kryptonjohn:

 

 

 

I'm a bit skeptical that the government could do business better than the business world. So I think the government needs to look at why the market isn't responding. Sometimes it is the government that is creating the barriers. For example if the OSH and RMA requirements can become burdensome barrier. Sometimes it is anti-competitive behaviour by dominant businesses that are causing the problems.

 

I do see a NZ group has setup in the bulk buying business now: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/103471682/builders-coop-cuts-costs--but-will-consumers-benefit

 

Be interesting to see how that goes.

 

[Edit] as mentioned in the comments GSB etc have been around for ages.

 

 

 

I doubt their buying rates would be much better than what  franchise builders can buy materials at, who already have better buying power. My brother got a franchise builder to quote on a bespoke design, and they came out as the most expensive by far, and wanted to substitute a lot of the materials.

Basically if the government got involved, it would be an SOE, so not government run. Not different from Kiwibank, or pharmac etc, and both of those have been successful in their own right. Kiwibank basically exists to keep the other banks in line and offer competition, and it worked. They probably need to bring in something like that with petrol companies too. 

But yes these OSH and RMA and worksafe, much of which is common sense anyway, has become a huge cost barrier. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a significant percentage in the build price these days.

scuwp:

 

Lotto

 

 

 

Supported by TAB investments to give a balanced portfolio....

mattwnz:

 

Batman:

 

MikeB4:

 

Batman: At the rate things are inflating, saving is the worst thing you can do over the projected long term. Investing something is better. Kiwisaver is investing as long as you're not on the bottom two risk profile.

 

Our current rate of inflation is 1.1%,  saving should still be part of the overall planning.

 

 

don't know. I was saving up for a house, it was 500k in 2015. that house was sold that resold in 2017 for 850k. how many % is that?

 

 

Although it may still be 850k in 5 years time. It is more of a gamble, as property prices are largely tied to what people can afford to spend and the mortgage they can afford to service. Many people will be stretched if the interest rates go up to say 8%. The thing is that wages haven't increase at the same level. You can also only have a maximum of 2 people in a couple working, so the incoming money to service the mortgage is limited. So you only need interest rates to start creeping up and the weekly servicing amount rises,

 

I think real world inflation, if you take into consideration housing and building materials etc, is significantly higher. But they seem to omit these sorts of things. Consumables such as TVs which have dropped in price, seem to help the inflation numbers.

 

House inflation only helps if you downgrade. An average house at $125000 when they were at that level, and is now $850000. The $ is higher but its the same house. Fine if you have 2 or more or downgrade.

Rikkitic:

 

Not. I'm already old. I scrape by okay on my pension, though.

BlinkyBill: Genuinely surprised at the general low level of financial literacy shown in this thread so far, except for Rikkitic.

What would your ideal approach be, other than be old already?

BlinkyBill: Genuinely surprised at the general low level of financial literacy shown in this thread so far, except for Rikkitic.

Yet offers no positive or constructive feedback of your own.

acetone:

 

BlinkyBill: Genuinely surprised at the general low level of financial literacy shown in this thread so far, except for Rikkitic.

 

 

 

Yet offers no positive or constructive feedback of your own.

 

Yes. I took it as sarcastic. There has been a wealth of literacy shown here

Yes, it seemed clear that BB had tongue firmly in cheek.

tdgeek:

 

acetone:

 

BlinkyBill: Genuinely surprised at the general low level of financial literacy shown in this thread so far, except for Rikkitic.

 

 

 

Yet offers no positive or constructive feedback of your own.

 

 

Yes. I took it as sarcastic. There has been a wealth of literacy shown here

 

If that was the case, then my apologies... I shouldn't reply to things on the internet first thing in the morning. 

acetone:

 

tdgeek:

 

acetone:

 

BlinkyBill: Genuinely surprised at the general low level of financial literacy shown in this thread so far, except for Rikkitic.

 

 

 

Yet offers no positive or constructive feedback of your own.

 

 

Yes. I took it as sarcastic. There has been a wealth of literacy shown here

 

 

 

 

If that was the case, then my apologies... I shouldn't reply to things on the internet first thing in the morning. 

 

OTOH you should not need to have to reply to a sarcy post, not your fault. If it was a sarcy post then its a put down on a pensioner who does not have the same immediate need to plan ahead

Always the trouble with a written, online post. Without hearing the tone of voice or seeing the facial expression of the poster you can't tell if the intent was sarcasm or humour. And if the humour is at the drier end of the spectrum it's even harder to tell. I really need to remember to put smiley faces on my posts to avoid this trap.

It's Poes Law.

It's not credible that in this 'net literate geek community there could be anybody unaware of that, thus it's ridiculous to suggest that anybody should assume anything other than a 100% literal interpretation of any comments made, unless it included the tags/emoticons.  I'm deadly serious about this.

Edit: Oh wait - I changed my mind :-)

About 14 years to go until I retire, pretty much the usuals -

• Kiwisaver
• a managed fund (with no fee transparency which bugs me, but we first invested in it 24 years ago without doing a lot of research, and it's a small monthly amount going in and has been performing not too badly in line with the markets, it just sort of sits and does at the moment)
• An unencumbered home
• Some cash in the bank
• Government pension
• Trees, I own a few hundred (might even be a few thousand) through a forestry management company.  This makes me feel quite good as it's a 'green' investment, and at the moment it looks set to return about 9% p/a net (compounded).  Although it is a commodity and will depend on the log prices at harvest time about 7 years from now.  The most frustrating thing about this is, despite owning lots of pine, I still need to part with $20 or so when I go to Mitre 10 for a 2 metre length of 4x4.