Want an instant pay rise? Simply tackle a bad habit.
Studies show smokers average 14 cigarettes a day, and a pack of 20s is $15.50. That’s about 100 cigarettes a week, or 5 packs, which is more than $4000 a year. To read the full article click here
Stuff – 16 March, 2014
Homeowners are being warned to prepare for harder times as the days of low interest rates come to an end. To read the full article click here
New Zealand Herald – 14 March, 2014
For the month of March 2014, the Dunedin Budget Advisory Service is one of four community groups taking part in ‘Good in the Hood’ run by the Z Kaikorai Valley petrol station.
It works like this. From thousands of applications every Z station has selected four neighbourhood groups and will give them a share of $4,000. But how much each group gets is up to you.
When you visit the Z Kaikorai Valley petrol station in March and make a purchase (excluding cigarette only purchases) you’ll be given an orange token. That tiny token is actually pretty powerful because you get to use it to vote for the group you want us to give the money to. The more votes a group gets the greater share of the money they’ll get.
You can do even more good in your hood by jumping into our online Token Hunt. Customers can hunt for virtual tokens and vote online – the ten groups that get the most online votes nationwide will receive even more funding. And because one good turn deserves another you might even stumble across some instant prizes! You can play the game here (don’t forget to vote for us)
What’s the difference between a beneficiary and someone earning $100,000? Not much if they can’t make ends meet.
Every week middle-income families are swallowing their pride and seeking budget advice. They’ve lost jobs or businesses, gone from two incomes to one, or have simply spent their way into debt. To read the full article click here
New Zealand Herald – 1 March, 2014
I noted with surprise a notice in the recent Banking Ombudsman’s newsletter. It stated that The Exchange had been launched.This is a collaborative partnership between banks, financial services providers and government to raise financial literacy levels in this country. The notice goes on to say that many of the complainants they deal with may not have got into strife if they knew how to better manage their finances.
An independent board has been set up but it seems to me to be a waste of time, expertise and money to start from scratch when I know that another programme already exists.
It’s a Financial Literacy programme that’s available in schools and was set up by a working party managed by the then Retirement Commission. What a good place to start teaching financial literacy.But unfortunately I gather it is up to teachers to decide if they want to teach it. Consequently, it is not often taught as schools say their programme is full and they just can’t fit it in and many teachers do not feel comfortable teaching it.But I note with a smile that they do have someone coming in to teach about investments. You might ask, how on earth will people get money to invest if they don’t know how to budget or just don’t budget?
Also NCEA credits have now been developed on budgeting to encourage schools to deliver it as a topic.
Surely the only way to make sure everyone learns about financial literacy is by making it compulsory at all levels in all schools with a progressive level of knowledge. What do you think?
Shirley Woodrow – Executive Officer