Category: Business

Source: Radio New Zealand

Demand for consumer credit rose 9.4 percent last month, reflecting an increase in the number of mortgage applications and an elevated number of personal loans.

Credit research firm Centrix’s January Credit Indicator showed the increased demand for credit was somewhat offset by mixed number of credit arrears, and rising business liquidations.

“Arrears on the consumer side continue to follow the seasonal patterns. But that’s 0.8 percent down on last year. So that’s a really good sign that the tides are starting to turn, which is fantastic,” Centrix chief operating officer Monika Lacey said.

New household lending also rose in the December quarter, with lending for new mortgages up 14 percent, while non-mortgage lending rose 12 percent.

Arrears

Mortgage arrears were steady, though vehicle loans were under pressure.

The South Island had the lowest number of arrears, while the central North Island and East Cape had the highest level of arrears.

Company failures highest since 2010

“On the business side, they’ve also seen an increase in demand, but liquidations have definitely hit their highest peak since 2010 largely impacted by hospitality, retail, transport and construction, and this is largely as a result of IRD (Inland Revenue) increasing their activity following a softer approach over the Covid time,” Lacey said.

The number of company failures rose to its highest annual level since 2010, with liquidations unevenly seen across sectors, with rises in hospitality (+50 percent), retail trade (+34 percent) and transport (+27 percent) accounting for most of the failures.

There were also increases in construction (+13 percent), manufacturing (+12 percent) and property/rental (+17 percent) recording liquidations, even as credit defaults declined and average credit scores improved in many areas.

In contrast, agriculture stood out as the most resilient sector, with liquidations down 11 percent year-on-year, supported by stronger credit demand and improving financial health.

“Agri has definitely had a bit of a turnaround. There’s been a lot of positive news in the agricultural sector. So long may that continue,” she said.

“We’re hearing a little bit more about other good economic signals filtering through onto the market, so I think we are starting to see some signs of recovery.”

Credit demand

Overall business credit demand edged slightly higher, rising 0.7 percent year-on-year over the period.

Growth was highly concentrated in a few sectors, led by a 38 percent increase in hospitality credit demand, reflecting improving trading conditions and funding needs.

Education and training (+17 percent) and retail trade (+13 percent) also recorded solid gains, while demand elsewhere remained subdued.

“I think the increase in mortgage activity is largely attributed to refinancing,” she said.

“And personal loans, we would tend to see an uptick at this time of year anyway, but I think it’s certainly a sign that consumers are feeling a little bit more confident and perhaps have a little bit more cash in their pockets.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Interest rates might have started to rise but what home loan borrowers pay in interest is likely to keep falling through this year.

BNZ chief economist Mike Jones said while 2025 was the “year of the refix” – with 81 percent of fixed-rate mortgage borrowers refixing, the highest percentage in 13 years – there was still more activity to come this year.

Over 2026, 68 percent of fixed rate loans were due to come up for renewal.

“It’s the coming six months in which mortgage term expiries are the most pronounced relative to average,” he said.

“There’s approximately $132 billion worth or 34 percent of total borrowings. The long-run average is 27 percent.”

He said there would mean cash flow improved for many borrowers.

“A hypothetical one-year $300,000 loan locked in a year ago at 5.74 percent could currently be refixed for another 12 months at a rate of around 4.5 percent. That would result in an interest saving of a little over $300 a month.”

He said, in November, the average rate being paid was 5.17 percent.

“It has been a slow 14-month descent from the 6.39 percent peak in October 2024.”

He expected it could get to 4.5 percent by the middle of the year.

“It’s kind of a weird time because you’ve got mortgage rates seemingly bottoming, starting to turn higher but for the average person coming up for renewal they will still most likely be experiencing or be facing a menu of options lower than what they were previously paying, just by virtue of the slow-moving nature of the refixing beast.

“That is obviously a key plank of the economic recovery last year and also this year… we think we’re about 80 percent of the way through that process of refixing on to lower rates with roughly 25 points’ worth of easing still to come through that pipeline over the next six months.”

He said many people were choosing to pay off their mortgages more quickly rather than using their savings to spend.

