Credit cards

RNZ Radio 7 December 2023

Repaying debt — student loans, mortgages and high-interest loans — what to do when
– Watch spending over Christmas and holidays
– What is wealth — and why it’s like a tank of water?
– Water into tank (savings) versus water out (interest on debt)
– Applied to high-interest debt, mortgages and student loans
Plus:
– Follow-up to last time. Simplicity improves its rating

Read More

NZ Herald 18 November 2023

Q&As:
– Tips for a 26-year-old on how saving for a home
– A 50% house price drop? 30% has happened
– Changes strengthen landlord argument
– Tough gifting rules for elderly care subsidy
– One way around the care subsidy rules?
– Divorce not the answer unless real

Read More

NZ Herald 26 August 2023

Q&As:
– One person’s waste of money is another person’s treasure
– Pick your period and you can make any point you want about shares
Plus:
– Upside, Downside: The one high-return, low-risk investment

Read More

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

Read More

NZ Herald 29 July 2023

Q&As:
– The 27 cents that infuriated a reader
– KiwiSaver government contribution as reader approaches 65
– Managed fund investor must hang in there
– Just buy a home for your child….
– … Or buy part of a home
– Reader didn’t make it to second half of sentence

Read More

NZ Herald 20 May 2023

Q&As:
– How to avoid the boss’s meanness — a different way to contribute to KiwiSaver
– Credit card interest rise alarming
– Don’t bail out of KiwiSaver
– Funds’ relative performance all over the place
– 2 more providers let you withdraw dividends from funds — which can work well in retirement
– A reader’s story: Lessons learnt boost confidence

Read More

NZ Herald 29 April 2023

Q&As:
– Rental property not always the winner over managed funds
– The risk of borrowing to invest
Readers’ stories about how the column has helped them
– 9 lessons learnt
– Move to growth fund made big difference
– We don’t like shopping!
– “Spend more” message is not for everyone

Read More

RNZ Radio 27 April 2023

Setting up emergency money
– Many NZers don’t have access to emergency money
– A good tradeoff — increase hardship but gain mental health
– Imagine your pay has been cut
– Where to put emergency money
– Make use of mortgage situation

Read More

NZ Herald 18 March 2023

Q&As:
– Equity in your house is not “dead” money
– How US bank got caught out with government bonds
– Safety of NZ bank deposits if the bank fails
– 3 readers respond to last week’s condescending letter about laddering

Read More

NZ Herald 11 March 2023

Q&A:
– Why 2022 was a rare bad year for KiwiSaver
– Reader misses the point about laddering term deposits
– Some sympathy for banks over credit card payments
– Tax and international shares — not the most important factor

Read More