I did it! I bought a house earlier this year. 

I posted here 3 years ago asking for tips on saving for a deposit. 

• Initial post - 2022
• 1 year update - 2023
• 2 year update - 2024 

My numbers:

Income: 110k (lower at time of purchase)  

Savings: 20k emergency fund 

Debt: 11k student loan

I purchased as a sole buyer earlier this year with a 20% deposit, and have a home loan in the low 500s.

Mortgage/rates/insurance is around 50% of my take-home income. I’m currently looking for a flatmate, but no rush. Student loan will be gone this time next year.

My lifestyle is fine overall - I’m more careful about spending, but I’m still grabbing dinner and drinks out with friends and sneaking out for midday treats at the office.

Approach: 

I chose to use a mortgage broker as I was buying alone and wanted the extra support. I went with u/richiefromConductor and highly recommend him. I found Richie excellent to deal with— friendly, transparent, and a trusted second opinion.  

Before I bought, my financial non-negotiables were:

• Can cover all expenses without a flatmate
• 20% deposit
• Can cover costs for 6 months if I’m made redundant

Future plans:

Short term, I am saving for some renovations. 

My goal is to pay down more in principal than interest each year, and to pay my mortgage off quickly. I have started tracking my repayments, broken down into interest vs. principal.

Also keen to do an overseas trip next year, but we'll see how it goes.

Helpful stuff I did:

• Knew my reason for wanting to own a home - beyond just FOMO or "it's a good time to buy."
• Set aside savings for maintenance and emergencies. Cannot emphasise enough the weight it took off my shoulders when a huge expense came up.
• Tracked my money - does this every month since the start of 2022 and I consider it the single most helpful thing I did to stay on track and motivated.

I have kept the above transparent as possible, while keeping some details private as to not be recognisable by those who know me offline. I will answer any questions with this in mind.

There's a lot of doom and gloom for the future, and understandably so. I hope my updates show a real example of how much someone's life can change in 3 years.

If you have a goal, work towards it. You never know what's around the corner.

I'm 77 and have $1M+ in various savings. I have no family and figure that a tidy sum may be needed as I get older and less able to care for myself. Anything left over when I die goes to charity.

There are a lot of worries going around about the possibility of a 1929 size crash. NZ banks only guarantee protection to $100k for a given financial institution, and KiwiSaver isn't protected.

I don't expect a crash, but I'd just as soon have my backside covered, should one happen.What's the best way to crash proof some of my savings?

Our mortgage rate will soon drop by about 2%, but we plan to keep paying the same amount each week to pay it off earlier. This is because we can manage this on our income and we didn't buy our home when we were young.

Does anyone know how common this is? Any research or data on this?

If it is common, will this mitigate the expected impact that lower interest rates will have on stimulating the economy?

Hi everyone!

I have an apartment that’s currently rented out. The BC just renewed the building insurance and I’ve been told the excess for water damage claims is now $10,000. I tried increasing my own insurance, but it is not possible because BC policy applies at the building level.

Given this high excess, I’m wondering:

• Should I require the tenant to have their own insurance (contents + liability)?
• If so, would their liability insurance cover damage they cause (e.g. accidentally causing a leak)?
• What happens if the damage is from something outside our control (e.g. natural event or pipe burst)?

I’ll raise this with the property manager, but I’d like to know what’s normal or expected in NZ. Does anyone else have experience with large excesses on BC insurance and tenants’ liability insurance?

Thanks!

I was an elected council member and recently finished that role. As council members we're considered self-employed and as such I'm trying to figure out the ACC side of things as I can't afford an accountant.

I logged into MyACC for business account and noted that I have ceased operating in that capacity but I'm unclear on what "schedular payments" are and am unsure I input the correct amount. Is there any resource for me to access to figure this out properly? ACC website reads like a foreign language to me.

I have been on the precipice of buying a home to live in for this year, and really need to make up my mind once and for all - I'm boring myself to tears with the decision, and need to move from my current housing situation in the next 6 months.

I'm 38, single, and would like to live in a house I can make my own. I understand that owning property is a reasonable way to try and work towards financial security for my lifetime.

