Why are Credit Cards still charging such high interest rates in New Zealand?
Filed under: Banks, Cost of living, General Budgeting, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ, The Book and Website
Call me nuts, but I do wonder: if my mortgages are now at around 6% interest, and the official cash rate in New Zealand is down to an all-time low of 3.5%, why the hell is my Credit Card still carrying a whopping 20.5% interest rate???
Now – before I beat the bank up mercilessly and without cause – I will in fairness say that the interest rate has dropped on the card. It used to be 20.95%. Let’s give credit where credit is due. Not.
Why is this important?
Well, an awful lot of people do not clear the balance on their credit cards each month – so for anyone in this situation – it is horrendous. Personally it doesn’t affect me: since I got my finances sorted I am able to pay off the balance in full and I do not pay interest on my credit card bill – and haven’t for over 4 years.
Do you have a balance on your Credit Cards that you are paying interest on? If you have – get it paid off as fast as you can. You might want to look at getting a new card and transferring the balance to lower the interest rate. Of course, because we are in New Zealand, that still means a hefty 5-10%, but it’s better than 20% charged on most cards. And you do have to remember that New Zealand banks can’t possibly cope without slapping fees on everything, so you will need to pay a yearly fee on the new card.
If you still have consumer debt and you have not started dealing with it – now is the time to make a start. With the financial crisis still ongoing – it pays to get your personal finances in order, and make sure you spend less than you earn. Avalon’s Guide contains two chapters on Debts one of which deals specifically with how to pay them off quickly and effectively.
One of the best things we ever did was stop paying interest on credit cards. And with such ridiculously high rates here – I think it’s a good time to tell the New Zealand banks that this is unacceptable, and for everyone to do the same.
Rant over.
Think and Grow Rich in New Zealand.
Filed under: General Budgeting, Life in New Zealand, Retirement, Pensions and Kiwisaver, Things to do
Last night we went to the first of 10 weekly study groups to read and study the book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. This is being run by a friend of mine, Maggie, of the Success Leaves Clues blog in my blog roll. Her blog contains weekly motivational messages, and a daily quotes, and is well worth a look if you need a bit of a pick me up.
As to the study group – why on earth would you need to go to a group in order to read a book??? Well, I read a lot. An awful lot. I love books, and devour them a quite a rapid rate. And much to my embarrassment, there are two books that I ave never been able to read: The Silmarrillion and Think & Grow Rich. So I figured Maggie’s study group might come in handy. It turns out that in the group, only three people had actually managed to complete the book: Maggie, my hubby and one other member. SO im not alone.
The thing is this is a classic “wealth creation” book; I have read a lot of such books over the past 4 years as I have turned round from being broke to being financially stable. While I may not be wealthy yet, these books have really given me a good start, so it has always been a bit annoying not to have read this particular one.
As usual, there was a mixed bunch: a couple of Property Investors, two students, one happy-to-be-an-employee (hubby – bless him), business owners and out-of-workers. Funnily enough – we were the only migrants other than a Chinese lass. There were certainly a number of Kiwis in the room who wish to “think and become rich”. One day I do hope that migrants to New Zealand will give up on the stereotype that all Kiwis are happy being poor and don’t want to be rich.
There are still spaces left for the Wellington group, which meets in Lower Hutt on Friday evenings. Please do contact Maggie at Success Leaves Clues if you are interested. If Friday night is an indication – this looks like being well worth while.
The Victoria Fires – a bank has a fit of conscience.
At the moment there are any number of ways that New Zealanders can donate to help the forest fire victims in Australia.
One of these was through credit card donations to the Red Cross. Only ASB bank were charging the Red Cross bank fees on these transaction. Which meant that a portion of the money you donate was filling the coffers of a bank – not supporting the people harmed by the fire.
Now – I’m not a fan of the New Zealand Banks insistence on charging bank fees at any time – but this really took the biscuit – and given that it was my main bank doing it – my opinion of them plummeted.
The good news is that ASB has relented and dropped the charges, which brings them in line with companies such as Telecom who are operating the donation phone lines fro free. (This probably has more to do with the fact that it was reported in the paper yesterday and ASB look rather appalling at the moment – than the bank wanting to do the right thing).
From the New Zealand herald.
