In this solo talk, the speaker recounts a pivotal moment at age 28 while reading Rich Dad Poor Dad in a New Zealand park, where a simple question—"Do you work for your money or does your money work for you?"—triggered a profound shift in her financial mindset. She reflects on her previous paycheck‑to‑paycheck existence as a well‑paid mining engineer, the confusing benefits structure she received, and the hard‑working example set by her parents, all of which highlighted her lack of understanding about money. The speaker critiques the conventional 40‑year work‑to‑retire model that leaves most retirees living on a fraction of their prior earnings, arguing that hope alone is not a financial strategy. She advocates taking control of one’s own abundance through saving, investing, and entrepreneurship, emphasizing that financial freedom can free people from the need to work decades for a modest retirement. The talk concludes by describing her Business Accelerator mentoring program, where she recently led a masterclass helping clients design legacy‑impact businesses that align with their heart’s desires, positioning financial empowerment as a gift that removes money as a limiting factor.
Chapters
Ngā mihi. And it wasn't really until I was probably 28 that I had a real moment of reflection, and that gave me kind of the concept or the orientation that allowed me to see where these stories were coming from. I'd gone to visit a friend who was working in New Zealand. I'm sitting in this beautiful park. I picked up this book at the airport, Rich Dad Poor Dad. I'm reading it and there was this question, and the question was, do you work for your money or does your money work for you? I have to say, that's completely changed my whole orientation. And I sat there under this tree for hours, as my friend would say, my self-help book. And I just sat there going, oh my God, I work for money, and by the time the next paycheque comes in— and I was earning very good money at this stage as a mining engineer in the mining industry out on mine sites— I spent it all. There was paycheck to paycheck, and I was like, oh my gosh, I have to turn up the next day to earn even more money. And, you know, I had seen my parents work so hard. I'd seen my dad work so hard. Going no holidays, 6.5 days a week, and then in the market garden the other half day. You know, I started work and they said, oh, by the way, you get 4 weeks holidays and we're going to give you a loading. We're going to pay you more when you're on holidays. Like, I had no concept of how this money thing worked. 4-week holidays and I get 20% more when I'm not at work? It's like, this whole money thing, I don't understand it. This is just mad. And so I really sat there and I was like, well, if I'm just working for my money, How do I make my money work for me? How, how do I understand what is an opportunity for me to actually understand, A, how I make money, but B, how I can actually save that money and not spend it and hide it away from myself so I don't see it. But also, how else have I got stories or things that I'm doing that aren't the systems of me actually creating a life of abundance that I want? But having to live for existence till I retire and then hope— hope is not a strategy, financial strategy, by the way— hope that the government's going to give me some type of superannuation or 401(k) or whatever that allows me to actually live by. Because I think the biggest elephant in the room is, you know, we work for 40 hours a week for 40 years to then retire on 40% of what we were earning before. And if we don't actually take control of our own abundance, and understand how we can create that financial abundance for ourselves, we are neglecting the opportunity to actually live fully and even not have to work for 40 years. Let's face it, there are some people love their job, but other people are like, they love the job, but they'd like to actually do some other things too. Maybe work 2, 3 days a week, maybe create a business. And you know, in my Business Accelerator mentoring container, I've just run a masterclass for my clients this morning and they're all creating these extraordinary businesses that have legacy. That have impact. These are their heart's desires that they're, they're only just admitting to themselves that is where they want to orientate themselves for the next 10, 20, 30 years. Being able to see what you want to create and not have that limitation of money holding you back, what a gift is that.
