Greater financial flexibility brings freedom
MARRIAGE and babies can still happen, but for now, if Katie Moore wants to paint a feature wall, she can go ahead and do it.
The 27-year-old nurse moved into her own home in Lower Hutt last year after getting fed up with flatting – and realising it would cost as much to rent a place alone as it would to service a mortgage. She also loves the freedom to decorate as she pleases.
‘‘It is paying my own mortgage, not someone else’s . . . I love it. I’m so glad I did it when I did,’’ she says.
Now, her main goal is chipping away at the mortgage.
While home ownership is a goal she wanted to achieve, she is surprised it ranked above marriage and children for most Kiwi women.
But it could be to do with the fact that women can have control over financial matters, she says.
She contemplated buying a house with her boyfriend but ‘‘was waiting for his plans’’.
When they broke up she realised she didn’t have to wait for a partner.
Marriage and babies may happen in the future and rely
I can’t control whether I meet a man or not . . . I can buy a house on my own. That’s something I can do without someone else.
on a partner – which often comes down to timing and luck.
‘‘I can’t control whether I meet a man or not . . . I can buy a house on my own. That’s something I can do without someone else.
‘‘That’s something I can control and I can do – and I’m not relying on something that’s out of my control.’’ The modern Kiwi woman is free to shape her own path, rather than following rules, she says.
‘‘There used to be a standard: get married, have children, stay at home, pick up the kids, maybe have a parttime job. But there’s definitely a range now and whatever you’re doing is accepted.’’
Katie Moore