Q&As: Don’t try to time markets. Stick with your regular retirement savings, although you may want to modify where you save; Teen’s worries are unfounded about how Dad’s income would affect KiwiSaver first home subsidy — but other subsidy issues still undecided; Tax-wise, it’s better to borrow for taxable activities than to buy a family home. Plus: Clarification on the taxation of interest on loans between family members.
Q&As: Couple approaching retirement should spend most of their savings on paying off their mortgage; Yes, you can get KiwiSaver tax credits as well as NZ Super; Reader who distrust government confuses KiwiSaver with NZ Super Fund; Was this column wrong last week about withholding tax on interest paid on a loan within a family?
Good fairy turbocharges lower income people’s savings. You’re struggling on a low income, as a part-time or full-time worker. All this talk about saving is fine for those making plenty, but you feel you can’t spare anything. Fair enough. Enter the Good Fairy. “How about a deal?” she says. “If you can set aside just a few dollars a week, I will multiply your savings five-fold, eight-fold, thirteen-fold — the lower your income the more I will boost your savings. It will really help you get ahead in the long term. Interested?”
Q&As: Terminally ill reader should get his money out of KiwiSaver and eat, drink and be merry; Reader on invalids benefit can benefit from joining KiwiSaver — and an obliging friend could make it work better for both of them; Many employee KiwiSavers will be better off reducing their contributions to 2 per cent after April 1 — but not all; Lending within the family can get complicated when it comes to withholding tax on interest.
Q&As: The possible perils of parents lending a mortgage to adult children; Tips on mortgage reduction from a mortgage broker; How mortgage borrowers could unite to force interest rates down; 2 Q&As on what happens to KiwiSaver money in retirement.
Q&As: Some great ideas for reducing your mortgage; Non-employees are also eligible to join KiwiSaver; The KiwiSaver tax credit has nothing to do with tax; Once you’re in KiwiSaver, you can’t get out again — but should you want to?
Q&As: Several options for 20-year-old who worries that the state of the world makes KiwiSaver iffy; 5 Q&As about reader who was offered a mortgage deal that was too good to be true.
Q&As: Advisor’s mortgage offer looks too magical to be true; Children more likely to be angry because their parents didn’t sign them up to KiwiSaver than because they did; Too much on KiwiSaver in this column?
Q&As: Government’s KiwiSaver changes include a big improvement on their pre-election plans; New taxation of KiwiSaver employer contributions is fair enough. Plus: readers’ views of my political leanings vary widely.
Q&As: Repaying a mortgage — on a home or rental property — almost always better than saving with term deposits; KiwiSaver works well for children; 3 Q&As on charitable Christmas giving.