HELP NEEDED URGENTLY
Does anybody know how to cancel a bid on Trade Me?
Yesterday I put in a bid for a “Cowboy Outfit” and now it seems I’m only six minutes away from owning the New Zealand Labour Party!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Dum Dum Goff (apologies to TalkTalk)
Thinking of the Labour policies announced to date-
- return to 1970's industrial relations
- GST policy
- capital gains and higher income tax rates
- extending 'Working for Families' to beneficiaries
- spend, spend, spend, borrow, borrow, borrow
GST on Fruit and Vegetables - Labour's Idiocy
Remember hearing of the story about when VAT was introduced in the UK. The government of the time was undertaking the sort of populist nonsense that Labour are attempting now and exempted 'basic food'. Included in the definition of basic food was salt. Of course the food nazis decided takeaways were nasty and so VAT applied to takeaways.
It did not take long. One enterprising fish and chip shop advertised that their fish and chips were free while every order had to have salt and the salt cost 2 pounds per standard order. They were then effectively cheaper than all their competition by the value of the VAT. Of course to remedy this legal avoidance required more legislation and expert panels.
The beauty of NZ's GST is its broad application and so the difficulty in finding avoidance tricks such as the UK example. If Labour's nonsense proposal were to be passed, I could easily imagine there would be examples of the vegetables or fruit being charged for while non-vegetable/fruit elements would be free. Tax experts love exemptions as they provide a good living in devising schemes to take advantage of them so I can see the tax advisors industry rubbing their hands in glee at the thought.
It did not take long. One enterprising fish and chip shop advertised that their fish and chips were free while every order had to have salt and the salt cost 2 pounds per standard order. They were then effectively cheaper than all their competition by the value of the VAT. Of course to remedy this legal avoidance required more legislation and expert panels.
The beauty of NZ's GST is its broad application and so the difficulty in finding avoidance tricks such as the UK example. If Labour's nonsense proposal were to be passed, I could easily imagine there would be examples of the vegetables or fruit being charged for while non-vegetable/fruit elements would be free. Tax experts love exemptions as they provide a good living in devising schemes to take advantage of them so I can see the tax advisors industry rubbing their hands in glee at the thought.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Selling SOEs
I cannot believe the stupidity of some of the comments against selling SOEs and am concerned the proponents don't counter them. I am a financial consultant and have valued and sold many companies and divisions over the years so have some expertise here. One of the common complaints (and Labour also use the argument) is that by selling, we will forego the dividends we currently receive from these SOEs.
What do people think a company is worth? I'll tell you, it is worth the net present value of the free cash flow that the company is forecast to generate over its foreseeable life. And that is what you would sell a company for unless you are an idiot. So you would receive the value today of the total possible future dividends. Invest those sale proceeds and you should be able to generate at least similar levels of income or alternatively pay off debt and save interest bills.
The real issue is whether there are better alternatives to the government being invested in electricity companies and a coal company when we have a desperate need to get our debt down and to build infrastructure to kick us into the 21st century. Governments are not there to assume business risks that private enterprise is well able and better placed to incur.
What do people think a company is worth? I'll tell you, it is worth the net present value of the free cash flow that the company is forecast to generate over its foreseeable life. And that is what you would sell a company for unless you are an idiot. So you would receive the value today of the total possible future dividends. Invest those sale proceeds and you should be able to generate at least similar levels of income or alternatively pay off debt and save interest bills.
The real issue is whether there are better alternatives to the government being invested in electricity companies and a coal company when we have a desperate need to get our debt down and to build infrastructure to kick us into the 21st century. Governments are not there to assume business risks that private enterprise is well able and better placed to incur.
Goof and Labour
My wife is not a political animal but last night's performance by Goof and the new Labour spend up policy on Child welfare had her spitting tacks. "I saw some woman on TV with 6 kids complaining beneficiaries need more money. Why should I pay for her inability to keep her legs closed? We didn't have kids until we could afford them and we limited out family size for the same reason."
