NZ Herald 22 October 2011

AI suspect you already know the answer to your first question. But here it is from the horse’s mouth:

“It is not legitimate for a parent to invest their own money in their children’s names in order to pay a lower rate of Resident Withholding Tax (RWT),” says Inland Revenue.

“Not only would RWT be deducted at a lower rate than should be the case, but the parent would also be under-reporting their own taxable income.

“While it is accepted that parents may gift money to their children, if the money were to be taken back it could not be considered a gift.”

I think that answers your second question, too. You can’t gain protection from a creditor by breaking the law.

So what do you do now? For a start, I suggest you put the term deposits in your own names. That won’t let you off the hook, though, if Inland Revenue audits you and finds out what you’ve been up to.

“It may be appropriate for them to consider making a voluntary disclosure,” says Inland Revenue. If you do this — basically coming clean about what you did wrong — you will have to pay the tax you would otherwise have paid, plus interest, but the penalty you would have paid if caught by an audit will be significantly reduced. For more info, go to tinyurl.com/voluntarydisclosure.

I can’t resist adding that I don’t think much of tax dodging. Some people think it’s a game, but it’s not much fun for the other players, who just end up paying tax at higher rates.

I wonder if a few quotes might adjust your attitude.

• US president Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “Taxes, after all, are dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society.”
• Author Nancie J. Carmody wrote, “I am thankful for the taxes I pay because it means that I’m employed.”
• And finally, writer and academic Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote, “I like to pay taxes. It is purchasing civilization.”

ATrends in house prices are always unpredictable, but if someone sells their home and buys another at the same time, price levels don’t matter much. Either both houses are cheap or both are expensive.

Effectively, you are selling now. If you don’t buy soon, you run the risk that house prices will rise in the meantime, and you’ll get a lot less house with the proceeds of your sale.

Of course the opposite could happen, with prices falling. But it would be pretty risky to expect that. Buying another place now is the low-risk option, and with your age, income and situation, I doubt if you want to take much risk.

What about your idea of buying outside Christchurch and renting in Christchurch — making you a landlord and a tenant? Being a landlord suits some people well. They like taking care of property, and don’t mind tenant and maintenance hassles. But given that you haven’t chosen that path up to now, it might not suit you — especially as the property would not be nearby, which can add to problems and worries.

How much should you spend on a house?

Let’s say you want to retire in ten years, in which case it would be good to get a ten-year mortgage. The mortgage repayment calculator on www.sorted.org.nz tells us that you would repay $2200 a month on a $200,000 ten-year mortgage at 6 per cent. If you can afford that, you could buy a $350,000 house, with your $150,000 deposit.

You can try out other amounts and terms on the calculator to find what suits you. For example, if you plan to work until 68 and get a 13-year mortgage, monthly payments would drop to $1850.

Keep in mind that mortgage rates might rise, so allow for that.

In case you and your neighbours aren’t aware of them, here are a couple of information sources set up to help you:

• A financial decision guide for Canterbury red zone residents, put together by the Commission for Financial Literacy and Retirement Income — which used to be called the Retirement Commission.

  The booklet “is designed to help people make their financial decisions about the CERA offer and what to do with their settlement payment. It also gives guidance on who to talk to and where to get financial advice,” says the Commission.

  The booklet is available at www.sorted.org.nz/redzone. It should also be available by about now in hard copy from CERA earthquake hubs and other community organisations in Canterbury.

• Information on how a financial adviser can help you, on the Financial Markets Authority’s website, www.fma.govt.nz. Click on Help Me Invest, and then on “Getting the right advice on your Red Zone payout.” If you haven’t got access to the internet, you can call the FMA’s helpline on 0800 434 566.

AThe big question is whether your dad got good mileage out of kids nourished with stone soup.

AIndeed they would have — if they bought at the right time and if they sell now. Who knows what might happen to gold and silver prices if they hold on?

But that’s not the point. The reader confidently predicted big price rises that haven’t happened. Indeed, over the last two months, gold has dropped in both New Zealand and US dollars. For silver it’s the same, only over the last six months. Indeed, if you bought silver in late April, you would have watched it lose one third of its value since then. Ouch.

These are volatile, risky investments. They can soar, and they can plummet. By publishing the reader’s letter and the updates, I hope to show how unpredictable precious metals can be.

On your KiwiSaver question, thousands of members made returns of well over 100 per cent last year; some well over 200 per cent. That’s because, in their first year in the scheme, their contributions are doubled by their employer and also boosted by the tax credit — plus the $1000 kick-start.

In their second year, they don’t get the kick-start, but the other incentives still boost their own contributions. However, that’s watered down by the fact that their first-year money is earning ordinary fund returns — which usually range between minus 10 per cent and plus 20 per cent.

And over the years, as more and more of their total KiwiSaver money earns just ordinary returns while just the current year’s contribution is boosted by incentives, their over-all returns will decline.

But it’s still a really good deal. If your contributions are doubled or tripled, you will get twice or three times as much out at the other end. And because KiwiSaver funds almost always spread your money over a variety of types of assets, it’s much less risky than investing in a single asset such as gold or silver.

That’s why, I expect, there is no KiwiSaver Gold Fund or KiwiSaver Silver Fund, although some higher risk funds might include a small holding of the metals for extra diversification.

By the way, I’m not sure where your 41 and 9 per cent came from. My numbers are somewhat different. But it doesn’t really matter.