Disclaimer

This tool provides general estimates for educational purposes only. It is not financial advice and is not an offer, approval or guarantee of finance. Results are based on the information you enter and published rules, and may differ from lender assessments or your personal circumstances. FinLab is not a licensed Financial Advice Provider under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 and is not regulated by the FMA. Figures are indicative and based on rules current at the last verification date shown on each tool. For advice specific to your situation, consult a licensed financial adviser — you can find one at fma.govt.nz or sorted.org.nz.

What these calculators are

Every tool on FinLab is an educational model. It takes the figures you enter, applies the published rates and thresholds for the tax year shown on the page, and returns an estimate of what those rules produce. That is the whole of it. The maths runs in your browser, nothing is submitted anywhere, and no part of the result is reviewed by a person before you see it.

An estimate built this way is useful for understanding how a rule works and roughly where you stand. It is not a quote, an assessment, or a statement of what any organisation will actually do. Treat the numbers as a starting point for a conversation, not as the answer.

Why your real figures will differ

A calculator only knows what you tell it, and the published rules are simpler than most people’s circumstances. Take-home pay depends on your tax code, your pay cycle, any mid-year change of job and deductions your employer applies that we never see, so a payslip rarely matches a model to the dollar. Lending is further removed again: banks apply their own servicing tests, stressed interest rates, expense benchmarks and credit criteria, and two lenders assessing identical figures routinely reach different numbers. Neither our borrowing range nor our repayment figures predict what you will be offered.

Rules also move. Rates, thresholds and eligibility criteria change with government policy, and there is a lag between a change being announced and it being reflected here. Each page shows the tax year it uses and when the underlying rules were last verified. Where a figure here disagrees with the official source, the official source is correct — the methodology page lists every source we read from.

Not financial advice

FinLab is not a licensed Financial Advice Provider under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 and is not regulated by the Financial Markets Authority. Nothing on this site is regulated financial advice, and nothing here takes your goals, circumstances or risk tolerance into account — which is precisely what advice means. We do not recommend products, lenders, KiwiSaver funds or providers, and we receive no commission or referral fee from any of them.

For guidance specific to your situation, speak with a licensed financial adviser. You can check whether someone is licensed on the Financial Markets Authority register, and the government’s independent money guidance service Sorted is free to use. For tax questions specific to your circumstances, Inland Revenue is the authority.

Decisions and liability

Decisions you make after using this site are your own. Buying a house, changing a KiwiSaver rate, taking on a mortgage or resigning from a job all carry consequences a calculator cannot model, and FinLab accepts no liability for any loss arising from reliance on these estimates. Before you commit to anything, confirm the numbers with your employer, your bank, Inland Revenue, Kāinga Ora or a licensed adviser as appropriate. Nothing here limits rights you have under New Zealand consumer law that cannot be excluded.