Category: Business

Source: Radio New Zealand

An Ikea shopper who tried to buy a set of dining chairs was left fuming after the order was cancelled – except for the stickers on the bottom of the chairs, which still carried a $69 delivery fee.

“I placed an online order for four dining chairs through their app very early on the second day since IKEA launched in Aotearoa,” Rana Ghosh told RNZ.

“I double-checked that it was in stock before placing the order. I was fast in ordering because I knew this product even before their app officially started listing all the products. Per their app recommendation, I added stickers ($1.25) for the legs of the chairs to prevent these from scratching the floor. They added $69 for shipping my order to Lower Hutt.

“On Christmas Eve, the stickers arrived in a rather large box. They informed me that they have already unilaterally processed refund of the cost of the chairs. I think you can guess where it is going with the shipping charges… Friendly person from Mainfreight laughed out loud when I shared this anecdote.

“Soon after singing the receipt for the chair stickers, I received an email from Ikea that sounds more like mockery than a Christmas gift with the subject: ‘Have fun with your order from Ikea’.”

There have been a number of problems reported in recent weeks for Ikea, which opened its first New Zealand shop in early December.

Another man said he had only the legs of a desk delivered and was charged $79.

Earlier last month it said it would shut its customer support centre for a period to focus on resolving outstanding issues.

Ghosh said the experience reflected badly on Ikea and seemed to suggest it had not invested adequately in training staff or understanding the local market.

Ikea said in a statement that it had made significant progress in resolving the majority of cases and delivering outstanding customer orders since it opened.

“While we don’t comment on individual cases, instances like this are not aligned with our high expectations for customer service at Ikea, and all teams across our business are working hard to ensure these don’t happen.

“We remain fully committed to constantly improving our processes to consistently deliver the reliable experience customers expect from Ikea.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

2025 was not a great year for many house price forecasters, who had to revise their forecasts down many times as the year went on.

At the start of the year, Westpac thought prices might lift 7 percent. At one point ASB thought they could lift 10 percent.

But while activity picked up over the past 12 months, prices were mostly flat and even went through months of decline in the middle of the year.

So what might lie ahead in the coming 12 months?

Commentators say there is likely to be a bit of an increase in prices in the year ahead, but this time no one expects increases anywhere near double-digit percentages.

BNZ chief economist Mike Jones said house prices might rise 4 percent over 2026, about the same as the Reserve Bank’s forecast.

“We’ve had three years in which house prices basically went sideways – we think the trend will bend upwards.”

But he said that increase would be below the average increase of earlier years and there was a chance that the lift could be smaller than 4 percent.

Turnover was back to healthy levels, he said.

“When we when we stack up the demand factors for next year, they’re all pretty positive – you’ve got the economy defrosting, which tends to coincide with a bit more housing market activity, you’ve got population growth which will probably pick up a bit… And mortgage rates may not go a lot lower, but they’re going to stay relatively low and at levels that will support a bit more housing investment.

“So I think when you line up those demand factors, we will see activity continuing to recover. It’s just on the house price front, the big uncertainty, the big question is what happens to supply and that’s been the real story of the last couple of years.

“Even though you’ve got lower mortgage rates and more demand, you’ve had more transactions coming through, that’s been more than offset by listings and growth in supply. We may be in the same position next year where we’ve just continued to see supply match up pretty well with demand and there hasn’t been much of a change in house prices.”

Kelvin Davidson, chief economist at property data firm Cotality, said 4 percent or 5 percent seemed a likely increase.

“Some of the things that have been restraining house prices – affordability, lots of listings, slowish pass through of lower mortgage rates, a weak economy, weak labour market – some of those things seem to be turning around now. Affordability is back to normal, interest rates are passing through a lot more, the economy is starting to turn around and listings have come down a bit. The conditions are definitely in place for growth in property values next year.”

But he said things like debt-to-income ratios would limit growth and there was still a strong supply of houses being built.

