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Voiceover by Te Kahukura: Welcome to How We Money. Brought to you by Māori Millionaire and ANZ. A six-part series designed to help you make better money moves and achieve your financial goals. Each month will drop a simple, practical episode to help you build confidence with your cash. Māori Millionaire and ANZ care deeply about financial wellbeing in our communities, which is why we want you to not just listen but to take action. If you do one positive thing after every episode, that's six powerful steps forward. Let's get into it.
Te Kahukura: Mauri ora e te whānau. Nau mai, hoki mai. Today we are talking about the big one. Getting into your first home. We're going to be talking about the steps you might want to take in order to make that happen. And today we are sitting here with Tegan Yorwarth – nau mai haere mai e hua. I'm so excited for our korero today.
Tegan: I am too. Kia ora.
Te Kahukura: Well, for anyone who doesn't know you, anyone who's been living under a rock, would you be able to introduce yourself for our audience.
Tegan: Yes sure. My name is Tegan Yorwrath and I am 29 years old. I have been working at a radio station called Mai FM – hottest Hip hop and R&B in the country. The best place you're going to get it. Uh, I've been there, yeah, for quite some time. I, uh, I've been a radio host. I've sort of delved into other stuff; TV hosting, mc’ing. I guess I've got a big online presence now as well. So, I don't know, what do they call us now – creators? Something like that. I don't know…I was multifaceted, I don't know … but that's just a little bit about me.
Te Kahukura: Yeah, the side hustles [laughing]
Te Kahukura: So, you know, in today's economy so many people are struggling with putea They're struggling like, cost of living, crazy, all of the things. And so, for a lot of people, getting into their first home is like, ah, that's like never happening. Would you be able to like just share us, share with us, a little bit about your home ownership journey and how did you get started with this?
Tegan: Yeah, it feels a bit unrelatable sometimes, aye, as soon as people get into that homeowner chat and I think, like, obviously it was always a dream of mine. Like, you see my you see your parents do it. Like, I was fortunate enough to see my parents do it a little bit later in life, but I just wanted I wanted a home before I was 30. But obviously in this economy, it was it was tough. And I think I'm, I'm that first generation where it was actually really, like almost unattainable to get your first home or you had to really shift your mindset like a different way that your parents did it.
So, I came into an industry I've been in broadcasting and like, really fortunate that we work in a space where you can find other opportunities to make money. So first off, that was like a really good place to start. But I just . . . I really had the goal and I only thought about it in the sense like, you know – “a man's not a plan.”
Like I was thinking like, how can I do this by myself? How much money do I need to be saving? And just kept working toward it, but I really thought it was something I wouldn't be able to do until I was like, well into my 30s because of how, like living in Auckland, for example, you're not often are you going to find a home cheaper than one million, right?
So, when you have a figure like that – a million dollars in your head, you're like, okay, this is there's no way, there's no way that I'm going to be able to get there. But when you start to break it down, you go, okay, it's 20% deposit. Okay. How much am I earning every year? How much can I live off every year and start breaking down all the numbers? I think that's when I started sort of opening the door for the journey to get to where . . . and I think a lot more people are closer to home ownership than they think, especially if you have savings and a decent KiwiSaver. And I think if you're thinking about your KiwiSaver when you're younger, because I think when I first got a job, like a part time job when I was a teenager, I was like, opt out. No one's getting my money. And then it wasn't until maybe I was in Uni that I don't know if it was a parent or maybe a peer that was like, no, no, no, no. Like you need that money. If it's not for retirement, it's for your first home. Like you should really be putting money aside, you know, minimum contribution, whatever. But as I got older, I realised the importance of it, and I did things like putting my contribution up to 8% because there was a sort of a space in my early 20’s where I got a little bit of a pay rise and I thought, oh, and I and I was nearly paying off my student loan. And so, I thought, okay, what? Before I get comfortable with the pay rise, let's like open that contribution up more. So, I went from 3% to 8% and then kept it on that for a long time. And I was fortunate enough that then the fund started to rack up without me even realising. But I never got used to that pay rise. I just was like, oh, whatever. Like I didn't really look at my payslip and how much money was going in the KiwiSaver, but it really paid off, come like in the last year, when we were able to buy a home.
Te Kahukura: Yeah, that's a mean story. And honestly, when I first heard your home ownership journey I was like, that is just like incredible. And I think that you being able to show for, for Māori, for Pasifika, for anyone who's like in this economy that like, you can do it, you know, obviously there are certain things you're going to have to do, whether it's like cutting back or like finding extra ways to boost your income, but like it is possible. And I really think that that's a powerful narrative for our people to be able to see. Like when I first started Māori Millionaire, like I thought a million dollars was like, like ginormous in my head. I was like, far like you're like, really, really, really rich if you have a million bucks. But like, obviously, like, now I feel like it's like, well, like an Auckland, that's probably just like your average kind of whare like, you know, it's it is a lot of money, but it's also not as much money as I thought it was at the beginning of this. And, you know, in your korero, it also reminds me of when I got my first job. My mum was so like, nah, you like, you don't have any bills at home. So, like you. And that's such a privilege that I want to acknowledge. But also, she was like, no, you can like put your KiwiSaver on the max contribution. So, I was like putting on 8% at that time. Um, and you know, I was like thinking like, this is going to help me get into my first home and like, this is going to like boost towards that. And honestly now I look at it and I'm like, that's cool. Because so many young people there like, you know, opt out or don't know. And I think that like over time it's just going to grow. Um, you know, so that's a quite a cool thing. And I also loved your whakaaro about like lifestyle inflation. I think most of us, you know, if your goal is like, you know, to buy a property in Auckland and say that's one million dollars, it can feel so far away for a lot of people. So, you get a small pay rise and it's like, well, you know, I'm so far away from my job or from my goal, like I'll just, you know, spend that extra little money. But like, if it's a little bit like it does like contribute towards this goal, if you put it if you're intentional about those like small pay rises that you get.
Tegan: One hundred percent – and I think also another time when I had that pay rise, although it wasn't a pay rise, was when I finished paying my student loan. So that was 12% of my pay that was automatically going toward it, which at the same time I didn't know any different. Right? But then as soon as I paid it off and I got that 12% back, I put that 12% away like I never, I never let myself see it. And that was something just my, like my parents had told me about. Like, if you ever come into a little bit more money, don't let yourself get used to like, because sometimes when you earn more, you spend more. And I'm guilty. Yeah, sometimes I be buying things that I really don't need, but it's, I think, just like in moderation, just sort of reshaping that. And like, I was even talking about this with a colleague the other day and even my partner, like I was telling him, like next year, like I'm off contract this year. So it means I've got a chance to negotiate and if I get a little bit of a pay rise, I was saying to him like, oh, would that would that extra money, I'll work it out and potentially put more of that on the mortgage, which allows him some space to have some more money to save. And so like working together toward a goal like that. But yeah, I think that's probably been my biggest it's not even a skill. It's just like a little tip that like maybe no one's thinking about, like if you ever do come into money and like you say, it's like privileged position as well. Like, I'm lucky that I'm in a job where those opportunities do come up, but I never let myself get used to the money being in my account like I had to . . . I was trying to, like, rethink how it looks. And but even so, like we were talking about like inflation and things like that, I had friends in the same five years. I stayed in the same flat in Auckland. Not a bad flat, but a cold flat. I stayed in it for five years because the rent was so cheap. I think in Auckland I was in central Auckland and paying, maybe like at the most like that, even just before I left like 240 bucks, including. And I stayed in this old flat, this old cold flat for as long as I could because I knew, like the price of the flat never changed. So, any money coming in like it was just more to save for me. Whereas I had other friends that, you know, really wanted to live in a nice place and rent the nice place, which was cool and go them. But it meant every time they had to pay another bond and pay moving costs. And so in all those times they had to pay for those things I never did. And so this was all money. I looked at as like parking in a way, and it was like small sacrifice. Now for the big payout later. And I think maybe just having that like, you know, just making those small sacrifices I get. As long as you're not getting sick from a cold flat. You know what I mean? And I wasn't like, just have a put the hot water bottle in your bed. And I did, and I did get so . . .
