Changes to rates and thresholds as of 1 April 2013:

Working for Families

The net income level guaranteed by the minimum family tax credit will rise from $22,568 to $22,724.

ACC

The government announced that the 2013/2014 levy rates will remain at their current levels.  However they have introduced three new initiatives:

§  Extended Workplace Safety Discounts

§  Vehicle Classification System

§  Fleet Safety Incentive Programme

We will be following up on these changes in future issues of Wilco, but in the meantime, visit the following website for more information:
www.acc.co.nz/news/WPC116639

KiwiSaver

The minimum contribution rate for employers and employees will rise to 3% from April.

Primary and Secondary School Children

From 1 April 2013 PAYE must be deducted from payments of salary/wages or schedular payments to school children.

Student loan changes

The repayment rate for student loan deductions increases from 10 to 12 cents per dollar earned over the current threshold of $19,084 per annum.

Late summer surge for real estate

The Central Otago Lakes residential property market recorded the biggest increase in sales volume compared to other regions for the month of February.

There were 129 house sales in our district during February, an increase of 54 per cent on the previous February, according to statistics released by the Real Estate Institute recently.

Central Otago Lakes also recorded an 13.9 per cent increase in median price for February. The median price was up $55,000 from February 2012 to $363,750, with Queenstown sale prices accounting for most of that increase.

The district wide late summer surge in sales reflects national trends for February.

Nationally, 6,632 houses sold in February, an increase of 34% on January. The national median house price in February was $382,000.

The number of days to sell in Central Otago Lakes has improved by two days from 49 days in January to 47 days in February. Compared with February 2012, the number of days to sell has improved by 16 days.

Central Otago Lakes REINZ spokesperson, Gail Hudson says the market here continues to improve because there are more committed buyers and vendors are responding by listing their houses and meeting the market on price.

Posted on Wanaka Live 20 March 2013

www.wanakalive.com

Morgan sells to Kiwibank

Economist and commentator Gareth Morgan has sold his funds management company Gareth Morgan Investments to Kiwibank.

The announcement was made in Wellington a short time ago.

Morgan says he will remain a director of the company which runs Gareth Morgan KiwiSaver, and a key member of the investment strategy team.

Gareth Morgan Investments was established by Morgan and fellow economist Andrew Gawith. It manages NZ$1.5 billion, making it one of New Zealand's largest fund managers.

Gareth Morgan KiwiSaver Scheme has total funds under management of $646 million and 57,004 members as at December 2011.

Kiwibank would not disclose the purchase price but said GMI would run as a stand alone operation and become its wealth management division.

Morgan said he initiated the sales process having grown weary of a company which had grown to have 50 staff. ''I don't want top run 50 people _ I can handle 10,'' he said.

He referred to the divesting of that responsibility as getting a monkey off his back.

Kiwibank is to retain the GMI brand and Morgan will focus on his ''passion in this space _ investment portfolio management''.

''The backing by Kiwibank ensures that the business has a strong and credible succession plan,'' Morgan said. ''In short, it will be business as usual.''

Kiwibank said both Morgan and Gawith will remain directors of GMI alongside two Kiwibank-appointed directors.

Kiwibank chief executive Paul Brock described the purchase as a unique opportunity for the bank to rapidly grow its Wealth and KiwiSaver businesses.

''We started our own KiwiSaver scheme just over a year ago and while the growth has been impressive we were aware of the need to extend our investment management capability. Our plan to do this looked very much like what GMI has developed,'' Brock said.

Kiwibank was launched in 2002 and has about 800,000 customers. Kiwibank launched its KiwiSaver scheme in 2010 and currently has 15,000 customers.

Posted on Stuff.co.nz 18/01/2012

Are you scrimpin?

Kiwis continue to be the trans-Tasman poor cousins come retirement. While Australians' retirement savings are building into substantial sums, Kiwis are either dithering over whether to join KiwiSaver or simply not saving enough.

At current rates, many Kiwis will have just a few thousand dollars a year over their New Zealand superannuation, which won't fund the lifestyle many are anticipating.

Changes to KiwiSaver in the May Budget, with employers contributing more, are likely to see KiwiSaver pots increase. Even so, financial advisers say it may not be enough.

Research by the Retirement Commission found once owner-occupied property was excluded, people were saving on average 5 per cent of their gross income. Australians are estimated to have on average more than A$56,000 ($72,000) of superannuation funds, whereas New Zealanders have about $5500 each in KiwiSaver.

Australian employers pay 9 per cent of employees' wages into super funds.
"Most [Kiwi] people cross their fingers and hope by the time they get to retirement it is enough,"…

Read the full article at… http://tiny.cc/hgn29

Your first home?

At Findlay and Co we like outside of the square thinking, innovative ideas and love of the under dog. That's why we like the proposed imminent Kiwisaver bonus scheme for first home buyers. Now for a country that's smart enough to split the atom, tough enough to be first up Everest and forward thinking enough to give the lass the vote 'bout time we had some smart thinking to get generation X and Y on the property ladder. Not to mention a savvy nationwide savings plan for our retirements. Read more, be informed, make good choices!

Kiwisaver - take a look at the numbers...

New Zealand has 1.2 million people joined up to Kiwisaver. In comparison we own 2.5 million cars amongst 4.1 million people (of which about 80% live in cities). New Zealand is resident to 9 million beef cattle and famously 39 million sheep.

What this tells us is three things - that we have a small amount of people raising a lot of stock, we like steak but not walking and we like driving more than we like saving.

Our take on the matter is to at least give the scheme your consideration. We believe in talking to the experts to have the numbers explained. There is no doubt this may not sit at the top of your 'to do' list however if you are self employed it might pay to call in some advice before March 31st to make sure you gain this years benefits.

All in all whether you are an employee or self employed it's important to be educated. End of lecture.