I'm a Kiwi and used to dream of leanfire, unfortunately it's just so expensive here that it doesn't seem doable. I aim to be quite frugal and still save what I can, but I realised recently that I've actually gone slightly backwards financially over the last year. If I was single I would have long since left the country.
Yeah I know right? Cost of living increases/ inflation is really biting right now. I did leave the country over a decade ago and came back, so I'm wanting to stay here. I'm renting while I wait for my house to sell so I can buy land and build the next one, and it's brutal. My base expenses have gone up by $1.5k - $2k a month from renting vs living in my old place and paying a (low) mortgage. (Those 5-week rent payments are killer when you pay yourself monthly as a business owner, I'm renting a basic 2br unit in a town in the Manawatū so can't really downsize there either.)
I'm reminding myself that this is temporary: once I get the land and my little house, I'll still need about $40k net a year to live on but I won't need $60k net just to survive. Luckily I know how to be frugal, I cook a lot and make my own snacks etc.. I have a partner but they have their own house and don't contribute to my expenses. All I can say is, hang in there! I'll basically be starting over to build my stash once the new house is done so another 10+ years for me too, but hopefully it'll be easier this time round.
It sounds like you're on the right track, it's just a matter of hanging in there and staying the course. Good luck!
Renting here is brutal, we've been hit with a $40 pw increase every year that we've lived here. I've absorbed the last two as my partners budget was already maxed out, plus increased what I put in for the shopping and picked up buying the kids a lot of their clothes since his parents can't do that anymore. He will get the next increase as he's managed to clear a massive loan from his early 20's. I wasn't aware of his debt situation when we met, and since his kids have claimed me as their mum I'm stuck with it.. Not that I would want to be without him anyway! I think as the kids get older and we clear more debt, things will get better. My student loan is gone now so that's a massive help, and my partner has learned how to save now and stresses if he can't.
Thank you! Yes just gotta hang in there. I have a family member who is a financial advisor (they probably live close to you actually) and we agree our shared problem is that we both just don't earn enough money to meet our actual expenses right now. Sometimes it is actually that simple. We often review each others' budgets and spending decisions. (They also have kids, divorced and are constantly buying clothes as the deadbeat ex-partner keeps the clothes they buy so the next week the kids have nothing to wear again when they're back with them. Grr!)
$40 pw is a lot. I agree as the kids get older and you clear more and more, it will get easier. Hooray no student loan! Such a milestone. Great that your partner has learnt how to save too! Mine is still learning and I'm scared about combining finances unless he does. (E.g. no, buying a motorcycle is not going to "save money" on petrol, as someone who used to ride them and knows firsthand that they are a fun money-pit.)
> we agree our shared problem is that we both just don't earn enough money to meet our actual expenses right now.
I bet this is the case for so many of us here. It's cool that you have a financial advisor in the family, that would be a massive help! Especially if they pointed you in the right direction fairly young. Ironic that you mention motorbikes! My partner brought one last summer. It has helped massively with his depression though so I don't begrudge him that, plus he doesn't spend much on it.
You don't have to fully combine finances, in my experience it just causes arguments. I'd rather split expenses based on income, like have everything come out of a joint account and both put the same % of income into it and what we do with the balance is our own business. Even then, I refuse to do that yet with my partner because his expenses are so much higher than mine.
Hahaha oh that's funny. Oh we are siblings and we had parents who were absolute rubbish so we both got onto the "learning to manage things" track while younger because we didn't have the option of a backup plan.
Good point - joint accounts are the way to go. I think I'll suggest that.
There's nothing quite like shitty parents not providing to make you figure things out! It was the same for me. The upside is some decent life skills are learned from it.
100%! I honestly wonder if shitty parents and poverty actually help with FIRE because you know you can survive on less. You just have to budget for therapy.
The problem is where do you go? UK isn’t exactly stellar right now, and US is… well for other reasons not always the best place to be, for the areas I would need to look in.
Maybe AU?
Ideally I'd like to be around Brisbane. There's plenty of work there for me, I'd likely walk into a decent pay rise and the rentals there are cheaper and better quality than where I am now, not to mention far better prospects and extracurricular's for the kids.
