A boost for financial planning

The Office of the Retirement Commissioner launches a new online service.

Tuesday, January 26th 1999, 12:00AM

Doing a comprehensive financial plan online is now a possibility thanks to the Office of the Retirement Commissioner (ORC).
The office has converted all the tables in its popular Your Retirement Action Planner booklet into an interactive format and put them on its website.
While most other web site calculators only help people work out a savings target. The interactive Retirement Action Planner goes one step further and allows users to put together their own financial plan for achieving retirement savings goals.

Communications manager Liz Read says people can use the calculators to check they're on the right track with a savings plan, or those starting off can take a step-by-step approach and go through a three stage process towards developing a personalised financial plan for retirement.
Another feature of the calculators is a section where people can work out the quickest and cheapest way of paying off their mortgage.
Users can input their current loan, interest and payment details, and then experiment with different repayment options and interest rate scenarios.
Part of the office's message is that paying off a mortgage is the first step towards saving for retirement.
Read says planners should not feel that the interactive calculators are a threat to their businesses, rather it should seen as complimentary and a way of giving clients confidence
Research shows that people want impartial and independent financial advice, and they don't yet fully trust financial planners.
Read says people who are unsure, or uncomfortable, with their plan use the calculators as a cross-checking mechanism.
"(The calculators) are a boost for financial planning," she says.
The calculators can be found at www.retirement.org.nz/planner/index.html

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