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.
Q&As: Retiree stuck with a property investment that’s gone wrong should sell her house and the rental; 71-year-old wants to be in KiwiSaver, while younger New Zealander stays out for the sake of the country; Fees are not the only consideration when choosing a KiwiSaver fund.
Q&As: KiwiSaver fees — and how an article may have misled people; The range of KiwiSaver fees; Is bank cheating a customer on tax withholding rates?; Depreciation usually clawed back when a landlord sells — or is it?; More comments from and about landlords.
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.
Q&As: Accountant spills the beans on landlords’ taxes; Reader may leave New Zealand because of rental property tax changes; Small businesses have a harder run than landlords; Last week’s correspondent still angry; Two quick — and contradictory — letters.
Q&As: Some rays of hope for landlord who has lived through a nightmare of things going wrong; Three landlords are angry with me and/or the government for various reasons.
Q&As: Why do people pick on landlords?; What tax breaks do rental property owners get that others don’t get?; Why some accountants’ advice to repay mortgage before joining KiwiSaver is wrong.
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?
Q&As: Why it wouldn’t work to make tax changes for rental property apply only to people who buy property after a certain date; Landlord retaliation probably won’t last long; Holding people accountable for giving bad KiwiSaver advice — and lining up a partner to also get the first home subsidy; How might people with private pensions be compensated for rise in GST?
Q&As: Mum will probably never embrace KiwiSaver, but there’s hope for her son; What happens to KiwiSaver if you are made redundant; Last week’s column left a reader confused about tax rates.