Te Kahukura: Get some fluffy pyjamas . . . [laughing]
Tegan: You know, literally have some nice slippers and like, and get through another winter. And it could mean that you save like another 50 bucks a week or something. You know what I mean?
Te Kahukura: Value based spending – thinking about like the things that we really value and then spending our putea on those things. And I feel like if you've got a big goal, like that's going to require some big moves, like you've just got to do some things and you've got to be willing to sacrifice. So, if people are willing to like delay gratification, they're willing to make those changes. Do you think that getting into your first whare is like a realistic goal that, you know, people in Aotearoa can set?
Tegan: Oh for sure. And I do think also, and this is only speaking from my own experience, that like if you can untrain yourself to want to keep up with the Joneses, I think you'll be fine. These things are allowed to spend money on. So, like my dad, for instance, like. And I find both my parents really solid with their money. Like, mum, she can be stingy as . . . but she's, she's getting better. And I'm like, no, you're fine. Like, you can actually spend that money. But dads are a lot more of like a smart spender in the way that he will. He will spend money on quality rather than the cheaper option. And he sort of told us that, like, sometimes it's better to get the more expensive option because it's going to last you longer. So, like, yeah, like the whether it's the, the thing you buy, I don't know the cost per wear or like.
Te Kahukura: Like mascara…like, I bought like good quality mascara. It’s lasted like two years. Like that's crazy. But those cheap ones would only last like a couple of months.
Te Kahukura: So, I feel like just like taking it back into like some kind of actionable steps that people can take in order to get into their first whare. I feel like for a lot of people, KiwiSaver is probably like the biggest way that people are able to like, save that deposit because like for a lot of people, like if you're looking at a one million dollar property in Auckland and if you're doing a twenty percent deposit, like two hundred grand, that's a lot of money to a lot of people. And they're like, how on earth am I going to save two hundred grand? I feel like through KiwiSaver and the different benefits that it, you know, opens up, it can open doorway, open pathways that, like a lot of people wouldn't necessarily have otherwise.
Tegan: Yeah. And I think also learning. So, I actually saw a KiwiSaver advisor a few years ago as well. And so, he got me to put my…like I didn't know that there was different funds. So, you can have like a Conservative Fund, which was obviously like um, not going to grow as fast as much, but it's safer. And then there's the kind of middle ground and then there's the Aggressive Fund. So, because I was kind of wanting to get into the, um, property market within the next sort of five’ish years, at the time I saw him, we decided to put it on sort of a moderate level fund, and we had it at 8%. And so just making those little moves actually helped grow it. So, I think if I had kept it on the conservative fund, which I had had always had it on, not knowing it was on that, I just think I just, you know, just take a box when you're 19 and like, whatever. And I think if I hadn't made that move, I wouldn't have had as much money. And so, even like my colleague, he's a little bit older than me and he's sort of in that realm where him and his partner might look at getting into property. And he was really, really lucky that in his early 20s, a mate from work went, ah, no, no, no, put it up to 8% and on aggressive.
And he just went, oh yeah, whatever and just did it. And now his KiwiSaver is so healthy. So, he's got a really good, he's got like 10% on his own for the house. You know what I mean? But I think that was, like, really valuable stuff. Um, that sort of helped that grow faster than I could have ever imagined. And but I think that's on that lack of knowledge or access to information we have about investing. And because I didn't know that a KiwiSaver was investing, like, they seem like two separate entities to me, but it's just it's just an investment you can't really access as much as something else. Like if you were putting money into the S&P500 or in an index, index fund or something, which is a whole other korero. But you know what I mean. Like I was just like, uh, numbers. And sometimes for me, I also learned that I have quite an anxious attachment style to money. So, I, and I also think this might be to do with the career I've chosen. We work contract to contract and you always kind of trained. The money's not always going to be there. One day you might be irrelevant, and you can't get any work. So, I think that might be why I was hoarding money a little bit. But also, I always felt like my money was safer in my bank account because I could see it. And that's actually probably not the best place. Or it's a fine place to have it, but it's not the best place for it to be if you want to make more out of it.
Te Kahukura: Yeah, and I think that, you know, when you talk about, like, hoarding money, I used to do that too. And I think that when you, when you think about like scarcity and it's like you fear, like running out or not having enough? It's like, well, this makes me feel safe. This makes me feel protected and like I've been there before. And I kind of realise that, like, I have my safety and I have my safety net there. Like I like to have six months of living costs and that just gives me so much peace of mind. But then beyond that, it's like, okay, let's make this money work for me. And those are in those different ways to like invest in putea. And so, like KiwiSaver is a huge part of being able to just like grow that – and being on my own homeownership journey and being in the process of that, it's just been so helpful to just have it. And I do, you know, the thing I love most about it and people hate this is that you can't get it into it. Like,
Tegan: I know I love that, I love it.
Te Kahukura: I need like it's like so good and I think that it's important for us to like, use strategies that work for us because some of us, you know, I was just having a korero with someone about like different people on the spectrum, for example, and how we are, I guess use like, what is it, dopamine and how some people are more at risk to like credit cards and to things like that. And so I feel like for some of us, having it locked up is like the best way you can do it. If your goal is to get into your first whare and you have a tendency to, like, be invisible.
Tegan: Oh, yeah, I’ll just dip in.
Te Kahukura: Oh, yeah, I deserve a treat, you know?
Tegan: I love and I like the idea of… even my dad has spoken to me about, like, diversifying. And I'm like, how does that mean? But once I understood it, I kind of got it. But I sort of, I think I personally respond well when my, my money is sitting in different places in the sense that like, since I've started investing, there's money there, but I don't, I don't see it. And it's hard to get out the KiwiSaver. There's money there. And then even like I from when I've travelled overseas, I'll put money on my wise card or something, or like my travel card, and if I come back and there's money left on it, I forget about it. But when I go travel, it's like. But I think the idea of like not putting money always back into one place, kind of filtering it out. And like, I think when we first met, I was speaking about how the first way I learned how to save was I would transfer the money to my parents. They had an account for me, and if I had to ask my mum for money, I just couldn't be bothered because I'd have to give like a whole PowerPoint presentation on why I needed to draw the money out and I couldn't be bothered with the effort. So, it's kind of the same thing, you know, it's kind of sad. My mum was like KiwiSaver for me because she'd be like, I'd be like, hey, can you transfer me this much from my account? Why? Um, what's that for? How do you really need that much? And I'd just be like, you know what? Keep it, keep it, you know? And that works for me. But I think it's the same kind of concept, right?
