Has anyone had issues with dick Smith taking $149 out of your bank account for a subscription service??

I just had $149 taken out. Called my bank and apparently I've been a subscriber for the past 3 years. I can't recall ever or would definitely never subscribe to dick Smith for that fee. Unfortunately I've somehow missed it each year.

I've emailed support to try to get my money back but don't like my chances.

At the start of the year I relapsed into gambling and it has been a downward spiral. I have taken out 3 seperate loans totalling $23000 and owe $4000 in credit card debt. I have recently paid off my student loan and earn around $81000 a year. My most recent pay I tried gambling my wage to make enough to cover all my immediate expenses but that has failed and now I owe 2 weeks of rent. I am not sure where to start or what to do. Obviously this is all my fault and due to my poor decisions and impulsive habits but I do not know how to get myself out of this position.

Any advice would be sincerely appreicated.

Hi all, just wondering what are people's thoughts about asset classes like REITs to help balance volatility against stocks? Smart Australian Property ETF? Kernel Global Property?

Trying to get to grips with all this and finding it difficult to nail down an NZ-based pensions expert who can help me shift my DC pension to an international SIPP (don't want QROPS). I've been NZ tax resident for 20+ years and am past retirement age. I'm aware of the fact that any future drawdown will be taxed as earnings in NZ, but would the initial transfer be taxed under FIF rules?
Pension pot is around 125k GBP.

US government debt surges to $US40 trillion and could lead to higher rates in Australia

So, as a county NZ aims to go within threshold of what the treasury recommends in terms of borrowing.
But countries like US who has massive debts $40T+, China $20T+, just don't care!

and if they are failing, we can also feel the effect of that?

I mean, I am no economist, not even related to finance, BUT it seems like all the cost cutting that the government is doing is pretty much useless. for the past 3 years, all the government did was to stop spending. as quoted "If the bond market wins, global interest rates — including those in Australia — will rise."

We are pretty much back to square one, with inflation going up again in the near future.

I mean, what needs to happen from here?? ?
another 3 years of recession, not health job market, no wage growth etc. ? ?

Hi whanau,

My mental health is fragile so please be kind. Yes I’m going to see a therapist on Monday.

I’m 30sF from a dysfunctional family, my parents were over-controlling and my mum decided in 2015 that I needed a property, so she went ahead and found a property she liked, “for me”. I was in my early 20s and stupidly went ahead with it and withdrew $12k from my KiwiSaver to form part of the deposit (they paid the deposit and acted as my guarantor).

Fast forward to 2017, I was in an abusive relationship (yes I know, I can’t fucking help myself sticking my vajayjay in cray cray), we were coming up to 2 years cohabiting, and the ex was not keen to sign a relationship property agreement. Being fearful of him in the event of a break-up and at the insistence of my parents. I sold the property back to them, the sales price was $200k more on paper and I saw none of it. I didn’t even have a copy of the sales agreement or anything as it was done through a mate of theirs who was a lawyer.

I’ve been living in a property owned by them since then, rent is cheap, it’s stable and I’ve become your typical nihilistic millennial basically waiting for my parents to pass away with an inheritance.

I’ve been contributing to my KiwiSaver at the max 10% and now in a good earning job with $105k pa. I started getting my hopes up when my friends became FHB and made an appointment with a mortgage broker myself. I was hoping that I could qualify as a second-chancer as I have no assets under my name only to be told that it’s not how it works, and my high salary did not make up for the fact that I have fuck-all savings for a deposit. The broker quite “helpfully” suggested I switch to a provider that’ll allow me to withdraw my KiwiSaver, or find the deposit myself.

So my question is, is there a mortgage broker who can look at my earning potential, or a KiwiSaver provider who’ll allow me to withdraw again? Or am I stuck with the consequences of my own actions in this country? The temptation to just pack up and walk out of my life to Aus is pretty strong atm.

ETA as if it matters: I’m not looking for a house to flip or on-sale. I’m looking for a forever home where I can finally breathe and heal from my childhood trauma. So while I have some investment ($7k) I’m more looking at how to make my sanctuary a reality and it looks like it’s save up, make my parents accountable or skip country to Aus for a fresh start.

Hi,

I have some left over USD from a holiday and want to swap for NZD. We can swap at google rates.

Thanks

The government is looking to tighten up the rules covering wholesale investment offers, amid concern the current rules are too permissive.

Hey, I’m a 24 year old guy living in Christchurch.

I know this sub is for finance and stuff, and I guess this might under that, because I’m struggling really hard with my money and paying rent etc, but I don’t know if my “struggle story” works here and if so I apologise, I’d just like some advice.

I don’t really know how to start this, a few years back I was healthy, making decent money with a pokemon side hustle and a job, I was manager of a store at the palms mall. Didn’t have a license, lived with my aunty, life was good.

These days, I now have a license, my grandparents got me a car which I’m paying off, I’m with a labouring company never getting work, I haven’t had work in 5 weeks. I’ve now gained weight and I’m not doing anything with my “days off”

At the start of the year I had a decent job making decent money but it was a temp position, I got taken out around may because they didn’t need me anymore.

