u/shanewzR

I am close (within a year or so) of proper FIRE at mid 40s (with partner and kid). The maths and modelling work based on all the research done by many people who are far cleverer than me. However, I have been at this stage before, taken a few breaks and then gone back to work when the call came (could not say no). I don't like the work I do at all and never have. It makes it tolerable knowing I have options though. My partner will probably continue working but is in a very low wage industry (although helps having something coming in)

The part I struggle with is the anxiety of getting it wrong and running out of money, as it could be a 40 year retirement. Some of the worries include

• getting the FIRE calculations wrong. I have done the calcs myself and no really run them past a professional. I just have not been able to find a professional that understands early retirement.
• having large unforeseen expenses down the track. I have 2 years of cash reserves but thats only 2 years. If something major happens, although I have insurance for health and life for the family, it won't cover other major expenses.
• not being able to get back into paid work if it all goes wrong. Hard enough to get a job while in the workforce these days, so I imagine once out it would be much harder
• Having a massive generational correction in the world, which is possible given the highs in the last 15 years

How have others dealt with the above? I often here "have a bigger emergency cash buffer" and "get any kind of job" as backup plans but I don't see those as realistically implemented. It would take years to save a bigger emergency cash buffer and getting a job in what could be a long high unemployment market is easier said than done, particularly as you get older.

All, looking for recommendations for conveyancing for a property sale between family members. Our current lawyer is winding down after being with her for over 25 years, so need a find a new one. But don't just want to go with the first one on Google, so appreciate any recommendations in Auckland or anywhere really. (also asked friends and other family of course)

So I was on hold to the ASB this morning and noticed that there are now options to not only pick the music that plays on hold but also skip a song if I don't like the song! That's a big win to the collective mental health of people sitting on hold for a long time...

Hi, we just started with Adsense advertising, moving from Journey by Mediavine, where the RPM was very very low. Its only been 3 days with Adsense but we have started getting these 'Discover More' sections pop up on the site, which are not really an add-value to viewers. Has anyone had these?

Also with day 3, the RPM is very low as well. Does it normally take time to ramp up?

A few noob questions having not owned an EV before but looking to buy in the next 6 months:

1. How does one get a used EV checked? Last time I tried, AA said they don't check EVs or hybrid batteries.

2. Being in a rental, I am not going to have a specialist charger at home. Do most EVs charge through a normal wall socket? I am looking at either a BYD, Tesla or Leap

3. Do you have to take an EV to the brands servicing shop or does the local mechanic handle servicing, brake checks etc.

Personally I don't quite like the thought of a internet connected car either, which is one of the reasons I have limited options when looking to purchase an EV. Having worked in technology all my life, I know that it only takes one sloppy techo for hackers to get in and cause havoc. What do people think of this?

Our website gets about 20k (Google Analytics) and 3k (Bing) sessions traffic a month. We joined Journey by Mediavine earlier this year and have made the grand total of $10 from advertising so far. All the research points to the math not adding up. 50% of the traffic is from the USA. The current RPM sits at $0.04 and CPM at $0.45 for the last 30 days.

I have raised a community support issue but the responses are very slow. Any thougths or help would be much appreciated.

I have had a pinterest account going for over 2 years now, with hardly any traffic but impressions were going up. I reached about 75k impressions a month about a month ago. I though I would ramp it up and automate posts using automation tools with manual creation of pins. However, since I started ramping up to 4 to 7 posts a day, my impressions have gone down 50% or more. Am I in Pinterest jail now for automating posting (I use Make.com but manually create the pics and videos)

We have been collecting emails for a few years now but have not really used them much. We want to get more into newsletters now. Understanding that the list is cold and old, we have used a verifying service to clean the list, which takes out mainly the bouncers.

Now we are ready to send out to the clean list and those who signed up in the last year (ignoring the older ones). But being a big list (about 25k), the email marketing platforms like Kit, Brevo and Mailchimp are very expensive.

Any more reasonable alternatives for such a list? We want to email a newsletter out every week.

