Excerpt from Upside, Downside. This week and next week, this column will publish excerpts from a small book Mary Holm has written for the Reserve Bank called “Upside, downside: A guide to risk for savers and investors”. It will be given away free to the public in September. This column will tell you how to get a copy then. Today’s excerpts include an overview and an example of one type of risky investor behaviour. Next week we will publish further examples.
Q&As: Repeated property do-ups unlikely to bring tax-free gains; Are shares really better in the long term than property or bank deposits?; Reader is confused over KiwiSaver first home subsidy price limits; Sleepless nights over a charity donation.
Q&As: Use accessible KiwiSaver money to repay credit card debt, and probably mortgage too; What exactly does growth in GDP mean?; 3 readers are unhappy with charities asking for more…; And a fourth points out how complicated it can get; An error last week about donations to St Johns?; Reader happy with his healthcare insurance.
Q&As: Tax rebates worth having — but are some charities greedy?; Some health insurance might be too lean and mean; KiwiSaver employees over 65 should ask the boss to keep contributing; Is KiwiSaver balance likely to go backwards after retirement?
Q&As: How to reduce the cost of medical insurance — and other insurance; Do tax and morality mix?; Poor communications a good reason to skip a KiwiSaver provider.
Q&As: Taxes are everywhere. But let’s not get carried away with the pessimism; On taxation and morality; 2 Q&As about how to handle KiwiSaver accounts in retirement.
Q&As: Why people shouldn’t cheat in KiwiSaver; A reader is irritated about slow tax information and the policy on PIR tax rates…; …While another reader sings the praises of Inland Revenue; 3 Q&As about KiwiSaver tax credits for people approaching their fifth anniversary in the scheme.
Q&As: Having trouble with your tax return? Ask Inland Revenue; More to come in this column on KiwiSaver, even if some readers don’t like it; Cheating on KiwiSaver if you’re overseas, and how you might get caught; 2 Q&As on the fact that everyone — including those who turn 65 — gets 5 years of KiwiSaver incentives; Charity operates in Christchurch AND overseas.
Q&As: Should charity begin at home?; Advisers may not be the best source on comparing KiwiSaver providers — so how should you do it?; Can a landlord get KiwiSaver first home help?…; …And can a son who buys an expensive home with his Dad?; An accountant questions Housing NZ policy.
Q&As: Reader dislikes “user pays” attitude and has a message for last week’s self-proclaimed bigot; Volunteers sought for overseas work and adventure; Why young person who has moved to Australia might want to keep contributing to KiwiSaver; Rules flexible for overseas KiwiSavers wanting to return to NZ to buy a first home; A bank seems to be listening.