Saving Is SO MUCH FUN

Hmm. Somehow my records show that I've spent less than $1400 so far this month. I've also saved $1340 already. I'm very excited by how equal my saving/spending has been!

Some of that is due to the week and a half I spent in the field for work this month. I still have about $1300 still left in my bank account. I decided to put $1000 more in savings and keep $300 in my bank account for the next week (I get paid next Friday). $300 should definitely cover groceries and possibly a movie next week.

Woo-hoo! With that, I have saved $2k this month towards my first priority goal: Save $3885 NZD to fill up my US EF to $5K.

Previous amount saved: $1712, 44%
Current amount saved: $2712, 70%

God-willing, I should have this goal completed in November at the latest.

The Usual Weekly Spending Report *Now with alcohol!

Well, folks, since I was out in the field for work for most of this week, I sincerely expected to have minimal spending to report. Alas, the weekend presented opportunities that I couldn't pass up.


$53.80 Misc

$60.65 Groceries

Total: $114.45

Rent was also due this past Friday, $420 for a fortnight.

I still have an internet bill and charity and probably a movie and eating out this week to pay for before the month ends, but unless something major happens, I'm sitting pretty.

The grocery spending is for food for this coming week. I bought steak, bell peppers, some potatoes, and salad stuff, as well as bread and some condiments for lunch and some cereal and milk for breakfast.

For misc spending, $7.20 was on postcards of my field areas so I can send my family and friends a little fun update on the cool stuff I get to see and do. The rest of the misc spending was spent in the space of 10 hours last night. New roommate invited me to hang out with her and her friends last night, and while I was still knackered from my field stint, I decided I couldn't pass this opportunity up! We left our apartment around 8:30 pm, took the bus ($1.60) to a pub in Parnell, where my roommate's friend's roommate (oy) was the bartender. I drank a vodka tonic, three Long Islands, and a rum and coke before we left, and...they were all free because of the roommate hookup. Not too shabby. We then moved the party to another bar in downtown Auckland's viaduct area--I paid for the cab ride because I hadn't paid for anything the entire night up to that point ($10). I then paid for one of the four rounds of drinks ($30) and accidentally tipped the bartender because I'm American ($5). For the length of the night, I didn't spend too much ($46.60)!

I ended up walking home at 5:30 am, with birds already chirping. Although, it was Daylight savings time, so it was actually 4:30 am to my body when I went home. It was a good night and I had a lot of fun. And, as I wrote on Twitter, I met some cool financial people! I can't wait to talk budgets with them. :)

Quiet Time

I'm going to get slammed in the face by karma or God or Murphy's Law or whatever for saying this, but: I think my life is going ok. There are some obvious facets to my life that are lackluster (social, for one), but for the first time in a long time, I feel more emotionally stable.

It's very weird; I pride myself on being an emotional rock (in my real life I certainly try to portray that image), but when I look back on the past few years--especially the past 2 years or so--all I can remember is that I felt unsure, unhappy, close to tears, and very emotionally unstable. Scared to try things. Constantly criticized and judged. Stuck in a bad job and a life I didn't like but had no idea how to fix.

Oh man...realization. You know what? You guys have never really experienced me without the BF. When I started this blog in August 2006, XBF and I were in the throes of 'talking' (don't play, I know you guys know what that is...even if I'm super old. Has that stage gotten a new nickname yet?). In November 2006, we were full-on together. And really, this blog has been about him ever since we broke up.

Anyway, I'm without XBF now and finally all ties are pretty much cut (the only things left are working together (unavoidable) and health insurance, which I paid for upfront and get through him until Feb. 2010), I have a new roommate, new officemate, sister is doing AMAZINGLY WELL, mom and dad are ok, friends are all ok and happy (except for one...but that's been going on for a long time). I have time to focus on myself, not *just* my problems. Great things are going on at work. XBF and cheaterette aren't getting to me so much anymore; I am getting much better at seeing them without the huge emotional fallout now. Finances are ticking along at a satisfactory pace. I can live with my minor health problems and have a list of changes to make things better. I can try some new things without constant criticism; I can do what I want to do and not have to include or hear crap about it from someone else.

