Mind(set) over matter It seems that just about every political commentator has shifted their focus to full on ‘kicking the economy when it’s down’. Even property commentators (who make a living off the narrative that the economic conditions are perfect for buying) are conceding that times are tough. And the evidence stacks up – for […]
The Budget 2024
The *yawn* budget In case you missed it, yesterday was budget day. On a good day it can be difficult to get excited by a government budget, and it looks like yesterday wasn’t a good day. There were some tax cuts that were well telegraphed beforehand – more on these below, some cash for building […]
Trust tax rates
If you are involved with a Trust that generates income, the rate of tax is changing for most trusts to 39%. There is an exemption for trusts that generate less than $10,000 in profit and disables beneficiary trusts – both of these stay at 33%. Charitable trusts continue to be exempt from income tax. For our […]
All doom and gloom?
Every headline seems to be doom and gloom at present. Job losses here, belt tightening there. And while the Reserve Bank would have us believe that inflation is getting under control, we now are faced with something (maybe) more insidious – shrinkflation. Shrinking chocolate bars? Grim. Slight sarcasm aside, the underlying data is a little […]
Minimum wage increase
NZ’s minimum wage increases again on the 1st of April 2024. This means if members of your team are paid the minimum, they are about to get a pay rise. The new minimum wage is going to $23.15 per hour. If you’ve got minimum wage employees, then this will be of help Not sure about […]
Online Scams
Don’t get caught! As each month passes, the online world seems to get evermore sophisticated. And by sophisticated, we mean complicated. While ‘online’ has become an integral part of how we live and how business is conducted, nefarious use of this space has more than kept pace with our ability to combat it. Or put more […]
What will this year bring?
Ahhh, summer. A great time to relax, unwind and reflect. And it’s that last one – reflecting – that can be so important to how we fare in the future. Many of us think about what this year will bring – how it could be better than the last; perhaps you want to be more […]
That time of year again…
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 […]