Te Kahukura: I love that so much. And, yeah, I really enjoyed that part. And, like, it sounds like we have the same parents because, like, when I was little, I've always been into money and I was like, big, like, please, can I have a job mum? She'd be like, no, your job at school. And I'd be like, please, mom, please, mum. And um, one of the things I did, I would like write these like presentations for it and I did like a PowerPoint presentation. I was like, this is why I should be allowed to get a job. And like, these are the benefits of it. And eventually I convinced her, which was cool. But, um, yeah, those parents aye – they need convincing?
Tegan: We and like my mum used to do I can't remember if I spoke about this last time we saw each other, but it was we. We would get ten dollars pocket money a week for the chores, right? Same chores every week. But you never saw the money. It just went into this mysterious account. And then. So, there would be times in the year where we'd go somewhere and you might be like, oh, can I use my money from my account? And same again. Mum would be like, why, what's it for? But I was because I was such a little hoarder with the money, I would always have like a really nice amount to spend at Christmas time, whereas my sister was a little bit different with money, so she'd always have nothing. But it was even little things that my dad used to just….he'd get annoyed having coins sometimes. So, like, we used to live in the Islands in Tonga and he just always have coins and not know what to do. And so, he just chucked them on my, um, on my dresser. And I would just put them in this jar. And then at the end of the year, I had like ninety dollars in coins, cause, and dad was just giving me a few, like, every day, like not even realising. And he was like, oh, like, I should keep that. But it was funny because I was already in that save save save, just keep it till the end of the year. And then I got to spend it on, I go to the dairy or something, you know, whatever. Go get myself a little like Mountain Dew or something. Yeah, that was crack-up.
Te Kahukura: It's so funny. It reminds me of my cousin. He did, like, something similar. And, you know, there's, like, plastic drawers that people have. Um, so he would, like, literally hoard all of his cash in there. And like, one time I saw it and I was like, there's like hundreds of dollars in there. And like, he had like, all these twenty dollar notes just in there from, like, just all of the stuff over his life where he would just like, save it. Or I was like, you're like, actually, that's crazy.
Um, but like, I guess, like talking about, like those money habits that people have. Were there any that you had to, like, stop or change in order to, like, get prepared for getting a mortgage like, you know, like buy now, pay later or whatever it is? Were there any things that you're like, okay, that's got to stop in order to do this?
Tegan: I wasn't terrible, but I had things that were like comparatively to how I used to be, kind of got I would get a little bit cheeky, I think was sometimes money. So, like, obviously I have my salary job, which is, my. That's my bit like I always say, like the business money. It covers the admin, it covers the bills, covers the or before I had a mortgage, the rent, you know, but then when I would do extra contracting work, I like I saw I sort of had like a I ended up before I had a business account. It would just sort of always come into the same account. But I would the money would vary. Right. And so sometimes, like a big job would come in and I would go, oh, big spend time. But the way I ended up after talking to an advisor was to have that account separate, where that extra contracting work is coming in, and you take the same amount of drawings every pay. So, like I get paid every fortnight. So, I would almost pay myself out of that account every fortnight too. So, it always stayed the same.
So, I was always working with the same budget and that completely changed the way I was looking at that extra income. It wasn't about whether the job was a big job or a small job, whatever that pay was coming in, I only paid myself the same every fortnight, which is what I still do. I did it prior to getting the house, just to save more and more money for that deposit, because I would kind of have these accounts. I could have my business account and my spending account, and there was quite a like it was starting to kind of build-up in the business account, and I didn't know what to do with it. So then when it was like, no, no, take drawings all the time, but don't take it just when you feel like spending money, take it every week and then you can allocate the money. So, it was just moving. It wasn't that I was earning any more money, I just moved the money into different places, if that made sense? So, I just take the same drawings every fortnight, and that's kind of the fun money. But it never changes that, like the amount never changes. So, it's kind of a better way to work within the sort of framework of a budget.
Te Kahukura: No, that's a really cool way of doing it. And I think like people who get into business, like sometimes, you know, you can get like thousands of dollars for something and you're like, oh, this mean is. But it's like, bro, you've got tax to pay. You've got all of these other things that you've got to pay for. And so, it's like literally not all your money. And so that's a system that I use to so that it's like in my brain it's like no these are two separate times.
Tegan: Oh, that's another one. That's the paying extra taxes too, because I wasn't putting money away to pay for your tax.
Te Kahukura: Oh, so you weren’t paying your taxes?
Tegan: So Mr. IRD was going, you hoo, where's my money?
Te Kahukura: Very quickly - if you were enjoying today's podcast episode, make sure to share it to your story and tag us. All right, back to the show.
Tegan: And that only happened a couple of times before I figured it out. But now I have like as soon as the pay comes through, through the business, there's money goes into this account. And that's just for tax, like for provision or whatever money goes into here, you can't touch and whatever is left that can be part of the like the drawings budget. So, it's just everything's allocated. And no, there's no money in limbo with no place, like it's all got a purpose.
Te Kahukura: Every dollar has a job, I love that. So, were there any other things that you had to, like? change, you know, in order to get approved for a loan?
Tegan: You know, and you know what? Afterpay is a funny one, because I don't think I've ever been someone who has bought something I can't afford. But I love the idea of Afterpay because, because a) I do have like sort of quite stingy tendencies and the idea of only having to pay $50 over the next eight weeks, like every two weeks rather than $200 at once, because I loved that budget framework. I liked that idea better. But then it gets to a slippery slope where you put three things on it once. So, in the lead up to getting pre-approved for a mortgage. Obviously, our mortgage broker was like, look like it's fine. This is how it looks to the bank. It looks like. So, if your limit for Afterpay is three grand that all the bank sees it as, you've borrowed three grand, they don't see that you haven't had used Afterpay in ages. So, and the lead up to seeing the broker I got rid of, Afterpay quit that. I had a credit card, which I, you know, and I've always been fine with a credit card. It was more to do with like I was just trying to get Airpoints, like that's all I used it for. I would use it, pay it back straight away. Like, I was really, really good with it. But it was another thing that the bank looked at. So, it was almost like got. Haven't you stopped using the credit card, got rid of Afterpay, Laybuy, whatever of those other sort of instalment payment plans. Got rid of all of it, because it was less admin when you went to the bank. And then by the time the broker's looking at all your finances, he's like, are you good to go? He goes, hey, I've seen this Afterpay and I see he goes, it says, you haven't used it for the last three months, you know, is that true? And yeah, I haven't used it I got rid of it. Sweet. So that was kind of like little things like that. And I'm not even a I don't even think I'm bad with money. But I would get cheeky sometimes. I'd get cheeky with things like Afterpay or cheeky with my credit card, start spinning it like it's not my money. So, I just got rid of it. And honestly, in a year I've had our house for just or maybe just coming up to a year, and I hadn't used any of those things in like 18 months. As soon as you get rid of it, you realise you don't even need it. Yeah. So, I think just getting rid of those like easy options, like just the delayed gratification, you know, just, just wait for it. Like, don't get it instantly.