(Maybe I am one of those people that is better out of a relationship than in one? Something to ponder...)

It feels quieter, free-er. More stable. GOOD.

OK, Universe: don't hit me too hard for saying all that. But whatever you've got...I think I'm ready.

My Work Inbox System

People are constantly commenting on how organized and clutter-free my work email inbox is.

Here's my system:

• First, I never ever delete ANYTHING. I am amazed at how many times I've had to search for a particular random email containing info that I didn't consider important at the time.

• Emails are put into one of five folders: Project 1, Project 2, Project 3, Misc (admin), or Personal. (My personal folder just contains funny emails that workmates send that don't have to do with a certain project or the business.)

• When I reach my storage capacity, I copy the emails that take up the most room (ie with attachments) to my computer's hard drive. Outlook can open them whenever I need to see them again.

• If an email is about a certain topic that is happening in the future, say, a meeting, the latest OR most informative email about that topic stays in my inbox until that meeting/project/whatever is over. This serves as a reminder to me that it is coming up (I also put it in my diary and in my outlook calendar). I see these emails every day when I turn on my computer and quickly scan the list to see if anything is coming up or important for that day.

• I never keep more than can fit on one screen, ie i don't have to scroll down to see the whole list. People are also constantly amazed that I 'remembered' something they mentioned about a project a month ago, when in actuality I just saw their email sitting in my inbox every day for a month!

• My inbox is consistently emptied. As soon as an email chain is over, I archive the most recent email with the whole conversation thread, unless there's a future action tied to it. If there are many replies without the whole chain, I just save the entire batch.

This system has worked for me for the past 5 years. Do you have a system that works? How could I improve?

Saving Machine!

With my new goals set, a new savings plan chosen, and steady income, I am a saving machine. I was paid last Friday, and after calculating about the maximum I'd need for the next two weeks, I immediately moved $500 to my savings account. I love paydays for just this reason now--instead of, 'Yay, I can go spend!', it's, 'Yay, I can go save!' (NO idea how to do the punctuation marks in that last sentence, sorry!)

This brings my total for my first goal, "Fill US EF to $5K," from $1212 and 31% done to $1712 and 44% done. I also can't wait until the first paycheck in October, when I can deposit more money into the longer term goals.

These slow and steady months are the offset for months that are the crazy. I am very grateful to them, although they tend to be more boring.

It's Easy to Help

Just a collection of click-to-give sites that I've been working on gathering for a while:

http://www.letssaythanks.com/



http://www.freerice.com/



http://www.thehungersite.com/



http://www.neoaid.com/



http://www.hungrychildren.com/



http://www.ecologyfund.com/ecology/_ecology.html



http://www.care2.com/



http://www.therainforestsite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=4

Weekly Spending, Once More

$189.58 total spent this week.

$140 Electricity (it really went up with the new roommate, to $200! I prorated her payment for the time she wasn't in the house)

$25.49 Misc (Ugly Truth, $10; $2 fee to set up auto payment of my rent at my bank; 0.50 in busfare; 12.99 for waterproofing for my field boots)

$16.09 groceries (snacks for field)

$7.70 eating out (popcorn and snacks at the movies)


Total spending for the month is at $1,380.09.

I'm out in the field all this week, so there should be no grocery, eating out, or misc spending next week. Woohoo!

Going Receiptless

I read an article today on Slate: what if stores didn't give you a paper receipt? The article is pro a paper-receiptless world, and makes some very valid points. Everything else has gone electronic, why not this too? Target already has something similar: swipe the credit card that you used to buy the item, and voila! it recognizes you and your item. Returning things there is very easy as a result. And don't those loyalty-card aggregaters use a similar method of storing information on a magnetic strip to be swiped?

The bottom line? The technology would be insanely easy to adapt to this way of life, but the cost is prohibitive and without much benefit to most retailers.

