Recent
News

If we were buying a new appliance or vehicle, we'd shop around. If we wanted some new computer gear or were renovating our kitchen, we'd look for the best deal. So why don't we do that with insurance? It seems many New Zealanders think of insurance as coming in a fixed package at a fixed price, but there are some practical things you can do to save money on your insurances. Here are six hot tips.

Earlier this year this was a glitch with ANZ’s payment system, and a whole lot of New Zealanders woke up on payday to discover they hadn't been paid.

There are a number of key things to remember when driving a car: always put on your seat belt, give way to traffic on the right, and make sure you've read the fine print of your insurance policy documents. These days you’d have to be pretty foolish to drive around without insurance. Damaging your car, or even worse, someone else’s, without insurance is a fast-track to debt. But something so many drivers forget is that even having insurance is not always a get-out-of-jail-free card.

I remember when I was about Intermediate School age (a long time ago), my mother would give me $20 each fortnight and I’d take it to the local building society. It was the mortgage money. Having taken out a mortgage, my parents faithfully paid back the required sum every fortnight until every dollar of the interest and principal were paid off. No thought was given to ways of saving on those mortgage repayments.

Sometimes it’s easy to feel like insurance is a waste of money, particularly if we’ve never made a claim. Before you get to thinking this way, however, remind yourself what insurance is for. When we purchase insurance, we’re purchasing a product. It’s like when we pay for groceries or petrol or a new television. In the case of insurance, we’re buying protection for our assets and for our financial future.

You will have read in the news that banks are tightening up on lending money to home buyers. Not so long ago it was easy to get a loan, now many first home buyers are wondering how they will ever secure the money to get into their own home. There are, however, things you can do to make yourself more suitable for a bank loan. But don't leave these things until the last minute. If you think you may want to purchase a home in the future, think about these things now.