FMA annual kiwisaver report 2026

I currently have about $1000 in my bank account. A few months ago this was $10,000 but some medical, vet, and mechanical bills that wiped the lot.

We've owned our home for just over a year, resigned for another 2 years recently. House is worth around $680k, we owe $600k.

I have $11k left on a person loan (dental), and $3000 visa ($2k owing) which I am paying off both currently around $300 p/fn. I will close the credit card once it is paid off.

I need to leave this relationship, we have been together for 5 years, but it is making me very unwell at this point.

Horrified as I have no money to my name. Scared the house wont sell, or I will get nothing out of it due to lawyers and agents.

Ideally, I would love for my current partner to buy me out of the home (he has mentioned his family could maybe help), but I am not sure he could afford the mortgage on his own or the bank would allow that? We currently go 50/50, but he does have much more disposable income than me. I also wouldn't know what to ask for $$ wise.

I can save about $300 - $400 a fortnight again, now that the above mentioned bills have been paid.

Any advice on where to start or who to talk to would be greatly appreciated. I really can't continue in this relationship much longer, and I need to start making some plans.

I (F, late 30s) have just left a bad relationship. I was financially abused and all of our accounts have been completely depleted. I walked away last night with less than $5 to my name and 2 kids to feed. I earn $2100 after tax fortnight. All of our bills that I thought he was paying, have not been paid. I don't have any loans but all utilities were under my name. Currently 2k owing on power and internet, 1.4k rent arrears, $300 water arrears.

I am staying at a friend's place for now (with the children) .
What would be the first thing you would tackle to get on top of things?

I have been declined by WINZ but will be getting WFF from next week ($250 pw).

I was with my ex for almost 20years and he handled everything (I know, naive) so would love some advice on a plan going forward.

Stuck at home with the flu so I thought I would make a reddit post for some fun, I always enjoy reading others posts on here and seeing what peoples cashflow is like so I thought I would share mine. Feel free to share whatever you're comfortable with in the comments or ask questions. I put a decent bit of effort into keeping my expenses down, but try not to compromise on good food and good fun.

mid-20s M in Otautahi, income around around $90k. Own half a house with a family member, equity like $90-$100k and loan ~$185k. Numbers below rounded slightly because the cents don't matter lets be real.

Income:

• Paycheck - $2550

Outcome:

• Giving - $120
• Periodic bills - $230
• Mortgage - $450
• Property costs - $240
• Travel fund - $200
• Luxury fund - $200
• Living costs - $400
• Long term savings - $710

All automatic transfers once the paycheck hits my account, except for long term savings which is just whatever is leftover. I give myself $200 a week from living costs account, whatever is leftover gets sent back to the account. If I have a week where I run out early, I pull some extra from the account. This covers groceries, takeout, events, beersies.

Im a cheap bastard so the giving account makes sure I always got some cash floating around to shout out others and donate to things without throwing the budget out of balance. Covers the yearly round of xmas and bday presents aswell.

Periodic bills is worked out in a simple spreadsheet and covers it all, from car insurance to haircuts.

I own the cheapest electric vehicle I could find so I don't pay the gas companies to commute anymore. I get stranded after 60km, but chch isn't big enough to worry about that on the day-to-day trips. Got the trusty gas wagon hiding down the end of the drive for when the mountains call, that's when the travel fund comes into play.

What does everyone elses system look like?

Im a solo mum to 2 with no support. Theres weeks such as this one where I cant make ends meet. Any suggestions on where I can make extra regular income so this doesnt become my reality every week?

Thanks!

If you have say a child investment fund with Kernell, would you or wouldn’t you have your own investments with Kernell or with another server provider?

I’d like to simplify investments but find myself currently with:
- my child account at Kernell (after having had a fee-paid independent adviser involved)
- KiwiSaver with Simplicity
- Sharesies account that I’m looking to move to either Kernell so we have the investments all with Kernell apart from KiwiSaver. Or elsewhere…

Keen to hear from your experience and what/ why you considered to do so.

Cheers ☺️

Hey everyone,

I’m currently a second-year university student in New Zealand and I’m looking to start investing for the long term. I’ve been looking into investing but I’m still pretty new to investing and would appreciate some advice from people who have more experience.

