Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today / Business

Good and bad debt

By Jeremy Tauri
NZME. regionals·
12 Aug, 2016 02:14 AM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Jeremy Tauri.

Jeremy Tauri.

We seem to spend our lives being told to pay off our debt faster, take less debt on and generally avoid having it hanging over our heads. But sometimes debt can actually be a good thing.

The key is to be able to identify whether debt you are thinking about taking on is "smart" or "dumb".

Debt is smart if it puts you in a better financial position. That could mean boosting your earning power, giving you new opportunities or even improving your health. If you are borrowing to grow a business, invest or to upskill, this can be smart debt.

If borrowing $10,000 for your business now allows you to invest in marketing, say, and increase the number of clients you deal with, it could quickly pay itself off. Soon, you'll be in a better position because of that initial investment.

You can find examples of smart debt in your personal life, as well.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

If you have kids thinking about going to university, a student loan could very well be smart debt for them. It seems an unimaginably huge amount of money at the time, but if borrowing $20,000 gives your kids the chance to earn a third more throughout their working lives, they will be better off in the long run.

Or if you have a house that is drafty and cold, borrowing to install insulation could be a good idea because it will help you be healthier, cut your power bills and reduce your time off work.

Dumb debt is the type that you rack up on a hire purchase for furniture, or giving your credit card a workout at the pub. It does nothing for you in the long-run, except drain your ability to invest in more sensible ventures.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

This kind of debt can be a ball and chain permanently dragging you down. Get rid of it as fast as you can and resolve never to get back into it again.

Give some thought to what kind of debt you have. It has a bad reputation but, used wisely, it can give you a big boost in business and in life.

- Jeremy Tauri is an associate at Plus Chartered Accountants.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Business

Premium
Opinion

Nick Stewart: What if you die with a big KiwiSaver balance?

30 May 08:43 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

'She is not going to prison': Woman avoids jail after cousin's fatal mattress fall from car roof

26 May 07:00 AM
Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

KiwiSaver changes 'a burden' for small businesses and self-employed

22 May 08:00 PM

Why Cambridge is the new home of future-focused design

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Business

Premium
Nick Stewart: What if you die with a big KiwiSaver balance?

Nick Stewart: What if you die with a big KiwiSaver balance?

30 May 08:43 PM

OPINION: How to spare your family pain in accessing the funds at a time of suffering.

'She is not going to prison': Woman avoids jail after cousin's fatal mattress fall from car roof

'She is not going to prison': Woman avoids jail after cousin's fatal mattress fall from car roof

26 May 07:00 AM
Premium
KiwiSaver changes 'a burden' for small businesses and self-employed

KiwiSaver changes 'a burden' for small businesses and self-employed

22 May 08:00 PM
Premium
Liam Dann: Upbeat Treasury forecasts GDP growth, rising house prices

Liam Dann: Upbeat Treasury forecasts GDP growth, rising house prices

22 May 05:39 AM
Clean water fuelling Pacific futures
sponsored

Clean water fuelling Pacific futures

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP