WealthDesign

Today we all seem to work in an Australasian job market. Kiwis are often moving back and forth from New Zealand to Australia for short bursts. In New Zealand we have ACC to protect us financially if we suffer an accident. Kiwis working in Australia may not be so lucky.

If you, your children or extended family plan to work in Australia or globally for that matter, please talk to us before you/they go. We hear stories of kiwis coming home with long term injuries and next to no financial support.  For us it is frustrating to hear as often for a small cost, we could have put in plans that would have protected them financially.

Although Australia and New Zealand are very similar in lots of ways, financial support after injury is handled very differently.  Give us a call – we make the complicated simple.

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Some very enterprising b@6&tards decided to steal our caravan last week. We had owned this caravan for over seven years and it was a place of many great family memories.  To lose it was more than a financial issue, but it’s gone and now we need to claim insurance.

After a period of throwing my toys out of the cot, I had to get down to the job of listing all the contents and finding out the value of the caravan and send off all the paperwork to the insurance company.

We have a long standing relationship with Wanganui Insurance Brokers and when things like this happen, it’s nice to know we aren’t alone. One phone call and the claim form turned up. No waiting for a computerized phone system. Once completed, we sent the claim form back to them and someone who understands claims checked the information before sending it off to the insurance company. Guess what –  in two days time they will also be chasing up the insurance company for a response.

I compare this to trying to move our internet. Kris and I have recently shifted, so thought we’d just transfer the original internet provider.  This provider is a large, long standing company but I found myself arguing with a foreign call centre employee, who really didn’t understand what was going on for me. After two weeks of frustration, and hours of time on a phone, we couldn’t get anyone to help and we moved to a local internet provider. Suddenly we had people who showed up, and life became simple, with an outcome that worked.

The lesson in all this – people are important. It’s great to be able to pick up the phone and talk to a real  person. That has always been part of our New Zealand culture and if it means dealing locally, with local people, then I’m all for it.

John Barber

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Do you know what happens with your ACC if you get hurt and can’t work again? You pay your levies just like anyone else but if you are hurt in an accident and off work long term, you are discriminated against at claim time.

First year on claim you would get 80% of your salary and the National Superannuation payment.  Year two, either 80% of your salary or National Superannuation payment, but after year two you only get the National Superannuation payment.

Is this fair?  Doesn’t appear so to me, but it’s the rule that applies today.

If you are over 50 and plan to work longer than 65, give us a call and talk about your risk planning.

We’re here to help – we make the complicated simple.

John Barber

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China is the world’s second largest economy yet Western investors continue to ignore the investment opportunity that China represents.

Wage growth in China is running at somewhere between      15 – 25% p.a. and the Chinese economy is changing from a mass producer of cheap low quality goods, to a more mature market.

Up until now investing in China has been problematic. This is how it worked.  Chinese incorporated companies had A-Shares that only Chinese investors could purchase.  These companies also had B-Shares available to non-resident investors (non-Chinese).  These shares were on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges (mainland China).

However from November this year, these stock exchanges will merge with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.  This will mean that A and B Shares, that couldn’t be purchased outside of mainland China, will now be accessible via the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The outcome of this will be that Chinese listed companies will be accessible by the rest of the investment world (for the first time).

Watch this space … the investment world will take this opportunity to buy into Chinese companies. 

If you wish to talk about how you can participate in this changing investment scene, give me a call.  I’ll be happy to talk you through this exciting opportunity.

John Barber

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The media has invented the phrase ‘housing crisis’ and repeated it so many times that many now believe we have one. Yes, people are buying houses off each other in some parts of the country for ridiculous prices; even an uninhabitable villa can go for $1,000,000 in Auckland. But that doesn’t mean we have a crisis.

Auckland has a supply issue, particularly with land – which makes up 60% of the cost of a new house in that city. In Christchurch, where over $3,000,000 a day is pouring in from insurance funded repairs and new builds, there is a mega-boom going on. That also doesn’t mean we have a crisis.

Veda have said that people aged under 28 are borrowing more often for personal loans and credit cards and less for mortgages. With four consecutive Official Cash Rate (OCR) hikes this year, the well-publicised 20% deposit requirements and constant reporting of this so called ‘crisis,’ who could blame them?

Since the previous boom peaked in 2007 house prices in 16 areas across New Zealand have increased, but have fallen in 37 and remained stable in 19 – including Palmerston North. Around Manawatu there are plenty of houses under $200,000 that would be suitable for first home buyers, and if you look just outside Palmerston North, there are several small towns that offer houses for even less.

With KiwiSaver’s first home withdrawal, Housing NZ’s first home grant and the Welcome Home Loan Scheme, many people are still buying houses. There are many more who may not even be aware of just how close they already are – banks are still able to lend to 90% (just not all the time), and the LVR restrictions do not apply to new builds (so a 5% deposit may do it).

Some in the media have been saying that first home buyers need to reduce their expectations around how much they can spend on a home, where that home should be and the size and type of property they can buy first up. There is merit to that, but there is far too much misinformation out there too.

Rather than giving up, people just need good advice. They need to speak to someone who knows what is really going on, and who has a sensible and realistic approach. Give us a call – we help make the complicated simple.

Regan Thomas

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