#9 – enable.me
Specialises in: Budgeting.
Cost for advice: $1,999 – $12,499 per year.
How they get paid: They charge you a fee for advice. Introduction (referral) fees when they refer you to another adviser (e.g. mortgage adviser).
First meeting free: No. $149.
enable.me is one of the best-known names in NZ for budgeting and getting ahead on your mortgage. They will help you build a plan, change money habits that are holding you back, and move faster on debt.
Hannah McQueen founded enable.me in 2007, although enable.me has since been acquired, so Hannah is no longer involved in the business. The company is now ultimately owned by AMP, a publicly-listed Australian company.
The company is unique in that it primarily makes its money through charging clients fees for their advice. It’s more like financial coaching than traditional financial advice.
You pay a fee (usually around $2,000 to $12,500) and get paired with a coach who builds a personalised plan around your situation.
They’ll look at your spending, your debt, how your banking is structured, and figure out where you can get ahead faster. Then they hold you accountable to actually doing it.
They have six offices around New Zealand:
- Auckland (North Shore and Central)
- Hamilton
- Bay of Plenty
- Wellington
- Canterbury
Their clients tend to be people who feel stuck. They’re earning decent money, but can’t figure out where it all goes. Or they want to buy a first home and don’t know how to get there. They also work with people further along, like investors looking to build a portfolio, or people approaching retirement who want to know they’ll be OK.
They don’t give advice on mortgages directly, but if they refer you on to a mortgage adviser, then they do get paid a referral fee.
