NZ Herald 25 August 2012
Q&As: 3 readers are upset about morality and student loan repayment strategies; Is it better to take advantage of the student loan repayment bonus, while it lasts?; Low retirement spending figures challenged.
The Investor 25 August 2012
Retirement spending puzzle solved. It was a question that got people thinking. Massey University senior lecturer Claire Matthews had just finished a presentation at the Workplace Savings NZ conference on how much people spend in retirement. “How come most of the spending totals for two-person households are more than twice the one-person totals?,” somebody asked.
NZ Herald 18 August 2012
Q&As: New research helps to answer whether couple in early 50s should worry about how much they are saving; KiwiSaver funds won’t be the next finance companies; Should young man overseas repay his student loan?
The Investor 11 August 2012
Tax deductions: Not all they’re sometimes cracked up to be. A comment I overheard from a young man recently worried me. Talking about some kind of investment in race horses, and he said, “I put in $1000 a month. But I can deduct $800, so it’s hardly costing me anything.”
NZ Herald 11 August 2012
Q&As: The kids are off, the house is mortgage-free, now what?; Couple are disillusioned by pathetic returns on managed funds; What to do with a small KiwiSaver nestegg when it’s your only savings; Clarifying the rules about KiwiSaver withdrawal if you’ve moved overseas permanently.
NZ Herald 4 August 2012
Excerpt from Upside, Downside. This week we are publishing the second excerpt from a small book Mary Holm has written for the Reserve Bank called “Upside, downside: A guide to risk for savers and investors”. It will be given away free to the public in September. This column will tell you how to get a copy then. Today we look at examples of risky investor behaviour. The normal Q&A column will resume next week.
The Investor 28 July 2012
KiwiSaver graduates face some choices. It’s decision time for the first KiwiSavers “graduates” — those over 65 who have been in the scheme for five years. But there’s no rush.
NZ Herald 28 July 2012
Excerpt from Upside, Downside. This week and next week, this column will publish excerpts from a small book Mary Holm has written for the Reserve Bank called “Upside, downside: A guide to risk for savers and investors”. It will be given away free to the public in September. This column will tell you how to get a copy then. Today’s excerpts include an overview and an example of one type of risky investor behaviour. Next week we will publish further examples.
NZ Herald 21 July 2012
Q&As: Repeated property do-ups unlikely to bring tax-free gains; Are shares really better in the long term than property or bank deposits?; Reader is confused over KiwiSaver first home subsidy price limits; Sleepless nights over a charity donation.
The Investor 14 July 2012
More than one way to fill a financial gap. This is one of those columns — like the one in which I confessed that I don’t have a goal for my retirement savings — that might make the “conventional wisdom” people cross. But here goes: We don’t all need a sizable emergency fund sitting in a savings account.