Te Kahukura: I love that too. And like, my mindset is that, you know, like. Yeah. Because I used to do exactly the same thing. I was like, oh, you know, it's like only like a little bit like every, you know, it's only fifty dollars, whatever it is. But what I realised was that, like, I was training myself, that I could have things that like, yes, I like sometimes I could actually afford to pay them full, but I like, hated seeing the money leave my account. But now that I pay for everything, like with cash or with like, you know, my money, instead of borrowing money, I find that I'm less actually likely to buy things because it feels harder to buy it. So, like before I'd buy like two hundred dresses like, girl, what are you dressing up for? Like the like girl I don't buy.
Te Kahukura: Well, like, you know, they don't fit anymore. But I'm like, girl, like, you know, you don't need that stuff. And so now it's crazy. Like, my friends, they, like, hype me up when I go shopping because they're like, you really need to go shopping because, like, I just, I hate, like, buying things just for the sake of buying.
Tegan: I like that – it's like impulse control. And I think the. I had another thought, keep talking because it'll come back to me. It'll come back to me.
Te Kahukura: Yeah. So, I guess I just, I like not using those things. Not because. Well, I think that for a lot of people, they justify it because it's like, well, I can afford to do it. It's interest free. It's like, not that thing. But for me it's like, well, you're training yourself to buy things that you don't …. Like if you could just pay for it in cash, it's like basically the same thing, except you're paying it over a longer period of time. And so, I feel like especially if you want to get into your first home, like, that's just like a habit that we can just slowly change. And it's not to say, don't buy the dress, don't buy the thing.
Just like have a little bit more intentionality behind, like the decisions you're making, like, so I have a fun account. So that account is literally for like if I want to buy clothes or if I want to go out or whatever, it is like that, and I'm not allowed to like take money from my insurance account for this.
So, like, I'm like very like that's my rule. Like that's my fun account. And if it's empty, there's no fun. It's like, go for a walk.
Tegan: Yeah I think we I've tried like tried to sort of implement now like if I want to buy something and like clothing or whatever, it might be the fun thing that I want to buy if I can't buy it like 3 or 4 times, then like I'm not going to buy it. Like then it's out of it's out of budget. If I can't, I buy that like at that many times. But I'm the same. Like I think I've, I've gotten into the especially once we got into homeownership. There's an account for everything. And so, you know like the money having what does that money have is a job. Is that what you said before? Every dollar has a job. So, like we have like a grocery and takeaways account. So that's like if we want to go out for brekkie on Saturday or whatever and that like I don't know why because I've got stingy with that account. So now that that one's kind of always in surplus, but I now the zero of the food account for me is like a couple hundred dollars. So, if it gets to like two, three hundred dollars in an account, I don't know, because I'm always like, one day I'm gonna have to do a big grocery shop and I'm going to need that extra couple of hundred. But then, you know, there's the insurance account, there's the, the bills account, the rates account, like an account kind of for everything. My every day is just whatever else.
Te Kahukura: Yeah. It's funny you see my every day it's like $0. It's like. It's like I always. But like, people always ask me, like, how do you do it? Like, how do you actionably . . . actionably is it even a word? I don't even know. How do you do it? Like when you go to the grocery store and I'm like, I just transfer like from my food account to my card account. And it also makes me more intentional about my spending, because if I'm going out just buying things willy nilly and I'm like, well, like, where is that money coming from? So, I'm like, if I'm taking money from my food account, it's like for food, if I'm taking money for like, you know, my fun account, it's for fun.
But if I'm buying like dumb stuff and I'm taking it on my fun account, I'm like, I'm choosing to buy this over something that I actually want. So, I think that it like, I think that creating space in between like your how you do things. I feel like we're so fast, like our generation is so quick, quick, quick. That's what my mom's always yapping on it. She's like, just slow down, and it's like when you slow down and when you pause a little bit and you just, like, think about it like, do I really need this? Like, I've already got these dresses, you know, like, and I'm not someone to, like, discourage people from, like, enjoying your life. And I think that, like, life is for living. I never want to get to, like if I get to a hundred, if I get to 80, whatever, like think far. Like I never did anything fun. But I think, like, we can have it all.
And I think that if we if we're intentional, if we're like mindful about our, our habits and if we like, you know, self-development and learning the stuff because we didn't all grow up like learning this stuff. But in order to make progress, we've got to, like, take some responsibility to do the things, to learn the things and to change our habits. And it's hard, and it's why I think a lot of people avoid it because it's not easy. Like, you know, say, for example, you know, living in that same flat when you're seeing all your friends, oh, they've got a bougie flat, they've got this, they've got a new kettle. Like, you know, like my, my house is cold, you know, and that's not like and that's just like, I guess one example. But it's hard growing. It's hard doing things that most people aren't doing.
Tegan: And I also I yeah, I just, I love how your, how you just like learning things. And I also learnt that like money is energy and I know that's a little bit woo woo for some people, but it is like and I very much think that what you put into, like what you invest into money is what you get out of it. I think if you, if you use it better, I think it's going to treat you better. And so, I think learning that was was a good one for me. And also, like even when it comes to accepting jobs, I think it's really easy to slip into it. And because I've had opportunities to make more money on this journey to home ownership, I think it was really easy to slip into like, yep, I'll take that job. But then I've also learned like mana over money. Like let it align with you, let the job align with you. If it doesn't, another bit of money will come. Like it? Yeah, money does like come and go. Like, maybe that's not the right job. If it feels wrong, then don't do it. It's not worth it. And I think it's not worth, you know, putting your like personal beliefs aside, your morals aside, just to get quicker to that goal. Like you'll get that goal in your own time. Like you'll get there. Yeah.
Te Kahukura: I love this so much. And you know, we talked about opportunities. I think that so many of us are looking at, like all the cost of living so high or like, you know, I'm in debt or. Yeah, like, you know, everything's so hard. And I feel like a lot of us, I've been there before where like, it's kind of addicting thinking about like, um, problems and all of this kind of stuff. And I feel like there's got to if you want to achieve your goals, you've got to have this shift in mindset to start looking at opportunities. So like in your situation, what were some of the things that you were looking at like, okay, like this is an opportunity or like how did you how did you think about like, okay, I could make some extra money here, I could do this. Like, how did you do that?
Tegan: I think we're coming into the role. I was really lucky that the role I had just prior to being on air at Mai FM, I was working at a radio station behind the scenes doing social media. So, I was running their social media pages, their website, and the sort of main goal and the KPI for that was generating website traffic or generating online traffic.
