u/Timely_Hunter5894

How are you all feeling and how are you keeping warm?

I can afford to heat my home. But it’s still bloody freezing.

I got home from work about 5:30 as I did a few things in town after I finished at 4.

The heat pump is on 25. I’m in my bed with my door open as my panel heater in my room wasn’t warming my room (it’s is on 30°.)

I still feel freezing cold .
I live out in Waitati so it’s a bit colder out here.

I could light the fire, but I’m too tired. I work as a nurse and I’m just too drained to light it tonight.

My hands are a bit cold as I write this so I’m going to search for some gloves and heat up a wheat pack.

I am feeling very very bad for all your students who can’t afford to heat your flats (been there)

and for any elderly people or single parents who are feeling the cold tonight (I am a single parent but kids are adults now)

How are you all keeping as warm as possible in your circumstances? I know that I am very fortunate but I do expect a pretty big power bill this winter.

(My home is insulated but it has very high ceilings)

So as per my post, I have $1500. In 12 years I will be 66.
I can afford $100 deposits fortnightly.

I did a quick compounding interest calculation and if it performs at 15% p.a. It will be at roughly $30 000 in 10 years.

Alphabet is going to perform well long term from all my research.

Would you put this all into alphabet? I know most of you will tell me to diversify but it’s kinda exciting to put it all into one share

Advice/ recommendations?

( I realise that it’s not necessarily going to perform as well as my prediction but I definitely think I won’t lose money on it)

I can always reassess as time passes of course

I am still doing KiwiSaver contributions and paying down my mortgage asap

This extra investing is just that- a little bit of extra investing.

EDIT: I put $100 into Alphabet a few months ago. It’s given me a 30% return so fluctuating around $130

I like the idea of a bit a a fun/ high risk for high return.

This is NOT the majority of my retirement plan or anything like that!! I may even keep it in there for 15 years

Hello, parents of young adults. Times are very tough as we all are aware.

I am the parent of my niece. She came to live with me after her parents broke up when she was aged 16. Now she’s 22. I treat her the same as my 24-year-old son and my 30-year-old daughter.

Her father, my brother, has four rental properties in Australia and he has lived there for decades. Her mother has a high salary also.

They haven’t given me money for her ever. In the crucial time when she was still legally a child there was no money from them.

My daughter has a serious mental illness and it’s really rough on her.

I am single. I have registered nurse salary. $106000

last year before tax. 64 hrs per fortnight. Salary includes penal rates for nights and weekends.

I will be 55 this year. I am paying off my mortgage and saving for retirement at the same time.

That being said I have about $7000 in immediately available accounts .

Children no longer living at home. Niece 22 working full-time. I lent her $100 for food last week.

Son 24. Just finished his masters degree and beginning his PhD on a full scholarship (STEM) ; has part-time jobs as a lab demonstrator and paid gigs in a band.

He never asks for money. I took him out for a celebration dinner last week after he handed in the masters.

Daughter, not great with money, she often spends her food money on clothing. She lives with her dad (he has schizophrenia) in a trust fund house set up by the grandparents. They have a lot of money and are very generous (I know we are very very fortunate in that respect.)

Of course if any of the 3 of them call I will give them money because I’m not going to let them go hungry.

(however with my daughter, I always give her less because I know that she is choosing to spend her food money on clothing and the grandparents will always supply her food when she runs out)

I know this is a form of a enabling,but it’s damned hard. Unless you have a mentally ill adult child, please refrain from making judgemental comments.

My niece and my son are working very hard .

Unfortunately, my daughter is not able to work but she does get free rent living in the house purchased by her grandparents.

I know this varies depending on your circumstances, but I’ve been a single mother since my two children were infants (they have different fathers).

When they lived at home, it was free rent . Now they’re not living at home, ( last 3 years) I get crisis calls quite often.

I’m not struggling. Not much saved for retirement $13,000 saved.

$300,000 mortgage. I finally managed to buy my first home about 20 months ago, as I was a single parent most of my adult life since the age of 24.

I am fast tracking mortgage payments.

I have a flatmate.

It’s hard to strike the right balance with them, but basically if it’s a crisis call for food, I will always give them money for food .

I tell them to give it back to me when I’m an old lady .

Like give it back to me in 20 years okay Kids !!!

Work is rough. We are dealing with high-risk patients in an underfunded public health system.

I’ve been speaking to recruiters in Australia for fly in fly out work.

I’m going to get around double my current pay with free accommodation and keep a couple of flatmates in my house; flexible arrangement.

I can come back every couple of months for a couple of weeks.

That’s my retirement savings plan.

It will not be easy. It will be damned hot (but not inside the hospital obviously) and damned hard. But at least I will get more than my current four weeks annual leave per year.

(no sick leave or annual leave in the contract work in Australia but it still works out as much more lucrative, even factoring that in.)

I know I probably seem to be sitting pretty compared to many people in New Zealand at the moment

I’m not complaining. I’m just asking parents how much they are assisting compared to how much they are saving.

Currently, I save about $500 -700 per fortnight after mortgage and all other bills including food .

If the Aussie thing works, I will be saving significantly higher and then yes of course I would still help my children, but I want them to learn to be completely independent eventually. (except I understand my daughter will need a different level of support most likely.)

My parents never helped me when I was a student and a single mother, but that was a different era.

I struggled a lot and I am proud that I’ve reached the point where I can actually save my children from the struggle I went through.

How much do we let them struggle and how much do we help them ?

I err on the the side of helping them. I believe in being kind but I’ve told the three of them that mum’s bank account is running low and mum needs to focus on planning to retire by age of 70.

I count my blessings every day. I’m a very fortunate person.

However, it’s because I’ve worked very hard that I am able to give my children more than my parents could ever give me (financially and, more crucially, emotionally)