Liz Greive Shares Personal Journey From Poverty to Philanthropy, Urges Women to Use Wealth for Social Good
- Liz Greive, founder of the charity Share My Super, has shared her personal experiences with poverty and wealth, offering advice to women on financial resilience and social responsibility.
- Growing up in the north of England, Greive described her family as “comfortable-ish” but not wealthy, noting that while they had access to a car and a telephone—considered...
- Greive remembered seeing children at school who were “so thin and pale” due to their fathers’ tuberculosis and the absence of a strong social safety net, despite receiving...
Liz Greive, founder of the charity Share My Super, has shared her personal experiences with poverty and wealth, offering advice to women on financial resilience and social responsibility.
Growing up in the north of England, Greive described her family as “comfortable-ish” but not wealthy, noting that while they had access to a car and a telephone—considered unusual at the time—many others faced far greater hardship. She recalled visiting grandparents in Ireland who lacked electricity and running water.
Her early exposure to poverty left a lasting impression. Greive remembered seeing children at school who were “so thin and pale” due to their fathers’ tuberculosis and the absence of a strong social safety net, despite receiving free school meals and milk. These experiences shaped her understanding of inequality and motivated her later work.
In the late 1970s, Greive moved to New Zealand with her husband and began working as a social worker in South Auckland. She described the period as demanding, holding one full-time and two part-time jobs to support her family while her husband pursued his degree. Working with Māori and Pasifika communities during this time was, she said, “a very rich and rewarding experience.”
Now financially secure, Greive emphasized that she does not indulge in extravagant purchases like $5000 handbags or luxury cars. However, she values having comfortable homes and spends significant time in Europe each year to be near family and friends, including her granddaughter in London.
As the founder of Share My Super, Greive encourages retirees to donate all or part of their superannuation benefits to support charities focused on lifting children out of poverty. She believes that substantial progress in reducing child poverty could be achieved with only half the current public spending on roads.
Her message to women centers on balancing personal comfort with social awareness, using financial stability not for excess but to support others in need.