This week's podcast is all about 51-year-old Julian. We picked up the phone for a good old kōrero in late June 2025. Let’s just say, if talking were an Olympic sport, Julian and I would tie for first place. Late in 2023, useful financial resources started appearing on his radar, not that he tuned into them fully, but they set him on a journey. From there, he began his financial U-turn, which led him to The Happy Saver and all the inspiring stories I’ve shared. He discovered The Barefoot Investor, Rebel Finance School, Mr. Money Mustache, and the world of financial security and independence in general. In this way, he feels that as a late starter, he has found a community that values discussing money. And although he still has a way to go, and he’s easily distracted, he’s feeling increasingly confident with the financial scaffolding he has begun to put in place. He’s got 14 years to go before his 65th birthday and, if he can keep himself on track (something that doesn’t come easily to him), he’s setting himself up for success.

In today’s episode, you’ll hear from an awesome couple, Kate and Taka, aged 33 and 34, who are doing life and money a little differently, and doing it well. From the moment we started talking, I could tell they’d put a lot of thought into not just their finances, but how they want to live. Over the past few years, they’ve made some bold, intentional choices: moving south, stepping back from full-time work to each working just two days a week, and prioritising time with their three young kids. It’s not the typical path, but it’s one they’ve carved out thoughtfully and intentionally. And mathematically. We chat about how they’ve managed to build a life that gives them both freedom and stability by sticking with frugal habits from their student days, questioning whether more work really means more money, and making financial decisions as a true team. Taka’s a fan of the numbers, Kate brings the big-picture perspective, and together they’ve found a rhythm that works. This episode is packed with practical tips, honest insights, and a refreshing example of what it looks like to live by design, not by default.

This is a revisit episode, I enjoy doing these because I like you wonder, “Whatever happened to…?” I last spoke with Hamish in 2021, Episode 50, An Investor With Military Precision, back when he was a 27-year-old solo homeowner and disciplined saver working in the New Zealand military. Fast-forward four years, and life has changed: he’s now 31, married to Sophie, and the two of them are navigating homeownership, investing, and future planning as a team. It’s clear from talking to Hamish that theirs is a partnership built on communication, respect, and shared goals. With two minds on the case, they’re refining their investment strategy, slowly shifting from property-heavy assets toward a simpler, more diversified approach, while still living a good life with their growing whānau.

This episode revisits my August 2022 conversation with Neil in Episode 69, A Financially Complicated Breakup. Now 52, Neil has lived in New Zealand for 20 years, working in IT since moving from the UK in 2005. He retained his UK property as a rental and began learning about personal finance around 2006. When KiwiSaver started in 2007, he joined up, and by our first chat, his KiwiSaver had grown to $200,000. After a previous long-term relationship ended with a fair asset split, Neil began to invest more and more in a range of ETF funds. A new relationship followed, and he became a father, but without a relationship property agreement in place, the eventual breakup led to a bitter legal dispute over money. Hearing his story offered a valuable male perspective on something I more often hear from women: lengthy, painful separations marked by financial and emotional strain. Often, there’s already a financial imbalance, which becomes even more difficult when children are involved and time off work affects a woman’s earning power. While I’m mindful this is only Neil’s side of the story, I’m pleased to share that this challenging chapter ultimately ended well, and I hope the details provide insight and hope to others navigating similar situations.

In this episode, I chat with Tracey, a long-time reader and listener of The Happy Saver who first came on my radar through her detailed Debt Free Questionnaire in 2022. Tracey and her husband have reached what's known as Coast FI—meaning they already have enough money invested that, even if they never added another dollar to their investments, by the time they reach 65, it will have grown to their required amount. This gives them the flexibility to reduce their working hours in their self-employed HR roles if they choose. We dig into how Tracey got herself to this point and where she plans to take it from here. It’s an interesting episode, with quite a bit of complexity, but I think it’s a fascinating one, as this couple have independently and collectively created a lot of options for themselves. Tracey said she has had a “lumpy” journey, and that “there is no need to go anywhere in a straight line.” The key for her is that she is making progress. She is a firm believer in setting up an investment, making regular contributions to it, but not being afraid to make changes and do things differently as you continue to research and learn new information.

