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Posts Tagged :

personal finances

Budget Betty: How much could you save by being smarter with your shopping?

Are you throwing money away every week on your shopping? Maybe you’re committing the Seven Supermarket Shopping Sins? Think online shopping for clothes you absolutely don’t need, or popping into a nice store because you like the look of something in the window and then walking out having spent $300. It’s okay – we’ve all been there. But putting thought into saving money on your grocery shopping can help you to keep your bank account healthy, which means you’ll have…

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Has Cupid’s arrow struck? Don’t date your way into debt!

We know your new girlfriend or boyfriend wants to go out every Friday. Even two drinks each, some snacks and an Uber ride home could set you back $50. It’s dead easy to blow $100 if you throw food in as well. What’s more, dating can send your credit score south. Fast. Let’s say you spend $150 a week going out, $300 a couple of times a year on a weekend away, $200 on his/her birthday, and flowers or chocolates…

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How to lose interest in presents (yes, it can be done)

It is a truth universally acknowledged that birthdays require delicious cake with lashings of icing and a complete lack of regard when it comes to calorie intake. However, it is a fib, unfortunately universally acknowledged as a truth, that birthdays also require presents – the rationale being that the more expensive the present, the more you love or admire the recipient. I have pondered this matter deeply, and after accidentally smashing my annual presents budget in six months, I have…

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The cheque’s in the mail: How to make sure your small business gets paid

It’s the 20th of the month, and if you run a small business that can be a bitter-sweet date. On the one hand, it’s payday, and on the other, it’s when all the invoices you owe fall due. Getting paid on time can be the difference between success and failure. So how can you make sure the money turns up? Chances are, at some time in your life you’ll end up self-employed or running a small business. While it’s fun…

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What You Need To Know About: Having a side hustle

The internet is chock full of stories about people who’ve set up a side hustle that’s eventually turned into their full-time job. And if you’re stuck in an office, or in a job you don’t totally love, you too might have been considering a side hustle as a path to something better. Here’s what you need to know. You can totally do this Most adults started their working lives juggling two jobs at high school or at university. Having a…

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Bankruptcies have hit a five-year low
Bankruptcies have hit a five-year low (but here’s why it’s smart to stay vigilant)

When it comes to managing our money, and staying out of financial trouble, Kiwis are beating the Aussies hands down, according to new analysis we’ve run, which shows that the number of people declaring bankruptcy has reached a five-year-low, dropping by 15% last year compared to 2016. And if that isn’t enough cause for celebration, we have approximately half the number of bankruptcies, per capita, compared with our friends across the ditch. CreditSimple.co.nz spokesperson Hazel Phillips said the five-year bankruptcy…

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hand holding burning money
Are your finances on FIRE? (That’s Financially Independent, Retiring Early)

If you’re anything like the average Kiwi, you see retirement as something that happens after you turn 65 (or, *cough*, 67). You stop working, live off the pension, and you’re Officially Retired. But it doesn’t have to be that way, and there are people all over the world challenging ideas about post-65 life. Here’s five things you should know about the New Retirement. Your finances can be on FIRE One of the ‘new ways’ is called FIRE  –  Financially Independent…

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Rental arithmetic: Turn your stuff into money without selling it

It’s about this time of year, usually just after the last of the Christmas ham has been scoffed and the cherries are a distant sticky memory, that our thoughts turn to money. As in: how can we have more? And how will that work without grovelling for a pay rise from Bossy McBossface? One solution is to have a good fossick around the house, spy some unwanted stuff and sell it on Trade Me. Which is great, but once you’ve…

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How we grew our savings while shrinking our liquor cabinet

This year we paid someone to stalk us for our own financial good. Pippa is our enableMe financial personal trainer and we know she’s always watching what we spend. We also know that we’re going to have justify any shenanigans if we go too far over budget because when we met Pippa in April we agreed to: set savings targets set budgets for everything, including the pub set up joint bank accounts write wills use a programme to track our…

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Students looking horrified at screen
Two thirds of uni students are being haunted by the ghost of their student overdrafts, research shows

Interest-free overdrafts while you’re a student might be tempting, but new research we commissioned shows 66 per cent of tertiary students aren’t paying back their interest-free overdrafts before leaving university, and an alarming nine per cent took more than two years to pay their overdraft back now.  Students are going into university knowing they will likely be faced with a large ‘interest-free’ IRD bill at the end of it. However, the research suggests this ‘interest-free’ appeal is making student finance…

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