Source: Radio New Zealand
RNZ’s money correspondent Susan Edmunds answers your questions. RNZ
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Does using a credit card and incurring the transaction fee cost more than the hot points earned if you pay it off every month?
If you’re paying a surcharge on every transaction you make, then you’re probably paying more than you’re getting in rewards.
According to investment adviser Jeremy Sullivan, the rate of reward you can get from a credit card at the moment ranges from anything from 0.5 percent of your spending to 1.43 percent (on an Amex Airpoints platinum card).
So, if you’re paying two percent on all your transactions, plus your card’s annual fee, you’re not keeping up.
But you might find that you have quite a few transactions that don’t have a surcharge attached at all – the supermarket, for example, doesn’t charge you to use a credit card. And new rules are still intended to take effect that would rule them out on in-store payments by May.
It’s generally a good idea to have a rewards card if you spend a lot on your credit card (at least $10,000 a year). If you don’t, you’re probably better going for a lower-fee, no-rewards option. And if you carry a credit card balance, you’re best to go for a low-interest card.
I’m employed, 57, one wife, no kids. What happens to my KiwiSaver if I die without a will?
KiwiSaver becomes part of your estate if you die. If you have a will, it’s distributed according to that.
If you don’t, there are rules that kick in.
If you have a spouse and no kids or living parents, your wife will get the whole thing. She might also have a claim under the relationship property act anyway because KiwiSaver is relationship property.
When you have a spouse and kids and don’t have a will, your spouse gets personal effects like your furniture and household belongings, $155,000 and a third of anything left, and kids get the other two thirds.
If you don’t have kids but your parents are still alive, they can claim a third after that same calculation.
If you don’t have any family at all and no one can find anyone who might stand to inherit, the money could go to the government. Public Trust says anyone who thinks they should have benefited from the estate can apply to the New Zealand Treasury to be considered.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