“There’s a strong element of that, keeping your repayments perhaps similar to what they were but applying the extra relief from lower interest rates just to principal. We’re seeing quite a bit of that. I think there’s quite a lot as well that’s just been soaked up more or less immediately by the higher costs that households are staring into.”

Some was going into discretionary spending, he said.

“It’s helping turn that retail sector but it’s certainly not turning with any great force which I think speaks to the fact of some of those pressures that households are still under.”

The reduction in debt would be good for long-term sustainability, he said.

He said the average home loan rate being paid by households would probably hit the bottom of this cycle in the middle of the year.

“It take some time to turn and it will stay at a relatively supportive level for a period of time and probably all of 2026.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Central Otago District Council (CODC) has granted road access to an Australian company planning an open-cast gold mine near Cromwell.

Santana Minerals will be able to use two roads linked to the Bendigo-Ophir Gold Project in exchange for an annual payment of about $1.25 million, adjusted for inflation, once gold production begins.

The company submitted a fast-track consent application for the open-cast-mine in November.

Panel convenors have indicated a decision could take 120 working days.

In a message to shareholders on Monday, Santana Minerals described the access agreement as endorsement from the council and said it would deliver multi-generational benefits to the district.

However, Central Otago district Mayor Tamah Alley said the council had not taken a position for or against the project and acknowledged the community was divided.

“This agreement ensures that if the project goes ahead, the Central Otago community receives tangible, long-term benefits, while maintaining transparency and public accountability,” she said.

“Our focus is on ensuring decisions are made objectively, lawfully and with full consideration of the information available.”

Santana Minerals said the agreement covered Thomsons Gorge Road and Shepherds Creek Road – a paper road – including a 20-metre strip on either side of each.

Any future road stopping – where the roads cease to exist as public roads and become private use only – would still require Public Works Act or Local Government Act approval, the company said.

“If any roads are stopped, replacement routes would be built to ensure continued public access,” Santana said.

Santana Minerals chief executive Damian Spring called the approval a material step forward for the project.

“This agreement resolves a long-standing statutory access requirement, provides durable clarity around roading and access arrangements and establishes a transparent framework for long-term community benefit.”

Council excluded the public – advocacy group

In a statement, advocacy group Sustainable Tarras said the access agreement was disappointing.

“We believe there are considerable legal pitfalls to granting such access and we have repeatedly pointed these out to CODC and cautioned them to take time to consult, consider the consequences and involve the wider community. Today, in announcing this behind-closed-doors decision, they’ve made it clear that community is secondary to their private negotiations with Santana.

“We do not understand the urgency with which CODC has decided to conclude this agreement with Santana. From the information we have so far, it again excludes the public and local community impacted and fails to take into account what Santana has clearly stated it will do with these roads.”

On Saturday 150 people attended a lunch to raise money to fight the mine, including actor Sam Neill and artist Grahame Sydney.

The Wine not Mine event organised by Sustainable Tarras was supported by 12 local wineries and held close to the proposed mine site.

Neill described the mining plans as ruinous for the region and said a growing community of ordinary, hard working people were joining together to fight a “very large, very powerful, very well-funded Australian mining company”.

Sydney spoke of the “breathtaking, mystical, pristine and ever-changing” landscapes of Central Otago and urged people to fight against the “madness” of an open-cast gold mine.

Sustainable Tarras said funds from the event would cover expert fees and legal support costs as the group made submissions to the fast-track process.

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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 former owner of the luxury Fiordland Lodge near Te Anau is relieved a weekend fire did not completely destroy the building.

Guests were evacuated when the fire broke out late on Saturday night, with crews from across Southland battling the blaze.

Fire and Emergency investigators were examining the cause of the fire although it was not being treated as suspicious.

Former owner Robynne Peacock and her late husband Ron, built the lodge in 2002 and ran the luxury accommodation for years until Peacock and her business partners sold it late last year.

Peacock arrived at the lodge on Sunday afternoon where a fire inspector showed her the damage.

She said most of the building was intact, despite part of the roof collapsing and damage to the kitchen and conference room, where the fire was believed to have started.

“I did not want to see it burning,” she said.

