The Investor – Mary Holm

The Investor 2 March 2013

mary — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 11:00:00 +0000

This article was published on 2 March 2013. Some information may be out of date. KiwiSaver — which has lurched around a few sharp bends in its short life — is about to shift up a gear. From April 1, the minimum employee and employer contributions will both rise from 2 to 3 per cent of pay. Employees will notice a drop in their take-home pay. But for someone on $30,000 it will be less than $6 a...

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The Investor 16 February 2013

mary — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:00:00 +0000

This article was published on 16 February 2013. Some information may be out of date. Ironically, a survey on New Zealanders’ financial behaviour was released just days before Christmas — a time of much financial misbehaviour, when everyone’s saying, “I don’t care what it costs, I’ve just got to buy something for Uncle Fred.” It’s also a time when most of...

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The Investor 26 January 2013

mary — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 11:00:00 +0000

This article was published on 26 January 2013. Some information may be out of date. The words “compulsory” and “KiwiSaver” seem to be appearing more and more often in the same sentence. I don’t like it — but I seem to be in the minority. A recent survey found almost 59 per cent of New Zealanders support making all employees belong to KiwiSaver, while only 16 per cent...

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The Investor 15 December 2012

mary — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 11:00:00 +0000

This article was published on 15 December 2012. Some information may be out of date. Summer holidays — a time to look beyond what’s happening in your life over the next week or so. How about the next 40 years? I was going to start the next sentence with “Treasury is…”, but I hesitate. I suspect to many people that government department is a big powerful outfit that talks — in a...

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The Investor 1 December 2012

mary — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 11:00:00 +0000

This article was published on 1 December 2012. Some information may be out of date. Have you ever thought, as you pay hundreds of dollars yet again for car or house insurance that you never claim on, that it would be better to bank the premiums and use that money if something went wrong? But you’re not mad enough to do it, because it would take many years to build up enough savings to cover...

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The Investor 17 November 2012

mary — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 11:00:00 +0000

This article was published on 17 November 2012. Some information may be out of date. KiwiSaver is thriving. Most people know by now that more than 2 million — over half the eligible people — are members. But a new report tells more. Far more people are now staying in the scheme after auto enrolment; many are switching from default schemes to something more suitable; and a full three quarters of...

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The Investor 3 November 2012

mary — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 11:00:00 +0000

This article was published on 3 November 2012. Some information may be out of date. KiwiSaver is many things — mostly good. But I hadn’t thought of it as a type of insurance policy until recently, when I was talking to an authorized financial adviser in Christchurch. Several of his clients had withdrawn money from their KiwiSaver accounts, under the financial hardship provisions...

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The Investor 20 October 2012

mary — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 11:00:00 +0000

This article was published on 20 October 2012. Some information may be out of date. Bonds are beautiful. That’s certainly the message when you look at a recent Reserve Bank list of returns on 11 different types of investments, including New Zealand, Australian and international shares, property, farms, bonds and cash. Since 1990, bonds had the fifth highest average return of the 11.

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The Investor 6 October 2012

mary — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 11:00:00 +0000

This article was published on 6 October 2012. Some information may be out of date. At first it looked as if a recent article in the Reserve Bank Bulletin might help with the perennial question: Is it better to invest in property or shares? But no such luck! The article, by Reserve Bank economist Elizabeth Watson, looked at returns on a wide range of assets from 1989 to 2011, and also at their...

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The Investor 22 September 2012

mary — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 12:00:00 +0000

This article was published on 22 September 2012. Some information may be out of date. I’m disappointed. Retired people have been gaining access to their KiwiSaver money for several months now, but there’s no emergence of good new products to help them manage their savings. Many retired New Zealanders spend too little. They retire with a chunk of savings and then spend only the interest...

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