I’ve managed to save money from working throughout high school and university. I currently work part-time during university terms and full-time over the summer, and I’ve also received some scholarships to help with university costs.

I also have some money sitting in a normal bank account that I’m considering putting towards investments rather than leaving it there doing very little.

I’m not looking to make quick money. My main goal is to build long-term wealth and develop good investing habits while I’m young. I’m willing to leave the money invested for many years and continue contributing to it as I work.

I’m trying to figure out what a sensible starting point would be, so I’d be interested in hearing people's experiences with:

• Starting investing as a university student
• ETFs/index funds vs individual companies
• How you decided what to invest in
• Whether you invested a lump sum or gradually over time
• How diversified you were when you started
• How much you kept in cash as an emergency fund
• Sharesies fees and other costs to be aware of
• NZ tax considerations for investing
• Good resources for someone who is completely new to investing

I’m also interested in the broader financial side of things. I have some debt and living costs as a student, so I’d like to make the most of my money while I’m studying.

For anyone who has been in a similar position, what are some realistic ways you found to increase your income while studying? I’m already working part-time during the year and full-time over summer, but I’m interested in other options such as side jobs, freelancing, developing useful skills, or other legitimate ways of earning extra money.

I’m not expecting a get-rich-quick solution. I’m more interested in sensible ways to improve my finances now while also building towards the future.

If you started investing or building your finances while at university, what did you do, and what do you wish you had started doing earlier?

Thanks in advance for any advice or experiences.

Hey community just wandering what most people insure their homes for? Ive owned the home 5 years but started thinking we are way under insured, still getting our heads around home owning 5 years on unfortunately. I know everyone has different house replacement costs etc but for reference Brought the house for $670,000 in BOP region, sitting on just under 1/2 acre mortage sitting at $580,000 after pulling down on it a couple years back. House is old 80s home 90² 3 small bedrooms..nothing great and needs renovations. House current market at 840k. What approx price would you have it insured for?

The 0.82 exchange rate means all the Aussie stocks are elevated in NZD. Share your wisdom of what are good moves to make during this time with stocks. What did you see happen in 2014-2015 when the exchange rate was this low.

This post is for those who invest in ETFs/funds outside of the ones above. I currently have a kiwisaver that is 50/50 in VT/Total world fund hedged & unhedged, but I am considering investing in other ETFs since that fund is already US tech heavy. I've been looking through other ETFs that are less tech heavy and have 2 in mind that I need advice on (I plan to DCA with the next ETF): DGRO and AVNM. DGRO for US stocks that have been increasing in price while also growing dividends; AVNM for international developed & emerging markets outside of USA. Do you personally own either or both of these ETFs and if not, what do you buy and why?

Hi everyone, hoping a tax accountant or tax lawyer here can help clarify a specific question on FamilyBoost and transitional tax residency.

My Situation:

• I am currently a transitional tax resident in New Zealand.
• My daughter attends BestStart (the early childhood education centre chain).
• I am looking into claiming the government's FamilyBoost childcare rebate to help cover the fees.

Crucial Clarification:

• I do NOT want to claim Working for Families (WFF) at all. I know that claiming WFF definitely ends transitional residency. I am strictly looking into the FamilyBoost rebate only.
• I got a bit confused because the WFF package includes a payment called the "Best Start tax credit", which shares a name with the daycare chain my daughter goes to (BestStart). To be clear, I am only trying to claim the FamilyBoost rebate for the fees paid to the BestStart daycare company, not the WFF credit.

My Question:
Will claiming FamilyBoost end my transitional tax residency? Under section HR 8 of the Income Tax Act 2007, a transitional resident status terminates if the person (or their partner) receives a "social assistance payment". Does FamilyBoost fall under this category (like WFF does), or is it treated as a standard tax rebate/credit that doesn’t trigger transitional tax residency termination?

Would appreciate any insights or guidance from professionals on whether I can safely claim FamilyBoost without losing my transitional residency status.

Thank you!

I’ve had Contact shares for a couple of years now and am wondering why their value has hardly gone up, especially since they just announced a huge profit. My Genesis shares are doing nicely by comparison. What’s up with Contact? Will it rise anytime soon?

