Budget Planner | Online Personal Finance Blog for NZ

Was achieving your goal in heaps! but not being able to ‘complete’ it, a bit of an anti-climax? Well, get your party hat on because now you can! When you’ve reached your goal, heaps! will display a message on your home page to let you know it’s time to celebrate.

heaps! will also display your completed goals at the bottom of your goals page so you can feel a warm sense of pride every time you check it. Then if you find that you haven’t saved as much as you thought you had or that your goal actually costs more than originally planned, you can reactivate a completed goal by clicking on reactivate and decreasing the amount saved or increasing your goal target. You can also allocate or deduct money from an active goal anytime you like.

We’ve also done some background maintenance so that your heaps! runs more smoothly. We know that you’re all quite eager to see some of the bigger, more exciting changes, and rest assured, they’re on their way.

FREE! Who isn’t drawn to the bold and often colourful word? Contrary to the statement, “Nothing in life is free,” some things actually are! Why not take advantage of the opportunity? Well, in some cases the quote is true. How do you know when “FREE” actually means it’s free? Here are some pointers, and a bit of advice on how to distinguish between when free is better and when it’s not.

Good News!

The good news is; some things in life ARE free! You can find these deals everywhere, and in every part of life. Take for example, free samples; YES! I would love to try a new flavor of a popular brand of crackers, bring on the free ice cream samples! You can get free items everywhere (not just in the local market). Let’s talk about where you can get free clothes, books, kitchen appliances, and ADVICE. Your very own family is generally the best way to get stuff for free. (Of course, you shouldn’t go looking through your brother or sisters closet for a new sweater). However, when the opportunity arises to swap the blender you never use for a slightly used set of knives; don’t pass it up! Swap books, hand-me-downs, movies, games, etc. You’ll save yourself and your family heaps when you share. Does every family really need their own copies of every single Disney movie released?

When you’re shopping, you can come across great free items as well. If you went to the store (and you needed two new pairs of shoes), don’t pass up a buy one get one free deal. Or if you and a friend are both looking for shoes, split the cost of the purchased pair and save! The same idea can apply at the market, or in your favorite clothing shop.

My favorite free things are “FREE FUN!” If I ever come across the opportunity to do something fun or exciting for free, I rarely pass it up (I’d have to be crazy!!!). I was lucky enough to help with some photography for a friend, It was great fun and didn’t cost me anything. I also love “punch cards” (after buying 9 coffee’s I think I deserve the 10th for free!). I also love free advice, (in moderation, of course) it really helps to have the support of your friends and family.

Bad News!

The bad news is, there are often “free” deals that are manipulating. You see these everywhere! Here’s what to watch out for; “Buy 5 get 1 free”, “Eat the entire 6.8 kilo burger, get it free”, “FREE for 90 days”, or “FREE MONEY.”

When you see a “Buy 5 get 1 free” sign, consider this: Do you need 6 of these items? Did you need 5?? Getting you to buy more than you intended or needed originally just for one free item is a marketing scheme. The item is usually marked up enough that the manufacturer doesn’t lose a penny by giving you the free item. (Actually, they are making more money by getting you to buy more). Especially consider what you originally intended to buy when it’s food. Buying 5 loafs of bread to get one free, when you only needed one or two originally, is a bad idea. It’s likely that the additional loafs will grow mold before you get to them.

We all love a challenge, but when you see a sign that says “Eat the ENTIRE 6.8 kilo burger, get it FREE” sign, I encourage you to pass on the opportunity. Unless you are confident you can finish the burger, and that you will be satisfied when you do, you will end up paying an unheard of price for the meal (and suffer from a massive belly ache).

“Free for 90 days” usually translates to: It’s free now, but your locked in for 12 months and for the 9 months it’s not free… Well, it certainly won’t be cheap! You’ll see deals like this on credit cards (“0% interest for 90 days”), loans, subscriptions, etc. Before you buy into one of these schemes, get all the information and READ the small print! “Free Money” would likely fall under this category. If you receive an email from someone wanting to put some money in your account, all they need is your account information, I hope you can immediately realise that this is a scam!

