Latest news with #Eftpos
The Spinoff
09-06-2025
- Business
- The Spinoff
The cost of being: A high school teacher dreaming of life without checkout anxiety
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here. Gender: Female. Age: 44. Ethnicity: NZ European. Role: High School teacher and head of department. Salary/income/assets: $113,000 before tax. My living location is: Urban. Rent/mortgage per week: $300 just me, a solo mum and my tween. Student loan or other debt payments per week: No other debts. Have worked really hard to pay everything off. Had built up an emergency fund but just had to spent $950 on fixing my car. So starting the emergency fund again. Typical weekly food costs Groceries: $180 for two of us. Eating out: Never. Takeaways: Never. Workday lunches: Take packed lunch, fruit, crackers, nut bar. Cafe coffees/snacks: $20 per fortnight max. Savings: 6% KiwiSaver. Saving for when I retire. Also currently saving up a $1,000 emergency fund… slowly. I worry about money: Always. Three words to describe my financial situation: Careful, inequitable, insecure. My biggest edible indulgence would be: Pams Mexican salad. In a typical week my alcohol expenditure would be: Zero. In a typical week my transport expenditure would be: $40, commuting 50 minutes per day in a small, economical car. I estimate in the past year the ballpark amount I spent on my personal clothing (including sleepwear and underwear) was: $400, mainly op shop purchases. My most expensive clothing in the past year was: Jeans, bought online from the US. Almost $200. Was feeling fat and bloated and buying secondhand jeans is usually a disaster. My last pair of shoes cost: $14 from Kmart. My grooming/beauty expenditure in a year is about: Hairdressers, $800 – my only vice. My exercise expenditure in a year is about: $364, $7 per week gym membership. My last Friday night cost: Zero, stayed home as normal. Most regrettable purchase in the last 12 months was: Very expensive jeans. I like them but such a lot of money and sent my budget into panic mode. Most indulgent purchase (that I don't regret) in the last 12 months was: A four-slice toaster from Kmart. Has transformed my life! One area where I'm a bit of a tightwad is: Is it a want or a need? 99% of my purchases are 'need' only. Five words to describe my financial personality would be: Cautious, anxious, frugal, prudent, creative. I grew up in a house where money was: Not discussed but for about a decade it was enough for family holidays twice a year. The last time my Eftpos card was declined was: June 2024. In five years, in financial terms, I see myself: In a similar position as now. Carefully budgeting. Worrying how I will support my child through university. Describe your financial low: Domestic violence and financial abuse, new baby, no job, huge debts, continued abuse and legal stress. I would love to have more money for: Ensuring my child can go to university. Going on holiday without the prospect causing undue financial stress. Going to the supermarket without anxiety at the checkout. Paying my rates bill that had increased by almost $800 per year. I give money away to: Saving for my child's future. Occasional Givealittle causes or fund raisers that I empathise with.
NZ Herald
31-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Emergency funds: How much is enough in 2025?
It might sound like a luxury, but it's one of the best tools for surviving in a world where price rises are outpacing wage growth and jobs are less secure. Even in 2025, with easy access to credit such as buy-now-pay-later and support from Work and Income and the community, having your own emergency fund still makes financial sense. All sorts of curveballs can derail us. Think: accident, ill health, business failure, and relationship breakdown, to name a few. The magic number of how much to save in an emergency fund is three to six months of living expenses. That might seem like a pipe dream for some. However, people who focus on the goal find a way to get there. There's a common myth: 'I can't afford to save'. In truth, it's the opposite; we can't afford not to. Get started with a few powerful personal finance tricks. The first is to track spending to free up money for savings. Set up small, achievable goals, such as the first $40 by the end of this month. Automate savings at the beginning of the month. Where possible, look for additional income such as a small side hustle. Get quick wins on the board. If you replace eggs on toast or leftovers instead of, say, $25 on takeaways, chuck the $15-plus into your emergency fund. Deleting UberEats can free up considerable cash. Any amount, even $5 or $10 a week, is worth adding to the fund. Start by saving just enough to cover one week of expenses. That alone gives you breathing room to pay a single unexpected bill or to help out whānau in a true emergency. But remember, the fund is for emergencies, not for everyday spending. So keep the money in a separate savings account that isn't linked to your Eftpos or debit card. If you're serious about building an emergency fund, beware of mistaking everyday spending for emergencies. That's confusing needs and wants. An emergency fund is not another Eftpos account to dip into. Nor is it for planned expenses such as holidays. It's meant to be a financial buffer. This is the time to scrutinise every dollar and ask honestly: is it a need or a want? A great place to start is the supermarket, where lateral thinking can reduce the bill considerably. Not everything on supermarket shelves is a need. I told a friend who was in the process of transitioning to a single income how I work on $3 per plate for protein as a rule, thanks to the Love Food Hate Waste campaign. It works. The concept left her a bit speechless. Also be aware that some personalities lurch from one crisis to the next. If that sounds familiar, then consider getting third party help. A good place to start is a budgeting centre or Citizens Advice Bureau, which can refer you to more specialised assistance if you need it. Sometimes the issue sits in our psychological make-up, not our budgeting skills. An emergency fund works best tied into a bigger financial plan. Goal Planner and Budget Planner can be helpful. Everyone's brain works differently, and for some people, a budgeting app such as PocketSmith or Westpac's CashNav app might work better. For others, a simple spreadsheet is the answer. I gave Gemini, Google's AI engine, some realistic figures of what someone might earn and spend on rent each month in New Zealand, and asked it to create a personal financial plan. I couldn't fault anything it said. I then asked Gemini to put its recommendations into a spreadsheet. It didn't give me a spreadsheet, but it did go into great depth explaining how to set one up, including all the formulas and the exact cells to copy them into. Finally, think of your emergency fund as an act of self-care and empowerment. Start small. Stay consistent. Your future self will thank you.
