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Found out again

70 comments · +410 / −126 · rank #3540 of 40,276

Comes down to a simple thing, if you want to keep spending like your still working after 65 and travel far overseas every year till say mid-seventies then you need to start saving now along with the mortgage, changes to Kiwisaver are urgent, like right now, start with make it compulsory and more like Aussies work-based super savings scheme.

+72−6

Although they had saved $80,000 for a deposit and had household income of $130,000, they were priced outI agree DieselMechanix, but are they being too fussy, maybe a short commute each day and their household income will be more guaranteed.

+19−3

I would have thought the main downside for Aucklanders is the lack of high paying jobs in smaller cities, maybe for men with trades or government workers like cops or primary teachers the pay is similar.Where I live 3-4 hours South of Auckland maybe we need more healthcare workers and GPs, but software developers for example or HR managers, those jobs are rare as hens teeth and whoever has them they arent leaving them to move to Auckland.

+15−3

My Dad retired at 63 and lived to 93 and never exercised a day in his life, he was from the generation before the baby boomers and it was more than affordable to pay his generation from 65 a pension.Raise the retirement age to 67 in 2030 then to 70 a decade later, avoids means testing and taxing the millennial generation extra to pay for my pension. We need a government that can make unpopular but the right decisions.

+19−7

Most Kiwis that do save (excluding their mortgage) for their retirement; do so when they are empty nesters, around aged 50 I guess,Aussies with their work based compulsory savings scheme have already saved hundreds of thousands and paid off their mortgage by 50, maybe Kiwis like working till 70.

+12−0

So heres something to consider:Quote from a recent USA report;A new report predicts that by 2030, as many as 800 million jobs could be lost worldwide to automation.Millennials face this challenge and both left and right only care now about what is popular to current voters like you and me, or not offending China.

+15−3

And how much in 30 years will the worker have in their Kiwisaver who uses all their Kiwisaver funds for a house deposit,then the contribution holiday for 5 years as they cannot afford the 3 cents unlike our Aussie mates who will be paying none of their own money into their version of Kiwisaverand then redundant in their fifties as all jobs become automated.

+19−8

In the year to June last year, about roughly 14,000 more people left Auckland for other parts of New Zealand than moved inAuckland will hit 2 million by mid-2030s. Used to get a house in Orewa cheapish which is in the Auckland region North of the North Shore, thats long gone with people commuting from Hamilton or Thames, Orewa would be a short commute.

+10−1

$872 a week for a no-frills budget, compared to income of $600.30 from the pensionHow many will hit retirement age, get the flick from work in the disguise of redundancy, not have any savings as they though, Ill live for the day or I can manage my own savings, then were do they get the extra needed $272, borrow it from loan sharks.

+9−1

Most young people already know you have to put off having kids until house deposit and furniture fund saved and at least 5 years of mortgage payments done and dusted, or you can have your kids at your 21st birthday party and you will rent for life. Maybe that message isnt getting through in poorer areas/suburbs.

+15−7

I say encourage foreign residential house buyers just tax them on all house purchases and tax them hard.Ten years of stamp duty tax on foreign house buyers without NZ passports would have raised hundreds of millions, created a level playing field as foreigners borrow on almost zero interest rates.

+12−5

Looking at statistics I see that The median age for women giving birth in 2011 was 30 years. That must be much older than the baby boomers and so on back through the generations, therefore the Millennials are saving longer and starting families later, again maybe not so much in poorer areas / suburbs.

+7−0

House prices in Canada are not cheap and especially Vancouver and Toronto where they are higher on average than in Auckland.

+9−3

Ive lived in Hamilton and visit cousins in Dunedin most years, same winter temps over night, 5-6 degrees warmer most days in Hamilton from about 10am and a 2 month summer down there, as it is not a summer in my opinion in December in Dunedin, would you like to read my power bill compared to my cousins in Dunedin.

+9−3

My take on why 2 retired as a couple get less than double the single rate; is that if one person costs $10,000 per year minimum to live then the other partner costs $6,000, the difference is that they do things in the household together like cook dinner at the same time and pay one lot of rates and house insurance, so the difference is the second person lives 40% cheaper.

+5−0

Why are we wanting a CGT on New Zealanders but have ignored taxing foreign buyers of housing, who are not Kiwis and live overseas, a lot of tax earnings missed the last decade by not having a stamp duty tax on foreigners at least. Move to NZ within one year of purchase and get a refund of your stamp duty tax.

+7−3

Id simply like to get rid of contributions holidays (not a name change) and even the playing field to a system more like Australia, not 12 cents maybe still the 6 cents and like VPutin get rid of WFF with tax based on earnings like everywhere else in the world;but we would need more from the employer, they in return get a 1 cent reduction in business tax and they will complain none the less, but Kiwi employers get a similar qualified worker in NZ to the one in Aussie, but are paying them 30% less than in Australia.

+4−0

I would have though 40 minutes got you half way to work in the morning in Auckland. Maybe Im a small city snob and there is no congestion up there.

+4−0

My Kiwisaver is giving better returns than my mortgage free house the last year at least, Im old not young but. I was so lazy in saving for my first house deposit in my twenties until I saw house prices rise year in and out except for 1993, I nearly ended up renting forever and then trapped paying off some landlords mortgage or yacht or sports car, never too late too save hard.

+4−0

Article is based on 5% average returns in Kiwisaver, 5% is really very low, maybe in a conservative fund after fees that would be okay. The only really active Kiwisaver I could find in my own research for my Kiwisaver is Milford and they are not a default provider but return about 15% more or less, so about 3 times her return.

+3−0

The only valid reason I can see not to legalize marijuana is the driving of cars and operating chain saws in the bush while stoned, wouldnt spit tests that can detect usage if within 6 hours give some assurance to these concerned citizens who themselves have never drunk and driven their car,and medical marijuana for oldies in pain just makes common sense.

+6−3

Who works 32 hours over 4 days and gets paid for 40 that you know in any city in NZ. Its dreaming for most and I believe in France the government shortened the working week from 40 to 35 and unemployment went up a few percent but went down overall in the Euro zone.

+4−1

That would be immigrants or returning Kiwis moving to Auckland, they seem to not be included, maybe they dont even exist, anyway for the stat gurus this is from the government stats website:The Auckland region is projected to account for more than half New Zealands population growth between 2013 and 2043, with an increase of 833,000 '“ from just under 1.5 million to over 2.3 million (medium projection).

+3−0

Australia is raising their retirement age to 67 by 2023, and so is the UK to 68, we could wait to at least 2030 but probably no longer to raise the retirement age. The most generous is Norway that is raising the retirement age to 67 in 2034, they have oil money and they saved it in the trillions and they are increasing their retirement age. It can be annoying for me these last 2 governments who just want to be popular.

+6−4

Plenty of jobs, interesting you didnt say plenty of high paying jobs, where I live 4 hours South of Auckland in a biggish city all the high paying jobs available are for tradies or healthcare specialists and even some tradies are getting home early on Fridays, with the real estate market going sideways.

+3−1

That was not really my point, my point was not comparing NZ tax rates, but the business tax rate between NZ and Aussie which is half a percent less and they also pay 30% higher wages and soon 12 cents to the employees super for their retirement, and thats every employee, 12 cents is far too generous for NZ, maybe a 4 cent employer to 2 cent employee split may stop them workers eating cheap mince in their retirement, while the retired boss eats Sirloin.

+2−0

Did they do an article on your firm 18 years ago, as I remember my generation (GenX) was supposed to reject the 9 to 5 work week and we did not, except your firm, so well done I guess.Now the city-based Millennials are supposed to reject the 40 hour week as farmers work 200 hour weeks, at least the Millennials can play X-box for 3 days straight.

+2−0

I see average prices in Nelson are above my home town of Hamilton, interesting that many people still perceive Nelson to be a cheap destination to downsize or migrate to.

+3−1

Im assuming those 450,000 with 9 billion saved as not being money people. Balance funds are for 55 year olds with large balances, not young people just starting out. Age related funds make more sense and everyone new could be put into a Growth fund and also remove the tax until they hit 65 or on first withdrawal and that will give them 45 years of compounding interest and higher returns than default funds. They will need it.

+3−1

I drove up to an auction in central Auckland in 2009 and they started with 5 apartments all mortagee sales and none sold or even starter bids, no-one wanted them, one sold later which was a 2-bed at the Metropolis for less than a quarter what its worth now.Where I live even average Auckland type apartments are extremely rare and townhouses quite rare, many are South facing or 1 million or in a hotel where you cannot live yourself.

+3−2

Gross returns with fees are 14% for last 12 months, still thats 6% below the NZX as you politely pointed out. By the way where is the Kiwisaver fund that invested 100% in NZX and charges no fees or tax at the customers rate, because that 20% return is based on that?

+1−0

I live close to rural Waikato and I do not see many if any at the moment high paying office type positions. Maybe GPs or tradies needed, more so Kiwifruit pickers and soon house prices will drop so the tradies will disappear for a couple of years from high paying small city jobs. If you are a nurse you are needed urgently where I live and house prices are half of that in Auckland, so come on down.

+2−1

If they dont raise the retirement age then they will have to scrap the pension as we will be Greece but with less debt to GDP but rising, therefore in 20 years a dysfunctional country.Id like Kiwisaver compulsory for under 50 year olds at least, but at 5 cents from the employer and 1 cent from the worker, no excuses I cannot save and give the big boss man a few cents business tax rate cut, businesses are well overdue for a decent tax cut, but again that does not win you election votes so will never happen.

+2−1

Im only in Kiwisaver for the $521 which Ill get next month, Kiwisaver was never designed for people who can successfully handle their own money and probably have a mortgage, I wish Kiwisaver was around 25 years ago not 11 and with no tax until final withdrawal.

+2−1

Arent CFDs like going to the casino, much more exciting at the casino than buying a meat raffle at the pub, just you can end up in deep trouble;I also tried a UK virtual contract for differences website in 2008 and the gains if shorting are enormous, never put any actual money in, maybe Im too chicken.

+1−0

I moved from Hamilton 2 years ago but kept my house and rented it out, the house in Hamilton East is still worth the same if I sold it today, as it was in early 2016, no crazy Auckland price rises recently in my opinion. It is a well insulated 3 bed in a niceish neighbourhood, well within a couple on $130K household income, maybe they wanted a 4 bed.As far as I can remember there are plenty of well priced 4 beds all over the place, some around $500K, no need to go all that way South where the heat pumps will be going all day long this time of the year.

+4−3

Capping fees is okay if these new low-fee charging Kiwisaver providers perform well, maybe that would limit share trades for example for the best performing Kiwisaver which is Milford; they might do less trades per day, then lower returns, my idea would be to give a credit of $500 per year to people earning under $35,000 pa, that would cover their tax and fees more or less and the higher earners can be content will 1% fees and potentially higher annual returns with Milford if they choose too, or go with Juno.

+0−0

Is the minimum wage supposed to be set at the living wage, I believe it should be set below that living wage stated in the article and inflation adjusted every 2 years, as then we accept that almost all lower (uneducated) earners like manual labourers or petrol pump attendants will simply have no motivation to improve themselves as the government enforces their pay rises like in the Soviet union and employers have less or no funds for staff training. We stay as the poor-mans version of Australia with many lower class families with no full-time worker at all.

+18−18

We are the worst savers bar only one country in the OECD, Im personally set for retirement already and Kiwisaver was not designed for me, but for poor or non-savers which in this country are the majority. Basically your answer is purely a personal attack and unwarranted, mate.

+0−0

67 as a future retirement age for getting the pension is a start and at least one person agrees with me, hopefully inaction by both major parties does not ruin NZ.

+1−1

Average house price in Hamilton in 2016 - $535,000 Average house price in Hamilton in 2018 - $562,000You comment that 2 years is a very long time and prices in Hamilton rocketed up: the difference is 5 % or 2.5% per year.What am I not aware of???

+1−1

Good time for compulsory Kiwisaver then, as I think younger Aucklanders may struggle with $1,050,000 average house prices, some suburbs will hit $3m soon, they have in Vancouver and as a country we are hopeless savers anyway, except you Obolensky, maybe time for some lessons in budgeting at school also needed.On rates, my rates in Hamilton are the same as my second cousin in Howick, which one has the more expensive house, you cannot guess.

+0−0

Also the minimum wage and the living wage are two completely separate thingsThe whole article is on minimum wage and living wage comparison, did you even read it???Simple economics and human nature, you pay minimum wage earners more and more by the government increasing the minimum wage in this case by $4 per hour or $5 to the living wage, they have no motivation like the whole Soviet Union except for their KGB, then small businesses cut their hours and cover those hours themselves.$21 per hour for pumping petrol, you cannot be serious.

+3−3

Never myself could see the upside in 3 cents from the employee enrolled in Kiwisaver regardless of amount earned or hours worked, no need to have these holidays if the employer pays the whole 6 cents, then remove their ability to use that as part of the salary negotiation and give the boss a business tax cut, then no more contributions holidays needed. We do have a Labour government dont we?

+0−0

This really should have been sorted years ago, its obvious to all money-minded people that default funds are temporary and part of the learning curve for all youngsters (as even budgeting is not taught at schools) and those 450,000 (the financial uneducated masses still in default funds);and inaction from politicians just pushes the buck on to the default fund managers who many see as big brother anyway.

+1−1