The SortMe blog
Tips, insights, and practical advice to help you take control of your money and build a better financial future.
23 October 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 9 min read
Cost of living in NZ: inflation is 3.7%, but petrol, beef, power, rates and insurance are up far more. What's driving each one, and what you can do today.
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16 October 2026 · Carl Thompson · 4 min read
Household sharing for you and up to four others, filters that remember themselves, and read-only SortMe access for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor.
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12 October 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 10 min read
Christmas is ten Fridays away. Work out what yours costs, divide it by the weeks left, and keep Black Friday, the card and BNPL out of January.
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8 October 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 13 min read
Which household debts to keep and which to clear first, and how the bank counts your card limit, car loan and BNPL before a bigger mortgage.
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8 September 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 11 min read
An NZ adviser on income protection insurance: where ACC stops, what illness does to a household income, and the $1,200-a-month policy nobody needed.
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24 August 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 8 min read
Fewer than 1 in 5 professional fund managers beat the index over 10 years. The evidence on index funds vs picking stocks, for NZ investors on Sharesies.
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11 August 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 7 min read
Living payday to payday on a good income? It's mindset, plan and structure, not earnings. The four accounts that break the cycle.
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23 July 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 5 min read
One wage carrying the whole house? The budget mechanics that matter most on a single income — the real monthly number, the fixed-cost audit and the buffer.
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17 July 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 5 min read
Is the share market bubble about to burst? What a 30% drop would do to your money, what history says about recovery, and how NZ investors can prepare.
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8 July 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 5 min read
The SpaceX float popped, then round-tripped. Here's what the research really says about buying IPOs — and why your savings deserve a calmer plan.
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7 July 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 5 min read
The minimum KiwiSaver employer contribution is now 3.5%. Who pays what in 2026, why ESCT means less lands in your account, and what to check on your payslip.
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3 July 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 5 min read
Your mortgage fixed rate is ending. Do you have to refix with your bank, or can you refinance? What each means, when to switch, and how to prepare.
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2 July 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 5 min read
ASB, ANZ, Westpac and BNZ all show spending insights. Once your household spans more than one bank, each shows only a fraction. Here's the fix.
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30 June 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 5 min read
Inflation is back above 3% in NZ. Here's what it actually is, why cash in your everyday account is going backwards, and how to stay ahead of it.
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25 June 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 5 min read
You trust SortMe with your money. Meet the founder building it — Carl Thompson's story on Josh Comrie's 2 Commas podcast.
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25 June 2026 · Carl Thompson · 5 min read
Looking for a YNAB alternative in NZ? Here's the honest comparison against SortMe — an AI budgeting assistant built for NZ bank accounts in 2026.
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22 June 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 5 min read
Salary, a side hustle, dividends, a distribution or two? Tax is the solved part. Here's the working method for budgeting a multi-income NZ household.
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19 June 2026 · Carl Thompson · 5 min read
Bank savings pay under 3%. Better spots for your cash in 2026: Wedge, Kernel Cash Plus, the right Notice Saver, with Kernel's CEO on the record.
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18 June 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 5 min read
Scott Pape never built a Barefoot Investor app, and he never will. SortMe is the NZ-built way to run the Barefoot buckets on autopilot — here's how to set it up in five minutes.
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18 June 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 5 min read
Honest, NZ-specific comparison of the six personal finance apps Kiwi households actually shortlist in 2026 — SortMe, PocketSmith, YNAB, MyBudgetPal, Spendee, Goodbudget. Built for households juggling multiple banks, KiwiSaver and property, not US chequing accounts.
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17 June 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 5 min read
Hnry handles tax. Your accountant handles year-end. The bit nobody handles is the business spending on your personal card. Here's the SortMe Pro fix.
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15 June 2026 · Carl Thompson · 5 min read
Entity Management is here. Keep your trust, rental and side business cleanly separate inside SortMe, and hand your accountant a one-click year-end pack.
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15 June 2026 · Carl Thompson · 5 min read
Three New Zealand advisory firms — Lighthouse Financial, Opes Partners and Naked Finance — on when a family trust actually earns its, and when it's just expensive paperwork.
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3 June 2026 · Charlotte Barraclough · 5 min read
When to see a financial advisor in NZ — six situations where it usually pays, when it's still too early, and how SortMe gets your finances into the shape an advisor needs before you book anything.
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28 May 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 5 min read
A single 0–100 score for NZ households that combines whether you're living within your means and how big your cash cushion is. Here's how it works.
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25 May 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 5 min read
You earn more, you spend more, and somehow you're not richer. Why lifestyle creep is the silent wealth-killer for high-income Kiwi households, and how to avoid it — with an adviser's-side view from Josh at MoneyMen.
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20 May 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 5 min read
Three NZ platforms, three jobs. Where Sharesies, Hatch, and Kernel each earn a place in a Kiwi portfolio, and how SortMe pulls them onto one screen.
