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interest.co.nz is a free service for all - help us stay that way. If you know us, trust us, and value what we do, can we ask you to support us - and Supporters can go ad-free

Personal Finance / opinion
interest.co.nz is a free service for all - help us stay that way. If you know us, trust us, and value what we do, can we ask you to support us - and Supporters can go ad-free
Support us

It's late September and time again for me to ask for your support. (If you already support us, thank you. This message is not for you.)

Each week more than 100,000 readers join you at interest.co.nz for our reporting, expert analysis, thoughtful commentary, podcasts and videos, content that connects our readers to our economy and the world we live in.

A key part of this work is made possible by reader support.

Yes, we still take advertising, but direct reader support is vital to what we do. Which is why we are appealing again for your support (if you are not already doing so).

Less than one in 20 readers financially support us. We need this to be higher so we can hold on to the independent ethic we have built.

Our content is free for all readers and we want to keep it that way. We don't use paywalls or hide our content behind expensive email subscriptions. For readers who don't support us, the cost of doing so is the ads you see.

But there is a way to way to read us ad-free, one available to supporters.

We have a growing team and a growing number of research projects, none of which are being done for commercial purposes, and all of which are about informing our audience about the New Zealand economy and key financial developments.

And that is why we need your support.

We work for you, so being supported by you makes sense to me.

You know us - what we do and the resources we make available to everyone. None of this is inexpensive. But we are keen to keep almost everything free.

We know most readers appreciate the open access, but only a tiny fraction financially support us. Supporters who choose to comment are identified by the green tick. That is where you come in.

We are asking you to join our band of readers who know this is worthwhile: holding banks, insurers, the real estate industry, politicians and regulators to account with coverage that isn't constrained by 'sponsorships' or large advertisers, nor funded by government journalism subsidies. 

If you join us as a supporter and do so for at least $10/month or $100/year (or more) you get:

  • 100% ad-free website browsing
  • Satisfaction you are supporting an independent, home-grown professional and passionate news team.

In the future there will be more specialist tools to empower investors, savers, and anyone with financial interests.

Keen? Here’s what to do

Just click the ‘Become a supporter’ button at the top of the page to start your support of $10 a month or $100 a year, and you’ll get the best, ad-free interest.co.nz reading experience. Or click here. You can also specify the amount, or choose the one-time option if you prefer.

Finally, thank you for your readership. Can you go one better and become a supporter?

We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment.

Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.

48 Comments

why would you support an organisation that hates its readers

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Harsh , but I do think it’s something they need to work on. 

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Baffled as to what you guys are on about. Interest provides heaps of varied and quality content for free and generously allows readers to comment from a wider range of viewpoints with very soft moderation. 

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Agree!

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A few examples: 

- regular derogatory use of the term ‘doomsters’ in articles, negative implication for many of us who are inherently pessimistic about the economy 

- tolerance for unfounded putdowns by certain commenters on some of us

- A big one for me, which annoyed me: got a pretty impersonal email telling me I didn’t have the ‘green tick’ because I had only just subscribed. In fact, I had been subscribing for months. It’s just that I hadn’t logged in via PressPatron

- apparently no consideration given on reasonable feedback. Listening to and valuing customer feedback is pretty fundamental to subscriber services

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I think they (interest.co.nz) should remove the green tick so that every commentator is viewed in an anonymous context.

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I will stop contributing if the green tick is removed.

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The green tick doesn't show for me either 

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Perhaps, like HM, you need to login via press patron.

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If you contribute and login via Presspatron, your green tick will show

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Agree 

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To many insults and personal attacks on indivduals 

Some of comments I  have seen have real personal attacks 

I would have no problem subscribing if some of comments are moderated ie the f word and calling people clowns , halfwits etc

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It is us that is the problem, not the editors/moderators.

I will never understand why some people just can't either ignore other's posts.

I think a downvote option may help. As currently, to oppose a comment you are limited to typing a rebuttal. A simple thumbs down and you get your message across.

But geez people, it's not hard to be civil.

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Downvotes also have lots of issues. Maybe no upvotes either? It shouldn’t really be a popularity contest

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I used to prefer including downvotes when $tuff had them back a few years ago. Occasionally I reflected & changed my mind on a few things as I saw a different perspective. 

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It becomes pretty ‘passive aggressive’. I understand it can create some mental health challenges for some, too

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I do like upvotes as you get a feel for how much support certain worldviews have.

You really only need up - as a (potential) down voter can just reply/comment in an alternate/opposing way.

 

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I'm occasionally on the receiving end of that sort of response however "sticks & stones" etc. It says more about them than me.

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What are you on about?  Really curious what you mean by that?

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?

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IanSmit,

And your evidence is? Given your very obvious dislike of this site, why do you read it?

Since i am a financial supporter, I and many others,  must be pretty stupid-in your eyes.

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I heard the guys at Interest like to get together for after work drinks and mock the commentary/commentors on here. Their are a lot of non Interest employees their too... made me reconsider my membership fee. 

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I'm actually tempted to name and shame... but I won't. 

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Good on them!  I hope I feature in the mocking.  Is it true though? 

With the amount of banter in the comments, with certain monikers hating on each other, I've always wondered what a "Interest.co Christmas Function" would be like.  Name card holders with people's Int.co handle in bold.  David Chaston breaking up fisticuffs between unlikely suspects in the alleyway after the bar tab has run dry.  

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Count me in ;)

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I don't blame them. Nor do I care if they blow off some steam every now and then. 

