Series supports making time, says franchise owner
The XRACE series is about families completing challenges and having fun together, which series sponsor New Zealand Home Loans says ties in with setting goals around a home loan.
New Zealand Home Loans sponsors the New Zealand-wide ‘XRACE’ series. Held in 13 locations throughout the country over February and March, the aim of the series is to have fun with family, and encourage resilience, competition and sportsmanship, with proceeds from the sausage sizzle provided to the Child Cancer Foundation.
Parents team up with their child or children to complete a series of 10 mystery challenges, which change each year. One of the highlights of this year’s event was a ‘secret handshake’ challenge, where participating families made up and practiced their own version of a handshake, performed at the start of the race.
New Zealand Home Loans Papakura business owner Toni Edwards (pictured immediately below left) told NZ Adviser that the aim of the sponsorship was to build brand awareness while supporting families to make time to have fun together.
“I think a lot of families miss out on that when they get busy, so [we’re] providing something that’s very family orientated and the opportunity to complete mystery challenges that are also fun,” Edwards said.
Having sponsored XRACE for eight years, New Zealand Home Loans promotes its brand on participants’ t-shirts, and has a strong presence at each XRACE event. Franchise owners and staff pitch in at their local event, whether it be coordinating the event waves, handing out medals or helping with the post-race BBQ.
Edwards, who has owned the New Zealand Home Loans franchise for eight years and is a qualified mortgage and insurance adviser, said that her heart lies in providing quality customer service - taking the time to find out about families and what they want to achieve.
“My best days are when I get to sit in front of clients, find out what they want to achieve so that I can help them do that,” Edwards said.
“That’s where XRACE is the same: it’s all about that family and taking the time to enjoy that together.”
Despite being established in New Zealand in the late 90s, Edwards said that New Zealand Home Loans, which is owned by Kiwi Group Capital Ltd, was still seen as New Zealand’s best kept secret.
Many people within the network were still confused about what the company does, she said.
Clients’ mortgages are held with banks, and New Zealand Home Loans works with them to help them achieve their goals. Emphasis is placed around repayment of debt, enabling clients to save money on interest and become mortgage-free sooner.
New Zealand Home Loans advisers help clients with budgeting and saving using debt nav software to help them make wise financial choices.
“They get to choose where they spend their money, where they save their money and what they want to achieve in the future,” Edwards said.
“It’s not put in control of the bank…they’re in control of it.”
Paying off home loans remains a priority for clients
Amid talk of a recession this year, Edwards said that for clients, paying off debt was more important than ever.
Over the past few years, with the official cash rate falling to a record low 0.25%, Edwards said that she encouraged her clients to keep their repayments at a higher level.
“That’s helped in two ways: with the interest rate increases, they’re not noticing much of a difference, and also, they’ve reduced their debt levels using that strategy,” she said.
Interest rate rises remain a top concern
Edwards acknowledged that some clients, particularly more recent homebuyers, were not used to higher interest rates. They needed reassurance that mortgage rates were simply returning to a more normal range.
She said that she often told clients that interest rates were unlikely to go back to the 2% to 3% range, and that while they couldn’t control interest rates, they could control their money.
In the current environment, Edwards said it was more important than ever for mortgage advisers to ask their clients what they want to achieve and when, to enable a plan to be put in place.
“Their one need may be to meet their living expenses each day (so we look at their budget) or to pay their loan off faster,” Edwards said.
She said it was also important to remind clients to repay debt before reaching retirement age.
Taking loans up to age 70, while possible, was not ideal, she said. Part of that education was to remind clients that their KiwiSaver would be needed to provide an income in retirement, and therefore, should not be relied on to repay their home loan.
“They’re going to need more than a mortgage-free house at that point, so [I tell them] don’t rely on your KiwiSaver to repay your mortgage.”
For clients, this year will be about “going back to basics”, she said.
“As I say to my clients, you take time to wash your clothes, wash your car, vacuum the floor, do the dishes…you need to also take time to sit down and look at your finances, whether its once a week or once a month,” Edwards said.