“It all looks quite fixable and some of the lodge hasn’t been touched at all so we were pleasantly surprised and thrilled to see it’s not catastrophic.

“The fire inspector assured us that the structural integrity of the building was good in most areas.”

Peacock said it was a terrible blow for the new owners and she wished them well as they recovered from the fire.

Owner Vicki Onions previously confirmed no one was injured but all guests were moved to local hotels in Te Anau as a safety measure.

She was grateful for the swift response and support of emergency services, Onions said.

A Fire and Emergency spokesperson said the fire had badly damaged the building.

“However, firefighters were able to contain the fire which prevented some of the structure from being destroyed,” they said.

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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 long-running hole-in-the-wall fish-and-chip shop in Wellington is closing its roller door for the last time at the end of this month.

Rice Bowl Burger Bar’s current owner, Wawa Shen, said the small kitchen and serving counter – which opens out onto Riddiford Street near Wellington Hospital – had run since the early 1970s.

She said her family had owned the business since 2009, but now the building’s landlord planned to redevelop the site.

On a notice posted to the shop’s Facebook page, they thanked their customers for their “continued love and support over the last 17 years” .

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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 number of concerns have been raised about proposed changes to the Commerce Act which could disadvantage consumers, deter investors and increase the cost of doing business.

Law firm Chapman Tripp said some of the changes to the Commerce (Promoting Competition and Other Matters) Amendment Bill were positive, but others were problematic.

“Setting aside the several changes that we think have the potential to be really positive, for the ones we have concerns about, there are probably two categories,” Chapman Tripp competition and antitrust partner Lucy Cooper said.

“One is that they will add unnecessary uncertainty, time and cost to the Commerce Commission processes.

“And the other one … is the Commerce Commission will get a lot more discretion or power without solid process protections, or the ability to really scrutinise its work.

“I don’t intend that to be a criticism of the current commission at all. It’s more that in general, as you know, proper process is absolutely critical to making sure we can see that the service we are getting from the Commerce Commission is robust and fair.”

Mergers and acquisitions

She said a specific concern dealt with the commission’s ability to retroactively take action against a series of acquisitions that would, in hindsight, be found to have a cumulative effect of lessening competition.

“The focus should remain on the lawfulness of the marginal transaction, rather than allowing the commission to retrospectively impugn earlier transactions that would otherwise be lawful if considered in isolation.

“Allowing the commission to treat a sequence of separate transactions as a single transaction and find them all unlawful on the basis of their combined effect could also undermine investor confidence.”

Cooper said the commission had an existing power to block a transaction, when it had potential to put a company or organisation in the position of becoming a dominant player in a particular market.

“The commission already enforces against serial acquisitions, as demonstrated by successful action against Wilson Parking in local parking markets. We see no evidence that the commission is unable to intervene in serial acquisitions.”

Predatory pricing

Another proposed change would automatically see any below-cost pricing, that lasted for a period beyond three months, in a year, as predatory pricing.

“This is a change to the current position,” it said.

“The current regulation kicked in when a dominant player offered low prices as a means to price rivals out of the market or to deter a new entry.

“We consider that this test should remain.”

The proposed change could also act as a deterrent to pro-competitive low pricing and disadvantage consumers.

“We urge a rethink.”

The closing date for submissions on the bill is Wednesday 4 February.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

KiwiSaver members are withdrawing from their funds in record numbers, but one financial services complaints resolution service is warning that some people don’t realise how difficult it can be.

RNZ reported last week that more than 10,000 more withdrawals were made from KiwiSaver for hardship reasons last year than in 2024.

Inland Revenue data shows there were 58,460 withdrawals for hardship reasons in 2025, 10,000 more than were made for a first home.

In total, $514.8 million was withdrawn from KiwiSaver because of hardship, and $2.1 billion for a first home.

Financial Services Complaints Ltd, an ombudsman service for financial services, said it dealt with a 41 percent increase in disputes in the first half of its reporting year.

Ombudsman Susan Taylor said KiwiSaver withdrawal rejections were the biggest contributing factor.