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Good on them, as long as they do not reveal personal details as that is a hard line for me (and quite likely breaking the law).

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Don't blame them, Interest comments are often very mockable. If that bothers you then I'd suggest you are very thin skinned.

(there are many great comments too, including ones I completely disagree with!) 

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There’s obviously a spectrum of ‘mocks’…. 

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Heard they dug you out the worst HGWR.

Something about you commenting without actually knowing. Go figure....

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Donated previously via PressPatron when COVID hit and interest.co.nz needed some financial support as they were losing their advertising revenue. Then not long afterwards without any warning, the account access was permanently removed. To my knowledge, there was no breach of the commenting policy and guidelines.
 

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Dear Interest,

Obviously, the vast majority who don't contribute, like to get something for nothing. Clearly, just asking nicely to be paid for your work, is not working.  I really hope you will take more serious measures to get rid of the free loaders, before you go bust, it would be a real shame to lose you.

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I have to agree Yvil, despite some of my issues with this website (would be nice if they could be reflected on at least). Especially for those who regularly comment and are on here a lot. A minimum of $10  per month is hardly anything these days. Some of those who have said they won’t contribute hardly sound hard up.

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I agree with Yvil. If a paywall is erected i will Pay. There must be other commercial opportunities available as well.  I will say however the banter in the comments is a valuable part of the proposition. 
 

the interest team are very removed from their community and could definitely “sweat” them harder commercially. 

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Well, Te Kooti, why don't you contribute right now, as a gesture of goodwill and recognition of Interest's good work ? 

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I'm also happy to pay, but a paywall would be very sad - the best thing about interest is that it provides accessible and non-partisan coverage of economic issues that, at least semi-frequently, is able to reach an audience well beyond us tragics who comment here every day. That's amazing because I don't know any site overseas that achieves that.

In any country, but especially a small country like ours, the value of public interest journalism that grows our collective understanding is huge. For example I think this site is the main reason that the NZ subreddit broadly understands what drives mortgage rates, whilst the UK subreddit doesn't. 

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Hmm, the reason I don't 'pay' (as I've stated in a past int.co survey to them) is that I don't regard their reporting as 'independent', specifically Trump and those that voted him in. Others such as Brock Landers referred to it as 'orange man bad' so I wasn't alone in this thought.

I have no problem with int.co picking a team, it's your site.  However, given that you have, is it reasonable to hold up the 'independence' banner as a reason to pay?

I also stated in surveys that I mainly come for the comments - articles by Keith Woodford would be an exception which I'll read in great detail.  Is there an option to fund commenters I think contribute more value than the article writers themselves?

I'm posting this to see what others think, am I being too demanding/unreasonable?

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I think someone can critique the Trump phenomenon in a non-partisan way. Demanding a news source not do that in order to appear independent is possibly a bigger issue.

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Hi Pa1nter, as you may know, I really appreciate your comments, I think highly of you, but I'm sad that there's no green tick next to your name.  You post lots, which means you read lots too.  I also understand that you're not exactly poor.  Com'on Pa1nter, please do the right thing and support Interest.

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I've supported interest financially but not as a subscription.

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I think someone can critique the Trump phenomenon in a non-partisan way

Certainly.  To clarify I'm specifically talking about the slurs in the breakfast / 4pm news articles.  I'm not talking about my ability to comment (not that I had an account then anyway).  I'm not pro-Trump, don't like his personality or methods generally, but that doesn't automatically mean everything he did was bad and the people who voted for him were stupid as was the narrative pushed.  Pretty hard to get a bad word on Biden and his supporters in the same slots.

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Hi Murray, sorry but IMO, not contributing because you think Interest is not "independant enough", is a weak excuse.  You will always find something you don't like in any media.  Also it's $ 0.33/day !!!  Just do it !

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Thanks, I wouldn't have commented, but I am being asked to pay for the independence which is why I posted on the level of independence. 

I have contacted and directly paid for what I regard as good investigative journalism and reporting on migrant exploitation issues in the past so I'm not a total cheapskate.

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In the early days of the Trump phenomenon I was a big Trump supporter here, almost standing alone with this stance in the comments section. I think I got pretty fair treatment. Miss those days.

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I went back to see what I was commenting in those early days. And indeed I wasn't commenting much at all.  Whereas now I see him for who he is - an aspiring dictator.  I think in the early days (given I'm an American) I thought, well if the Americans living there elected him, who am I who doesn't live there (and doesn't vote in their elections) to challenge that?  I look back now and think, wow, others had him pegged from the get-go. 

Glad to be seeing the Trump Corporation fraud recently adjudged just that - I do wonder whether it is the longest successful run of fraudulent behaviour in US history. .  

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A paywall would ultimately end the beauty of this site which is the comments and community, be it of opposed views.

It would be interesting to know what the team does with advertising. Financial advertising is highly valuable, and advertisers pay premium price for a finance focused audience.

Would highly recommend the team be a bit more active within the community and reply to emails or out reach, it would probably help in boosting the donations.

Youtubers don't get donations because of the content, it's the connection and human emotion side of it.

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Lucky enough to have the time and interest to read many sources. Interest.co stands out as a giant among some minnows. Please if possible carry on your good work everyone should have access to unbiassed facts.

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You can't win with some, even if you change what they're requesting they'll come up with some other reason not to support. I would of thought with the increase in TD rates some here may have more $ to support. Where else would some DGM commentators go to get their fix?

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