She starts yelling "Show us the money." Well done John Key, you have defined the 2011 election for most of us. We read daily of Europe in danger of collapsing due to excessive government spending caused largely by bloated social welfare and Goof wants us to follow that example. My canny wife says "No one believes Labour have a plan to pay for all this." She works with a large group of immigrants and none of them are voting Labour this time around.
I think Labour know they will be toast in November so are trying to retain the 25% or so of the electorate who represent their core, regardless of how nonsensical their policies as a result.
She starts yelling "Show us the money." Well done John Key, you have defined the 2011 election for most of us. We read daily of Europe in danger of collapsing due to excessive government spending caused largely by bloated social welfare and Goof wants us to follow that example. My canny wife says "No one believes Labour have a plan to pay for all this." She works with a large group of immigrants and none of them are voting Labour this time around.
I think Labour know they will be toast in November so are trying to retain the 25% or so of the electorate who represent their core, regardless of how nonsensical their policies as a result.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Leaky Homes
I thought I would blog on the leaky home process I went through as a guide for the other poor souls who are facing the same issue. What follows is a very brief history as the whole process took a very long time.
IMPORTANT - register immediately with the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service ("WHRS"). You have to claim within 10 years of your house being built. Plus, under common law, you have to claim within 6 years of finding the problem. Registering with the WHRS is regarded as making your claim and stops the clock. In my instance, the house was built in 1998 and I registered in 2005. The final mediation and settlement was in July 2011 which is 13 years after the house was built and 6 years since the problem was discovered, but having "stopped" the clock, the time delay did not matter (legally).
After registering, the WHRS sent out an inspector and they carried out 2 inspections with probes, producing a huge detailed report. I went to the best leaky home lawyers in town. They advised I hire an inspection firm and have an invasive examination (where they cut holes in the cladding) as the WHRS inspectors were not very good and had a record of badly under-estimating the cost to repair.
Was given a list by the lawyer and started at the top. The first 3 declined saying they were too busy. Finally found one who could do the inspection within a week. HINT - make sure you ask the hourly rate and compare - they vary hugely. Inspection was again conducted and found many areas the WHRS had missed. The estimate of costs was almost twice that of the WHRS. I hired the inspection firm to act as my project managers and to supervise the repairs.
HINT - you could save substantial costs here if you have the time and ability to act as your own project manager. However, he helped me redesign the house, supervised the builders and council through every critical weathertight issue (well outside my area of expertise) and ensured every thing was done properly, albeit at a huge cost and some suggestion that I was ripped off.
After some time of redesigning etc as I was not prepared to reclad in the same system and went for weather boards, funding issues, family issues (both my family and the project managers) we finally selected a large repair company. With hind sight I can say the choice was brilliant and the foreman they put in charge was an old- fashioned chippy who would not accept a sloppy piece of work anywhere and was a great guy as well. HINT - repair and then claim if you can afford it as until the cladding is all off, you do not have an accurate handle on the costs to repair. Ours were out by 30%.
So, finally finished after 6 months and the family having to move out and back in. The details and photos of the repairs and costs are given to my lawyers. The opposing council hires the biggest firm in town, the builders hire the second biggest. So the tennis match starts with information, delaying tactics and of course bills going in all directions. After 2 years we finally get to mediation under the WHRS.
My lawyer warns me to keep my mouth shut and not say anything no matter how provoked unless he asks me directly. The WHRS mediator starts proceedings (she turns out to be completely useless through the day). My lawyer outlines our claim, then the builders' lawyer states their case and it starts as a slag off of me and everything I have done to fix my house. The council's laywer is next and the first thing she does is to apologise to me and my family for putting us through the whole problem! I was gob smacked.
For the next 3 hours, the builders' lawyers and building experts slandered me, impugned my every action, indulged in nit picking points of law and made derisory offers of about a quarter of what I it had cost (all up including interest on borrowings, alternative accommodation etc). The parties leave the room and have discussions re what they will offer/accept and so on.