I had several thoughts after reading the article:

a) What if you used cash or a gift card? This way basically restricts your method of payment to a debit card or credit card. If you wanted to use cash, would you have to carry around a magnetic strip card with your email address on it so they would know where to send the receipt? (Easy to fix: add it to the loyalty-card aggregater swipecard!)

b) Obviously it would be wonderful for the trees and landfills. Waste not, want not.

c) Right now, I keep every receipt to review and to match to my bank account or credit card's records. With an electronic receipt method, the author envisioned a database of your every receipt stored with the credit card that you used to buy the item. It would make tracking a snap; gone is the panic of losing an important receipt.

d) On the downside...electronics and databases fail. I can imagine myself forgetting passwords or being internet-less somewhere, desperate to reconcile my receipts with my budget. Or, God forbid, the company or its databases failing and losing all our information.

So, aside from adding to our dependence on electronic information and databases, with Target's method and online buying (where we get email confirmation of our purchase of the new Kings of Leon song on Amazon) we are prime for this transition. I say, bring it on!

Though, it sounds like we have a long while until all stores catch up with Apple's brilliant idea. Enough time for us all to get used to the idea and iron out the wrinkles...

What do you think? Are you pro or con the electronic receipt?

First Hiatus Report

Well, I am back from my first hiatus for fieldwork. It was an exhausting but a fun and educational four days of work, and I didn't get a break--the next day was Monday and I had to start my workweek in the office. Friday I go away again for my second hiatus of fieldwork; it's ten days long and ends on a Sunday, so I will have worked 26 days in a row (Sept 7 - Oct 2) by the time a weekend rolls around! I *may* have to take a day off, eh??

During my first hiatus, one of my bosses, her husband, and my field partner went around to various sites so my boss could show us what to look for when my field partner and I were alone in the field. Actually, we went to several tourist sites that I would have paid to go to in my free time! Instead, I got in for free b/c my boss has the hookup and actually...got paid to go there as part of my work. We got to climb over the fences that rope most tourists off and climb all over the sites! So much fun... AND my boss is an expert so I was given a very educational tour about what we were looking at, which I prefer anyway.

Love. My. Job. And I realize how lucky I am--rest assured, I don't take it for granted that I even have a job.

We do have internet in the serviced apartment we are staying at for each stint of fieldwork, but if this past trip is any indication, I will be totally knackered by the end of each day, and not have much energy to post. I am reading blog updates, though!!

Weekly Spending Report

This past week, I was super busy with work from Monday - Wed., then I was off on a four day field trip for work. Consequently, I only spent money on food for my in-between workdays:


3.50 (snacks)
18.90 (more snacks for the road)
20.27 (groceries for this week--Sunday - Thurs. evening)
44.63 (groceries for this week--Sunday - Thurs. evening)

Total: $87.30 (Groceries)

Better than last week's $453 bill, eh?

I have $200 in the bank now...I get paid this Friday. It makes me nervous, not having a buffer of $600+ in my checking!! I think I have to pay to get 'Dynamic Sweep' applied to my checking account so that if I overdraft my checking, they'll take the remainder from my savings. That should quell some of the crazies that I get from not having that buffer in checking...

A Sunny Christmas

I'm a bit bummed. I don't think I can afford to go home this winter. It will be the very first Christmas I have ever spent away from my mom, dad, and sister, ever. My dad is VERY UPSET.

There are a few reasons why I shouldn't go. Here they are, neatly categorized:

A) Time Off

1. One of my best friends is coming to NZ to visit me next February.
   
2. I think my friend is coming back to pick up her stuff in December. We're definitely doing a road trip (South Island?), but I am going to talk to her to try and get over to Oz while she's Down Under.
3. I may need to go back to the East Coast for a friend's wedding sometime next spring-summer. Not sure yet, but if his wedding is in March and I spend a month at home in December...DOES NOT COMPUTE.
   

B) Money

1. I'm trying to save up to get my mom and sister out here. (My dad can't come because of his illness--he wouldn't be able to make it on a plane for 24 hours, and he has to sleep hooked up to an oxygen machine.) My sister definitely can't pay to come out here, and my mom is struggling to salvage her retirement after the banks stole it all. So, it's up to me. The less money I spend on going back home for Christmas, the more I have to get them out here.
2. Tickets right now are about $500 NZD over my budgeted amount of $2,500. They don't look like they're going anywhere but up anytime soon, either.
   

