Around half of New Zealanders don’t have a will. This means that if you die you have legally left no instructions about what should happen. This can cause significant issues if you have dependent children. Who will care for them? Where will the money come to look after them? Since ancient Greek and Roman times,…
From many years experience, we know that the most difficult thing to get our clients to do in relation to their financial planning is to put in place or update their will. It is difficult both practically (getting it done and witnessed), but also emotionally, thinking about being dead and what would happen to your…
I was looking on YouTube for an ‘inspirational video’ – not knowing what on earth I would find. And I discovered Team Hoyt, and ended up with a tear in my eye and shivers down my spine, so thought I would share their story with you. What is the Team Hoyt story? Rick was born…
Affordable Underground Furniture’: D.I.Y. Coffin Clubs Catch On in New Zealand (from the New York Times) SYDNEY, Australia — Roger Terry and his wife, Grace, have little interest in quilting, fishing or book clubs. Instead, they meet with other retired friends each Tuesday at a disused sports center to build coffins, a hobby that has…
Every day, we get a number of newsletters and articles across our desks at Moneyworks. Many of them are repetitive and provide us with general background information (like the four separate daily newsletters that I read about what is happening now with President Trump). But every now and then we get a commentary that we…
The joy of Monty Python sketches is surprisingly enduring: More than 30 years after the comedy troupe’s Flying Circus sketch series ended, it continues to be rediscovered and celebrated by new generations of fans around the world. Including, of course, in Ørje, Norway. Ørje is a village of about 2,000 people near the Swedish border,…
There are a number of different models that investors use. Some people trade financial securities minute by minute – and aim to make their money as ‘day traders’. Others aim to make money by ‘timing the market’, while others still have a high turnover of investments in an aim to make short term gains, or…
The crucial things with FIF/FDR taxation are: 1.This tax applies if you own non NZ based investments (apart from a small handful of exemptions in Australia). 2. If you own your investments in your own name, you have a de minimis exemption from the tax for the first $50,000 of cost price of overseas investments.…
31st March is the end of the tax year for most individuals and entities in New Zealand. In the UK it is the 6th April, Australia 30 June and the USA 30th September. The start of the new tax year is generally when new taxation related policies begin. In New Zealand, this means that the…
In 1989, Carey decided that she wanted to have a financial planning business in a ‘small town’ (as compared to the cities of Hamilton, Adelaide, Sydney and Wellington that she had lived in.) Carey had been working in the relatively new financial planning industry since 1985 in Australia and then New Zealand – after finishing…