Back to Blog

The impact of money on your relationship

Over the 21 years that we have been working with clients, we have discovered that our most successful clients are those that also have a great relationship - with themselves and with their life partner. How you think about money and more particularly how you discuss money can have a huge impact on the success of your relationship. Money can be hard to talk about . ...

Make sure that you and your loved ones AREN’T hit by a scam

One of the benefits of working closely with a financial planner, is that they are there to answer any of your questions about financial offers that look interesting.  As well as pointing out the risks and costs and lack of liquidity of offers, because we live and breathe the investment and financial world, we tend to be able to spot a scam immediately. However, for people who don’t have those kinds of relationships, the risk of being hit by a scam can be very real.  The FMA has just release...

FMA KiwiSaver Tracker Tool

This website is operated by Moneyworks NZ Ltd and is not endorsed by, or affiliated with, the New Zealand government or Inland Revenue. Moneyworks NZ Ltd is using the KiwiSaver trade mark and logo under licence from Inland Revenue. To view the official New Zealand Government KiwiSaver website, please click Here. ...

Confuddling and confusing the scammers

I have a system now for my spam and scammers, I have a well trained inbox that sends my spam straight into it (and every now and then something that isn’t spam).  About 3 times a day (if I am in the office all day), I check it to make sure that something didn’t accidentally get in there and delete everything else. It is a pain, but it is better than the alternative, clicking on something by mistake and being harassed. ...

What does the internet know about you?

It's no surprise that the internet collects a great deal of information about all of us.  As well as knowing what your risks are with cyber security and taking steps to protect yourself, it is important to understand what your privacy settings are. There are a number of ways that you can check what the internet knows about you - we have given you some links below. ...

Elder Abuse (including financial abuse)

When we talk to financial advisers or go to conferences in other countries, the topic of financial abuse of elders comes up regularly.  Sadly will happen more often as our population ages and lives longer. Although there isn’t a high profile about this issue in New Zealand we regularly see articles in the media (in the court news area) about older people who have been taken advantage of by unscrupulous people. While we sincerely hope that none of our clients are in the situation where they a...

Why?

At a recent conference, one of the key note speakers was Carl Richards.  You probably won't have heard of him (we hadn't), but he has a weekly column in The New York Times - it is titled 'The Sketch Guy'. He used to be a financial planner, and found himself drawing this little sketches to explain basic concepts to clients.  The New York Times picked up on this and got him to do his weekly column and he now works with financial advisers, sharing ideas and training them on running their financi...

Corruption, money laundering and Brazil [video 4:48]

As financial advisers, we are required to comply with the Anti Money Laundering and Countering Financing Terrorism legislation (AML-CFT).  This is why we regularly need proof of our clients identify, proof of residential address and proof of source of your funds.  At times, it seems like a waste of time, but when you understand how corruption really does work, we realise that although we are a tiny cog in the global wheel, every little bit counts.This four minute video from the Economi...

What are some of the important changes to the Trusts Bill?

As outlined above, it is vital that you understand what your responsibilities are as a Trustee.  Some of these duties might surprise you, particularly the fact that Trustees decisions need to be unanimous (unless your Trust Deed says otherwise), that you must act in the interest of all beneficiaries, and that you need to understand the Trust Deed. If you want to continue operating your Trust and you are going to be a Trustee, we strongly recommend that you learn more about your responsibilitie...

Changes to Trust law – Trust Bill -why do you need to know about this?

This is relevant to you if you are a Trustee or Beneficiary of a Trust, have considered having a Trust, or know someone who is a Trustee of a Trust. In 2016, I studied the third year compulsory law paper ‘Equity and Succession’.  As well as covering the different issues with wills, we studied the detail of the various types of trusts – express/discretionary trusts, resulting trusts, constructive and charitable trusts. From the creation of trusts in the Commonwealth legal system in the 14...

Financial Planning - Infographics and Columns

Every two weeks, we have a column in the Cambridge News newspaper, addressing issues that our clients ask about and that we cover in our financial education seminars.  We have shared these with you below. ...

How do criminals make money from disasters?

