Jonathan's Liverstone

Matt's having fun ...

... in London, but may be disturbing the locals.

Posted by The Denizen @ 7/21/2007 06:56:00 pm {1 comments }

P.I.s & Dutchies

Peter gives an thoughtful reflection on cross-cultural relationships:
I am startled by my presumption. Tommy, the child of immigrants, is as much a New Zealander as me, except his parents came from the Cook Islands, which makes him a Pacific Islander, whereas my parents came from Holland, which makes me a Kiwi.

Posted by The Denizen @ 7/20/2007 09:43:00 pm {0 comments }

Product Manuals

I know ... real men don't read manuals
But if you do, then http://www.theusermanualsite.com works for me.

Posted by The Denizen @ 7/17/2007 11:41:00 pm {0 comments }

Not for much longer

The ${EMPLOYER} is about to convert the desktop e-mail client from Lotus Notes to MS-Outlook.
It is a change which is being greeted with considerable anticipation. I guess it's a reflection of how bad Notes is that the introduction of a MS product should be accompanied with such joy.

Posted by The Denizen @ 7/17/2007 11:08:00 pm {1 comments }

Dodgy Explorer

I always though there was something suspicious about Explorer, now "Windows" thinks so too!

Posted by The Denizen @ 7/16/2007 12:32:00 pm {0 comments }

Slacker wins

You've gotta feel sorry for employers sometimes....
This woman obviously spends a lot of time pissing around sending crap e-mails, and even though they have a e-mail policy and tried to go through a seemingly fair process (like two separate written & signed warnings). She just claims it never happened and that the warnings were fake ... and then wins compensation!
They should have taken the silly cow's PC off her, and sent her out to read water meters.

Posted by The Denizen @ 7/11/2007 09:51:00 pm {0 comments }

The KiwiSaver Ethical Option

It looks like we need to be a little bit patient for the ethical investment option in the KiwiSaver Scheme.
It seems that Asteron are about to enter the arena, being the first truly ethical investment offering.
But oh dear ... check out the last paragraph in the article:

Gareth Morgan's KiwiSaver Fund managing director, Andrew Hawith, is sceptical. "I'd be fascinated to see how ethical some of these investments really are. How can you tell?
"I'm sure we will be investing in ethical as a mixture of portfolios but it would be dangerous to have your savings locked up for 30 years and into just an ethical fund," says Hawith.

Seems to me that wee Andrew needs to pay attention to the winds of change, and not just the message of maximising the bottom line.

Posted by The Denizen @ 7/11/2007 09:34:00 pm {0 comments }

Kiwisaver Scheme Providers

So the Kiwisaver scheme looks like it might be worth paying some attention to.
I decided to check out the list of providers on the Kiwisaver website, to see if who might be worthwhile.
Interesting range of presentations. I initially dismissed the Fisher Funds site because they blasted me with a twee video ... that was before I hit the Tower Kiwiplan site. Bloody hell, talk about overkill. I felt like I was being talked down to (despite the wee bits of humour in the videos.)
The Aon site ... very sad.

Under Maintenance
The AonSaver site is currently under maintenance and will be available on Monday morning. Please call 0800 AONINFO, during normal business hours, if you have any queries.

Has nobody there thought it through ... the Kiwisaver scheme is launched on Monday, the punters (like me) are gathering their information before Monday (duh).
My primary interest in all these sites was whether or not there was any interest in Ethical Investment, and the only mention I could find anywhere was on the Gareth Morgan Kiwisaver Site which said:

We do not hold direct investments in arms/tobacco/alcohol businesses or directly support unethical practices, but we do invest in Australian funds, UK investment trusts and US index trackers. These fund managers invest in hundreds of companies, which we do not scrutinize in detail. It is therefore possible that unethical investments will indirectly make up part of the portfolio. We do not offer a purely ethical fund or investment direction. We strive to invest your savings in a responsible and ethical manner.

Not 100%, but as they were the only ones ... they get to win the race! UPDATE
No, it is not the smartest financial decision-making process, but the lack of any ethical investment options in such a big scheme is appalling!

Posted by The Denizen @ 7/01/2007 10:47:00 pm {0 comments }

Disclaimer: (I stole this from Internal Affairs.)
All links and references to other websites, organisations or people not within my control are provided for the user's convenience only, and should not be taken as endorsement of those websites, or of the information contained in those websites, nor of organisations or people referred to. I also do not implicitly or impliedly endorse any website, organisation or people who have off-site links to this website.
... But then again; I only link to sites 'cos I see something there that's worth linking to.