Budgeting

NZ Herald 9 March 2024

Q&As:
– Help for couples with different attitudes to money
– Where to save for a baby’s future
– Worries about S&P500 index funds …
– … Investing in many index funds
– Did NZ Super Fund get it wrong?
– “Clever” taxpayers like Prime Minister?

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NZ Herald 28 October 2023

Q&As:
– How to help students while also motivating them
– What happens to someone’s KiwiSaver when they die
– DIY to avoid “exorbitant” legal fees?
– Elderly care rules tough on middle-income retirees

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NZ Herald 21 October 2023

Q&As:
– Time to get braver with KiwiSaver
– Good to raise fund risk level
– More on cutting funeral costs
– A trick to get around probate issues?
– Employees’ KiwiSaver money gets to provider much quicker now
– Why employer and employee KiwiSaver contributions differ

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NZ Herald 14 October 2023

Q&As:
– DIY funeral costs much less
– A better way to set up life insurance
– How life insurance helped a reader who is still alive
– It’s best to ignore fear and greed in the markets
– No tax break on KiwiSaver contributions via employer
– How to set up laddering of term deposits

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RNZ Radio 14 September 2023

How much insurance should we have?
– Email from listener: Do we have too much insurance?
– Attitudes to insurance
– Types of insurance
– Keeping insurance costs down

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NZ Herald 19 August 2023

Q&As:
– Cutting back on spending won’t do the harm reader expects
– Not a good reason to avoid index funds
– So the market looks worrying? Stay put!
– 2 views on giving to grandchildren
– KiwiSaver withdrawal process angers reader

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RNZ Radio 17 August 2023

Struggling to pay rates? Try a rebate or postponement:
(First: A comment on National’s proposed KiwiSaver changes)
– People facing big rate rises
– Different councils’ offerings
– Rebates for people on low incomes
– Postponement in some cases for everyone
– How it works
– How to get help with this

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NZ Herald 5 August 2023

Q&As:
– Family fights over grandkids’ legacies
– Help for people struggling with debt
– KiwiSaver or mortgage or both?
– KiwiSaver provider gives wrong info
– Small businesses often charged more for card transactions…
– … and Sharesies making changes on this

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NZ Herald 22 July 2023

Q&As:
– Become a digital nomad — but keep the house
– What it’s like working with a financial mentor
– Sell the house and rent in retirement?
– Some banks reject parents’ loans to children for house buying
– A warning on lending to an elderly parent

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RNZ Radio 20 July 2023

The mortgage crunch: What you can do about it
– Survey finds worries about mortgage rate rises
– What to do: Important to talk to lender early
– Change term, switch to interest only, or reduce part or all payments
– But big increases in interest paid

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