Updates and Insights

Read our blogs for the latest market news, opinions and guides.

Finance

The financial outlook is looking bright – OCR cut to 4.25%

Today, the RBNZ cut the OCR to 4.25%, reducing it by 50 basis points. It’s been an active second half of the year, with two OCR reductions in recent months – August reducing 25bp from 5.50% to 5.25%, then 50bp in October from 5.25% to 4.75%. Today is the final change of

How is our Financial Stability looking?

New Zealand house prices have experienced rapid both growth and decline in recent years, the typical boom and bust cycle that we see in the NZ property market. The Reserve Bank of NZ explains in its latest Financial Stability Report, that the drivers are a result of interest rates changes, government policy

Test Interest Rates continue to drop

Competition is brewing, and excitement is rising with major NZ banks continuing to lower their testing rates. As published in the latest Financial Stability Report Nov 24, the Test Interest Rates that lenders use to asses borrowers debt-servicing capacity have fallen from an average 9% to 8% in October. Westpac, ANZ and

Property

Rentvesting – A Home Buying Strategy

Rentvesting is a home buying strategy, which is changing the landscape of home ownership for first home buyers. With housing affordability and interest rates high in recent years, many hopeful home buyers have found themselves priced out of the locations they want to live in. A further setback to some first home

📍You are here on the Property Cycle

Discover the power of falling interest rates and how they impact the Property Cycle. Lower interest rates can open doors for property buyers and create favourable conditions for property investment. What does this mean for you? First up, what is the Property Cycle and what is it used for? The diagram above

Leverage your current home equity to buy an investment property

Every cloud has a silver lining – even in a soggy market. Many homeowners can use the current economic conditions to their advantage, when advised properly. Understand how you can leverage your current home equity to buy an investment property today. The negative effects of the current cost-of-living crisis and plight of

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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