By focusing on a 1 per cent daily improvement in any area of life, you'll become more effective in a short period of time, writes Robyn Pearce. .

A central component in the reform of the financial planning industry is education but this notion comes with problems.

Labour Leader Andrew Little has staked out valuable new territory with his announcement of a Future Work Commission.

One of the big trends today is for businesses to use mainly digital technology to communicate with customers and potential customers.

How did we react to the erosion of democratic rights by attack bloggers and the rise of executive power? Mostly with a collective shrug, writes Chris Barton.

A reader writes: I intend to settle a cash sum on each of my grandchildren on my demise. What fish hooks exist if I place a lump sum in a KiwiSaver account for each?

On his 60th birthday Woody Allen is supposed to have joked that "practically a third of my life is over". Optimistic maybe, but illustrative - as Patrick Nolan explains.

The world is in the grip of a new oil shock. The shock is that prices are collapsing. Liam Dann explains what it means for the NZ economy.

Expectation is a powerful thing. It's the reason 45,000 sections in Auckland are sitting there ready to go, with all the connections to water, power and roads - but no houses.

The Financial Markets Authority's consultation paper on corporate governance is timely.

Falling oil prices have been one of the biggest stories in financial circles over recent weeks.

As a society, how did we allow residential property to become just another investment asset class?

All I want for Christmas is an Ebola emergency kit. That's not because I think I'm at risk of catching the disease.

Pumpkin Patch shares hit another record low yesterday as investors continued to punish the company after a dark annual meeting.

To suspicious eyes, it starts to look as if the Govt is in ideological thrall to the 1980s dogmas that the smaller the state the better, and whatever the problem, the solution is a market, writes Brian Fallow.

SkyTV, Spark's Lightbox and Quickflix, pretend in public they're not concerned about Netflix arriving, but that's just bluster, writes Juha Saarinen.

There's a common belief that women are better at multi-tasking than guys. It's only partly true.

FOFA is a serious law, introduced by the previous Labor government after a series of scandals hit Australia's financial planning industry.

A reader writes: If my employer includes its contribution as part of a total remuneration package, what happens to the contribution if one opts out of KiwiSaver?

What is your 'Unfair Marketing Advantage Strategy' going to be for 2015?

Steer clear of dumb debt this season – and the more tidings of comfort and joy there’ll be for the rest of the year.

The funny thing is, most marketing activity is highly... incorrectly... focused.

The Christmas madness is about to begin and for many retailers the stakes have never been higher, writes Business Editor Liam Dann.

Why is the Government over-spending on motorways when new technologies could render them white elephants?

My partner and I have our own home at the moment with a sizeable mortgage, and we're thinking of starting a property rental portfolio.

Herald columnist Diana Clement looks at how to get the best out of the Christmas shopping spend.