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Browsing tag: money

  • December 29, 2009

    December roundup

    I’m definitely liking my bank’s tracking tool – it’s so easy just to go through and categorise transactions a couple of times a week, and it’s in colour! (Yes, I am stuck somewhere in prepubescence, with an attraction to bright colours, shiny things and sugary treats.) At a quick glance, I think our fixed expenses are in good shape, but a couple of other areas look out of whack, namely:

    Dining and bars – ridiculously high this month. It did include around $80 worth of (reimbursable) mystery shops, brunch with the girls, graduation drinks/dinner and a couple of meals T bought while travelling back from Christchurch for work. Still, all those small purchases and weekend breakfasts and the bakery are obviously adding up. At the same time, we tend to spend fun money on food and eating, hence our fairly small entertainment category.

    Clothes and grooming included my haircut, boring things like socks and sunblock, a cardigan for me and a new shirt and board shorts for T (both sorely needed). Plus a reimbursable $50 or so on beauty products (I’m starting to think I should just exclude these from categorisation!)

    Utilities, almost half of that being T’s new phone (my present to him). Other than that, it’s not too bad considering this covers phone, internet, power and cellphone charges.

    Which brings me to my January resolution: Be more aware of food spending! If we’re going to spend that much on food, it might as well be on excellent food rather than Chinese from the takeaway. I’ve been wanting to try out an Italian restaurant, for example (apart from Gina‘s). I also haven’t been to yum cha in a very long time, and I miss it!

  • December 19, 2009

    Kicking the addiction

    Fact: I have a weakness for money management software. Kind of like how some people have a thing for shoes, but way dorkier.

    I’ve tried numerous budgeting programs, most recently Pocketsmith and Budgetpulse, and given up. (Don’t talk to me about Excel. I have a pathological fear of spreadsheets.) Whether they have too many bells and whistles, a lack of flexibility to organise things weekly rather than monthly, or a system that I just can’t figure out, none of them have ever clicked with me.

    I’m just not dedicated enough to get that deep into it. And now that I know and accept that I’m not cut out for detailed tracking tools, I’m going to instigate a selfimposed ban on myself. No longer will I be seduced by colourful charts and promises of fancy whizbang dashboards and integrated calculators.

    I’m sticking with planning my spending with SimpleD, and breaking it down monthly with my online banking transaction tracker. It’s a rather haphazard way to run things (the same could be said for, well, everything else in my life) but it seems to work for me.

    What do you use to manage your money?

  • December 15, 2009

    Bits and bobs

    Kiwisaver – deductions have NOT started – sigh. I did get a letter from Huljich confirming my application…and wrongly assumed deductions would start asap!

    Graduation – I received $100 Australian dollars from my rellies, who were in town last weekend after a trip around the South Island. I spent about half on a nice dinner out with T and saved the rest.  I even wrote them a thankyou note; something I’m stupidly proud of, that I’ve never actually done before!

    My parents gave me a very generous thousand dollars. I always feel strange about accepting things from them. Not so much things like food and other random bits and pieces, but certainly hard cash. I understand they want to help out, and in this case acknowledge/reward what I’ve achieved. But it’s a struggle – I  swing between envying others I know who have a lot of financial support from their families, to fiercely wanting to make it entirely on my own, without any help at all. I try to remember that being independent doesn’t have to mean forsaking gifts, and to accept graciously.

    I’m also happy that I’ve been able to bump up the amount I put away weekly for utilities to $80.

    Finally, I started a travel fund with my first paycheck from my side job – $355 in all, which I’m hoping will pay for a midweek mini holiday to Waiheke later this summer. And they’re dealing with me as an employee, not a contractor, so that cuts out tax dramas!

    (I’m also featured in the Carnival of 20something Finances over at My Beauty and Fashion this week!)

  • December 9, 2009

    XXL shopping

    People always say that men spend less than women, especially on clothes. But that so isn’t true! Krystal hit it right on the head when she says that the way guys shop isn’t conducive to saving. They get in and get out. They go for one thing. And then they leave.

    It’s difficult enough to shop secondhand for guys, let alone in extreme sizes. Outlet stores are also usually out of the extra big sizes. Which leaves T (who’s 6’3, stocky and maybe 120kg) just SOL most of the time. He really hates shopping, and although I love to stalk stores waiting for a bargain, that’s his version of hell. He also really hates to wait for stuff (no delayed gratification here), not to mention that it’s hard enough to find things that fit him, so instead of thinking “let’s wait till that goes on clearance” it’s “quick, snap it up before all the big sizes go!”

    Did I mention he is also really hard on his clothes? He’s the typical boys’ boy, likes to mess around with cars, wrestle, roll around in the mud etc. (Kidding about the last one…sort of). He’s either vegging out being a couch potato, or being super active. Clothing never lasts long – it stretches, rips, gets irreversibly stained, etc.

    His sturdy Dickies are finally giving out, and I’m dreading shopping for him. No $20 pants for this boy, not like me. And he needs a dress shirt or two. And a light jacket. And jeans.

    Anyone got great tips for shopping for an extra large person?

