Updates and Insights

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Finance

Unlocking Your Home Equity: A path to Property Investment

The New Zealand property market has long been a cornerstone of wealth building, and for many homeowners, their greatest asset is right beneath their feet—home equity. If you’ve built up significant equity in your home, you may be sitting on an opportunity to expand your investment portfolio by leveraging that equity to

Refinancing Your Home Loan Could Save You Thousands

When it comes to managing your finances, one of the most valuable decisions you can make is to refinance your mortgage. Refinancing is the process of restructuring an existing loan or possibly replacing it with a whole new loan, to achieve better financial terms. You might want to shorten the term, secure

OCR drops to 3.75% – Time to Refinance and Invest in Property?

This week, the RBNZ bank dropped the OCR by 50 basis points to 3.75%. If passed on by the banks, a 50 basis point (0.50%) drop in mortgage rates would reduce the interest paid on a mortgage, lowering the monthly repayments. By refinancing, you could reduce your monthly payments by locking in

Property

Buying Your First Home in NZ? Here’s How to Negotiate Like a Pro

Buying your first home is an exciting milestone, but it can also feel overwhelming—especially when it comes to negotiation. In our competitive property market, knowing how to negotiate effectively can make all the difference in getting a fair deal. Whether you’re buying at auction, through private sale, or negotiating on a new

Revealed: Gender Pay Gap Directly Impacts Property Investment

The 2025 Women & Property Report from CoreLogic highlights that New Zealand women are still underrepresented in investment property ownership due to financial barriers rather than personal attitudes. While women are increasingly participating in homeownership, they continue to lag behind men in property investment, limiting their ability to build long-term wealth through

KiwiSaver and your First Home Purchase

Purchasing your first home is an exciting milestone, and for many Kiwis, KiwiSaver is a valuable tool that can help make first home ownership a reality. If you’re planning to use your KiwiSaver savings to help purchase your first home, here’s what you need to know, including when KiwiSaver clawback fees may

Insurance

Trauma Insurance: Why It’s Just as Vital as Life Cover for Kiwis

Most Kiwis are familiar with life insurance: an essential policy if you’ve got debts to pay and family who rely on you. But many don’t hold a trauma insurance policy despite the fact it’s often just as important as life cover. This gap could leave thousands of Kiwis vulnerable – so what’s

Is Private Health Insurance Right for You? Key Benefits and Considerations

How much would private Health Insurance benefit you? Private Health Insurance is a type of health coverage provided by private companies (rather than the government) to help individuals or families pay for medical expenses. In NZ some of the most popular and well-known brands for health insurance include Southern Cross, NIB and

Redundancy vs. Income Protection Insurance: Understanding the Key Differences

What’s the difference between redundancy & income protection insurance? People often ask our team if redundancy is included in their Income Protection Cover, and unfortunately, it usually isn’t – these are almost always two completely separate policies. It’s really important to know what your insurance policy covers you, and with that in

Lifestyle

How much money do I need for a comfortable retirement?

Life has a funny habit of speeding up once you get through your forties and fifties, and before you know it, 65 and retirement can be staring you in the face – with all the exciting possibilities it represents, once you’re freed from the shackles of work. However, if you haven’t done

Five Tips to Navigating Money in New Relationships

Now, more than ever, we need to be on the same page as each other in a relationship – especially if we’re in a new relationship. Here is Five Tips to Navigating Money in New Relationships. Times are turbulent and there’s a great deal of uncertainty in the air. Interest rates are

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