C) The weather:

1. Except for the Christmas stuff, being at home in the winter isn't fun. Can't go outside, it's too cold. It doesn't snow often, either. I end up just holing up in my room and doing much of nothing while the rest of my family works/sleeps/is in therapy. Friends are usually busy doing family stuff or traveling over the holidays. Bleh.
   
2. Summer in NZ is, to put it succinctly, AWESOME. And short. Winters here are so incredibly depressing. I don't want to miss a month of perfect weather and travel opportunities!

So there you have it. Seven reasons why I should NOT go home for Christmas and New Year's this year. There is only one reason to go home (family), but it is holding its own pretty well against these other very good, logical 7 reasons. Plus, I don't want to be alone on Christmas Day!

Whatever shall I dooooo?

$840 More Saved!

Recently I received a refund of the overpaid rent from my landlord, in the sum of $840. I immediately transferred it to savings. I am 31% of the way to the first goal that I am concentrating on: topping up my US EF to $5000. I currently have about $2800 USD in savings, and therefore have to save about $3385 NZD to make up the difference of $2200 USD.

If the USD-->NZD exchange rate keeps rising, I will have to save less for this goal. Go, exchange rate, go!

$5000 is enough to pay my mom back if she needs to call that loan in, or, if not, I will have almost a year's worth of Roth contributions and a partial EF when I go back to the States.

With that paid out and rent due this Friday, I have about $200 left in my bank account until payday this next Friday. However, I am in the field for most of the next week so I should be ok!

Hiatuses! (Hiatusi?)

After spending so much in July and August, I'll do what I can to stick to the budget in the next few months. It should be easier because I have quite a few weeks of field work and conferences coming up--I'll be away from home, my normal schedule, and possibly my laptop if I can stand it. Blog will therefore be on hiatus (with a few scheduled posts):

Sept. 10 - 14
Sept. 17 - 28
Oct. 11 - 20
Oct. 26 - Nov. 2
Nov. 15 - 19
Nov. 22 - 28

During each of those time periods, work should pay for most of my food/internet/electricity use. Yay!

Picking a Kiwisaver Provider, Part II

I am signing up for the NZ Kiwisaver (possibly). I've gone over the incentives, the tax details, and what happens if I move overseas. This is Part II of picking a Kiwisaver provider (see Part I here). According to Mary, Steps 3 through 7 of picking a provider is to further narrow down your preferred list of providers. In Part I, I eliminated 6 of the 35 providers: Asteron, Brook Asset Management, Smartshares, Southland Building Society, Milford Asset Management, and Real Property. Step 3 encourages people to look at the minimum contribution limits when paying the provider directly (I believe that it says in the book that payments made directly to the IRD have to be accepted, but this isn't clear), companies that allow you to be in more than 1 fund at a time, and the companies that have ethically responsible funds. Honestly? I don't really care about any of those traits. I have to move on to Step 4, FEES. She recommends going to sorted.co.nz and plugging in your requirements (risk level, active/passive, etc.). 

 

Steps 5 through 7 are all about the small details: are they Kiwi-owned? how will they communicate with you? how will you get your money out in retirement? does the CEO of the company invest in its Kiwisaver scheme? Again, I do not particularly care about these details--I want it as flexible and easy as possible, though, so I would probably eliminate any company that had a crazy number of rules and didn't allow me to talk to them if I had a question. 

 

So what do I want? From my Roth IRA and 401(k) experiences, I know that I want a no-load index or passively managed fund with high risk, one that invests in international stocks, I want to be able to view my account online at any time, no minimums, I DO NOT want mail every month or quarter or year--I want my statement by email, and I want an expense ratio of 0.3% or lower. I'd like a low annual fee, as well. I want things to be clear and EASY. 

