NZ Herald 28 June 2008
Q&As: Why older people get a better deal from KiwiSaver, but younger people should nevertheless still join; Do interest-only mortgages qualify for mortgage diversion?
Q&As: Why older people get a better deal from KiwiSaver, but younger people should nevertheless still join; Do interest-only mortgages qualify for mortgage diversion?
Hope and help for first home buyers. Things are looking up for would-be first home buyers, left out in the cold in the recent house price boom. The numbers are finally getting better, and government assistance is increasing.
Q&As: 2 Q&As on whether homeowners should sell and be renters for a while, to cash in on falling house prices?; Should 62-year-old buy a rental property or join KiwiSaver?
Q&As: KiwiSaver naysayer is the one who is “light on fact”; Self-employed KiwiSaver must contribute 4 per cent of pay when he takes a job — but he won’t starve; Inland Revenue “clarifies and expands” its position on mortgage interest deductions after a family home is rented out.
Take action now to get full KiwiSaver tax credit. June is the month of reckoning for KiwiSaver members who want to be sure they get as big a tax credit as possible from the government. But judging from reader emails and questions at seminars, there’s a fair bit of confusion about it all.
Q&As: Many KiwiSavers double the money they put in the scheme, and some triple or even quadruple it; Act now to make sure you get the full KiwiSaver tax credit.
Q&As: 2 Q&As on how the self-employed can make the most of KiwiSaver; More to come on tax deductibility of mortgage interest when you rent out your former home.
If the Government can do it… If there’s one topic that I should write about more often, but I avoid because I fear it will turn people off, it’s budgeting. But with the government’s Budget in the news, now is as good a time as any to consider the way we — as individuals or couples — spend our money. And I promise not to get preachy.
Q&As: Far from being “devalued”, bank term deposits are a good deal these days; Don’t bail out of funds that include shares, despite forecasts of lower long-term returns; No, last week’s comment on the non-deductibility of mortgage interest wasn’t wrong — 2 Q&As; Another option for last week’s correspondent is house-sitting.
Q&As: 61-year-old struggling to pay off mortgage considers renting out her house and becoming a tenant elsewhere; Self-employed man wants to get back “over payment” into KiwiSaver.