New Zealand Finance (newzealand-finance.nz) is an independent information site about personal finance in New Zealand. We explain how borrowing, saving, investing, insurance and tax work here, in plain language, so that readers understand their options before they talk to a bank, a lender, an insurer or an adviser.
We are not a bank, a lender, an insurer or a financial advice provider. We do not arrange loans, take deposits or sell financial products. Everything we publish is general information for a New Zealand audience.
What we do
We write and maintain guides to the money questions New Zealanders deal with most often. Each guide is written for New Zealand rules, New Zealand providers and New Zealand tax, rather than adapted from overseas material.
Our coverage falls into these areas:
- Loans and borrowing – personal loans, car finance, debt consolidation, credit scores and what borrowing really costs once fees are included.
- Mortgages and home loans – deposits, fixed and floating rates, refinancing and how the Official Cash Rate feeds through to repayments.
- KiwiSaver and retirement – contribution rates, fund types, withdrawals and NZ Superannuation.
- Tax and income – income tax brackets, PAYE, GST, the minimum wage and take-home pay.
- Insurance – life, health, house, contents, car, travel and income protection cover.
- Banking and saving – savings accounts, term deposits and guides to the main banks.
- Investing – share-investing platforms, compound interest and currency exchange.
- Everyday costs – budgeting, power, broadband and mobile plans.
Alongside the guides we offer calculators for loan repayments, home loans, PAYE, GST and KiwiSaver. They produce estimates that help you compare scenarios. They are not quotes or offers of finance.
Our principles
Independence
No bank, lender or insurer owns the site, and providers do not approve what we write. Some links to providers may be referral links that earn the site a commission. That income does not decide which products we cover or what we say about them.
Accuracy and sources
We check figures against primary New Zealand sources: Inland Revenue for tax and KiwiSaver rules, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand for the Official Cash Rate and lending rules, the Financial Markets Authority for licensing and investor guidance, Work and Income for superannuation rates, and each provider’s own published terms. Rates, fees and thresholds change often, so we revisit published guides and update them when the underlying numbers move.
Plain language
Financial products are often described in terms that make them harder to compare. We write for readers without a finance background, define the terms we use and state the trade-offs directly.
General information, not advice
Nothing on the site takes your personal circumstances into account. For advice that does, speak to a licensed financial adviser. The Financial Markets Authority explains how to find and check one. If debt is causing you stress, MoneyTalks is a free and confidential helpline on 0800 345 123.
Corrections
We make mistakes from time to time, and figures go out of date. When a reader points out an error we check it against the source and correct the page.
The editorial team
The site is edited by Adrian Westbrook, who is the responsible publisher and also writes and reviews many of our guides. Adrian decides what we cover, checks that each guide is sourced to New Zealand primary material, and keeps published pages current as rates, thresholds and rules change.
The editorial team works independently of the providers we write about. Neither Adrian nor anyone else on the team acts as a financial adviser through this site, and we do not give personal recommendations by email.
How we use AI
We use AI tools to support research, drafting and editing. An editor reviews every guide before it is published, and figures such as rates, thresholds and fees are checked against primary sources by a person rather than taken from an AI tool. Responsibility for what we publish always rests with the editorial team.
Our AI policy sets out in detail how we use these tools and where their limits lie.
Contact
If you have spotted an error, have a question about one of our guides or want to suggest a topic, we would like to hear from you. You will find our details on the contact page. It helps if you include a link to the page you are writing about.
How we handle personal information is described in our privacy policy, and the conditions for using the site are set out in our terms of use.