Wellington and Auckland were lagging other markets and could have more room to grow, he said. “I’m not saying they necessarily will but at some point in those markets you think they could snap back a little faster. But generally I think we’ll probably still have a wee bit of a two-speed economy… parts of Canterbury, Southland, Taranaki – rural areas might rise a bit more strongly as they have been doing this year.”

But Gareth Kiernan, chief forecaster at Infometrics and one of the few who initially expected the housing market to be weak in 2025, said he was not confident there would be much growth at all.

“We still have house prices going sideways or potentially drifting slightly down through the next year. That’s essentially based around our affordability argument that while interest rates are lower it doesn’t necessarily mean that people want to take on more debt or pay more for housing. House price-to-income ratios are still worse than any time prior to 2020.”

But he said if there was a strong economic recovery it could put pressure on house prices and he was not as confident in his forecast as he had been in previous years.

Rental market

Jones said what happened with the rental market would depend on population growth.

Rents have slowed significantly around the country.

“Population growth is quite weak, it’s about half the long-run average and so there’s been that excess of supply particularly when we’ve seen departures from New Zealand at relatively high levels. I think the picture will change as we go through next year. We’ll see the rental markets stabilise.”

Kiernan agreed the rental market was likely to be flat too. “We’ve got weak net migration, weak population growth, we’ve been seeing the impacts of that to some degree on the softness in the rental market through this year as well.”

Davidson said even though rents had been edging lower they were still high in relation to incomes. “That’s a natural handbrake. There’s still a decent amount of property out there. The rebalancing to a degree of the overall housing stock is keeping a lid on prices but it’ll also keep a lid on rents…. but rents don’t tend to fall for too long.

“So it could be that there’s a wee bit of growth next year. But generally, I think rental markets still stay pretty subdued, sort of vaguely in favour of tenants and a bit tougher for landlords.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A luxury island development in South Auckland has welcomed its first residents after more than a decade in the works.

Pararēkau Island in Karaka was connected to the mainland by a causeway with a gate which would only allow cars belonging to residents to enter.

Prices for the lots started at $1.6m and up to $3.5m for prime spots.

In the past, the land was used to graze stock, but in 2012 the Environment Court approved plans for a subdivision after developers, Ian and James Ross, agreed to build a coastal walk allowing the public to access the island on foot.

General manager of developer Ross Holdings, Andrew Frost, said it had been in the works for a very long time and after consent for a subdivision was given the green light the developers looked at trying something different but reverted back to the idea in recent years.

In December, the very first residents moved into their brand new home on the island while Frost said four other homes were nearing completion.

There were 116 freehold sections on the island and titles issued for 103 lots – Frost said 50 percent of the available sections had now sold.

Paul and Mary Kenny, who had lived in nearby Papakura for 45 years were the first two people to be living on the island.

Paul Kenny said the island was their retirement location and they had been looking at houses in Karaka Harbourside, a development also by the Ross brothers, when they became aware of the island.

He said they heard by word of mouth that titles for the island weren’t far off and so the couple got in touch and arranged a visit to the island.

“One visit and considerable research was all it took for Mary to say ‘I could live there’ and the rest as they say, was history.

“The proximity of the island to all amenities, the quality of the development itself and the potential lifestyle options Karaka presented all influenced our decision.”

Being the first two people living on the island, was a “privilege”, Paul Kenny said, and enjoyed the peace and quiet there.

“Not to mention the incomparable outlook across the inner reaches of the Manukau Harbour,” he said.

The couple said they were, however, looking forward to the fact a few new neighbours were now beginning to move in as more houses reached completion.

Advertising for the island on social media in the past, had drawn questions from commenters about future sea level rise, but which Paul Kenny said was something he’d reflected on when first thinking of buying on the island.

“We we soon found both council and the developer had exhaustively canvassed the potential for this and their collective pronouncements on the subject, together with our own observations of the surrounding area, caused us to feel very comfortable,” he said.

