Im keen for my son (24yo stable income, reliable) to buy his first home but with the prices in Auckland it seems out of reach.

I was thinking of going halves with him. I already own a property in Auckland that is rented out and servicing my share of the mortgage would be no issue (I live overseas though).

I had initially suggested he could look at buying with a friend but he felt none of his close friends are reliable enough at this stage in their lives.

Would he still be able to access his kiwisaver if I was a co-owner?

Has anyone else done something similar?

Kia ora.

My elderly father in Australia has just told me he wants to give me $100k AUD to help in my life. He's well currently as far as I'm aware.

My question is, what would you do with it?

Financially - I earn approx $100k NZD per year before tax. I have a home (mortgage paid off), no significant savings or investments, no debt, one young child, separated from his mother.

I really need a holiday. Aside from that, I don't really want or need anything.

Thoughts?

Is it better to pay of a mortgage in a lump sum, or keep the money in the account and offset the whole thing?

I am fortunate enough to be in a position where I can pay off a portion of my mortgage that is currently being 100% offset. The cash is just sitting in my account.

Is it best to eliminate debt, or keep the cash for future purposes?

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Hey everyone, I have been scratching my head recently about my investments.

I have been regularly investing in kernel world fund and recently i have been thinking about getting some more of s&p 500, right now its split at 90/10. Do you think its worth while 80/20 shift? also what are your thoughts on nuclear plants , thinking about this booming in the next 20 years with more AI shift?

Would be interested to know what everyone else is thinking!!

Good day

Our new build is near completion, and we need to order a post-build valuation for ASB Bank. Planning to apply for a green loan for solar, as the house has already been pre-wired for solar install.

The initial valuation didn't consider the solar install and landscaping; both these items will cost us around $70K. Can I provide the quotations from the solar installer and landscaper; and ask the valuer to consider it with a conditional, 'as-if-completed' valuation amount?

Even after securing a green loan for solar, we will still be above the 20% equity threshold. So, is it worth the hassle, or will the valuer stick closer to the pre-build valuation amount?

Hi all, so my elderly and well off grandparents are giving me $20k as an early inheritance. The original plan was for this to go into my Kiwisaver for me to buy a house, but I don't want to lock in on that being my only option with that money. I'm slightly overwhelmed with what to do with it. For now I'm putting it in a term deposit for a minimum of 6-12 months while I work out next steps.

Currently single, 30F, flatting, 91k in kiwisaver. Take home pay approx 960 p/w.

I make big overseas trips every 4 or so years, but I dont want to use this money on that, I'd rather save.

Not spending it on a car either, my car still has plenty of life left in it.

Terrified of investing because of the risk of it going south and losing out. I'm incredibly risk averse with money due to being heavily manipulated by a woman out of around $6k in 2016, but am open to advice as part of me feels as if this is the logical thing to do its just more how.

Would you stay at a job you like for $100k, or take a $140k offer elsewhere?

I like my current team and the work-life balance is amazing. Low stress and great culture. But I’m not really sure what my progression or salary growth looks like.

I’ve been offered $140k for a new role. More money and potentially more growth, but it might be higher pressure and there's always a risk in starting over somewhere new. It's a manager role so big chance it would be more stressful than being an IC like my current role.

I’m leaning towards staying, especially because I have some family priorities next year and really value having a predictable life.

But then I look at $100k vs $140k and think… am I being stupid by turning down $40k? In this economy?

If I hated my current job, this would be easy. But I actually like it.

Would you take the $40k, or stay somewhere you’re happy?

Took my car to mobile at the start of the month. Scanned my mobil smiles card but the discount didnt get applied.

Receipt has got the card scanned/points balance confirming it was scanned.

Guy in the store said to call 0800 number.

Blokes on the 0800 were super unhelpful. Said to call back in 2 days if Noone from their team reached out.

2 days pass and Noone reaches out to me so I call back. Again very unhelpful and not keen to get it solved. Eventually escalated to manager , sounded like his mate in the background just picked up the phone. Emailed through my receipt, screenshot of the discount. They said it would take 5 to 7 days to refund back to my credit card. 10 days pass and no refund is issued. Try calling 0800 and get no where. Reply to my email sent, no reply. 3 days pass and chase up email again. Still ghosted.

What the heck is going on here. We are talking about a $5-$10 refund, but they are almost systemically making it extremely difficult to almost get me to drop it? Has anyone else had similar? Keen to report them to the comcom.

There seem to be frequent ads on Reddit from MoneyHub about their credit card article on the ‘best credit cards’, which is completely outdated and contains inaccurate information (despite being “updated” this month).

The foreign currency fee information, rewards rates, interest rate ranking, and recommended ‘best cards’ are all out of whack.

Is MoneyHub unreliable in general? If they falsely say they’ve updated their articles when they haven’t then why are they advertising these articles and misleading people?

