News

Interest rates may lift up to 5 times
2014-03-10

(from FairFax Media, 10/03/2014)
 
The Reserve Bank may lift official interest rates as much as five times this year, with the first move kicking off on Thursday, according to a Westpac forecast.
 
Central bank governor Graeme Wheeler is widely expected to lift the official cash rate from 2.5 per cent to 2.75 per cent this week.
 
That will make the Reserve Bank the first developed world central bank to lift interest rates this time round, though economists say that is already factored into the high New Zealand dollar.
 
Floating mortgage rates are now about 5.75 per cent, so borrowers could face rates approaching 8 per...

Read more
Think you've got the house covered?
2014-02-02

Think you've got the house covered?
 
(from Fairfax Media, 02/02/2014)
 
It may pay to check the small print of your house insurance policy, and learn a bit about exactly what damage your insurer will pay claims for because a review of the home cover cases handled by the insurance ombudsman in 2013 show the shocks some homeowners get when their insurer turns down a claim.
 
And, while it is up to people to read and understand the policy they are buying, the cases show how some policy wording can seem to say one thing, but insurers will argue they mean something quite different, and refuse to pay a claim, or only a part of it.
...

Read more
The challenge of childhood illness and injury
2013-11-09

A child’s need for your love and support is never greater than when they are sick or injured. Most children will get through childhood without any major in accidents. They’ll get the coughs and colds. Their friends get, and they may break an arm as they explore their world. When events like these happen you may need to take a day or two off work, but the disruption to your family routines will generally be minimal.

A few unlucky children though will get seriously ill or injured. If that happens to your child, you want to be able to give them as much time as they need. That’s why we put our ‘parents’ hats on when we designed our insurance products. As parents, we thought about what...

Read more