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Photo: RNZ Do you have money questions you'd like answered? Email susan.edmunds@rnz.co.nz I am probably typical of a growing percentage of women who find themselves unexpectedly single after a long marriage. I have always been the homemaker and secondary income earner, which means that now I am 59, single, my salary level is moderate and I have a limited number of years until retirement age. I am mortgage free and have around $160,000 in my KiwiSaver. Additionally I have about $250,000 capital in a term deposit at 6.25 percent. My question is should I invest my capital? I know that interest rates are likely to start falling by next year but investing is scary. When my money is in the bank it feels safe. For me it's a large sum of money and I don't want to risk seeing it decrease in val...

Photo: 123RF What happens when the price at the supermarket checkout keeps rising but your budget does not? In our latest installment of Checkpoint's new series Crunching the Numbers, we are drilling into the detail of the weekly shop from Countdown and PAK'n SAVE to see how much it has gone up since 2022. It is no secret Kiwis are feeling the pinch, so RNZ asked shoppers how much the weekly shop was setting them back. One woman said for a household of four it cost them $200. Another shopper said for their household of four with three teenagers it cost $500. A single pensioner said he usually paid $100 a week. For over two years, Checkpoint has been tracking the price of 36 supermarket items in the same area. Our first shop in May 2022 at Greenlane Countdown cost us $238 dollars and th...

There's a brighter future for many as the economic clouds over New Zealand are starting to lift, Kiwibank's latest report says. Photo: Pablo Heimplatz / Unsplash Most of the country is starting to recover economically, even if it doesn't feel like it, Kiwibank says. It has released its latest annual regional report, which it described as "tentatively optimistic" about what lies ahead for the country's economy. Every region increased its economic score compared to last year - with the exception of Wellington - although the highest score remains only five out of 10, recorded in Southland. "We're not shooting the lights out by any stretch of the imagination," said Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr. "What we're really feeling is that things are slightly better than last year but still at...