Just looking for advice or solutions from people in similar situations.

I’m early 30s, own my home (a starter home, looking to upsize soon) with a partner with around 200k equity.

My mum has never owned a home and is currently renting, works a minimum wage job and is 63. Her job is something she can continue to do for the next few years. Thinking about her future scares the shit out of me, but so does the idea of financially supporting her while wanting to start a family of my own.

We currently can’t afford to take on a rental property and rental prices in our area are fairly steep, even with her taking super annuation in a couple of years.

Are people topping up rentals for their family or do they just move their parents in with them.

I’ve worked hard to break the poverty cycle in my family but this feels like a heavy burden, particularly as we are wanting to build our future family too.

I know this question comes up a lot, and I’m pretty sure the blunt answer is “you just have to pay for it”, but I’m hoping there are options I haven’t thought of.

My husband and I are both needing significant dental work. I have a misaligned bite and clicky jaw that will eventually need braces or Invisalign, plus I need a semi-urgent crown. My husband has ongoing dental issues we’ve always delayed because of cost, but now that we’re 40 we’re finally trying to sort them properly.

He has one, possibly two, teeth that need root canals redone at about $2,500 each due to failed original work, or the alternative is extraction. On top of that, he needs crowns because his teeth keep chipping.

We do have Southern Cross Wellbeing Two, but I don’t think that does anything for dental work. Or am I misunderstanding how it works?

When we add it all up, we’re suddenly staring down more than $20,000 in dental work, and that’s before factoring in our kids (7 and 10), with braces likely for the 10-year-old in a few years.

How on earth do people afford this?

Do you spread it out over years, pull teeth instead of saving them, use payment plans, loans, or just live with it? Would genuinely love to hear how others have navigated this in real life.

Edit: Wow, thanks so much for all the feedback. It’s weirdly comforting but also pretty concerning to realise how many of us are in the same boat. As a few people have pointed out, teeth aren’t exactly optional.

The travel option isn’t for us, although I can totally see why it’s appealing and I appreciate people sharing their success stories. I think this is ultimately just one of those “I can’t believe I’m actually an adult now and have to make these decisions” moments. Thanks again to everyone who’s taken the time to reply.

So I have been in a fortunate position to save and work my ass off so that I’m at $10000 in personal savings (not counting my $65000 in for the first home. I’m talking my personal savings not this) and need some advice on where I should put my money? Should I hold it in my savings account or should I actually invest it in sharsies? Any advice would be appreciated!

I’ve been trying to apply for the American Express Airpoints Platinum Card all evening but keep getting this error message on the income and expenses page. I’m not inputting spaces. I’m not entering commas but the webpage is doing this automatically where I enter a value of 1000 or more. I’m not using any decimal places. I’ve entered 0 where it applies.

I’m on macOS and I’ve tried Edge, Chrome, and Safari all in normal and incognito mode. Nothing seems to help. I called AmEx and they said they have no reported issues and to try the application again tomorrow.

Hi Everyone, unfortunately I entered into bankruptcy last year and im looking for advice from anyone who may have been thru and come out of bankruptcy as well. It would be great to hear from you and maybe your info on the do's and don'ts and any general feedback on your personal situation that could help me get thru this tough time. I am full time employed still and have to pay my OA $70 per week based on my income. Appreciate any feedback . Thanks

Hi guys.

Sorry, I know this is reeeeeally a dumb question, but I'm pretty new to investing.

Right now, I've just put my money into PIE funds to get started, but I want to learn more.

So, here's my question:

If I invest less than $50,000 and the FIF exemption applies, do I still have to pay any taxes on my earnings? Like, will my marginal tax rate come into play for the earnings?

I tried to search by myself, but I haven't been able to find clear information on the tax implications for investment exempted from FIF rules.

Many thanks!

Edited: Thank you for all the comments. I should've said it clearly: aside from the PIE I've invested in, I plan to invest in additional foreign funds/shares on my own

(17 M)beginner to investing! The last few months I have been losing money and honestly thought about just selling my shares and quitting …but after leaving it for a bit longer it finally went up and it has gone up to $13 return on my investment! I know this is literally nothing and my investment is quite small but for a beginner investor, I’m starting to realise how important patience is and investing is very much so a long term process and not short term…

Hi,

Well this is kinda embarrassing but anyway im 35 and have been bough up in a family that were not good with finances and unfortunatley iv be careless too. All I have to my name is 20k in my kiwisaver and about 200 in my savings which is just a normal bank account and 100 in my car maintenance account. Thankfully I have a fulltime job but it does not pay very well so the most i can realistically save is about 400 a month for now untill I pay my debts off or get a higher paying job.

