Personal Finance

Saving for a house deposit?

The beauty of the kiwisaver is that part of your funds are able to be used to purchase your first home. There are conditions such as you must not have previously owned a house  and that you must have been in the kiwisaver scheme for 5 years. It is understood that kiwisaver holidays where you did not make any contributions to the scheme are not included in the 5 years.

Making voluntary contributions to your kiwisaver account can really accelerate the savings process because you are investing in an asset which increases in value and there will not be the temptation to withdraw some money for whatever reason. Anotther good reason why using kiwisaver as the main house saving tool is that you will not have to worry about gold digging relatives who accuse you of being stingy and money hungry but purchase lottery tickets because they think that it is the only way of getting financially ahead.

It pays to run the figures in your head in order to know how you are going to arrive at your destination.

For Example, saving $20 per week=$1,000 per annum, $40,00 per week adds up to $2,000 per year, $60 per week adds up to $3,000 per year, $100 per week = $5,000 per annum. Your savings can really multiply quite rapidly once you get into the savings habit.

Saving and investing are two different things. most people can save money but it is being an investor which can mean the difference between staying in a financial rut and prospering.

Parking your money in low interest accounts is not being an investor.

Once tax is paid on any interest you receive and then inflation devalues the value of your money by whatever rate it is, there is nothing in the way of profit left for the account holder.

Few people have the sufficient funds to invest directly into the sharemarket but with your kiwisaver account, you are able to participate in the markets and take advantage of the fantastic capital gains which are available. Kiwisaver is not the only option for investing in the markets. Many banks do have managed funds you can invest with the minimum amount to get started can be $250 on wards. It is an excellent way of breaking into the markets.

Sharesies is another option for investing. It basically works like other managed funds but the beauty of this is that you are able to invest the bare minimum. You can start the fund with as little as $20 and invest as little as $5 per week. It is an excellent way of learning about the various funds and watch their movements. Visit; www.sharesies.nz

Developing the savings mindset will go a long way towards reaching your financial goals but if you sit there thinking, Saving for a house deposit for 5 years is a long time, I will be 30, 35, 40 years old or whatever in 5 years time”. Stop and think about this for a moment.

You will be 5 years older in 5 years time whether you decide to plan for your future or not!

Forget about what other people are doing, they cannot live your life for you though they may try to. Just think about your own situation but ask for advice by all means then decide if you are going to take it on board.

Happy investing!

Robert A. Stewart

This article is not intended as financial advice but rather is the opinion of the writer. If you require financial advice, see a qualified financial advisor.

www.robertastewart.com

I have a FREE ebook available “My secrets to Finance Success” by clicking on the link below;

https://forms.aweber.com/form/72/892285272.htm

How to compile your family tree

Starting is easy-you just start with your own family and your parents. Ask them about what they know about their parents and grand parents and anything they know about their ancestry. Don’t just ask them who their ancestors are but ask about their trade, hobbies, and about their life in general.

If you have aunties and Uncles or grand parents then also ask them about ancestors. Two people may have a complete different opinion about a person in the family depending on how well they got along with them or if they didn’t if you get the picture so it pays to keep an open mind. Don’t forget to prepare yourself by compiling a list of questions prior to meeting your relatives.

Now that you have some information available, make a list of things you are trying to find the answers to. If your grand parents are still alive then you should at least have four generations of your family tree and if you get stuck, some members of the family may at least know where to look to get the information you require.

When you are compiling a family tree, note any patterns which may appear in your family. In some families a certain trade may appear several times as sons followed in their father’s footsteps in certain occupations.

Family scrapbooks, family albums, and school report cards will all give you an idea of a person’s interests but this is only possible with living relatives and those who have departed within the last few decades. When it comes to relatives four generations ago and longer you will rely on old public records for information.

Knowing where to look and obtain information is the key. if you want to receive emails updates then click on the link below;

https://forms.aweber.com/form/14/268628914.htm

How Scottish naming traditions can provide clues to researching your ancestry

During the 1700s and 1800s there was a system of naming children which had been called “The Scottish Naming Traditions”. It is a pattern of naming offspring after relatives and went like this;

First son named after the father’s father (Child’s Paternal grandfather)

Second son named after the mother’s father (Child’s Maternal grandfather)

Third son named after his father

Fourth son named after his father’s oldest brother

First daughter named after the mother’s mother (Child’s maternal grandmother)

Second daughter named after the father’s mother (Child’s paternal grandmother)

Third daughter named after her mother

Fourth daughter named after the mother’s oldest sister

If you have noticed that some of your ancestors have followed some kind of naming pattern for their children then it could prove helpful in your research. I have tried to find information about my great great grandmother Ann Livington and whether two Miller lads who were boarding with her and her huisband William Stewart were in some way related. It has been suggested that they may be half-sisters of Ann because her father died in the battle of Waterloo (1815) while she was a baby or just prior to her birth. I found out through my research that one of those lads named one of his children Ann Livingstone Miller.

