Kiwisaver

1. 3 June 2022

   Every asset class has bad years, even bonds

   Bonds have been performing terribly, yet I still call them defensive assets. Every asset class has bad years; regression to the mean is real; bond losses remain smaller than share losses; and your cap…

2. 12 June 2020

   Retiring early is expensive (and so is private education)

   Every time I run the numbers, the cost of private secondary education stuns me. Retiring early is expensive too. Neither is wrong — just know what you're trading off.

3. 29 November 2019

   Focus on what you can control

   When it comes to the things that really matter, focus on what you can control. Checking your KiwiSaver balance every week isn't one of them — and yes, I'm a hypocrite about this when it comes to Trump…

4. 7 June 2019

   A tale of two pension systems (Australia v NZ)

   New Zealand and Australia have very different approaches to funding pensions. Despite many other similarities between our countries, you can consider us at opposite ends of the spectrum on this set of…

5. 9 October 2018

   Don’t be fooled by the 4 percent rule

   The 4% rule says you can safely withdraw 4% of your retirement portfolio each year — so multiply your desired spending by 25 to get your number. I don't like it. Retirement planning is not the place f…

6. 27 August 2018

   On Simplicity becoming cash flow positive

   Simplicity is now cash flow positive, sooner than its founder expected. Even when it wasn't, I was sanguine about recommending it. The underlying assets are highly liquid, and the Public Trust holds t…

7. 8 March 2018

   Build wealth by being lazy!

   You're lazy sometimes. I know this because you're human. The trick is to use that laziness — or, more charitably, behavioural inertia — as a feature rather than a bug. Set things up once so wealth-bui…

8. 8 February 2018

   Should I use my KiwiSaver funds to buy a house?

   The NZ news media keeps warning of "frightening" long-term consequences when people use KiwiSaver to buy a first home. This is a false dilemma. Owning a mortgage-free home by retirement is one of the…

9. 29 December 2017

   Should I contribute more than the “minimum” to KiwiSaver?

   Once you've captured the employer match and the Government contribution, the tangible benefits of putting more into KiwiSaver largely stop. So why does my wife contribute 8% of her income? Behavioural…

10. 11 August 2017

    Money in the media, July/August

    I haven't written any "Weekend reading" articles recently. This hasn't stopped me from collecting a pile of clippings and links. I'll have missed many good articles, but some that are on my pile/list…

11. 2 July 2017

    Weekend reading (1 & 2 July 2017)

    A weekend round-up of money writing worth your time. Susan Edmunds on divorce after 50 and the case for contracting out before you marry. Edmunds again on creating a sense of wealth by knowing your ne…

12. 11 June 2017

    Weekend reading (10 & 11 June 2017)

    A quieter weekend for personal finance coverage. Susan Edmunds on ten fairly standard ways to reduce money stress — tackle it head-on, be open with your partner, avoid high-interest consumer debt. Mar…

13. 3 June 2017

    Weekend reading (3 & 4 June 2017)

    A few weekend pieces worth a look: Liz Koh on why financial resilience sits inside a broader picture of physical, emotional and psychological resilience (and why I'd push further, towards antifragilit…

14. 28 May 2017

    Weekend reading (27 & 28 May 2017)

    Two articles from the weekend's Your Money section worth reading. Janine Starks on the long-run cost of staying in a default KiwiSaver fund — roughly $600,000 over 40 years for a 25-year-old. And Susa…

15. 29 July 2016

    Biases that keep you from saving money

    Two biases stop us saving: present bias (we weight now over later) and exponential-growth bias (we underestimate what a dollar today becomes). KiwiSaver's opt-out, locked-in design fights both.

16. 14 July 2016

    Why I’m keeping my Australian superannuation funds in Australia despite living in New Zealand

    After working in Australia for ten years, I have a fair amount of money locked away in an Australian superannuation fund. As a resident of New Zealand, I have the ability to transfer these funds into…

17. 7 December 2014

    A will by itself is not an estate plan or succession strategy

    A will is only one piece of estate planning — and often a small one. Superannuation, jointly-owned property, life insurance nominations, and trust assets often bypass the will entirely. Plan the whole…

18. 5 December 2014

    You shouldn't (and can't) save a fixed percentage of your income every year of your life…

    Common advice is to save a fixed percentage of your income every year for retirement, starting as early as possible. It's reasonable in the abstract. But it doesn't really match how life actually work…