Trick or treat personal finance options; Resisting spending temptations for kids; Sexing up your retirement portfolio; Where wealth lives; First time home purchases;

By Amanda Morrall

Here's my top picks for personal finance links from the web for Wednesday.

Happy to receive your feedback and suggestions by email: amanda.morrall@interest.co.nz

1) Trick or treat 

Kiwis don't do Halloween I know. Rather than get virtually egged on the 31st I'm putting this link up today from dailyfinance.com. The Halloween edition blog  creatively presents the dark and light side of personal finance facilities and cautions against deceptions consumers face. 

Halloween was one of my favourite holidays as a kid. Possibly it has something do to with getting stuffed into a pumpkin by my father when I was five weeks old. True story, wish I had the photo.

2) Spending temptations

I am surely getting old as I have taken the view that life was simpler "way back when." No I didn't walk to school five miles in the snow.

I did however take a yellow school bus in the winter and ride my bike during the summer from age 8. That was before the nanny state took over. Now, I risk getting  thrown in jail for letting my kids take their bikes to school on their own even though they're begging me to do so.

On those long bus rides to school, the kids passed the time in a traditional manner; throwing spit balls, tormenting one another, gazing out the window, or reading till they barfed in the aisle.

Now, there's ipods, Nintendo DSs and mobile phones to pass the time. I rue the day I took a handheld hand-me-down from my sister as I now have a full-on computer addict on my hands who recently has begun pestering me for an ipod - a touch no less. 

So far, I have remained strong but the eldest son has Bart Simpsonesque tendencies and will gradually whittle down my will through sheer persistence. "Please mum, please mum, please mum...."

When I found this blog from moneyreasons.com, I was comforted to find I'm not alone in this department. Parents are softies. In a way, it's sharpened my resolve not to cave in. Just wish we could give Christmas a pass.

3) Sexing up the portfolio

I'm a sucker for a good headline. So are the masses and the s-e-x word works a charm.

Salaciousness aside, there's some good material in this piece by Forbes Money writer Robert Laura writing on how to "add sex and sizzle" to your retirement portfolio.

4) Aussie, Aussie, Aussie 

It's no surprise to anyone I'm sure that the United States is home to the world's wealthiest individuals, that's followed by Japan and Germany.

What did surprised me about this msn.com ranking of the nations with the most millionaires  was Australia's top ranking in terms of wealth distribution. Apparently, it's at the top of the heap, which would explain the exodus from NZ. Shame.

Speaking of wealth distribution, Australia may well be the world's model nation in this category. According to Credit Suisse, a staggering 70.5 per cent of Australians have a wealth level exceeding $100,000. To put that into perspective, 48 per cent of Canadians fall in that same wealth bracket, and no country on earth (Italy is runner-up, at 61.6 per cent of residents boasting wealth over $100,000) even comes within eight percentage points of Australia in this regard.

5) First time homes

I mentioned in yesterday's Take Five some options in KiwiSaver for those who don't know what fund they should choose, outside of a default option. I also wrote about some friends who despite their suspicions of managed funds fancy owning their own home one day. I was surprised they didn't know that KiwiSaver gave them that option. 

I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised. A survey undertaken by the Housing New Zealand Corporation not too long ago found there was widespread ignorance about the option in KiwiSaver to withdraw savings for a first time home and also the potential to get a subsidy from HNZC. The providers were blamed for not doing a better job marketing this feature.

For the benefit of others who might not know about how it works, here's the key links.

This one from official KiwiSaver website explains entitlements and how early withdrawal works. 

And this one from Housing New Zealand Corporation the criteria for qualifying for a subsidy.

Also, here's an excerpt below.

What the KiwiSaver first-home deposit subsidy can be used for?