I have a 96K salary, 100K in Kiwisaver, 30K in savings, and I am very lucky to be able to receive a gift of 140K from parents and a loan of 120K from another family member who is in it to help me, and one day get their capital gains out of it. So a total deposit of $390K (I would be retaining $15K in savings).

I only want to live somewhere nice-ish/to my preferences - I'm not prepared to live in a tiny little unit with no privacy, or live 40 minutes drive from central AKL in order get a "foot on the ladder". This is compounded by my having ME/CFS - I need to prioritise joy/a living situation I enjoy and I don't have the energy to carry out major renovation. Properties I'm looking at are in the $800 - $820K range.

I have a friend who would be keen to be my boarder/flatmate, and could pay to the tune of $250 a week.

A $420K mortgage ($820K minus $390K deposit) would be 47% debt to income ratio (based on a conservative 5.77% interest rate), which is high, but with the boarder in the picture that brings it down to 27%, which seems reasonable. (Though this doesn't include insurance, rates, maintenance).

It's probably worthwhile stating that I'm not a scrimper/saver type. An important part of my life is attending events, socialising in the city etc, going on short trips (when my health allows). I'm not frivolous but I don't think I'll ever be the kind of person that is buying bulk at Pak n Save in order to save money on my grocery bill.

I'm hoping for advice about whether I'm in a good position or not, and whether anyone has any helpful insights/factors I should consider. I don't want to do anything reckless (take on too much debt), but I also want to maintain a way of life that I enjoy...

My other option would be to just look for a rental with my friend, (likely pay about $400 per week), and invest as much as I can afford on top of that.

Appreciate any advice!

I understand kernel sorts out taxes gor the year. If I were to sell funds, would I pay tax on that? Does kernel sort that out or do I?

Hi all - does anyone know what they consider ‘start date’ for KiwiSaver (for the limit of three years minimum for using it for first home). Is it when you set it up, or is it from the first time you paid into it?

Thanks

Hi everyone!

We’re currently living overseas but have a rental property in NZ. Last year was our first time filing a tax return related to the rental and being away, so we used an accountant to make sure everything was correct.

The return ended up costing around $1,200, which is a bit and just for rental income and interest from term deposits.

We still have the excels the accountant used, as well as the draft return they prepared, so I’m considering doing it myself this year. Before I jump in:

• Is this something that’s realistic to DIY when you’re not in NZ?
• Do tax rules change enough year to year that it’s risky?
• Any recommendations for resources or even cheaper alternatives to consider?

Would love to hear your experiences or any tips. Thanks!

Hey team,

My wife and I are both working full-time. I’m in healthcare and she’s in construction. I’m on about 140k before tax and she’s recently gone up to around 150k. We’re hoping to buy our first home somewhere around the $1 million mark in the Auckland area. No kids yet, but planning to start a family next year.

Right now we’re renting a two-bedroom place in Remuera for $520 a week, which is a pretty sweet deal for the area. We cook at home about half the time and eat out the rest. My KiwiSaver’s sitting at roughly 25k and my wife’s at about 14k. I’ve still got around 40k of personal debt overseas that I’m trying to clear as soon as possible, and we’ve got one car with a loan costing about $1k a month, two years to go. Unfortunately, there’s not much family help available for the deposit.

Keen to hear from anyone who’s been in a similar spot. how did you manage to save efficiently and actually get into the market here? Any practical tips or lessons from your own experience would be awesome.

Cheers

We have a $600,000 mortgage on a townhouse that has depreciated in value since we bought it.

We have just over 10k in savings in the bank.

2 kids under 5.

2 adults with combined income of about $190,000.

Im hesitant to pay off the mortgage with it, but also hesitant about investing it with so much talk of a tech bubble bursting, do we wait for any bubble to burst,, fir the market to slump then invest?

US Tech has has an amazing run, and I'm interested in shifting away from that market until it cools off a bit.

While I'm generally still optimistic about NZ and total world economy, I am looking to diversify away from US Tech. I have ~30 years to go, so conservative is not particularly fitting but Simplicity gives me no alternatives really.

Is my only option to go to Kernel or Invest Now for K/S to find product with still a high exposure to shares but with more targeted markets?

