retirement.org.nz

Developed by the Retirement Commission, Sorted is designed as part of a strategy of building New Zealanders’ financial literacy.

The programme aims to help people: make better decisions about sa ving, investing or taking on debt; budget better; teach their children better money management skills; and ultimately, to have a better retirement through learning
better financial skills throughout life.

Sorted has at its core a new website – www.sorted.org.nz – which is being launched on 30 September 2001.

Public education manager Liz Read said Sorted provided a unique approach to helping New Zealanders improve their standard of living.

“It is a personalised, interactive and fun way to improve your financial skills – but most importantly of all it is completely independent.

“We have designed the site for all New Zealanders – from young people through to those in or nearing retirement. It provides a personalised and private approach to financial planning.

“With the calculators and other interactive tools, Sorted users can enter their own details to find the answers to their money management questions, in private and in their own time.

“People can choose which level they want to start getting Sorted: a ‘quick’ approach, to give them an overview of their money matters; or a comprehensive, in-depth approach,” Liz Read said.

What you can do on the site:

• Find out your Money Personality Profile – and learn your money management strengths and weaknesses.
• Work out what you’re worth (your net worth) and set goals for the future.
• Manage your budget better with our comprehensive budget calculator.
• Use the savings calculators and Goal Mac hine to build a plan to ac hieve your savings goals, and to understand the power of compound interest.
• Find out – from an independent source with no vested interests! – exactly what your mortgage or other loan is costing you in interest - and how to manage your debt better.
• Get advice on choosing an investment advisor and picking the right investment products to suit your circumstances.
• Develop a financial plan for retirement.
• Refer to our hot tips and kiwi stories to bring financial planning concepts to life.

The best way to get Sorted is online – at www.sorted.org.nz.

You can also get Sorted by going to your local library to use the internet there (Sorted is one of the free access sites offered by libraries). From early November, a publication called Sorted Offline, will also be available at libraries.

Liz Read said the online focus was new for the Retirement Commission.

“We’ve had a website for a long time – what’s new for us is that the website is now central to our public education programme, not peripheral.

“With limited funding , our ultimate challenge has been to make sure as many people as possible know about – and use – our new information resource.

“With this in mind w e have developed a comprehensive advertising campaign, featuring television advertisements, bus ads and online advertisements.

“In officialese, we are extending digital opportunities. But in simple terms, we’re trying to incr ease the number of people who will get value out of our financial skills information.”

Ends

For further information:
Liz Read
Sorted Public Education Manager
Tel: 0-4-494 6242 , Mob 021 118 5292

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Get sorted on money matters @ www.sorted.org.nz