Scoop
19-05-2025
- Scoop
Children As Young As 6 Adopted, Made To Work As House Slaves
Article – RNZ A social worker who has helped 10 teenagers who escaped slavery fears others remain under lock and key. , Immigration Reporter This story discusses graphic details of slavery, sexual abuse and violence Children as young as six are being adopted overseas and being made to work as house slaves, suffering threats, beatings and rape. Kris Teikamata – a social worker at a community agency – spoke about the harrowing cases she encountered in her work, from 2019 to 2024, with children who had escaped their abusers in Auckland and Wellington. 'They're incredibly traumatised because it's years and years and years of physical abuse, physical labour and and a lot of the time, sexual abuse, either by the siblings or other family members. They were definitely threatened, they were definitely coerced and they had no freedom. When I met each girl, [by then] 17, 18, 19 years old, it was like meeting a 50-year-old. The light had gone out of their eyes. They were just really withdrawn and shut down.' In one case a church minister raped his adopted daughter and got her pregnant. Teikamata and her team helped 10 Samoan teenagers who had managed to escape their homes, and slavery – two boys and eight girls – with health, housing and counselling. She fears they are the tip of the iceberg, and that many remain under lock and key. 'They were brought over as a child or a teenager, sometimes they knew the family in Samoa, sometimes they didn't – they had promised them a better life over here, an education and citizenship. 'When they arrived they would generally always be put into slavery. They would have to get up at 5, 6 in the morning, start cleaning, start breakfast, do the washing, then go to school and then after school again do cleaning and dinner and the chores – and do that everyday until a certain age, until they were workable. 'Then they were sent out to factories in Auckland or Wellington and their bank account was taken away from them and their Eftpos card. They were given $20 a week. From the age of 16 they were put to work. And they were also not allowed to have a phone – most of them had no contact with family back in Samoa.' 'A thousand kids a year… and it's still going on' Nothing stopped the abusive families from being able to adopt again and they did, she said. A recent briefing to ministers reiterated that New Zealanders with criminal histories or significant child welfare records have used overseas courts to approve adoptions, which were recognised under New Zealand law without further checks. 'When I delved more into it, I just found out that it was a very easy process to adopt from Samoa,' she said. 'There's no checks, it's a very easy process. So about a thousand kids [a year] are today being adopted from Samoa, it's such a high number – whereas other countries have checks or very robust systems. And it's still going on.' As children, they could not play with friends and all of their movements were controlled. Oranga Tamariki uplifted younger children, who were sometimes siblings of older children who had escaped. 'The ones that I met had escaped and found a friend or were homeless or had reached out to the police.' When they were reunited with their birth parents on video calls, it was clear they came from loving families who had been deceived, she said. While some adoptive parents faced court for assault, only one has been prosecuted for trafficking. Government, police and Oranga Tamariki were aware and in talks with the Samoan government, she said. Adoption Action member and researcher Anne Else said several opportunities to overhaul the 70-year-old Adoption Act had been thwarted, and the whole legislation needed ripping up. 'The entire law needs to be redone, it dates back to 1955 for goodness sake,' she said. 'But there's a big difference between understanding how badly and urgently the law needs changing and actually getting it done. 'Oranga Tamariki are trying, I know, to work with for example Tonga to try and make sure that their law is a bit more conformant with ours, and ensure there are more checks done to avoid these exploitative cases.' Children from other countries had been sold for adoption, she said, and the adoption rules depended on which country they came from. Even the Hague Convention, which is supposed to provide safeguards between countries, was no guarantee. Immigration minister Erica Stanford said other ministers were looking at what can be done to crack down on trafficking through international adoption. 'If there are non-genuine adoptions and and potential trafficking, we need to get on top of that. It falls outside of the legislation that I am responsible for, but there are other ministers who have it on their radars because we're all worried about it. I've read a recent report on it and it was pretty horrifying. So it is being looked at.' A meeting was held between New Zealand and Samoan authorities in March. A summary of discussions said it focused on aligning policies, information sharing, and 'culturally grounded frameworks' that uphold the rights, identity, and wellbeing of children, following earlier work in 2018 and 2021. Where to get help:
Scoop
19-05-2025
- Scoop
Children As Young As 6 Adopted, Made To Work As House Slaves
Article – RNZ This story discusses graphic details of slavery, sexual abuse and violence Children as young as six are being adopted overseas and being made to work as house slaves, suffering threats, beatings and rape. Kris Teikamata – a social worker at a community agency – spoke about the harrowing cases she encountered in her work, from 2019 to 2024, with children who had escaped their abusers in Auckland and Wellington. 'They're incredibly traumatised because it's years and years and years of physical abuse, physical labour and and a lot of the time, sexual abuse, either by the siblings or other family members. They were definitely threatened, they were definitely coerced and they had no freedom. When I met each girl, [by then] 17, 18, 19 years old, it was like meeting a 50-year-old. The light had gone out of their eyes. They were just really withdrawn and shut down.' In one case a church minister raped his adopted daughter and got her pregnant. Teikamata and her team helped 10 Samoan teenagers who had managed to escape their homes, and slavery – two boys and eight girls – with health, housing and counselling. She fears they are the tip of the iceberg, and that many remain under lock and key. 'They were brought over as a child or a teenager, sometimes they knew the family in Samoa, sometimes they didn't – they had promised them a better life over here, an education and citizenship. 'When they arrived they would generally always be put into slavery. They would have to get up at 5, 6 in the morning, start cleaning, start breakfast, do the washing, then go to school and then after school again do cleaning and dinner and the chores – and do that everyday until a certain age, until they were workable. 'Then they were sent out to factories in Auckland or Wellington and their bank account was taken away from them and their Eftpos card. They were given $20 a week. From the age of 16 they were put to work. And they were also not allowed to have a phone – most of them had no contact with family back in Samoa.' 'A thousand kids a year… and it's still going on' Nothing stopped the abusive families from being able to adopt again and they did, she said. A recent briefing to ministers reiterated that New Zealanders with criminal histories or significant child welfare records have used overseas courts to approve adoptions, which were recognised under New Zealand law without further checks. 'When I delved more into it, I just found out that it was a very easy process to adopt from Samoa,' she said. 'There's no checks, it's a very easy process. So about a thousand kids [a year] are today being adopted from Samoa, it's such a high number – whereas other countries have checks or very robust systems. And it's still going on.' As children, they could not play with friends and all of their movements were controlled. Oranga Tamariki uplifted younger children, who were sometimes siblings of older children who had escaped. 'The ones that I met had escaped and found a friend or were homeless or had reached out to the police.' When they were reunited with their birth parents on video calls, it was clear they came from loving families who had been deceived, she said. While some adoptive parents faced court for assault, only one has been prosecuted for trafficking. Government, police and Oranga Tamariki were aware and in talks with the Samoan government, she said. Adoption Action member and researcher Anne Else said several opportunities to overhaul the 70-year-old Adoption Act had been thwarted, and the whole legislation needed ripping up. 'The entire law needs to be redone, it dates back to 1955 for goodness sake,' she said. 'But there's a big difference between understanding how badly and urgently the law needs changing and actually getting it done. 'Oranga Tamariki are trying, I know, to work with for example Tonga to try and make sure that their law is a bit more conformant with ours, and ensure there are more checks done to avoid these exploitative cases.' Children from other countries had been sold for adoption, she said, and the adoption rules depended on which country they came from. Even the Hague Convention, which is supposed to provide safeguards between countries, was no guarantee. Immigration minister Erica Stanford said other ministers were looking at what can be done to crack down on trafficking through international adoption. 'If there are non-genuine adoptions and and potential trafficking, we need to get on top of that. It falls outside of the legislation that I am responsible for, but there are other ministers who have it on their radars because we're all worried about it. I've read a recent report on it and it was pretty horrifying. So it is being looked at.' A meeting was held between New Zealand and Samoan authorities in March. A summary of discussions said it focused on aligning policies, information sharing, and 'culturally grounded frameworks' that uphold the rights, identity, and wellbeing of children, following earlier work in 2018 and 2021. Where to get help:
Scoop
19-05-2025
- Scoop
