What is insurance? Insurance is a contract that protects you from huge costs of an unexpected event that you can’t cover yourself, such as car, travel, health or home insurance. You’ll need to pay the insurance company an annual fee, and if something bad happens - such as a car crash, the insurance company will help cover the costs of the accident. Do I need it? Probably not right now, unless you choose to get travel insurance when travelling overseas. Your parents will likely already be paying for a few insurance covers, but you might want to look into having at least basic car insurance if you own your own car. You can learn about the best car insurance providers on Canstar’s comparison article 🔗, so that you can choose the right car insurance for you.
The IRD (Inland Revenue) is the part of the government that’s in charge of collecting taxes. As New Zealand citizens we can be taxed in two ways:
Whenever you buy something, you actually pay an extra 15% of tax to the government. For example, if you paid $6 in total for a bag of apples, 15% of that - or $0.9 - is paid to the IRD.
If you work, depending on how much you earn per year, you’ll pay a portion of your wage to the IRD too. Here are the tax rates for the five tax brackets of income:
Student loans are borrowed from the government, and are there to help you cover your course fees when studying at a university or a polytechnic. The best part is that your student loan will be interest-free as long as you live and work in NZ! If you want to apply for one, you’ll need to do so at least two months before you begin your first university semester. Studylink has a page with everything you need to know about student loans, and all the steps you need to follow to apply.
