Where my returns at?

I had to spend my whole Labour Day weekend close to the house to farewell/welcome flatties and garage renters and deal with all of that nonsense. The bright side of that was, I went over my finances, like I meant to when I was on vacation.

In years past, I saved as much as I could in anticipation of moving back to the US at any moment. I've been on year-to-year contracts, which haven't allowed me to make long term plans for the last 6 years. But I've started my 5-6 year PhD now, so I have some stability, and need to go over everything to see if my plans still make sense.

Am I better off converting my NZ savings to USD and depositing it in my taxable investment account there? Have I allocated my money intelligently? What changes--if any--should I make?

I started off reviewing the facts:

Retirement

I have:

• $19.3K in NZD Kiwisaver. This money is invested in overseas funds, equally in hedged and unhedged accounts. I contribute 3% of my paycheck into this, to get the 3% match from my employer. The government pays the tax on it every year through a tax credit ($521), as long as I contribute enough. The government will not let me cash in any of the tax credits when I emigrate back to the US. If I left it in there after emigrating, and had turned 65, I wonder if they'd let me have access to all of the $$ (including tax credits) if I were overseas?? Questions... (ETA: Yes, at 65 I am eligible for the full amount of my Kiwisaver: http://www.peak.net.nz/index.php?page=super-overseas) Now the only question is if the US will tax me on that money? Does it count as income if it has already been taxed in another country 30 years ago?

• ~$14K in USD in Traditional and Roth IRAs. I am not eligible to contribute anything else to these, or any other, US retirement vehicles. They are with Vanguard, in good index funds with minimal fees.

I have started a taxable US account to try to make up for my meager retirement savings:

• ~$7K in USD in taxable retirement fund. Soon to be $10K and in Admiral shares (lower fees). Next I planned to diversify this account by saving up for another tax-efficient fund ($3K minimum initial investment).

Also:

• I make so little money that my monthly contributions barely grow my retirement balance. I have NO option other than to invest in NZ retirement schemes as the US bans me from contributing to any retirement funds there. 

• My NZ retirement funds returns have averaged 18.05% p.a. over the past 3 years while my rate of return on US-based retirement funds have been 6.4%. (Interesting--I had more faith in my US funds than in the NZ offerings, by far, but the NZ funds are performers. This is a trend across NZ superannuation (retirement) funds.)  

Separate from retirement, I have other funds that address my short and long term goals, all in cash. My goals, after finishing my PhD in the next 6 years, are to:

1. Go on a trip around Europe--and all that entails. I think I've estimated it will take $10K USD, or $13K NZD) for this. I have saved $7.5K for this already.
2. Move back to the US and buy a house with a fenced yard for a dog. I will probably end up in the Pacific Northwest or Northern California, as that is where the organisations I want to work for are located. Either way, housing prices are insane in the several locations where I'd need to live to work at those places. Minimum, I think, would be $500K USD. My salary should increase after obtaining the PhD, so I will probably have to save up for a few/twenty years--but I want to get a good head start on it so that it isn't so daunting when the time comes to start seriously saving! I have also saved $7.5K for this already.

Additionally, I currently have, in NZ cash:

• $10K EF. This will stay liquid (cash) no matter what. It should be enough to buy me an emergency flight home and suspend my PhD/work for 2-3 months while paying all of my bills. 
• Almost $6K in funds that will be used in the next two years to fund my trips home and back. This should stay relatively liquid.
• $5.5K in 'Sanity funds' in case I go drastically overbudget in any particular month, or am at the end of my rope and need a tropical holiday break or therapy or a massage suddenly. These are not emergencies--just mental health savings. I think these should also stay liquid.
• $6K in mid-long-term funds (6 years, but may need to dip into it sooner if I, say, get my dream job early and finish writing my dissertation elsewhere in the world) to fund moving back to the US. Would like a non-Kiwisaver option for this $$...any ideas?