Frost confirmed the lowest section on the island was 6.5m above sea level and the entire island satisfied council’s Auckland Council’s 100-year sea level rise criteria.

He believed many of the comments received on social media were from “keyboard warriors”.

“It’s very topical obviously, with the floods that have happened to Auckland… council would never have allowed us to do the subdivision unless it was safe to do so.”

Frost said he was of the belief the island was the only gated community island in New Zealand.

“So vehicles can’t proceed past the gates unless they’ve got a code… so it’s a very secure island.

“There is a pedestrian gate so people can walk around the edges of the island between the hours of 7am to 7pm, so it’s walking only [for non-residents], if they need to come across on a vehicle unfortunately they cannot unless they get permission from a resident.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Retirement is one of the biggest financial changes that many people go through in their lives.

If this is the year that you sign out of work for the last time, you might be wondering what you need to tidy up before you do.

Here are five questions to ask yourself.

When are you going to do it?

New Zealand does not have a set retirement age. You become eligible for the pension at 65, but you do not have to stop working at that point. You can claim NZ Super while you are working, and the only change that you are likely to notice is that you may no longer receive KiwiSaver contributions from your employer.

Liz Koh, founder of Enrich Retirement, said it could be hard to decide on the right time to retire.

“There is a balance to be had between retiring too early and retiring too late.”

She said the idea of retiring before 65 appealed to many people but would have consequences.

“Early retirement cuts short the time you have left to save for retirement and also lengthens your retirement, putting extra strain on your financial resources. The difference between retiring at 60 and retiring at 65 will add an extra few hundred thousand to the amount you need to retire.

“For example, you would need an extra $250,000 to provide an income of somewhere around $50,000 a year for five years, given that you would not be receiving NZ Superannuation for that period.”

She said it could also be a tricky social adjustment.

“It’s not easy to find yourself at age 60 amongst a cohort of people with an average age of 75 or more. There is a trend for people to retire later than 65, so finding other retirees of a similar age is challenging. Retiring early requires some forethought about how you want to spend your time and with whom, especially as many of your friends will still be working.”

But more people are working past 65 and she said that could make sense, too.

“Many people find themselves with insufficient funds to retire at 65 while others want to continue leading an active life and are just not ready to slow down at 65. Longevity is increasing with the life expectancy rising to 90 or more for people who reach the age of 65 and some people feel that a retirement of 25 to 30 years is too long.

“Living longer means more money is required to fund retirement. However leaving it too long carries the risk that your ability to enjoy retirement might be curtailed by health problems or even premature death.”

David Boyle, general manager of KiwiSaver at Fisher Funds, said many people chose to work at least part time until they were 70. “Many feel they need to but there are also a lot of other really good benefits for being in some level of work whether it’s paid or not – connectivity with people, having purpose, all those good positive things.”

Where will you live?

Koh said people should take stock of their financial lives and also consider where they would live.

Some retirees were “asset rich but cash poor”, she said, because their money was all tied up in their homes. For some, downsizing or moving to a cheaper area could help.

People living in smaller centres could generally get by on less money than people in big cities, she said.

What will your lifestyle be like?

Koh said people should consider their health and how long they were likely to live, based on the experience of family members.

They could also think about how long they were likely to be in good health.

“If you are a couple, how much of a difference there is between you in terms of both lifespan and healthspan. If there are large differences, you may choose to base your retirement plans on the partner with the shortest lifespan or healthspan.”

What will you do?

Koh said people should consider what goals they had for their retirement, and how they would spend their time.

Preparing plans that would allow them to keep in touch with other people would be important, she said.

“Social isolation is linked to depression, poor health and potentially a shortened life span. It can be a real problem for people whose social connections have been largely based around their work situation.

“Organisations such as MenzShed and Probus were set up to enable retirees to interact with like-minded people. Of course, there are many other options such as hobby and interest groups or volunteer organisations that provide opportunities to build friendships with others,” she said.

