It’s OK to give up on ever owning a home.
– Home ownership falling — people need family help to buy
– It can work to be a long-term renter
– Advantages of renting
– But you need to save lots for renting in retirement
– Prediction — long term house prices will fall relative to incomes
– Best way to save
Kids and KiwiSaver
– You can sign them up at any time
– The rules for under 18s on government and employer contributions, when teenager gets a job etc.
– Maybe make small contributions — starts saving habit
– $10 or $20 a week could start a house deposit — not just from parents
– Changes at 18 — keep helping with contributions
– Saving for children outside KS — pluses and minuses
KiwiSaver back to positive! Also, new KiwiSaver help for new parents
– Returns January to March positive for almost all KiwiSaver funds
– Are the best short-term funds also the best long-term?
– Main points: Hang in there; higher risk = higher return; never judge by short-term performance
– Government helps KiwiSavers on paid parental leave
Laddering — a clever way with term deposits and perhaps your mortgage
– What is laddering?
– Who might be affected?
– Why do it? — gives longer-term returns on deposits (which are usually higher); frequent access to some of your money; some protection from bad luck with timing.
– How it might work with a mortgage
Setting up emergency money
– Many NZers don’t have access to emergency money
– A good tradeoff — increase hardship but gain mental health
– Imagine your pay has been cut
– Where to put emergency money
– Make use of mortgage situation
How to complain about any financial service in NZ:
– What firms are covered
– The financial disputes system in NZ
– Free to you, and you don’t have to accept decision
– How they are funded
– What they do — and don’t do
– Your first steps to getting help
What we can learn from the Film Fraud Festival
– Insights from the films and panellist talks
– Warning signs to watch for
– How to check if a company is legit
Unusual KiwiSaver investments
– What are aggressive funds?
– 7 unusual ones
– Who might want to invest in these?
Are KiwiSaver default members getting a bad deal?
Plus: How does everyone know how well their KiwiSaver fund is doing?
– Big variation in default fund performance and fees
– A possible solution
– Problems with benchmarks for all KiwiSaver funds
– A possible solution
– Based on a paper you can read at tinyurl.com/RussellKiwiSaver
A non-financial topic: What it was like during and after Cyclone Gabrielle if you had:
– No power
– No running water
– No communications — phones, emails, texts, internet etc
– No way out of your community