NZ Herald 6 June 2009
Q&As: Are rental properties the low-risk way to invest?; How to find out which financial institutions are covered by the government’s deposit guarantee scheme; Getting rid of KiwiSaver mortgage diversion was a mercy killing.
Q&As: Are rental properties the low-risk way to invest?; How to find out which financial institutions are covered by the government’s deposit guarantee scheme; Getting rid of KiwiSaver mortgage diversion was a mercy killing.
You can indeed go wrong with bricks and mortar. I first heard people saying, “You can’t go wrong with bricks and mortar” years ago, when I lived in the US. I bet the saying isn’t quite as common there these days, now that millions of people have, indeed, lost huge amounts because of property. Yet we still hear that untrue “truism” in New Zealand. And in the last few weeks, as some people are trying to convince us that the house price slump is over, it keeps popping up.
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.
Q&As: PIES have many more pros than cons, with tax breaks and, in some cases, a government guarantee; Single parent with three rentals might want to sell one — but not for the reason she suggests. Plus: readers’ views on KiwiSaver.
Q&As: 2 Q&As on whether homeowners should sell and be renters for a while, to cash in on falling house prices?; Should 62-year-old buy a rental property or join KiwiSaver?
Q&As: KiwiSaver naysayer is the one who is “light on fact”; Self-employed KiwiSaver must contribute 4 per cent of pay when he takes a job — but he won’t starve; Inland Revenue “clarifies and expands” its position on mortgage interest deductions after a family home is rented out.
Q&As: 2 Q&As on how the self-employed can make the most of KiwiSaver; More to come on tax deductibility of mortgage interest when you rent out your former home.
Q&As: Far from being “devalued”, bank term deposits are a good deal these days; Don’t bail out of funds that include shares, despite forecasts of lower long-term returns; No, last week’s comment on the non-deductibility of mortgage interest wasn’t wrong — 2 Q&As; Another option for last week’s correspondent is house-sitting.
Q&As: 61-year-old struggling to pay off mortgage considers renting out her house and becoming a tenant elsewhere; Self-employed man wants to get back “over payment” into KiwiSaver.
Q&As: Do Blue Chip, finance company and other investment victims deserve what’s happened?; 2 Q&As on “nicer” ways to invest than rental property; Electronic tax payment problems not common.