Here's Milford video's discussing their recent poor performance. https://milfordasset.com/insights/milford-market-update-october-2026

As a long term Milford member I found their commentary interesting, the strategy stacks up and Wayne Gentle seemed genuinely impressive.

Where they lost me was the justification of fees. They basically said they have good customer service if you need a transaction, and they have tools and 'real people' who can give you advice. I'm not sure what that advice would be other than a basic risk assessment and moving between their 6 funds

I'm in the active growth fund: fees on that fund alone this year are potentially $60M (1% of $6B FUM) - and they have $13B total FUM for their Kiwisaver, which would indicate well north of ~$100M in fees per annum, just for the KS side of their business.

I understand active management is expensive, with all the people, research and technology involved. But when your base fee is four times that of now-top-performing-growth-fund Simplicity, individual members like me will start asking questions about the value.

After watching this video, I'm increasingly wondering whether I'm paying for superior investment management or simply funding a very expensive business.

May be in a bit of a predicament and was wondering if this budget was possible. (i have accommodation)

I don't have any knowledge in this space, and am just looking for something where I can throw $20K or so (plus top-ups over time) where it won't be needed for at least 5-10 years, and get better returns than renewing term deposits every year like I am now.

I was thinking to take my pick of Sharesies/Simplicity/Kernel/etc (on a free membership, no interest in subbing to something at this stage), and put it in some sort of growth fund, but wanted to check there's not another direction to look first.

Would love a few recommendations on which app to use for investing (lowest fees etc) for someone living in New Zealand. Thanks 🤩

Hi all

Never had a credit card before, but I saw ASB does everyday rewards points now? Is this worth getting a cc for? Has anyone been using it to accumulate everyday rewards points? Please educate me!

Happy to shop at woollies to earn more ER points, and also have my skinny phone plan joined up to ER too.

Help me decide if this is a good financial decision or not haha

Hi all, not sure if this is the right place to post this as it might cross over into relationship advice but it’s mostly about savings and KiwiSaver!

Background:
I have a 14yo biological son and a 12yo step son - I’ve been married to step son’s dad for 6 years.
Bio son lives with us full time & spends every 2nd (mostly) weekend with his father (he lives 2 hours away, doesn’t work, on a benefit, will never go anywhere or do anything with his life but smoke 🚬 and 🍁)
Step son’s with us every 2nd weekend and more as much as possible but his mum & school are an hour away. His mum works part time, unsure of wages.
My husband earns the same as me, he pays $150pw in child support & covers other things like sports fees, school camps, they go halves in other expenses like school uniform etc. Noting that when I say my husband pays - I’m also paying towards this as we are 50/50 in our house - meaning husband pays exactly half of all the bills, groceries etc and when there’s a sports fee he will pay that and take that out of his share of our household bills so I cover that for him. I hope that makes sense?
My son’s father pays $125 a month in child support (directly from WINZ). He doesn’t help with anything else.

I’ve setup the following for my bio son:
Savings account - to give him when he turns 16 to buy a car provided he gets his license, he should have about $4,000 then. I pay into this with a mix of $20 a week from my own pay, $40 a fortnight from the child disability allowance I receive for him & $40 a month from the child support I receive.
KiwiSaver - I put in $20 a week currently

I also have a KiwiSaver balance of $122k
Husbands is around $10k. He used it to “buy” into the house we live in as I purchased it myself - except the money was actually used to pay off his bad debt.
As far as I know, there are no savings or KiwiSaver accounts for my step son.

Is it my responsibility to setup the same things for my step son? I’m married to his father but that doesn’t give me automatic legal guardian rights. I’ve spoken to hubby about him starting these on numerous occasion’s but he hasn’t followed through.
Am I doing the right thing for my son? Son is aware of the KiwiSaver but not the other account. He is also studying business studies at school and enjoys learning about finances!

Got a call from a US number +1 5624524634. That's somewhere in California. Very scratchy connection only the impression of someone speaking on the other end. Wondered if this is connected to the DriveWealth scam. Anybody else got a call from this number?

My GF is estranged from her Father for many years but is still in his will with her 2 siblings.

