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SocietyJune 27, 2025

The cost of being: A junior lawyer saving up to move overseas

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As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a junior lawyer details where their money goes.

Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.

Gender: Female.

Age: 24.

Ethnicity: Pākehā.

Role: Junior lawyer.

Salary/income/assets: $66,000 per year, plus a non-accessible managed investment fund.

My living location is: Suburban.

Rent/mortgage per week: $230 per week (plus utilities) in a shared flat.

Student loan or other debt payments per week: $78,000 remaining on my student loan.

‘He mea tautoko nā ngā mema atawhai. Supported by our generous members.’
Liam Rātana
— Ātea editor

Typical weekly food costs

Groceries: $100, though this super varies depending on what I’m meal prepping that week.

Eating out: $50 – probably one “date night”/night out per week and/or a brunch with friends.

Takeaways: $0 – I don’t let myself have UberEats on my phone.

Workday lunches: $12 – I treat myself to one bought lunch per week max. The rest of the time I have leftovers from the night before.

Cafe coffees/snacks: $15 per week on a cheeky coffee.

Other food costs: Probably spend an equivalent of $10 per week on protein powders, supplements etc.

Savings: $2,500 currently, aiming for $10,000 by the end of the year so I can move overseas.

I worry about money: Sometimes.

Three words to describe my financial situation: Up and down.

My biggest edible indulgence would be: Protein Greek yoghurt!!! The GOAT of my diet.

In a typical week my alcohol expenditure would be: $5-10 – not a big drinker and tend to bring gifted wine to BYOs, parties etc.

In a typical week my transport expenditure would be: I walk to and from work (approximately 30 minutes each way) but on a rainy day I will bus. So maybe $5 per week on public transport, and $10 per week towards my petrol.

I estimate in the past year the ballpark amount I spent on my personal clothing (including sleepwear and underwear) was: This is pretty embarrassing, but we are probably looking at the $1-2k range. I LOVE clothes (especially shoes).

My most expensive clothing in the past year was: New Mi Piaci work shoes, around $250?

My last pair of shoes cost: Around $200 for running shoes (On Running Cloudmonsters).

My grooming/beauty expenditure in a year is about: $1000 – haircuts, makeup and skincare is expensive omg!

My exercise expenditure in a year is about: $14 per week on gym membership plus maybe $600 on general exercise wear (including the shoes)?

My last Friday night cost: $0, went to the gym and had an early night with a much needed sleep in. Oh – I did treat myself to a mango. So $2.50.

Most regrettable purchase in the last 12 months was: A pair of jeans on sale that immediately stretched and now are too big. Should have looked at the material first!

Most indulgent purchase (that I don’t regret) in the last 12 months was: My Kowtow black dress ($95 on sale plus used Kowtow voucher I had earned from previous purchases). Absolute staple in the work wardrobe.

One area where I’m a bit of a tightwad is: Alcohol. I love to party etc, but I would rather buy nice food over nice alcohol.

Five words to describe my financial personality would be: Frivolous with fashion, but fun.

I grew up in a house where money was: Not really spoken about. I was lucky to never want for anything, but now look back and realise just how hard my parents were working behind the scenes to make that happen. Very grateful.

The last time my Eftpos card was declined was: A couple of days ago, had to switch money from my backup savings to buy my brother’s birthday present.

In five years, in financial terms, I see myself: Hopefully overseas, earning way more money so I can travel more.

I would love to have more money for: Travel. If I could I would be travelling every weekend!

Describe your financial low: About a year ago I ran out of money completely after moving flats (and paying double bond), and had to ask my brother for a $30 loan to get me to the end of the week. But out of that now, thank goodness.

I give money away to: I volunteer regularly, so I try to give my time more than my money. When I have more money, I will be able to donate regularly too.

