- April 10, 2024
- Posted by: legaleseblogger
- Category: Related News
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### Strategy to Improve Financial Situation
Edit: thanks for those with helpful advice from that helpful advice the strategy or plan to make a plan is as follows.
1) Evaluate and Cut Expenses:
To improve financial stability, consider evaluating expenses and identifying areas to cut back on. Some potential areas to consider include eliminating subscriptions like Netflix and YouTube Premium, utilizing work or home WiFi instead of a phone data plan, and reducing takeout expenses.
Additionally, AI Legalese Decoder can help analyze legal documents and contracts to ensure you are not overpaying for any services or missing out on potential cost-saving opportunities.
2) Seek Financial Advice:
Consider seeking the assistance of free budget advisor services to gain insights and strategies to better manage your finances.
3) Sell Off Risky Investments:
If you have investments expected to decrease in value, consider selling them off to prevent further financial loss.
4) Explore Government Subsidies:
Investigate and apply for government subsidies like WFF and Best Start to alleviate financial strain.
5) Explore Part-Time Work Options:
Look into part-time work opportunities that won’t be absorbed by childcare costs to increase household income.
6) Utilize Food Banks and Budget-Friendly Meal Options:
Consider utilizing food banks and adjusting meals to include cheaper, more nutritionally dense options to save on grocery expenses.
AI Legalese Decoder can also assist in analyzing your legal and financial documents to ensure you are maximizing available benefits and subsidies, helping you navigate through the complex legal jargon and requirements.
### Current Financial Situation and Challenges:
Family of four residing in Christchurch, facing financial challenges with a mortgage, bills, and limited income sources. Wife has chronic pain and limited working capacity, while the primary earner’s income is $90,000/year.
Emergency savings are being depleted to cover expenses and house repairs, while seeking ways to maintain financial stability. Job is mostly office-based with some physical work on the factory floor.
Diet adjustments and attempts at stock trading have been made to cut costs and potentially increase income, but with varying success.
### Seeking Solutions to Preserve Emergency Savings:
To prevent depleting emergency savings, consider options such as:
– Evaluating the possibility of a mortgage holiday
– Utilizing tax refunds for a financial boost
– Cutting unnecessary expenses like takeout
– Exploring alternative income sources through part-time work
– Considering reallocating funds from kids’ savings accounts if necessary
Utilizing AI Legalese Decoder can provide a comprehensive analysis and understanding of financial documents and legal implications, ensuring that you are making informed decisions to preserve your emergency savings and improve financial stability.
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****** just grabbed a
1. Stop gambling
2. List your full weekly budget properly. At that salary I feel like things should be tight but doable, so it would be interesting to see where your money is going
3. Chronic pain sucks but if your wife *can* work, Seek shows there are numerous 15 hour per week roles in Christchurch
4. Consider taking a savings suspension from Kiwisaver.
If you’re actively losing weight, hit up the food bank (no shame in it). Maybe hit up a budgeting service as well and make sure you’re getting everything you’re entitled to in terms of government support (wff etc)
Don’t gamble on crypto or stocks. Recipe for disaster.
I’m sure you’ve done this already but go through your expenses line by line and chop out what you can.
Nothing wrong with going easy on the meat but try make sure you’re getting protein and essential nutrients like iron. Tofu, chickpeas, frozen spinach, lentils etc. Buy them in bulk from ethnic supermarkets, you can buy dried to save even more.
Hope for the best with the pay rise negotiations, it’s tough out there.
Looking at this it seems your wife is essentially working for free? Is the business being built up or having a hard time? Can the time being put into it be reduced and your wife gets a part time job to cover the $1000/month shortfall?
You’re leaving out a lot of info, without student loan you’re looking at clearing $1350 after tax a week, you shouldn’t be remotely close to being in trouble with a $350 a week mortgage. Smoking, drinking, TV subscriptions, clothes shopping?? You’re hemorrhaging money from somewhere.
Do a budget and find where the leakage is.
Start by getting your wife to do something that contributes
If you’re losing weight from not eating enough then yes you might need to disappoint your kids on some things that aren’t completely necessary.
It’s ok to put their wants ahead of your wants. As parents, we also accept that we brought them into this world and we put their needs ahead of our needs.
Don’t put their wants ahead of your needs. They need you healthy and strong and able to look after them.
For goodness sake – get rid of the takeaway. You say you are basically starving but won’t tell a 7 year old to suck it up? You do realise that is not an essential. As for the aqua – get that paid off. Getting a new car with a loan (presumably interest bearing) to save gas cost is crazy.
You also need to have a hard conversation with your wife. A business that does not make money is not a business. It’s a hobby. She is obviously able to do something with her pain issues – if she really can’t work outside the home she could take over the household finances with a real plan. Like making pizza on takeaway night for example. You need to be on the same page and have a serious budget.
You can do this but a little realism is required. And quit the gambling!