People were seeking help with their bills but unaware of how hard it could be to meet the hardship requirements of the KiwiSaver Act.

“People often don’t realise how strict the KiwiSaver rules are, leading to complaints about declined applications,” Taylor said. “We see people with ideas about using their KiwiSaver for longer-term financial relief.”

In one recent case, she said a woman wanted to withdraw KiwiSaver funds to buy a tiny home, rather than renting, but was only able to secure a smaller, short-term financial solution.

“We understand this is frustrating when you need financial security, but KiwiSaver savings are meant for your retirement,” she said. “You can’t access your funds before retirement, except for a few limited exceptions, and this is reflected in the act, rules and industry guidance.”

People who want to get their KiwiSaver savings out due to hardship reasons usually need to be in a situation where they cannot meet minimum living expenses, cannot pay the mortgage on their home, need to modify their home to meet special health needs or need to pay for medical treatment.

The decision about the withdrawal is made by the scheme’s supervisor.

Earlier, a woman who contacted RNZ said any suggestion accessing funds was easy was false.

“The process is invasive and onerous. You cannot apply, until you are effectively destitute – less than $3000 cash to your name.

“You must open your entire life to scrutiny, including providing the financial details of a partner. There is no guarantee that the hardship withdrawal will be approved, so as you watch your savings dry up, your stress levels ramp up, your mental health suffers and dark thoughts often crowd your mind.”

Taylor said the increase in complaints more generally reflected the wider economic challenges New Zealanders faced.

“We expect high dispute levels to persist as long as economic conditions remain difficult for many”. The rise also signals consumers’ growing awareness of dispute resolution services and their willingness to challenge financial providers and demand accountability.”

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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 wet spring season filling hydro storage lakes looks set to deliver bumper half-year earnings to the country’s big four generator-retailers.

A preview by investment firm Forsyth Barr suggests the four major companies – Contact, Genesis, Meridian and Mercury – will make combined operating earnings, before hedging and one-off costs, of $1.86 billion for the six months ended December.

That compares with a combined $1.28b in the same period in 2024 when the sector was struck by dry hydro conditions, a lack of gas and the need to rely on coal, sending wholesale prices surging.

Genesis has benefited from a marked reduction in burning coal and gas for generation, Contact from taking over Manawa Energy, Mercury from the full hydro lakes, and Meridian simply from not having a repeat of its dismal 2024 half-year.

“The key takeout is that the sector performs best financially when hydro generation is abundant,” Forsyth Barr said.

But no relief for consumers

Forsyth Barr director Andrew Harvey‑Green said lower wholesale electricity prices would not mean lower household power bills.

“North of 95 percent of all energy bought across residential as well as commercial customers is purchased at a fixed price, so what happens in the wholesale market in the short-term has no impact on those prices,” he said.

“It’s the same reason why, when prices were incredibly high in winter 2024, you didn’t see big profit increases for these companies.”

He said abundant hydro and renewable generation this year meant gentailers would not need to rely on high‑cost thermal generation, reducing wholesale costs – but not consumer prices.

Profit upgrades possible, dividends less so

While first‑half operating earnings were forecast to rise by an average of 45 percent, Forsyth Barr expected dividends to increase by only about 4.5 percent.

It noted that long‑dated wholesale electricity prices remain high at $159/MWh, still well above the cost of building new wind and solar generation – a clear signal from the market that more capacity was needed.

All four gentailers had major investment commitments under way or planned, and Harvey‑Green said most of the extra earnings would be earmarked for building new generation, rather than boosting shareholder returns.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

If 2026 is the year you get your money life sorted, you may be wondering where to begin. Our money correspondent Susan Edmunds has 5 areas to focus on.

Set a budget

It is often helpful to start thinking about what you want to achieve and breaking your goals down to things that can be done in the short term, and those that might take a bit longer.

Short-term goals might be things like a holiday in a couple of months, while longer-term might be saving a house deposit or for your retirement.

Make sure your goals are clear and achievable. They need to be measurable so you know when you’ve achieved them or are closer to them. Save $50 a week, for example, rather than “save more”. Celebrate your wins along the way to keep you motivated.

It helps to know why you’ve chosen the goals, too.

