If you could take out a mortgage fixed for 12 years at 4.01 per cent to invest in an asset that lasts decades, would you?

When are you Kiwi enough to qualify for KiwiSaver? Helen Twose puts that question to Nigel Jackson, Westpac's head of wealth products.

Once depressed, debt becomes a vicious circle, says Judi Clements, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation.

Foreign firms play an important role but we need good rules in place, writes Brian Gaynor.

The country is not convinced a deal would have plenty of upside, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

Q: A few years ago my daughter entered the workforce. She got a credit card with a limit of $500. Within a year the bank sent a letter raising the limit to $10,000.

Talk radio tends to have a conservative audience and when he appears in the Herald Hosking's opinion is one of many. But TV has a pervasive influence, writes John Drinnan.

Wherever you draw the line, too many children are going without, writes Brian Fallow.

Landcorp should be lined up for a partial privatisation to inject new private capital into the company instead of selling off farm assets at the bottom of the dairy cycle, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

Here are some more time tips for working parents, following on from last week's article on how to reduce early-morning stress.

Councils and Government have a poor record when it comes to selling shares, says Brent Sheather.

One Christmas, when I was still a boy, we tagged along with my mother to her shift at the nursing home. As I recall, only three people died that day.

Marketing commentator Graham McGregor says memorable points of difference can help ensure customers return.

Christopher Niesche has a look at Domino's stand out financial result.

Canadians, not Chinese, take top spot as the biggest investors in New Zealand over the past two years, according to analysis released by KPMG today.

Building a retirement fund is one thing, but we might do better to focus on what kind of weekly income we can achieve with it, writes Tom Hartmann.

The fall in the New Zealand dollar to US65c from US85c a year ago has been a blessing and a curse, writes Bernard Hickey.

Using drier lint instead of cotton swabs, home dentistry and free range guinea pigs. When does extreme budgeting go too far?

Japan, Canada and the US are united in pushing NZ to ditch its demands for better dairy export access to their protected markets, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

New Zealand's challenge is to boost exports to this rapidly urbanising nation, writes Brian Gaynor.

Air New Zealand says its experience with Warner Bros and The Hobbit helped it secure rights to the Sony Pictures movie Men In Black for the airline's latest safety video.

So-called independent teeth-gnashing, hair-shirt inquiries into dysfunctional court sentencing and offender monitoring are a waste of time and money, writes Jock Anderson.

In light of the stress the dairy industry is under right now, they really do need to take the longer-term view that they say they are taking, writes Brian Fallow.

The Financial Markets Authority is hammering home the message that it means business on issues such as market manipulation and insider trading.

Robyn Pearce offers some proactive time management tips for working parents.

A company's share price doesn't tell us anything about whether it's expensive or cheap and, if anything, it should be taken as a sign of a strong track record of performance, writes Mark Lister.

I'd like to suggest a new business paradigm recognising "special" employees like me, because generally we're so vibrant, innovative and fun to have around, Paul Charman.

It's a bold move, typical of Google, which may be connected to the internet and which earns vast amounts of money, but isn't really part of anyone's life, writes Juha Saarinen.