KiwiSaver - Amanda Morrall

What you should know before switching KiwiSaver providers

FinanceAugust 22, 2025257Views 0Likes 0Comments

How often should you switch KiwiSaver providers? Assuming you made an informed decision the first time around, you shouldn't have to. Sadly the strike rate there is probably the same as getting the right partner first time around. If the divorce rate is any indication, that's about 50%. When KiwiSaver was first introduced in 2007, most investors were…

The shifting tides of KiwiSaver and first-time home buying

FinanceJuly 31, 2025279Views 0Likes 0Comments

By now, most will be aware that the cherished KiwiSaver cherry (aka Government contribution) was halved again during Budget 2025. It went from a juicy $521 to $261 per annum, slashed for the second time from its original $1,000. While investors were busy wiping away tears and reporters scrambling for other headlines, the Budget money-saving bus also…

The slow hollowing of KiwiSaver under Budget 2025 and why (some) people should carry on investing

FinanceMay 22, 2025364Views 0Likes 0Comments

As expected KiwiSaver turned out to be a soft target to balance the books for Budget 2025. Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today (May 22nd) a few key changes that will be good for some, bad for others and plain ugly for a few too. First things first. If you haven't already made the threshold to receive…

Trump tariff mayhem ruffling KiwiSaver feathers, again!

FinanceMarch 24, 2025386Views 0Likes 0Comments

Anyone who has checked their KiwiSaver (or other investment fund portfolios) will feel dizzy, and not in a good way. KiwiSaver funds have fallen as much as 10% or more depending on the type you're invested in. The level of pain you're feeling will likely correlate to the time you invested. Since the Dumpster (Donald…

The best gift you can give to a kid is a debt-free education. Here’s how:

FinanceFebruary 21, 2025348Views 0Likes 0Comments

The secret to a good life? The answer, according to the late great Sir Winston Churchill: "Choose your parents well." Unless you're a Buddhist, you'll find that a mind bender but don't hurt yourself thinking on it. The point is that parents (and willing grandparents) greatly impact how we all turn out. I have mine to thank for several…

Walking the talk in personal finance; doing versus knowing makes the difference

FinanceJanuary 20, 2025382Views 0Likes 1Comment

Personal finance isn't much different from other goal-driven areas where the difference between achieving and not achieving boils down to distilling and applying both theory and behaviour. Learning is essential, yes, but if you don't act on any of that knowledge, it's useless. That was the hour's topic at my latest appearance on NewstalkZB Collective's Smart Money…

The Hidden Lessons in Your Annual Retirement Report: A Guide to Smarter Savings

FinanceAugust 26, 2024365Views 0Likes 0Comments

There are a lot of big numbers swirling around KiwiSaver, most of them designed to get you fizzed up about saving for retirement or else lure you into a competitor's scheme.' Unfortunately wording for what is effectively a regulated investment product. Of all those dizzying numbers, like the $100 billion sugar pot that has accumulated…

Riding the rollercoaster that is investing

FinanceAugust 9, 2024377Views 0Likes 0Comments

The week started with a bang. In the investment markets anyway. My overly simplified spin: Japanese monetary policy and its attempts to resurrect interest rates and the yen from the dead, all of a sudden had a catastrophic effect on its stock market which fell like a climber from the summit of Everest right to basecamp. It triggered…

To Switch or not to Switch? A cautionary tale of accidental KiwiSaver switching

FinanceAugust 1, 2024358Views 0Likes 0Comments

For as long as I have been writing about money, which is longer than I would like to admit, I have shared my knowledge with others, my kids included. Here's the rub: As any parent will know, kids love to ignore parental advice. It must surely be Murphy's Law, that the more you harp, the deafer they…

US investors targeting $1.5 million retirement savings; so where does this leave Kiwis?

FinanceApril 23, 2024572Views 0Likes 0Comments

It may come as somewhat of a shock to many Kiwi savers to hear that their US counterparts, in a recent survey on retirement readiness, felt they needed $1.5 million to live off in retirement. Square that against the average USD$88,4000 they have saved in their 401k accounts (their version of KiwiSaver), and then contrast that…

Tag: KiwiSaver