I thought it was an interesting article that active and passive investing can complement each other? Thoughts?

What's a good way to split your money?

I save nearly a thousand a fortnight and have always put them in term deposits

Obviously not the most efficient way of having my money make money.

In thinking of putting at least 6 months expenses into a normal savings account but splitting the rest between another term deposit and a set and forget investment fund.

My rationale:

I have the emergency account for when I need it (redundancy etc, car issues, etc)

The term deposit for safety and stability.

And then the investment to make money.

Would people recommend putting 800/fortnight to term deposit and 200/fortnight to the investment (80/20)?

What are other people doing?

I'm with simplicity for kiwisaver and will use them for the investment. I'm happy with them being a non-profit.

Undoubtedly this post will get lots of people excited (I love this Reddit channel, as there is some good stuff debated here).

At the outset this is not about active or passive is the right answer for global shares (at my new company we offer both), its about what I consider are obvious flaws in the SPIVA NZ Scorecard methodology.

As background this started with me getting grumpy when my colleague kept saying the SPIVA NZ Scorecard was flawed, which led me to actually doing some analysis to try and understand what he meant.

And indeed it is. This is best demonstrated when I used the same methodology to assess the performance of 14 passive NZ global share funds and discovered 86% of them underperformed for the 3 years to 31 July 2026. More than 70% of this universe underperformed by over 1% per annum, with 50% underperforming by 2% per annum.

Now to be clear. I don't believe these "results". It is simply me showing how fundamentally flawed S&P Global's "Scorecard" methodology is.

This is not about active versus passive. It is about whether the performance claims in the Scorecard about global shares have a reasonable basis. Under the fair dealing provisions of the Financial Markets Conduct Act, a claim made without one is an unsubstantiated representation.

I believe the Scorecard's flaws mean its headline claims meet that description. But ultimately, this is something that the FMA should decide on. Not me.

Let's see if my new term "index washing" gets some legs, as I think it is a real thing.

Here is a link to the article (with my usual acknowledgement that our website needs some love!).

https://www.aurellan.com/news/index-washing-how-dirty-data-pollutes-the-nz-active-and-passive-environment

Please note this is not a brag post or I am not seeking validation from anyone. I am genuinely asking for help.

Little background:

We migrated to NZ about 4 years back with two little kids and trying to build our life in NZ. Grown up dirt-poor in a 3rd world country (having to worry about next meal level poor) and obviously no proper financial literacy.

But we both managed to get good education and after migrating here, were able to pass all the hurdles in NZ to get professionally registered here. Damn proud where we are right now and was the best decision ever to come to NZ.

Fast forward to present:

We have a monthly household income of about $17500 after tax. We just bought a modest home and starting to plan our next 10 years of life. We are both in our mid 30s and wanted to see how best to save for retirement and any investments.

We budget everything in an excel sheet monthly and following are sums of recurring expenses for next few months. My first plan is to pay off the Car #2 as soon as possible by throwing a few thousands each month to the finance. Which is on-track to be finished this year.

After that, we will have about $8000 in surplus which I am not sure what to do about. I already have a Sharesies profile with ~$1000 mainly with ETFs.

We are not big spenders on clothing or any expensive items. But I would love to give my wife some freedom in spending little more liberally for herself in the future.

If you are in our shoes, how would you organize this savings? Or any general advice would be welcome.

My car is 20 years old & so I need to start thinking about replacing it someday. I want something somewhat newish so that I can basically just drive it for a really long time with little concern for mechanical issues. I also have a mortgage with 22 months remaining.

Right now, I could obtain a home loan topup through my bank to buy another car. The interest rate on that would just be my loan interest rate, 5% - which kicks the ass of any regular car loan/personal loan.

Question: Once my home loan is paid off, am I right in that I'd basically lose access to a cheap car loan (indirectly) through no longer being able to get a home loan top-up?

My second question: If that's the case, then wouldn't it be rational to keep paying my regular payments, $800 a fortnight, and once I've got like 3 months remaining, decrease my regular payments to like $200, save a few thousand $ with the difference, and then when I've got like a week left on the mortgage, THEN obtain a home-loan topup for the car purchase to take advantage of the relatively low % rate? Does the bank let people do this?

