Our ownership is independent of any product provider. We have no products of our own.
Become Wealth has advised Wellington households for more than a decade. Our Wellington model is intentionally mobile and online, shaped by how our clients work and live.
With over $1 billion of funds under advice, your wealth, your trajectory, and your peace of mind are in capable hands.
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Become Wealth has advised Wellington households for more than a decade. Jonny McNamee is Wellington-based full-time, and we operate a mobile and online model. The rest of the team visits regularly and speaks with Wellington clients every week by video and phone.
You join thousands of New Zealanders who entrust our advice when investing over $1 billion.
Wellington households face a distinctive mix. Regional median household net worth of $658,000 is the highest of any grouping Stats NZ reports, and the professional middle here is unusually broad. At the same time, Wellington City has recorded the deepest peak-to-2026 house-price correction of any main centre. Employment income across the metro is tied to the fiscal cycle more than anywhere else in the country, which shapes how we think about income protection, emergency funds, and portfolio diversification for Wellington clients.
Your adviser works alongside a team of specialists who review and challenge every recommendation before it reaches you. Large enough for real accountability. Focused enough to know your name. We come to you, whether it is your home in Khandallah, Kāpiti, or Kelburn, your office in the CBD, a café on Lambton Quay, or a clubhouse after a round. Video works well too when the day is tight.
Whether it involves a diversified investment portfolio, a rental or two, a family trust, apartment holdings, or overseas superannuation. We make sure the left hand always knows what the right is doing. This is how we work with Wellington clients who have built complex balance sheets across equities, local property, overseas pensions, and trust structures.
You work with one primary adviser, supported by specialists across the firm who already know your file. Most clients work with the same adviser for many years, and most of our advisers have been with the firm for six years or more, with several past the ten-year mark. Jonny McNamee is based in Wellington full-time. The rest of the team visits every three to six months, and is reachable by video and phone every day.
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Three Wellington client situations come up most often on our advice desk. In each, the risk is not making a dramatic mistake, but letting reasonable decisions compound quietly in the wrong direction. You might recognise yourself in one.
You are already retired, or nearly there. The mortgage is gone. You have KiwiSaver and investments built up over the working years, and some Wellington households also carry a UK state pension or other overseas entitlement from earlier years. The questions now are whether your money will last, how to structure the drawdown across multiple income sources, and whether a future move to Kāpiti or the Wairarapa fits the plan. This is the core of our retirement planning service.
Your career has built real momentum. You and your partner are both in senior roles, or a pay step has shifted the household trajectory. KiwiSaver is growing, cash is accumulating, and the mortgage is shrinking or is already gone. Is the risk setting appropriate for your stage of life? Is the surplus compounding, or sitting in cash losing to inflation? Is what you have built properly protected? Our financial planning service answers those questions directly.
You have built a balance sheet beyond the family home. A family trust, a rental or two in Lower Hutt or Upper Hutt, a direct share portfolio, apartment holdings, overseas holdings. The question is no longer how to save, but how to structure what you have, manage the tax, and keep the whole picture working as your circumstances change. Financial advice at this level often involves body-corporate and quake-strengthening considerations, tax across multiple entities, and continuity of oversight as your life changes shape. This is where our investment management service, including our DIMS authority (which lets us manage portfolios without repeated paperwork when markets shift), does its best work.
A few figures worth keeping in mind when you think about your own position. Data as of early 2026.
Wellington households sit at the top of New Zealand's income and wealth distributions. Regional median household income of $125,204 is the second-highest in the country, 23.6 per cent of Wellington City adults earn over $100,000, and regional median household net worth of $658,000 is the highest of any regional grouping Stats NZ reports. The distribution is also the most even in the country.
Against that, Wellington City has recorded the deepest peak-to-2026 house-price correction of any main centre at 26.9 per cent, and Lower Hutt the sharpest at 32.3 per cent. Average values sit around $899,000 in Wellington City, $737,000 in Lower Hutt, and $720,000 in Upper Hutt. For households relying on housing equity as a primary retirement asset, the balance sheet is weaker than planned.
The feature that sets the Wellington metro apart is the concentration of public-sector employment. 30 per cent of Wellington City jobs are in the public sector against 14 per cent nationally, and the metro houses around 43.6 per cent of the country's core Public Service FTEs. Household income, housing values, and some KiwiSaver NZ-equity exposure are correlated with the same fiscal driver. Regional unemployment has moved from 4.2 per cent in late 2024 to 5.8 per cent now, faster than any other region. Larger emergency funds and diversification that deliberately steps outside the Wellington ecosystem matter more here than elsewhere.
Life rarely stays still. Career exits, downsizing, a career move to Auckland, or a retirement move to Kāpiti, Blenheim or the Wairarapa. Because we serve clients nationwide, your advice relationship continues seamlessly when your circumstances change. Many of our Wellington clients spend decades building here and then relocate. The same adviser, the same investment structure, and the same relationship travel with you.
Our Wellington model is mobile and online. We come to you, whether it is your home, your office, a café near you, or a golf clubhouse. Many clients prefer video when the day is tight. One of our financial advisers is Wellington-based full-time, and the rest of the advisers visit regularly and speak with Wellington clients every week by video and phone.
You want peace of mind, or a straight answer to whether you are on the right trajectory. Often you come to us at a junction, such as a divorce, an inheritance, a redundancy, a business sale, a milestone birthday, the year before or after retirement.
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It is a conversation about your circumstances and what you are trying to achieve, with no obligation to proceed. We use it to understand your situation, and to work out whether we are the right firm for you. If we are not, we will say so, and point you somewhere better suited.
We are independently owned, with no bank or product-provider ownership. We have no products of our own to sell you, and our advice is built around your situation rather than a product shelf. We hold both a Financial Advice Provider licence (FSP249805) and one of only 48 DIMS licences nationwide (which lets us manage portfolios without repeated paperwork when markets shift).
A team of specialists reviews every recommendation before you see it. This collective approach ensures your plan is verified and accurate, giving you confidence in the path forward. You receive the combined thinking of our best minds instead of the view of just one person.
We are one of only 48 New Zealand firms authorised to manage investments directly. For those who benefit from it, this removes the burden of constant paperwork and allows us to respond to market shifts immediately. Our focus remains on our long-term partnership and the changes in your life, not just the technical details of your portfolio.
Because we are independently owned, licensed across both advice and investment management, and staffed with seven advisers across multiple centres, you get the breadth of market access you would expect from a firm with no product-provider ownership, the internal scrutiny of a larger team, and continuity of adviser when you move cities or change circumstances.
We serve clients across Wellington City, Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt, Porirua, and Kāpiti. Most first conversations happen by video, which works well for both sides while we get to know each other.
From there, meetings can be by video, at your home or office, or over a coffee somewhere convenient. Wellington clients usually value the flexibility.
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The same clear path whether we see you at home, at your office, in a café near you, or by video.
Connect via video or in person for an initial consultation. This meeting focuses on your current circumstances and future objectives. You receive professional insight into your financial potential without obligation, or pressure.
Your adviser collaborates with the rest of our team to construct a plan for your specific life stage, aims, and risk tolerance. This collaborative approach ensures every recommendation is accurate and peer-reviewed before you receive it.
Any investment recommendations are made based on independent investment research.
Financial independence is an ongoing process rather than a single event. We actively manage your finances and update your plan as your life develops. You maintain a direct line to your adviser for expert guidance whenever you need it.