Using the surnames of relatives as a middle name seem to be more common than you think. My great grandfather Robert who was Ann Livingstone’s son had a habit of this! In fact he often used the first and middle names of some relatives on both the paternal and maternal side of his family. He was not given a middle name at birth as was common in those days (He was born in 1842). He added the Miller name after he landed in Australia to distinguish himself from other Robert Stewarts. This led me to believe that there may be some kind of family tie as far the boarders Ander and Walter Miller who were living with Robert’s parents in 1841.

Among Robert’s children was an Ann Cochrane Stewart, John Cochrane Stewart, James Blair Stewart, and Archibald Arrol Stewart. I have noticed that if you removed the Stewart name there are ancesters named Ann Cochrane, John Cochrane, James Blair, and Archibald Arrol. Robert named his first child William Livingstone Stewart and I was thinking that maybe Ann Livingstone’s father’s name was William.

The Cochranes and the Arrol’s came from Robert’s wife’s side of the family while one of Robert’s sister’s married a Mr. Blair.

All of this information can be useful when putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together in your family tree.

You can get a copy of genealogy which explains in general terms how to go go about tracing your ancestry wherever they come from.

www.robertastewart.com

Robert Stewart pioneer in West Coast brewing

Robert Stewart was born at Old Kilpatrick, Dumbartonshire, Scotland in 1842. Son and Grandson of a cooper, Robert also learned coopering and worked for his father William who owned a cooperage at Old Kilpatrick.

He left Scotland for Australia in 1862 and sailed to Brisbane where he met his wife, Margaret Cochrane, also from Dumbartonshire, SCotland though they sailed on different ships. They live in North Queensland until late 1865 when they sailed for Hokitika after finding the climate too hot in Queensland.

In Hokitika Robert work for a brewery and this was the start of several moves for Robert and Margaret.

Robert worked in various breweries and they are at Sydney, Christchurch, and Charlston.

At Charleston around 1870 he worked for Thomas McCarthy owner of the Standard Brewery and when the gold rush was ending Mr McCarthy moved to Wellington where he established another brewery and urged Robert to come with him but Robert preferred to remain on the West Coast.

After Charleston Robert and his growing family moved to Westport where Robert built his own brewery but disaster struck in 1878 when a south west squall blew the brewery over and this calamity caused the family financial hardship for a time and the family moved to Coal Creek on the northern side of the Grey River.

Robert then went to work for a Thomas Joyce, owner of Joyce’s brewery at Omoto but left after Joyce did not stick to the agreed terms.

Robert then built his own brewery not far from where he lived on the side of Cobden Hill near where the current road stands but Thomas Joyce then wrote to the council complaining that Stewart’s brewery is causing an obstruction so the council wrote to Robert asking him to remove the obstruction but he refused. Joyce continued to complain and Robert received more letters from the council but this had little effect. Robert owned 8 acres around the brewery and leased another 8 acres. He milked cows and supplied milk to Greymouth.

The brewery had its ups and downs but in 1905 after a string of setbacks, Robert finally got his final brewery going at Coal Creek after saving money from working at the Crown brewery in Hokitika,, a job he started in 1899.

In 1936, the brewery was shifted closer inland on the banks of Cobden Hill at great expense by Robert’s son, Archie at a cost of 10,000 pounds. Archie continued brewing until 1961 when the brewery brewed its last batch.

Craft brewing is proving popular in New Zealand with many people turning their home brewing into a commercial operation. There is a lot of information on the internet teaching you the ins and outs of home brewing and I have put the link to one such site for you. Your first batch may be just a click away;

Brewing made easy

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How you can live and travel forever on $20 a day.

I just recently read on the internet about how it is possible to live and travel on $20 day day! This sounds too good to be true but all the same is worth checking out. Our world is much bigger than our own neighbourhood and once you have some travelling to far flung places you appreciate what you have once you meet people who are less fortunate people in the world than you. I think to live on $20 a day is probably only possible for those without financial commitments and I am not talking about things bought on credit but rather rates if you own property and the costs of running a vehicle which add up to an arm and a leg annually. This guide however will be useful information for those who are ready to set off on their journey of a lifetime and you can find out more by cluicking on the link below; https://8a580juwmn56yua43jmdsabk68.hop.clickbank.net/