I didn’t know much about investing or financial planning growing up. What I did learn came from simple lessons at home about saving and avoiding debt. This blog is my way of sharing how those lessons evolved into building a more intentional financial life. Those lessons started with my parents, who taught me a few things about money:

• Only spend the money you have
• Never get a credit card (I’ve still never owned one)
• Save as much as you can

As a broke student in my 20s I tried to follow these rules as I started earning money from jobs during my studies. Interestingly, they never advised me to invest money anywhere other than a savings accounts at the bank. In fact, my dad actively discouraged me from investing losing a lot of money in Eurotunnel shares. I don’t know all the details but that experience left some scars.

Like most students, I lived a frugal lifestyle that still allowed for nights out, the occasional trip and my own car. When I started working, this didn’t drastically change. I had more money to save but I still didn’t look into a proper plan for my savings because I didn’t know what I was really saving for. I figured a bank account was good enough and didn’t worry about it.

I eventually started investing in shares via KiwiSaver through my employer. I was on a default fund for a while before changing to my bank’s fund, and again didn’t, really know what I was doing. But I at least I was investing in the share market.

Fast forward to my early 30s where life started to slow down bit and become more intentional. I wanted to settle down with my partner and start a family. That’s when I took a good look at our finances to understand what that would mean for us. We’d have one more mouth to feed, dress and take care of in many different ways. My partner would likely be off work for a while. I wondered if we were financially ready to start this new chapter of our lives with all the challenges it might bring.

The exact moment when I started to take our finances seriously was when we used an online budget calculator to forecast our expenses with the addition of a tiny human. At first glance, it seemed like we couldn’t make the numbers work and our expenses would be greater than our incomes. So I did what I usually do when faced with a problem that requires a solution: I became very interested in personal finance, budgeting and financial freedom. My partner might say I was obsessed because I devoured countless books and online content on the topic until I felt like I had a solid plan.

Since then, we’ve created a budget, diversified our investments and income streams, seen our net worth grow steadily and were even able to buy our first home.

It’s been a wild ride, but seeing how much financial education can transform your life has been incredible. That’s why I decided to share what I’ve learned (and am still learning), hoping to inspire anyone on a similar journey.