KiwiSaver members now have a wider choice of contribution options. As of 1 April, you can put in 6% or 10% of your pay as well as choosing from the current options of 3%, 4% and 8%. There are good reasons why you could consider increasing your percentage contribution. If you work part time and your earnings are low, you may need to increase your contribution rate to 10% to ensure that you put at least $1,042 into your KiwiSa...

  Taking out whole of life or endowment insurance policies was a popular way of saving and investing prior to the evolution of the managed funds industry. Because the premiums were typically not inflation-adjusted, the value of the policies has not kept up with inflation. What seemed like a very high insured value decades ago, enough to retire on even, is now only enough to pay for a decent funeral and perh...

Ask Google how much money you need to retire and you will get a whole range of answers that will leave you none the wiser. That’s because the answer to the question is different for everybody. There really is no ‘one size fits all’ amount that will give you a comfortable lifestyle in retirement. There is a range of different factors that will influence how much you need: What kind of lifestyle you want. Some peopl...

Reaching retirement as a second time around couple can present a number of tricky issues. Planning how to manage money in retirement is complicated enough for any couple, but throwing relationship property issues into the mix makes it even more so. The key issues for retiring second timers are: Should finances be managed separately or jointly and what are the implications? How should financial inequality be dealt wi...

Investors in shares or diversified funds such as KiwiSaver are on a rollercoaster ride. The best strategy for dealing with volatility depends on your financial goals and whether you are still building your wealth or using it to fund your retirement. For wealth accumulators, market volatility is more of an opportunity than a threat. Regular contributions into KiwiSaver and other investments when markets are moving up and ...

The long-awaited final report of the Tax Working Group has been released and it proposes to cast a very wide net over investment assets to be taxed for capital gain. Government may choose to accept, reject, or modify the proposals contained in the report. As it stands, capital gains tax would apply to rental properties, land, business assets and shares. The family home and personal possessions would be excluded. The tax t...

March should really be a month of celebration and giving. We have Thanksgiving in October or November in some countries - a day of giving thanks for the harvest of the previous year - followed by Black Friday – the biggest shopping day of the year.  We have Christmas in December - a religious celebration combined with a custom of gift giving. These events are generally focussed on immediate family and friends. March sh...

It started out as a bit of a millennial thing, but now people of all ages are working on side hustles. A side hustle is side-line job or business that brings in cash in addition to your main source of income. People start side hustles for several reasons. The obvious one is to make more money so as to either spend more, save more or pay off debt. A side hustle can also be a way of trying out an idea for a business without...

Every year, many people miss out on getting a tax refund simply because they hate filling out forms and dealing with Inland Revenue. Over recent years, several companies have sprung up to offer a service to such people so they can get a refund without having to do the work themselves. Often, the fees charged for what is a relatively simple process, have been a large proportion of the refund received. However, Inland Reven...

The interesting thing about people who accumulate significant wealth is that they are often not very good at spending it. Either that, or they have so much wealth they are unable to spend it all in their remaining life, despite their best efforts. Wealth accumulators have a different relationship with money than those who are better at spending. They value and respect money, they are not afraid of it, and their pleasure a...