PLANNING FOR THE
FINANCIAL FUTURE YOU WANT
Liz Brown Douglas (left) and Dianne Barlow
Are you worried about your bank balance as years roll by? Financial coaches DIANNE BARLOW and LIZ BROWN DOUGLAS from enable.me are here to help you build your retirement nest egg. Are you feeling ready for retirement? The 2022 New Zealand Seniors Retirement Living Report revealed that almost half of New Zealanders aged over 50 don’t feel they’re prepared financially to retire at the age they want to [1]. This isn’t surprising when you learn that most Kiwis have less than six months’ worth of expenses saved, and two in five would be unable to access $5000 if something unexpected were to happen (2022 Financial Resilience Index). With the recent sharp rise in the cost of living, the money we’re earning or have saved in the bank isn’t going to get us as far as we might like. And worrying that you’re not going to have enough money to pay off your mortgage or get you through your retirement comfortably isn’t a great feeling.
Talking point: CUSTOM DESIGNED LETTERBOXES It was the search for a feature letterbox to complement their new home that led Sue Collyns to come up with a creative idea of working on a custom designed letterbox. The talented artist and photographer discovered that outdoor art was a perfect medium for it. Soon, the custom designed letterboxes were created in their Howick factory. It wasn’t long before that they became a talking point as more people were out taking walks during the Covid lockdown.
The good news is that it’s never too early and seldom too late to start growing your wealth and planning for the financial future you want. For those who have a few years left up their sleeve before retirement and have been relying predominantly on savings, now may just be the best time to pivot and look at investing instead. With
inflation predicted to continue to increase, the future buying power of any savings will decrease, so it’s worth looking at ways to make that money work harder for you. And, if you’re still paying off your mortgage, it’s worth exploring options for repaying it off faster. The earlier you’re able to get mortgage-free, the sooner you can use that surplus cash to boost your retirement savings or put towards an investment. Don’t even have a mortgage yet? There are ways you can grow your wealth too by seeing where you’re spending unnecessarily, where you can cut costs, and diverting that surplus money towards building a financial buffer and saving for your deposit.
Get in touch
For help in achieving the financial future you want, book your consultation with financial strategist Dianne Barlow or Liz Brown Douglas at the Botany enable.me office today. enable.me/book-a-consultation.
1: https://www.nzseniors.co.nz/documents/article-document-new-zealand-seniors-theretirement-living-report-2022.pdf
Lots of enquiries later, they added three designs on their Wild on Walls website that took off with orders being shipped off all over the country. Enjoying the fact that their photography and art business is getting creative by the day, Sue can’t stop smiling as she has a stroll down her garden path installed with an outdoor garden art panel she’s created along with a custom designed letter-box.
www.wildonwalls.co.nz DY0644
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eastlife | june 2022 |
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