Doing something just because you think you should is a lot less motivating than doing it because it’s going to improve your life or make you happier.

Liz Koh, financial coach at Enrich Retirement, says setting goals first and then thinking about making them happen is a useful “top down” approach that is more likely to result in behavioural change.

That’s important because, for lots of us, it’s the behavioural change that needs to happen to help us stick to a budget.

Koh recommends focusing on small steps.

“One of the biggest mistakes people make is trying to get ahead too quickly. Money is an important part of life that serves a multitude of purposes. It is not something you can do without.

“For the same reason that you can’t reach your goal weight on an overnight diet or suddenly become as fit as an Olympic athlete, you can’t go from being broke to being seriously wealthy in a short space of time.

“The first lesson in changing your relationship with money is to set attainable goals that reflect the reality of your current financial situation. It is better to take small steps and be successful than to set unrealistic goals and fail. Achieving small steps may give you the confidence to gradually take bigger steps. If you have never been able to save, trying saving just a small amount each week and increase the amount over time.”

Your budget can be a tool to help you get to the goals, because it’ll give you a clear picture of what’s going on.

This is where you will be able to work out whether you can free up money to put towards your goals.

Tom Hartmann, personal finance spokesperson at Sorted, says people either do a budget to make what they are already doing work, or to try to do something different.

Either way, it often helps to draw up a budget showing your current situation: How much is coming in, what’s going on, what you’re spending money on. Then you can see what can be adjusted.

You can usually get a good idea of what’s been happening by looking at previous bank statements. Some banks have apps that track your spending to do this for you.

“We’re creatures of routine, we keep going back to the same places, spending the same amounts, especially over a given year,” Hartmann said.

“If you download your statements over a year, where you’re spending money is the usual suspects.”

If you want to save money, or find a surplus to start investing, you should be able to use your budget to identify areas that can be trimmed. You could also look at how your budget would work with different levels of KiwiSaver contribution.

If your budget shows money is really tight and there is no surplus to speak of, you might be able to use it to identify the pressure points and areas where change could be most effective.

Don’t rewrite your budget to be overly harsh, though. If you restrict yourself too much, it can be hard to stick to.

How to get rid of your debt

It’s a good idea to start with a realistic idea of how much debt you might be able to clear within what timeframe.

Think about how much money you might have available to put towards debt repayment, and set some targets from there.

Koh said people should start by working out what they owed. Even if it’s uncomfortable reading, it’s a good idea to make a list of all your debts and how much interest is being charged on them.

” If you have many small debts you might be surprised at what they add up to,” she said. “Rank your debts in order of priority for payment. Set up an automatic payment to make additional voluntary payments on the first debt on your list. Leave your other debt payments at their minimum level. When the first debt is paid off, start on the next one on the list and keep working through until all debts are repaid.”

It often makes sense to try to clear the highest-interest debt first because this is costing you the most money. Check that you don’t incur any extra fees or penalties, though – if you do, you might need to shift your focus elsewhere.

Another option is to focus on your smallest debt first. That means you’re likely to clear it relatively quickly and can move on to the next debt. That series of small wins can be quite motivating.

If you have a number of loans and you’re finding it hard to manage them all, consolidation could be an option. This is where you take out one big loan to pay off all the smaller ones.

It usually means you only have to worry about one payment a month instead of several – which can be helpful from a life admin perspective.

But it’s worth checking the terms of your consolidation loan, though. A higher interest rate or longer term can mean you end up paying more overall for your debt overall.

If you’re struggling to pay the debt, longer term and smaller repayments can still be sensible, even if it’s more expensive – as long as you don’t feel that having consolidated the debt gives you a free pass to go and take out more.

If you’re seriously struggling with any of your debt, your first call should be to the lender. They can talk to you about what your options might be.

It’s really important not to just ignore debt that has become a problem. This never makes it go away.

How to save money

Saving money is probably near the top of people’s New Year’s resolution lists.

Whether you’re cringing when you look at your bank statements or just want to put aside a bit more next year, there are a few ways you could do it.

