25 August 2012
It was a question that got people thinking. Massey University senior lecturer Claire Matthews had just finished a presentation at the Workplace Savings NZ conference on how much people spend in retirement. "How come most of the spending totals for two-person households are more than twice the one-person totals?," somebody asked.
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11 Aug 2012: A comment I overheard from a young man recently worried me. Talking about some kind of investment in race horses, and he said, "I put in $1000 a month. But I can deduct $800, so it's hardly costing me anything." ... more
28 Jul 2012: It's decision time for the first KiwiSavers "graduates" – those over 65 who have been in the scheme for five years. But there’s no rush.... more
14 Jul 2012: This is one of those columns – like the one in which I confessed that I don't have a goal for my retirement savings – that might make the 'conventional wisdom' people cross. But here goes: We don’t all need a sizable emergency fund sitting in a savings account.... more
16 Jun 2012: Some people are putting too much into KiwiSaver– arguably anyway. Meanwhile, others contribute nothing or too little to get the most out of the scheme, and would be rewarded for taking steps to change that in the next two weeks.... more
19 May 2012: Wake up and smell a more comfortable retirement, middle-agers! A survey released today shows that no-longer-youthful New Zealanders are less likely to be in KiwiSaver and more critical of the scheme. And yet arguably they get the best deal out of it.... more
5 May 2012: The economists have given up on the idea, and it’s time the rest of us did too. I’m talking about making financial decisions based only on the cold hard facts and numbers, and not taking into account emotional and psychological factors.... more
24 Mar 2012:
We’re all living through three “great transitions”, said the keynote speaker at a recent conference. One transition is from West to East - with the growing emphasis on China and India, another is from analog to digital, and the third is from debt to saving. Let’s look more at that third transition.
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