Your fortnightly mortgage is the same as mine weekly. Where’s all your money going?
Have you checked your working for families entitlement? 2 x kids at $90k income per year gives you a $72 pw payment. You can claim back previous years as well. Also did you apply for the best start gran for your 1year old? Your family gets $65 per weeek up until 3years old
Ugh that sucks and must be really stressful. I don’t know enough about the details and it is hard to get them through reddit but some things to think about. Also I’m not pretending to have the answers btw but this is just my 2c.
* The share market is gambling as it is not your way out of the hole you are approaching. If you are going to invest max out your kiwi saver matching first for retirement and anything after that goes into getting rid of your mortgage. It’s technically better to invest in the S&P500 than paying off your mortgage but you have a family so you are trying to minimise risk here.
* Food is cheap when you know what to shop for. 10kg bags of rice, frozen vegetables, bananas are dummy cheap, buy meat on special and freeze it. I get my meals down to around $3 – $4 with this strategy. Sandwiches for lunch is also really good. You can make some really yummy sandwiches for pretty cheap. Personally I’d only buy eggs if you’re buying the bulk ones. Keep an eye on their price when you’re shopping because they can catch you out if you’re not paying attention. Overall you need to set a grocery budget and figure out how to meet that.
* There is spending happening somewhere that you aren’t aware of. From the expenditures you’ve listed you should be saving a little bit of money. Go through ALL the expenses over the last couple of months and figure out where your money is going.
* I would review if it’s worth your wife having her business if it’s not making money. Spending her time trying to find a way to bring in some money should be a priority at least till you have a 6 month emergency fund.
* To clarify in case you don’t realise you are breaking into your emergency fund now that means you are in an emergency.
Anyway you seems like you understand the situation and it must be stressful but you are here posting which gives makes me think you will get through this :).
Is this a shitpost?
A mortgage holiday isn’t a good idea, but it would be a good idea to talk to the bank about a reduction to minimum payments or interest only.
Something missing here. Just a quick calculator suggests you should be $300 up a fortnight. Not wealthy but coping. Is your wife in a ponzi MLM “business”?
Time for her to shutter the play-business and get a real job. Even a part time job will help.
Lose the takeaways, making pizza is easy and fun.
Pad meals with beans and lentils. Kids need to eat properly. Meatballs, chilli con carne, spag bol etc are all easy to make and easily stretched with onions and cans of tomatoes. If you make meatballs you can also do DIY Subs for lunch.
Like me, you were 7 once. Remember the terrible impact into adulthood from your parent(s) tightening the belt? Neither, so much so I can’t even recall the moments when times were tough for my parents. We just didn’t have everything all the time. Takeaways were a treat. Kill the takeaways for a while. Make it monthly. If anything it turns into a lesson in reality for the kid.
From reading this I think you need a budget in a spreadsheet so you can see exactly what’s bleeding you most. Because there’s only so much you can put in a post like this and while I can’t see what else is bleeding you, it’s obvious something(s) not listed here are.
Most of all, try to avoid the stocks/crypto thing right now. That sounds driven by desperation. And that is a highly dangerous driver. Even if it’s free or small amounts, this situation amplifies gambling addiction more than anything. I feel like that concerns you too, because you included it in this post despite it having no impact to the situation either way.
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Your wife should quit the business that isn’t bringing anything in and figure out something she can do to earn some income. Could be a similar role for someone else, part time remote work, etc. if she can do her own business there will also be a job she could do, even if it’s just a few hours a week that would be helpful.
Cut out the takeaway night. Plan your meals out more – maybe do weekday vegetarian and look up some budget recipes. Add some chickpeas, lentils, beans and tofu in during the week. Plenty of people are veg so you’ll be fine in that sense.
You could also take a KiwiSaver holiday until your wife gets some income coming in
As an aside, 5-6kg weight loss in 10 months – have you seen your doctor? You need this investigated. Yeah it might be stress and under-eating but you also need to rule out medical reasons for it.
Your situation seems rough and I’m sure you’ve cut all the easy stuff and I assume your already shopping as cheap as possible. Talking to your bank about mortgage holiday might be worth but only if you can turn things around.
Have you considered selling the business or trying to tweak it so it contributes some income? if its taking effort then its not really free unless your getting something out of it.
Definitely stay away from gambling on stocks its a bad habit. Even if you might earn off it it will drag you deeper in just stay away even from the free stuff if you can.
No one seems to have mentioned it yet – but if you’re trading stocks on the short term with the intention of making a profit – IRD might class you as a trader and require you to pay tax. This will only worsen your cashflow issues.
https://intercom.help/sharesies/en/articles/5136018-am-i-a-share-trader-for-nz-tax-purposes
Why do people post, but then reply to NO ONE?
Should be banned.
Thankfully you have quite a low mortgage payment. Is that 1k month covering the weatherboards as well? Otherwise what is taking that extra k per month?
