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.
Q&As: Couple wondering whether to buy a home now or in three years could gain thousands from joining KiwiSaver; You can’t get in early on the KiwiSaver first home withdrawal and subsidy.
Q&As: Is it better to sell a Mangere Bridge property or a Whangamata property?; Reader who switched to riskier fund, and saw immediate loss, wonders if she should switch back; Share markets have performed really well lately; Two letters about KiwiSaver and “total remuneration”, in which employees more or less pay their own employer contributions.
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.
Q&As: Even a reader’s accountant seems confused about how gains on share sales are taxed. The law needs to be changed; Property fan who did badly in the share market broke one of the basic rules of share investing; Did I mislead readers about the advantages of dollar cost averaging?
Q&As: One reader loathes KiwiSaver, while the next one loves it. But both don’t fully understand it; A former hippie gets a bit carried away.
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?
Q&As: Delaying joining KiwiSaver can mean you’ll miss out on many thousands of dollars; How retired person can get the best out of KiwiSaver; Couple should use PIEs to make the most of their savings.
Q&As: Just because a so-called financial expert is confident, that doesn’t mean he or she is right; If you haven’t worked for a while any time in the last five years, you may well be in for a tax refund; Don’t delay joining KiwiSaver, even if you’re worried that you could be made redundant; KiwiSaver tax credit lark for the newly retired is too good to be true.
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.