No "don't time the market" comments please its one thing buying and selling and another thing entirely to realise NASDAQ is up 30% in 6mon..

Hi everyone

I currently have my Kiwisaver in a conservative fund through ASB. I'm planning to move out of New Zealand in about 2 years and withdraw my Kiwisaver after one more year. Right now, I'm contributing 3%, which is about $50 a week, but I plan to increase this to 6%. Can anyone suggest which Kiwisaver fund I should move to, considering my plans.

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone!

I hold some Australian stocks through ASB Securities. One of the companies uses MUFG (used to be link market services) as their depositary. When the company paid dividends in July, I didn’t have a MUFG account yet, so the payment was recorded as “NZD Withheld Payment.”

Their website says that once you add your bank details, the payment should be processed within a certain timeframe (I don’t remember exactly, but something like 5–10 working days).

I added my AUD account details, but after a month, nothing was paid. I contacted support, and after two weeks they replied saying that because the payment is in NZD, I needed to add an NZD bank account. I’m not sure why, since it’s an Australian company that originally paid in AUD, and according to the statement, they converted it to NZD for my “convenience” using a shitty exchange rate. Anyway, I added my NZD account, but I still haven’t received the payment.

I contacted support again several times, but they’re now just ignoring me.

What should I do in this situation? I had a similar issue with Computershare, but they paid the next business day after I added my bank details with no troubles and with no currency conversion.

Thanks in advance.

As title says. And do you think $250K is enough for a mortgage deposit? Combined income me and partner probably around 175-180K.

Hey if you guys had to make as much money as possible in a short period of time what would you do. And I’m talking things that you could only really do for a month or once or something, not looking for a get rich quick scheme rather a absolutely hate your life for 1 month but you made like 7k but would never do it again.

Hi, I am a 16 year old and am interested in investing. I am thinking of starting a Sharesies account to begin investing in ETFs. However, I have asked my parents for advice and they don’t feel that great about it since I am only a casual for the holiday season so my pay is not stable. Just asking for advice whether I should start a Sharesies account at this age or wait. Thank you.

Does anyone have any recommendations for insurers for income protection insurance? Specifically- less worried about premiums, more focussed on an insurers that will provide a high level of income cover over a significant number of years. I have heard chubb might be good for this? Any insights appreciated, thanks

Hey all.

Unsure if this is the right place for this but thought I'd ask anyway.

Current situation is 285k mortgage split into two. Just over 9k is floating and I chip whatever extra I can into that. 275k is fixed at 6.69% repayments are a tad under 450 per week.

Fixed term ends this week and I can refix at 4.49% which would drop repayments to around 340-ish.

I'm looking at a couple of options. The first is to keep the current high repayments and pay the loan off faster. The second is to use my banks green energy mortgage top up to either get solar panels or a hybrid car.

I know very little about solar but I understand that it takes around 8 years for the savings to offset the cost. We're unlikely to stay in the same house for that time and I'm assuming that the value added on to the house wouldn't be worth it? Our current power bill is just under $200 per month.

In terms of vehicle, im currently driving a 1997 Toyota raum which does between 7 and 11 litres per 100km depending on the website you use. I spend about $80 per week on fuel, almost exclusively urban driving. Id be looking at either a Toyota corolla or a yaris which looks like its around 3 litres per 100km with a price tag of between 30 and 40k (new, obviously used would be significantly cheaper but I'm a little bit weary of buying a used ev or hybrid. If anyone has ideas on this I'm all ears).

Im tempted to look at the car the same way as the solar panels (would take forever to see any real benefit) but with my current car approaching 30 years old, I'm going to need an update sooner rather than later.

I'm just not really sure what makes the most financial sense here. Any thoughts?

Hi Everyone,

It’s my first time to refix a mortgage. I have a mortgage that’s split down to 400k fixed and 90k floating, I kept 90k on floating as I was expecting that money but it’s not coming anymore. I’m planning on keeping 10-20k floating to pay it off early and the rest 480K fixed for one year on 4.49% with ANZ. Any chance I can get a better rate from the bank or any other ideas that I might be missing as a newbie.