After my long kōrero with Sammy to prepare this episode, my head was spinning from all the twists and turns of her story. After 57 years of personal and financial trauma, last year, in 2024, Sammy had her “aha” moment when she said “Screw it, I’m sick of this,” and started to let a little light shine on her money. Once she had opened the door a crack, she basically just ripped the whole roof off her financial life, and has had a complete, and hopefully permanent, financial transformation. She’s not done yet; she has some mahi in front of her, but she is well on her way. I’ll often meet people who blow up their financial lives for the better, and the progress they make is astounding. Sammy is one of these people. Twice divorced, and with three children, one of whom has special needs, she has spent many years often living below the poverty line and buying bread and milk on a credit card that she could not pay off, and sometimes she has made decisions that kept her on the poverty line. Over the decades, she trained as a teacher and stabilised her situation, but still made questionable financial choices, until finally, aged 58 today, she is charging ahead.

In November 2024, I attended Black FI-Day, New Zealand’s first financial independence hui. Nearly 40 people gathered for this three-day event to share their financial journeys. One of them was Amelie, the person in the spotlight today. Just 19 at the time, she showed up on her own and was understandably nervous. But before long, every participant was in awe of this young wahine from Taranaki, who had decided that if spending a weekend with a bunch of strangers meant learning about money and building financial confidence, it was worth the risk. She got fully involved in the weekend, even sharing her situation in a case study that she presented to the group. Now 20, she joined me for a kōrero, giving me the chance to dive deeper into her money journey. I hope today’s episode resonates with teens, 20-somethings, and to the adults who happen to have a young person in their midst.

Today, I’m sharing the financial ins and outs of Alan and Katie Donegan, the world-travelling English couple behind Rebel Finance School. Over the years, we have become friends, and learning about their journey to financial independence and then watching them move into full retirement has been incredibly motivating for both Jonny and me. They finally made it to New Zealand, and back in early December 2024, we sat down at my kitchen table, where they generously answered all of my nosy questions. I’m looking forward to sharing their personal finance journey with you because once they discovered the concept of financial independence, these two were on FIRE!

I first met today's guest, Ajith, when he emailed me with a couple of questions back in 2024. He’d come across The Happy Saver while on the hunt for some motivation to keep pushing towards the goal that he and his wife Arya have to become debt-free by his 39th birthday, which is in 2028. When they began to lose patience and motivation, hearing both my journey with money and that of others helped to keep them on track. This couple are in their mid-thirties, with an eight-year-old daughter and live on the East Coast of the North Island. When I spoke with them at length in October of 2024 and again in February 2025, they were debt-free except for the $223,000 mortgage they have on the home they had built in 2021. They have also been investing in their KiwiSaver plus in investments outside of KiwiSaver. I wanted to share their journey today because his email to me and our subsequent kōrero threw up the dilemma of paying down debt fast vs investing. I think you will enjoy it.

In mid-October 2024, I brewed a coffee, sat down, and gave Poto a call. She’s been a long-time listener of the podcast, drawing on insights from past guests to help guide her decisions over the years. Back in 2021, she and I started exchanging emails, and we've stayed in touch ever since. When we recently crossed paths in person, I learned more about her journey and couldn’t help asking if she’d join me for a kōrero. True to her kind and generous nature, she agreed. Poto is 57 years old and calls the Central Plateau, in the centre of the North Island, her home and playground. She loves the area and loves the great outdoors. She had been heading down a few avenues that didn’t sit quite right with her and backing out to take another path, but steadily, she tracked towards the FI (Financial Independence) community and a more simple path to wealth. With dedication and mahi, she’s reached a point of financial independence—and today, she’s here to share her story.

This week, I’m making a bit of an exception and chatting with someone who was a bit reluctant to talk about money. Which is ironic, given this is a podcast that talks about money. Rob, a 33-year-old plumber from Western Australia, took a little persuading to come on my podcast, but I persisted because I knew enough about him to know that his personal finance story is one that many of us will be able to relate to and draw ideas from. Rob is essentially financially independent, working just a quarter of the year, and he recently hosted Tribe FI, a personal finance retreat. I met Rob after he invited me to speak at the event, and after some detective work to confirm he wasn’t a scammer (spoiler: he’s not), Jonny and I attended—and loved it. In this episode, I delve into Rob’s journey to financial independence and what inspired him to create a space for like-minded people to connect.

