KiwiSaver is a great vehicle for retirement savings, especially since the contributions are directly taken from your pay before you have time to miss them.
Inflation, Savings, and Investing
By now we’re all well aware of the pocket-pinching nature of rampant inflation. But thinking a little further ahead, what might this mean for your investments and savings?
Not much relief in latest CPI figures
As with the most recent OCR rate hike, the latest announcement on the NZ Consumer Price Index (CPI) comes with good news and bad news.
Retirement v Super: Are you ready for your financial future?
If you’re working, you should be thinking about your retirement. Most of us have some type of planning by default these days in the form of KiwiSaver schemes – but beyond that, what are you doing to prepare yourself financially for the future?
The RBNZ Goes Five for Five
For the fifth time in a row, we’ve seen a 50 basis point hike from the RBNZ. What does this mean for you?
7 Lessons on Volatility
Everyone is an expert after the fact. Predicting the future is nigh impossible, but it’s quite easy to look back and say “we saw that coming” when making a call on either the behaviour of markets, or economic factors.
Exodus to Australia: Greener grass, or rose-tinted glasses?
If you’re feeling dissatisified in little old God’s Own, you may find similar factors at play in the land down under. 65 per cent of Kiwis feel they’d be better off financially in another job... as do 59 per cent of Australians.
Invest in your future - regardless of today's news...
If you live for the headlines, the future can seem like a scary place with too many questions and not enough answers. We see this in investing, as in life; it pays not to get caught up too much in the ups and downs, no matter how influential they may seem at the time.
Wealth: Not in the blood, but in behaviour
There’s a Chinese proverb that states, wealth does not last beyond three generations. One to make the wealth, one to maintain the wealth... and the third to spend it.
Risky Business
Risk is a scary word to the average person.
In investment, however, there is no potential reward without risk.
Take Cover...! Insurance more important now than ever
Have you noticed the ever-growing frequency of sad stories around folk trapped overseas with large medical bills, or a family struggling to bring a loved one home for a funeral, and all they can do is start a crowd funding page?
Insurance is something that a lot of people don’t prioritise – but they should.
To Catch a Falling Knife
Financial markets are one of those things that move fast and slow at the same time. Not much happens in the short-term, yet so much happens over longer periods of time. We get so caught up in and sweat the small stuff that we miss the forest for the trees.
Horrific Burns from Celsius
The recent failure of several cryptocurrency platforms has illustrated the leaps of faith some take with their money. They’re highly unregulated, and there’s still no good answers on what they are.
Hang in there, KiwiSavers
The markets are never predictable, even in times of positive growth. Anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to sell you something.
Making a meal of it: The RBNZ has muddled their mission
There were warning signs of the RBNZ, among other central banks globally, not tackling inflation correctly as far back as 2019.
Inflation, the Rising Tide
When the Earth, moon, and sun are just so, you get a king tide – which can be a very real issue for those dwelling along the coast. With the rapid swell of inflation, we can see a similar effect.
The Value in Going Off-Script
No script is perfect on first draft. Even iconic films like Casablanca underwent several changes – it was originally a play called Everybody Comes to Rick’s when Warner Bros purchased it in 1940.
Is Mortgage Shock Setting In?
It’s the moment many will have been nervously anticipating since rates started to rise in June last year – those who choose the cheapest rate on offer, which happened to be a 12 month term, will be refixing their terms.
Diversification: the World Cup of Investing
While the All Blacks are one of the world’s most successful sports teams, Kiwi rugby fans have learnt not to expect them to win the World Cup at every tournament. Likewise, while the NZ share market has punched above its weight over the years, that doesn’t mean it is going to be a winner every time.
Trusting the Swing
There are many fields where it is accepted that, in order to succeed, one must have professional aid. Take golf for example – no pro player is going to go without a caddie. To do so would be to add to their burden and distract them from what’s important in the game.
