NZ Engine

Source: Radio New Zealand

Got questions? RNZ has launched a podcast, ‘No Stupid Questions’, with Susan Edmunds.

We’d love to hear more of your questions about money and the economy. You can send through written questions, like these ones, but even better, you can drop us a voice memo to our email questions@rnz.co.nz.

You can also Sign up for Money with Susan Edmunds, a weekly newsletter covering all the things that affect how we make, spend and invest money.

My dad passed away in 2015. While he was sick, he and his partner both wrote wills. In his will he said if he died the house he built would be sold after my stepmother died and the money divided up between me, my sister and my three stepsisters. They wrote matching wills. After he passed, she stayed in the house at least a year then sold it and bought another house. She changed her will so only her children would get the money from the house sale. Is there anything I can do?

Michelle Pope, principal trustee from Public Trust, said there are some general points that could help.

She says you should start by getting a copy of your father’s will and understanding how the home was owned when he died.

“That information is central to understanding what rights and interests each party may have had, and whether any specific conditions were attached to the house or other assets.

“Many couples make matching or ‘mirror’ wills, and there’s a common assumption that this means the surviving partner can’t later change their will. Unless the wills were legally mutual – meaning there was a clear, binding agreement not to change certain provisions after the first death – the surviving partner is generally free to update their own will. Mirror and mutual wills are often confused, but they are not the same.

“How the house was owned is a key issue in situations like this, because it determines whether the property became part of the estate or passed automatically to the surviving owner.”

If your dad and stepmother owned the house jointly, it would have passed automatically to her when he died and not been part of his estate.

“If this is the case, the house belongs to the surviving joint owner and they are free to decide what to do with it.

“If the house was owned solely by your dad or as ‘tenants in common’ with your stepmother, your dad’s ownership of the house may have remained part of the estate and protected for the beneficiaries named in the will. In some cases, wills give the surviving partner a life interest, allowing them to live in or use the property during their lifetime (or receive the income from it), with the value passing to beneficiaries later.

“Whether you have any interest in your stepmother’s new home depends on what, if any, interest you have in your dad’s estate. It is possible that if your stepmother had a life interest that gave her the right to sell the initial property and buy another, your dad’s interest may have transferred to that replacement property. “

When it comes to his other belongings, Pope said that unless a will set out household and personal effects to someone in particular, families often decided among themselves how things were divided.

“Where there is a spouse or partner, it is not unusual that they would keep most of these items because they are considered assets of the relationship. This can be hard for children, particularly when items of sentimental value are sold or given away, as the law doesn’t always reflect their emotional significance.

“At Public Trust, we specifically ask people when they’re making a will whether there are particular belongings they want to go to specific people. This helps create clarity and reduce misunderstandings for families later on.”

She said if you were still not sure, you could speak to the executor of your father’s estate, who would have been responsible for administering the will. You could then seek legal advice if you were not happy with the information you were given.

I am a personal investor and an active one. I do it because I love it. I have a problem with the managed fund industry in that they are very careless with the truth. When they claim to have achieved a return of say 8 percent, if they have been investing in NZ shares they should say that the client has contributed 4 percent or 6 percent from the dividends they have foregone.

New Zealand has two main types of funds – accumulating and distributing.

KiwiSaver funds are accumulating funds. They reinvest the dividends that they get from investing back into the fund rather than paying them out to investors.

When accumulating funds talk about the returns they are giving investors, they include the dividends that are reinvested.

If a fund pays out, when it reports returns, it includes the dividend in that return.

Rupert Carlyon, founder of Koura KiwiSaver, point sout that the NZX50 is an index that includes dividends in return calculations, but the S&P500 is not. It only includes price movements.

He said investors comparing the performance of their share portfolio versus the performance of a managed funds should think about the dividends, too.

“When looking at returns we always want to look at total returns after fees.

“If anything, I would argue fund managers are doing it correctly and individual investors should probably be talking about a slightly higher return.”

Sign up for Money with Susan Edmunds, a weekly newsletter covering all the things that affect how we make, spend and invest

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Households spending more than a third more on utility bills than they did a year ago do not have much money left for fun stuff, Kiwibank economists say.

They have released new spending data, which shows a tough end to the year for shops, particularly fashion retail.

“We typically see spending ramp up into the summer holidays,” economist Sabrina Delgado said.

“But our Kiwibank electronic card data showed this effect was less pronounced this time around. The silly season kicked off on a good note with the number of transactions in December up 0.4 percent on last year’s levels. But it seems consumer spending got hit with a bad new year’s hangover in January. The number of transactions in January dropped 2.7 percent below the overall 2025 monthly average. And compared to last January, transaction volumes were down 2.3 percent.”

The total amount spent was up 8.6 percent in December and 3.7 percent in January, which indicated people were shopping less but spending more.

The January data in particular showed that was because of higher prices, she said.

“Inflation has picked up over the past year, and many households are still feeling the squeeze after several years of tight budgets, elevated consumer prices, and expensive credit. So it’s no surprise we’re still seeing fewer shopping trips with more spent per trip.”

She said although interest rates were “significantly lower” than the year before, household budgets were still under pressure because the cost of essentials was rising.

They were spending 36 percent more on utilities across December and January than a year earlier.

“That’s taking a big chunk out of disposable incomes. It means that we have less to spend in other areas because utilities are essentials. We have to pay them.”

She said it was hitting clothing shops particularly hard, and spending on apparel seemed to be in persistent decline.

The data indicated that more of the same was happening in February, she said.

“Looking at the early data we have for February, which runs to just after Waitangi weekend, transaction volumes are currently tracking about 4.3 percent lower than this time last year. That suggests that the same kind of soft consumption we saw through January may be lingering into February. While this may be the case, we’ll flag that it may be too soon to draw firm conclusions for February. There’s still plenty of the month left, and a late-month pickup could shift the final outcome significantly.”

People seemed to be going out to dinner more but spending less at cafes, she said.

“We frequented our local coffee and brunch spots less than last year. And higher food prices seem to be hitting here the most. Because while the number of café visits has dropped, the dollars spent have instead risen. Compared with last summer, café spending is up almost 9 percent, meaning each visit is costing noticeably more. So for now it seems were gritting our teeth through our homemade instant coffees instead.”

Takeaway spending was also on a steady slide.

Demand for housing-related goods was strengthening. Trips to hardware stores were up 6 percent year-on-year in December and dollars spent were up just over 30 percent.

“Overall the lift in housing-related spend offers an encouraging sign for the housing market. The need for a fresh lick of paint or new furniture is often suggestive of increased housing market turnover. To us, the data signals that households are getting ready for a better year for the housing market. And we expect it will be with interest rates in their low ranges. “

Delgado said households were still worried about the labour market, which made people nervous about spending.

“Unemployment is at 5.4 percent. Even though we’ve seen the underlying details in the labour market showing some signs of strengthening, the average household only looks at that headline unemployment rate.

“If they see that that’s rising, that job insecurity weighs on that confidence to be splurging a bit more right now.”

She said it was also significant that the housing market was still soft because a lot of wealth was tied up in it.

“In our view, though, we do still see the rest of this year to be a recovery for consumption because as the broader economy is recovering, things like the labour market will improve. The housing market also is going to improve. And that should give a bit more confidence to households and their spending this year.”

She said any interest rate rises should still be left for 2027.

Sign up for Money with Susan Edmunds, a weekly newsletter covering all the things that affect how we make, spend and invest.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand