Goal setting and the B word (budgeting). Goals should be SMART — specific, measurable, achievable, (w)ritten, time-bound. The goal habit: If you save before a trip, buying a car etc you can have many more trips and cars. Tips on goals. Budgeting: Firstly estimate spending in different categories, then keep track for a while; Tips on budgeting; Robert Frost poem; Emergency money; Help with budgeting: familybudgeting.org.nz.
Q&As: How to let both daughters in on the deal; Did “holidaying” KiwiSaver miss out?; Could KiwiSaver money be grabbed because hubby’s running up debts?; Student loan repayments can continue into retirement; Some tips for last week’s separated woman.
Q&As: For the 17-year-old who has everything he wants: a course about shares; A free budget tool for readers to try; Woman on parental leave can still take part in KiwiSaver; Fees on retirement scheme way too high.
Q&As: Reader says column includes too much on KiwiSaver — which won’t work well anyway. Also, new ‘tool’ duds retirees; Is employer’s way of getting employees to basically pay their own KiwiSaver employer contributions legit?…; …Might such practices be outlawed? And how are political parties proposing to change KiwiSaver?; Family Budgeting Services could be a big help to a couple.
Q&As: Comparing the Government’s Budget with a family budget; 3 Q&As about apologies, “amazing”, “awesome”, and correcting grammar; Should retiree add $500,000 of other savings to his KiwiSaver account?
Financial misbehaviour disappointing. 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.”
More than one way to fill a financial gap. This is one of those columns — like the one in which I confessed that I don’t have a goal for my retirement savings — that might make the “conventional wisdom” people cross. But here goes: We don’t all need a sizable emergency fund sitting in a savings account.
Q&As: Students get a good deal by world standards, and shouldn’t dodge student loan repayments; How come the bonds in a balanced KiwiSaver fund report losses?; Winning the tax game if you have a home and a rental property; Where to get free budget advice.
Q&As: A house looks ridiculously cheap in 1958, but let’s put that into perspective; Retiree hit by inflation acknowledges that it could have been worse; Too hard to get by in New Zealand? Fix it or leave, but don’t whinge; A family wants out of its family trust, which is complex, expensive and not benefitting anyone.
Q&As: A reader’s attempt to recover tax on finance company interest is a nice try, but…; Wanting less and working less doesn’t preclude tall poppies; Creative ideas on how to cut household expenses; Did I get the banking system wrong, or did a reader?; At least one bank — sort of — will lend to share investors.