“ASB bank spokeswoman Debbie Bell said credit card fees are confidential but the bank had decided not to charge the charity after being approached by the Red Cross.”
Also, the Red Cross has publicly stated that 100% of any donation sent to this appeal will be used directly by the appeal. This is actually very important. Any donation will not be used to fund the Red Cross infrastructure, or staffing to deal with the appeal. This is funded by the Red Cross shops and First Aid courses.
We found that when we wanted to donate to previous disaster funds, that some agencies stated that any unused money would be diverted to other causes. The Red Cross having come out and stated quite clearly that money raised for the Fires goes to the appeal for the fires, is a breath of fresh air.
Now – if only ASB would lead the way and drop these ridiculous bank charges for all thier customers!
Please note:
Only donations of money are needed. There is no where to store blankets, food or clothes, so the agencies are asking that these not be sent right now.
Why you need to take note of the Victoria Fires.
Even in the UK, you will probably have seen the harrowing images of the bushfires in Australia. I wonder though how any people really take too much notice. You see, I remember seeing the news reports about wildfires in Australia and California when I lived in the UK, and it all seemed so – well – distant.
This week – not so much. Because at the end of that day – it could happen here. We too carry the risk of losing our homes to bushfires. On my Facebook page – there are a number of friends, including me – who are glad to see it rain. Given that a lot of us come from a very rainy UK – you could be forgiven for thinking we have indeed gone barmy. But we need rain. The ground in the Wairarapa, and all over New Zealand is tinder dry. Our gardens are dry and brown, the paddocks are straw, and the wheat has the lovely golden colour. And it will go up in flames instantly is some twat lights a fire for “fun”.
There have already been 2 serious fires in New Zealand over the past month, as the temperatures soar: one near Nelson, and one in Hawkes Bay.
If that wasn’t close to home enough: we had two fires on the same day, just miles from our house, a while ago. One was contained fairly quickly. The other was a Scrub Fire on the hill in front of our house. Thankfully for us – there is a river in a ravine between us and the hill – but it was a bit too close for comfort. The fire was lit by the farmer who owned the land: he had been stripping back the trees and vegetation on the hill, I presume ready to plant something else. The fires were apparently lit to clear the rubbish, and then all of a sudden – the wind changed direction. What was a legitimate and controlled fire, became a fire that got into the woods and undergrowth, and took over 8 hours to get under control.
Fire teams from all over the area came out, and yes – we did have the Helicopter with the buckets flying down into the river (thankfully there was water in it at the time – not so much now). The fire crews (volunteers) work for free – the farmer pays for the helicopter! We spoke to one of the Firefighters afterwards; he told us that there were a huge number of problems they had in fighting the fire. The main one being lack of water and there is no mains access up on the hill. Water had to be tankered in – in exactly the same way as we do if we run of rainwater in our tanks here.
Coming to New Zealand for a new life is a fantastic idea, and I encourage anyone even vaguely thinking about it to give it go. Just be aware that while on the surface, life might be quite similar; sometimes it’s very different. Simply understanding that you cannot just light a bonfire when you want to; and that fire-bans can be put in place. Be aware of the rules, and don’t end up losing everything. And get your house and contents insured. Just in case.
No insurance company can replace what the people of Victoria have lost. It will, however give them something to start again with.
We need to get our butts off the couch (or from in front of the Laptops) and get ourselves a pump for the pool. Our best access to water is to get it out of the swimming pool: but buckets just wont do it. We have been meaning to do this since we came here – and just haven’t got round to it.
This month has been a bit of a wake-up call.
Can a janitor become wealthy?
Filed under: General Budgeting, Property & General Investing, Retirement, Pensions and Kiwisaver, The Book and Website
Over the weekend, we had some friends round, who are interested in getting out of the Rate Race and sorting out their finances. They have read my book, and we have gone through their budgets and spending habits and had a good old sort out already – but they are now interested in the next step.
So – we played Cashflow. This is a board game based around the Rich Dad, Poor Dad books by Robert Kiyosaki. In it, you are given a profession, with an income after expenses, and with that – you invest in order to get out of the rat race and fulfil your dream.