So, I was fortunate that I kind of had those skills already. And so, when I came on air, one of the things my boss at the time had said, like, I would love if you can help sort of generate more traffic to the channels for your for your show and things like that. And a few people would said like, you know, if you can apply that to your own brand, your own self, your own pages, that could mean you like brands will want to work with you or whatever. So, the same sort of, I don't know, um, work I was putting into the Mai FM accounts or the my morning crew accounts, I applied to my own stuff and just started to grow it. So, I was like, you know, goal in mind. I'd love to get like 10,000 followers on Instagram. And then I hit it and then it was like, okay, twenty, hit it. Thirty. And then I got to like fifty. And I'm like, okay, where can I take it? I think recently, like, not last year, the year before I had a goal I really wanted to hit 100K on TikTok and Facebook and Instagram and literally I made it on Instagram like the 30th of December. Like I just was grinding all year. So, I think I knew that if I invested the time and mahi and to just trying to growing a presence online here in Aotearoa and I guess Australia as well. More opportunities would come my way because they'd be like, oh well, Tegan has a presence. People kind of know who Tegan is. So, like, I've been able to do like work with brands that I that I know and love and, and get paid to do that. I've been able to MC at different things. I've been able to, um, you know, be on like, do TV and like, do TV shows. And it was more about. And I see sometimes me like at times I've gotten opportunities over other people because I've had the presence. So, I've seen it in real time and like really tangible evidence that that effort has paid off. So, I think for me and not everyone in radio does that. Some people don't really like being online. They like doing the radio thing and then going home and that's it. But it's been able it's been, been able to open more doors for more money making opportunities, more networking. And my mate says she likes to say future proofing. If radio disappears one day, I've got other avenues I can go down now or other ways, like other brands I can connect with where I could do mahi for them in the future. So, I think that's kind of just the way I was looking at it. And, and it's like everyone's different. But that was where I saw the opportunity was and like, okay, if I can make myself a brand, which is really weird and you'll know because you've had to build it as well. It's strange and like talking to the camera and you're on your own. It feels a bit cringey and weird, but you get used to it
Te Kahukura: Sort of, yeah, even like walking down the street and like, I like sometimes I think that people are a bit whakamā to like, say hi or something, but like, people just like kind of look at you and it's like, they know me. Like, hey, girl, like, you know, or like I, I found that quite like, um, different from anything because I was a girl who, like, didn't I got bullied a lot at schools and like, you know, a lot of the schools I went to, I went to lots of different schools. But, you know, I didn't have friends and stuff. So, it's so weird that people like me now, like some people.
Tegan: That’s just, just strange, because you're really you're really approachable and like, you're really warm and but it's cool because that translates. I can see it translating for you online, which is such a cool space. And that's the beauty social media has, for all its flaws, is awesome because we're able to connect with people that we would never connect with before. You can find there is someone for you like. You can find someone you'll be able to relate to 100% all the time. And I think the cool shift in social media, I think it's like since Covid, is we would always look online at like curated aesthetics and lifestyles that felt unattainable. But now we're following like a mum with three kids that look like their households, always a little bit, I don't know, feral, but it's but it's fun because you're like, oh-my-god, I know that life or you, you see someone like maybe you're a Uni student and someone from Uni is posting about how they just did an all nighter and like, oh, they've got an exam the next day and you're like, oh my God, that was me. And so there's so many more. Like, people are more relatable online because I think we can see through it. And I think that's cool. And I love that about social media. And I think that's probably what you've been able to do. And I know I've been really lucky that I have been able to do that. I feel like in the same way people look at me girl from small town randomly on the radio, and it's like doing some cool stuff. Someone might connect with that, just like they connect with you. Girl from Small Town. It's now kind of giving people guidance or like ideas on how they can be better with money. Like it's so cool.
Te Kahukura: Yeah, I love it so much. And I think that, you know, one of the things when I got onto this journey, I was like, oh, like, you know, I haven't cracked it like, you know. And I was like, scared to kind of do this. But it's like, I think that people like that you can be on the journey and you can share that. And the things that have like, popped off the most is when I'm like opening my heart and I'm like sharing the most vulnerable stuff that like, I'll put post, I'll hit post, and it's stuff that like people in my family don't know about me or like, like my own friends don't know about me. And I'm just like, vulnerable and sharing it all. And it's like, it's actually scary sometimes to like, share that. But I think that what that does is it connects with people because like, you know, I'll share just like, you know, super vulnerable stuff. But people connect with that. People relate to that. And it's sad to be honest, but I think that it's real and that's the reality that we're in. And so, you know, my goal is just to share like, yeah, we can, we can go through challenges. We can do all of these things, but we can also like, there’s hope we can get through it we can make mistakes.
Te Kahukura: Yeah, and I make mistakes all the time.
Tegan: And I can pivot and then get to the goal eventually.
Te Kahukura: Yeah. Yeah. And I think like that's so powerful to be able to like know that there's hope. Because there was a time in my life where I was like, you know, when I even when I started Māori Millionaire, like, I was like, this is just like a fantasy. I'm like, yeah, like. And I was like, you know, getting into it. And I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna be a millionaire one day. And like these people in the comments, like, girl, like, you should just go to the gym or like, you know, all of this kind of stuff. And, and it's like, wow. But like, it's weird because now I'm like, it's literally only a matter of time. Like, I know that these things are going to happen because I'm doing all of the mahi and like, I don't, you know, listen to the outside noise of like, oh, you're dreaming, girl. And like, it's funny, I've got this like notes of like all my haters. And I'm like, so like when I, when I become a millionaire, you believe those TikToks are going to be popping off?
Tegan No. You know what, though? Do you know what? I'm a little bit I'm a little bit the same with social media. Like I used to be, like, ignore the bad comments, whatever, because you never want to give that more energy than you do the positive, because. And you'll know the same. You usually have just as many, if not ten times more positive hard out. But they always focus on. Yeah, yeah, we always focus on the negative. But I just started like posting their name, calling it up. You want to give me that energy, I'll give it back. Which is maybe not the best, but it makes you feel empowered by it. And I think what I can see from you and what I've seen from you is you're such a big like Visualiser, and I think that's so important. And whatever your goal is like, whether it's a financial one or whether it's a personal one, and for me, like it was buying a home before I was 30, even though it felt like I wasn't going to do it, I think I could just see it. I just kept visualising it and keep trying to make choices that I knew would help toward that goal. And I think just keeping that at the top of mind, like whether you need like a physical vision board or whether you just need like a just like close your eyes for a second and just think like, I'm in my house right now. Yeah. I think always visualising it brings you closer. It's like the law of attraction, right? Like if you keep speaking it into existence, like, nope, I'm going to own a house one day. I'm going to own a house. By this time, I think you're always going to make moves, like unconsciously toward that goal.
Te Kahukura: Yeah, hard out. I agree with it so much? You know, so for a lot of people, like the deposit is like the biggest part of like being (yeah, yeah). But like, other than that. So, if they're, you know, actively contributing to their KiwiSaver, they've set their goal and they are, you know, contributing to their KiwiSaver. They're reducing their discretionary spending. They're saving for it. They're taking these like action steps in order to make that dream an actual reality. What are the other things that you had to save for and that in order to buy your first whare?
Tegan: Um, I think over time. Like living in my flat, I had done the thing where the fridge was mine, the couch was mine, the TV was mine, the coffee table was mine. So, I think over the years I was almost like. Even though it's annoying when people move out a lot. Every single time, if something, if someone took something from the flat that was theirs, I would replace it. So, by the time we moved into a house, we didn't need anything. The only thing we needed was a dining room table and my father-in-law had one in storage unit, so we were really lucky. Like we didn't really have to buy anything. Once we moved into the house, had a bed, had the head drawers, you know, and like eventually I've been able to like replace certain little things. But I kind of was like collecting all the bits that I knew would be major, um, points of, you know, spending as soon as we moved into the house. And so, it was all covered, like, so that was like another thing.
