One of the most contentious issues with financial advice is the way in which advisers are remunerated. There is a great deal of variation between advisers as to how they are rewarded for their services to clients and regulators struggle to achieve consistency and transparency of how much is paid by whom to whom. There are generally three parties involved – the adviser, the client and the product provider. In an ideal wo...

Baby boomers are not only getting older – they are getting wealthier. As they reach retirement age, they bring along with them a large amount of wealth that needs to be invested, spent, and finally bequeathed to their heirs or charity. One interesting aspect of the baby boomer phenomenon is the influence of gender. Not only do women live longer than men but overseas research shows that women are the key decision makers ...

Interest rates have been low for some time now - great for borrowers but bad news for investors. Looking ahead, there are signs that interest rates will rise, albeit slowly. We have had low inflation, so leaving your money invested in the bank at a low rate hasn’t led to a loss of purchasing power. Holding cash isn’t going to make you a fortune, but cash is still an important component of any investment portfolio. You...

International Women’s Day is a global celebration of women which occurs on 8 March every year. While women continue to make progress on gender parity, this year’s theme of #PressforProgress indicates there is still lots to be done. Women face a range of specific financial risks stemming from gender related issues - the gender pay gap, the roles they are expected to play in families and society, and how they perceive t...

There are two ways to build wealth – the slow way and the fast way. The slow way involves saving and investing part of your income over a long period of time, in other words, building wealth using your own money. The key to building wealth faster is to use other people’s money; that is, to invest borrowed funds. This is the principle of leverage, and it allows you to multiply your investment gains. It is highly unlike...

Financial freedom is a concept that most people aspire to, but which few people understand and even fewer people achieve. The term financial freedom means different things to different people. For some, it means being free of debt, for others it means having a comfortable lifestyle without having to worry about money, but usually it means having enough investment assets to live on without working. The idea is that the inc...

The Government has recently released its report ‘Stocktake of New Zealand Housing’ which looks at homelessness and housing-related poverty. Undertaken by a team of independent experts, this report brings into the open the consequences of falling home ownership. A significant cause is the under-supply of housing; the number of houses being built has fallen behind the rate of population increase. This has pushed up hous...

There are several different ways to generate cash from an investment portfolio to top up your retirement income. Many retirees make the mistake of confusing cash with income and this leads them to invest in interest-bearing investments such as bonds and term deposits to supplement their superannuation. Yet interest is only one of the ‘four pillars’ of retirement income. These four pillars are: Interest. The advantage...

It is common for two people to stay in an unhappy relationship for the sake of children and because they can’t afford to split their assets and income in half. But is seems that now, the number of people who divorce later in life is on the increase. Known as silver splitters, they are over 50, the kids are off their hands, they have a home with little or no debt and they are looking for freedom and independence. There c...

Holiday time is a great time to declutter.  Just as cupboards and wardrobes fill up with unused or out of date items, your financial affairs can become cluttered. Whether it is bank accounts, credit cards, store cards, loyalty cards, loans, investments or insurance, you can easily get to the point where you have so much going on you lose track. There are two key principles of good financial management which allow us to ...