We left for lunch and returned to more point scoring and insults, including one from their inspection firm saying "If you wanted too keep costs down you shouldn't have employed a Rolls Royce project manager." My project manager went ape shit and gave him his pedigree back. I bit my lip and wanted to point out we are talking about a large house in one of Auckland's best suburbs.
Finally, we left the room again and my lawyer said you should offer $X on a take it or leave it basis. This was for 2/3 of what I had spent. I was rather upset. He advised I might get a further 10-20% if I went to a hearing of the WHRS but it would cost me about that to go to a hearing and there was no guarantee I would get the extra I wanted as the WHRS tribunal chairs tend to be lawyers who cannot make it in private practice and so tend to the poor end of the quality spectrum. The final step is the High Court which would cost at least $100k and could be appealed. So I caved in. The other side accepted and the matter was settled.
The lawyer for the original builders comes over and shakes my lawyer's hand and then comes to me. As a gentleman, I stand and shake her hand. The council's lawyer comes over and I do the same. I stand and said to her "I appreciated the apology. No one other than you has ever apologised for the 6 years of hell my family has gone through."
Next, over comes the General Manager of the original builders who had sat there with his lawyers. I remained seated, he sat down next to me and putting out his hand said "You must be relieved that is all over." I looked him in the eye and said to him "Your firm's gross incompetence and your lawyers have cost me a lot of money; I am rather upset; I suggest you go away very quickly." His jaw dropped and he pulled in his hand very quickly, got up and scuttled out of the room. I should add I am the size of an All Black lock so was twice his size. I was rather proud I had not used any obscenities or hit him.
So, there you go. As usual the legal system has been highjacked by the lawyers in favour of the deepest pockets rather than the victims. My family and I were blameless here. The building firm and the council were grossly incompetent. Parts of our house were built in contravention of existing bylaws, parts would have collapsed within 2-3 years due to unseen beams rotting out and parts of the house were found to be dangerous. We had to face the fact that 30 years of hard work and scrimping were now seriously at risk, we had to borrow and service a huge loan while not having a permanent job, move the family out for 6 months into a shit hole of a house (to keep costs down), face 2 years delays and loan costs, all while trying to save money for possible legal and court costs.
I am very angry and as the builder is part of a listed company I am thinking of buying some shares and start attending AGMs and asking questions that might attract the attention of the media. I am reasonably handy with social media and that presents some opportunities as well. My daughter said "Let it go as you'll just turn into a bitter old man." She may be right.
IMPORTANT - register immediately with the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service ("WHRS"). You have to claim within 10 years of your house being built. Plus, under common law, you have to claim within 6 years of finding the problem. Registering with the WHRS is regarded as making your claim and stops the clock. In my instance, the house was built in 1998 and I registered in 2005. The final mediation and settlement was in July 2011 which is 13 years after the house was built and 6 years since the problem was discovered, but having "stopped" the clock, the time delay did not matter (legally).
After registering, the WHRS sent out an inspector and they carried out 2 inspections with probes, producing a huge detailed report. I went to the best leaky home lawyers in town. They advised I hire an inspection firm and have an invasive examination (where they cut holes in the cladding) as the WHRS inspectors were not very good and had a record of badly under-estimating the cost to repair.
Was given a list by the lawyer and started at the top. The first 3 declined saying they were too busy. Finally found one who could do the inspection within a week. HINT - make sure you ask the hourly rate and compare - they vary hugely. Inspection was again conducted and found many areas the WHRS had missed. The estimate of costs was almost twice that of the WHRS. I hired the inspection firm to act as my project managers and to supervise the repairs.
HINT - you could save substantial costs here if you have the time and ability to act as your own project manager. However, he helped me redesign the house, supervised the builders and council through every critical weathertight issue (well outside my area of expertise) and ensured every thing was done properly, albeit at a huge cost and some suggestion that I was ripped off.
