Financial Advice
Become Wealth offers NZDF members and their families a free initial consultation. and heavily discounted financial advice after that if you want to go further. There is no obligation, and no standard first meeting. Some people go to Become Wealth with a decision to make. Others want to understand their options. Both work.
The advisers know how Defence life works, because they advise on it every week: postings that move your income and your housing, allowances which can be invested to grow or to be spent, promotions that lift your pay step, deployments, and the eventual move out of service, while applying the same principals to civilian life events such as career progression, income changes, home ownership and retirement planning.
What Become Wealth Does
NZDF has a long-running and transparent partnership with Become Wealth. Become Wealth provides clear, practical advice to help you make confident financial decisions across areas like KiwiSaver, mortgages, insurance and investments.
- A no-cost, no obligations consultation to identify opportunities to improve your finances
- Flexible meetings tailored to your goals or general guidance needs
- Follow-up support, including help progressing applications
- Optional detailed financial plans for more complex needs
- Ongoing advice available as your situation changes
Become Wealth advisers work with both Defence and civilian clients, tailoring advice to you and your families stage, goals, and circumstances.
Most of What Matters Changes with your Phase of Career
Early in your service
Your pay is steady and your costs are low early in your service. Which is a great starting point for you to set things up well. The first goal for most people is a home. KiwiSaver usually funds part of the deposit, and the same Force Financial Hub also gives you free mortgage broking.Getting your KiwiSaver contribution rate and fund choice right now also quietly compounds for the next thirty years.
Mid-Career
A promotion or two has lifted your pay, the mortgage on your home is shrinking, and for many there can be genuine surplus income each fortnight. Others will face financial commitments associated with a mortgage and growing family so might not find generating a surplus easy. Births, marriage, and more can occur that this phase.
The decisions here shape your retirement more than any others. Is your KiwiSaver investment in the right fund and contribution level for your age, or quietly costing you hundreds of thousands by the time you reitre? Should regular surplus income go into a broader unlocked investment fund such as NZDF FlexiSaver, or an investment property to build the nest egg, or something else? Is any mortgage debt optimised? Carefully weighing all financial choices at this stage can turn a good income into something lasting.
Explore financial planning(external link)
Late career and the move out of service
Defence careers can finish earlier than civilian ones, so your finances may need to carry you through a transition into a second career. You may have adult children leaving home and might have repaid a mortgage on your house and want to know what to do next.
The questions become whether what you have built will see you through, how to keep building your funds up pre-retirement, potentially across KiwiSaver, investments, and any legacy Defence superannuation. Then how to time the move to civilian work or retirement. Map it early and you keep your options open.
Eventually, you'll want to sequence withdrawals in retirement, too.
Explore retirement planning(external link)
Leaving service or relocating, at any stage
Postings, courses, deployments, training exercises, and other unique demands of service life can all add complications to your finances.
At some point, when your life goals and situation change, possibility coinciding with a relocation back to a hometown or on to a bigger city. This can reset your income, your career path, your housing, and often your KiwiSaver and insurance settings at the same time. A single conversation before you commit shows you the financial shape of the decision while you can still adjust it.
Whatever your stage, book a free, no-obligation consultation(external link) with Become Wealth
Call Become Wealth on 0508 232 663
Email hello@become.nz
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Financial capability training programme
NZDF has teamed up with the Commission for Financial Capability (www.sorted.org.nz) to bring you the NZDF Financial Capability Programme. Three different courses are on offer and they are regularly run at camps and bases as well as at HQNZDF. These programmes are aimed at providing NZDF members and their families with the tools to make the best financial decisions for themselves.
Disclaimer: This programme provides financial information only and does not constitute financial advice. It does not take into account personal circumstances. Contact Become Wealth (phone: 0508 232 663 or email: hello@become.nz) for financial advice matters.
Watch for local communications
Email benefits@nzdf.mil.nz to find out when they will be offered at your location