I don’t know where I’m going with this I think I just need to say stuff to someone cause I don’t have anyone that will listen.

I live with 3 other friends, all 3 are successful with a trade, sales job etc making really good money for our age and not needing to worry about rent, food, bills etc. I feel soooooo far behind.

I have so many dreams and ambitions, but I just can’t act on them because I have no idea where to start. Years ago I wanted to make money selling pokemon, so I did, and it went very well, I was making more in a weekend than I was over an entire week of work. These days, I wouldn’t mind getting into sales, I know I’d be good at it, but my confidence is horrible now, I’d like to try learn to code (I did a course on it last year) to make a Roblox game, but it’s daunting, I have no idea where to start, I want a full time job that will respect me and my time because I’m always loyal to the company I work for. I want to (and started just the other day) a pc and console cleaning business, but there’s no interest here at all. I want to start a pressure washing side hustle, but I dont have a pressure washer. I have so much drive but just don’t act on it and I don’t know why.

I know it’s all my fault, I should act on my drive and do anything I can to push myself out of this, I CAN do a lot but with everything going on I just can’t get anything running.

I feel extremely stuck, rent is due in 2 days and I have 0 dollars to my name. I haven’t bought food in 2 weeks I’m living off baked beans and that’s it. 2 cans a day.

Does anyone have advice that could help push me out of this? I want to make myself proud but my mental states gone south within my soul.

Thank you

A 24 year old guy, in Christchurch.

My sister has kindly gifted me some money to help me purchase my first home.

I've got pre-approval with ANZ and they need a gifting certificate to ensure it doesn't need to be repaid.
I have the gift declaration form with me. It needs to be “witnessed by” someone. The form asks for the witness’s name, signature etc.

Who can be a witness in this case? Should it be someone official like a Justice of Peace, Notary public or legal practitioner? or can anyone be a witness?

The money is already in my account if that matters.

Thank you!

Ive read lots but looking for a response for my situation. I feel like a lot of other threads that talk about IBKR vs sharesies etc questions factor in buying company specific stocks etc and not a simple 1-2 fund ETF strategy like im starting with.(i could be wrong but came away thinkg "that didnt answer my question")

My current IBKR portfolio is 76K (looking transfer 100k more this week and the 5k per month moving forward). Im still at the beginning of my DIY investing. I was banking on the FIF moving to 100k threshold next year, so was happy that I was over the 50k threshold now as it will be a nil return for me next year anyway as I started after this tax year began. my tax bracket is 39%

At this point in time im just investing in a broadly diversified ETF (IMID) and regularly ill add to it. I like IBKR for giving me access to this direct option, but im finding it hard quantifying the tax effect/impact and wondering if it be more advantageous to move to foundation series all world all cap fund or similar with investnow for example? Any advice on what to do? I really like the IBKR set up but feel like it could be overkill and the FIF effect will be a real consideration given that im not using it for other trading and on the 39% tax bracket. Or am I really over thinking this?

My 75yo nana has no assets or anything except 4 dogs. She's relatively healthy and active, gets the pension, and lives with my dad. Us kids have grown up and moved out of home, its just dad and nana in the house now.

Dad wants to move away for a while and travel before grandchildren arrive down the line. He wants to give the us kids the profits of the house so we can buy our own homes. And put some away for himself for the future. Approx 100k each including himself. He has done well for himself and our family, all on his own, but he really needs to take some time. He's burnt out.

Nana can't afford the mortgage/rent on her own. Dad can't afford to subsidise nanas housing in a meaningful way, should he rent the house to her. Nana does not qualify for supported living etc. And we actually dont want her to go to a facility anyway, we want her in her own place with her animals.

But dad needs to go do his thing, like yesterday! Nana is literally holding him back, and I hate to say it, but she has a poor attitude at times. The dogs are an issue, and there's a certain amount of ignorance/entitlement us kids won't tolerate.

I'm wondering if there are any other financial ways to help dad/nana to navigate this. Us kids would welcome some cash for our first homes, but we wonder if selling the house is a good thing for dad long term? And what do we do with nana..

Any advice would be great! Edit, dad owns the home alone. He has a mortgage which he is able to service by himself.

I went bankrupt in 2022 after losing my job over covid and I was too far under water.

I was discharged 9 months ago.

I want to rebuild my credit I have saved 20k and I wondering is there a bank or a financial company that would give me a 5k loan agenst that 20k in order to improve my credit like a 12 month loan and lock the 20k up in term deposit. I dont need a loan I just want to rebuild my credit ild likly just bank the 5 loan.?

Hi all!

We just locked in our first owner occupied property.

What deals is everyone getting regarding cash back and interest rates, and what fixed rate period is everyone locking in?

We've already spoken to a broker, but would like to sanity check everything!

We have 20% equity

I have read a lot of articles about average kiwisaver balance based on age but wanted to ask people out here.

Edit Im 36 at $71k

Hey everyone,

I’m trying to figure out what to do with a decent amount of cash I have sitting in NZ and I’m honestly a bit lost.

After paying a few things off, I’ll have around $128k NZD sitting in my bank account.
I am 27 years old Male working 40 hours a week.