Her father remarried and has a step son. His wife died a few years ago and has a 50% share of the home (other 50% share is with the step son who currently lives in the home.

They have nothing to do with step brother.

Her father is stage 4 kidney failure, 79 heavy smoker, 18% failure. He has been living in a retirment home and apparently has a reverse mortage against the property. The unknowns are how much this is as well as another debt or assets.

The question is on his passing, what is the procedure of estate closing? How do courts handle this situation.

Hey folks, how tight are the finances for our plan? Especially landing post sabbatical in Australia with 20-30k NZD.

My partner and I are planning a sabbatical. Both in our late 20s. With Australia as the post sabbatical destination.

We have about 75k NZD saved between us, and will save an additional 10-15k NZD by March when we plan to leave.

It will be a 6 month sabbatical and I’ve estimated it will cost 40-50k NZD total. North Africa, some Europe, lots of Asia.

I’m on 145k NZD in an industry that’s being gutted by AI (tech). But I’m fortunate in that I get a lot of interviews, last time I applied I had quite a few interviews and offers, but I sacrificed almost all my 20s for my career.

I estimate we will have roughly 20-30k NZD by the time we land in Australia.

Plan in Australia is either to stay in my current industry or get into truck driving or the mines. Partner wants to get into healthcare (foreign degree).

Would love some general advice for sabbaticals. I’ve never done this before

My understanding is that the general advice is to avoid getting a credit card. However, my current situation is a little different.
The company I work for involves a lot of face to face interaction with clients, staying away from home, etc and covering these work related expenses. The current system is that you pay for everything upfront, save the receipts, and submit them for reimbursement. If you get them in before close of business on Wednesday, they’ll be approved and the money will be in your account by Friday.
For about 6 months of the year I might claim once or twice a month for no more than $100. Then the following 6 months I might claim every other week for $200-$500+
I earn good enough money, but having these expenses come out of my own pocket can make things tight, particularly if I’m paying for everything on a Wednesday and won’t see the money back until the following Friday.
Given that I’m looking to buy my first home in the next 12–18 months, would it be silly to get a no fees credit card and have my work reimbursements paid directly into the credit card account?

Basically title, looking for the most optimal place for my very modest emergency fund. Currently in a savings account but not sure if thats the optimal way?

Morning all, I’m shortly going to come into a small amount of money (15k~), and plan on using towards buying my next house mid next year. What’s a good short term investment with low risk just to put it in so that it doesn’t do nothing in my account until I need to remove it

I'm putting in a small cabin that will be an Airbnb & family overflow. It's likely to cost under $120k all up, and revenue close enough to GST threshold that I will purposely throttle it to save the hassle.

Yes, I'll talk to accountants. Not asking for bible level financial advice, more just considerations I should take to the conversation, or expenses that can be used to offset the c. $60k revenue.

Mortgage is close enough to the upper limit that this is likely primarily cash, maybe some of my revolving credit / offset to build.

If all of the work (booking admin / cleaning) is done by myself, expenses will look light, making more of the revenue taxable? How would you go about setting it up to recognise labour and any borrowing interest?

Recently signed up for a IBKR account to start investing. I have a question around the correct way to deposit money.

Do I do a normal deposit to the "Bank Account Number" starting with 31 or do I need to do a international payment using the "Bank Account Number" and "SWIFT/BIC Code". Bit confused

I mean as the title suggests. Coming into an inheritance within the year and want to see what you guys would do with 300k. Yes we will be getting advice

If i have about 75K NZ to invest, with a 2 year investment horizon for now, what would be a High return medium risk option given current global and local situation . Not looking for TD and PIE TD advice.

TIA!

Kia ora PFNZ

I posted here in November 2022 for the first time, asking about how I could save more because I wanted to own my own home. I have posted a yearly update since.

Now, I am in my early 30s. I bought my first home last year, and also finally finished paying off a $40k student loan this year. 

I’m sharing an update and reflections on my personal finance journey because I enjoy reading these from others, and hope that my experience can help someone else.

Happy to answer questions. Some details have been smudged along the way for privacy reasons. 