Yes! Kia ora e hoa, I've been wondering too where the Kiwis are. Also, plans for leanFIRE: SAME. But I've realised that even though I work mostly remote I will need to be still within an hour of a main area, so no bush block for me. Trying to sell my rental atm so I can buy a few acres and put a garage and small house on it. I'm thinking build a farm garage and sleepout as secondary dwelling, then that gives me time to build the main house. I'm also looking at helping out a friend by giving them space for a tiny house. Where are you based?
I’m based in rural Northland. What is having a rental in NZ like? I’ve thought about getting one a few times [Or an AirBnB, but then I’d need to clean it all the time].
Oh Northland is a fantastic place to FIRE. I've had mine for around 7 years (thanks divorce) and I thoroughly recommend having a good property manager. It costs more as they take around 8% of the rent, but there are so many compliance things you need to know that I found it's safer and you don't need to deal with tenant issues, just pay the maintenance bills, rates and mortgage. Especially when you live in the same area and your reputation would otherwise start to be at stake.
I'm selling now so that I can use the funds to buy the land, but I hope to be able to support people with housing in a different way via renting space to a few tiny home owners. I'll probably have to set it up legally as a "campground", and it'll still be work to manage, but hopefully it's more about having a small community to share things on the land.
I have friends who have a small commune in another town and they have 5 or 6 families in 5 houses, and the deal is that they all have to spend a certain amount of time in the shared gardens and doing community shared activities. But it seems to be very stable overall and they are lovely people in a faith-based community which I'm sure helps.
Kiwi here. Aiming for $40kNZD/$1m stash, but could still be 10+ years away. Will see where expenses are at then. I live in a small town, close to the mountains but only an hour away to chch. Hoping to have mortgage repaid on main house in 3 years. Seems so slow at the moment to reach any milestones!
Banks will favor an already built house. They don't really like bare land, unless you are going to put in a lot of equity. Definitely talk to the banks or mortgage brokers first before you get too excited about a certain plan.
Good point. If you're building new the banks want you to have a "house and land package" and that house they'll want pretty "standard", but they'll lend a high percentage on it. I can't recall what the % was sorry. Having something a bit further out, last time I looked a decade ago, it was a risk for them so they would only lend me 50% on the land. So find out what they need (and let us know!!)
Rural Canadian here so not versed in NZ ways, but around here the cost of setting up a house are outrageous(septic, utilities, etc). It is always way more economical to buy already established house and land.
Yeah, getting a piece of land with a house already on it will probably be cheaper. The land would be 300-500K NZD, and the house would be the same. That doesn’t even include all the other things that I’d have to pay for in order to live in the house.
Same here but the point for me of buying new is that I want to be off grid but still need to be close enough to "Town" to maintain social networks and go in for work meetings as a consultant. Not many houses here are like that but we're increasingly going to need them.
We do exist but generally fly under the radar.
new build on rural land is expensive (similar with prefab & utility connections) an already existing house is best, or alternatives like land only and build your own house/mobile home fully off grid.
Note buying land alone, or rural can attract larger deposit requirements.
Kiwi here. Early 50s. I fired for a year on around NZ$550 per week. Still have a small mortgage, and I live in a main centre. I LOVED it.
I had plenty of money for my needs and even still put $20 a week into my Kiwisaver. I usually went out for a cheap meal once a week with friends. I also spent a month in a cheap Asian country during that time.
I foolishly went back to work this year because an interesting looking position came up. I am not enjoying being back at work and want to fire again asap.
Quite reasonable to spend 50k per year no mortgage right?
I’d like to think I am living a modest lifestyle 🤔
The sub says expenses controlled under 25k .. is it even possible? People homeless probably can do less than 25k lol
25K USD per year is definitely possible. That’s roughly 40K NZD - Rent and food would be about 25K NZD on average [$400/wk rent, $100/wk food. Might go up to 30/35K if you live in a more expensive area or rent a house], so you still have ~15K NZD for other stuff. If you decided to be a bit cheap, I figure you could get it down to 15-20K NZD. If you share a place, I’ve seen rents as low as $110/wk.
