Do the 5-step savings shuffle....

We need to make a change in our savings habits…quick. Consider our economy. It’s seen better days. Our national treasury is predicting that by 2015, our foreign liabilities will shoot up from a current 78.6% to over 85%. Not good.

We Kiwis have always been a proud type. It’s a no-brainer that “keeping it local” works in our favor. Here’s what could help us out. It’s as simple as savings.

Our national savings is low. Lowwww. Because this rate is basically sleeping on the floor, our country must offer very high interest rates to balance out this debt. In turn, this keeps the national exchange rate high. The ultimate outcome is that we cannot get our amazing exports out there on an international market at a competitive and profitable rate.

This leaves us stuck. But as the can-do culture we are, here are some ways we can help improve our national savings jar…

* Step 1: Keep it local. Seriously. If we want to keep the money in NZ we have to stop throwing money at the imported stuff. Try switching to locally made goods.

* Step 2: Pay it back. Chip in a little of your savings to repay any existing bank debt. The less you owe, the less the bank owes. This means less need for banks to borrow dollars from overseas.

* Step 3: Be a neighbour. If you can, try to use and work with locally owned businesses. If we employ the Kiwis we get to keep the salaries in NZ and not off to foreign owners off in Timbuktu.

* Step 4: Shuffle and save. Open a savings account and save with a NZ bank. This will reduce foreign borrowing and make a big difference in our national savings.

* Step 5: Ex your exes. For those of you investing in NZ businesses, thank you. To make a difference, research and make sure you are investing in a business that exports; is a direct competitor to imports and a business that pays their local employees well.

It’s a 5-step, so save, save, save New Zealand!