Do KiwiSaver — but not to the max. At a recent KiwiSaver seminar I was surprised to find that many employee members were still contributing 4 per cent of their pay, rather than the 2 per cent permissible since April 1 this year. And an AMP survey confirms that is not unusual. “Few have reduced their contribution, though indicating in February they intended to,” says AMP.
Gifts that give on several levels. Perhaps the most important assignment in a university course I teach on financial literacy has little to do with finance. Worried that the course might send the message “the more money you have the better”, I ask the students to think about how money and happiness are related.
It pays to know how numbers grow. The recent fuss over food price rises shows how little feel many New Zealanders have for the power of compounding numbers. And that lack of knowledge could harm them when borrowing and investing.
Fund performance tables can do more harm than good. Some figures I saw recently strengthened my resolve to steer people away from KiwiSaver performance comparisons.
Long tie-up in KiwiSaver no big deal. A Canterbury reader is concerned about whether to recommend KiwiSaver to his daughters. “For someone in their early twenties, the monies invested in KiwiSaver — even if a contribution holiday is taken — will be tied up for some 40 odd years,” he writes.
Good news goes unheralded. One of the findings in a recent survey caught my eye. Only 12 per cent of New Zealanders surveyed said the value of their financial investments had grown in the previous six months, with 42 per cent saying the value was unchanged and 46 per cent saying it had fallen. The vast majority got it wrong.
More than one way to tax investment property. There’s more than one way to skin a cat — or to change the tax system to discourage New Zealanders from investing in rental property.
Performance pay not as good as it sounds. Here’s a radical idea: pay financial advisers according to the performance of the investments they put you in. Sounds appealing, but would it work?
Secrets of real estate agents. Sorry — this is my third column in a row about real estate commissions. It’s just that readers keep responding. Lately it’s been agents or former agents, letting us in on their secrets.
Readers love or loathe real estate fee idea. The subject of real estate commissions brings out strong emotions — as reader response to my last column shows.