“Joining such groups before reaching retirement helps to make the transition easier. You can always set up your own group – something as simple as a book club or neighhourhood watch group – if nothing is available in your area.”

What do you need to do with your investments?

Boyle said people should not think of 65 as the finish line for their investing.

“It’s not the finish line, it’s the beginning of the fun line – this is where all your work and effort is going to be used for doing things that you’ve always wanted to do but never had the time to do it.”

He said people would need to work out the best way to make their money last as long as they needed it to.

They might have some invested for the latter parts of their retirement, which could have more exposure to growth assets, and some that was in less volatile investments that could be used to fund the things they wanted to do in the first 10 years of retirement.

“Having a plan is incredibly important, and then understanding … your longevity increases as well which means you need to make sure your money is working as hard as you were when you were working. Thinking about your allocation … talk to your KiwiSaver adviser, your financial advisers who can give you a better picture.

“If you’re in that lucky group that has a lot of money already you might be looking at how you can plan that at an intergenerational level. Having some good advice and planning around that is really important.”

He said people should not be afraid to change their plans if their circumstances changed.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Founder of accounting company Xero, Sir Rod Drury, who has been made a Knight Companion in the New Year Honours, says he has loved using his business skills to help the community in recent years.

Drury has been made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to business, the technology industry and philanthropy.

Drury co-founded Xero in 2006 and helped develop it into a billion-dollar global company.

Drury moved to Queenstown in 2019 after he retired as chief executive of Xero.

He said since then he has enjoyed using his business skills to help the community in Queenstown in a variety of ways.

“Working on getting a hospital down to the Southern Lakes, putting in a lot effort into that,” said Drury. “And working on solving the public transport problems with a new gondola, and those are projects that if you were sitting inside a normal company it would be hard to do, but if you have the time and resources to throw at thing, you can do things a lot more quickly.”

Drury has also been involved in environmental restoration through Mana Tāhuna and Project Tohu, funded equipment and facilities for Surf Lifesaving New Zealand, and supported Ngāi Tahu students and artists.

He established Southern Infrastructure to support Queenstown public infrastructure projects and Tāhuna Ride and Conservation Trust which supports regenerative planting along with creating mountain bike trails.

Drury said the accomplishment he was most proud of was twice taking his company public, with Xero listing first on the New Zealand stock market and then in Australia.

“One of the things I have learnt over time is if you take a company public it gives a whole lot of other people the opportunity for financial security,” said Drury.

“If you do list a company it creates a product that people can put money in, and they can move themselves ahead forward too.

“It’s a pretty noble cause. So of all the highlights I think creating a public company that still lives today, 20 years later, is something I am very proud of.”

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said Drury was a titan of New Zealand business.

“While at the helm of Xero, it became New Zealand’s second largest tech exporter, generating thousands of jobs and supporting more than four million customers worldwide. The company were pioneers in mental health and diversity. Since 2020 he has spearheaded public good infrastructure and philanthropic projects. His entrepreneurial career has seen New Zealand benefit in the fields of education, the environment, and renewable energy.”

Sir Rod Drury is one of four new knights, and three new dames named in the New Year Honours.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

It’s been another tough year financially for many New Zealand households and businesses.

While some commentators said in 2024 that businesses needed to focus on the mantra “survive til 2025”, for some it was a case of battling to survive through the year, too.

Some high-profile names didn’t make it.

Here are 10 that did not see out the year, in no particular order.

GrabOne

Grab One left a lot of voucher-holders worried when it went into liquidation in October, owning more than $16.5 million.

GrabOne was launched in 2010 and offered discounts on goods and services for local businesses. It was sold to Global Marketplace New Zealand by former owner NZME in 2021, for $17.5m.

But marketing expert Bodo Lang, of Massey University, told RNZ that GrabOne’s problem was that it failed to provide value to its target market.

“In other words, its vouchers, which were once upon a time exciting, had lost their appeal.

