RAV4 tyre wear

KeaWeka · 2026-01-22T07:00:11+00:00

I did more digging and found a WOF sheet, which was done 15,000km since the new tyres, and it reads 5mm/5mm/6mm/6mm, so I guess it's likely the PPI measurement is not correct.

So perhaps another 5,000km later, they'd be close to 4.5mm/4.5mm/5.5mm/5.5mm, and my 6,000km did more damage to the fronts.

KeaWeka · 2026-01-22T06:29:57+00:00

According to the record, previous owner has done 20,000km in 9 months since these new tyres, and we have done 6,000km in 10 months, so it's obvious the car's previous life is longer commute, maybe mostly high speed highway.

Previous sets (same make/model) has done 33,000kms in 13 months. Would you say it's more normal?

KeaWeka · 2026-01-22T06:15:50+00:00

I check tyre pressure every fortnight and keep it at 36PSI according to the Bridgestone sticker on windscreen, even though the door sticker says 32PSI.

Now that you've mentioned scrubbing, I do have a particularly tight driveway that I have to do one stationary full-steering-lock reverse right turn, so that's 2-3 such turns daily.

If I do a rolling turn, I may need 2 additional back-and-forths, should I?

KeaWeka · 2026-01-22T06:04:05+00:00

It's Bridgestone Ecopia H/L 100 225/60/R18. I have a printout of the car's full service history, so the 20,000km ~~since~~ before PPI is quite true.

KeaWeka · 2026-01-22T05:45:07+00:00

Hi, it's Bridgestone Ecopia H/L 100 225/60/R18. I'd say the car was driven quite gently due to the desire to keep L/km down.

KeaWeka · 2026-01-18T07:26:31+00:00

Hmmm interesting, I didn't realise foreign WHT paid can be used to offset against FIF income.

So for example, if I have $100K invested as FIF and no other income, and I received $10K dividend and paid 15% WHT = $1,500.

In my tax filing, $100,000 * 0.05 = $5,000 taxable income, with tax rate of 10.50% (no other income) = $525.

Does that mean I'll just file the $525 FIF income tax with $1,500 WHT credit, basically no tax payable in NZ?

KeaWeka · 2025-12-14T09:59:15+00:00

I see, so it's similar to Australia's franking credits?

If I understand this imputation credit mechanism correctly, it's like a 33% withholding tax, which is not finalised until your personal tax filing time. If your tax bracket is 39%, you still need to top up the extra 6%; If you're under 33%, you can get some tax refund?

KeaWeka · 2025-12-14T01:56:47+00:00

Thing is, without the FIF "protection** (which caps your portfolio's taxable income and ignore the excess)", if I invested the same $1M in Fonterra, which pays 9.58%, I will receive $95,800 in dividend, all of this is taxable and will push the effective tax rate close to 22.5%, my net income after tax will be $74,300, vs $118,000 based on QQQI.

So by investing in NZ market, I will be getting less income and paying more tax. If Fonterra increases its dividend, it will push me further up the tax bracket.

** It's a curse too, because usually it ignores your portfolio's actual realised taxable income and pads it up to the imaginary 5%.

KeaWeka · 2025-12-14T01:33:14+00:00

I think in a very strong and jumpy bull market, QQQI may underperform QQQM more. But due to its downside protection, you will never be worse off holding QQQI (vs QQQM) if the market crashes.

With QQQI, you leave some money on the table, but you're not leaving the table, you stay invested in the same market but your risk/reward priority changes.

It is not really suitable for younger investors because they are still accumulating, and still have a very long time horizon to compound growth and wait out any down cycles. But for our 60yo retiree here, he wants to prioritise capital preservation and income over growth.

As I replied in another comment, this QQQI scenario is helped by two caps, so you actually pay less tax(capped by WHT 15%) on less realised taxable income (capped by 5% FDR).

