The student loan lark — what students can and can’t do. Student loans are back in the news. And there’s some confusion about how students will be able to use — or abuse — the system when all loans become interest-free next April.
Q&As: Woman in Australian shouldn’t sell her house here; Is the house price boom like the great tulip bulb bubble?; Couple disagree over rental property v shares.
Q&As: How well do share funds perform?; Comparison of investment performances.
Borrowing is not all bad — it depends why we borrow. Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard has been telling us off because we keep raising our mortgage debt. But, from the individual’s point of view, how bad is that? It depends on why we borrow.
Q&As: The pros and cons of self employment and income splitting; Comparing shares with property is tricky; How movements in the dollar affect investment in international share funds.
Q&As: Share funds v rental property; Income splitting by the self-employed — is it OK?
Borrowing tricky between family or friends. A quote recently caught my eye. “The easiest way to teach children the value of money is to borrow some from them,” it said. But that applies not only to children. Adults, it seems, take much more notice when someone has borrowed from them than when someone has lent to them.