Take advantage of the free things in life, but be aware that many times people use the word “FREE” to manipulate and scam others into spending more when they need not! What are you favorite free things? Do find it difficult to realise when the word “free” is being used to manipulate?

Kiwibank has been announced as a finalist in, not one, but…three categories for the Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand (TUANZ) Innovation Awards! AND every single one of these awards is for their part in bringing heaps! to their customers.

TUANZ is a not-for-profit membership association that has led the charge to improve competition for telecommunications services in NZ. Their vision is for a New Zealand with a world-class communications system, with all Kiwis enjoying affordable, readily available connectivity. This prestigious annual awards ceremony recognises outstanding innovation within the telecommunications arena in New Zealand.

Kiwibank is a finalist in 3 categories:

TUANZ Initiative of the Year Award Finalists (Pictured: Richard Westlake on behalf of Kiwibank, Michael Foley - Voco (sponsor) and Maxine Elliott - Vector Communications)

TUANZ Education Award (sponsored by Aurecon): For the most innovative education or training product, service or initiative developed in New Zealand, and delivered electronically to New Zealanders, which contributes to general education (applicable to whole life learning, e.g business, community, primary, secondary, tertiary, etc).

TUANZ Initiative of the Year (sponsored by Voco): For a product, service or application facilitated or enabled by the innovative use of technology in New Zealand, or by a New Zealand company overseas.

TUANZ Commerce Award (TUANZ’s own): For the most innovative financial product, service or initiative developed in New Zealand, and delivered electronically to New Zealanders, which enhances the customer’s experience.

The winners will be announced at the award ceremony on Thursday, 2 September at the Langham Hotel in Auckland. Congratulations to Kiwibank, and thank you for being such a supportive partner!

heaps! categorises a percentage of your transactions automatically, which saves you time. We’re giving you, the heaps! community, the power to decide which category a business belongs in.

The Categorisation Engine

Previously the heaps! team sat in front of long lists of business names and decided which category each of your transactions should be assigned to. But now, if a business is not currently in our system, it will automatically be assigned the category that a majority of the first customers to categorise it have selected for that business.

For this example, lets say that ‘McDonalds’, as a business, is new to heaps!. If the first few heaps! customers choose to categorise their McDonalds transactions, as ‘Takeaways’ and the next few select ‘Snacks’ instead, then no automatic categorisation would be applied. It needs a certain number of customers to select the same categorisation for the automation to take place.

How This Helps You

With this new categorisation system, it means that more of your transactional spending will be automatically categorised and categorised to how the majority of heaps! customers would want it. As always, though, you can manually change your transaction category, if it isn’t right for you.

Lights, camera, action!

Just last weekend we met up with three of our heaps! users who wanted to share their heaps! experience with us, they enlightened us with their stories and their tips on budgeting and saving – stay tuned for their video.

This meeting came as a result of how here at the heaps! HQ, we love getting out there and meeting our users face to face, chatting about real financial issues and seeking answers to these problems. We have started a series of video which collects your opinions and stories of your heaps! experience so far and we would like to see more and hear about how you’re using heaps! to get more out of life!

But how does this work?

The process is simple…

We work around you
We understand the time constraints of daily life so we work around you. You decide where and when, and we will work around your hours and cater to your needs.

Friendly shooting environment
There is no pressure to perform, we just want to have a chat and let you share your story. We operate a very small video production crew with no compromise to quality, and most importantly our crew are really friendly and will guide you through the production process.

Push online
Off to the cutting room. Our editors will cut up a video which shares your story. Once complete, we will review it with you so you can make changes you are not happy with. Once you are happy and have signed off, we will share your story to other heaps! users to inspire them to get more out of life.

Check below to see other users who have shared their story…

If you are interested to share your story, please contact us on yourstory@heaps.co.nz with the subject line “Your Story”

We look forward to hearing from you!