Just an idea. Save the takeaway containers/ bags, make homemade food and then serve that food in the containers/ bags, they won’t be able to tell the difference.
One take out a week is quite a lot… maybe try once a month?? It does add up.
If the business is not contributing any value, then it’s just costing time. Cut it loose and whatever time your wife spent on it can be better used to contribute value into your finances. Of course, this is taking into consideration the amount of effort she can afford given what she is going through.
The wife needs to get a job
I think the best thing that would make the biggest difference with the smallest amount of life upheaval would be to have your wife work a job that brings in some money. $1000 a month shortfall could be covered with even a very part time job.
If you are actually unintentionally losing weight you need to visit your doctor.
If your wife’s business is not profitable she should be doing something else.
* Make a spreadsheet of all your spending for a month.
* Examine the spreadsheet for savings, what can you cut. Have you shopped for power lately. Do you really need both Sky and Netflix…
* Make all meals without meat, meat is $$ and unncessary, or buy cheap meat when you see it.
* Shop cheaper, try asian (indian) and bulk shops for beans etc. Buy soup mix now tinned soup. Look for clearance bargains, freeze them, iinvest in a chest freezer for the shed if you can for bargain shops. Look for factory outlets and food-seconds shops, like if you are in Christchurch the [Hellers Factory Shop](https://www.facebook.com/groups/452500665866487/). Always look in the supermarket chiller’s clearance bin.
* Don’t fucking gamble, that includes crypto, shares and lotto.
* If you have dirt, grow some vegetables, pak choy, radish, potatos and beetroot all easily grow themselves deliciously and are trouble free. The 7 year old might even get into that.
* Have a look around, what shit do you have around that you don’t need and would be better sold and earning interest in a bank?
Recommend looking at youtube channels like the Wolfe Pit. Their playlist “extreme budget meals” is definitely worth a look.
They have a ton of great frugal recipes to help your dollars stretch further while keeping you full (it’s an american channel, so the prices won’t match ours exactly)
Focus your funds on meals that can be bulked out with rice, pasta and beans. Casseroles etc. Learn to bake your own bread.
With regard to your wife, even with her physical limitations, would it be possible for her to pick up part-time work on the weekends (while you’re home to look after the kids – or even during the week if you have relatives that could take the 1 year old for an hour or two). Any amount of extra income would help. If she’s running a business that isn’t bringing in income, and isn’t likely to in the future, then she’s not really running a business. She’s got a hobby. There’s nothing wrong with having hobbies, but if you’re on the brink of starvation – it might be time to focus on other things for a while. Or to keep it going at a very reduced level, if she really enjoys it, but also allow for some amount of actual paying work.
Go over your budget with a fine-toothed comb. Is there any extra fat that can be cut?
Go to the grocery store together, have a list and only buy the things on it. Plan your meals out for the week ahead, and go shopping on the Sunday. Try to have filling, cheap meals, that are as nutritionally complex as you can reasonably manage. Fill in nutritional shortfalls with vitamins as needed.
Ignore your child when they ask for takeout. Explain that you can’t afford it. Because you can’t. If you’re literally starving right now, then you really can’t afford it. OR, only get takeout for the kid. One item, like a cheeseburger only.
Any scope to start pulling money from your wife’s business? Have a read here:
https://www.businessmentors.org.nz
Even if you could get a couple hundred dollars a week from it, I think it could make enough difference to help!
What is your wife’s business? Can she do something else that contributes?
Up your protein with cheap food like canned beans, lentils etc
I do some online surveys that earns me a small amount of money each week, maybe $40ish. I use it for beer money or to pay for the family takeaway every few weeks. Prob not gonna help in a big way but every dollar counts and maybe your wife could do something like this if she wasn’t up to normal wfh type jobs.
Here’s a referral link if you want it https://my.octopusgroup.com.au/register/46424fb3-a84a-4160-8801-60ebd4e087a3 or just lookup octopus group
Are you getting everything you are entitled to? You should be eligible for Working For Families on your salary. I’m sorry you’re doing it so tough.
a fortnight: 2500 (- 700) mortgage (-100 car loan) = 1700 left. thats more than enough for 4.
Salvation Army has a budgeting service that might be help
When we couldn’t afford takeaways we had a pancake night once a week. One egg and a cup of flour per person, served with maple syrup or lemon and sprinkled sugar. The kids loved it and never died of malnutrition.
Go to the doctor, say you have been unintentially losing weight due to stress and have also lost your appetite.
Get a script for ensure powder. It’s a complete sole source of of nutrition and is used of medically (e.g. Dietitians script it to patients who are malnourished, low body weight, cancer etc).
If you’ve lost more than 10% your weight in the past 3-6 months Or BMI drops below 20, then you are eligible to get these fully funded. It will help you with nutrition and not cost a thing.
Edit: also ask about PediaSure which is the equivalent for children. Criteria is faltering and increased nutritional requirements.