After some time of redesigning etc as I was not prepared to reclad in the same system and went for weather boards, funding issues, family issues (both my family and the project managers) we finally selected a large repair company. With hind sight I can say the choice was brilliant and the foreman they put in charge was an old- fashioned chippy who would not accept a sloppy piece of work anywhere and was a great guy as well. HINT - repair and then claim if you can afford it as until the cladding is all off, you do not have an accurate handle on the costs to repair. Ours were out by 30%.
So, finally finished after 6 months and the family having to move out and back in. The details and photos of the repairs and costs are given to my lawyers. The opposing council hires the biggest firm in town, the builders hire the second biggest. So the tennis match starts with information, delaying tactics and of course bills going in all directions. After 2 years we finally get to mediation under the WHRS.
My lawyer warns me to keep my mouth shut and not say anything no matter how provoked unless he asks me directly. The WHRS mediator starts proceedings (she turns out to be completely useless through the day). My lawyer outlines our claim, then the builders' lawyer states their case and it starts as a slag off of me and everything I have done to fix my house. The council's laywer is next and the first thing she does is to apologise to me and my family for putting us through the whole problem! I was gob smacked.
For the next 3 hours, the builders' lawyers and building experts slandered me, impugned my every action, indulged in nit picking points of law and made derisory offers of about a quarter of what I it had cost (all up including interest on borrowings, alternative accommodation etc). The parties leave the room and have discussions re what they will offer/accept and so on.
We left for lunch and returned to more point scoring and insults, including one from their inspection firm saying "If you wanted too keep costs down you shouldn't have employed a Rolls Royce project manager." My project manager went ape shit and gave him his pedigree back. I bit my lip and wanted to point out we are talking about a large house in one of Auckland's best suburbs.
Finally, we left the room again and my lawyer said you should offer $X on a take it or leave it basis. This was for 2/3 of what I had spent. I was rather upset. He advised I might get a further 10-20% if I went to a hearing of the WHRS but it would cost me about that to go to a hearing and there was no guarantee I would get the extra I wanted as the WHRS tribunal chairs tend to be lawyers who cannot make it in private practice and so tend to the poor end of the quality spectrum. The final step is the High Court which would cost at least $100k and could be appealed. So I caved in. The other side accepted and the matter was settled.
The lawyer for the original builders comes over and shakes my lawyer's hand and then comes to me. As a gentleman, I stand and shake her hand. The council's lawyer comes over and I do the same. I stand and said to her "I appreciated the apology. No one other than you has ever apologised for the 6 years of hell my family has gone through."
Next, over comes the General Manager of the original builders who had sat there with his lawyers. I remained seated, he sat down next to me and putting out his hand said "You must be relieved that is all over." I looked him in the eye and said to him "Your firm's gross incompetence and your lawyers have cost me a lot of money; I am rather upset; I suggest you go away very quickly." His jaw dropped and he pulled in his hand very quickly, got up and scuttled out of the room. I should add I am the size of an All Black lock so was twice his size. I was rather proud I had not used any obscenities or hit him.
So, there you go. As usual the legal system has been highjacked by the lawyers in favour of the deepest pockets rather than the victims. My family and I were blameless here. The building firm and the council were grossly incompetent. Parts of our house were built in contravention of existing bylaws, parts would have collapsed within 2-3 years due to unseen beams rotting out and parts of the house were found to be dangerous. We had to face the fact that 30 years of hard work and scrimping were now seriously at risk, we had to borrow and service a huge loan while not having a permanent job, move the family out for 6 months into a shit hole of a house (to keep costs down), face 2 years delays and loan costs, all while trying to save money for possible legal and court costs.
I am very angry and as the builder is part of a listed company I am thinking of buying some shares and start attending AGMs and asking questions that might attract the attention of the media. I am reasonably handy with social media and that presents some opportunities as well. My daughter said "Let it go as you'll just turn into a bitter old man." She may be right.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Back Again
Thought I would look up my blog after a very long time - whew the last post was in February 2009!
