RNZ's money correspondent Susan Edmunds. Photo: RNZ
Do you have a burning money question you want answered? Email susan.edmunds@rnz.co.nz
Could my 30-year-old daughter, a solo mum of three, possibly qualify for a home loan? Her income is $800 a week and she works four days. I would give her $25,000 for a deposit. She has no KiwiSaver.
I took your numbers to mortgage broker Glen Mcleod to have a look at what might be possible.
In general, what matters when it comes to buying a house is having enough of a deposit to qualify for a loan, and enough income to service it.
Your daughter may be able to access a First Home Loan that would lend 95 percent of the purchase price of her home. In that sense, a $25,000 deposit could allow her to buy a house worth $500,000.
But the key question here is her income. At $800 a week after tax, she can only borrow about $210,000, Mcleod says.
But if she is also getting Working for Families entitlements for three children, that might take her income to $1250 a week after tax, which would allow her to borrow about $420,000. Depending on where she lives, that might be enough to get a place for herself and the children.
Does she also get child support? Any boost to her income will make a difference.
I would recommend she seeks advice on what might be possible. It's hard to get a clear picture without all the details but an adviser could help her work through her financial situation and determine what she needs to do to get on track to buy a house, if that's a goal for her.
I haven't been able to get a clear answer on this: Kiwi Bob sells his Fisher & Paykel Healthcare shares he has owned for over two decades, added to but never traded. The total should not be taxed. He risks a bank deposit but fears total loss, as could happen. So, Bob starts buying back his shares, at prices below that earlier sale price. He accumulates roughly the same number of shares. Is Bob on the hook for tax to pay on the gain he made?
I sent this question in the direction of Robyn Walker, who is a tax partner at Deloitte.
She says, assuming he is not buying and selling shares at a sufficient scale to be considered in business, Bob needs to consider his intention each time that he purchases shares.
"Whenever he purchases a parcel of shares, does he do so with a dominant purpose of disposal? Things to consider here is why is Bob purchasing the shares? This could be because he wants to receive regular dividends, to have a long-term investment, to have voting rights, as a store of value - to have as something for family members to inherit, or it could be because he forecasts that the share price will increase and he wants to make a gain, which can only be realised through sale?
"Bob should be documenting what his intentions and thought processes are at the time of acquisition. He should be aware, though, that Inland Revenue could test what he says against objective factors, such as what actually happened - for example, saying he is investing for dividend yield in a company with no dividend paying history is something Inland Revenue could question. The outcome is dependent on the actual facts in each situation."