“A closely related second reason for GrabOne’s liquidation is that it suffered from declining top of mind brand awareness. While GrabOne was on everybody’s mind and in every dinner conversation some years ago, a lack of brand investment meant that the brand was slowly buried amongst advertising by other brands.”

Kitchen Things

Even suppliers of bougie kitchen supplies couldn’t make it through the downturn unscathed.

Kitchen Things went into receivership in August, citing weak consumer demand and tough competition.

Kitchen Things was founded in 1986 and dealt in high end international appliance brands including Smeg, Miele, Asko, and Bosch.

The Hamilton shop was not affected because it was run by an independent franchisee.

Smiths City

Smiths City was placed into voluntary administration in September, sending shockwaves through Christchurch in particular.

The company, which was founded in 1918, has nine stores across the country and an online shop.

Administrators BDO said the company had faced increasing financial pressures amid a challenging economic environment.

Smith & Caughey

Queen St landmark Smith & Caughey closed its doors for the last time on July 31, after almost 150 years.

It had already closed its Newmarket branch in 2024 and reduced the inner-city shop to one floor.

The retailer cited increased competition from new shopping malls, continued economic uncertainty and low consumer confidence and spending power as problems that led to the closure.

It also said Queen St foot traffic had decline and parking was more expensive for shoppers.

Fortune Favours

Wellington brewery Fortune Favours announced in August that it would close its Wellington bar by the end of the month.

The company said the cost of living crisis had become too difficult to navigate.

Garage Project took over the site.

NZSale

NZSale closed to New Zealand orders at the end of November. The Australian business, OzSale, is set to close in the new year.

Timeless Events

Timeless Events, the company behind the Juicy Fest music festival, was placed into voluntary liquidation in March.

Juicy Fest was cancelled in New Zealand this year after it was declined a liquor licence in Auckland.

The Body Shop

Millennials across the country mourned the end of dewberry-scented The Body Shop when it went into liquidation in April.

All of the New Zealand shops closed and 70 jobs were lost.

The Body Shop was founded in the UK in 1976 by Dame Anita Roddick, but problems with the UK business spelled the end locally, too.

It went into liquidation with millions of dollars in liabilities.

In November, it was announced that the brand had a new franchise owner and a shop in Richmond, near Nelson.

Libelle Group

School lunch provider Libelle Group went into liquidation in March.

It had been contracted to Compass to supply lunches for the beleagured scheme.

DFS

DFS, in Auckland and Queenstown, closed at the end of September.

The downtown Auckland shop, which stocked high end brands such as Armani and Burberry, had been open for decades.

It went through a revamp in 2018.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Automobile Association believes a proposed merger between two fuel companies should drive down pump prices.

NPD and Gull want to combine sites, teams and supply chains to form what they say would be the largest independent, majority New Zealand-owned fuel company.

The proposal is subject to Commerce Commission approval.

The South Island-based Sheridan family would own half of the new company, with Barry Sheridan – current NPD owner and chief executive – to become the head of the new company.

Australasian private equity firm Allegro Funds, which owns Gull, would hold the other half.

In a joint statement, NPD and Gull said each of their combined 240 sites would retain their distinctive brand.

AA principal policy advisor Terry Collins said both companies had a low-cost business model.

“What that means is that the savings are passed onto customers. When Gull first arrived with that model in New Zealand it became known as the Gull effect because it dropped the prices and competitors had to match it,” he said.

“Now you’ve got two strong companies with a similar model seeking to merge their business and utilise their assets a lot more efficiently. If they do that, then we’ll obviously see lower prices as they pass them on, but how much savings they can make and pass on is yet to be seen.”

Collins believed merging would be a smart business move for both companies.

“Basically it secures their supply for the company, and it also has the synergy of their own terminal in Mount Maunganui that Gull had and all the freight and trucking logistics in the South Island that NPD did,” he said.

“Gull was owned by an investment company out of Australia and NPD is a family-owned operator, so they’ve got two sharp kind of management teams together who have known their business for a long time.”