Not a lot has happened since then as our life went on hold due to the lack of permanent work and having to rebuild a leaky home. Every bit of spare cash had to be saved to meet the interest bill on a huge mortgage borrowed to rebuild the house. Then I had to save enough to fund the lawyers and potential court cases. The house is rebuilt in weatherboards and looks fantastic and settlement has been recently reached with the asshole builders and the council. (I will blog separately on the experience. Needless to say we are severely out of pocket despite not being at fault). However, finally we could sort out some of the family issues and expenditure that had been put on hold for 6 years!
My last post referred to 2 month's work. Well! I took up the role and 3 staff in the section went in all directions within short order so the boss reorganised the section and took parts of the 3 roles and combined them into one logical role and let me stay doing it. We all looked the other way as he knew I would not do the role on a permanent basis for the pay scale applying so I lasted until October 2010 until another restructuring took the role out of that section. The way it was done would have won me some dosh in the Employment Court as I had been here so long I had a good case to argue I was a permanent employee. However, I had great fun at their HR department's expense pointing out how their publicised values etc had been severely dented in this instance. At least the HR Manager had enough grace to blush with embarrassment and say I was right.
I would love to blog on my experiences at this company and name them but they helped me out of a very deep hole when I lost my job, my house and my father all within 3 months and I could not have survived without the work they gave me. So, that buys them heaps of thanks and loyalty, even from a contractor. And the people I have worked with are, by and large, great.
Shortly afterwards (before the other contract expired) I was offered work elsewhere in the company and have been here since. This contract will last until Christmas 2011 and I think that will be it as they have restructured again (4 in 3 years) and for the first time are laying off finance people. I have been chasing permanent and contract work all over town and in the past week and am actually getting some interviews this time. Fingers crossed.
I have just had a significant birthday and am in a contemplative sort of mood this month as I look forwards and backwards and think about what sort of mark I am going to leave in the world. I went to Sydney and had a long weekend staying in the best hotel in town as a treat. However, the Rugby World Cup is on and I am putting everything on the back burner as I am enjoying the footy immensely. We are down to the final - go the All Blacks!
Not a lot has happened since then as our life went on hold due to the lack of permanent work and having to rebuild a leaky home. Every bit of spare cash had to be saved to meet the interest bill on a huge mortgage borrowed to rebuild the house. Then I had to save enough to fund the lawyers and potential court cases. The house is rebuilt in weatherboards and looks fantastic and settlement has been recently reached with the asshole builders and the council. (I will blog separately on the experience. Needless to say we are severely out of pocket despite not being at fault). However, finally we could sort out some of the family issues and expenditure that had been put on hold for 6 years!
My last post referred to 2 month's work. Well! I took up the role and 3 staff in the section went in all directions within short order so the boss reorganised the section and took parts of the 3 roles and combined them into one logical role and let me stay doing it. We all looked the other way as he knew I would not do the role on a permanent basis for the pay scale applying so I lasted until October 2010 until another restructuring took the role out of that section. The way it was done would have won me some dosh in the Employment Court as I had been here so long I had a good case to argue I was a permanent employee. However, I had great fun at their HR department's expense pointing out how their publicised values etc had been severely dented in this instance. At least the HR Manager had enough grace to blush with embarrassment and say I was right.
I would love to blog on my experiences at this company and name them but they helped me out of a very deep hole when I lost my job, my house and my father all within 3 months and I could not have survived without the work they gave me. So, that buys them heaps of thanks and loyalty, even from a contractor. And the people I have worked with are, by and large, great.
Shortly afterwards (before the other contract expired) I was offered work elsewhere in the company and have been here since. This contract will last until Christmas 2011 and I think that will be it as they have restructured again (4 in 3 years) and for the first time are laying off finance people. I have been chasing permanent and contract work all over town and in the past week and am actually getting some interviews this time. Fingers crossed.
I have just had a significant birthday and am in a contemplative sort of mood this month as I look forwards and backwards and think about what sort of mark I am going to leave in the world. I went to Sydney and had a long weekend staying in the best hotel in town as a treat. However, the Rugby World Cup is on and I am putting everything on the back burner as I am enjoying the footy immensely. We are down to the final - go the All Blacks!
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