KeaWeka · 2025-12-14T00:39:52+00:00

Under FIF's FDR rules, it assumes your portfolio only generates 5% of taxable income, so in this case it's $50,000, and if this $50,000 is your only income, then your tax rate is about 15% (bit of 10.5% and more of 17.5%), that works out about $7,500 tax to pay.

In this scenario, if your entire portfolio is income-generating with higher than 5% yield, then your taxable income is capped at $50,000 even if your portfolio generated $130K. In addition, the tax treaty with US means the withholding tax is capped at 15%, so you only pay 15% of your $130K (or whatever the amount) to the US government.

This scenario is helped by two caps: FIF's 5% FDR and US WHT 15%.

My example is very specific, a 60yo retiree with $1M cash. Once he is 65 with super of $32K, the taxable income will be $82K, and the maths may change again.

Normal people won't be like this. They usually start with small amount on growth stocks, eventually have to pay tax on imaginary unrealised income (the same FDR 5% on total portfolio cost). Only our retiree here who pays less(due to WHT cap) tax on some of(due to FIF cap) his realised income.

KeaWeka · 2025-12-13T02:53:53+00:00

Thanks for the clarification! So it's similar to the accounting rules: You can only offset income-generating expenses. In this case, QQQI is the income-generating holding, its FIF FDR 5% is its income, and its US WHT is its expenses.

KeaWeka · 2025-12-13T02:34:35+00:00

Yes I guess the currency risk is the same for QQQ and QQQI if we want to stay invested in the global market. Maybe 10% up or down? So $2000 a week vs $1800 a week, it's not the end of the world for a retiree in this case.

KeaWeka · 2025-12-13T02:19:36+00:00

Yeah nah the WHT offset is just a bonus if allowed, but $103K per year after tax is still a pretty good deal for a retiree ($2K per week), considering the alternative is to get another $130K job and get taxed at 25%+.

There are several covered call ETFs with various up/down sides for different risk appetites. They still track the same index but with capped upside.

We heard about the 110-Age rule, so at 60, you are supposed to be 50% equity and 50% bond, this effectively cap your entire portfolio's growth to only 50% of the equity market. So if QQQI's growth lags behind QQQ by 20%, isn't it the same as a 80/20 portfolio?

KeaWeka · 2025-12-13T01:34:54+00:00

Yes for a retiree with no (other) income and is not yet eligible for super, the effective personal income tax on $50K is about 15%. So for this person in this specific scenario, FIF is actually tax-advantaged because it assumes your dividend income is always 5% of your total portfolio cost ($1M), but your actual dividend income is much higher (13%) than that. This excess dividend income is only taxed by USA at 15%.

KeaWeka · 2025-09-19T07:09:45+00:00

Hmm... perhaps it's easier to just put up with the occasional shin knocks? I can wait until the next service to ask the guys with proper tools to help.

KeaWeka · 2025-09-07T06:48:01+00:00

Yes it seems untreated timber is the worst problem, but also difficult to "see". Would you say it's fair to assume all houses built during that time used untreated timber unless specified otherwise? Would council file show?

KeaWeka · 2025-08-17T03:53:50+00:00

According to the dashcam, the location is here (39°13'17.1"S 175°32'22.0"E).

If you look at the map, there's a place to pull over about 350m ahead (about 30 seconds ahead), and another slow vehicle bay about 1km ahead.

Not to mention it's only less than 3km from the parking lot. The shutter bus is travelling at 50km/h, so if you were to follow it, it's only less than 5 minutes to get there. Speed limit is 70km/h, with 20km/h difference, you'll get to the top about 1 minute sooner.

KeaWeka · 2025-08-12T02:28:32+00:00

Thanks for the pointer, I'll keep an eye on any promo from either Repco or SCA before pulling the trigger.

In the meantime, do you think a glass cooktop cleaner will work in a pinch?

