The Weekend Collective

The age of retirement is back in the forefront of news this week after a report from the OECD recommended means testing the age of eligibility for NZ Super or risk an unsustainable rise in public debt.
The agency says New Zealand's ageing population will continue to become a prevalent issue as the government tries to pull the economy out of the red.
But some finance experts say we shouldn't be relying on the government to fund our retirements, and super should be treated as a bonus rather than a survivable income.
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Hearing loss is one of those things that sneak up on you.
In most cases, it's not something you notice as a sudden change - but you may catch yourself lip reading a little bit more often, or turning up the volume on the TV gradually over a few weeks or months.
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Russian president Vladimir Putin says the war in Ukraine is coming to an end.
The conflict has been ongoing since Russia's initial invasion in 2022, and Putin had been speaking in the Kremlin following a very scaled-back Victory Day parade.
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Winston Peters has leaked, and the Government has confirmed, that this will be the final year of fees-free support for tertiary students.
The support was first introduced as a first year free incentive to help get more young people into further education, and was changed to be final year free last year.
The policy has cost almost $350 million a year since it was introduced, but it seems the Government has decided that money is better spent elsewhere.
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The cost of having or raising a child is often the most considered issue among couples planning to start or grow their family.
It's not just the shopping trips for prams and cots and nappies - it's the income loss over the months of parental leave and the endless sick days once daycare starts up.
Plunket estimates a medium-budget cost for raising a child for the first year comes to just under $16,000. That works out to a whole lot of sacrifice.
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