Collins noted that over this holiday period, generally all the oil companies seemed to be making excessive margins.

“We’ve been tracking the price of fuel for the last couple of months and we’re watching as the international landed prices dropped, the retail prices haven’t dropped at the same level,” he said.

“I think what they need to be doing is drop some of those prices more. Fuel in the first quarter of next year should be much cheaper unless something major geopolitically happens.

“The price of oil has been below US$60 at some stages and we want to see those savings passed on to our motorists.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Every week in 2025, RNZ money correspondent Susan Edmunds answered your questions online and on her podcast [ https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/no-stupid-questions No Stupid Questions].

Here are some of the most-asked questions this year. If you have any you would like her to tackle in 2026, send them to questions@rnz.co.nz

I’m not quite at retirement age yet but I’m planning. My daughter lives in Canada and I will go to visit her and potentially use her as a base to go sightseeing. I see that if you are away for more than 26 weeks you can lose your pension unless you make provisions with Work and Income.

If you have lived and worked in NZ and reach retirement why should there be any conditions on travelling if that’s what you want to do? Sure, they need to keep tabs in case you pass away and guard against fraudulent activity, but this legislation feels out of touch with the needs of many families in this day and age.

I took your question to the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), which indicated it’s basically about keeping the scheme affordable for New Zealand.

General manager for the international disability and generational policy group Harry Fenton said it had always been a feature of NZ Super (NZS) that eligibility was based on residence in this country.

He said it was one of the aspects of the scheme that was designed to keep it fiscally sustainable.

He said people who wanted to travel could receive their pension for 26 weeks if they returned to New Zealand within 30 weeks.

“A person who wants to travel or live overseas for longer than 26 weeks can also apply under the general portability payments and their payment is proportional to their residence in New Zealand between the ages of 20 and 65.

“A person living permanently overseas may be able to receive up to the full rate of NZS if the country they’re residing in has a social security agreement with New Zealand. What a person may be eligible to receive will depend on their personal circumstances and the provisions of the individual agreement. New Zealand has a social security agreement with 10 countries which includes Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.”

Fenton said people move to certain Pacific Island countries could also receive payment of the pension proportional to their time as a resident in New Zealand.

I was 35 when KiwiSaver began … I was a full-time worker, wasn’t receiving a benefit. It was like this until this year, when I was told by my doctor that I can no longer work as I have osteoarthritis halfway down my back to my legs.

The skills I had were as a cleaner and I ended as a customer service representative, so I was on my feet a lot. I am now just about 55, I’ve got 10 years until retirement.

No one out there now will employ me as I’m just hitting retirement age and I have health issues. My husband and I are now on a supported living benefit together, he hasn’t worked for 19 years.

My KiwiSaver doesn’t get any money from my wages any more.

Can I get all my KiwiSaver money out that is in there? It’s all my hard work and I no longer work.

This is a really tough situation, and I can understand why it must be frustrating to have your KiwiSaver money there but untouchable!

You can’t close a KiwiSaver account in the same way that you would a bank account.

When you first sign up, you can opt out if you do it quickly, but once you’re in the scheme, you can only stop contributions.

You can withdraw in limited circumstances: When you hit 65, if you meet the criteria for financial hardship, if you’re buying a first home or if you are leaving the country permanently, but not if you’re going to Australia.

In your case, unless you’re actually falling behind on your bills, you probably won’t meet the hardship test.

I checked with Rupert Carlyon, who is the founder of KiwiSaver provider Koura.

He said: “Unfortunately, she is only allowed to withdraw for serious financial hardship if she can’t meet her day-to-day living costs or if she has bills that she is unable to pay.”

He said there was a category that allowed for withdrawals in cases of serious illness but if you’re still able to do some types of work you might not qualify for that.

The KiwiSaver Act defines serious illness as something “that results in the member being totally and permanently unable to engage in work for which he or she is suited by reason of experience, education, or training, or any combination of those things; or that poses a serious and imminent risk of death”. (You could always check with your provider to see what advice they could offer.)