In today's episode, I will be sharing the financial journey of Jack, a Kiwi from the lower North Island. Jack found The Happy Saver when he was searching for podcasts on money. As an investor in rental property, he was looking to learn about shares. As you’ll find out shortly, he leads an interesting life. He has a personality that I can relate to; he said he could talk to a lamp post, and as a result, he meets heaps of people, so he had no qualms about stopping in to visit Jonny and I when he was down in Central Otago riding the famous Rail Trail and doing other interesting things, earlier in the year. We’ve stayed in touch since, and I’m pleased I have because Jack gets about. When we chatted for this podcast, he was sitting in San Fransisco, having just had many months overseas and was getting ready to board a three-week cruise to bring him back home to Aotearoa.

Today’s episode is an update on North Island couple Chris and Rosemary. Their first episode came out in March 2021 — it was episode number 49. Since then, we’ve kept in touch, and today’s episode is an update on where this couple are now, in terms of both money and life. It’s safe to say they have absolutely transformed their situation, and I hope this episode lights a fire under those listening and prompts you to reach for a few stretch goals, whatever they might be. Over the last four years, Chris has sent me some pretty epic emails as he went on a deep dive into learning about personal finance. I watched from the sidelines as he got Rosemary on the same page. They’ve since both utterly transformed their financial lives, embarking on a new journey toward financial independence. Today’s update won’t disappoint — these two are not mucking around.

Today's episode began with an email from a Kiwi couple in their mid-40s, who asked to be called Tokyo and Rio, inspired by the show Money Heist. Tokyo reached out just before Christmas 2023, sharing how a sinking fund she started nearly a year ago was making her happy amidst a tough financial year. It had been a challenging one—an overseas trip, big bills for their rental property, tax and ACC bills, and a lower-than-expected income. They were considering a $15,000 mortgage top-up to cover it all. But Tokyo wanted to know if there was a better way. Of course, there is another option. I hit reply to her email and proceeded to throw the cat amongst the pigeons.

When I received an email from a guy called John saying that he and his wife Betty have gone from being terrible with money and trying (unsuccessfully) to grow wealth via debt to completely changing their mentality to one of getting away from debt, even going so far as to head to the mines in Australia to clean up the consumer debt mess they had created, they had my attention. Today, I want to share the story of a 38 and 39-year-old married couple with two primary school-aged kids who are on the crest of a knowledge wave when it comes to money. Month by month, they are reassessing everything they thought to be true about money and now are tackling their biggest remaining debt head-on, their $480,000 mortgage.

Ruby stumbled across The Happy Saver in October of 2022, prompting her to email me with a couple of questions. She’d recently signed up with Sharesies and was testing the waters by investing $20 a week, and had a few questions about where to start. Plus, she had a question about her KiwiSaver. While at home with two young tamariki, she had just realised that even when she was not in the paid workforce, she could voluntarily contribute money into her account, which she immediately started doing. Taking a moment to think about investing made her start digging around for more information about her money. From then on, her thirst for financial literacy grew, and she began to search for information that could teach her to be better with her pūtea. A year went by, and I heard from her again. She went into more detail, which led to me asking her to be on my podcast today. She is now 34, and her husband Tim is 38. They live in rural Canterbury with their two preschool children. I think their journey is typical of a lot of Kiwis, and what I particularly like is that they continue to adjust their financial course as new information comes to light.

Congratulations, you have made it to the final episode of 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 podcasts I have EVER written. Condensing “investing” into a single episode 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 KiwiSaver and ETF investments. I don’t want you to take so long to settle on your own strategy. I’m no different to you when I say, “I wish I knew then what I know now”. We had some margin in our budget, and I was looking for something to make us money. I started by asking my bank's opinion and followed a trail of crumbs of information from there. Ultimately, I finally found good information, which I want to share today.

Get out of debt, and stay out of debt. I think of debt as a phase of life that I moved through. That period has passed, and I’ve moved on. Jonny and I have 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. Despite our bank trying to lure us back into debt to buy a rental property, there has never been a day that we regretted becoming permanently debt-free. We never have to seek the bank's opinion about our financial decisions again.

The fourth part of this six-part series is one of the easier topics to cover, KiwiSaver. Joining KiwiSaver is a no-brainer, and it still surprises me when I meet people who are not in it. I’m always looking ahead and doing my best to determine what I might need money for and how much I might need. I keep my ear to the ground about how affordable retirement is for New Zealanders. I talk to people over 65 and ask them what advice they would give me about financially preparing for retirement. Then I ask myself if, on my current trajectory, I’m heading in the right direction.

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. My previous episode discussed budgeting and planning for upcoming expenses. However, try as I might, I can’t think of everything. Your emergency fund covers the things you forgot despite your best intentions.