Q&As: Questions to ask before parents lend mortgage money to their children; Determined couple pay down big mortgage fast; Bank’s reluctance to extend credit card limit is surprising; Tax adviser thinks tax should have been mentioned last week.
Q&As: Which is better — a KiwiSaver share fund or KiwiSaver property fund?; KiwiSaver investments don’t change at 65, unless you’re in a life stages option. What are they?; No tax consequences of parents’ gift to help pay off mortgage; Bring UK shares over and pay down mortgage.
Q&As: The struggle of some beneficiaries; If you don’t like bank’s interest payment policy, shop around; Should couple put all their cash in house deposit, or invest in shares too?
Q&As: Who earns the interest while money moves from bank to bank over holidays?; What is investment risk? And how to reduce it; Use savings to pay down mortgage.
Q&As: Couple should get into KiwiSaver, and changes proposed for the scheme; Could the growing popularity of index funds mess up markets?; My comments on Brian Gaynor’s column about index fund investing.
Q&As: Better to put savings towards mortgage than emergency fund; How to weigh up KiwiSaver versus other saving; Reader not stuck with KiwiSaver provider, but costly to move; Reactions vary on discussion about which indexes to use.
Q&As: Should couple sell Auckland rental now or keep it until retirement?; How to contribute something other than 3,4 or 8% to KiwiSaver; What happens when a KiwiSaver turns 65; ‘Good news’ letter a reminder to the young; Auckland too pricey? Try Dunedin; Update on KiwiSaver HomeStart grants.
Clever and not-so-clever moves with mortgages: 2 worrying trends — longer mortgages, people adding to mortgages; Good news — people repaying faster; When rates drop, maintain your payments; Paying down your mortgage a great investment; Mortgage on rentals a bit different; Revolving credit loans give flexibility but risky for some; Main points.
Spending too little, spending too much: Shopping is a favourite pastime; People who are too mean on themselves; People who spend too much — why do they do it? — 1. Keeping up with the Joneses, 2. Psychological, 3. Credit card company behaviour; Help for big spenders; Most important of all — Change your habits. PS: Final reminder about KiwiSaver tax credit.
Q&As: Adding to already huge mortgages is playing with fire; It’s not interest rates but mortgage size that matters; Lack of family communication leads to big debt…; …so do pushy credit card providers.