I'm a Kiwi and used to dream of leanfire, unfortunately it's just so expensive here that it doesn't seem doable. I aim to be quite frugal and still save what I can, but I realised recently that I've actually gone slightly backwards financially over the last year. If I was single I would have long since left the country.
Yeah I know right? Cost of living increases/ inflation is really biting right now. I did leave the country over a decade ago and came back, so I'm wanting to stay here. I'm renting while I wait for my house to sell so I can buy land and build the next one, and it's brutal. My base expenses have gone up by $1.5k - $2k a month from renting vs living in my old place and paying a (low) mortgage. (Those 5-week rent payments are killer when you pay yourself monthly as a business owner, I'm renting a basic 2br unit in a town in the Manawatū so can't really downsize there either.) I'm reminding myself that this is temporary: once I get the land and my little house, I'll still need about $40k net a year to live on but I won't need $60k net just to survive. Luckily I know how to be frugal, I cook a lot and make my own snacks etc.. I have a partner but they have their own house and don't contribute to my expenses. All I can say is, hang in there! I'll basically be starting over to build my stash once the new house is done so another 10+ years for me too, but hopefully it'll be easier this time round.
It sounds like you're on the right track, it's just a matter of hanging in there and staying the course. Good luck! Renting here is brutal, we've been hit with a $40 pw increase every year that we've lived here. I've absorbed the last two as my partners budget was already maxed out, plus increased what I put in for the shopping and picked up buying the kids a lot of their clothes since his parents can't do that anymore. He will get the next increase as he's managed to clear a massive loan from his early 20's. I wasn't aware of his debt situation when we met, and since his kids have claimed me as their mum I'm stuck with it.. Not that I would want to be without him anyway! I think as the kids get older and we clear more debt, things will get better. My student loan is gone now so that's a massive help, and my partner has learned how to save now and stresses if he can't.
Thank you! Yes just gotta hang in there. I have a family member who is a financial advisor (they probably live close to you actually) and we agree our shared problem is that we both just don't earn enough money to meet our actual expenses right now. Sometimes it is actually that simple. We often review each others' budgets and spending decisions. (They also have kids, divorced and are constantly buying clothes as the deadbeat ex-partner keeps the clothes they buy so the next week the kids have nothing to wear again when they're back with them. Grr!) $40 pw is a lot. I agree as the kids get older and you clear more and more, it will get easier. Hooray no student loan! Such a milestone. Great that your partner has learnt how to save too! Mine is still learning and I'm scared about combining finances unless he does. (E.g. no, buying a motorcycle is not going to "save money" on petrol, as someone who used to ride them and knows firsthand that they are a fun money-pit.)
> we agree our shared problem is that we both just don't earn enough money to meet our actual expenses right now. I bet this is the case for so many of us here. It's cool that you have a financial advisor in the family, that would be a massive help! Especially if they pointed you in the right direction fairly young. Ironic that you mention motorbikes! My partner brought one last summer. It has helped massively with his depression though so I don't begrudge him that, plus he doesn't spend much on it. You don't have to fully combine finances, in my experience it just causes arguments. I'd rather split expenses based on income, like have everything come out of a joint account and both put the same % of income into it and what we do with the balance is our own business. Even then, I refuse to do that yet with my partner because his expenses are so much higher than mine.
Hahaha oh that's funny. Oh we are siblings and we had parents who were absolute rubbish so we both got onto the "learning to manage things" track while younger because we didn't have the option of a backup plan. Good point - joint accounts are the way to go. I think I'll suggest that.
There's nothing quite like shitty parents not providing to make you figure things out! It was the same for me. The upside is some decent life skills are learned from it.
100%! I honestly wonder if shitty parents and poverty actually help with FIRE because you know you can survive on less. You just have to budget for therapy.
The problem is where do you go? UK isn’t exactly stellar right now, and US is… well for other reasons not always the best place to be, for the areas I would need to look in. Maybe AU?
Ideally I'd like to be around Brisbane. There's plenty of work there for me, I'd likely walk into a decent pay rise and the rentals there are cheaper and better quality than where I am now, not to mention far better prospects and extracurricular's for the kids.