 

sorted.co.nz pointed me to SuperLife's passively managed Overseas Hedged and Unhedged Funds. I have checked out their website, and she likes it! Hey Mikey! From their website: "Investments in passive global share trusts that invest in the shares of the largest companies in the developed markets reflecting the Morgan Stanley Capital International Index (MSCI). This Pool is a passive, index fund of about 1,000 companies. Managed by one or more fund managers appointed from time to time." They charge $2.75/mo admin fee, a 0.1% trustee fee, and either 0.25% or 0.23% on the hedged/unhedged funds, respectively. 

 

I really like how flexible, upfront, and easy they seem to make managing and setting up your account online. Not surprisingly, these passive funds charge the absolute lowest fees in all categories of risk, according to sorted.co.nz. Next up: to hedge or unhedge? How is SuperLife's performance in comparison to other funds? Where would this investment fit into my overall retirement portfolio? Mary suggests writing an email to and calling the company about their scheme to test how quickly and knowledgeably they respond. I'll do that this in the next few weeks as I find time! 

 

*I was looking through my HR package that I received last year, and lo and behold...there's yet another superannuation (retirement) scheme available to me through my company. I am holding off on any more Kiwisaver research while I look into this further.*

 

ooOOoo

 

(*Disclaimer: I AM NOT A FINANCIAL PROFESSIONAL; USE INFORMATION ON THIS BLOG TO MAKE DECISIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK. Funds that are right for me are not necessarily right for you. I am not associated or affiliated with SuperLife AT ALL. In fact, I'd never even heard of them before I started writing this post!) Some information in this post taken from "The Complete KiwiSaver" by Mary Holm, published 2009.

My $500 Grocery Bill

Total Spending for August 2009: $2337.49; See budget here.

$840 on Rent
$517.79 on Groceries
$125.42 on Internet
$61.65 on Electricity
$43.10 on Eating Out
$50 on Charity
$0 on Medical
$80 on Cell Phone
$619.53 on Misc

Spending in the Rent, Internet, Electricity, Eating out, Charity, and Medical categories are all within reasonable limits of the budget, or under budget by a safe margin. Cell phone is overbudget because I came back from my vacation and my phone card, skype account, AND my mobile pre-pay accounts were dwindling or expired; the top-ups there should last another month if not longer.

That leaves...Misc. and Groceries. OH MY GOD. What happened this month? I was on vacation for the first 6 days of August...my spending should NOT have been this out of control!

For Groceries, my only defense is this: I got home from my vacation and le douchebag XBF had come into the apartment and shut off the main electrical switch. Why? I dunno, as a gesture of his undying love? He claims it was an accident. Before I left, I had turned off the hot water main ONLY, but kept the main switch running for...you guessed it...the refrigerator FULL of my frozen meats, frozen veggies, leftover stockpiles, condiments, etc.

So, after a 24-hour flight with no sleep, a three hour long wait through customs and at the baggage claim, another hour long bus ride home, and lugging two very large, very heavy suitcases up a very steep hill, I came home to the most putrid smell imaginable. All of my meat, condiments, you name it in the refrigerator had been rotting for weeks. WEEKS. Can I describe this smell? No, and you don't want me to try, either. It was soooo gross, y'all! I won't say more than this: while cleaning it out, I vomited no less than three times. Ga-hag.

And also, there went hundreds of dollars worth of food. Replacing everything cost me approximately $300 over the next few weeks.

[Plus side? My refrigerator is *sparkling*. I bleached every inch of that sucker to bacterial death. Took every little shelf and tray and assorted other bins out and ran them all through the dishwasher twice, too.]

So that's my alibi for my $500 grocery bill. Don't worry, I let XBF know how pissed I was and told him to forget about me paying him back for the internet bill he had been paying for our apartment the past few months. Hrmph.

The Misc category, I spent $178 on a modem-router, $300 on the migrant levy for my permanent residency, and $141.83 on: renting videos while my internet was down, a birthday gift; salsa class; bus fare; recalling library books; a lightbulb; 4 keys copied for the new roommate; and advertising the room for rent. Most of that I would call unavoidable spending.

Another month in the black but over-budget by approximately $250. Ah well...I can only try next time!

Weekly Spendin, Yo!

This week was costly because: a) I paid my internet bill without any help from any roommates, b) I got my NZ driver's license, c) I needed lightbulbs and random assorted other items for my upcoming fieldwork.

This week, I spent A LOT: $452.70.

$125.42 on Internet
$150.58 on Groceries (still replacing items that were thrown out when the fridge was turned off)
$31.50 on Eating out (thai and pizza)
$144.70 on Misc (5 new CFL lightbulbs for living room; ceiling is so high that landlord has to hire someone to replace the bulbs. Three of five bulbs are currently out but we may as well replace them all so we don't have to have someone come back out in 2 months! also: deck of playing cards, phone/internet splitter, prepaid mailing bag, tshirt and rainjacket for fieldwork, busfare, NZ driver's license fees)

Epiphany Fallout

My epiphany yesterday really got me thinking about how I can restructure my saving so that I'm focusing on one short-term goal at a time, but also saving for retirement and my long-term goals.

The problem with my Crazy Ninja Attack on one goal at a time is that I only focus on the most immediate savings priority. Usually, that will be a short-term (less than 5 years away) goal: saving up to visit my parents in the US, a new laptop, a car, or other travel. In the meantime, I don't save anything for retirement, house downpayments, a wedding (what? it could happen!), or a major OE (overseas experience; you like that, eemusings? :) ).

As demonstrated, my five point palm exploding heart technique totally works on debt and short-term goals. However (sigh), not a dime was saved for retirement while I was working on those short-term goals. Part of that was the fact that legally, I wasn't allowed to contribute to a retirement plan because I wasn't making USD and wasn't eligible for a NZ scheme, but I didn't sock any away for future contributions, either. I absolutely could have had a fund just for that.

Once again, the solution is BALANCE. I need to make long-term goals a priority, AND feel good about saving.

So:

1. I'll first put away $$ for my long term goals ($430/mo as planned).
   
2. The rest of my savings will be concentrated on the most immediate short-term priority ($870/mo).
   

This way, I get to do both. It works out exactly the same; I really hope it is as psychologically satisfying as my prior technique. I guess it really doesn't matter, because it is entirely NECESSARY.

I may also further want to separate out my retirement/long term savings from my short term savings by keeping my long-term in the hard-to-access Raboplus account and my short-term in my Kiwibank savings account. We'll see...for now, it feels good to change my strategy to more appropriately address my emotional needs.

[I am still working out some details about providers for the Kiwisaver series; new post planned for Monday!]

Epiphany!

A-ha! It's taken me 3 years to consciously notice this about myself and acknowledge it, but when it comes to saving (or any other task), I like to concentrate on ONE goal at a time and dump all of my focus into that one task. Man, is that relieving to figure out. Here I thought I was just really bad at saving for long-term goals (I am, but now I know WHY).

Successfully managing a budget and getting financial goals completed is mostly mental: understanding how your mind works, how you manage tasks, and basically, how you attack a project. I am going to have to research this behaviour* further to get more done in my work and personal life, as well.

I've been trying to fit the mold of what I see in the PF world: many goals at once, incrementally contributed to over time. This works really really well, esp. for long-term goals like retirement.

This all came about today because I got paid yesterday and wanted to throw some of that money into savings. My new idea is that I'll sweep the money I don't expect to use into savings as soon as it hits my checking account. Not ground-breaking, not at all a new idea, but NEW BEHAVIOUR FOR ME. (Usually I let the money sit until after the month is over, and THEN sweep it. I'm hoping this new way keeps me more on budget through the entire month.) So after transferring the money to savings, I thought: why not update my savings bars on the blog??

You guys, it was painful. I was so confused. It took an act of God to get me to split up the money into separate pots and update each one. I wanted so, so badly to just throw the entire amount at the first goal I saw. Usually when I update my goal progress bars, I feel so good! Look at all that I just did, with a few little strokes of my keyboard! Instead, I felt anxious, annoyed, and defeated: 'I have so much more to go on each goal! I got almost nothing done this month! That $700 went nowhere!'