  • December 4, 2009

    Car loan

    We’re slowly making progress towards killing T’s evil car loan…

    As of this month, he brings in anywhere from $160 to $300 a week for now, and anything over about the $200 mark will be snowballed to his car loan (currently about $1000). Paying it back at $31 a week leaves 8 months to go. But if we can add $50 a week to that amount, and if someone buys the last of our Levin parts (useless buyer flaked out and didn’t come through) that could seriously be gone in half the time.

    Living Almost Large wrote about balancing retirement and debt payoff the other day. I’m all for starting early, but he really hasn’t started the former, and there’s no point until at least this car loan is paid back.

    He was automatically enrolled into Kiwisaver earlier this year – at a job that lasted all of one month – and now at least has an account. He’s also received the $1000 govt. kickstart and a couple of weeks of personal and employer contributions. When he can, I’d like to make extra contributions, since anything up to $20 a week will be matched…but I know which is the priority for now.

  • December 2, 2009

    Midweek musings

    I know a girl from the States, an international student over here, with a bunch of different student loans (most of them private). She was featured in an article in our student mag saying that her repayments on all of them, once she graduates, could be around $500 PER WEEK! That’s a full-time wage right there!

    Stories like that make me so grateful to have been given a scholarship. My school was one of many with links to AUT, with two specific scholarships designated just for us. I earned one of them…and can’t actually remember who got the other one. Shame on me!

    I’ve actually been meaning to write a thankyou note to the scholarships office; I finally did that a couple of months ago. I’m not sure if anyone would have even read it, but it was something I felt I should do because I’m going to graduate debt free, which is something not many can say.

    Granted, my savings are pretty dismal. All up I have less than $4k – I’m owed close to a grand by ex-heinous-flatmate which I’ll never see, and a few hundred by T. But I’m going to be putting 4% into Kiwisaver, and I’m aiming to save 20% of my income. If T was working full time, this would be a lot higher, but c’est la vie.

    Just by the by, (tentatively), he’s set his sights on an apprenticeship in automotive fabrication. Next step: creating a knockout CV and approaching potential employers. Any tips on how best to approach a busy workshop – phone, in person, etc, chime in! I’m thinking it would be best to call up, find out who makes the hiring decisions, and try to speak to them on the phone, followed by sending in a CV or a face to face meeting.

  • December 1, 2009

    November spending

    Seeing as ASB has this handy tracking tool, I’m going to start making regular use of it!

    Here’s what November looked like. Debt repayments are higher than usual, as T put an extra $100 towards his car loan, plus an unexpected $20 tax refund that showed up in his account.

    We’re still spending a bit on eating out – definitely need to make sure we’re buying enough on our grocery shops so we don’t run out by the weekend and waste money on takeaways.

    Entertainment includes both of our new cellphones and our monthly topup, and we paid our quarterly contents insurance bill.

    I saved about $250, but excluded it from the graph because it was part of another transaction – otherwise it would’ve shown up as over $1000 saved! That’s the only drawback – each transfer can only be classified to one category, even if you bought, say, gas and food in one swipe. (That’s what weekly roundups are for, though I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be doing those…).

    December will probably look a little out of kilter, what with the silly season and all, but we’re doing gift hampers for our families – baskets have been bought, and we’re planning to bake a lot of stuff – and just need to shop for T’s brother/nieces, and his mother, who’s getting an antique trinket box.

    LINK LOVE

    Carnivals I participated in this week: Carnival of Money Stories – My Financial Dreams’ Edition and The Carnival of Personal Finance #233!

  • November 27, 2009

    Here’s to NOT eating cat food when I’m 65

    Exciting (if dorky) news – I finally joined Kiwisaver!

    I haven’t had my first deductions yet so I don’t know how much exactly it will be, but given that I’m contributing 4% and should make $1320 in an average fortnight, I should be putting in $52.80 per paycheck. After tax this would be $1056, leaving me $1003 take home.

    So in 6 months I should have… $2788, excluding fees, gains and taxes.

    Of this, less than half would have come from my contributions, thanks to the generous initial incentives.

    $792 – me
    $396 – employer
    $1000 – government kickstart
    $600 – tax credits

    Even if my fulltime hours don’t last beyond the next few months, at least I’ll have contributed a decent amount in that time!

    (I would do the math for a year’s worth, but I really, really don’t want to jinx it).

    After a lot of tossing back and forth, I decided to go with Huljich in their growth investment fund.

    Seeing as Kiwisaver is only a couple of years old, none of the funds have much of a track record. But Huljich has performed well, in all of their schemes. I based this off information on fundsource.co.nz and this Morningstar survey.

    I also switched T over to Huljich, moving him from one of the six default government schemes (AMP). Huljich’s high fees worry me a bit, given he’s not actively contributing, but even if returns don’t continue as they have been at least he still got a free thousand dollars in there.

    KIWISAVER 101

    There’s a wealth of Kiwisaver info out there, so I’ve just done a quick roundup here. A quick Google search should tell you anything more you need to know, or Sense to Dollars has done a nice series on joining up and picking a provider.

    Kiwisaver is made up of:

    1. your contributions
    2. your employer contributions
    3. the government kickstart
    4. the government tax credit

    You can contribute 2%, 4% or 8%. Your KiwiSaver contributions are calculated on your before-tax pay, but deducted from your after-tax pay. (Yeah…still scratching my head a bit on that one).

    You also still pay tax on the full amount that you earn. Let’s say you earn $500 a week. You contribute 4% ($20), but will be taxed on the full $500.

    (I definitely recommend the Sorted calculator for playing around with contribution levels and future projections!)

    Your company will make contributions of 2%, and the government will stump up a tax-free $1000 three months after you join, plus up to $1,042.86 a year in what they like to call member tax credits. This is untaxed and will be claimed on your behalf by your fund provider in July each year. If you join KiwiSaver part-way through a membership year (1 July to 30 June), you get a tax credit for the portion of the year that you’ve been a member.

    GETTING YOUR HANDS ON IT

    Withdrawals are tax free. You’re eligible to withdraw funds at age 65. Alternatively, you can withdraw your funds if you are:

    – buying your first house (you can take out your contributions and your company contributions, but not any the government contributions. you could also get a subsidy of up to $5000)

    – suffering significant financial hardship (you can take out your contributions and your company contributions, but not the government contributions)

    – seriously ill or disabled (you can withdraw all of the funds in your account)

    – moving overseas permanently (you can withdraw your contributions, your company contributions and the government $1000 kickstart, but not the government tax credits)

    SIGNING UP

    To sign up, ask your employer for a KiwiSaver employee information pack (KS3) and fill it out. Your details go off to the IRD and you’ll be temporarily allocated to your employer’s chosen scheme, if they have one, or one of the six default KiwiSaver schemes. The IRD will hold your contributions and your employer contributions, and pay interest on them. Within 3 months of your first contribution you get the option to choose your own scheme (this is about the time you get the $1000 kickstart) and will then be enrolled with them.

    OR, you can join directly through your provider of choice, which is what I did. Again, the IRD will hold your contributions for three months with interest, throw in the kickstart after 3 months, and then hand it over to the provider.

    You’ll be automatically enrolled if you start a new job. You can opt out if you do so between 2-8 weeks. This is the ONLY time you can opt out of the scheme.

    If you’re self-employed or not working, you can sign up and make payments directly to your provider. Some have minimum contribution requirements, so do your research if you’re going down this path.

    MAKING A COMMITMENT

    Once you’re in, you’re in life, basically. You can apply for a contributions holiday to the IRD of three months or more. Your employer will stop contributing as well, although you can continue to make voluntary ones.

    There’s no limit to the number of times you can take a contributions holiday and you can renew it at any time. Generally, you do have to wait a year from the time you first join to apply for a holiday, unless you get into dire financial straits.

    Phew! There’s quite a bit to wrap your head around at first, but it’s really not too complicated. I’m going with the set it and forget it route. Given that not only you and your employer contribute, but the government does too, it’s a pretty sweet deal.

  • November 26, 2009

    What are you worth?

    I came across a really interesting post on the TradeMe message boards not long ago on the subject of pay raises. This person was a qualified tradesperson on $20/hr, and had just had a request for a raise rejected. Not having had a pay rise for years, he was worse off in real terms because of inflation. His company also contracted him out on close to $90/hr – sounds about right, that’s what T’s employer used to do.

    It turned into a pretty heated debate, with commenters telling him he was grossly underpaid and no qualified professional should be on a rate less than $50, and others railing against greedy employers failing to keep workers up with the cost of living.

    $50 an HOUR!!! My god, that is a LOT of moolah. That’s $2000 pretax a week or $104,000 a year. I’m right in the average range for an entry-level journalism grad ($30-35,000), and even if I one day work up to a more senior role in subbing or editing I don’t imagine I’d be breaking the six-figure mark. It’s not a particularly lucrative field – maybe I should transition into PR one day? – but to be honest, I have trouble believing my work would ever be worth $50 per hour.

    I do, however, believe everyone is entitled to at least a raise to keep up with inflation. In my entire life (marked by a series of short, casual and part time jobs to date) I received ONE payrise, at the worst waitressing stint I ever did. It was a 50c increase. I was overjoyed.

    Hard work deserves recognition and raises should be based on merit. But we shouldn’t have to work doubly hard to gain a big enough raise every year just to keep up with the ever-increasing cost of living.

    Now that I’m a newly graduated, FT employee – may the situation continue, touch wood – I should have performance reviews and all that jazz along with everyone else. Wages and salaries were frozen last year, but with things looking up, perhaps they’ll see fit to melt the ice a little bit.

    Because otherwise, I’ll have been here 2.5 years, albeit parttime, without one. If I was on the collective contract I would have had two small raises by now. A lot of people at my workplace are represented by the union, but when I moved from evening to daytime hours after a year I switched to an individual agreement as the rate was higher. (For all those who do weekends and shifts, though, the union has a great thing going on with several different allowances and extra payments. It’s all a tad complicated – but at least they get compensation for their odd hours. I think Sundays garner double the pay!)

    What about you – what do you consider a “professional” rate for your industry? Do you think employees deserve cost-of-living raises?

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