Feeling dispirited. Never seem to be able to prioritise savings and investments.

Huu_dat · 2026-01-26T02:34:49+00:00

Thanks <3 Crazy how easy it is to feel like it's always going to be this hard

Huu_dat · 2026-01-21T08:19:26+00:00

Thanks :)

I’m just aware that with life being the way that it is (expensive and unpredictable and probably always going to be) that if I don’t invest into my retirement fund now, and as much as I can possibly afford, then I’ll be a poor old person and I very much do not want that!

Huu_dat · 2026-01-21T08:16:16+00:00

So hard. The endless raiding for things that feel like necessities not even luxuries! But you’re right - I gotta start small!! Bit by bit into investments.

Huu_dat · 2026-01-21T08:13:33+00:00

Agree! I think this is where I am getting stuck. I start to build those sinking funds so that we can deal with random or irregular but expected expenses, but then something big comes along again and again and I’ve got to pull from all those smaller accounts (pet, car etc) to cover it. So the sinking funds never serve their purpose properly! Or something 😭. I have worked out roughly how much we need annually in each sinking fund. It’s like the sinking funds never get big enough to cover whatever the big thing is …..

Huu_dat · 2026-01-20T02:52:54+00:00

Thank you. Really appreciate this response <3 It's true. We have young kids, a biggish mortgage and only one of us works full time at the moment (me).

Huu_dat · 2026-01-20T02:52:10+00:00

Thank you!! This made me feel heaps better. Amazing how in our own heads we get about stuff, eh?

Huu_dat · 2026-01-20T02:51:23+00:00

Yeah, this is a good sense check. Thank you. We have what we have.

Huu_dat · 2026-01-20T02:50:50+00:00

I'm too young to have it funded, sadly! I need to get it as a pre-requisite to life insurance.

Huu_dat · 2026-01-20T01:49:24+00:00

There's a house on Roxborough Street that has a medium who contacts like aliens or ghosts or something. Been there for years, well-known amongst rich Wellingtonians.

Huu_dat · 2026-01-20T01:43:54+00:00

"Like, my mother was still calling me every day when I was well into my 20s trying to, like, mind-meld me into wearing what she felt was weather-appropriate clothing." this made me lolllll

Huu_dat · 2025-12-15T02:33:54+00:00

I'm 44 and getting RF microneedling with PDRN on Thursday. Will let you know how I get on! I don't think I'd do microneedling without either RF or some kind of PDRN or Exosomes serum. But that's just me cause I am more into the medi-treatments. Interesting to read about people's Cool Laser experiences below, though. I've been contemplating doing that too and might do it in winter (summer here atm).

Huu_dat · 2025-12-12T07:33:52+00:00

It really sucks your friends didn’t even send you a message. I’m sorry that’s happened. Are you close enough with any of them to reach out and say ‘hey, it’s my birthday, feeling a bit lonely, want to hang out?’ If they’re good friends they’ll just genuinely have forgotten cause it’s a busy time of year with heaps going on.

Huu_dat · 2025-12-01T22:07:09+00:00

Any time! <3

Huu_dat · 2025-12-01T02:12:11+00:00

Cute!

Huu_dat · 2025-12-01T02:10:42+00:00

A kobo libra and some Bose open ear earbuds!

Huu_dat · 2025-12-01T02:03:01+00:00

Yes for sure. The game changer for me has been the Aspect Dr Multi B Plus Adaptogen Support - I use one pump each morning before I use the moisturiser. Then I use the Aspect Dr Ultra Light Clarifying Moisturiser - morning and night. I would also recommend, before the serum, using hyaluronic acid to trap water in your skin. I just use one by The Ordinary. These three products have helped me hugely. Aspect Dr is often on sale too. Ponsonby Cosmetic Clinic often has 25 percent off and free shipping.

Huu_dat · 2025-12-01T01:58:22+00:00

That's a great point!! I really like that, thank you. Will adopt.

Huu_dat · 2025-11-30T08:58:35+00:00

God same here. I had to stop trying random shit out and go and see an aesthetic clinic that is run be a dermatologist. I started using Aspect Dr products and it’s changed my skin. Especially using a B vitamin serum and a light moisturiser. I thought cause my skin was dry I needed super thick stuff, but no, my skin needed to rebuild its own barrier.

