07 Apr, 2024 Congratulations, you have made it to the final blog post in this series of six: INVESTING Investing can be incredibly complex, but I found a way to simplify it. I used to feel overwhelmed by the options available, but now I don't. I’m hoping to help you feel the same way. But still, this is one of the most challenging blog posts I have EVER written. Condensing “investing” into a single document is no easy feat. The Happy Saver was born out of my search for information about what I could invest our money in. It took me years to arrive at our current strategy, which combines KiwiSav ..read more

24 Mar, 2024 Get out of debt. Stay out of debt. I think of debt as a phase of life I moved through. That period has passed, and I’ve moved on. Jonny and I have now been entirely debt-free since our early 30s, and I encourage you to head down the debt-free path as well. Debt has always had an ‘ick’ factor for me, a feeling I am grateful for. I like earning interest, but I hate paying it. When I was in my early twenties, each time I went into debt, it was under the advice of others. A good friend encouraged me to lay-by (the 90’s equivalent of BNPL) a piece of art. My Dad encouraged me to take o ..read more

25 Feb, 2024 The best thing I ever did was set some cash into a bank account, which we could instantly access in a financial emergency. It is an amount of money set aside in a specific bank account to be used for bailing myself out if something happens that I didn’t otherwise plan for but I need money to pay for.  It takes me less than one minute to log into my banking and move money from my emergency account to my spending account.  I can’t plan for everything. My previous blog post discussed budgeting and planning for upcoming expenses. However, try as I might, I can’t think of eve ..read more

11 Feb, 2024 In the first blog post in this series of six, I quickly showed you how to calculate your net worth. It will take a little longer today, but I want to explain why you need to keep an eye on how and where you earn and spend your money, i.e., budgeting. When you learn to budget, your net worth will begin to increase. Budgeting is simply making a plan for your pūtea (money).  Although I meet hundreds of people who are keen, motivated and willing to do better with their money, I meet few who are “Oh yay, let’s track our spending and earning each month”.  I know. I understand ..read more

28 Jan, 2024 Welcome to the first post in a short six-part blog series. Finally, I’m crafting a collection of blog posts to cover critical areas that will set you on the right path with your pūtea.  Each day, I answer emails that all touch on one of the following aspects of money: How do you work out your net worth? And why even bother? The purpose and usefulness of budgeting. Why an emergency fund is a good idea. How do you get one? Questions about KiwiSaver How to get out of debt. Why should you bother? Investing. What are my options? I’m repeatedly answering similar quest ..read more

14 Jan, 2024 Welcome to 2024! For those new to my blog, an extra big WELCOME. I’ve been blogging and podcasting since 2016. Have a dig around my website if you have the time. The gist of The Happy Saver is me sharing helpful information about my family’s finances and helping you create a better financial position for yourself. I’m working toward my husband Jonny and I becoming ‘work optional’, meaning we have enough money invested to no longer need to earn an income. We started at zero and are well on our way towards that goal. I’m not a financial advisor; I can’t give financial advice, but th ..read more

10 Dec, 2023 ? Meri Kirihimete - Happy Christmas ? This year, we are excited to give away a bunch of goodies to the fabulous people who subscribe to The Happy Saver. Thank you so much for your support throughout 2023. Nothing says CHRISTMAS like a book on good money management, some budgeting software or buying shares; am I right? Indeed, I am! There are dozens of financial books to choose from, and I own most of them, but I’ve selected the books below because they tend to be some of the ones I recommend and lend to others most often. I think they give the most valuable and actionable informat ..read more

26 Nov, 2023 A super quick blog post this week because I thought you might find it interesting. My audience finds it helpful when we share our numbers. My last blog post, Share Market Shocker, shared that our investments had dropped $25,000 between August and October 2023. I said I’d give you an update in a year. Well, just to show how fast and volatile the share markets are, it's only been three weeks, but I have an update for you. To quickly recap. When I tallied up our combined investments of KiwiSaver (Simplicity High Growth) and our two ETF funds (Smartshares US 500 and NZ 50) on the firs ..read more

5 Nov, 2023 Having invested in my KiwiSaver since 2007 and ETFs since at least 2015, I no longer take much notice of what the local and international share markets are doing.  However, on the first of every new month, I have to check in on the value of each investment so I can update our net worth spreadsheet, a document on my laptop that I’ve been adding to for years. I note down the value of each asset and how much money we invested into each during that month. In total, year to date to the 1st of November, we have added ~ $21,000.  We invest regularly: KiwiSaver - Weekly employe ..read more

22 Oct, 2023 I’m not sure what’s going on at the moment, but I’m getting a higher-than-usual amount of emails that are along these lines: Hey Ruth, How are you? I've just been looking at the **INSERT INVESTMENT COMPANY NAME HERE** range of newly released funds. They have an annual fee of X%, which is pretty low! I’m thinking of switching and currently researching options and would love to know if you have any thoughts about those funds. Thanks, and have a fab day! Often, people will say they are looking at funds that buy a particular sector, such as technology, crypto or property. Or ones th ..read more