I found this image today here and I thought some of the community might find it interesting.

It shows the real return on investment in the s&p 500 based on what year you invested and how long you held. It basically converges on about 4% (not the 6% or 7% which seems to be bandied around).

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to understand how the Labour Party’s proposed 28% Capital Gains Tax (slated for July 2027 if they win) would actually work for a normal "home and income" situation. I’ve been reading through the policy details, but tax rules for mixed-use properties get confusing quickly, so I’d love to know if I'm understanding this right.

To keep the math simple, I’ll use some round, hypothetical numbers to explain my plan:

Context: Let’s say I bought a property right at the COVID peak for $1,200,000, but with a 30% market drop, it's currently valued lower (around $840,000).

Extention Plan: For simplicity purpose, let's assume I do a home extension down the track (costing say, $300,000) to build a small flat attached to the house. It will likely be finished after the July 2027 rollout date.

- The new flat will take up about 25% of the total property area. It won't have separate council utility meters, and the plan is just to get long-term flatmates or boarders to help cover expenses. We live in the other 75% as their main home.

- We also want to save up for solar panels and a battery setup (say, $25,000) to keep power bills down for everyone.

From what I can gather, here is how the CGT would handle this if they ever sold the property years from now:

1. The Peak-COVID Rule: Because the original purchase price ($1.2M) was higher than the July 2027 market value ($840k), the tax baseline automatically locks in at the higher $1,200,000 mark so the owner isn't penalized for buying at the absolute peak.

2. Adding Renovations: Even though the extension and solar happen after 2027, the cash spent on them ($300k + $25k) counts as capital improvements. This gets added to the baseline, pushing the total tax-free threshold to $1,525,000.

3. The Pro-Rata Split: The 75% main home part stays completely tax-free. The 28% CGT only applies to the 25% rental portion of the profit made above that $1,525,000 milestone. So if the house eventually sells for $1,700,000, the overall difference above the baseline is $175,000. The tax would only apply to 25% of that difference ($43,750), making the final tax bill around $12,250.

4. Day-to-Day Taxes: Because we are doing long-term flatmates with a single meter, can just claim 25% of the shared power/rates bills against the rent?

Does this logic sound right to those who have been following the policy closely? Am I missing any hidden traps or missing details about how pro-rata splits work when a renovation happens after the tax comes into effect?

We may rent the space on and off basis. May be one year we may give space on rent but next year we may not. How would it work?

Really appreciate any guidance or corrections if I've misread the policy!

I really liked the chart submitted earlier showing long-term returns based on when you began and when you withdrew - https://www.reddit.com/r/PersonalFinanceNZ/comments/1x689ic/chart_showing_returns_when_you_invested_vs_when/ .

In the comments I saw someone vibe coded the 'rest' of it - i.e. to get it up to date with today. I decided to do something similar, reproducing the original but with NZ house prices.

Just wanting to feel what most people are saying on moving to a more high-pace, max velocity culture company with significantly more money VS staying at a slow-pace work life balance but steady income.

I've been approached by their team lead and given a salary band and based on what he saw my experience would be 40-60% (180-220k) more than my current income (130k) which would be massive jump.

The interview pack that they gave me seemed to suggest "high-velocity", "work hard", "do whatever it takes" culture. I do see the potential of growing my career there but given that culture, I'm expecting high-pace, stressed, high pressure environment. Probably not exaggerating saying that 40% jump comes with 50-60 hours/week workload.

Interview process seemed to be overly exhausting and complicated. Mentioned 4-stage interview including interview with executive at the last stage.

The dilemma is that my current workplace is a sweet gig. Low pressure, close to commute with highly flexible with great team. Can see the business growing further with current climate, however, have been in the company for 14 years.
The downside is that the income barely move and generally get around 5k increase every year.

Situation is early 40s, still early/mid in my career but with young family of school aged kids and aging parents overseas and sandwich generation. Given the situation, we feel like flexibility matter the most, however the additional income would be a great addition as would alleviate so many issues.

Gut feel is this could be the wrong move, however understand that this may be what I needed to grow professionally.

What are your thoughts? Thanks

EDIT: adding figure to give more context

Any suggestions where to park 50k.
Want to be able to access it with a couple days notice.
Not relying on it for emergency fund as have offset mortgage available if need be.

Kia ora y'all,

So I'm looking at buying a home cheap for 250k from someone I know and trust with a 5% deposit. The home is valued by the council at 355k. Would that mean if I got it properly valued and it was worth that I would have ~100k odd equity in the home that I can then utilize, for example for a Reno loan or to get out of the low deposit higher interest rates? Like would that for example bring my 5% stake in the home up to 167.5k/47% of the home if it did get valued at 355k?

Would I be able to refinance my mortgage utilizing that extra equity to alleviate the low equity margins and reno the place?

Apologies if that sounds dumb new to this.

How does everyone organise their budget in a spreadsheet?

People seem to range from using a very simple list of expenses to 10 sheets of complicated formulas

What works best for you?