The four of us picked our profession cards: I ended up as an airline pilot with a Cashflow of $2,600. One of my friends picked the Janitor Card, with a Cashflow of just $650 a month. This is the lowest earning card in the pack. I predicted that the mild mannered Janitor would win the game: and he did.
In fact – no only did he win the game, the rest of us hadn’t even got out of the Rat Race and onto the Fast Track when he did it.
So – why is that predictable? Why do you not have to have a high income to be wealthy?
Because you do not need a high passive income to live on if your expenses are low! The Janitor may have a low income, but he has low expenses: a small mortgage, not many other debts, and when he has a child, the expenses for the child are relatively low (that game seems to assume that the high income earners clothe their children in Baby Gap and send then to private prep schools).
The janitor needed to get a passive income of just $950 to get out of the Rat Race. I needed a passive income of $6,900 to cover my expenses. So basically – if you can cut your expenses; you can retire on your investments quicker.
Not only does the game show that a High Income is not necessary in order to become wealthy – it also shows you how cutting your expenses can affect your outcome. Some expenses in the game – you cannot alter, but you can choose to pay down things like car loans, credit cards and retail debt. Doing that increases your monthly Cashflow and can have quite a positive impact on your game. It also means of course, that you do not need such a high passive income.
If you are thinking of going into investing in any way seriously – I really recommend playing this game. It’s obviously a highly simplified version of real life, but it does teach you a lot about how things work. You can buy and sell shares, property and businesses; you can get downsized; you can have (expensive) children; you get to waste money on Doodads (Rich Dad’s name for anything that wastes your money – like coffee). It is a fun way to learn the basics and to get your head round what you look for in an investment.
Cashflow is a pretty expensive game, so look around for people running games nights in your area. If you can’t find one – contact me and ill see if I can put your in touch with someone running a game.
The Martinborough Fair.
Martinborough is a sleepy town about 20 minutes drive from where we live, famous for having a lot of wineries. And very nice wine.
When I say sleepy – I mean dead. As a doornail. Every time we go there – it is almost as if you are about to see tumbleweeds rolling down the street. Even on the weekends, when people from the big smoke that is Wellington, descend on the Wairarapa in their droves; Martinborough still always seems sadly empty and forlorn.
Except for 3 weekends a year when tens of thousands of people descend on the town. One of those weekends is this one – for the Martinborough fair. It is held on the first Saturday of February and March. (The other weekend is the wonderful Toast Martinborough – a Winery crawl through about 10 of the local vineyards – not to be missed.)
Unlike the Taupo event – this is not a medieval fair, it is purely a Street Market – and a pretty bloody big one at that. It covers the whole of the main town square, with stalls selling everything from furniture to food; clothes and jewellery; expensive stuff and cheap tat.
It really is very very good!
Particularly recommended is to get there early, and head to Scottys Butchers, for a breakfast sandwich with steak, onions, bacon and fried eggs. Not for the faint hearted, but it sets you up for the day. It is VERY hot, so it’s nice to get into the square itself and under the cover of the trees.
If you are in the area, and missed this event – it really is worth trying to get to the next one in March. 
Nia Glassie – the monsters are jailed.
There are just no words that I can write about this. It’s just too disgusting. I personally don’t think the sentences were strong enough, and that not one of the people involved in torturing this little girl should ever be allowed out of jail.
Even in New Zealand – there are monsters.
New Zealand Immigration – are we coming or going?
New immigration figures are out today – which (kinda) tells us how many people emigrate to New Zealand, versus how many people bugger off and go somewhere else (usually Australia). According to the National Business Review, it’s not that good news for New Zealand, with the exodus to Oz continuing. (No idea why – they can’t make coffee properly).
It turns out that a staggering 35,400 more people left New Zealand for Australia permanently, than came from Australia permanently. That is not good news for New Zealand. It’s also an extra 7,400 people that made the move out this year compared to last year – which means its getting worse.
On the other hand, more people arrived in New Zealand from the UK than left. 7,800 in fact. It’s not a huge amount though. What I can’t see though, and as far as I am aware there are no figures you can find: is how many UK migrants go back?
On the whole though – there is certainly a lull in overall numbers of people moving to New Zealand.
Basically – cutting through all the waffle and numbers, only 3,800 more people emigrated to New Zealand last year, than emigrated from New Zealand. Given that the highest figure was over 40,000 in 2003 – it’s a bit of a drop.