Carlyon said he realised the situation was not ideal for you. “But the positive is that from the age of 65 they will be able to draw down and use the money to help the next phase of her retirement.”

My parents are in their late 70s. Dad is in rest home hospital care in a rest home with physical issues and dementia and he and Mum own a unit in the same retirement village, which would gain $150,000 when they sell (die or both in care). They have joint savings of $50,000 and own a car (no other assets). Dad’s care is funded by the government and is $11,000 a month. In the unlikely event mum was to pass away before dad, would the house proceeds and savings be used by the government to fund dad’s care? Or would this inheritance be paid out to us children as per their will?

Your parents’ assets are below the rest home subsidy asset test threshold so even if the money were to pass to him as relationship property, as I expect it would, it would not be enough to affect the subsidy for his care.

The threshold of assets in this situation would be $284,636. It would only be assets above that which would affect him receiving the government support.

If one person in a de facto relationship needs permanent medical care, does the government require the other partner to pay for the care once the unwell patient’s funds run out?

The basic answer to your question is that when your partner is being assessed for their ability to pay for their care, your income and assets will usually be taken into account.

If you’re referring to medical care in a rest home setting, your assets and personal income affect whether your partner will qualify for a residential care subsidy.

“People who need residential care are required to pay for it themselves, if they can afford to do so. If they cannot afford it, they may be eligible for a residential care subsidy, which Health New Zealand pays directly to the care provider,” said Ministry of Social Development group general manager for client service delivery Graham Allpress.

“MSD’s role is to check whether people qualify for this subsidy by performing a ‘financial means assessment’.

“To get the subsidy, a person’s income and assets must be under a certain amount. If they are in a relationship, the combined income and assets of both parties must be under a certain amount.”

People can qualify for the subsidy if they are 50 to 64, single and without dependent children, or over 65 and meet the income and means test. That means, even if your partner’s funds have run out, your assets could still be taken into account.

If only one partner needs care, the couple combined need to have assets of no more than $155,873 not including the family home and car, or $284,636 if you do want the home and car in the assessment.

If it’s other types of care that you’re thinking of, it could be a good idea to contact Health NZ for a needs assessment.

There are options such as the supported living payment but eligibility for this is assessed on a household income basis, too.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A Napier antique shop owner is blaming the high price of silver, after an overnight burglary at her store between Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Raewyn Dailey from Napier Antiques said the thieves stole $50,000 worth of silver jewellery.

The jewellery had been sourced overseas and would be difficult to replace.

“We’ve put so much effort into getting our stock, and we can’t just up and travel overseas and buy it again easily,” she said.

Spot prices for silver had more than doubled since December last year.

Retail crime in the city had risen significantly in the past four years, she said.

“The crime is just terrible, and it’s getting worse and worse, and no matter what we do security-wise, nothing seems to quite cut it any more.”

The stock was especially needed for visitors coming into the city for the Napier Art Deco Festival, which was just two months away, and is a major boost to business that they count on, Dailey said.

“You know it couldn’t happened at a worse time for us. Being an antique store we’re not a regular gifting shop where people come in before Christmas to buy, they actually come in when they’re travelling around, and this is our busiest time, from today.”

In recent years, disruptions to business from Cyclone Gabrielle and the pandemic had made an impact, especially due to the festival being cancelled over multiple years, she had earlier told RNZ.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Consumer NZ is urging people to do their homework, double check gift cards and know their rights ahead of Boxing Day sale frenzy.

Electronic transaction figures showed pre-Christmas spending was slightly down on last year, but many may be waiting for the post-Christmas sales to nab a bargain.

Last year New Zealanders spent almost $68 million on Boxing Day.

Consumer campaign manager Jessica Walker said shoppers should separate their wants from their needs and set a budget before hitting the shops to avoid a “buy-now-regret-later” situation.

She advised researching prospective purchases, as constantly fluctuating prices made it hard to know whether discounts were genuine or just a variation on the usual price, and check the item was not cheaper elsewhere.

It was a breach of the Fair Trading Act to mislead customers about the regular price, she said.

Consumer Guarantees Act will ‘see you right’

Walker urged shoppers to resist the pressure to purchase extended warranties – you’re already covered under the Consumer Guarantees Act.

“Sometimes retailers will give you a really hard sell, especially if you buy a product on sale it might be a even more enticing opportunity for retailers to try and make some money from an extended warranty.”

Walker recommended people ask what an extended warranty would provide that the Consumer Guarantees Act would not.

“Most of the time I think you’ll find its very little. The Consumer Guarantees Act doesn’t just cover you for the period of the manufacturer’s warranty, it covers reasonable use over a reasonable length of time. The vast majority of the time, that’s going to see you right – if a product’s failed you do have the right to ask for a refund or an exchange depending on what’s gone wrong.”

Protections under the Consumer Guarantees Act applied whether people purchased sale goods or full priced ones, and signs warning of no refunds or exchanges on sale items were misleading, Walker said.

“Just because you bought something on sale does not mean you’re forgoing your consumer rights.”

Retailers did not have to refund for a change of mind, but if something was faulty or did not last as long as it should, “the retailer needs to put you right”.

“If one of your Boxing Day purchases is faulty, the retailer must put things right. You don’t need the original packaging to return the product.”

If shoppers did get into difficulty and could not get redress at the store, they could take a complaint to the Commerce Commission, or take the matter to the disputes tribunal, at a cost of $61.

The filing fee was non-refundable, even if the tribunal found in the customer’s favour, and could be a barrier, Walker said.

Beware dark designs that fuel FOMO

Walker also warned of “dark patterns” while online shopping – digital methods designed to encourage people to spend more than they intended, like countdown timers or warnings of low or rapidly diminshing stock.

“These tactics play on our FOMO [fear of missing out] and effectively encourage us to spend more, and quickly.”

The deepest discount or top of the range product did not necessarily mean a good deal, with Consumer product tests often finding the most expensive product was not necessarily the best.

“A big discount doesn’t necessarily mean a good deal.”

Be sure to spend gift cards

From March next year, gift cards would be required to have an expiry date at least three years from the date the card was sold.

Until then, Walker recommended keeping on top of expiry dates, which varied.

“Gift cards can come with really short expiry times, and people also put them in a drawer and lose them – our research has shown there’s about $10 million dollars goes on unspent gift cards every year.

“If you’re hitting the shops and think you’ve got a gift card lurking we would encourage people to hunt it out and find it so they don’t end up giving a gift to the retailer – if you’ve got money there you can spend, we encourage people to use it before they lose it.

“Our advice is don’t buy something unless you really need or want it. While the pull of the last sale of 2025 could be strong, the first sale of 2026 is probably less than a week away,” Walker said.

Cost of living pressures squeezing many at Christmas

Worldine transaction figures showed Christmas spending was down on 2024, with consumer spending for the first three weeks of December hitting just over $3 billion.

A survey of nearly 1100 Westpac customers earlier this month showed nearly three-quarters (73 percent) were either extremely or moderately concerned about the cost of living, little changed from last year, while a survey conducted by accounting software company MYOB found the ongoing pressures of the cost of living squeeze were pushing respondents to seek additional income sources or take on debt to pay for presents.

A third said their financial position was the same as it was this time last year, while 42 percent felt worse off, and a quarter felt better off.

More than half expected to spend about the same on gifts last year, and 15 percent set to spend more, while more than a quarter planned to cut back.

To help cover costs, people were turning to side hustles or additional income sources, credit or buy-now-pay-later options.

While the latest StatsNZ figures showed a small drop in food prices prompted by a fall in the cost of fruit and vegetables, overall food was 4.4 percent more expensive than this time last year.

Meanwhile, 18,000 jobs had been lost in the past year, and unemployment was sitting at 5.3 percent, a nine-year high.

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