I think. Seek advice from an expert, whether that's a mortgage broker or the bank. I think because we don't know a lot about home ownership until you have a home, which is obviously like a privilege that you need to go on. I think everyone thinks they're so far away from that point, but if you just talk to an expert, you might realise you're a lot closer than you think or have a tangible goal to work toward to get to a point where you can. Because I know 20% deposit is obviously the goal. Not everyone needs 20%. Um, I think the experts can kind of just give you a little bit of advice on what would be best for you, whether you're spending. Well, I knew that when I was talking to experts. I got like, you're looking at the mortgage rates at the time –– because I was like, there's no way I can afford it. I'm using calculators online going, oh my God, that's so expensive. Like, how could I once I even get a home, can I even afford to service the mortgage? Because that's a whole other thing. Buying the house is one thing. Servicing a mortgage, paying rates, everything is a whole other kettle of fish. But they, they will stress test you at a higher rate than what's available. So, if they say, yep, you're good to go, you're, you're really good to go with buffer room, like you're good. So, I think just having confidence in those experts and not being shy to ask the questions. No dumb like no questions. Dumb every. I was asking ten million questions all the time, being like, yeah, but what about this? But what about if I did this and they're so used to it, like everyone's meant to ask a question. You're not meant to know everything. You don't know it until you know it. So yeah, I think that was probably the big thing is actually making the first step to talk to an expert. Then I went, oh, okay. It's actually not that far away. I can do it!
Te Kahukura: Yeah, yeah I love this so much. What did you have, like, a savings account for, like, your lawyer, your, um, you know, building rapport, things like that.
Tegan: Not explicitly for that, but I did have the money away. And I think another thing with the ongoing on the journey. So, I started off doing it on my own, ended up doing it with my boyfriend, which is a was a big deal. But for where we were at, it made more sense to do it together. And you know, that's a whole other thing with lawyers too, because obviously there was a discrepancy in what we were contributing, what we would be contributing once we had the house. But in the journey, it took from me starting to look for a house to actually having a house was nine months. So that's five failed auctions. So that's five ‘Builders Reports’ we had to pay for, which are, you know, not cheap. But, but you they're worth the investment. That's the money you want to spend. That's also the lawyers we were with were really good. Like they didn't charge us every single time. It was only charging to a certain point. But you know, it's, it's you need to have that money there too. But like, you get cash back from the banks to once you and I don't know what the percentage is and I wouldn't want to clarify, but you can talk to your bank about that and that can usually pay for that stuff. So that's really handy.
Te Kahukura: That is helpful. So would you like, if you had a ballpark, so you know, if you're thinking about how did you say like failed or I guess not . . .
Tegan: I would say if you could, if possible, try have at least like five grand available, you're probably not going to spend that much. Or you might, you might or that might be or, will be like reimburse with the cash back kind of thing?
Tegan: Typically. But I would say like having like five to maybe seven available for if you need to pay for lawyers more than once, after you have to buy builder's reports more than once. That's a really, really safe, good buffer to have. But some people like my best mate her and her partner, they get the first one they looked at. You know, not everyone's journey is the same. I was just really unlucky that it took so long. But we got the, we got the best house.
Te Kahukura: What were you attracting, girl?
Tegan: I don't know, there was some. And do you know what? The house. The house we got. I walked in and went. There's no way I'm getting this. After five failed auctions, I was like, no, there's no way this is too good. This house is way out of our league. It's not happening. And it took a reframing of going. My boyfriend kept going, no, like we might. And then we had a really helpful real estate agent that was like, I'll do everything I can to get this one. And it felt like we all locked in on that one. And maybe the manifesting got us that. But it's really important to have like a good team, even, even talking to a real estate agent as well. Yeah, they and because like sometimes it can be a bit scary. But it's really cool if you, if you know someone, maybe you've got a friend or maybe a friend of a friend or maybe someone that helped your whanau get into a house. If there's like an already established connection, it feels less vulnerable to talk to them about it. And they seem scary, but a lot of them have got your back.
Te Kahukura: I wanted to touch on just after, like you purchase your home. So, you talked a little bit about, uh, you know, re, changing your KiwiSaver and like, whether it's in a Growth, a Growth Fund or an Aggressive Fund and all of those types of things. So, I think we didn't kind of or at the start like kind of clarify for the audience, like what those different funds kind of mean. And so, I just wanted to like touch on that a little bit and think about how, like, now that you're in your first whare, has that have you changed your you've changed your Fund since then and what you're investing in? And is that what the mindset that now you've got, say, a longer period of time before retirement. And so there's like a lot more time to write out the highs and the lows of the market. So you can potentially take more risk. Um, but obviously everyone should get their own personalised advice about KiwiSaver. Um, but yeah. How has your mindset, I guess, changed since getting into your first whare about like where to from here?
Tegan: And so I went from having it in sort of a moderate fund, which kind of in the middle at 8% contributions. Now that I have the house, we've bought the contributions down, and this is after getting some advice on that brought the contribution down to 3%, which was the lowest. Oh no, sorry, 4%. I did 4%. And now it's an Aggressive Fund because like you say, I've got that time now I'm in my 20s. I've got that time to, you know, just move with the ebbs and flows of the risk, you know, because it's going to do a lot more of this than the fund I had previous. And that's I'm not touching that money until retirement. Right. But that extra 4% I actually have decided to invest that elsewhere. So, I think for me, you know, there might be a time where, I don't know, I don't have as much mahi or don't have as much work or whatever that may be. So, the sort of advice that I got given was to put that into. Yes, put it into an investment that is doing more than it would do just sitting in a bank at that time, but have it so that I can access it at any point. So, if any, if there's any stresses over the next few years. So, this money could be money in the next ten years. I put onto the mortgage, it could be money I put into maybe some renos. It could be just money that I keep for a trip in 15 years’ time. Who knows? But it was just a way that I can, you know? Yeah, I've moved my KiwiSaver round, so now it's working for my retirement, which is cool and I can't wait to just see that tick over. But now that KiwiSaver, I'm not even looking at it now I'm like, you just you're just over there. I don't even know what's in there right now.
Te Kahukura: Like you're doing the mahi and I'll give the treats and retirement.
Tegan: Yeah. Oh, when I'm 65 I'll go. All right, let's go. Like.
Te Kahukura: I think, you know, for a lot of people, they, you know, buy the house and they're like, oh, cool. Like I don't need to, like, contribute to my KiwiSaver anymore.
Tegan: Oh no, that's for your retirement. Yeah. And my dad very much drummed that into me as well because, you know, I think we don't think about it when we're younger as well. We don't think about the fact that there's going to be a point where you can't really work anymore. We don't think about the fact that there's a there's a point in time where you've earned the right to just give it a rest.
You know what I mean? And and like, I know not everyone will be able to afford to retire at 65 anymore. I think with the way the economy is, it's different now. Like, I don't I to be fair, like my my dad's 60 and I was like, you know, retire at 65. And I think he was like, no, I got a mortgage like so he might keep working because he's capable. But I think we yeah, we've earned that right. So, make sure you're thinking about your future self. Don't think about your life in just the 5 to 10 year span. You're allowed to think about it for the next 50 years, but not so much so that you're like, fearmongering yourself into, like, not buying the dress. Buy the dress, buy the dress girl, buy it?
Te Kahukura: Like you can you can do both. You can go to Molly and you can both.
Tegan: You're like, I'll have this dress of 70.
Te Kahukura: Hard out. Yeah. Um, I guess you know, the other thing about KiwiSaver that I think people, a lot of people don't realise is like, if you have a job, then you're, you know, if you're over the age of 18, your employer is going to match those initial contributions up to a certain threshold, and there's a lot of changes happening in that space. Um, but the other thing too, is your government contribution. So if you invest $1,042, then you're going to get $261 of a government contribution. And like that, to me, it's like there is nowhere where you're going to get a guaranteed like 25% on that, you know, just on that government contribution. And I think people are missing out on like, megabucks, like $1,000 a year is literally like $20 a week. And, you know, if you're able to do that and invest over the long term and like if you start that, like I started when I was 14, which I'm so grateful that my mom was like, no girl, like, do this. Um, but, you know, that's a long that's like 51 years until I had to do 51 years until, you know, 65. That's a long time for that to grow. And like, you know, I hope that I'm, like, having pina coladas on the beach and my retirement. But, you know, like.
Tegan: We're on a cruise. We’re on a retirement cruise. Do you know what, though? That was such a good point because I always forget about that. Your employee contributions. Um. Employer contribution. Sorry, because I forget about that. And I have friends that maybe do their full time contractors, and a lot of them don't have big Kiwi savers. And so I think that's another thing. If you're young and you're working in jobs, that's contracting, because a lot of people do like make sure you have something set aside. It doesn't have to be heaps, but I think just making making the point to do that. But if you've got a salary job, take the money.
Te Kahukura: It's like free money.
Tegan: Like exactly. It's money you won't get otherwise. I can tell you that much free.
Te Kahukura: You're gonna have to fight for that. But the other thing, too, I think people don't realise. Like if you're negotiating a pay rise and like, potentially your boss might say no to, like, a pay raise, but you could potentially negotiate, like, hey, would you be able to bump it up to a 4% match or a 5% match? Like, it's just like creative ways where, you know, business owners think differently about money. So, like giving you a pay raise might be different for them to being able to increase your match. So, they might be more likely to give you a higher match as opposed to a higher, you know, a pay rise. So, like just thinking about things in that kind of way, I'm so sad that. Well, not really, but like that I don't get my employer match anymore. It's a sad thing about working for yourself, but it's also. Yeah, it's cool.
Tegan: The all you money is yours, your money's like yours.
Te Kahukura: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Tegan: So, I wish I was my boss. That's me. Future proofing. That's why I work so much outside. I'm choosing busy this year. Like that's my thing. I like to say like, because I'm always busy doing stuff all the time. It's like you. Busy is actually a choice. Choose your busy. And like, I make sure I'm busy in the sense that it's it's helping future me. Whether, whether that's financially or career wise or just preparing me for a time that like, if my whole world turned on its head, I got I'm more I like I like how you said you've got six months of your expenses away. Because I've always thought, thought at least three months. I mean, I was telling my partner as well, I was like, three months is a really good gauge to have, just like annual savings. And, um, but I always tell him, like, you kind of, I like round numbers is always like, fun. Like, you save your first lot of money. You want to save your first thousand.
Tegan: Up ten, up twenty. You know, it's so nice when you have it in a nice whole number. And I think it's it's like make it a game. Like make for saving a game. Yeah.
Te Kahukura: Yeah. And I think the other thing, like when I first heard, like, people talking about, like, saving six months, I was like, how the hell are you doing that? Like, that's ridiculous. But, like, honestly, like, I saved my first thousand dollars. Like, I would dip into it. I would waste it on, like, dumb stuff. Like I was just crazy. And I'd do those. And then, you know, I started to, like, get better at it. And I was like, okay, I can keep $1,000. And I think that, like, we're able to hold like what we like, what we believe that we can kind of like if we've got evidence like, I can keep $10K, I can keep $15K. Like we're able to do that. And so, like just for anyone who's looking and like six months like that's crazy. Like I started off with like literally $500 and then it was $1K, $2K. And I just moved up from there. And for me it just like gives me so much peace of mind as you said. Like, you know, this mahi is so crazy. And so it just gives me a lot of peace of mind that like, okay, like if anything happens, I've got six months to like, figure things out and like this half a year. So I'm like, you know, so much peace of mind like that. And insurance. I'm just like, yeah, I'm good. Like everything's all good.
Um, I guess, are there any other kind of for people who are thinking about, you know, they think about they see people buying their homes, they see it on Instagram and they're like, cool. But like, ah, that's just like a lot. Like, how do you do that? And I think especially and you know, those TikToks of like far like we're in that generation where people are like buying houses, getting married, you know, and this comparison and like far like everyone's so, like doing so well and I'm just like not. And like I think some people will look at some of the things we've done. But like I've personally still experienced that where I look at what other people are doing and I'm like, well, like, how is she doing that? And it's like, I have to remind myself, like, compare myself to who I was yesterday and like, stop looking at what other people are doing. But I guess if someone is in that space, like, is there like a is there a little pep-talk you could give them to like really push them that, like they can do this? There's just like a few things that that maybe got to change a little bit.
Tegan: I think, hmm. I think it's always that the investment that you put into yourself and your goals is, is like, that's the only results you should be counting on. I also think that a comparison is the thief of joy, with there's always going to be someone doing better than you that you're going to want to compare yourself to. But there's also a bunch of people looking at you probably going, oh, I wish I was there. So I think, like if we get stuck in that mindset, I think you really have to just tunnel vision it like focus on what's good for you and the people around you. If they don't support that, then they're not the right people to be around you. I think, like investing in all those other things, like the people that you have in your circle. I think that makes a big difference. Like a lot of my friends are so we're all very supportive of each other, like hustling or getting the new job or fighting for the opportunity or saving for the house. And like, I think that was really influential for me, like the people I had around me.
We're all that really different, like different ages, different stages, and even like reframing the the order of things. I think the traditional order, right, is like, especially for a woman. You think you find a man, you. Yeah, you find a man, you get engaged, you get married, you get a house, you have a baby.
Like this is real traditional way of looking at things that that's just all we know and what we've grown up with or being surrounded by with media. But I think it's different now, like relationships are a little bit more modernised. A) you can do it on your own. A lot of women aren't having kids, they're prioritising career and that is fine to do that. The other thing is, yeah, because I would say man is not a plan. And I learned that from an advisor as well. And her name is Shelley.