Sorted’s personal finance spokesperson Tom Hartmann says people should think about the home organisation guru Marie Kondo if they’re looking for ways to save.

Kondo talks about only holding on to things that “spark joy”.

“We can do the same thing with the things we spend money on,” Hartmann said. “For example with your subscriptions – there’s no way you get the same level of happiness from all the things you subscribe to. For me Spotify is up the top, I’d rate that a five out of five but Netflix is lower down.”

He recommends rating the things you spend your money on between one and five out of five and cutting or reducing the things that are a two or a one.

“It makes it easier to cut things back and you don’t end up feeling deprived because you keep the things that really give you joy – ice creams for the kids, for me that’s way up high.

“Often it’s the cheap and cheerful things that end up staying in the budget.”

Match your spending with saving – this requires a bit more money, but can be really effective.

The idea is that if you spot something you want to buy, you only make the purchase if you can put the same amount of money into investments or savings.

If you want some jeans for $200, you have to also put $200 into Sharesies, for example.

Don’t decide you’ll wait until the end of your pay cycle and save whatever is left over. Put the money into savings as soon as it arrives in your account.

“Set up an automatic transfer to take money out of your account each payday and put it in an account that is not shown on your internet banking. Send it to an account in a different bank to keep it even more out of sight. You will be surprised at how even a small amount saved each week will quickly grow,” Koh said.

It’s that aspect of paying yourself first that makes KiwiSaver so successful. If you can channel that same “out of sight, out of mind” approach into other savings, you might be surprised at how fast the balance can grow.

Your bank might also offer you the ability to round up your transactions and put the difference into savings.

You can often choose how much you want to round up, whether that’s to the nearest $1, $2 or more. That might mean if you buy a coffee for $5.50, for example, the transaction is rounded to $6 and the difference saved. Even small amounts add up this way.

There are other apps, such as Feijoa, which automate “rounding up” by sending the difference to your KiwiSaver account.

If you’re feeling really motivated you might choose to have a “no spend” month, week or even day of the week. This means that for that period of time, you resolve to not spend anything. This could take some planning – but it’s not effective if it just means you shift your spending to other times.

Don’t forget to track your success and celebrate milestones along the way – it can help you stay motivated.

Manage your mortgage

If you’ve got a mortgage, one of your priorities might be to try to get rid of it as soon as possible.

The past few years of higher interest rates have been tough going for lots of people. As interest rates come down, many borrowers have more options.

There are a few changes you can make that could get you closer to that goal.

Increase your repayments

First up, the most obvious one.

If you make bigger repayments, you’ll be able to clear your home loan faster. What surprises some people is how much of a difference even a small increase in your home loan repayments can make, particularly if you haven’t had your home loan for a long time.

Interest rates have fallen over the past couple of years from more than 7 percent to less than 4.5 percent.

If you have a $500,000 loan at 4.5 percent, you’ll pay about $585 a week over a 30-year term including $411,413 of interest. If you can increase your payment to $600 a week, you’ll only pay $385,836 of interest and clear it about a year-and-a-half sooner.

You can increase your repayments by opting for a higher level when your loan comes up to refix. Sometimes you can ask your bank to increase them during the term, too, or make additional lump sum payments. There is generally a limit on how much extra you can pay back during a fixed term before you have to pay a fee.

When your loan rolls off its fixed term, you could also make an additional one-off payment before you refix again at whatever repayment rate suits.

Anything you can do to pay the balance off faster will save you a lot in the long run because it means the principal will be smaller and there won’t be so much to attract interest – which compounds – over the life of the loan.

Split your loan

You can split your loan into a number of smaller loans. This allows you to take advantage of different interest rates.

At the moment, longer fixes are more expensive than shorter ones but are still relatively low by historical standards.

You might choose to fix part for a longer rate for some security and have some on a shorter term to save money in the short term.

It also means you can choose to make higher repayments on one of the loans, and maybe aim to clear that before switching your attention to the other.

Ask for low-equity margin to be removed, or for special rate access

If you bought your house a while ago with a small deposit, you might be paying a low-equity margin on your interest rate.

You might also be paying higher rates than the “specials” banks advertise for borrowers with more deposit.

