I can't believe how cheap you guys get money...

In New Zealand our Floating Home Loan rate is currently 9.55%, this is the home rate...

Most Boats are around 11.95% to 13.95%

Yeah, but our health care costs us the other 5% you THINK we are saving!!!

healthcare is not all that cheap either...

We pay 9.55% (admitly floating, current fixed on 3 years is 8.5%) on the average value of a house in my city ($500k) verus paying the current US rate of what 5.5%?

Makes the little extra you pay in healthcare seem like a bargain to me!!

And what do you get on cash in the bank....small acounts are less than 1%.....big money earns 2% -maybe 3 tops. Works out eventually, sometimes our economy is bustling, sometimes the European economy is.

Yes I understand that we may earn a higher interest rate on money in the bank, but when you look at the percentage of savings versus the interest rate on mortages it doesn't balance out. i.e most people have a 2,3,400k mortgage but very few would have cash saving of over $20k I would imagine.

Some of those people need with big accounts need to be investing in NZ then.... especially as the kiwi doller has pretty much peaked against the US and Reserve bank is looking at putting interest rates back up, would make for a fairly attractive low risk investment...

Hard to put your money overseas, but it does appear to have greater returns. My mom has lived in Germany the last 3 years and is paid in American dollars.....the exchange rate is killing her!!