Latest news with #NadineHiggins
NZ Herald
5 days ago
- Business
- NZ Herald
How you can financially get through and recover from divorce
'Bite your tongue and show grace, because the more you argue and bicker, it can just take a lot longer - and you can't move on. The longer things linger, the more negative and expensive it gets.' Palman says you can minimise legal fees by agreeing as much as possible up front - and only venting to close friends. 'Keep it efficient with your lawyer.' She says the first step is to understand your joint assets and liabilities. 'I sometimes see a person coming to see me for an initial consultation and I'll say to them, 'what are you expecting to leave with?' and they have no idea the value of the house, the value of the mortgage ... the other party's KiwiSaver balance'. Knowing those numbers at the date of separation is important, as it can help protect you from losing out if one party goes on a spending spree. 'Then you've got some sort of proof that you know that person incurred those transactions after that date, and that wasn't in relation to anything to do with you, so you've got a bit of a chance maybe of that being evened up in the washup'. When children are involved, Palman says there are tools to help calculate what child support payments might be involved, including a calculator on the IRD website. Where one party earns significantly less than the other, it's worth exploring spousal maintenance. 'It's designed to help them get back on their feet over a short period of time. For myself personally, it was a period of two years.' It's also important to update your will and insurance, she says, which can be done very quickly via your lawyer and insurance broker. Despite the emotional and financial upheaval, Palman says there's opportunity on the other side of divorce. 'Even though it's a terrible thing that you've been through - hey, what a beautiful opportunity to design your life moving forward.' Listen to the full episode of The Prosperity Project for more advice on the financial cost of divorce. The podcast is hosted by Nadine Higgins, an experienced broadcaster and a financial adviser at Enable Me. You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes are released every Monday.
NZ Herald
18-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
What to avoid doing when trying to buy your first home
With the prospect of another cut to the Official Cash Rate this month likely to improve things for borrowers, first home buyers are being advised they still need to ensure they have their finances in order. Senior adviser and director of The Loan Market, Cameron Marcroft, told Nadine Higgins on The Prosperity Project podcast that it's a great market for first home buyers. 'The lending criteria has got a little bit easier now, the rates have dropped as well. When rates are dropping, it also means that the test rate that the banks use to assess you drops as well, so that means clients can borrow more'. But that doesn't change the fact that how you manage your finances matters when it comes to getting a mortgage. For example, Marcroft says your credit card can count against you, even if you don't have an outstanding balance owing. 'The limit is what the banks use to put against your expenses – the general rule of thumb is about 3% of that limit. So, if it's a 10k limit, $300 would be put against their expenses every month. So, what it does is it just drags their borrowing ability down.' He says options to boost your ability to borrow include reducing your limit or getting rid of your credit card for a while. Marcroft says while banks are no longer going through expenses line by line like they did before the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA) legislation was amended, it's still important to paint a positive picture. 'If you're spending large in a certain area and showing certain trends in these bank statements, it's really important for us to provide commentary around, 'Hey, we were spending that money because we didn't have many commitments. Now we're getting into a large mortgage, we know damn well we can't spend there'.' Marcroft says while interest rates are low and banks are busy, he doesn't expect house prices to boom anytime soon. 'I don't see that probably happening again for a long, long time. I really think we'll see a gradual climb in property prices.' Listen to the full episode of The Prosperity Project for more advice on getting sorted for your first home. The podcast is hosted by Nadine Higgins, an experienced broadcaster and a financial adviser at Enable Me.
