About Avalon
Hi, I’m Helen, and I’ve been living in New Zealand since December 31st 2004. I’m addicted to coffee, the beach, owning a swimming pool, and for some really bizarre reason, personal finance.
After 18 months of answering finance questions on the ENZ forum, I compiled them into a single thread, and that in turn ended up being a book. The main gist of all of this is that I do not believe that migrants coming to New Zealand have to give up any hope of financial security, and I have no time whatsoever for the notion that your life as a Migrant has to conform to what other people think it should be.
I do get a buzz out of helping people with their money questions, so do feel free to contact me with any you have. Just bear in mind that I am NOT a financial advisor.
I live in the Wairarapa, about an hour and a half north or Wellington, and when I’m not writing blogs, or books, I’m a property investor. And when I’m not doing that – I’m drinking coffee or staring at the mountains, or buggering off to the beach. I used to be a Pharmacist – but that is way too much work, and did not really fit my idea of a New Life as a migrant.
I do have a slightly odd sense of humour – which occasionally gets me into trouble – and I’m rather opinionated – which gets me into LOTS of trouble. But ho hum – it’s MY blog!
Please feel free to find me on Facebook, just remember to tell me where you found me so I don’t think you are a homicidal stalker out to get me!
What my hubby says should go in this bit:
Helen has taken to retirement with aplomb, having retired from Pharmacy twice in five years, the last time to emigrate to New Zealand. Since then she has also retired from Aromatherapy (also for the second time).
After drinking copious amounts of coffee, and spending way too much time on internet forums, she came out of retirement (again) and took up writing a book – which as with all good things, took a little longer than expected. While the book was being written, she managed to start a career in property investment, and now trades property in her “spare” time.
Retirement may be on the horizon if lots of people buy the book! That probably wont last long though, as she’s not one to take retirement laying down, and being a friendly and helpful sort of person gets involved in all sorts of stuff which most other people put into the ‘too hard’ bucket.
Hubby waits patiently for the day when he can retire to the beach and drink lots of tea, living on the income from property investing or book sales
(Bless ‘im)