But then the next thing is like the, the yeah, like just moving your mindset around the milestone. So, for me, I always have this idea. So, like when we got the home you figure out the ownership, the percentages, what's the vibe. And that was obviously a really big discussion for my partner and I. And I kept saying like, it's going to be this percentage, but once we're married, it's this. And it took my dad going, huh? He goes, what do you mean once you're married? And I was like, yeah. And he goes, yeah, but you're buying a house first. And he said, buying a house is like pretty much getting married. It's the same kind of responsibility. So, I had to really sort of undo what I had learned about traditional sort of timelines and go, no, no, no, like, the house is our milestone. Yeah. We're not doing it in the traditional sense of how it used to be but committing to things just as much. And like, you don't have to be married to do the next thing. Like you can join a partnership and sort it out together like that. And then so all those other guys like me, I'm like, I mean, I hope I have kids one day, but it might not even happen and that's fine. And I think, yeah, sort of I think when we're younger I go, I'm going to have a kid by the time I'm 30, I'm going to be married by this age. No, like get rid of all of that. I think working toward a property is probably a better thing to say. Like, I want to do it by this age. It's I think it's a better investment at times. Some of the boyfriends, some of my friends ahead. I'm like, well, yeah, you know what I mean?
Te Kahukura: Like 60, I think it was 60% of marriages like end in divorce or something like that.
Tegan: Yeah. And isn't that scary? Isn't that scary? You're like, oh my God, what if I'm in that 60%?
Te Kahukura: No, we're manifesting that 40%.
Tegan: I liked how my dad sort of challenged me on some of the ideas I had had around commitment and putting into things, and how the house was, was the marriage. That was the commitment. Oh, maybe I'll get my ring later, hopefully. But fingers crossed. But yeah, I think that that's a really good piece of advice, especially for women. And I know there's a lot of women out there, especially young women, that yeah, just have the idea. It's like, oh, well, Mum and Dad got married and then and they had a house and then they did this like just because that was what you grew up seeing. That's not necessarily your journey. And just let it be something you do on your own, like a personal journey.
If you want a house, you can do it on your own. It's possible. It's a, it's a different lot of work and it's probably a lot, a little bit tougher to do that, but you're only relying on yourself to get there. So why not put all of that energy and to you doing it on your own. I think it's a little bit more empowering as well.
Te Kahukura: Hard out It's like so much more rewarding. And also like you've got no control about, like, anything external of you, but like, you can control like the habits that you have. And so, if we're like relying on like, oh, I got to wait for the man. I got to wait for this, I got it. It's like the goalpost just keeps on moving and it's like. But if you like, just focus on you and like achieving your goals and like your fulfilment, then like you can, you can, actually the goalpost doesn't move because it's like, oh, I've done that. And like for all our single ladies out there, or maybe our single men who are like, you know, I want to get into home ownership, but like, I don't have a partner and it's like everyone's buying with their partner. Like, do you think that there are other ideas for, like, you know, people to get into homeownership that don't involve, like buying with your partner?
Tegan: I was almost going to say. It's easier with a partner. Not necessarily. I mean, because there's, there's, always the risk that you and your partner potentially split in like five, ten years’ time. Who knows? And that's a whole other thing. But I think you can do it on your own. You can do it with a friend if you want to. If you've got someone in your close circle that has got similar goals to you, why not talk about that? You could do it with a sibling. I know me and my sister kind of dabbled with the idea of doing the home thing together, and then dabbled the other way, like we were like, or maybe not, but even I, I remember someone, a pair, like an older pair saying to me at work, he was like, oh, have you thought about. Um, because my parents own a home. They were like, he's like, have you thought about talking to them about it? I said, what do you mean? You could use their equity. You could maybe join up with them and get a house together. Like there's so many options. If you kind of broaden your mindset to not being traditional and and being with your partner because.
Yeah, I mean, sometimes your partners, they come and go like seasons. You just don't know. You want to find something that works for you and obviously talk about it with a lawyer. It doesn't matter if it's a family member or whoever else. Always make sure that it's there's like a like a tight, solid, I don't know, something to protect both of you, you know, no matter what happens. But I think, yeah, I think we we've got a lot more diverse options when it comes to getting into property. I've heard of people that like four friends that flattered together have all put in to get a house. I don't know how it is now, but like, you know, I think that that's an idea I've never thought of, but it's a really good idea.
Te Kahukura: That's mean. I love that, and just like thinking outside of the box, because so many people are like, oh, there's only one way to do it. It's like, no, there's like so many different things, ways you can do it. So, you know, highest contribute high contributions to your KiwiSaver. Yeah. Delaying gratification, thinking about your money habits, getting support like building your team of people who can like help you and, you know, advise you as to like what are the right steps for you.
Um, you know, making making sure your friends, I guess, are like people that you want to be around, people that hype you up and sort of like discouraging you and like, you know, your goals are just as important for them as they are for you.
Tegan: Oh for sure. You know, even if you see, like the rich fella at work kind of lean in and be like, how do you do that? How are you where we're at? Like, like I really enjoyed picking bits of sort of other people's journeys and saying like, what could work for me? I'm always like someone who asks like a million questions. So how did you get the house? How did you get into your second one, or what are you doing there? Or how you got a really nice car? Like, what do you do outside of mahi? Because I'm going I know you don't know much here, so what's the what's the vibe? But there's a lot of people, especially in my work place. I'm really lucky. People are a bit more out there and, like, there's a lot of people at work, so, like, they might have more of a desk job, but outside of work, they're on their own, like Burger King ads or something like that, you know, or like fast food ads.
They're finding those opportunities where they can earn more money to get to their goals a little quicker.
Te Kahukura: Yeah. Being a little bit more analytical and like delaying gratification, like, I feel like these are just like some really powerful tips. And so, I just wanted to like, thank you for your time today and for being here. And just like sharing with such like openness, I feel like putea out isn't something that a lot of us talk about openly. So I just wanted to, like, really make you know that I'm so grateful for your time and for you sharing your mātauranga with us today. I know that there's so many people who are going to listen to this and who are going to be just completely inspired by your journey. So thank you so much.
Tegan: And I know and just like a reminder to anyone, this, this journey, my journey is unique to me. You might find some bits that you relate to, but you might not. And I know where I come from and the journey I've been on has been a at a lot of points, a privileged one. But I hope there's something you can take from it, even if it's just a small mindset change. Um, yeah. Yeah.
Te Kahukura: No. Grateful as for your for your time today, sis. And yeah, looking forward to where you go from here.
Tegan: Hopefully ten houses now.
Te Kahukura: Multi, multi, multi-millionaire.
Tegan: Exactly.
Te Kahukura: Your actionable steps for today is to make sure you map out your numbers, do your budget, focus on your KiwiSaver contributions and increasing those over time. There are a bunch of calculators and tools in the show notes below that will help you to run those numbers for you. Mauri ora.
[Text on screen: ANZ logo, Māori Millionaire Presents How We Money]
Voiceover by Te Kahukura: Your actionable step today: map out your next home-buying milestone – maybe it’s checking your deposit savings, reviewing your budget, or learning about first-home ownership schemes. Progress is progress, no matter the size.
ANZ has some awesome tools to calculate how much you could borrow and the repayments for a first home – you can even book in to speak to one of their home loan coaches to make a plan – it’s completely commitment-free and you do not have to be an ANZ customer – I’ve linked you to more information in the show notes below.
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The information in this podcast is for general information only and isn't financial advice. The views of the host or guests are their own and do not represent ANZ. ANZ and Māori Millionaire does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the content and isn't liable for any loss arising from its use. Please seek personalised advice before making financial decisions.