Here is what I am thinking:

POTENTIAL NEW STRATEGY

1. Convert US savings to NZ savings. I currently get 4.6% return on my savings each month in NZ. In the US, I am getting 0.01%!!! Somehow, I hadn't realized it had dropped so low. Ridiculous. It makes much more sense to keep cash savings in NZ, where it will grow faster. I might even think about pulling some money out of USD to convert to NZD, even though I previously already transferred it to USD from NZD in anticipation of my move. I am getting 8 cents a month when I could be getting $32 (!!!).
2. Future House Down payment funds will be placed into my Kiwisaver in a two prong approach: 
1. Contribute a lump-sum of all the saved money earmarked for House Down payment ($300/mo until the end of the year currently). This strategy takes advantage of the amazing returns I seem to be getting in Kiwisaver. The only hitch is that I intend to move overseas in ~6 years, and could cash out my Kiwisaver a year later. The only other way to come out behind with this is if the funds gain less than 4.6% (my savings interest rate) interest per year. This could happen, and then the funds are locked away...is it worth the risk? 
2. I will increase my retirement allotment to Kiwisaver to 8%. This means I'd contribute about $106 more per month to Kiwisaver than I already do. To make up for the shortfall in my monthly budget, I would then decrease my monthly long-term savings from $600 to $500, reducing my monthly house downpayment cash contribution (from $300 to $200). This also banks (haha!) on the fact that I'd see a greater return on that $100 in the stock market than I would in my savings account. There is no tax benefit to contributing more; we pay tax on the gross amount earned no matter how much we contribute, so that $106 is being pulled directly from my monthly income.
3. Instead of saving up money for my taxable account for extra retirement savings, save it in a lump sum and contribute that to my Kiwisaver as well. 

I guess my strategy just involves putting all my money in higher-return vehicles rather than my lower-performing US funds. I do need to be careful about what I put into the Kiwisaver, as that can't be pulled out very easily! I would like an option similar to the Roth in the US: one where I could invest my money for mid to long-term goals, but could easily pull it out if I needed to. I guess a taxable NZ account, similar to the one I have at Vanguard, would do? Any good options out there?

A Little Relief

News on the budget front!

My flat mates are leaving. I've been biding my time until this happened, because I have a deal with them: a fixed amount for rent and utilities. At my old flat, this was a GREAT deal: it reduced my own rent to $110 per week plus paying for 100% of the utilities, which averaged about $75 per week for internet, electricity, and water. I could subsidize my rent further by renting out the garage for $50 pw. That price per week ($135 pw including utilities), for your own huge room, garage parking spot, plus huge lovely sunny windows on both sides of an apartment is impossible to find in the CBD of Auckland. I was so happy at my old place: totally in love with my cheap and cheerful apartment of five years!

But my landlord after the sale of that apartment failed to uphold his end of the deal to keep the rent the same price legally, and a fight ensued. I was evicted and given 90 days to vacate. After about a month of looking, I finally found a new place much closer to work that is almost as good: huge bedrooms, parking spot, sunny on one side part of the day, extra guest bathroom. The price, however, jumped up by $130 pw, and my utilities are higher. I ate the total increase of cost by keeping the same deal with my flatmates as at my old place. It kept me from having to find whole new people, and let them enjoy NZ as they couldn't afford more than that. I was--I wouldn't say happy about this deal, but agreed to not have to deal with the hassle of finding a whole new place plus new flatmates all in the same go. Also, I could rent out the garage spot to help reduce my costs, which *just* made that budget livable.

Plus I always knew they were leaving in a few months. So in June, we moved, and now, in October, they are moving out. I immediately did some math and figured out what I could afford. My monthly outflow of rent + utils will be decreasing no matter what, which is fantastic! :)

I'm now charging $300 per week for a single, and $330 per week for couples. PLUS utilities, of course! If I rent out the garage, I can reduce my rent to about $185 pw, including utilities, to live in the centre of the city, have a huge room, and be a 5 minute walk to work.

I posted on TradeMe and got several great options. I held flatmate interviews over the weekend, and saw two single girls (separately) who wanted the room to themselves, plus four couples.

The weird thing is: no one bailed on me. Everyone kept their appointments--for the first time ever!! And every single person wanted the flat. It seems that the new location and drastically increased price makes it much easier to find reliable, decent people. Who knew?

So now I have some decisions to make. Who do I live with? And what do I do with my extra $$? :) Time for a new budget!

*I notice now that my old/new landlord is renting out my room for $275 pw + utils, no carpark or anything included!!! Crazy!