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The holiday season is approaching fast, and many of us have already started planning trips away. Keep your hard-earned money working for you by avoiding these seven holiday travel mistakes on your next trip: 1. Using public Wi-Fi, especially for financial transactions When you’re travelling it can be tempting to connect to every airport, café or hotel Wi-Fi signal... Read more Read more

Increasingly we’re being asked about responsible investing. Sometimes called ethical investing, the interest in this area typically comes from two different generations of investors: Baby boomers. This group tend to be retired (or approaching retirement) and they remember the hippie era. Their focus is on leaving a better world for their children and grandchildren. Millennials... Read more Read more

Whether you’re just starting out as an adult, or are already financially secure, you’ve probably heard your fair share of unwanted and unsolicited financial advice. In case you haven’t already learned it, the wealthier you get, the more interesting that advice can become! Some financial tips and advice can function like ‘Chinese whispers’. That is, what may start as a well-intentioned... Read more Read more

People sometimes say you can’t put a price on your time, though this is forgetting that your time is the one thing you can’t ever get back. Spending thousands on outsourcing household chores – such as cleaning, landscaping, and dog-walking – might not seem like a wise use of your hard-earned funds, but it can be worth every cent. These are the sorts of things you could do... Read more Read more

Knowing how much personal insurance you need is essential to make sure your loved ones and yourself are taken care of should something bad happen. The term “personal insurance” includes policies such as life insurance, income protection, health insurance, and trauma cover. While nobody has a crystal ball to know exactly what the future holds (meaning that we’d know exactly what... Read more Read more

Mortgage mistakes are nearly always costly, especially as collectively we all owe more mortgage debt than ever before. Here are the top five mortgage traps you should avoid, along with a few tricks to get your mortgage working for you. 1. Forgetting to shop around Many people make the mistake of using their existing bank and give other options no thought. Just as you would with... Read more Read more

Are you looking for ways to get your money working for you, instead of you just working hard for your money? American financial guru and self-made millionaire Michael Masterson has a few useful pointers for you in his book “Automatic Wealth”. He describes his book as a ‘how to’ for anyone who has the drive to achieve financial success. At first glance, the title ‘Automatic Wealth…’... Read more Read more

Peer-to-peer lending, sometimes called P2P for short, is where borrowers and lenders are connected through an online middleman. The theory is that using an online platform means the middleman could avoid the cost structures of traditional banks and offer better rates – to both borrowers and investors. In other words, P2P lending is when you either borrow or lend money to a stranger. ... Read more Read more

Mortgage cash back is an incentive that banks use to entice new business. It is now common across major New Zealand banks, and is an upfront cash payment made to you for your business. The payment could be for new lending – such as if you’re a first home buyer or property investor purchasing another property – or existing lending should you decide to switch your existing mortgage between banks... Read more Read more

A major change to New Zealand trust law was passed on 30 July 2019. The Trusts Act will have implications for all trusts in New Zealand, and once it comes into force will probably cause many to ask whether trusts are still worthwhile. Let’s take a brief look at what’s changing and examine eight reasons why your trust might no longer be worth it. 1. Implications of new... Read more Read more

What is a bottom drawer investment? Some of you may have heard the old saying about bottom drawer investments. It refers to buying a bunch of reliable shares (often called stocks), then sticking them in your bottom drawer along with other valuables, to be forgotten about. This old saying ignores one unavoidable fact: nothing stays the same. When it comes to investing,... Read more Read more

Are you in need of a total money makeover? American financial guru and self-made millionaire Dave Ramsay has a seven-step process for you. These are explained in his book, The Total Money Makeover. Here, he advocates a specific process to become financially secure. Despite the book's “snake-oil” sounding title, the steps are excellent. These seven steps aren’t without... Read more Read more

In early August, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) lowered the official cash rate to a record low of 1.0%, and indicated it could go lower. Along with some of the other possibilities described below, this has revitalised the old saying that “cash is trash” – or in other words, cash left for the long term in bank accounts is rubbish compared with what can be achieved by properly investing... Read more Read more

Nowadays, having a grown-up child living at home is reasonably common. In fact, one third of millennials are living with their parents. The rising cost of living, especially relative to incomes, is at least a partial cause of this, resulting in many young adults struggling to leave the comforts of the family home and instead lingering in the family home a lot longer than previous generations.... Read more Read more

Perhaps your sum is from; an inheritance, a lottery win, an insurance pay-out, or just a stroke of luck. Whatever the case, you’ll soon start thinking about what to do with the funds. Any extra cash is always an opportunity to improve your financial situation, but many people waste such windfalls because they don't have a specific plan of what to do with it. One potential issue to... Read more Read more

The question to fix or float is nearly as old as mortgages themselves. Mortgage competition is heating up in what has been called the ‘rate wars’ between banks and other financial institutions. Mortgage rates are determined by banks, typically based on the rate at which they can borrow from international banks and the Reserve Bank. The official cash rate (bank rate) has already dropped... Read more Read more

While it’s always been a challenge to get together the deposit for a home, it’s certainly not got any easier for first-home buyers over recent years. Having a roof over your head to call your own is the cornerstone of most people’s financial plan, so to help out, here are the top five ways you can get a bigger home deposit: 1. Increase your savings Increasing your savings is a... Read more Read more

Self-insurance is a term used to describe when a person or company sets aside funds to meet contingency or emergency needs such as; injury, loss, or any other event such as, a person’s home being knocked down by an earthquake. If such an event happens, you spend the saved sum to help sort out the situation. But if the event doesn’t occur, you get to keep the money you may have otherwise paid... Read more Read more

Myths about money are everywhere. Unfortunately, much of what you know about money is probably wrong and holding you back from success in your financial life. We all must be aware of how our thoughts impact our behaviour with money. As we all know, how you think and feel often dictates how you’ll act. We truly are living in the age where we have access to information 24 hours a day,... Read more Read more

Since Bonus Bonds started in 1970, hundreds of thousands of Kiwis have bought them, or purchased them as gifts for relatives or friends. You might have been given some at some point, possibly only to lose track of them over the years. Though Bonus Bonds were started by the New Zealand government, the management of them was later sold in 1990 to ANZ Bank. What are Bonus Bonds? ... Read more Read more