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

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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.’ ...

Putting people in boxes

From Denmarks TV2 https://youtu.be/jD8tjhVO1Tc ...

Team Hoyt - very inspirational

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 in 1962 to Dick and Judy Hoyt. As a result of oxygen deprivation to Rick’s brain at the time of his birth, Rick was diagnosed as a spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy. Dick and Judy were advised to institutionalise...

Making your own coffin - as part of a club - yes it is happening here in New Zealand.

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 gathered followers across New Zealand. “We have a heap of fun,” said Grace Terry, 77, a former nurse in Hawke’s Bay, on the North Island of New Zealand. “I’ve seen people come alive making their own coffins.” Mrs. Terry’s own coffin, painted mauve and...

The Dow hitting 20,000 and what it hides

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 think would be interesting to share with you.  The commentary below provides food for thought, and is an interesting analysis.  Let us know if you have any questions. The...

Walk Weird traffic crossing

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, and the Swedish art collective Kreativiteket have delighted fans of the venerable comedy troupe, as well as every other pedestrian, by converting a crosswalk i...

Short Termism in Investing

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 by arbitraging the timing of information flows or between different markets. Moneyworks’ financial planning clients all have a long term investment focus. When you are accumulat...

FIF (Foreign Investment Income) and FDR (Fair Dividend Rate) Taxation

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.  If there are two of you, then the de mnimis exemption is $100,000 (ie your allocations are joined). 3. Below this level you are taxed on overseas dividends received. Above this leve...

Tax Rates and Taxation Liabilities and Obligations

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 1st of April is when NZ Superannuation income is adjusted for increased costs, when benefits change and when any changes to KiwiSaver occur. ...

Former Undercover CIA Officer Talks War And Peace

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What is 'Financial Planning'?

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 Waikato University with a BSc majoring in Economics and Earth Sciences, and then gaining a Post Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance (from what is now Finsia). Making thi...

Moneyworks 20th Anniversary

On the 14th February 1997, Carey left her Marketing Manager role at AXA New Zealand and set up the financial planning business that become Moneyworks NZ Ltd.  At the same time, she moved to live with Peter in Turangi, changed her last name (from her maiden name of Hughes), and called the business Church Financial Services Ltd (which seemed logical at the time!).   Logos development over time:     ...

10 Optical Illusions that will blow your mind

Take 4 mins out to exercise your mind, and review these 10 optical illusions, there are a couple that don't work for me - but you might be able to see all 10! ...

Still haven't written your will?

Part of our job as Financial Planners, is to ensure that everything is in place to make life simple for the survivors when our clients.  A core part of this is ensuring that our clients have Wills in place, but this is commonly one of the most difficult things to get our clients to do. People don’t like thinking about death, and what will happen if they aren’t here, but having a valid Will in place will ensure that your loved ones will have a much easier time when you aren’t here.  Half...

It is 2017 - where have we come from?

Its amazing to think that we are now 16 full years through the 21st Century. Looking back to the 20th Century, 100 years ago at the start of 1917, the world was in the middle of World War 1 - or the Great War. Although New Zealand allowed women to vote in 1893, women and coloured people were still disenfranchised at the start of 1917. Women got the vote in the USA in 1920, and in the UK in 1928. JFK (John F Kennedy) was born on May 29th 1917. In October of 1917, the Russian Bolshevik Revolution...

Videos and links to assist your understanding of future technological changes.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution – World Economic Forum 3:15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko2esJeGsrI&feature=youtu.be   How will the Fourth Industrial Revolution affect economic policy? World Economic Forum – commentary  https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/how-will-the-fourth-industrial-revolution-affect-economic-policy/ Magellan Investment Roadshow presentation (November 2016) 1 hour 30 Hamish Douglass http://webcast.viostream.com/?viocast=8016&auth=b67f98bb-8587-4cb0-9e...

Christmas Song [video

  Having spent ages looking for a compilation of funny Christmas movie/video clips, and screwing my nose up at the ad's I had to sit through first, I decided I would treat you all to the acapella rendition of Leonard Cohens Hallelujah by Pentantonix.  (Apologies that you still have to sit through an ad - but thats how they make their money.) By Carey Church ...

Seasons Greetings, and Moneyworks Holiday Hours

Although all the popular media that we receive celebrates the end of the year with winter pictures, snow, reindeer and snowmen - I think we are really lucky that our end of the year brings us summertime.  Hopefully the late spring chills and rainstorms vanish for a couple of weeks and we can all enjoy the end of the year celebrations and some great time off and BBQ's, sun, and leftover ham and turkey. We have had a great year at Moneyworks (despite the stress over the US elections), and would ...

Fisher Funds - KiwiSaver Fees - Cheaper is not always better

By Carmel Fisher, in the New Zealand Herald, Friday 24th November 2016   ...

KiwiSaver Home Start Grants and KiwiSaver contribution requirements.

A valuable feature of KiwiSaver for younger people is how it can assist people to get into their first homes. ...

Bright-line tax rule could sting genuine homebuyers

We noticed this article on Stuff recently.  We don't have any expert knowledge of how accurate this information is, but thought we should share it with our clients, just so that you can be aware, and if the situation might apply to you - check with your legal adviser.  Note - this is talking about when you purchase a property in one name and want to change it into another owner - like a Family Trust. Bright-line tax rule could sting genuine homebuyers ...