Confession time about retirement plans and goals. I’m going to commit sacrilege here. But it’s not as if I haven’t thought long and hard about it. So okay, deep breath, here we go: Contrary to what many will tell you, it’s quite possible to be financially together and not have a detailed written plan on how to fund your retirement — or even a retirement savings goal.
Set and forget KiwiSaver funds a great choice for many. I’m not really interested in what happens under the bonnet of my car, as long as it goes. In much the same way many people are not interested in what happens to their KiwiSaver accounts, as long as they grow.
Home ownership doesn’t always beat renting. I was a little surprised the other day when I asked a couple of hundred young university students whether they wanted to buy a home in the foreseeable future. Everyone said yes — despite the fact that we’d just been considering why home ownership is not necessarily all it’s cracked up to be.
Change KiwiSaver default funds… …but educate too. All the wrong people are ending up in KiwiSaver default funds — or are they? That depends on their financial knowledge, temperament and home ownership plans.
Wanted: better insurance against outliving our savings. Imagine you’re heading into retirement. You’ll get NZ Super, but you also have savings in KiwiSaver or elsewhere. You would like to spend that money over the rest of your life and leave the house to the kids. But — not knowing how long you will live — how can you decide how much to spend each year?
KiwiSaver neither guaranteed nor ghastly. Recent news suggests New Zealanders are poles apart on KiwiSaver. Some think the scheme is safer than it is. Others are leaping to ridiculous conclusions about how unsafe it is.
Readers react over GST. Two readers sound angry about my last column about GST. Some of their points are valid, but over all I think they just didn’t “get” it.
Wanted: Clear thinking on GST. A lot of nonsense has been spoken about GST since John Key more or less said the government will increase that tax — probably to 15 per cent — and use the money to cut income tax rates.
Oh no, oh no, it’s off to work we go. Returning to work after a holiday is rarely easy. Back when I was employed — as opposed to self employed — I remember always feeling as if I were in the wrong job on my first few days back at work.