As I went for a job this morning, I was thinking about how to prepare my kids for the world as they come up to being young adults. We all work for at least 40 years (these days more like 50 years) for money but often don't have any knowledge or education on how to handle money. We spend about 15 years studying to learn skills to make money but not how to make money work for us.

So I wanted to share my top lessons learned, in the hope that someone younger reading this would get some benefit.

1. Money is a necessity of life that needs to be learned about and understood. It should not be thought of as something driven by greed or consumerism. You will probably work 40 to 50 years (10k to 13k days) for money, so you can't say money is not important to understand.
2. Investing is not an option, its a necessity. Money depreciates over time and you have to keep your money growing. Money in the bank is not as safe as its made out to be, as inflation erodes it. I have never come across a financially stable person who does not invest
3. Time and compounding are the biggest gifts given to you, take advantage of it. You don't get time back, so start your financial education and investing journey as early as possible (hopefully after reading this!)
4. Avoid the quick money options (share trading, gambling etc), they often end in long term loss or pain. I got tempted several times and mainly lost money and my peace of mind.
5. Change your mindset of expecting the NZ Government to look after you financially. NZ has been lucky so far with a low population to have a great welfare and super system but as we all know its under a lot of pressure now.
6. Superannuation in retirement will be your responsibility, don't for a moment think that it will stay as it is today. Kiwisaver will take over and if there is any basic Super left, it may just perhaps cover bare existence. Existing on Super today (around $28k) is far from a dream retirement and very difficult.
7. Focus on your mental and physical health, not on your career. A company is not created for the wellbeing of it's employees but to make money for its owners and shareholders. You may get lucky with the rare company but most will spit you out at the drop of a hat. No one individual is irreplaceable generally and that is much more evident with AI
8. Don't go down the spiral of politics and blaming society for your financial challenges. No politician or society is going to solve your personal issue. Face up to the challenge, work through it and you will be surprised how the universe sorts things out when you take the step
9. Avoid comparison and jealousy of others financial situation. It would make you feel any better or help your own. Also, you will never know that persons full life and financial journey. They may have had a lot of issues along the way that you would not be aware of.
10. Moving countries is not going to make your financial issues go away. Its an expensive exercise and often not easy. Most people who move will portray it in the best light to justify their move, so you won't see the full picture.

Hope this helps put things into perspective. it helped me put my thoughts down, so I can have gradual conversations with my kids.

I have been a sporadic content creator for a year or so now. Generally use ChatGPT/Claude for ideas, then use Sora or Midjourney for images and videos. Sometimes I edit the videos in Premiere Pro using some editing templates from Freevisuals or Mixkit.

My main platforms are Facebook and Pinterest. Interested to find out what other creators are using and how often you post on your platforms?

All, I ran a successful channel till it got taken down earlier this year due to copyright. I know what I did not (music) and have learned from it.

Recently, I started two more channels (completely separate). I noticed I could get traction from the first 5-10 shorts but after that, I see that the views go down to almost 0.

Anyone else had this issue? What do you recommend?

Looking at the S&P500 and other indexes hitting all time highs in the last month amidst Wars, Inflation, High unemployment and AI bubble territory, there is no surprise that there are more articles showing up in media (Micheal Burry yesterday) and talk at BBQs about a potential large crash of the markets.

No one really knows of course but if that did happen how would you handle it? Considering a lot of people are relatively new to investing in shares/ETF (under 10-15 years) and the markets have been AMAZING in this time, I do worry about the mental effect on these new entrants of a real crash that they have never experienced in their lives.

I have been through the DotCom 2000 and the 2008 GFC crash and it's quite a different feeling at the time, especially if you get your information from media, like many do. In these good times of share market all time highs the media sell doom, imagine how shocking it will get if there is a crash.

I know I struggled in those 2000 and 2008 times but I came through it better each time and had no real regrets

Interested to hear how you think you wold react and how you are preparing yourself (if at all).

Anyone heard if the Toyota BZ7 is coming to Nz at all? Saw some pics of it and the specs, which all look pretty good. The price is also amazing around $22k USD.