Your Next Refix Should Match Your Life Plans;

Your refix date is coming up and the internet has a thousand confident answers. The problem is none of them know what your next 6 to 18 months actually looks like and that’s the part that can make or break a mortgage decision in New Zealand. 

We sit down with Khouanchai Adams to talk through how we approach a home loan refix when interest rates are moving and the OCR outlook is uncertain. Rather than fixing based on a headline rate, your neighbour’s strategy, or generic AI advice, we look at the bigger picture: job changes, travel plans, marriage, retirement timing, KiwiSaver access, and whether selling or moving to Australia could be on the cards. Those details shape whether you need flexibility, certainty, or a mix across different fixed terms. 

We also dig into a common trap: refixing one loan in isolation when you’ve got other splits rolling off in six or twelve months. That staggered exposure can leave your budget vulnerable if rates rise again, so we explain how we think about protecting repayments and keeping cashflow predictable. Finally, we lift the lid on why adviser help can be free, what the bank commission really looks like, and the compliance and admin that sits behind a simple refix recommendation. 

If your mortgage refix is coming up, listen, then reach out, subscribe, share the episode with a mate who’s refixing soon, and leave us a review so more Kiwis can make calmer money decisions.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:10

This morning I received a message from a friend asking me what to do with her refix. And the question was around hey, I've tried to Google

A Friend’s Refix Question

SPEAKER_00 0:20

the Google financial advisor is not giving me great ideas, and you were so amazing last time. Can you please help out? I've got Kunch today, and we're gonna dive into this topic. Hello Kunch. Kioda, how are you? Good. It's been a while since we've had you.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

It's been, yeah, we haven't podcasts in a while.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

We've been too busy. Way too busy. So, what do people need to do when the refix is coming up?

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Oh man, I I I gotta love this whole Google AI advice. Chat

Why AI Advice Falls Short

SPEAKER_01 0:48

GPT. Chat GPT, Claude or whatever, giving advice on people's personal financial situation. Yeah. Like when you're refixing your home, you've got to see, or your home loan, you've got to see the bigger picture, right? Like you've you've got to plan what's the next, like what's gonna happen in the next year, what's gonna happen in the next 18 months or one year. I know like we don't have a crystal ball or

Plan Around Life Changes

SPEAKER_01 1:12

something like that, but you kind of know, right? You're like, are you gonna stay in the same job for the next year? Are you planning on you know going on a holiday or something? Are

Don’t Refix One Loan Alone

SPEAKER_01 1:23

you planning on getting married or something? So those things have to come into play and be thought about when you're looking at refixing. So I think that's where you know chat GBT or AI can't give you that personalized advice.

Protect Your Budget From Rate Rises

SPEAKER_00 1:42

No, and one thing I said to my friend, client, friend, I love how all my clients end up being friends and friends end up being clients. I said to her, okay, well, let's sit down, let's have a look. And when we looked at other loans that she had, because she was looking at one loan in isolation, right? But she's got other things that are happening behind the scenes. There's another loan that's coming up in six months, there's another loan coming up next year. And I was like, nah, this one needs to go a bit further because you're already exposing yourself to the risk in the next six to twelve months. And if the rates suddenly go up, like we've seen over the next last week or two, yes, the rates have been going up. Yeah, the OCR is predicted to continue to go up this year. You need to protect

Why Mortgage Advice Is Free

SPEAKER_00 2:24

yourself from that. And if you're not planning to sell anytime soon, if you're not planning to receive a massive inheritance, winning lotto, I mean, hey, look, at the end of the day, if you win to win, if you win lotto and you need to pay down your mortgage and you're gonna get a break fee. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. So, but what matters right now is protecting yourself from those hikes because everything is going up. You want to predict your budget. You don't want to end up in a position where you can't afford your own home. So the message today

How The Refix Process Works

SPEAKER_00 2:55

really is don't listen to AI Chad GPT.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Yeah, speak to an advisor, you know, our service is free. We can guide you through on, you know, what's the next thing, what's what to pick, basically, in terms of the term.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

Do you think that's

Reach Out And Get Help

SPEAKER_00 3:14

where the trouble is? Because the service is free, people think they're not getting the value. Possibly. That's a good question, actually. Because you know how like often you go and pay for something you value it more. Yeah.

unknown 3:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Versus we're like, hey, we're free, come to us, talk to us, we're eager to help. And they go, oh, this is dodgy. Yeah. Why they want to help us for free? Let us remind you the banks actually pay us commission for the refix if you end up using our advice to refix. And I mean the commission's not that great. It's only a hundred bucks for the time that we spend. By the time you take away, you know, the compliance behind it, the paperwork and everything else, it's still free.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

I mean it is a huge process in the background that people don't realize. Yeah. And although our service is free, there's a lot of admin in the background. But we do this role, this job out of love. Out of love, yeah. It's it's actually because we actually love doing it. We love helping people be financially better off in the future, you know.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

And I think a lot of people don't realize that, that we're not doing it because we want to get mega rich on your back. We don't. We don't get mega rich on your back. Um, the like I I think I've hired five more people now because of the compliance. Yeah. And the back-end element of it that needs to go in. So, for those people that are wondering how does this whole refix process works, you reach out to us, we sit down, we have a meeting with you, we discuss your future goals, we discuss your current goals, we discuss what's going on in your life. We'll look at other loans as well and other things that you want to do. You might be selling a house in the next six months, so you don't want to fix for five years. No, you might be moving across to Australia, you might be retiring soon, and you've got Kiwi Saver coming up. So there's so much happening in people's world. Just because your neighbor did this or your friend did that, it may not be the right solution for you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

May not be suitable for you.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Correct. So please, please, please reach out to us. We don't charge yet. Maybe we will. But we don't charge your fees. We want to help you. And it's it is proven statistically, the New Zealanders that do get advice, they're actually financially better off in the long run than those New Zealanders that don't get advice. Yes. There you go. Thank you so much for this episode, Kunch. See you soon again.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Thank you. Bye.