All in KiwiSaver
My KiwiSaver provider Simplicity has made some changes, and several people have emailed me about my opinions on these changes. I thought I’d share how I process new information when it comes my way and what you might want to keep in mind if you are faced with new options for your investments.
This week I thought I’d give you a quick update on our work situation this year. I have mentioned it in passing, but I think it is worth putting more detail around it so that you know a little more about how Jonny and I work, what we earn, and that our unusual situation could be an option for you too.
This week's blog post got started because I received a random Instagram message from KiwiSaver provider kōura asking me to sign a petition they have launched. Although I chose not to sign the petition, reading it did get me thinking about the gap in retirement savings between men and women and that tinkering with KiwiSaver legislation won’t really address two of the critical findings of an earlier report from the Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission.
I believe it is essential that we don’t just teach our tamariki to ‘save’, but we teach them to become ‘investors’ as well. That’s where the money is to be made over time. Since taking part in the Sharesies Kids and Investing webinar, one conversation thread has stayed with me. It was about whether it is worth signing your tamariki up to KiwiSaver or not. I am firmly in the YES camp.
I’m a giant jumble of competing thoughts as I sit down to write this final blog post of the year. I’m not much into the generic inspirational end of year content that gets pushed out, so instead, I’ll just keep this one real, and it’s a bit of an insight into my life during the first two weeks of December. I’ll try (and fail) to be brief.
I received an email recently that brought tears to my eyes if I’m frank. It was from someone who is in despair about not being in a position to own a house in New Zealand. I wanted to create a blog post about it because the struggle that the writer is experiencing is not unique; in the same week, I received several other messages along the same lines.
This blog post took ages to research but should make your decision around choosing a KiwiSaver fund easier. Hopefully. This blog post title is a bold claim because the KiwiSaver market is fecking confusing. Still, I felt this was a blog that I had to write because frequently, I respond to emails or have conversations where people ask me point-blank what KiwiSaver fund should they use.
Because I like to make life difficult for myself, I thought I would write a blog post on the tax implications of using a FIF. A Foreign Investment Fund. Due to the proliferation of online investment providers like Hatch, Sharesies, InvestNow, Smartshares, Kernel, Betashares, Stake etc. I’m getting more and more emails from people who are concerned about the national and international tax implications of using these platforms.
To my surprise, I’ve chalked up five years of writing this blog! And I can’t quite believe it. I thought I’d blog today about what I’ve learnt, observed and what it’s like to write a blog because there is not a single day that has gone by that I’ve not emailed or spoken with someone about what I tend to refer to with my whanau and friends as ‘blog stuff’.