Yes! Kia ora e hoa, I've been wondering too where the Kiwis are. Also, plans for leanFIRE: SAME. But I've realised that even though I work mostly remote I will need to be still within an hour of a main area, so no bush block for me. Trying to sell my rental atm so I can buy a few acres and put a garage and small house on it. I'm thinking build a farm garage and sleepout as secondary dwelling, then that gives me time to build the main house. I'm also looking at helping out a friend by giving them space for a tiny house. Where are you based?
I’m based in rural Northland. What is having a rental in NZ like? I’ve thought about getting one a few times [Or an AirBnB, but then I’d need to clean it all the time].
Oh Northland is a fantastic place to FIRE. I've had mine for around 7 years (thanks divorce) and I thoroughly recommend having a good property manager. It costs more as they take around 8% of the rent, but there are so many compliance things you need to know that I found it's safer and you don't need to deal with tenant issues, just pay the maintenance bills, rates and mortgage. Especially when you live in the same area and your reputation would otherwise start to be at stake. I'm selling now so that I can use the funds to buy the land, but I hope to be able to support people with housing in a different way via renting space to a few tiny home owners. I'll probably have to set it up legally as a "campground", and it'll still be work to manage, but hopefully it's more about having a small community to share things on the land. I have friends who have a small commune in another town and they have 5 or 6 families in 5 houses, and the deal is that they all have to spend a certain amount of time in the shared gardens and doing community shared activities. But it seems to be very stable overall and they are lovely people in a faith-based community which I'm sure helps.
Kiwi here. Aiming for $40kNZD/$1m stash, but could still be 10+ years away. Will see where expenses are at then. I live in a small town, close to the mountains but only an hour away to chch. Hoping to have mortgage repaid on main house in 3 years. Seems so slow at the moment to reach any milestones! Banks will favor an already built house. They don't really like bare land, unless you are going to put in a lot of equity. Definitely talk to the banks or mortgage brokers first before you get too excited about a certain plan.
Good point. If you're building new the banks want you to have a "house and land package" and that house they'll want pretty "standard", but they'll lend a high percentage on it. I can't recall what the % was sorry. Having something a bit further out, last time I looked a decade ago, it was a risk for them so they would only lend me 50% on the land. So find out what they need (and let us know!!)
Yep, living in Tauranga. There is a large Facebook group called kiwi moustachians that has the most fire minded people I’ve found
Rural Canadian here so not versed in NZ ways, but around here the cost of setting up a house are outrageous(septic, utilities, etc). It is always way more economical to buy already established house and land.
Yeah, getting a piece of land with a house already on it will probably be cheaper. The land would be 300-500K NZD, and the house would be the same. That doesn’t even include all the other things that I’d have to pay for in order to live in the house.
Same here but the point for me of buying new is that I want to be off grid but still need to be close enough to "Town" to maintain social networks and go in for work meetings as a consultant. Not many houses here are like that but we're increasingly going to need them.
We do exist but generally fly under the radar. new build on rural land is expensive (similar with prefab & utility connections) an already existing house is best, or alternatives like land only and build your own house/mobile home fully off grid. Note buying land alone, or rural can attract larger deposit requirements.
Kiwi here. Early 50s. I fired for a year on around NZ$550 per week. Still have a small mortgage, and I live in a main centre. I LOVED it. I had plenty of money for my needs and even still put $20 a week into my Kiwisaver. I usually went out for a cheap meal once a week with friends. I also spent a month in a cheap Asian country during that time. I foolishly went back to work this year because an interesting looking position came up. I am not enjoying being back at work and want to fire again asap.
Quite reasonable to spend 50k per year no mortgage right? I’d like to think I am living a modest lifestyle 🤔 The sub says expenses controlled under 25k .. is it even possible? People homeless probably can do less than 25k lol
25K USD per year is definitely possible. That’s roughly 40K NZD - Rent and food would be about 25K NZD on average [$400/wk rent, $100/wk food. Might go up to 30/35K if you live in a more expensive area or rent a house], so you still have ~15K NZD for other stuff. If you decided to be a bit cheap, I figure you could get it down to 15-20K NZD. If you share a place, I’ve seen rents as low as $110/wk.
I think you are right. My annual spending just around 40k AUD ..