Eldernet

🌱 COMPETITION TIME — Show Us Your Favourite Patch!

We’re excited spring is here and the gardens are starting to come back to life. To celebrate, we have a great competition open to everyone.

We want to see your favourite patch — it could be a vegetable garden, a few pots of bedding plants, herbs by the back door, a favourite tree, or simply a corner you love spending time in.

It doesn’t need to be a current photo — it could be from last summer or even a few years ago. And it doesn’t need to be big, perfectly tidy or prize-worthy. We’re much more interested in WHY it’s special to you.

To enter, simply email us:
📷 A photo of your favourite garden or growing spot
🌿 A sentence or two telling us why it’s special
📍 Your name and town or region

Send your entry to [email protected].

You can enter your own garden or, with their permission, enter on behalf of someone else. Retirement villages and care homes are very welcome to get involved too.

All entries will go in the draw to win a copy of Growing Vegetables by Sarah O’Neil/Sarah the Gardener plus a $50 Mitre10 Voucher kindly donated by Mitre 10 MEGA Brougham Street.

By entering, you agree that Eldernet may share your submitted photo and story on our social media and in our newsletters.

Entries close Sunday 27 September. We can’t wait to see your favourite patch this spring.

Janet Brown knows retirement from both sides — after years working in the sector, she’s now living it herself. And her take on making your money last is refreshingly practical.

A few of her points that stood out:

- You may spend more in the earlier, more active years of retirement, then less for a period, before costs rise again if health, care or support needs increase.

- Retirement does not have to mean stopping work overnight. Continuing some paid work can make the financial transition easier, give your savings more time to grow and reduce the pressure to start drawing on them straight away.

-Creating some certainty around regular expenses can be valuable when you cannot know exactly what future costs will look like.

- Small savings still matter. See our previous post for nearly 50 entitlements, payments, subsidies and discounts available to New Zealanders aged 65+.

Throughout Money Month, we’ve been sharing practical retirement-planning guidance. Janet’s article adds something different — a more personal, conversational view from someone who has spent years thinking about retirement and is now experiencing it for herself.

Read Janet’s full article, Making Your Retirement Savings Last the Distance: https://substack.com/home/post/p-210991495

Throughout Money Month retirement planning series, we have looked at how much you may need for retirement, the costs that can shape your budget and different ways your savings may be used.

Retirement planning can feel like a large and complicated task, particularly when you are trying to predict costs many years into the future.

You do not need to work everything out at once.

Start with three practical steps:
1. Estimate what your retirement lifestyle may cost
2. Check the regular income and savings you expect to have
3. Choose one action that will help you better understand your position

Your next step could be using a retirement calculator, reviewing your KiwiSaver, checking your expected NZ Super entitlement, discussing your plans with whānau or seeking independent financial advice.

The goal is not to find a perfect number today. It is to understand your position a little better than you did before.

And finally - this is general information and is not intended to replace personalised financial advice.

Housing is one reason there cannot be one retirement savings number that works for everyone.

Someone who owns a mortgage-free home may have very different regular expenses from someone who rents, continues paying a mortgage or lives in a retirement village.

Even a mortgage-free home has ongoing costs, including rates, insurance, maintenance and repairs. Other housing choices may involve regular rent, village fees, service charges or moving costs.

The right option is not only about which appears cheapest.

Security, maintenance, location, community, support and future suitability can also be important.

When planning for retirement, make sure your expected housing costs are included in the overall picture.

Do you know what support people aged 65+ may be entitled to?

MoneyHub has pulled together a handy article containing nearly 50 entitlements, payments, subsidies and discounts available to New Zealanders aged 65+ — all in one place.

It covers things like NZ Super extras, health costs, rates relief, SuperGold benefits, care-related support and more.

As part of Money Month, we’re sharing practical information and resources that can help people make the most of their money in retirement — and this is a very useful one to check.

Take a look and see what might apply to you — or share it with someone who could benefit.

https://www.moneyhub.co.nz/over-65-entitlements.html

Once you reach retirement, the question may change from “How much should I save?” to “How should I use the savings I have?”

Our Knowledge Lab article introduces four approaches to drawing down retirement savings:
- The 6% rule
- The inflated 4% rule
- The fixed-date rule
- The life-expectancy rule

Each creates a different balance between income now, certainty later and retaining money for the future.

There is no approach that will automatically be right for everyone. Your priorities, other income, expected costs and the length of your retirement all need to be considered.

Read more about how the four approaches work via the article in the comments 👇

N.B This is general information only. Consider seeking independent financial advice before making decisions about your retirement savings.

An unexpected bill can be difficult to manage at any stage of life — and these costs do not disappear when we retire.

Home repairs, dental treatment, insurance, transport and additional support can all place pressure on a carefully planned retirement budget.

A useful exercise is to identify one unexpected expense you would like to be better prepared for. Consider how much it may cost and whether there is a manageable step you can take towards creating or protecting a financial buffer.

Your buffer does not need to look like anyone else’s. The important thing is that it reflects your circumstances and the costs you may realistically face.

This is part of our Money Month retirement-planning series. Next, we will look at different ways savings can be used to provide an income throughout retirement.

💰 How much do I need to retire in New Zealand?

It is one of the biggest questions people ask when planning for retirement — but there is no single number that will suit everyone.

The amount you may need depends on the lifestyle you are planning, your regular expenses, the income you expect to receive, how long your savings may need to last and whether you want to keep money aside for future needs or whānau.

A useful starting point is to estimate your likely spending and compare it with your expected regular income. This can help you understand the gap that your KiwiSaver, investments or other savings may need to cover.

For Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission Money Month, we are focusing on retirement planning and sharing practical information about:
- The costs that may change in retirement
- How unexpected expenses can affect your budget
- Different ways retirement savings can be used
- How housing may shape what you need
- Practical steps you can take now

Follow our Money Month retirement-planning series over the next few weeks as we break these topics into manageable steps.

We are starting with the question at the centre of it all: How much do I need to retire in New Zealand?

Read our full article over on our website - link in the bio. 👇

N.B This is general information and is not intended to replace personalised financial advice.