Children As Young As 6 Adopted, Made To Work As House Slaves
Article – RNZ A social worker who has helped 10 teenagers who escaped slavery fears others remain under lock and key. , Immigration Reporter This story discusses graphic details of slavery, sexual abuse and violence Children as young as six are being adopted overseas and being made to work as house slaves, suffering threats, beatings and rape. Kris Teikamata – a social worker at a community agency – spoke about the harrowing cases she encountered in her work, from 2019 to 2024, with children who had escaped their abusers in Auckland and Wellington. 'They're incredibly traumatised because it's years and years and years of physical abuse, physical labour and and a lot of the time, sexual abuse, either by the siblings or other family members. They were definitely threatened, they were definitely coerced and they had no freedom. When I met each girl, [by then] 17, 18, 19 years old, it was like meeting a 50-year-old. The light had gone out of their eyes. They were just really withdrawn and shut down.' In one case a church minister raped his adopted daughter and got her pregnant. Teikamata and her team helped 10 Samoan teenagers who had managed to escape their homes, and slavery – two boys and eight girls – with health, housing and counselling. She fears they are the tip of the iceberg, and that many remain under lock and key. 'They were brought over as a child or a teenager, sometimes they knew the family in Samoa, sometimes they didn't – they had promised them a better life over here, an education and citizenship. 'When they arrived they would generally always be put into slavery. They would have to get up at 5, 6 in the morning, start cleaning, start breakfast, do the washing, then go to school and then after school again do cleaning and dinner and the chores – and do that everyday until a certain age, until they were workable. 'Then they were sent out to factories in Auckland or Wellington and their bank account was taken away from them and their Eftpos card. They were given $20 a week. From the age of 16 they were put to work. And they were also not allowed to have a phone – most of them had no contact with family back in Samoa.' 'A thousand kids a year… and it's still going on' Nothing stopped the abusive families from being able to adopt again and they did, she said. A recent briefing to ministers reiterated that New Zealanders with criminal histories or significant child welfare records have used overseas courts to approve adoptions, which were recognised under New Zealand law without further checks. 'When I delved more into it, I just found out that it was a very easy process to adopt from Samoa,' she said. 'There's no checks, it's a very easy process. So about a thousand kids [a year] are today being adopted from Samoa, it's such a high number – whereas other countries have checks or very robust systems. And it's still going on.' As children, they could not play with friends and all of their movements were controlled. Oranga Tamariki uplifted younger children, who were sometimes siblings of older children who had escaped. 'The ones that I met had escaped and found a friend or were homeless or had reached out to the police.' When they were reunited with their birth parents on video calls, it was clear they came from loving families who had been deceived, she said. While some adoptive parents faced court for assault, only one has been prosecuted for trafficking. Government, police and Oranga Tamariki were aware and in talks with the Samoan government, she said. Adoption Action member and researcher Anne Else said several opportunities to overhaul the 70-year-old Adoption Act had been thwarted, and the whole legislation needed ripping up. 'The entire law needs to be redone, it dates back to 1955 for goodness sake,' she said. 'But there's a big difference between understanding how badly and urgently the law needs changing and actually getting it done. 'Oranga Tamariki are trying, I know, to work with for example Tonga to try and make sure that their law is a bit more conformant with ours, and ensure there are more checks done to avoid these exploitative cases.' Children from other countries had been sold for adoption, she said, and the adoption rules depended on which country they came from. Even the Hague Convention, which is supposed to provide safeguards between countries, was no guarantee. Immigration minister Erica Stanford said other ministers were looking at what can be done to crack down on trafficking through international adoption. 'If there are non-genuine adoptions and and potential trafficking, we need to get on top of that. It falls outside of the legislation that I am responsible for, but there are other ministers who have it on their radars because we're all worried about it. I've read a recent report on it and it was pretty horrifying. So it is being looked at.' A meeting was held between New Zealand and Samoan authorities in March. A summary of discussions said it focused on aligning policies, information sharing, and 'culturally grounded frameworks' that uphold the rights, identity, and wellbeing of children, following earlier work in 2018 and 2021. Where to get help:
