Christmas gifts that make a real difference
Many charities offer Christmas gift programmes. You buy items for people in need that are given on behalf of your family or friends. For example, you might donate money for school equipment in developing countries. You receive an acknowledgement to give to your relative or friend to show what they have “donated” to the children.
Each year, this column runs a list of charities that take part in these programmes. I’ve asked each charity to describe their programme. 0800 22 10 22 or caritasgifts. org. nz. “Caritas Gifts of hope, life, peace and learning enable our life- changing work around the world and in Aotearoa New Zealand.”
0800 223 111 or childfund. org. nz/ catalogue. “Give an unforgettable gift today. Give a gift to your family that will keep on giving, a gift that grows.”
0800 747 372 or gift. org. nz. “Double your giving: Once to a friend or loved one and once to a family in need of a hand.”
A great idea. Last week’s correspondent could use either an offset mortgage, as you describe, or a revolving credit mortgage.
With the latter, you have your everyday money, mortgage and savings in the one bank account — with a large negative balance because of the mortgage. But beyond that, the two types of mortgage are similar.
If your everyday money is included, even if most of your income stays in the bank only briefly — before being spent on groceries and so on — it reduces your mortgage for a while, and therefore the interest you pay. And longer- term savings reduce your interest payments more permanently.
It’s not really correct to say your savings aren’t earning interest. Sure, the bank makes no interest payments. But by reducing your mortgage balance, your savings are in effect www. reallygoodgifts. org. nz. “Delight your loved ones with Really Good Gifts this Christmas, and bring God’s love into lives affected by leprosy.”
021 060 9631 or mend. org. nz. “Help Mend offer life- changing support to disabled people in poorer countries needing corrective surgery, mobility devices, physio and hearing aids.”
04 802 6269 ext 24846 or salvationarmy. org. nz/ justgifts. “Thank you for your support. Through Just Gifts you help provide better living conditions, education earning whatever the mortgage interest rate is, after tax — as discussed above.
Hard to get your head around? If your mortgage balance is $ 300,000 and your savings are $ 5000, you pay interest on only $ 295,000. Getting out of paying interest on $ 5000 improves your wealth as much as earning that interest on your savings.
With both offset and revolving credit mortgages, the interest rate is floating, which, as you say, adds some uncertainty. But you can have just a portion of your mortgage in this arrangement — as you have — with the rest of the loan at a fixed rate. That might also curb fees, which are often higher on offset or revolving credit mortgages.
While most banks offer revolving credit mortgages, I think only BNZ, Kiwibank and Westpac offer offset mortgages. Last week’s correspondent might want to discuss and medical and health care.”
0800 800 777 or giftforlife. co. nz. “Tearfund’s Gift for Life is an exciting range of unique charity gifts including goats, seeds and water filters.”
0800 227 229 or hollows. org. nz/ gift- of- sight. “Give your loved one a Gift of Sight card and help restore sight to someone for $ 25.”
0800 24 5000 or worldvision. org. nz/ smiles. “Choose a life- changing Smiles gift this Christmas and help children and families in real need.” her options with her banker.
Mary Holm is a freelance journalist, a director of the Financial Markets Authority and Financial Services Complaints Ltd ( FSCL), a seminar presenter and a bestselling author on personal finance. Her website is www. maryholm. com. Her opinions are personal, and do not reflect the position of any organisation in which she holds office. Mary’s advice is of a general nature, and she is not responsible for any loss that any reader may suffer from following it. Send questions to mary@ maryholm. com or Money Column, Business Herald, PO Box 32, Auckland. Letters should not exceed 200 words. We won’t publish your name.
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