You could ask your bank to reassess your situation – if your property has improved in value or you’ve paid off your loan a bit, you could have improved your equity position, or you might find the bank is willing to negotiate.

Shop around for a sharper rate

If you don’t think you’re getting a good deal from your lender, you could look at what else is available in the market. A mortgage broker could help with this.

Banks have also been competing hard with cash back offers that can be worth quite a significant amount of money if you’re willing to shift.

Consider off-set

If you have savings that you want to keep separate from your mortgage, you could set up an offset facility.

That means you forgo the interest on your savings but also reduce your mortgage interest bill. It’s sometimes possible to do this by linking with family members’ accounts, too.

Consider revolving credit

If you have the discipline, a revolving credit facility can work well. This means you section off part of your home loan into what is basically a large overdraft and usually becomes your main transaction account.

You then aim to put your spending on your credit card each month and have your income going into your new revolving credit account.

This means you reduce the interest you pay on that portion of the loan for the period that income is sitting there. Hopefully when you pay your credit cards at the end of the month, there’s a bit left over to reduce what you owe. You need to be a bit careful with this, though, because over time the idea is that you’ll build up money in that account as you pay it down and you don’t want to be tempted to spend it again.

Advice from a mortgage adviser or a home loan specialist from your bank can really help you to set a strategy and stick with it.

Maximise your KiwiSaver

KiwiSaver is an increasingly important part of many New Zealanders’ financial lives. We pull millions of dollars out of the scheme each year to buy first homes, as well as helping out in financial emergencies, and it is a big part of lots of people’s retirement planning.

The nature of long-term investment means that decisions that you make at the outset can have a big impact over time, so it’s important to get things set up well as early as possible.

A great first place to start is to think about your risk profile. This refers to your willingness to take risk with your investment.

Someone who needs to withdraw money in three months’ time to buy a house won’t have much appetite for risk at all, because they will need to know exactly how much money they have available.

But someone who is thinking about making a withdrawal in 40 years will have much more appetite for risk because they have many years to ride out any turbulence in the market.

There are online tools that can help you work through what your risk profile might be.

You might think: Why bother to take any risk at all?

In investing, risk can be a positive because it should boost your returns.

“The theory goes that the higher the return you are after, the more risk you are willing and will have to take. The more volatility you can accept in the short term, the greater the expected return in the long term,” said Dean Anderson, founder of Kernel KiwiSaver.

Once you know what sort of risk you should be taking with your investment, you can choose the right KiwiSaver fund for you.

Most KiwiSaver funds can be described as either cash, conservative, balanced, growth or aggressive. You can find variations on this, and some providers offer single-asset funds that you can add to your portfolio, investing in things like property and cryptocurrency. Some providers also allow an element of DIY and stockpicking for individual investors.

If you can take more risk, a growth or aggressive fund is likely to be the best option for you.

“These funds typically offer higher returns over time, but with more volatility. Given your horizon, you can handle those fluctuations in value and expect to benefit as a result,” Anderson said.

“As an example, if you’re in your late 30s and already have your first home, opting for a high growth fund could allow compound returns to maximize your savings by the time you retire.”

But if you might buy a first home within three years, a conservative or cash fund might be better. Many people have had the experience in recent years of going to withdraw their money and finding the market had dropped at just that moment.

Cash and conservative funds focus on preserving your balance but generally deliver lower returns.

When it comes to adding in things like pure portfolio funds or investments in cryptocurrency, it could be a good idea to do this with some personalised advice.

“Cash has the lowest risk, therefore the lowest expected return. Of the four major asset classes (cash, bonds, property, shares), shares have the highest risk and the highest expected return. Share funds are lower risk than individual shares, and crypto assets, commodities and “private investments” are even higher risk,” Anderson said.

You’ll also need to think about which provider is right for you. You can go with your bank, or another major fund manager, or one of the smaller providers.

Fees vary, as do investment management styles. You might think a low-fee manager that tracks a market index is a good option, or you might be looking for a manager who can beat the market, or one who delivers a responsible investment strategy that aligns with your beliefs.

