r/PersonalFinanceNZ

Anyone else that still manually tracks their spending each month? Have been doing it for years - a lot of time and work but I still love doing it. Looking for better solutions, anyone got one?

Hey guys so currently I am living in my home which is mortage free and I am considering purchasing a new house now. But before I commit to finding a new home I wanted to ask a question which is a very common dilemma faced by others too. When I find a home I want to purchase should I keep my current home and use the rental income to help pay off my mortgage for my new home, or sell my current house and go into a loan free house? The idea of having rental income sounds really appealing, however, I know it's not all sunshine, as having a rental property comes with its own associated hidden costs, insaurance, fees, etc. And on top of that if my property is damaged I'll usually be the one compensating the cost of repair. I would be pleased to hear any insights from anyone who has been in this postion and what do they reccomend or perhaps what they did!

Kiwi saver -40k

Savings- 7k

Personal loan- 14k left

Credit card-17 k

Combined income 65k job plus side income 25k before tax.

What are my chances?

TIA

I have been putting away $500-700/week for the last 3 years into InvestNow Foundation Series US500 ETF.

I have currently over 100k invested of my own money in this ETF and nothing else.

I know this is purely investing in the US economy and have read many are also investing in the InvestNow TWF as it’s more diverse.

Question is am I ok to keep doing what I’m doing? Or am I losing out for not investing in the TWF ETF?

I have an uncle in Australia who is unwell and is not expected to live long, although he is not specifically dying just now. I have agreed when the time comes to execute his will and arrange his burial. I have to go to Australia to do that. I don't have much money, so he sent me $AUS 5000 in advance for travel and burial and other costs. There's no legal strings to this money but I am NOT going to touch it until he dies, because I will need the money for it's intended purpose. Any left over after is mine to keep.

What advantage can I get from about $NZ5800 that I can't spend? It's in a savings account and I will try to add a little each month. I looked into mortgage offset, but I need a floating mortgage and I don't have that. If I still have this money next June when my fixed term ends, I'll float a portion of the mortgage and do the offset.

Please give me your other ideas. Thanks.

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Update: life expectancy probably more than six months, almost certainly less than five years

Money is for me to travel there and get the ball rolling with deposits etc for taking care of his body. He doesn't want a funeral. I expect the estate to cover the rest, I don't know the exact size of it but I believe there's enough.

I’m fairly risk adverse and this is a small tranche of my mortgage ($185k +/-) but also .3 difference seems pretty big!

Hey everyone, I’m a 23yo NZ investor looking for some direction. Current portfolio is about $85k (up ~62% / ~$54k gains) and I’m investing ~$1k per fortnight. I hold VOO, TSLA, NIO, RKLB in IBKR, and about $12k in Kernel S&P500. I’m basically trying to figure out the smartest long-term approach as I grow this into a $1M+ portfolio.

I’m close to hitting the $50k FIF threshold, so I’m unsure whether I should keep things simple and lean heavily into the S&P500, or go more aggressive. Options I’m thinking about are: (1) stick mostly with S&P500 for consistency, (2) keep my current mix (VOO + a few growth stocks), or (3) go harder into higher growth (QQQ-style allocation / more individual stocks) and just accept FIF tax long-term.

Im currently able to avoid fif tax by using pie fund so its already taxed at 28%, but im also thinking maybe i should invest in higher growth stocks qqq, nsqad, semis, Ai

Main question is: once you’re crossing into FIF anyway, is it better to just focus on maximising growth, or still try to stay more conservative with index-heavy exposure? Keen to hear what others would do in this position long-term.

Hi everyone, please can I ask for any advice based on experience or expertise. I am a NZ citizen who lived in London UK for 18 years until end of 2024. I then came to NZ temporarily and continued working for my UK employer remotely - it was supposed to be temporary (8 weeks) but, the remote employment has continued on. I've also ended up living in NZ longer than planned - 11 months in total since December 2024 (I was also back in UK for 5 months in 2025). I have been paying full tax in UK and did not realise I am classed as a NZ resident (as I bought an apartment here) and eligible to pay tax in NZ. I'm going to seek professional advice and do a tax return to IRD but I'm really hoping (with the Double Tax Agreement) I won't have to pay additional tax for the previous 11 months in NZ. Any advice much appreciated.

Can someone help me understand loan terms please.

When I 1st took my mortgage in 2021 it was in the contract that it was for a period of 20 years. I have shaved off 5 years with paying higher repayments. Leaving 10 years left on the term.

Both loans are due to refix in the next month, the new amount is based on 10 years.

Silly question I know ....I thought it would be based on the remaining 15 years to make up the 20 year agreement that I originally signed with the bank

Am I looking at this wrong?