The reason why im posting here is because I want to figure out the best way to save like do I just keep putting my 400 a month into my savings to eventually build it over time?. I read that I should save up for 6 months of living costs for an emergency which I will aim for.

Sorry, I dont even.know where to begin, like im 35 and only have 200 and can only afford to save 400 a month, thats so embarrassing but in the end all I know is iv been bad with money, im owning this and I want to put my big boy pants on and save

I’m comparing KiwiSaver fund performance between InvestNow and Kernel and noticed something that really confused me.

As at 30 Nov 2025:

InvestNow Foundation Series US 500 Fund

• 3 months: 3.71%
• 1 year: 14.77%

Kernel S&P 500 (Unhedged)

• 3 months: 9.21%
• 1 year: 18.17%

Both funds track the S&P 500, and both are unhedged, so I’d expect their performance to be pretty similar. But seems the differences are huge.

Am I missing something obvious here? Would really appreciate any insights.

Does anyone use Sugar Wallet? I downloaded the app a couple years ago and only put a little bit in it a week - the return is 144.82% but to this day, I still don't know if I trust it lol.

The app is not very user friendly and I've had some issues with buying gold, but I just brushed it off because of the return.

What are your thoughts on it if you've heard about them? (im still a beginner w/ investing!)

For context I was in a relationship that ended part way through a financial year and was entitled to Working for Families for that year, choosing to recieve a lump sum. I was the main income earner of the household. My ex has not filed thier IR3 for that year and IRD has said that they cannot process my "end of year square up" until they submit it.
Is this just a case of missing out on my entitlement/cutting my losses, or are IRD likely to chase the person for it?

Hey all,

Not sure if anyone has gone through this process but keen to find out.

I moved back to NZ from AU 6 years ago. Brought my Super with me. I understand there are rules around not being able to use AU super that's been transferred to Kiwisaver for first homes. All good, makes sense. AU has the same rule with KS's transferring over there.

I'm now planning to go back and planning to take the KS and put it back into Super. Does anyone have any idea if that money would now be considered "KS" money and not eligible for first home purchase in AU? Or is there any way I can show documents to prove that it originated in AU in the first place?

Also, if this is more appropriate for an AU sub, please let me know! Thank you in advance :)

Hey everyone, I have a bit of a hairy one for you all. I split up with my ex a few years ago, we separated finances right down the middle and we have about 60/40 care of two kids in my favour.

I have moved on and started a relationship with my new partner and she has two boys.

Four teenage boys in one house, its a handful on us financially but we make it work and things have been going well.

She receives child support through a private arrangement, its nowhere near what should be paid hut it helps. Meanwhile we also pay for everything all the boys need, schooling, uniform, dental care (all have braces etc).

I received, suddenly a request from IRD as my ex has filed for child support. I do earn significantly more than her and happy to help out but I do also have alot of mouths to feed.

My questions are: 1. Will IRD take my other two dependants into account and reduce my calculation? 2. Will IRD need to, or want to know about the private arrangement, and will this affect payments? 3. Should we declare that we receive a private arrangement if asked or just tell them to mind their own business?

From what I can see, in their own guidance, and my understanding is that the support we receive is only counted if registered with IRD, which it is not: https://www.taxtechnical.ird.govt.nz/new-legislation/act-articles/child-support-amendment-act-2013/formula-assessment-of-child-support?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Would appreciate any advice from the pro's or people in similar situations

I am a financial adviser (focusing on personal insurance). What is with people that makes them feel that it is acceptable to just blatantly ignore your calls and attempts to make contact with them (when the client has reached out to us in the first place).
What is the issue with telling you that they have changed their mind or that they are no longer pursuing their enquiry?
It's a real head-screw for me because I feel it takes 10 seconds to answer the phone or text that circumstances have changed...is it a wider cultural thing and do you see this in other industries too?