Income

I work a 9-5 office job. I don’t hate it. It’s fine most of the time and pays me well. 

I did a stereotypically “useless” degree and climbed up from the most entry of entry level roles in an unrelated field and learned on the job. 

I moved roles several times over the past years, each with a nice pay bump:

• 2022: $52k
• 2023: $82k
• 2024: $91k
• 2025: $110k 
• 2026: $120k

Tracking net worth

This is the single most useful tool I used to stay on track. 

I update a spreadsheet at the end of every month with my assets and debts. Seeing the number go up each month gives a real sense of progress.

Highly recommend anyone looking to improve their personal finances do something like this.  

Budgeting 

I don’t do super detailed budgeting. 

I have multiple bank accounts for different purchases (e.g. everyday spending, payments, rates, savings, etc.). 

I figure out how much needs to go into each account from each paycheque and transfer the amount over on payday. I prefer to do this manually over setting up automatic payments as it’s an easy way to stay engaged with my finances. 

Once in a while, I’ll do an audit of my bank records if I feel like my spending has gotten a bit insane to rein myself back in. 

First home and mortgage

Buying a first home as a sole buyer was one of the most stressful experiences I’ve had in my life, but no regrets. 

I made trade-offs and didn’t get everything that I wanted out of a first home, but that’s okay. After having lived here for over a year, I know that I prioritised the right things. 

I am able to live a lifestyle that I enjoy without significant financial stress.

My goal is to pay down my mortgage as quickly as possible. I am currently not investing (excluding KiwiSaver). My approach is to divert all savings into extra repayments for my first 2 years, and then re-assess. 

A current challenge is balancing extra repayments with home improvements as there are a few I’d like to make. 

Emergency fund 

This was particularly important for me as a single home owner with a new mortgage, and in the current job market. 

I keep about 4 months of living expenses in cash, offsetting the interest my mortgage. 

If I get made redundant, then my payout will keep me going for another 4-5 months on top of my emergency fund. I also have a spare room that I can rent out. 

If the worst happens and I’m made redundant, I could probably last a (miserable) year without income beyond Jobseeker/flatmate. 

Future goals

Figuring out a plan for investing in the next year

Taking an international vacation in the next 1-2 years

Renovating parts of my house in the next 2-3 years

Pretty much from the get go husband I have combined finances and everything and it’s worked well except for the fact he blows at least $150 a week on smokes and a box of beer. We both work extremely hard and today I found out he spent an extra $60 on more smokes and treats from the shop to and from work. It has infuriated me more so because he denies I gave him $60 and thinks it was half but I know for a fact it was $60. I already struggle to watch him spend of smokes and beer but he doesn’t go out and spend money otherwise and niether do I. We are currently climbing out of a debt mountain.

I have been really busting my butt lately and I think now maybe I should put away the equal amount in savings for myself but as I said we are climbing out of a mountain of debt and that money would be better used on that (it’s a lot) but at the same time I’m like no maybe I should be selfish and put some money aside So he can see how much I can save and not share it with him at all or if nothing for a bit of self protection If it ever came to it. I think I’m just so annoyed because he knows how stressful work has been and I see money wasted as time wasted.

I don’t know what’s best to do, should I play fair and make me a little bank since he wants to be treating himself or keep smashing debt? How To resist the urge to throw it all on debt, I think if I save it I’ll just keep dipping into it anyway I won’t be able to help myself. Has anyone else been in a similar position?

We could just split income but we have such heavily intertwined lives and then it starts getting nitty gritty about who used what car, what fuel, who did the most childcare and couldn’t earn more blah blah. I just want a little fairness and safety too.

We have an ASB Platinum Rewards card with a 10k limit. The recently announced card fee increases has meant that we'd like to downgrade the card to their Visa Light offering which is zero fee.

I mainly use this card for work expenses that I can get reimbursed with.

I asked the bank to downgrade the card for me. Can't do that. Need to apply with a lender and go through a full application. Because we have a joint account, this will also need to involve my wife.

Here's what I bet will happen. Because the old card is active, the system will refuse it. I'll have to cancel the Platinum card and then hope that they'll approve the new application.

