Latest fromDiana Clement: Real Money

Organising your money properly can pay off with savings and extra cash.

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

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

Diana Clement looks at the six biggest life insurance mistakes that Kiwis make.

Bad credit ratings happen to people in all walks of life. Sometimes a catastrophe such as business failure, divorce or illness leaves an erstwhile financially healthy member of the public in dire straits.

'Have you got a pet investment?" My mother leaned across a cafe table to ask me this question a few weeks back and the idea for an article was born.

Rejection of hardship withdrawal applications and problems with first-home buying generate many complaints to watchdogs, writes Diana Clement.

Whether you want to book tickets to an event, pay for a carpark or buy a movie ticket online, fees and charges are sucking you dry, Diana Clement writes.

Here’s how to turn your spare bedroom into a money machine.

Not all KiwiSaver funds are vanilla-flavoured conservative, balanced or growth funds, writes Diana Clement.

Half of Kiwis don't have a will. In the under-40 age bracket the figure jumps to 70 per cent.

Learning how to budget is one of the most valuable skills you can teach your teenagers, writes Diana Clement.

Teenagers' brains and money don't mix well. When some teenagers get their hands on the money in their bank accounts, they spend the lot in one fell swoop, Diana Clement writes.

Many retirees are treating the KiwiSaver concept as a Lotto-style payout. Half of them are withdrawing their money and, of that number, most are blowing it on overseas holidays, cars, boats and consumer goods.

Making a dodgy investment decision is easy. Frame it with the wrong facts and figures and it's bound to look good, Diana Clement writes.

Making the move from being a working person to living, at best, in reduced circumstances, and at worst on NZ Super alone, is difficult.

Admitting you've made a mistake can be painful. Learning from that mistake can make someone. Money gurus share mishaps from their youth for you to learn from.

Kiwis have been opening their wallets over the past fortnight for the Vanuatu relief effort.

Are zombies eating your bank interest? Zombie accounts are the ones that pay low interest rates - sometimes as low as zero.

Collectibles are subject to the laws of supply and demand. They can provide some protection from inflation, but aren't the best hedge around, writes Diana Clement.

YOUI debited $592 from my Visa card even though I’d cancelled policy, writes Diana Clement.