Keep going!
A man with a serious expression stands in front of a green golf course. He is bald, wears a red bow tie, and the caption reads: "It is happening again.
Photo: Getty Images; Design: The Spinoff

PoliticsJune 27, 2025

Golf Wars 2: The golf course strikes back

A man with a serious expression stands in front of a green golf course. He is bald, wears a red bow tie, and the caption reads: "It is happening again.
Photo: Getty Images; Design: The Spinoff

Auckland Council thought it could get rid of one of its 14 golf courses. It’s learning a harsh lesson in the power of the putt.

Richard Hills seemed cautiously optimistic as he talked last month about the council’s plans to pull off the hardest task in local government, and get rid of a single golf course. The North Shore councillor and Tom Mansell, the council’s head of sustainable partnerships, made a robust case for change. They needed to transform much of the park occupied by Takapuna golf course into a wetland if we wanted to avoid a repeat of the Auckland Anniversary weekend floods, where two people died and homes and businesses were washed out in the adjacent Wairau Valley. Political support was swinging in behind their plan. Hills pointed to positive noises from local National MPs Dan Bidois and Simon Watts. Local boards seemed to be backing the idea too.

A semicircular difficulty meter for local governments with sections from green to red. Tasks listed: "saying no for three years," "sinking $1 billion into a convention centre," "taking away a carpark," "building a bike lane," "replacing a villa," "taking away a golf course.
The scientifically robust local government difficulty meter (Science: Hayden Donnell)

But there were flickers of doubt. Laughs that betrayed hints of nervousness. Small asides about Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act requests to respond to; letters being sent by golf advocates. Deep down they knew even a bipartisan effort to save lives, homes and businesses from nature’s fury wasn’t enough to overcome the intoxicating lure of drives, chips and, indeed, putts.

Over the last month, golf has mounted a fierce rearguard action against the council’s flagrant efforts to protect the local community. Its campaign has been bolstered by local media, which has devoted several hundred words to the perspective of a woman who thinks her dog will immediately start mainlining duck droppings if the council creates a wetland on the golf course. 

Stuff's story about opposition to the redevelopment of Takapuna Golf Course
The labrador contemplates a future eating duck poo

The golf course’s operators have been pushing an alternative plan, which they claim will retain an 18-hole course while still providing enough drainage for 500 million litres of water. Officials have questions about that plan’s buildability, but the course operators possess an ally in Wayne Walker, an Albany councillor who’s made a career of opposing council proposals. He’s attended several public meetings, where he’s shockingly aligned himself with people saying no to the council’s plans.

The list of people saying no keeps growing. It’s not just Walker and the golf course. Golf NZ is saying no. Harbour Sport is saying no. The dog is saying no. It’s got to the point where even people who used to be saying yes are starting to say no. Earlier this week, Bidois and Watts released a statement noting the “considerable public opposition to the original proposal and the alternative plan put forward by the golf course”. The Kaipātiki Local Board, which covers the area where the course is located and was once seemingly onside with the council’s flood mitigation efforts, now appears to be reconsidering its position.

On current trajectory, soon only Hills, Mansell and the ducks will be saying yes. If this sounds familiar, it’s because it happens any time any council anywhere tries to remove a single fairway, green or, indeed, rough. There are 43 golf courses in Auckland. The council owns 13 of those. Most are big enough to fit a small town’s worth of houses. Many are rented at peppercorn rates. But when the council even started looking funny at the Remuera Golf Course, the Ōrākei Local Board extended its lease until 2091. In 2019, the Albert-Eden Local Board tried to turn nine holes of Chamberlain Park into needed sports facilities. Half of the board members got voted out a few months later.

In a just world, things would be different this time. Taking away nine holes of Takapuna Golf Course wouldn’t just give people a place to play cricket; it might actually save their lives. But the council is learning the hard way there’s no power in local government stronger than a local retiree’s will to spend eight hours haphazardly smacking small white balls in roughly the direction of a hole. Last time I gave the council’s redevelopment plans a 50-50 chance of success. Those chances are now 25%, and dropping like a drive upon a perfectly manicured Takapuna green.

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Lyric Waiwiri-Smith
— Politics reporter