So it seems that to get me to feel good about saving again, I am going to have to re-think my strategy once more. I don't know what I'm going to do, but this way doesn't work for me. It goes against all my instincts, and it doesn't feel good. Yet, I have to save for long-term goals like retirement, a house downpayment, etc. I need to find a workaround for this new discovered psychological weakness!


(*Yes, it now looks weird to me to spell 'behavior' without the 'u'...sue me. The other day I called a mailbox a 'postbox,' too. AGHH!)

Getting PAID

I just got an email saying that my payslip was ready. Aaahhh...payday. I love it so much. I don't know why, because it's the same amount every two weeks, and I spend about the same amount every month...but it just feels nice to see things get topped up.

Anyway, this pay period it is even MORE relieving to see it because my landlord hasn't reimbursed me for the rent money I overpaid due to XBF's slipup. I should get $840 whenever she remembers to pay me back. In the meantime, I've already transferred $1450 to savings and I only have $260 left in my checking account...the lowest it's been in a very long time.

(Yeah, I am one of those people that keeps a $500 to $1000 buffer in my checking JUST IN CASE. I know it's crazy, but it helps me feel comfortable and secure.)

Making New Friends and Trying New Things!

[Just to break up the monotony for those of you who absolutely DO NOT CARE about the Kiwisaver, I'm not posting about it for a few days. I am also in the middle of figuring some things out about the Kiwisaver that I am confused about. Check in Monday, Sept. 7 for the next installment of that series.]

It's been a while since I branched out and tried to make new friends. A long while.

In school, it's super easy to find friends and meet people you automatically have something in common with.

After grad school and in California, I hung out with my cousin and her friends, people from work and their roommates, and my roommates and their friends/family. I had something to do every weekend, but seriously--it's not like I had to go further than my family, my job, and my home to find people to do things with! Also, I didn't have a lot in common with most of these people, other than the tenuous connection of sharing the same airspace or genes. I once randomly met some guy off of friendster in hopes of making more friends, and he was really nice and actually pretty cool, but it turned out that I just couldn't handle the fact that he was a stranger that I met off of the internet [GASP!]. I freaked out and didn't go to any of the events he invited me to after one or two hangout sessions.

So the lessons I've learned are that I am a lazy friend-maker and I can't handle meeting people off of the internet.

Here in Auckland, I've pretty much ruled out hanging out with people from work, thanks to the XBF debacle. I don't have any family here (aside from a second-cousin that I've never met before who won't return my emails). And while I hope my new roommate becomes my friend, I don't want to depend on her as my sole source of companionship in the southern hemisphere!

I will add here that I have made some really good friends here through work, but all three of them have left the country--so I'm back to scratch.

In an effort to try to change this awful habit of just hanging out with people who I HAVE to come in contact with, I'm going to try a new social activity or meet a new person every week. Ok, ok...I just remembered that I'm lazy: every month, at least at first.

Two Fridays ago I tried to take a martial arts class. I had to sit out because I am new, but I intend to go back.

Last Friday I took a salsa class, purely by accident--I showed up for the martial arts class but it was unexpectedly canceled.

This week my new officemate arrived in NZ. She seems very nice. I'm counting her as the new person I met for this week. [Mu-ahahah...I'm the only person she knows here. She HAS to be friends with me!]

Trying new things and meeting new people is scary. Especially something like salsa, where I have to dance with guys I don't know, and we have to physically touch. One guy kept accidentally (?) feeling me up during a move where he dips me...that was awkward. But I lived. And I'm happy that I randomly decided to take the salsa class instead of giving up and dejectedly going home because my initial plans didn't work out.

What does this have to do with personal finance? Well, all of those new activities and classes are going to cost money, and once I am busy and happy with a bunch of friends, I will hopefully spend less on things that fill up that emotional hole.

(Other options: go to church, go to a meetup.com event, volunteer, take an art class...anyone else have any other suggestions about where to meet friends?)

Picking a Kiwisaver Provider

I have nothing to go on when picking my Kiwisaver scheme provider. I mean, I've heard of ING, of course, and a few of the banks in New Zealand, but I don't know their reputations. 

 ING is a whole other animal outside of the US, folks. Someone has recommended Gareth Morgan to me and I know that I like Kiwibank, so I'll be looking particularly at GMI and the Mercer Kiwisaver (managed by Kiwibank). That is all the bias I have at this stage. 

  In her book, Holm breaks the process down into steps: 

Step 1: get to know the names of providers. There are many...35 are listed in her book. Four of them charge an 'exit fee': eo, Gareth Morgan, Grosvenor, & Staples Rodway, but they are all less than $50. 

Step 2: Which companies offer the investments you want (ie low, med, or high risk)? I'm young and risky so I know I want a fund with 71 to 100% growth assets. Southland Building Society does not have these funds, so it is crossed off of my list. A summary of international investment allocation is the next little table she provides. Earlier in the book, she lists the market shares by country: US has 400 times the market share compared to NZ. China and Japan are 100 times bigger; France and the UK are 50 times as large. A total of 51 countries have market shares larger than New Zealand's. In addition, New Zealand and Australia's market (which is 10 times bigger) go up and down almost in sync. 

Therefore, I see no reason to invest in Oz- or NZ-only markets. [She then goes on to compare the performance 8 of the biggest markets to NZ over the past 30 years. I won't talk about it here--maybe in a future post--but if you are interested in that kind of thing, it is fascinating. It's worth it to take a look.] Milford Asset Management, Real Property, and Smartshares do not invest broadly in international shares (stocks). That's four of the 35 crossed off right there.  

Next up, Step 3: Contribution minimums/maximums/time limits/one-off payments, options to be in more than one fund, and companies with socially-responsible funds 

 (*Disclaimer: I AM NOT A FINANCIAL PROFESSIONAL; USE INFORMATION ON THIS BLOG TO MAKE DECISIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK.) Information in this post taken from "The Complete KiwiSaver" by Mary Holm, published 2009.

Kiwisaver Taxes: An Introduction

The Kiwisaver is an odd duck to me: you pay taxes on your contributions like in a Roth. When you pull out your money, you don't have to pay any taxes on it (also like a Roth IRA), but unlike a Roth, you pay taxes on the returns as you go along. The Roth is an infinitely better deal. I have no idea how that works, if they take the taxes out every month (like they do in my savings accounts, BLEH), or if it is quarterly, or even annually.

Here is what I could get from Mary's book:

• The highest tax rate on returns is 30%, which benefits people that make over $48K (me, just barely).




• no one pays taxes on the $1K kickstart and the tax credits OR the employer contributions (so they are contributing 2% of your before-tax salary!)




• PAY NO TAX when pulling the money out (Although for us Americans, the US may have something to say about that. Stupid greedmonsters)




• ACC levy is NOT taken out (usually 1.5%)

Next up, a biggie: Trying to pick a provider!

(*Disclaimer: I AM NOT A FINANCIAL PROFESSIONAL; USE INFORMATION ON THIS BLOG TO MAKE DECISIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK.)

Information in this post taken from "The Complete KiwiSaver" by Mary Holm, published 2009.

Heading Overseas With A KiwiSaver

Good news, Tasha!

Even if we leave NZ for good, we get to keep all of the money in the KiwiSaver (including the gov't kickstart and tax credits), as long as we wait until we're 65. If you pull the money out before then, the gov't takes the tax credits back, but you would get to keep any returns made on the tax credits.

Other important information:

• You can continue to make contributions to your Kiwisaver while you are overseas (but you won't get the employer match or the annual tax credit).

• You would have to wait one year after moving somewhere else permanently before you could take the $$ out. The book says that you have to prove that you plan to live elsewhere permanently before they will give you the $$.

Have a question about Kiwisaver? I can look it up in my book and get back to you*.

Next up: Taxes as they affect the Kiwisaver

(*Disclaimer: I AM NOT A FINANCIAL PROFESSIONAL; USE INFORMATION ON THIS BLOG TO MAKE DECISIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK.)

Information in this post taken from "The Complete KiwiSaver" by Mary Holm, published 2009.