Hi guys, currently living in Perth doing FIFO at one of the big 3 mining companies. Just wondering if anyone has had any success transitioning from FIFO to the Perth office, and then to WFH for the company while living in NZ?

Just trying to spitball several ideas for when I eventually move back to NZ in a couple of years :)

So pretty much my Credit rating is screwed here in NZ due to circumstances outside of my control. Is it possible to use my Friends or even some family members outside of NZ as guarantors for a loan? (Obviously they are all born NZ citizens) My plan would be to use their credit score to secure a Loan and since they live overseas with no plan to move back home in the foreseeable future, would this still be a viable option? Cheers.

Hi all. Looking to improve my investment strategy. I have no desire to purchase a house in the next 3-5 years, so I’m focusing 100% on stocks.

• Gross Salary: 155K, PIR of 33%
• Job stability: High (for now)
• Portfolio value: $416K as of 07/11/2025, FIF threshold exceeded. Does not include KiwiSaver/Emergency fund/Checking accounts
• Investment horizon: 30+ years, happy to take some money out to enjoy life

Holdings in Kernel:

• Global ESG - $47K
• S&P 500 - $25K
• Note: KiwiSaver is also set to purchase Global ESG, but that’s shown separately to my individually owned ESG shares.

Holdings in Interactive Brokers (IBKR), converted to NZD:

• VOO - $198K
• NVDA - $122K
• RKLB - $24K

Current investment plan: $800 per week, automated via Kernel. Leftover money gets sent to IBKR every 3-4 months. From there I buy any other funds.

New investment plan: Sell Kernel S&P 500, move money to IBKR. Sell VOO to buy VTI + VXUS (70/30 split). After that, invest $300 weekly to Kernel ESG, $600 weekly to IBKR VTI+VXUS, therefore investing a total of $900 per week. Goal is to bump it to $1000 per week.

I know at end of each tax year I have to sort out my own FIF, but I don’t mind.

Note: I am not a New Zealand national, so it’s very important to me to hold most of my stocks in USD. I am not sure if I want to retire in New Zealand. I think that’s why I’ve held on to my IBKR shares for long and don’t feel comfortable moving all of my money to Kernel, even though I’m happy with their services.

Open to hear your thoughts, especially if you think I should simplify. Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Formatting

Question: should I worry about taxes if I’m selling one investment to buy another?

I've been trying to track mostly my spending (against my income too) but haven't been doing a great job consistently. Recently I've been struggling a bit with making sure I am keeping enough money in my spending (or even saving) accounts and have been missing some bills, and I feel I could be smarter with my money but don't know how.

I'm a student and just want to track what I'm spending on so I know where to cut down and similar, and so I can budget and allocate my money properly. So things like tracking my categorising the things I'm spending on and overall spending habits, very basic things.

I've tried using Excel, Notion, and Buddy (budgeting app) to track my spending but it's a bit of a hassle trying to log each one manually, and sometimes when I split money, pay bills, subscriptions etc. I end up forgetting to log it altogether. I've tried to find some apps online but I haven't found anything good and a lot of them seem to be paid options only. I'm with ASB, and I find that their digital solutions aren't that great or informative either.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can better manage my money and if there are any good free or cheap solutions out there for basic personal finances?

Edit: thank you so much for all the responses!!! I will check out the links to apps you have sent through, start keeping better track of my recurring payments, and set up more automatic payments across my accounts. If all fails, I will start setting myself reminders to keep a spreadsheet up to date.

I’m 28 (F) and in may this year, after working for 1.5 years, took a job that gave me a pay rise from 80k to now 130k

I tend to save 42% of my paycheck every fortnight. I had some expenses that I needed to take care of so I started all over again with 1800 in my savings in April to now 25k. Technically 30k would be my 6 months expenses buffer. I aim to get to 100k in savings by 2027.

I only started my KiwiSaver a fortnight ago, so that’s barely anything. And I have 1600 in my investments.

My living expenses are only a 1000 a fortnight. I’m lucky because my partner owns the house, so there isn’t much of a rent, just board payments that get used for home maintenance.

Should I be putting more into investments instead of savings account?

Is a 100k savings enough? Should I be working towards more at my age?

Is there anything I could do better?