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19 May 2026 · Carl Thompson · 5 min read
Joint, separate, or somewhere in between? The household money setup most NZ couples drift into — and the one that scales for the next 20 years.
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13 May 2026 · Carl Thompson · 5 min read
Budgeting every dollar sucks. We've rebuilt SortMe's budget around a simple idea: your essentials are forecastable, your lifestyle isn't. Here's what's new in v3.
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8 May 2026 · Carl Thompson · 5 min read
NZ house sales held steady in March after two months of decline. We asked a leading Auckland real estate agent what's really happening — and what first-home buyers should be tracking right now.
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6 May 2026 · Carl Thompson · 5 min read
Looking for a PocketSmith alternative in NZ? Here's the honest comparison against SortMe — built by NZ founders for NZ households in 2026.
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30 April 2026 · Carl Thompson · 5 min read
If you want to track your net worth in NZ, you need an app that sees your bank accounts, KiwiSaver, property values, and debts in one place. This is it.
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29 April 2026 · Charlotte Barraclough · 5 min read
Three signals that mean a KiwiSaver provider switch is worth considering, how the transfer actually works, and what SortMe flags about your KiwiSaver the moment you connect.
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26 April 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 5 min read
Breaking a fixed NZ mortgage costs a break fee. Here's how it's calculated, when it's worth paying, and how SortMe helps you spot the decision early.
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22 April 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 5 min read
Petrol is up 20% in six weeks, and the flow-on costs hit groceries, deliveries and services about six weeks later. What it's costing Auckland households, what an NZ adviser says to protect first, and what to look at in SortMe tonight.
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20 April 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 5 min read
A plain-English guide to NZ KiwiSaver fund types — Defensive through Aggressive — how to pick one that matches your horizon, and what SortMe flags when your fund doesn't.
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19 April 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 5 min read
NZ financial advisors, explained. What to ask, what to watch for, and how SortMe matches you to one based on your actual financial position.
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19 April 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 5 min read
Your bank's app doesn't have the full picture. How to find the right budgeting app that will work for you.
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18 April 2026 · Charlotte Barraclough · 5 min read
Complexity, not carelessness, is what keeps high-earning Kiwi households stuck. Charlotte Barraclough, SortMe's CCO, calls out the three budgeting myths she sees on repeat in customer conversations — and why visibility beats willpower every time.
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18 April 2026 · Hugo Jonston · 5 min read
Over half of NZ's mortgage debt is repricing in the next 12 months. Most Kiwis will accept whatever rate their bank emails them. Here's how to pick a mortgage broker who can save you thousands a year, every year — and what SortMe checks first.
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14 April 2026 · Carl Thompson · 5 min read
Debt snowball or debt avalanche? The maths favour one, human behaviour favours the other. SortMe founder Carl Thompson breaks down what the research actually shows, how to run either strategy inside SortMe, and a bonus tip on closing the tap once your debts are paid off so they can't quietly reload.
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8 April 2026 · Carl Thompson · 5 min read
NZ credit card spending turned negative for the first time in years and the number of active cards has fallen 8.7% since 2019. SortMe founder Carl Thompson on what the data actually shows, and why more Kiwis are quietly walking away from credit cards.
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27 March 2026 · Carl Thompson · 5 min read
The Reserve Bank has cut rates nine times, but most Kiwi households aren’t feeling the recovery yet. Nick Crawford from The Private Office and SortMe founder Carl Thompson on why spending visibility matters more than ever during an economic turning point.
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24 March 2026 · Carl Thompson · 5 min read
Financial advisors in NZ are pairing tools like SortMe with professional advice to give families real-time spending visibility. Jamie Reynolds from Naked Finance explains how the modern advisory relationship actually works in 2026.
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24 March 2026 · Carl Thompson · 5 min read
Nearly half of Kiwis are worried about losing their job in 2026. Here's how to build a financial safety net — and how SortMe helps you see exactly where your money's going so you can prepare.
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17 March 2026 · Carl Thompson · 5 min read
Open banking is now live in NZ — and SortMe was built for exactly this moment. Here's what it means for how you manage your money, straight from the SortMe founder.
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2 April 2024 · SortMe · 5 min read
In a world where managing personal finances can feel like navigating through a dense jungle without a map, the need for a clear, user-friendly, and powerful tool is more pressing than ever. Enter SortMe ...
Read Article →Create a financial future that gives your family opportunity and freedom. It starts with a plan and a structure to hold it. That’s SortMe.
See pricing · 7-day trial for just $1 · Cancel anytime · 30-day money-back guarantee
Not by budgeting harder — by finally seeing everything in one place. The subscription that crept up, the fixed rate about to roll over, the cover you're paying for twice. See what's hiding in yours.
See pricing · 7-day trial for just $1 · Cancel anytime · 30-day money-back guarantee
Connecting your accounts takes about ten minutes. No spreadsheet, no shoebox, no nine separate logins — just one clear picture and a straight answer about what to do next.
See pricing · 7-day trial for just $1 · Cancel anytime · 30-day money-back guarantee