One would think NZIS would be a little less draconian and stop mucking so many would be migrants round!
As to why there is such a drop? From what I’ve understood in the past few years of talking to people – it’s simply a cycle. Like the housing market cycle, it all goes round and round, with ups and downs. The problem is that the exchange rate being so bad has put a lot of people off. Your £ just doesn’t go as far these days. Also remember that at the moment, while migrants to New Zealand may be able to get their visas, they are going to struggle to sell their homes in order to come over here. It will change back again some day.
The Taupo Jousting Tournament.
One of the things we really miss from back home in the UK is the medieval fairs that we used to go to. I love our history – mainly because it’s so outrageously gory and interesting. And because we have the worlds most stonking castles. It is something that you just cant get in New Zealand – where the only “castle” is in Dunedin (Lanark Castle) – which may just pass for a small manor house in the UK.
When we first arrived in New Zealand, back in 2005, and I was having the most horrendous homesickness, we found that there was a Jousting tournament being held in Upper Hutt. We couldn’t believe it. Of all the paces to find an “international” jousting festival – you really don’t expect it to be in “The Hutt” (Just north of Wellington).
So we went. For about 5 minutes. It was a bit small, and not what we expected. To be fair – our idea of a Medieval fair is something like the Tewkesbury fair – which is huge. But our biggest letdown was the fact that the market stalls were not in the least bit Medieval. There was a small gypsy market off to the side, and a few food stalls – as long as you wanted a hot dog (a New Zealand hot dog which is a battered sausage on a stick), or samosas, or chips. Where was the spit roast????
So it was with a slight bit of trepidation that we trogged off on the 5 hour drive to go to the Taupo Event this weekend. I can only say that we needed a break, and I was desperate.
I have to say – it was much better. About 5 times the size of the Hutt event, and it was lovely to see so many people dressed in costume. The living history camp looked amazing, and the smell from the cooking fires was just what was needed to bring the place alive. The lack of authentic market stalls still lets it down for me – as there really isn’t anywhere here to buy proper medieval goods. I guess we have been a bit spoiled with being able to buy goblets, leatherwork, pottery and ironwork made by re-enactors for re-enactors. Not to mention the costumes .
And the food and drink were also missing. The Beer tent was selling Export Gold. Not exactly your typical “Gut Rot Fair Special”, and the mead tent had only 2 types of mead. Now I love mead. I can happily be friends with a bottle or two of the stuff – but New Zealand mead just doesn’t cut it for me. It tastes like honeyed water – not like it would blow your brains out! So it looks like I’m going to have to keep importing bottles of Moniack whenever I head back to the UK.
On the whole though – I think the Taupo fair was a really nice day out, and I would love to go again.
The best bit was defiantly the WMD’s – Weapons Of Medieval Destruction. For $5 you could launch missiles from 3 of them. Unfortunately you weren’t allowed to used the “Don’t Point That Thing At My Castle” really big one – but ho hum.
Only in New Zealand – Schoc Chocolate.
About 10 minutes drive from where we live, in Greytown, is the amazingly odd Schoc Chocolate. When I say odd, I do mean it in a good way – as I like all things a bit not-normal.
You see Schoc have taken chocolate eating to a bit of a new level. As well as the normal “truffles” you get in most chocolate shops, they sell amazingly flavoured tablets, or bars.
You can try Cardamom, Lime and Chilli, Geranium, Sea Salt, Earl Grey Tea, Pink Peppercorn, Strawberry and black pepper. And that is just a sample.
The thing that makes this so special, is that Schoc have little Spice Draws with samples of little bits of each chocolate – so you can taste before you buy. How cool is that? And bizarrely enough – even though the little draws are not labelled – they always pick out the right one when you ask for it.
The very best for me though is that they also sell sugar free tablets, and then there the heavy hitting 100% chocolate – SchocBlack. Not for wimps. Perfect for me to use in making the most yummy puddings.
For the Brits out there – their website looks like they may deliver abroad. Prices are not cheap at around $10-$11 a tablet but then this is seriously good chocolate. Not your namby
pamby Cadburys or Whittakers.
I have been known to spend a bit of my Sanity Allowance on this stuff.
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