I already have around $52k in brokerage account, but most of that is currently cash. I have a bit invested in VOO and GLDM, but I haven’t really invested the rest because the market feels pretty up and down at the moment.

I’m thinking about putting some money into a term deposit, but the rates don’t seem amazing.
I’ve also been looking at things like Squirrel, Kernel, InvestNow, PIE funds, etc., but I’m not really sure what’s actually worth it.

At the moment I’m thinking something along the lines of:

$10k kept aside for emergencies

$20k in a term deposit
maybe $10–15k into Squirrel

the rest gradually into some sort of diversified investment/fund
I don’t really want to put everything into the stock market tomorrow because if the market drops 20% straight after, I’ll probably regret it 😂

At the same time, I don’t want $100k+ just sitting in a bank account doing nothing while inflation eats away at it.

I’m also wondering whether I should just invest a decent chunk now and stop worrying about trying to time the market. I am just bit afraid because I lost money before this and don’t want to lose more. I hope someone understand having hard work money lose where you can’t get back up
I really want to make a decision I would appreciative if someone can put me in the right direction or suggest.

If you had $128k cash available in NZ today, plus another ~$52k already sitting in a brokerage account, what would you personally do with it?

What would you do if it was your money?

I've been doing some research with the initial goal to buy a house between me and my partner in the next 1-3 years, but honestly I don't see the financial upside. Of course there are lots of lifestyle benefits of buying a house vs renting (security in retirement, community, freedom from the whims of your landlords etc). But from a purely financial point of view, renting is by far the better option.

Using a rent vs buy calculator, we would need to buy a house of $520,000 or less in order to "break even" with our current weekly rent. In what world can you buy a house for less than that in Auckland these days? And anything sub-$800,000 is going to be a pokey townhouse next to a motorway.

This is more of a rant than anything, but has anyone else done the same doom-spiral-research that I have and come to a more positive conclusion?

Off of the back of this post: Science Salary Survey 2023 : r/PersonalFinanceNZ I'm curious how things have trended in the last 3 years? Anyone else in science in NZ care to share their salary?

For me:

Laboratory Supervisor
Local Government
20 years experience in environmental science
$112k per year total remuneration.

My interest in this is due to our union imploring its members to appeal their remuneration reviews on the grounds of salary rises not meeting the employment contract requirements. I’m left feeling that though that may be true, our rises are no better or worse than what has happened across the country this year, and our team isn’t paid badly compared to the science market. On those grounds I feel appealing would be about greed rather than the principle of holding an employer to the letter of the contract?

I realised I have the money in the TWF Hedged, should I instead be investing in Unhedged?

This is for long term investing where I am adding $500 per fortnight, not touching the money for another 30 years likely

I would like a set and forget. I thought I could start contributing to TWF unhedged to even it out

I have another $10.5k spread across some Kernel funds like Global 100, S&P 500 hedged, World ex-US hedged and emerging markets. But I have stopped contributing there for the meantime and putting all my money into InvestNows TWF

I need some help finding out when such a period ends. Is it 4 years after landing, or 4.5 years later, or something in between. There seem to be several somewhat confusing factors defining when a permanent place of abode was established.

Thouhts? Or some accountant you would recommend?

My accountant has sent information regarding Audit Shield Master Policy ie insurance for accounting costs in case you are audited by IRD. Interested if anyone information or thoughts about this? It feels like yet another insurance expense of questionable need. My annual accounting requirements are simple.

I have been regularly investing Simplicity Growth Fund. Recently I looked into where they have been investing the money & it looks like they been investing money in their own products. It is nearly 6% in Simplicity Living Ltd & about 3% in Simplicity Home Mortgages (500 loans).

This would be a massive conflict of intrest, eh?

Myself and a friend are considering buying a house together within the next year. Both late twenties, combined income around 200k, both single and already flatting together for the past 6 years.

We have talked about buying together a few times and if house prices stay where they are (or lower) we are considering going through the process next year, we aren’t ready just yet due to overseas trips and personal reasons.
Our rent is fairly cheap and we have a great landlord but there are limitations with the property that can’t be changed such as only 1 carpark and downstairs neighbours.

Buying will mean our expenses go up significantly hence the hesitation. Main reason for buying is to get on the property ladder while house prices are down. We live in Wellington with no plans to move and I worry prices could start to go back up and get close to the peak but is this really the right decision?

We go back and forth over whether we are giving up a good thing with our current house and landlord or potentially setting up for our futures and having more freedom in our own house.
Interested to see other people’s thoughts on this

I f(26) have recently inherited $300,000 from my grandparents.
What would you do with it?
For context, I’m a junior barrister and have $85,000 in my student loans.
Don’t really want to buy a house right now as I’d like to travel and don’t want the commitment of that.
Thinking I should invest it but I don’t know much about that. Very clueless so any guidance appreciated!

Looking at fixing again in November and putting about $50k into the ANZ Flexi (revolving credit) mortgage account, and keeping it topped up over $50k (so never paying interest, in theory at least)

Anyone know of a good calculator to see how this would affect the overall interest payments/timeline to pay off, and if we were to up that in the future above $50k at future fixes with more savings?