By now you may have heard about the budget today, and some of the changes to KiwiSaver.

I am not going to talk about the politics of it all, but more just the changes to KiwiSaver and what this might mean to you and some things to consider. I will try to keep this as short as possible but it may be a little long.

You'll see this ridiculous picture in captions everywhere where someone's complaining about cutting out a daily work coffee to save money. The meme suggests that saving $20 a week gives you $80 a month or $960 a year. They've even got the maths wrong by assuming exactly four weeks in a month. After 10 years, you've supposedly saved $9,600, which isn't enough to buy a house, so you might as well enjoy your coffee.

I see ads like this all the time from other advisers and it tends to annoy me.

It’s a clear play on the meme that went around ages ago about cutting back on coffee of avocado toast to save for a house.

It’s designed to get you annoyed, give you some FOMO and make you think you need to do more, and they can sell you on buying rental property, with the aim that this helps you pay off your loan faster.

For many people, going into the new year meant making clear goals and determinations to change things and do better. I have had many sessions with people already this year wanting to get better with money.

The challenge with resolutions is they are made in a moment of excitement, and that excitement cannot be maintained indefinitely.

 We often get asked about what advice is for and its value. Advice is for many things, but it all comes down to making sense of Life’s defining moments.

It may be difficult to see how this applies so here are some ideas.

I often talk to people who think that because they have not started planning in the 20s, its too late now in their 30s, 40s, 50s or even 60s.

While the best time to start planning for your future is when you start work, the next best time is today, or tomorrow.

Everyone seems to be obsessed with Mortgage rates, they are the main topic I see around. My social media ads are bombarded with Mortgage advisers telling me now is a good time to refinance for better rates or free money and I’ve been hearing about the “trend down”, or the “expectations” of rate drops etc.

Don’t panic sell your investments, if you think you have to cash out soon, get advice. This shall pass, you need to Hold Fast.

In short yes. But here’s the thing, where or how to invest is less important than why to invest.