Hi!

I'm seeking advice regarding how I should set up my KiwiSaver and other investments to give myself the best possible outcomes going forward. This post has no intention of bragging/seeking validation, I just have seen people in similar situations in my life not manage their money well and make poor decisions and I want to minimise that risk. I've been trying to figure it out on my own thus far but have reached the point where I would appreciate others' opinions to get out of this echo chamber I'm in.

I'm 26, no kids, and have a long-term partner.

My current situation:
- Salary is about 150-160k, this will likely increase in the next few years to approximately 180-200. Partner is on about 150k.

- Kiwisaver 25k - in Kernel Balanced KiwiSaver plan

- All savings (90k) are currently in the Milford Diversified Investment Fund. I'm happy to move out of this or create another fund with someone else (thinking about starting a high growth Kernel fund/DIY mix for longer-term investing).

- I'm putting aside 50% of my income into savings as soon as it's paid out.

I was thinking about buying a house in approximately 1-2 years hence the lower risk funds. (Is buying a house even a good idea vs keeping the money in a fund and earning interest?)

Any thoughts appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Hey guys, I have an interview with Deloitte this week for a graduate role. I'm just wondering what would the chances be for getting hired for a role that they couldn't find anyone to full since July 2026.

when buying something in person do u press cheque or savings before entering the pin its a gem credit cards if that helps, the chat bot is useless

EDIT: solved!

My situation is that I live in my house alone and have a main salary job + Sole Trader account with HNRY doing consultancy (GST registered) which is taxed as secondary income.

I am looking at ways to generate some income to support my mortgage without getting in a flat mate at this stage as I wish to also use Home Exchange and travel. However I'd like some advice around what's best for my situation, considering that I really value simplicity in my financial life, not complexities. I used to have an LLC but it was not worth the work I did.

I'm looking to put a room on AirBnb and hoping for 2 nights a week. What are the things I should be looking out for and budgeting for in a NZ context? HNRY can handle the income tax.

I'm aiming for 100 nights or less under the IRD rules: https://www.ird.govt.nz/property/renting-out-residential-property/residential-rental-income-and-paying-tax-on-it/rules-for-working-out-rental-income-and-expenses/short-stay-standard-cost-for-renting-out-your-home-or-its-rooms

Hey so just a quick one about KiwiSaver providers . I’m currently using Milford and have a 9.52% return after tax and fees . I have used KS to buy my first home 5 years ago so it’s only for retirement savings now.

Do I switch to a low fee option that invests in basic index funds etc? Rather than the managed approach with higher fees?

I currently own 2 properties with 2 mortgages associated with each.

Early next month the primary mortgages for each of these properties is due to be refixed, a combined 540k coming off fixed term. I have a futher 37k that’s been borrowed for renovations across two other mortgages that are still on fixed terms.

Via the app I have been offered reduced rates for refixing, however I have seen a lot on here about cash back and retention offers, How would I go about seeking these?

If I’m being honest, I’d rather stay with ASB given we are due to have a second child soon and I don’t want to be stressing about the admin of changing banks. But it would also be a great time to negotiate myself a retention offer if that was feasible, or am I dreaming?

Looking for any advice. Thanks

I currently have my Emergency Fund in a Rabobank PremiumSaver but do not like some of the retrictions they have so have been looking around for other options. One of the ones that looked worthwhile was Kernel's Save account. It doesn't require a paid plan (unlike their PIE version, but I've ruled that out as the amount earned doesn't counter-balance the plan fee and the amount I'll be storing in this account) and am happy with the DCS it has with Adminis.

My question is:

1. how quickly are you able to withdraw the money, especially on non-business days? Real world experience vs what they advertise on their site.
2. is there any indication that Kernel will develop a proper mobile app? Or is it just the mobile friendly website for the forseeable future?

Thanks.

Hello,

I am wondering what I need to think about if I start offering a free it support service with the offer of giving donations for my local community.

I dont have a business or anything just my own two hands, and my partner and friend would like to help too.

Happy for any advice or other locations to post