How to read newspapers.
Filed under: General Budgeting, Retirement, Pensions and Kiwisaver, The Book and Website
Our local paper – Wairarapa News had the following piece of fantastic English grammar this week:
The National Government will inevitably have a potential negative impact on the function, fortunes and fate of local government …..
(Wairarapa News Nov 26th, reporter Michael Kopp).
Ok, so why am I blogging about this? Well because its something I’ve noticed a lot over the years since I started actually reading the papers for Economic news, and personal finance information.
That sentence doesn’t say what you are supposed to think it says.
If something is inevitable – it ain’t a potential. Its gonna happen. If it’s only a potential – then it may or may not happen – but it’s not inevitable.
(Unless you are a quantum physicist – in which case you could actually be right – I wouldn’t have a clue!)
So, like I say in my book – READ the article. And learn to weed out the stuff that is designed to make you believe something that isn’t necessarily true.
The above line wouldn’t grab anywhere near as much attention if it said:
Well, the National Government may have a negative impact on local services – but we don’t really have a clue yet, cos they have only been at it for 2 weeks, and we have only just found out who the cabinet are. But come back in a month and we might have some real information for you.
Why do you need an emergency fund?
Filed under: General Budgeting, Jobs & Work, Retirement, Pensions and Kiwisaver
You often hear people saying you should put aside at least 3 months expenses as an emergency fund. So – how many people do you know who have done that?
Not Many? A few? None?
Well, we have a “situation” looming where for the second time since moving to New Zealand – we may need our emergency fund.
The first was when Hubby was “made redundant” from Unisys, after the installation of a new manager who really didn’t like him. (The feeling was mutual). Hubby really disliked the job, and morale in the company was at rock bottom, with staff leaving in droves. (Over the 15 months that he worked there, the staff levels were reported to have gone from 600 to 400).
The redundancy notice came in on the 4th December (our wedding anniversary as it happens – a nice pressie!). Hubby managed to wangle some redundancy pay – so he was the only person to get a bonus that year – but it was only another month’s salary.
It took till April to get a replacement job. This is primarily because a/ He costs a lot to employ and b/ no one cares about looking for new staff in the run up to Christmas and c/ people care even less about looking for new staff during January because the beach is calling.
So for a few months – we had to manage with no income. We still had bills to pay, had to put steaks on the Barbie, and had to pay the mortgage. Without some funds behind us – we would have been stuffed.
As it was – we got through with a sense of freedom and managed to spend quite a bit of time at the beach and Hubby didn’t have to spend all day every day looking for work.
The new job came from IBM, who hubby had worked for for 10 years in the UK. So it was a good fit, and something he really was chuffed to get. Only problem was – IBM were not taking on Permanent staff - but only willing to sign a 2 year contract, to be converted to a permanent hire once you prove yourself (the 10 years in the UK busting a gut evidently did not constitute such proof).
Well, the 2 years are up next April. After 6 months of wrangling – there is still no sign of the promised permanent contract (apparently its stuck on someone’s desk in Asia Pacific waiting for a signature – it doesn’t do to rush these things). So hubby is once again having to look for a new job just in case.
Only this time – we are in a country that like everywhere else is in financial turmoil, so we have no idea at the moment how this will affect the search for a new job. We know we have income till April, but after that – well – your guess is as good as mine.
So once again, I’m immensely grateful to have set aside funds for this. It means we can last till August if the worst happens and the new contract doesn’t appear and it all goes to hell in a hand basket. I’m spending between now and then just adjusting our spending to allow me to add more to the slush fund, so that we don’t have to panic.
Its something we have found really odd about our lives in New Zealand – this lack of longevity in the jobs. I guess after 10 years with the same employer – you don’t really think that you are going to get through 3 in 4 years. We haven’t really got used to the fact that people change jobs so rapidly, and at least in the IT sector, the companies seem to be fine with this.
So yeah – 3 months slush fund. Be different – and be one of the few to get one set up. Then if this whole new-job-needed-every-18 months is not just us – you don’t have to panic – and can spend some of your redundancy time like this:
Being made redundant - Kiwi Style
Simpleology – helping me write blogs – among other things.
Filed under: Getting to New Zealand, The Book and Website
I’m evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they’re letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.
It covers:
- The best blogging techniques.
- How to get traffic to your blog.
- How to turn your blog into money.
I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it’s still free.
I have been using Simpleology for a while now – to really help me get things done and it has made quite a change in how I work. Getting this book published, and getting this website up and running is just one of the things that Simpleology has helped me accomplish.
Their Simpleology 101: The Simple Science of getting what you want is a very worthwhile course in its own right. If you are struggling with the mountain of things you need to organise in order to start your new life – I really think its worth a look. It helps you get all the idea you have out of your head, and sort them out so that you do the things you really need to do to get where you want to go.
You should write a book.
Filed under: Getting to New Zealand, Property & General Investing, The Book and Website
I had to pop the car into the garage today – to get the tyres replaced. The staff in there all know we are property investors, and like to keep up to date with our “exploits” and see how we are doing.
Well we haven’t seen them for a while (which is unusual the rate at which our car demands attention), so they were really interested to know how excited we were at the prospect of falling interest rates. So after five minutes of general chit chat about the state of the economy and how its all going to hell in a handbasket (or not) – one of them said “You should write a book”.
And I said: “I have!”
The look on their face was wonderful. They are very used to the “Odd Brit Family” and our sometimes weird ways – and they think it’s wonderful that we chose to come here and make a new life. We usually end up chatting about the differences in where we come from, and they are just chuffed that we have chosen their little corner of the world to make our own.
You know – I’ve never known anyone who actually wrote a book, not until I came here and got to know a bunch of property investors and work with a Mentor. Now, I know 3 other people – two of them Kiwis and the other a Migrant from Zimbabwe. I think that there is something about New Zealand that just makes people get up and go after what they want. They don’t wait for someone to give them permission to have a dream – they just go for it. All four of us have Self – Published – using the same local company here in New Zealand.
So – why write a book? Well, for me it came down to: why not? Time and again on the Forums, people have suggested I do it, and when I started working with a Mentor, he told me to buck up my ideas and get on with it. It’s not been an easy road, and often quite scary, but there you go. It’s almost ready, just getting those last little bits sorted out so that hopefully you won’t see any spelling mistakes.
So if there is something you think you can do – I also encourage you to go for it. There may be the odd person who doesn’t want you to. Especially with your dream to emigrate. It is such a big step, and it is often the case that someone in your life will struggle with the whole idea of you leaving them behind. But sometimes you just have to do what you have to do despite that.
If you need help – ask for it. If you have doubts – find someone who has been there, done it, and got the T-shirt. And if you have something you think other people need to know – well – you could always write a book 
One of the books mentioned above is Adam Baird’s Take The Plunge Now.
You can download a free copy of Chapter 2 to try it out.
[Edited 22/12/2009, Adam's website is now down and doesn't talk about the 'Take the plunge now' book]
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