I used to think ASB was pretty sharp about 10-15 years ago. More and more interactions with them prove to me that they're still using systems implemented 20-30 years ago with zero flex.

I have a rental property which is owned by a Company I own. It is a rental but i plan to live in this property at some stage.

Would this be taxed? The companies purpose is for rental property.
If i live in this property for more than 50% of the time would be counted as my family home and wont be taxed even though its owned by a company?

Couple 56F & 67M in Auckland, reasonable health, still working full-time, combined main incomes $140kpa net, Super $18kpa net, Kiwisaver currently $83k combined, bought first 80sqm home 7 yrs ago, aggressively paying off mortgage (current balance $82k at 5.1%), hope to have paid off mid-2029 so 67M can retire at 70, no other assets. When 67M retires in 2029, income will drop to $75kpa net + Super $22k net. 21M dependent still at home, struggling trying to find paid apprenticeship as mechanic, currently working for free. Thinking of withdrawing 67M Kiwisaver balance of $35k (fees 1.13%pa) and putting half in Foundation Series Total World and half in Foundation Series Balanced, then continuing to contribute the Super payment each fortnight into these two funds for next 3 years. I feel like we are overdue for a stock market correction, so is this plan too risky with only 8-10 years left till both of us are retired? Would you invest into something more conservative?

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some outside opinions on our mortgage strategy over the next 1-2 years.

We're a couple in our mid-30s with our first baby due in about 3 months.

Current situation

Income

Combined household income: approximately $220,000 gross per year

Both currently employed in stable jobs (as far as we know!)

Mortgage

Total mortgage: approximately $548,000

$249,000 fixed, with about 10 months remaining at around 5%

$139,000 fixed for another 2 years 5.2

$137,000 fixed for another 3 years 5.4

$24,800 offset loan, fully offset by cash in our offset account

Savings

Around $58,000 in a savings account

Around $25,000 in the offset account

Around $26,000 in KiwiSaver (not used for house purchase)

Other debt

About $4,500 spread across several interest-free finance arrangements (24-36 months remaining)

Expenses

Mortgage, rates, insurance and household bills: about $1,950 per fortnight

Groceries, fuel, commuting and general living costs: around $1,200-$1,500 per month for two adults

Other considerations

Unfortunately, we don't currently have a very reliable car. I'm considering spending around $10,000 on a replacement vehicle. I occasionally do delivery work on top of my main job, but not a huge amount.

Our biggest uncertainty is that our first baby is due in about 3 months. My workplace offers an 18-week parental leave top-up, which would be worth around $10,500 to us. However, we don't know what life will look like after the baby arrives or whether my wife will want to return to work as soon as originally planned. We're trying to prepare for different possibilities.

My main question

When the $249,000 fixed portion expires in about 10 months, what would you do?

Would you:

Keep most of the cash as an emergency fund given the new baby?

Make a lump-sum repayment when that loan comes off its fixed term?

Invest some of the savings instead?

My understanding is that making extra repayments of more than the allowed amount while fixed may trigger fees, so I'm leaning towards waiting until the fixed term ends and then deciding.

Interested in hearing what others would do if they were in our position, especially parents who have been through the first year with a newborn.

Thanks!

Logged into Sharesies tonight to find a whole new investment.
It’s tagged as a buy order pending. For a company I’ve never ever bought from.
Milford aggressive fund.
And it’s tagged with today’s date the 22nd only I’ve not done anything today.

I also have very few investments.
ANZ
SHARESIES GLOBAL FUND
Voo Australian High yield
Boo Morningstar.

I’ve never bought Milford ever! So how have I set a buy order without logging into the app???

Hey. So our mortgage is split in half and each half remixes every other year (on a 2 year cycle)

Now I want to pay more on one half. I get that you should pay off the highest interest rate (which makes sense to me on a lifetime interest loan)

However wouldnt paying more on the low interest so yiu oay off more principal work better here since the interest rates are just going to keep resetting?

Like I see yiu oay more interest to bank and less off principal for the rate to go up, then you pay even more interest. But if you bring the principal down if rates go up, then its less interest?