So many of my clients are slow to pay since I have been with HNRY. I didn’t have this issue when using Xero but clients got reminders prior to the due date which isn’t something HNRY does. Its usually only a day or three late but it messes up my payments that I have to pay such as rent this week. I’m living week to week so have no buffer for these things. I was thinking I should start “editing” and resending invoices as a manual reminder prior to the due date. Would this work or cause issues? Has anyone else done something like this?

Early 30s single. Bought the house in auckland beginning of 2024. Did a major reno (~$40k not sure if relevant here), $530k mortgage left

There have been dramas between the 2 flatmates (they bring in total $365pw) and I’m seriously sick of it, plus have been feeling im subsidizing them on electricity through splitting (have looked at the data, it’s really not me)

Been considering renting the whole house to others and me moving somewhere else (1bedroom unit or studio) but not sure if this is the right thing to do.

If the house can earn $700pw, it can cover 90% of the mortgage excluding insurance and rates etc. Assume no tax due to interest deductibility?

If I aim to find a place around $400pw including bills to move in, I feel like I will be in a similar financial position as current? Do I miss anything here? Or what would you do?

Had a bit of a wake-up call a couple of weeks ago. Life insurance payment of $191 was about to hit and I had no idea. My wife and I have bills spread across ASB, ANZ, Westpac and BNZ — direct debits everywhere, different dates, different amounts.

We were basically relying on memory and hoping we had enough in the right account when things came out. Sometimes we didn’t and had to scramble to transfer money across.

So I built a simple free tool where you just type your bills in plain language like “power $280 monthly on the 24th” and it tracks everything in one place with notifications when something’s due.

Turns out our household has $1,773/month going out across 16 bills. Seeing it all in one dashboard was a bit of an eye opener.

Anyone else juggling bills across multiple banks and just winging it?

Treat me like I’m REALLY dumb because I genuinely don’t get it…

If I see a new house I like… so put in an offer “subject to sale”.. how many days does that usually cover ? Because then I have to list my house to sell it.,, and if the buyer in same boat… sounds long

Otherwise I list my house for sale and get offers but I can’t find anywhere I like…

I don’t get it… what am I missing?

I’ve just seen a place i love but just feels like no point in looking as my house isn’t on the market,,, but I wouldn’t wanna put it on if i didn’t have a place I was keen on..

Hi all,

A while ago I asked my accountant at the time what my tax would look like if I sold some stocks that I've held for a few years. He explained that if I'd held them for a short term, I'd be considered a trader and would have tax to pay. If I'd held them for a long term, I'd be considered an investor and therefor, any tax obligations wouldn't apply.

I've held the stock since Sep 2021, which I guess makes me an "investor". It's now showing a return of 1600%. You can probably guess what I invested in.

Anyway, is it really true? Because I'm an "investor", I wouldn't pay any tax on the returns? That seems bizarre to me and I don't quite beleive it. Surely I must be misunderstanding.....

Thanks in advance

Basically just thought of going to Japan this November. Is it too late to book? Checked a few days ago and found $1.4k return tickets. Jetstar is cheap rn tho but I don’t trust it tbh for international flights.

So my questions are:

1. Is it too late to book? Will ticket price still drop?
2. What’s your experience with Jetstar?

Hey everyone,

Posting this on behalf of my sister who is currently finishing up a Canadian working holiday visa and planning a permanent relocation to New Zealand via Australia.

She has about $4,000 CAD maxed out on a Canadian credit card and is seriously considering just walking away from it to keep the cash for moving expenses. I’m trying to talk some sense into her, but we are finding a lot of conflicting information online about how cross-border debt actually works.

The NZ Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) website has a page that explicitly says a foreign creditor can "lodge your debt with a credit reporting agency" in NZ to stop you from borrowing. However, other forums claim that the Privacy Act protects local credit files from overseas contracts.

Her current plan is to move to back home to Aus or to NZ, work for 12 months to build up local history, and then apply for a standard domestic home loan.

1. The Credit File: If the Canadian bank sells this debt to a global collection agency (like Baycorp or Credit Corp) that operates in Aus/NZ, can that agency legally lodge a collection default directly onto her Australian or New Zealand Equifax/Centrix file? Or does the system block foreign debts?
2. Collection Tactics: We've read about expats getting tracked down and threatened by local collection companies over old overseas debts. Are these just aggressive scare tactics to bully people into paying, or can they actually damage her local credit score without going through a local court first?
3. The 12-Month Mortgage Trap: If she waits a full year in NZ to establish a clean local paper trail (tax records, local bank statements, etc.), will a standard domestic mortgage application automatically flag her time in Canada, or do underwriters only look at your local history unless you manually disclose a foreign liability?

I want to give her a realistic information. Is this a genuine financial time bomb, or do the international systems not talk to each other as much as people think?

Cheers for any insight.