Q&As: Forget Lotto and enter competitions; Are Bonus Bonds a good substitute for health insurance?; Shares not the answer for student’s savings; Reader dislikes my comments about young landlord; Request for pros and cons of living on a boat.
Listeners’ questions on setting financial priorities: Quick summary of last week’s segment; Listener’s comment on repaying your mortgage; Listener questions on KiwiSaver; Listener questions on non-KiwiSaver funds.
Q&As: A different Auckland housing option: live on the water; Reservations about young landlord’s success; 2 Q&As on whether Bonus Bonds are a good deal; Worries about living in a leasehold property; Have your say about advisers.
Setting financial priorities — Best thing to do with excess cash: the rule about repaying debt versus investing; Applying this to: credit card and other high-interest debt, mortgages, student loans; Top priority for all: repay credit card debt. Next priorities: If you don’t own a home; If you have a home with a mortgage; If you have a mortgage-free home.
Goal setting and the B word (budgeting). Goals should be SMART — specific, measurable, achievable, (w)ritten, time-bound. The goal habit: If you save before a trip, buying a car etc you can have many more trips and cars. Tips on goals. Budgeting: Firstly estimate spending in different categories, then keep track for a while; Tips on budgeting; Robert Frost poem; Emergency money; Help with budgeting: familybudgeting.org.nz.