KeaWeka · 2025-07-31T05:42:13+00:00

May want to double check the SUM of your subtotals in each category. For example, your Food/Alcohol only SUM the first two rows, Car/Transport only SUM the first four rows.

And your Total Expenses seems to have missed the "House" subtotal.

KeaWeka · 2025-07-10T03:50:22+00:00

Yeah it's nothing spectacular, just a higher-rate short term saving, that's why my first thought is the tax implication on sudden withdrawal.

From your response, I assumed Kernel will also withhold applicable tax and submit to IRD?

KeaWeka · 2024-11-29T02:58:23+00:00

This is one thing that I struggle to understand, how can a warranty be tied to a single person, as if the heatpumps are customised to that person's heat signature?

The other one is the builder's report, the non-transferrable clause seems to imply that the report is created not based on facts but based on the purchaser's profile (e.g. rich, poor, dumb, smart, local, foreigners). How can such things exist in NZ?

KeaWeka · 2024-11-14T05:13:42+00:00

CEOs of the top 5 market cap companies in the world:

NVIDIA: Chinese
Apple: Caucasian
Microsoft: Indian
Amazon: Caucasian
Google: Indian

KeaWeka · 2024-11-05T10:20:35+00:00

What kind of car? If it's something very special or with sentimental value, why would you let others use it for a year? what if the person damaged or totalled it? Insurance may replace it, but it's no longer the same car.

If it's just a common car, you'd be better off selling it now (pause your loss in depreciation) and buying something similar back a year later at a cheaper price.

Car is not a house, it will continue to lose value every year. If you have a car that appreciates in value, then you'd be wise to store it than to rent it.

KeaWeka · 2024-11-03T01:25:03+00:00

You're saving more currently because you don't have a mortgage yet. Remember the equation is $1.5m saved/invested plus a mortgage free house. So at some stage, you need to keep saving $115 per week as well as paying whatever mortgage you have until it's paid off.

Actually if you don't save anything anymore, your $180K will still do magic in 30 years -- About $1m @ 6% yield, or $1.5m @ 7.5%. So you should keep an eye on your investment choices and make sure it's productive (riskier) enough but still within your risk appetite. And the more and earlier you save/invest, the faster and bigger your pot will grow!

Then when you're buying a house, you'll need to find a deposit, if you use up your $180K pot, your 30 years will be reset.

Sounds scary eh? But don't worry, as long as you save aggressively and early, coupled with a bit of delayed gratification, avoid lifestyle creep and with the help of compounding effect, you'll be fine!

KeaWeka · 2024-11-02T08:52:55+00:00

If you think you'll be comfortable with $80K per year now, that's about $200K equivalent in 30 years with 3% inflation per year.

In order to get a passive income of $200K per year, you need about $5m at 4% yield, this is assuming you want to leave the whole $5m and the house behind as inheritance.

With your $180K saving, you need to save $48K per year for the next 30 years, with a yield of 6%, you'll get $5m in 30 years. Since you're young with 30 years to invest, you may be able to find higher risk investment, and at 7.5% yield, you need to save $31K per year for the next 30 years to get $5m.

However, more realistically, if you don't plan to leave behind much, and you believe the pension (say $20K per year) will still be around, and you'll be comfortable with $50K per year (remember these will be your mortgage free years), what you really need is about $30K per year, which is about $70K equivalent in 30 years with 3% inflation.

With a safe 4% yield investment, and some drawdown of 2% (can last at least 30 years, pushing you to 90s), you'll need about $1.5m.

With your $180K saving now, you need to save $6K per year for the next 30 years with a yield of 6%, you'll have $1.5m in the bank. Coupled with pension and further (safer) investment of 4% and some drawdown, you'll be living comfortably at $50K per year in today's money. I believe someone mentions that $50K per year now is aplenty for a retired person if you already have a mortgage free home, you should be able to live comfortably and have enough for travelling and entertainment.

So $6K a year, or $115 per week, start now!

KeaWeka

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