A recent study has found that people who work with a professional financial planner feel better off both financially and more broadly. They report having a better quality of life, enjoying more financial confidence and resilience, and feeling more satisfied with their financial situation.
The Retirement Commissioner website at sorted.org.nz provides a great range of free practical information, guides and tools to help you get your money sorted.
Core Advice are pleased to be one of the presenters at the Retirement Preparation Hui being organised by Presbyterian Support to provide vital tips to help soon-to-be retirees to understand the potential challenges, find new purpose, and thrive in their upcoming retirement, for a full, rich, and rewarding life.
With increasing life expectancy, New Zealand now has a larger portion of the workforce continuing to work past the traditional retirement age of 65. According to Age Concern, in 2013, 22% of New Zealanders over the age of 65 years were in paid employment – an increase from 16.8% in 2006 and 11.4% in 2001.
In these uncertain times it is easy to feel like things are out of control.
It’s important to realise that investment markets are moving up and down all the time – stability is not ‘normal’.
Your investor risk profile is a combination of both your risk capacity and your risk tolerance and directly affects the type of investment funds or options you should be considering.
While the rest of the world struggles with Covid-19, Kiwis are fortunate to be living in a bubble and relatively isolated from events overseas. However, this may not always be the case.
If you are selling your home to move into a retirement village, don’t make the mistake of cancelling your home insurance too early.
Everything is a bit up and down at the moment, including investment markets and therefore KiwiSaver balances. Of course, the value of your KiwiSaver investments (and your KiwiSaver balance) goes up and down all the time, but the impact of Covid-19 has seen more movement than usual.
When investment markets start bouncing around, and especially when they fall, investors can often have a sense of unease or even mild panic. When this happens, it is important to maintain some discipline and ensure you stick to your investment plan.
Each year, Mercer produces its Periodic Table of investment returns. which tracks 16 major asset classes and ranks how each has performed, on an annual basis, over the last 10 years. A glance at the Table quickly highlights how challenging it is to unearth patterns and predict what the years ahead may hold.
New research from Baker Tilly Staples Rodway indicates Kiwis overall will actually pay a day’s less tax this year, albeit five more days than two years ago.
The gap between NZ Super and the cost of living even a "no frills" lifestyle has widened, research from Massey University shows.
AMP managing director Blair Vernon believes as the cost of labour increased DIY skills will become increasingly valuable in retirement. Those who did not have the skills to do things themselves and needed to pay for services would fare worst in retirement, he said.
Kiwi women are lagging behind their American counterparts when it comes to earning more than their partners.
Research by Boston Consulting Group found one third of married women in the United States earned more than their husbands.
We know it's hard to resist spending now in order to have something more to use in the future. Retirement can seem like such a long time away but a little bit saved now can make a big difference later.
Kids find it just as hard as adults.
The Government is cautiously supportive of including higher KiwiSaver contribution rate options and “increasing KiwiSaver coverage” but cannot say yet what that might mean.
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Jacqui Dean has released the Government’s response to the Retirement Commissioner, Diane Maxwell’s, review of retirement income policies.
The costs of living are constantly increasing – food, rates, power and heating, phone, rent or mortgage repayments – you name it, just covering the basic bills is getting expensive. Which means that once you retire and income reduces, keeping up with things becomes even harder.