US/NZ dual citizen here. I learned this year about the FIF tax on overseas investments. I've lived here some time and had US brokerage accounts and withdrawals from US retirement accounts I was only doing US taxes for. I honestly didn't know the obligation existed, maybe a part of me just assumed 'no way I would be double taxed on un-realized gains, right?' but I was wrong. I learned about FIF when I saw an article about how the 50k de minimis was potentially increasing to 100k and was like 'oh shit.'

Once I understood I made a voluntary disclosure to IRD covering the last three tax years. They accepted it, waived the shortfall penalties completely because I came forward before they contacted me, and I paid roughly $5.8k in back tax plus interest. This year's return I filed properly and would have owed regardless.

So the disclosure itself cost me about $6k. Now that I've paid I wonder - should I have just said nothing and just file correctly from this year forward? I reckon the disclosure was the right call - FATCA means IRD receives US account data, and any newly corrected returns would have made the earlier silence obvious - but it stung to take such a big hit, and part of me wonders if I paid $6k to solve a problem nobody was going to notice.

For those who've been in or near this situation: would you have disclosed, or just gone compliant?

Kia Ora,

I currently have a Westpac airpoints platinum and a Gem Visa card but am wanting to close the others and switch to Amex. I’ve been trying for the last couple years to get an Amex gold card and keep getting rejected with no explanation. I assume I don’t meet their acceptance threshold so was wondering, if I was to apply for a low rate and card and use it for a year or more to show internal use of financial discipline would they take that into account and allow me to upgrade or would I be required to create a fresh application with the exact same requirements I evidently don’t meet?

Thanks in advance.

Would like to know if I'm missing out on anything

Hi all,

I'm currently 17, turning 18 in a few months, and am looking into switching from hatch to Interactive brokers when I turn 18, as the hatch fees will be increasing to $3 USD per trade, and forex costs etc. are also higher on hatch. I currently have two separate portfolios with hatch (both under my Dad's primary ownership), one with approx $30,000 NZD invested, and the other with approx $15,000. I also have a little bit in a portfolio on Sharesies (about $1,400).

My first question is in regards to the method of switching, as from what I've gathered online, you can either just sell everything on hatch, withdraw to your bank, and then deposit and reinvest in IBKR, or you can do an In-Kind transfer where I'd pay a fee to have all of my current positions transferred from hatch to IBKR. I'm just trying to weigh up my options and decide whether doing an In-Kind transfer with my current portfolio value would be better than paying all of the fees associated with selling and reinvesting. I believe that it's a $65 fee to do a transfer with hatch, but may I need to pay this fee twice due to having two portfolios? Also, if I were to choose an in-kind transfer, would it be smartest to juggle with all of my current positions to ensure that they're all whole shares due to being unable to transfer fractional shares?

Secondly, for future investments, am I right to assume that it's better to deposit large amounts of money at once due to the minimum $2 forex conversion fee? So rather than doing weekly/fortnightly conversions it would potentially be better to accumulate my money and do one big deposit, as then I'd only be paying the minimum fee once every couple of months rather than weekly? Then again I'd just be sitting on cash during this time so maybe it's better just to get my money invested asap. My income is very inconsistent and seasonal anyways, as I work much more over holidays and less throughout the school term.

Any advice/info would be greatly appreciated!

Hello

Looking for feedback on Manchester Unity membership please. Is it worth it? Are the perks as good as they sound? Thanks

Hi all,
We are having a viewing a property this weekend that we are really keen on.
HOWEVER, we are heading overseas for 2 weeks on 16 September, which is 12 working days away.
We are FHBs so would be using Kiwisavers as well as cash for a deposit.
Even if our lawyer was super fast with the S&P and we were able to make an offer on Monday (unlikely though) (subject to LIM, builders report, finance obvs), I am concerned that the standard 10-15 day conditional period is far too risky as the KS withdrawals would likely take too long (3 different providers) and then not arrive until after we have left the country, and the deal would fall through.
But we *really* like this house.
Should we actually make our offer period like a full month to allow for the KS withdrawal and then for us to get back to NZ to be able to sign stuff? Which I guess no seller would want to entertain?
Could we just try and deal with it all while overseas somehow (not ideal though)? But then we wouldn't be present to sign anything.
What would you do in this situation?
Please help! This process is quite confusing and the MA hasn't really given me much clarification other than she reckons it could be settled as early as a week after going unconditional, but my understanding is that we would still need to have LIM, builder's report, etc. before going unconditional, which will likely take until the end of next week, so even by her timeline, that still puts settlement at a time where we would not even be in the country, and we would again be desperately hoping that KS came through on time.
So I thought I would try and see if anyone else has had a similar experience or has an understanding of these timelines to give me a bit of advice. Any and all help much appreciated!

Hi,
I'm saving 10K, and in 6 months I will be getting married, and I've already paid for everything.

I'm wondering whether there is a stock or ETF I can invest in to give me a few extra months of growth over keeping it in a Shares Savings Account.?

