As each year seems to whizz by faster than the last, just like that, we find ourselves in December again. And what a year it’s been. Only a few weeks to go until the great New Zealand shutdown, where the cities empty out and the beaches and lakefronts experience a brief explosion in population. If you’re […]
Time to (mentally) unplug?
What a time to be alive! Technology has got to the point where your fridge can order your groceries for you. I can’t decide if I love it or hate it… Irrespective of my feelings, all this technology means that we are near constantly ‘connected’. While that has some wonderful upsides – such as a fridge […]
Head winds vs tail winds
Who’d be an economist? Are we about to boom, or straight to bust? Are house prices starting to tick up again, or about to plummet? Is NZ in recession, or have we avoided it? Despite there being an entire industry dedicated to ‘reading the tea leaves’, we are often provided with evidence that those who supposedly […]
Feeling the pinch
It’s official, increasing interest rates are starting to ‘hurt’. While it seems a little perverse that the Reserve Bank’s solution to prices rising too quickly is to raise the price of something, it does appear to be having the intended effect with inflation beginning to fall. Obviously, inflation falling is good news, but how do […]
P is for Productivity
It is often the case that our greatest strength can also be our greatest weakness. This is true in our personal lives as well as business. One of the great things about small businesses is the number-8 wire mentality of just getting the job done. But the flipside is that we aren’t always all that […]
The ‘R’ Word
It’s finally here! It’s official. June saw the feared ‘R’ word go from a prediction to reality, NZ is officially in recession. Which is hardly surprising considering it has been forecast for what feels like an eternity. As a brief recap, this is how we find ourselves with a Reserve Bank actively trying to push […]
Inland Revenue Chasing Tax Debt
The tax man is coming After a few quiet years of cutting a lot of slack during Covid, IRD have now found another gear. They are ramping up both on the ‘recover’ side by chasing outstanding tax debt, and on the ‘compliance’ side by taking a more proactive stance on investigations. Particularly with recovery, it was […]
Happy new financial year!
As another day passes, it seems that there is yet more doom and gloom in the economy. It’s hard to avoid hearing about businesses doing it tough. And more bad news begets more bad news. It’s like we’ve got compounding bad news! But, historically speaking, how tough are we really doing? Well colour me shocked, […]
Happy new financial year!
What a tumultuous financial year the 2023 year was. 2024 looks like it might be more of the same. NZ continues to have elevated inflation, higher (although historically pretty reasonable) interest rates, reducing property prices, trimmed milk price forecast, shortage of labour, excess demand, and a plethora of other factors determining how the year will […]
Injuries and income
Self-employed or a shareholder taking drawings? Chances are that you’ve got ACC’s default cover in place. If you’re unlucky enough to suffer an injury that means you can’t work for a period of time, you would get to find just how difficult it is being self-employed or a shareholder taking drawings and having to claim […]