We’ve made it easier for you to manage all your finances in one place! Not everyone banks exclusively with Kiwibank, and with the new heaps!, you can now import data files from other banks. heaps! will support files from ANZ, BNZ, ASB, Westpac, and National Bank.

When you upload your data, heaps! recognises your transactions and allows you to categorise and budget for them as you would your Kiwibank transactions. You can include these external accounts in any of your existing account groups or even create a new group just for them.

With all your finances in one place, budgeting has never been easier!

Have a look at the new Accounts page:

The Budget Page has undergone a facelift, and you will find that it will be easier to keep on top of your finances.

heaps! users can now change the name and frequency of a budget item or delete it altogether. As many of you have requested, you can also control whether an expense is necessary or optional – You do this by clicking on the icons, necessary is the number ‘1’ icon and optional is the number ‘2’ icon.

The last 5 transactions can be viewed on the budget page, by clicking the down arrow on the budget line, making it easy to see which spends are being included.

Take a look:

We’re excited to announce the launch of an upgraded heaps!. This new version builds on the tracking abilities of the heaps! you’re used to and incorporates suggestions and improvements proposed by customers like you. It’s never been easier to get heaps! more out of life!

Here are a few things you can look forward to the next time you log into heaps!:

Importing Data from Other Banks

We realise that not everyone banks exclusively with Kiwibank, so we have incorporated a feature that allows customers to upload data files from other banks.

Improved Budgeting

Thanks to many of your suggestions, we’ve redesigned the Budget page and incorporated some features that make it easier for you to keep track of your money.

Spread the Word

We now have over 15,000 people using heaps!. We’re always keen to hear your comments, so keep those ideas coming! Become a fan on our Facebook page and tell us what you think.

Greer McDonald has been shopping around for a new bank that will help her get out of debt. On her stuff.co.nz blog, she openly talks about her experiences with Westpac, ASB, and Kiwibank, and gives glimpses into services offered by SBS, National Bank, BNZ, and ANZ.

Partly thanks to heaps!, Greer McDonald has decided to move her daily personal banking to Kiwibank.

“The Heaps! product is an added bonus and I think it’ll prove to be a pretty valuable tool in the future.”

We wish Greer all the best in her financial future, and she can bet heaps! will be there to help!

Read Bank Idol: It’s over… for the full article.

Greer McDonald has tried several personal finance software websites and writes about how heaps! speaks to the inner geek and financial infant in her. A product of her Generation “Y-Not” spending habits, Greer’s debt brings new meaning to a misspent youth. Her aim now is to debunk money myths and get Kiwis to take control of their finances by learning through her bad choices.

3 Key Things Greer Finds in heaps!

“It’s not just a retrospective tool that tells you what you’ve spent after the fact, it breaks things down to show information like how many days till your next pay day (and whether you’re on-track right now with your budget, rather than later).”
“It also does things like celebrate spend-free days by marking them on your breakdown.”
“Your goals stare you in the face on the same page as your balance (like) and I think my favourite thing: it doesn’t look like it’s a bank site.”

Read Bank Idol: Kiwibank on stuff.co.nz for the full article

Posts Tagged ‘budget planner’

Goooaaaalll!!!

When Free is Better vs. When it’s Not!

Good News!

Bad News!

Kiwibank heaps! Named as Finalist for 3 TUANZ Innovation Awards

Kiwibank is a finalist in 3 categories:

More Transactions Pre-Categorised for You!

The Categorisation Engine

How This Helps You

Sharing your heaps! experience with us

Lights, camera, action!

How to Add Accounts From Other Banks

How to Use the New Budget Page

We’ve Made heaps! Even Better!

Here are a few things you can look forward to the next time you log into heaps!:

Importing Data from Other Banks

Improved Budgeting

Spread the Word

Lady in the Red Decides on Kiwibank

Lady in the Red Sizes Up Heaps!

3 Key Things Greer Finds in heaps!

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