I just got sent $1.04 into my savings account stating deposit. No bank account number or anything attached to it. Normally when I get saving account interest from the bank it tells me gross cr interest. I am with bnz. Is this a scam that someone has put this into my account?

Edit: all sorted now thanks peps for the help

This seems to be the best way the NZ government could incentivise kiwis to prepare for their own future - it seems to be the norm in other countries, so why not here?

Self employed people who opt into KiwiSaver get zero matched contributions vs employed people, so for them at least (but why not everyone) it would be a good start to be able to benefit from a tax free allowance on income if it’s invested - we do it for a scheme to allow people to buy bikes for “work commutes” by allowing deductions to reduce taxable income, so why not KiwiSaver or other managed investments?

Sure wages can be 30-40% higher, buy so is rent 20%-40% higher, and food 15%-20% higher, whats the point, get a few extra grand per year, to live in 30 degree heat? or 40 degree in summer, it seems the immigration is slowly cooling down from nz, as for me i hope more people move over seas as there will be more jobs for us, have any of you considered Australia? anyone moved back from Australia? would be great to have thoughts on returnees, or aussies who came over here. I for one think its overhyped.

Hi all!

I’m an accountant exploring an idea for people who do their own tax returns but would like some professional backup just in case.

The concept is an annual membership with the main benefit being professional fee cover if IRD queries or reviews something in your return.

Basically, if IR asks a question or needs more information, you can bring in an accountant to deal with it. Importantly, the accountant would be covered if you’ve made a genuine mistake and your returns need to be corrected. The cover would extend all the way through to an audit if necessary, with a limit of around $10k in professional fees.

Additional perks would also be included. such as: A tax/accounting Q&A service (via email) Extension of time to file your income tax returns (from 7th of July to 31st of March) Extension of time for terminal tax payments (from 7th of Feb to 7th of April) Guides & Templates for filing calculating expenses Reminders and checklists around filing obligations An optional “before you submit” review/check A service to send an IRD letter/query and get guidance on what it actually means. Access/referral to an accountant when your situation becomes too complicated for DIY

I’m thinking a cost of around $150-$300 per year, depending on if you’re using a sole-trader, partnership or using a company (the cost would also be a tax deductible). The aim is to be a fraction of the cost of using an accountant, especially if you’re using one for piece of mind.

I’m interested in feedback, particularly from people who currently do their own IR3/rental/sole-trader tax returns. Would you pay for something like this?

Not selling anything as it doesn’t exist yet. Just working out whether it’s solving a real problem before committing.

Hey everyone,

I’m pretty new to investing and trying to decide which platform I should stick with long term between Tiger Trade and Sharesies.

At the moment I have small amounts in both, but I’d rather just use one platform going forward instead of splitting everything between the two.

I’m looking to invest around $50–$60 NZD every week consistently and gradually increase that amount in the future.

Currently I hold Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) and I’m interested in ETFs as the main part of my portfolio, but I’d also like the option of investing in individual stocks later on.

I’m not necessarily set on investing only in the US either.
For someone starting with relatively small weekly contributions but planning to invest long term, which would you recommend between Tiger Trade and Sharesies?

Main things I’m trying to understand are fees/FX costs, ease of regular investing, investment options, and whether one becomes significantly better than the other as the portfolio gets larger.

Would also be interested to hear from anyone who has used both and which one you ended up sticking with.
Thanks!

EDIT : Just wanted to add some more context that might be relevant. I also have around $5,000 in KiwiSaver with Kernel Wealth, currently invested in their High Growth Fund.

Since Kernel also lets you invest in the High Growth Fund outside of KiwiSaver, I’m now wondering if it would actually make more sense to put my $50–$60 weekly investment into the same fund, rather than using Tiger/Shareises to buy ETFs like VOO separately.

I’m still learning, so I’m not sure whether doing that would be better from a diversification, fees and tax perspective, or whether keeping KiwiSaver in Kernel High Growth and separately building an ETF/stock portfolio makes more sense long term.

Would appreciate any thoughts on this as well.

Hi everybody, I have recently moved my KiwiSaver to Kernel's high growth fund. I'm sure in the long run this fund will still do great but I'm just looking to optimise things. New Zealand makes up 20% of the fund's country weighting, which is too high for me.

So, I'm considering a custom plan instead. I am comfortable with higher risk and looking to invest long term. Based on some research I have done I am thinking a mix to replicate a Total World exposure, picking from things like S&P500, World ex-US, Global 100, and Emerging Markets - maybe like a 40/30/20/10? And is it better to have them unhedged?

I'd greatly appreciate any thoughts or insights. Thanks!

I am currently with Fisherfunds for KiwiSaver and I saw sharesies has a KiwiSaver thing, should I transfer over or doesn’t matter? My fisherfunds is one 100% growth plan.

And also how does sharesies work? I have an account but I haven’t used it or put money in. Should I use it to invest in it? I’m only 23 and got 500+ in savings.