There are lots of options so it’s worth taking the time to find one that’s a good fit. Tools like the Sorted Smart Investor can be handy here. Mindful Money is a great platform for anyone wanting to check what their fund might be invested in.

You’ll need to choose how much you want to contribute. If you’re an employee, you can choose to automatically contribute 3 percent, 4 percent, 6 percent, 8 percent or 10 percent of your gross salary. Your employer will match your contribution at 3 percent and some offer higher rates. Those default contribution rates are slowly increasing over time and could increase further if National is successful at the next election.

The right contribution for you will probably depend on your goals. A 10 percent contribution rate will boost your balance much faster. But the money is locked in until you buy a first home or turn 65.

If you’re a while away from doing either of those things, you might only contribute what your employer will match and invest the rest of what you have available somewhere else (provided you are sure you will actually so this).

Some providers suggest working out how much of a lump sum you want at retirement, and then working backwards to determine what you need to save now to get there.

It can be really hard to think clearly about something that’s a long time in the future, though, so my advice if you’re still decades away from retirement is just to save and invest as much as you can while meeting other financial goals such as paying off a mortgage and enjoying your life.

Don’t set and forget your KiwiSaver. Check on it every year to see whether it’s doing what you’d expect, given the market movements. Even if you’re not working for a while, try to contribute at least $1042 so you get the full Government contribution each year. It’s not as big as it was but it’s still worth having!

When you get to 65, you can withdraw all the money in your KiwiSaver account. But you don’t have to. You might still have 30 years of living costs to fund, so you might choose to leave some or all of it invested and earning returns for a while. Personalised advice can help here too, to come up with a plan to draw down your money over time in a way that works for you.

The Society of Actuaries have some rules of thumb and Sorted also offers a tool to help.

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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 North Island district council says its ratepayers can’t afford to repair extensive damage logging trucks are causing to one of its key roads.

The Rangitīkei mayor said his council was spending around $3.5 million dollars on repairs to the country road between Taihape and Napier, also known as the Gentle Annie.

Dozens of trucks daily have been using the road to carry export logs from the central North Island to the Port of Napier.

Andy Watson said it was not a national highway and was instead managed by the Rangitīkei and Hastings District councils.

He would be lobbying central government for support, ideally to increase the use of the rail network for carrying logs and freight.

“Funding the Gentle Annie Road for both councils is incredibly difficult,” Watson said.

“And yes we do get government assistance by way of what’s called a Financial Assistance Rate (about $66 dollars in $100), but it’s a huge burden on our rate-paying base.”

The issue has been compounded by the higher cost of sending freight by train, which Watson said had made trucking the default choice.

“I’d like to work with both governments, with government and the opposition about understanding the full cost to New Zealand on road versus rail,” he said.

“It’s a conversation I want to pursue this year.”

Despite these challenges, the Rangitīkei mayor had recently brokered a short-term solution to to get some of the freight on to rail.

Watson said the one-year contract announced last January, which took logging trucks off the Napier Taihape Road, had been rolled over another six months until July.

Around 27 truck and trailers each day would come off the high country road in the short term, but he was also pushing for a longer term solution.

Logs from the Karioi and Tangiwai forests near Ohakune will be railed from the Tangiwai rail yard to the Napier Port via Palmerston North, but that ends in the middle of the year.

Watson said the extension of the contract came as a relief, despite its short term nature.

“It’s great news that that contract has been put back in place for six months.

“We were putting 700-1000 tonnes per day on a log train that had to go down to Palmerston North and back up to Napier. I was fearful that the contract wouldn’t be renewed this year, because there is a greater distance to cart those logs down to Palmerston North and back up.”

KiwiRail, the owner of the forests, the Port of Napier and the log carriers are all part of the agreement.

“Several parties have contributed in various ways to make sure that contract can be renewed,” Watson said.

He said it also allowed for “major repairs” on the Gentle Annie, including re-sealing.

Last year, Napier Port chief executive Todd Dawson said the deal meant a “win for everyone”.

“It’s a great example of how export New Zealand benefits when everyone in the supply chain works together on sensible, efficient solutions that are sustainable and commercially viable for all parties,” Dawson said.

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