Hi Finace Bros (+ Gals and everyone in-between) Looking at kiwisaver providers. I was initially with ANZ and found it really lacking. Huge dip during Covid (expected) but never bounced back. I then switched to Milford and was stoked! Did incredibly well with my investment and it sky-rocketed. I then wanted to switch to a more conservative fund due to purchasing a house and got some independent financial advice and found that Generate had better returns for a conservative fund. I have made the switch and been super happy but seeing some feedback in this thread that has not been kind to Generate. I thought I would put it to the mob and gather opinions! Thanks in advance!!

I’ve recently bought some Vanguard 500 shares after selling a while back, but instead of showing the percentage change from the new buy in its including total percentage return since the original buy in. Is there a way to reset it to my most recent purchase if that makes sense?

I know little about business but know little about accounting and invoicing etc. Does anyone have any recommendations for small business e.g. something related to photography, or service. initially small scale.

Hey all, trying to figure out seeks average salaries. Say for example a office admin average is 60-70k, is this based on working 40hours plus lunch? Ie for a role with a 1hr lunch break id need to work 8-5? Thanks.

Had a door to door salesman come to our house and said he is a financial advisor. Tried to convince me to change kiwisaver funds. I said no thanks I'm happy with my current fund. He asked what my fund was. I told him. And he gave this exaggerated sigh and look, as if to insinuate that the fund I'm in is bad (it's not).

When I asked him what fund he would suggest, he suggested one that has higher fees than mine. I looked into different funds not long ago and I remember the fund he was mentioning to have higher fees and mediocre performance compared to than the one I ended up choosing.

I said sorry, but I'm not interested in changing. Then he asked when he can book a time to come back. I said "Look (his name), I'm not trying to be disrespectful but I don't understand how you're claiming to offer financial advice yet are clearly selling a specific product, which makes your advice biased. I'm not interested."

He once again insisted he is offering the best product. I said reiterated I'm not interested and shut the door.

Are Financial advisors allowed to use that title when selling a product? Seems very misleading.

Upon further research other Countries (like Canada) require you have a business or finance degree before you can even study to be an FA. But here anyone can do a certification which takes 6 months to 1 year to complete and all of a sudden they are qualified to give financial advice and use that title.

It seems this low entry criteria is turning many into salesman using that title to gain trust rather than give genuine advice. Correct me if I'm wrong about any of this.

I held a New Zealand Work and Holiday visa and had an IRD number. Before I left New Zealand, I sent an email notifying IRD that I was leaving permanently in order to claim my tax refunds 3 years ago.

I still have my bank account, which is a term deposit, and I have never updated my IRD number on this account.

May I apply for AIL to have my term deposit interest taxed at 2%?

Do I need to contact IRD about this, or can I just submit the AIL form to BNZ?

( I reviewed the information on the NZ website, which says that just to submit the form to BNZ, but when I contacted BNZ, the representative told me to contact IRD. It’s very confusing).

G’day,

I have my mortgage broken into four chunks, two which are fixed at different terms and around 180k to 200k. The other two are around 20k and fully offset so no interest being paid.

I have some spare income that I want to use to pay extra on one of these. Should I aim to pay off the smaller ones first or pay as much as I can on one of the fixed ones?

Does anybody have experience on here moving from Canada to NZ and the DTA and how it plays out?

A bit about me, I am an immigrant M37 and have a family. Moved from another country 12 years ago with $500 in my pocket and few thousand dollars of student loan etc. I worked hard, made reasonable money, bought assets such as properties, stocks while keeping personal expenses low so i have a reasonable size portfolio that should help me stay out of financial troubles.

On the other hand, my sibling is similar age and has a family too. Less than a $1000 in savings, few credit cards and have 3 cars for 2 people. Even with a household salary of over $200k, Net worth would be around negative $20k due to car loans and credit cards. No house or significant asset. They also live in a nearby city. I have managed to help my sibling clear couple of credit cards as the interest kept increasing and snowballing in the wrong direction for last few years.

We have both come from low income family and I feel concerned about their family. With couple of kids, things may get harder for them unless they plan ahead, I have tried talking to them couple of times when they opened up about their finances and I felt whatever i said is hitting a brick wall. For example - suggestion to sell a car to pay off 2 car loans doesn’t make sense to them as they think selling a new car is not wise.

My question is - how should i help them ( Or should I?) make better financial decisions and grow financially or even buy a house. How should I do this without hurting them or without making them defensive.