Since the beginning of 2016 we have been highlighting cyber risks with our clients, with a focus on protecting your assets and finances by having good cyber security. With Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Mexico’s earthquake all top of mind, the article from the Economist highlighting how criminals make money from disasters struck a chord.  The link is below, but to summarise, here are some of the ways that criminals take advantage of disasters to make money for themselves: Phishing scams r...

Catastrophe Bonds - exotic financial instruments

In 1985, when I began my career, the Dow Jones Index was at 1,200 (now around 22,000).  NZ Trustees had been limited by legislation to certain investments.  Share investments were considered to be sophisticated, exotic investments, only a handful of people dared venture near them. Working as a Sales Executive for giant US fund manager Fidelity Securities, from  1987-1989, my role was to explain and educate Australasian financial planners and investment advisers about why international share...

Why you shouldn’t ‘tweak’ your insurance claim (it’s not just a little white lie).

On July 9th, 2017 – eight months after moving into our brand new dream home, we had a massive power surge that blew up our brand new appliances, the switchboard, lights and various other things. (Suffice to say we now have $1000 of additional power surge protectors installed.) While it was a real hassle not having a dishwasher or range-hood or sound from our TV for many weeks, the process of claiming on our fire and general insurance was a total eye opener for us.  Like many people, we have ...

Investing in Bitcoins and Cryptocurrencies

We have recently had several queries from our clients about whether they should consider investing in Bitcoin, or cryptocurrencies.  The short answer is NO unless you can afford to lose all the money that you are investing. Why do we say no (unless you can afford to lose all the money that you are investing)?  Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are virtual payment networks built using blockchain technology.  These currencies are used for both illegal and legal business transactions, but als...

What is the significance of blockchain?

You might have heard of Blockchain in reference to Bitcoin or Cryptocurrencies. However, Blockchain as a technology has far more potential than just providing a virtual currency system. In fact, a number of observers believe that blockchain ‘may well change everyday business in scores of industries’. From the perspective, it is an important technology for you to know about as an investor. I have copied below information from one of my daily newsletters that I get from Fortune about the pote...

Lifetime Retirement Income update

Lifetime Retirement Income is an innovative financial solution that has been available in New Zealand for over a year.  We have recommended it to clients and over the last year, Lifetime have updated their offering in response to feedback from clients.  These changes provide more flexibility to the offering and make it even more attractive to clients. Lifetime provides you with an annuity for your lifetime.  They will pay you the agreed amount until you die.  If you live longer than anticip...

The Residential Care Subsidy - what you need to know

For the last twenty years, we have seem commentaries in the media about 'setting up a family trust to avoid paying residential care subsidies.' In reality, the rules of Government departments change on a regular basis and there is no certainty that creating a family trust will mean that you will be eligible for the residential care subsidy if you need to go into residential care.  Of course, there is the other range of discussions about whether it is moral and ethical to 'hide' your money when...

What to do in a terrorist attack

The world has definitely changed, and being a New Zealander, it is likely that you are going to travel.  Hopefully New Zealand is relatively immune from terror attacks, but that doesn't mean that as individuals we are. The NZ Herald recently ran an article that you may not have seen, that talks about what to do in a terrorist attack, or when you are travelling to keep yourself safe.  I have given you the link to that article below and have copied the key points below along with a personal tip...

Sue Watson – Waiheke and Auckland

...

Richard and Emma O’Reilly (and Kate and Beth)– Kapiti Coast

...

Non disclosure case studies from the Ombudsman

The IFSO (Insurance and Financial Services Ombudsman) regularly provides its members with case studies on actual claims before it.   ...

The importance of disclosure on your insurance policy application

When we work with clients to put in place new insurance cover, I think we might annoy clients by nagging them to remember everything that might ever have happened to them, even if there isn't a question on the policy relating to that topic. Although it might be annoying, there is method in our madness (and nagging().  Your insurance policy is designed to provide you with money when something bad happens to your health (be it death, or inability to work or a traumatic illness or injury).  The ...

What happens if you die without a will in New Zealand?

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, the State has had the power to step in if there was no will or if the will disinherited particular children without explaining why. Throughout history an important part of maki...

KiwiSaver and your Will

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 loved ones and dependents. When you don’t have a lot of assets, it is easy to say – ‘I won’t bother with a will, it is all too hard.’ ...