, you know, check twenty bucks

(36:35):
a week into their accounts. They're going to be miles
ahead of the game and you're setting them up with
a really good legacy gifts. So the earlier you get
into it, the better. For women in particular, we talked
about those prominent differences between superinnuation balances. Women are terrible
tend to be terrible negotiators when it comes to pay
and advocating for their own value. And because of these

(36:58):
wage gap differences, that also is going to put you
miles behind because obviously you're not getting as much into
your kibisaver accounts. So for women, particularly the young woman,
I'm sure Tyra is an exception. Again, make sure that
you're getting some really good mentoring there on demonstrating your value.
A couple more things. Educate yourself on finances, read learn

(37:18):
as much as you can. It's not as intimidating as
boring as you might think. It will be quite fun,
especially when you're on the winning side of finances. And again,
separate your emergency fund from your savings, so make sure
you've got that, don't isolate it. Don't touch it. It's
not something you break into when you need to buy
rounds the bearer. Yeah, well that's that, so then you

(37:40):
won't have to break into your.

Speaker 1 (37:42):
That's another argument. We can spend an hour and actually
should you be able to break your kep savi because
there are some financial advice who do not like the
idea of people breaking the kiisaber to buy a house.
By the way, thirty bucks a week at five percent
compounding over forty years. So this is you, as a
twenty five year old, deciding you're going to stick do
the government's contribution of ten dollars a week on your

(38:04):
twenty in forty years time, that's worth two hundred thousand bucks.

Speaker 4 (38:09):
Yeah, I mean, and that's magic. That's a box of
beer from us kids.

Speaker 1 (38:12):
Yeah, look it's three lattes. Letok tell we might being
out to squack and a squeeze and a quick call,
but we're going to take the break. It is nine
and a half minutes to sex News Talks. He'd be
he's welcome back. My guest is a mana morale. Gosh,
time flies and you're having fun. We're going to squeeze
in one call. We've got time for one more call Jared.

Speaker 5 (38:31):
Hello, Oh good day there, How are you good?

Speaker 1 (38:35):
Thanks?

Speaker 5 (38:35):
Hey, Jared, Hi there. Look, I was listening to the
previous caller talking about poverty and everything. And while it
is absolutely true that many people across New Zealand would
not be able to afford to contribute to KI, we
say that if it were made compulsory, from my understanding,
you can go on a voluntary contributions holiday and just

(39:00):
not put anything in it. You just discussed this with
your your employer or WINS I suppose, or whoever, And yeah,
if they take you off the system, you're not You're
not being forced to put any money in the fund.

(39:21):
And in fact, that's what I've been doing for the
past five years or so because well, my plan is
to buy a house and then go back to keep
we saver. Obviously I'll use it to contribute. I just
figured that going on the share market and other such
things would be a wiser way to try and invest

(39:42):
in the meantime.

Speaker 4 (39:43):
Yeah, no, thank you for raising that. So that's called
the saving suspension, and you certainly can do that, although
I would question why if you're saving for a first
maybe it's a second home, but a first home, like
you're invested in the share market, so just curious your
reasons for choosing another type of investment over a QC.
Wh if you can still get out the money for
your deposit.

Speaker 5 (40:05):
Yes, and that is that is that is a plan.
I will be withdrawing some shares and things like that.
They have done pretty well well. I'll only withdraw the
ones that have done well.

Speaker 1 (40:18):
Yeah, good stuff. Okay, Joe, We'll have to leave it
there because we're just about at the end of the show.
Thank you so much Amanda for joining us. Yeah, good stuff.
And if you've missed any of the hours that we
have had on this afternoon, then go to the website
look for the weekend Collective. We'll go to iHeartRadio and
next week, just looking ahead, we have Ashley Bloomfield, the

(40:39):
former Director General of Health Is with us taking your
calls on one hundred and eighty ten eighty for the
Health Hub and of course lots of other exciting guests
as well, and we'll look forward to your company again
next weekend. Sunday, Sex is next. Have a great evening
on the out.

Speaker 3 (40:54):
Of you know, up in the cards chair.

Speaker 2 (41:01):
Let's know.

Speaker 6 (41:06):
You're listen.

Speaker 1 (41:08):
Save you.

Speaker 2 (41:11):
With let's Know what We.

Speaker 5 (41:22):
For more from the Weekend Collective. Listen live to news
Talks It'd be weekends from three pm, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio
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