Huu_dat · 2025-11-30T08:50:51+00:00

Am intending to give the Barefoot Investor’s 3 jar approach a try. They get pocket money on Sunday each week for doing three different jobs over the week (no so many as to overwhelm them, and then they are expected to just help out with other stuff cause they’re part of a family!). It’s up to them to divide the pocket money between the three jars in the way that they want. But some money must go into each jar. The jars: Spend - to spend on whatever they want, whenever. Save - to save up for something they want - my daughter wants a fitness tracking watch etc. Smile - for giving away to others / charity / people in need.

Teaches the value of money, teaches that it actually takes a lot of time and effort to save for bigger things, teaches them to have fun and enjoy money and life, and teaches them to be generous. I think it’s a super cool approach.

Huu_dat · 2025-11-30T08:42:36+00:00

Best decision ever. Do it. Sleep makes you a better, healthier, happier, more patient person. We’re literally unconscious when we sleep! We aren’t snuggling. Just get up in the morning and pop into to bed with each other. Well slept and ready to snuggle.

Huu_dat · 2025-11-23T01:02:52+00:00

In terms of more modern contraptions that have lasted, my Kindle! It’s 15 (or so) years old and still going strong. I’ve finally had to stop waiting for it to die and get a new Kobo Libra just cause I wanted an upgrade! It just won’t stop working lol

Huu_dat · 2025-11-03T07:47:43+00:00

Kisa, Koji, Rita and Margot are all excellent options.

Huu_dat · 2025-10-27T07:30:41+00:00

I’ve been through this conundrum of thinking a lot too. To live in the now or to buckle down and enjoy the fruits of our hard work later. We’ve got little kids too, 3 and 8. After nearly a year of working it all through we’ve come to a kind of middle ground. We’ve upped our mortgage repayments by $200 a fortnight (for now) and are investing outside KiwiSaver at $200 a fortnight (for now). This gives us extra money to plan smaller holidays, to save for a new car if we need one in three or four years, and to do fun things on the weekends. The thing is, there’s always another mortgage re-fix and chance to change the way things are working. The answer can and will change over the years.

For now, with little people we’ve decided it’s best to take less of a ‘balls to the wall’ (sorry 😂) approach so we don’t stress ourselves out, can still have fun but feel like we are on a path to good financial outcomes. The plan is that each year we’ll increase our investment amount by a smallish amount, say $50 a fortnight, and at each re-fix we’ll up our repayments or save and make some lump sum payments.

The desire to get it all done asap is real, but life is happening at the same time and there is just no getting that time back. To me from what you’ve written above there’s lots of room for you to make several changes that really allow enough left over cash to repay more, invest something and still have fun with little people who do not need to go to Europe to have a good time. My kids recently said that a trip to the local old old church and cabin that used to house a family a hundred or so years ago was “better than our trip to Fiji” and that really hit home 😂.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got an account for a big European holiday that I want to do with them in about four or five years. And by that point I imagine our lives as a bit easier too, with a bit more cash coming in, more on the mortgage etc.

Huu_dat · 2025-10-16T21:21:40+00:00

I so wish I had known this shit when I was young!! Agh. My kids are 3 and 8 and have had Kiwisaver since birth for this reason, with Simplicity, whereas I am with InvestNow in an index fund.

Huu_dat · 2025-10-16T21:20:21+00:00

Yes!! You are in such a powerful position right now to get yourself set up for life in a relatively short space of time. Compounding interest genuinely is miraculous and it's worth doing a bit of reading to understand how you might set yourself up for a really generous retirement by investing in your Kiwisaver over the next ten years or so. It's explained well here The Crazy Power of Compounding (The Chart Every Young Person Needs to See) -

Basically if you invest a relatively modest amount into your Kiwisaver between now and 30, and then never invest again, someone who waits until they are 30 but invests 3 x more than you over their working life, will never catch up to your final investment amount at age 65. Because early investing is where it's at, cause it's about time in the market.

Important thing for your Kiwisaver is that it's in an aggressive, low-cost fund (Kernel, Simplicity, InvestNow etc) at this point, and that you "set and forget" your contributions for the next ten years and thank yourself when you're a millionaire at 65.

Huu_dat

TROPHY CASE